TO 25

Chapter 25

Taehyuk stared blankly at the empty apartment. The rooms were dead silent, draped in a heavy, suffocating gloom. After taking a shower, he lay alone in bed, tossing and turning all night as memories of Seo-ah burst forth like a broken dam.

Human emotions were truly fickle things.

When they were oceans apart, it had been manageable in its own way. But now, simply knowing they breathed the same air under the same sky left him feeling utterly, uncontrollably hollow.

They were strangers now, with no overlapping paths. That fate had been sealed the moment their child vanished. No—perhaps their bond had frayed long before that, well before Taehyuk had even noticed.

Perhaps that unborn child had been his final chance at absolution. But with the baby gone, Taehyuk lost any reason to hold onto Seo-ah. In truth, he couldn’t have held onto her even if he tried.

Resting his forearm over his forehead, Taehyuk let out a heavy sigh. Sleep wasn’t coming anytime soon. Returning to this apartment had been nothing more than his own arrogance and stubborn pride. Closing his eyes, Taehyuk traced the lingering phantom of Seo-ah in the dark.

“You want me to meet who?”

The next morning, Taehyuk, who had been forced to visit his parents’ house at Seunghi’s insistent summons, knit his brows in annoyance. Seunghi glanced toward the study where Junghyun was staying and lowered her voice.

“Go-eun. You know as well as I do that she’s still single. Can’t you see the two of you share a special bond? It was always meant to be you and Go-eun in the end.”

“You mean she was the one you had your eye on from the very beginning.”

At Taehyuk’s icy response, Seunghi shot him a playful, scolding glare.

“Go-eun is still waiting for you. You know that.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t be so cold-hearted. She’s a hundred, a thousand times better than that girl you brought home just because you were so smitten.”

Taehyuk’s forehead creased deeply.

“That girl is probably married to some other man by now, living a good life. Aren’t you even a little bitter that you’re the only one clinging to the past?”

“Have you… heard any news about her?”

When Taehyuk—who had been sitting there with a completely detached face—finally reacted at the mention of Seo-ah, Seunghi’s expression contorted in sharp irritation.

“Isn’t it obvious? With a face like hers and at her age, why on earth would she live alone?”

Taehyuk lowered his gaze at his mother’s words. He couldn’t easily picture Seo-ah as another man’s wife. Far from imagining it, a hot surge of something unpleasant welled up deep inside his chest.

“Is there a reason you hate Go-eun so much?” Seunghi pressed, nagging him when he refused to answer.

“I don’t hate her, nor do I like her. It’s just…”

Taehyuk swallowed his final words.

Because seeing Jung Go-eun will only keep reminding me of her.

Taehyuk checked his wristwatch. At this rate, he would arrive at the meeting spot right on time. He walked slowly across the hotel lobby. Seunghi had gone ahead and arranged a blind date for him. Taehyuk had no intention of getting married.

However, given his mother’s relentless nagging and the sight of his father aging so frail, he felt he had to make some kind of effort. In fact, if Seunghi was doing all this purely to secure an heir, Taehyuk was seriously considering adoption instead.

Still, he hadn’t expected her to set up a date so recklessly. Taehyuk blamed himself for failing to make his stance crystal clear. If nothing else, he felt it was his responsibility to show up out of courtesy to his mother and deliver a polite refusal in person.

“Yes, thank you so much!”

It happened right then. At the sound of a strikingly familiar voice, Taehyuk snapped his head up. The bright, lively tone sounded like clear crystal tapping together, instantly lifting the mood of anyone listening.

And then:

‘Can I call you Senior?’

It was a voice that summoned deep, buried memories from Taehyuk’s past.

Freezing on the spot, Taehyuk’s eyes locked onto Seo-ah as she walked across the far end of the lobby. Her once-pale cheeks were now flushed with a healthy, vibrant color, and even in a simple outfit of jeans and a white button-down, she radiated life. Her hair, tied into a neat ponytail, swung rhythmically back and forth like a metronome.

As if spellbound, Taehyuk stepped toward her. It would be a lie to say he had never wondered how she was doing or what she looked like now.

Just as Seunghi had said, he had sometimes wondered if she might be living as someone’s wife, someone’s mother. But the Seo-ah standing before his eyes looked exactly as she had the day they parted—as if no time had passed at all. If anything, she looked far more lively and radiant than she ever had by his side.

Taehyuk closed the distance until he was standing right behind her. She was so close that if he just extended his hand, he could touch her shoulder. Carrying a large stack of cardboard boxes in both arms, Seo-ah didn’t seem to notice Taehyuk at all.

Right at that moment, her phone rang. Seo-ah paused in her tracks and awkwardly picked up the call with one hand. Wedging the phone between her ear and shoulder, her clear, cheerful voice rang out.

“Yeah, sweetie! Mommy just finished up. I’m on my way now. I’ll be home by dinner time. Yeah, I’ll hurry!”

Seo-ah really was living as someone’s wife, someone’s mother.

Taehyuk felt something scalding hot surge up within him. Or perhaps… it was freezing cold.

He had genuinely wished for her to be happy. But what was this treacherous, ugly feeling? He was so consumed by jealousy toward some nameless man who now stood by her side that it startled even himself.

Yet, he had to let her go. Just like this.

His steps trailing behind her grew slower and slower. Even so, all of Taehyuk’s senses remained fiercely locked onto her every move.

“Aw, how could Mommy forget that? It’s my baby girl’s sixth birthday! Of course I didn’t forget.”

At the words sixth birthday, Taehyuk froze dead in his tracks.

Sixth… birthday?

In that brief pause, Seo-ah had already passed through the hotel’s main entrance and vanished. Taehyuk stared blankly at the glass doors where she had disappeared. Beyond the entrance, ginkgo trees dressed in bright yellow leaves came into view.

[My due date is in October. Please prepare everything so I can leave right after giving birth.]

It was the final text message from Seo-ah that he could never erase from his mind. It was the very message that had forced him to stare at golden autumn trees every fall with a hollow, gloomy heart.

Taehyuk’s eyes darkened with a sharp, fierce intensity.

“What do you mean he didn’t show up?!”

Holding her phone, Seunghi quietly slipped into the empty bedroom. The caller was Go-eun.

— He didn’t come! I sat there waiting by myself for over an hour!

“That can’t be…” Seunghi muttered, her face pale with frustration.

— Did he find out I was the one meeting him?!

“No! Absolutely not. I didn’t even give him a name. I knew he wouldn’t go if he found out it was you!”

At Seunghi’s response, Go-eun let out a scoff of pure disbelief.

It had been a week ago when Go-eun, hearing news of Taehyuk’s imminent return, had reached out to Seunghi.

‘The Chairman still hasn’t cooled off, has he?’

‘You know the answer to that, so why ask?’ Seunghi had replied coldly. It infuriated her to think that because of what Go-eun had done, even she was being treated like dirt by Junghyun. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if Seunghi didn’t harbor resentment toward Go-eun for causing the loss of her two unborn grandchildren. That was why she had been deliberately dodging Go-eun’s calls.

‘Please, let me see Taehyuk. I’ll put everything back where it belongs.’

‘Don’t say such foolish things! Do you think the Chairman will sit back if he finds out you’re seeing Taehyuk? Has your family’s ruin still not brought you to your senses?’

‘That’s precisely why I’m doing this!’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘That spot was originally mine! That girl stole it from me! Is that all? My father’s company—which did nothing wrong—was cut in half! Do you have any idea how many subsidiaries my father had to liquidate just because the Chairman pulled all his investments?!’

Seunghi hadn’t answered.

‘So I’m going to set everything right again. Just set up a meeting for me. Besides, Mother… it’s not like you can truly cast me aside anyway.’

‘You… what do you mean by that?’ Seunghi’s voice had sharpened instantly.

‘You said the Chairman knows everything, right? Then does he know this, too? Back when I pushed Lee Seo-ah, if you hadn’t wasted all that time trying to delete the camera footage, Lee Seo-ah might have made it to the hospital a little sooner—and she might not have lost the baby.’

Hearing those words had sent a bone-chilling shiver down Seunghi’s spine.

‘Are you… threatening me right now?!’

‘It’s not a threat. I’m saying we’re in the same boat.’

‘Don’t you dare say that! If you hadn’t brought up deleting that footage in the first place, I would have called an ambulance immediately! I…’

‘Would any of that change what you and I actually did?’

Seunghi’s heart had pounded straight into her throat.

‘Don’t be so frightened, Mother. I’m just telling you that we sink or swim together. Trust me. I’m the one who’s truly desperate here. If I can change Taehyuk’s mind and get him to say he wants to marry me, even the Chairman won’t be able to object. What’s done is done, but the living still have to survive, don’t they?’

‘Do you… actually have a way?’

‘We just need to have a baby first,’ Go-eun had declared with absolute certainty.

However, Taehyuk had already flatly refused to ever see Go-eun. Seeing Seunghi in a bind, Go-eun had insisted on setting up the date anyway, promising she would handle the rest herself. She acted as though Taehyuk would instantly fall for her the moment they were face-to-face. Driven by desperation, Seunghi had no choice but to lean on that confidence. Right now, Go-eun was her only ally.

Besides, there was no other way for Seunghi to end her indefinite house arrest unless Taehyuk married quickly and produced an heir.

“Then where on earth did Taehyuk go…”

— How should I know?! Just set up another meeting. Nothing good comes from dragging this out.

“I’m bringing my child home.”

Late that night, Taehyuk sought out Junghyun in his study.

“What are you talking about?” Junghyun asked, feigning ignorance.

“You already know, don’t you? That she’s raising my child.”