TO 2

Chapter 2

“Th-then we can just stop doing this awful thing.”

Taehyuk’s brow furrowed sharply.

“If this was how it was going to end up, you should have told me from the start that you couldn’t do it—instead of deceiving me behind my back.”

Taehyuk glared at Seo-ah mercilessly.

“Forget all this talk about a divorce. And throw these pills away immediately.”

Having said his piece, Taehyuk turned away as if the matter were settled.

Adjusting his loosened tie, he stood before the mirror as though nothing had happened. Yet, beyond the reflection, his eyes remained fixed on Seo-ah, who was bowing her head deeply. Blue veins—unusual for him—stood out on the back of his hand as he tied his knot.

“If you want a divorce from me that badly, get pregnant.”

In a tone so dry it felt on the verge of crumbling, Taehyuk threw a direct pitch straight at Seo-ah’s heart.

And as always, it was a strike.

“What did you say?”

Seo-ah snapped her head up in the mirror.

Her pale, snowy skin, her sharp nose, and her innocent-looking eyes—for the first time in a long while, life returned to her face.

‘May I call you… Senior?’

Once aimed at him, those innocent eyes had been filled with longing and a faint tremor—a memory that suddenly flashed through Taehyuk’s mind.

“To be frank, a divorce brings nothing but headaches. Among them, as you well know, my mother would become the biggest nuisance. You know how she’s already nagging about a grandchild. If I divorce you, she’ll hound me to remarry. I’m done dealing with that kind of stress.”

“So… you knew I was taking birth control pills and pretended not to notice? Knowing full well what was on my mind?”

“I thought it was temporary. I never imagined you were taking them to get a divorce.”

Taehyuk snapped back, taking it for granted.

A child.

Seo-ah knew perfectly well that Taehyuk had married her for that exact reason.

‘Let’s get married as soon as you graduate.’

They had only met three or four times for dinner. In an upscale restaurant filled with tasteful jazz and luxurious decor, as Seo-ah sat nervously, Taehyuk had proposed to her in a nonchalant tone.

No—could a moment like that even be called a proposal?

‘I’ll be honest with you. I need to have a child as soon as possible. My mother’s obsession with a grandchild is borderline excessive. Since I have to have one eventually anyway, getting it over with quickly isn’t a bad idea. Someone like you is smart and pretty, so I won’t have to worry much about the next generation.’

His proposal lacked everything. There was no warmth, no emotion, no confession of love, liking, or even basic affection.

Even so, Seo-ah’s heart sank softly. Rather, her heart was dyed deep crimson with joy to its very roots.

She believed it was the fruit of her unrequited love.

To be completely honest, she was overjoyed that a man like Jang Taehyuk actually wanted something from her—that she had something to offer him. That alone was enough for her to give him her entire self.

Though her feelings were merely a tiny, dark seed back then, she believed she could nurture them into a blossom, into a full-grown tree.

However, that rosy hope turned blood-red just a month into their marriage.

The seed she held close to her heart soon rotted away, contaminating everything around it that sustained it—namely, Seo-ah herself.

And Taehyuk was far too busy to notice her transformation.

Now, Seo-ah feared becoming pregnant. She feared the child would become a pair of shackles, trapping her here forever.

“If I give you a child… will you let me go?”

At her words, Taehyuk stopped in his tracks just as he was about to step out of the dressing room.

He turned back to face her, tilting his head slightly as if doubting his own ears. Though his eyes remained hardened under absolute control of his anger, the corner of his mouth twitched subtly.

“If I just bear your child, I won’t be of any use to you anyway. Like you said, as long as you have a child, your mother won’t hound you over it, and you won’t need to remarry just to have an heir.”

“You speak as if you could get pregnant this instant if you simply set your mind to it. If you’re so confident, why haven’t you managed to do it until now? Or did you just refuse to?”

His pride clearly wounded by the thought of her rejecting him, Taehyuk’s eyes smoldered with rising anger.

“That’s… because if we try hard enough…”

“So you deliberately avoided having a child until now? Using a baby as bait to get what you wanted from me?”

A mock sneer hung on his lips, but his eyes were relentless. It was a cold, piercing anger.

Seo-ah thought she had grown numb to Taehyuk’s indifference and the wounds it caused, yet her stomach churned painfully.

“I’m going to divorce you one way or another. Even if I have to go to your mother. She would help me. So you’d better think carefully about what you say. You’re a smart man.”

Seo-ah spoke, clenching her hands tightly. Her eyelids turned red as she barely held back her tears.

Taehyuk’s gaze swept over her trembling hands and reddened eyes.

“Fine. I’ll do as you say.”

Seo-ah’s eyes, bold throughout the entire exchange, flickered with doubt.

“What?”

“Have the baby. Then I’ll divorce you.”

“A-Are you serious?”

“Do you need a written contract?”

Taehyuk raised an eyebrow.

“Gender doesn’t matter. Just give birth to a healthy child. Then you’re free. As am I.”

“A-All right. But to have a baby, you have to cooperate too.”

“I’m already doing that.”

His gaze darted toward the bedroom before returning to her. It was the same emotionless, blunt look as always.

Seo-ah shook her head.

“No. It has to be different from now. You have to cooperate—at least in the way I want.”

“Why should I? What reason do I have to go that far just for your successful divorce…?”

“You want a child, don’t you?”

Staring down at Seo-ah with dark eyes, Taehyuk’s jaw flexed tightly. He ran a hand through his black hair, as if trying to steady his breathing.

“Fine. I’ll do as you say. But I won’t wait long. I have no intention of holding a woman whose heart has left me for a prolonged period.”

Your heart isn’t with me either.

Seo-ah quietly clenched her fists.

“I’ll give you three months. If you’re still not pregnant by then…”

A divorce?

Seo-ah’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. Seeing that, Taehyuk narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up for a divorce. You won’t have to give birth to a child, but you’ll remain by my side.”

“What?”

“Three months. If you don’t conceive by then, you stay right beside me—without a child. Though, of course, there won’t be any more of these damn nights between us.”

It was all because of the old professor that Seo-ah had met Taehyuk in the first place.

The elderly professor, who had been Taehyuk’s university mentor, was preparing a thesis and had requested research materials from him. As a graduate student under his guidance, Seo-ah met Taehyuk while running errands for the professor. That was how it all began.

‘I’ve heard so much about you. It’s an honor to meet you, President Jang Taehyuk.’

It was the day the old professor first introduced her to Taehyuk. Seo-ah had flushed bright red, like a teenage girl meeting a celebrity.

Jang Taehyuk.

The only son of Chairman Jang Jeong-hyun of K Asset Management, he had graduated from the prestigious S University in Korea and earned a master’s degree from H University in the US. He was currently serving as the president of the headquarters at Bank of K, a global investment bank.

S University took immense pride in the mere fact that Jang Taehyuk was an alumnus. Having heard endless heroic tales about him ever since enrolling, Seo-ah’s reaction was completely natural.

‘President? Between fellow alumni, no need for such formality.’

At the professor’s remark, Taehyuk nodded gently in agreement.

‘Then… may I call you Senior?’

‘Sure.’

With a crisp reply, Taehyuk extended his hand.

‘Nice to meet you, Junior.’

His hands were long and elegant. Seo-ah took his hand, her face blushing softly. The strength and warmth felt through his firm grip sent an electric spark straight through her heart.

Seo-ah fell in love with Taehyuk at first sight.

For the next six months, using errands for the professor as an excuse, or joining dinners with the professor and Taehyuk as if by chance, she fell deeper and deeper for him.

His tall frame, his sculpted, athletic body, and his elegant, aristocratic aura. His calm, cold eyes, his arrogantly structured nose, his red lips, and the effortless charisma that commanded the room.

Even then, she had never imagined in her wildest dreams that he would propose to her.

Her crush on him had been purely admiration. She had always viewed him as a man far out of her reach.

Perhaps that was why it felt like a dream when he proposed to her. And perhaps that was why she had accepted it so readily.

Seo-ah stared blankly at the calendar.

Three months.

You can do this, Lee Seo-ah.

Getting up from her seat, Seo-ah threw the birth control pills in the drawer straight into the trash can. Then, she pulled out another medicine box that Taehyuk hadn’t managed to find. She dumped all those pills into the trash as well. They were the remnants of her unhappiness.

Seo-ah clenched her fist tightly.

She didn’t want to wither away in this misery any longer.