Chapter 12
==================================================
CEO Park leaned forward with a calculated smile. Raising Yewon himself would let the two of them cross paths regularly. Everyone stood to gain from such an arrangement.
Quiet settled over the conference space like a heavy fog.
Doha paused, weighing his next words carefully.
Deep down, he recognized this offered no mutual benefit for the executive. Regardless of his own value to Time Entertainment, such a burden…
Still, the depth of CEO Park’s generosity registered fully with him.
“My schedule pales next to the needs of GLEET and your own career, Doha.”
“Plenty of cash can secure top educators for every subject imaginable. A full-time caregiver will handle the rest—far surpassing typical family care. Would I cut corners on spending? Rest assured, I’d outshine any guardian out there. Yewon will lack for nothing under my watch.”
“The press gets a simple line: I oppose wedlock but chose to adopt. Or I bury the story entirely with payoffs. Attorneys will sweep legal hurdles aside fast. Your consent as her kin seals it, Doha.”
Park delivered the pitch with effortless precision, every angle pre-mapped in his mind.
Logic threaded through his every point. Even Yewon could grasp its practicality as the smartest path forward.
Heads swiveled toward the girl in unison.
Shock rippled across faces; no one anticipated her firm stand against it.
“I… I insist on staying with Uncle Doha!”
Brows shot up higher, stunned by her fierce resolve.
“Th-thank you kindly… truly… however…”
Desperation sharpened her focus as she rummaged for words fitting a seven-year-old’s world.
“No one else but Uncle Doha will do for me!”
She harbored no faith in strangers among grown-ups. Safeguarding her uncle demanded her presence at his side.
Her bold stand left the room breathless.
Yewon sensed their hush stemmed not from persuasion but raw sympathy for a kid’s outburst. To them, her plea rang childish folly in the face of hard facts.
She had anticipated that dismissal, though.
“Uncle and I… we’re spitting images!”
“Keep my niece status secret, and folks… they’ll swear I’m his child! Living apart makes no sense…!”
Her passionate outburst jolted every adult present.
Messy as her phrasing was, truth anchored it solidly.
Lee Yewon mirrored Lee Doha down to the finest detail.
Suspicion would shadow any link between them.
People would whisper in disbelief: identical features screamed father and daughter, not mere relatives. How could anyone claim otherwise without deceit?
Memories flooded her of chatter from her acting days.
Yewon bore an uncanny resemblance to GLEET’s Lee Doha.
Just like his younger sibling reborn.
That likeness fueled their joint ads under a cozy family theme.
Family bonds explained it perfectly…
Puberty’s shifts and gender gaps quieted such talk later on.
Yewon pondered her features back at age seven.
What sparked those comparisons?
Intrigue drew her to the tall mirror in Doha’s quarters late one night, after the household slept.
Her reflection hit like lightning.
The match was uncanny, undeniable—any denial of kinship would brand someone utterly heartless.
To let the stunned group compose themselves, they ushered Yewon from the room.
The executive’s aide kept her occupied with crayons and paper.
“Yewon nailed it. CEO Park stepping in for her? Observers would peg it as cover for Doha’s secret kid from some mess.”
Weon and Yeongeo murmured agreement, voices low.
“Idol with a concealed love child? Press sharks would descend in a frenzy.”
“Those vultures would tie it straight to Yoo Taeyoung’s exit. Headlines already form: ‘Taeyoung Quits GLEET—Lee Doha’s Daughter the Real Story?’ Or ‘Behind GLEET Shakeup: Doha’s Family Bombshell Drove Taeyoung Out?’ Pure nightmare fuel…”
“I’m reliving old traumas, Weon. Enough.”
Eyes vacant, they traded grim nods as CEO Park exhaled softly.
“Her fire back there—think she’ll accept a new home without a fight?”
He dismissed the notion outright with a slow shake.
One glance at her face crystallized his judgment for her.
That child clung with iron will; departure wasn’t in her nature.
“I figured she’d warm to other prospects. Never dreamed she’d dig in so deep for you.”
Doha fell mute under the weight of that breath.
“Elementary starts next year. Imagine her blurting out there that her uncle’s GLEET’s Lee Doha.”
“A random kid’s claim? Laughable. But one resembling you to perfection?”
CEO Park slumped into the cushions with a casual lift of shoulders.
Doha’s forehead creased in mounting irritation at the vague stance.
“So what’s your plan here?”
“Exhaust every pathway. Paths multiply beyond the obvious.”
Cool pragmatism darkened Doha’s stare further.
Such strategy usually steadied him, yet linking it to Yewon soured his gut.
“With what alternatives on the table—”
He yearned above all for Yewon’s joy, convinced superior care awaited elsewhere.
“You truly oppose taking her in personally?”
“Precisely. Mull it over. She craves it. And bonds have formed fast on your end too.”
Outrage surged that Yeongeo, of all souls—who grasped his barriers best—pushed this line.
The profit-driven exec, forever dividing work from personal spheres, now blurred those lines.
“I’ve long held we overdid the family secrecy.”
“You’re no wrongdoer here. Victim through and through—no cause for shadows.”
“Victim” hung the air thicker, tension coiling tight.
Everyone grasped Doha’s backstory, yet none dared prod lightly.
Yeongeo pressed on undeterred.
“We buried it all to honor your call. Private affair, kin ties—your rules stood.”
Yeongeo had proven stellar leadership from Doha’s Time Entertainment arrival onward.
Family woes demanded endless fixes, yet he navigated each without gripe.
Courts needed counsel? Delivered. Cash resolved it? Deployed without pause.
Doha repaid with flawless loyalty post-debut, the ideal star.
“Changed your tune on honoring me now?”
Bafflement deepened at Yeongeo’s pivot.
“Hardly. My code holds firm. No business threat? Artists’ desires reign absolute.”
Doha opened his mouth as Yeongeo forestalled with a palm.
“As your label head, I’m probing your heart now. Fine by you to let Yewon go?”
