TO 17

Chapter 17

The line was already dead. Seo-ah stared down at her phone with blank, hollow eyes.

Her dazed gaze wandered over to the stone steps leading down to the main gate. The aching affection she had tried so hard to suppress for the baby inside her suddenly burst through the dam. Along with it came the memory of that other child—the one buried deep within her heart, impossible to ever forget.

No one will protect my baby. No one in this family…

Only I… Only I can save my child.

Gritings her teeth, Seo-ah dialed 911.

— 911 Emergency Center. What is your emergency?

“I… I’m pregnant… and my stomach… it hurts so bad… Please, help me…”

— Ma’am, can you tell me your current address?

“Yes… It’s… Hanyang-dong… XX-X…”

— Please hang in there for just five minutes. The paramedics are on their way.

Five minutes.

Seo-ah decided to head out past the main gate so she could get into the ambulance as quickly as possible. The twisting, agonizing pain in her lower abdomen was slowly subsiding, but standing up straight was still nearly impossible. Her knees trembled uncontrollably, and the world in front of her split into double and triple images. Stumbling, she dragged herself toward the gate.

Then, the stone steps appeared right before her.

“Haah…”

Seo-ah choked back the sob threatening to burst from her chest.

One year ago, her child’s blood had been spilled right here on these steps. Walking up and down those very stairs with a calm, indifferent face every day had slowly killed her soul piece by piece. She had wanted to escape this place by any means necessary. She felt that if she didn’t, she might just vanish into thin air. Having to offer up another child to make that escape was cruel, but she was utterly desperate.

Trembling all over, Seo-ah put one foot onto the first step.

“Hey. Lee Seo-ah.”

Just then, the front door swung open, and Go-eun walked down toward her with her arms crossed.

Seo-ah’s head spun. The memory of that dreadful day hit her like a dark shadow, cutting off her breath as cold sweat poured down her skin like rain.

“Mother is on the verge of collapsing! Are you out of your mind?!”

None of it mattered anymore. Seo-ah had zero lingering attachment to this house or anyone in it.

She needed to get past the gate before the ambulance arrived. Seo-ah took another step down.

“Hey! Are my words funny to you?!”

Go-eun grabbed Seo-ah’s arm and spun her around.

“Let go of me!” Seo-ah screamed, violently shaking her arm off.

“Why, you…!” Go-eun wasn’t about to back down from Seo-ah’s rough reaction either. “Just because I spoke to you politely and treated you with respect, did you actually think you became someone important?” Go-eun spat venomously.

“I never asked for your respect.”

“Ha! Is that so? Of course you didn’t. So, how does it feel? I’ve been dying to ask every time I see you. How does it feel to steal someone else’s wedding, someone else’s wedding dress, and someone else’s husband?”

“You were the one who called off the engagement,” Seo-ah barely managed to reply.

“Called it off? Don’t make me laugh! It was just a lovers’ spat! If a pathetic bitch like you hadn’t barged in without knowing your place, it would’ve blown over like any normal fight!”

“Is that why you pushed me? Because you hated me so much?” Seo-ah finally asked the question she had been dying to ask all this time—the question Seunghi had constantly silenced her from asking.

A twisted smirk spread across Go-eun’s face.

“Ha! It’s utterly ridiculous that you still think that day was my fault! Do you have any proof I did it?! Do you?!”

“I smelled your perfume. And… why did the security camera footage suddenly disappear? Not to mention, running away overseas right after it happened and only coming back now…”

“You are seriously insane. Did you lose your mind along with that miscarriage? Save the fiction for someone else! Who do you think you’re framing?!”

“If your conscience is clean, why did you run away?! Why?!”

“Get a grip! Do you really think anyone cares about a nobody like you? I wouldn’t even bat an eye if you had died that day instead of the baby! You get that?!”

“S-So… you’re admitting you did it?”

“Fuck! So what if I did?!”

Overwhelmed by her own rage after her bitter outburst, Go-eun gave Seo-ah’s shoulder a hard shove. Already struggling to stay upright, Seo-ah instantly lost her balance and tipped backward.

No!

Desperate to protect her baby, Seo-ah reached her arm out toward Go-eun. If Go-eun caught her right now, she might not fall. Seo-ah managed to grab hold of Go-eun’s arm, but—

“Get your hands off me!”

Go-eun slapped Seo-ah’s hand away with all her strength. Seo-ah’s grip slipped, and the sky and ground spun wildly before her eyes.

THUD!

The moment she hit the hard ground, Seo-ah curled her body inward with everything she had. It wasn’t a conscious thought—it was pure instinct.

No… My baby…

“What on earth do you think you are doing?!”

Right at that moment, Junghyun’s furious voice boomed beyond her darkening vision. Following right after, as her consciousness rapidly faded, the faint siren of an ambulance echoed in the distance.

“Let me get you pregnant right after we get married.”

That was what Taehyuk had said a year ago, well aware of Seunghi’s disapproval of Seo-ah.

Besides, Taehyuk knew full well how much Seunghi doted on Go-eun. Even when Go-eun showed up late to cling to him and beg, Seunghi had taken Go-eun’s side.

‘Women get sensitive before marriage. You should be understanding.’

But once Taehyuk’s heart turned away, he didn’t give Go-eun so much as a second glance. His gaze was already fixed entirely on Seo-ah.

During their week-long honeymoon, Seo-ah had barely stepped outside the hotel—or even out of the bedroom. Taehyuk had a long-term business trip scheduled right after the honeymoon ended.

Whether it was to make a baby or simply because he craved her, Taehyuk hadn’t released Seo-ah from his arms for a single moment.

There were no sweet confessions of love or burning looks, but Seo-ah didn’t mind it one bit. She loved being in Taehyuk’s arms, and she gradually grew conditioned to the thrilling nights he gave her.

When Seo-ah first found out she was pregnant, Taehyuk was away on his extended overseas trip.

Staring at the two lines on the home pregnancy test, Seo-ah couldn’t believe her own eyes. Having had no prior experience with men, it had happened before she even got fully used to Taehyuk’s body.

Is it really this easy to get pregnant?

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, her own face suddenly felt unfamiliar.

There’s another life living inside me?

Seo-ah gently stroked her lower belly. Though it was still flat with zero visible signs of pregnancy, she touched her lower abdomen as carefully as if she were caressing a newborn baby.

I should go to the hospital to be sure, right?

Seo-ah searched online. Most articles warned that if the second line was faint, the gestational sac might not even be visible at the clinic yet.

Looking at the faint line, Seo-ah decided she would tell Taehyuk as soon as he called. She considered calling him first, but thinking about his packed schedule overseas, she chose to wait until he reached out to her instead.

Since he still had half a month left before returning home, she figured it would be nice to go to the hospital together once he got back.

I should stop by the pharmacy on my way back from his parents’ house today and buy a few more tests.

She planned to take one every day. Just then, her phone rang. Checking the screen, she saw it was her mother, Young-ran. Seo-ah hesitated before answering. She rarely ever felt happy to see Young-ran’s calls.

When Young-ran called, it was always for one of two things: money, or nagging about divorce. Sometimes, it was both.

“Hello.”

In the end, Seo-ah picked up, knowing Young-ran would keep calling until she answered anyway.

— Where are you?

“At home.”

— Haah. I honestly can’t live like this anymore.

Watching Young-ran dive straight into complaining, Seo-ah let out a bitter smile.

“What is it this time?”

— What do you mean, ‘what is it’? It’s because of your father!

He’s not my father, the words surged up her throat, but she swallowed them down. This was Young-ran’s third remarriage. Seo-ah’s biological father had died when she was very young. Since then, a string of remarriages and divorces had followed, and it had barely been two years since she married her current husband.

Yet, talk of divorce was still slipping from Young-ran’s lips on a regular basis.

“What did he do this time…?”

Seo-ah had never once called any of the men Young-ran brought home ‘father.’

— He went and took out loan shark money!

“What?!”

— I told you back then that we didn’t have money to pay the store rent! You should have helped us out a bit then!

Young-ran actually lashed out in anger instead. Seo-ah replied with a stunned, dumbfounded expression.

“I don’t have money either. Besides, I told you I used my share of the wedding gift money to pay for a whole year of your store rent in advance.”

Because of that, Seo-ah hadn’t brought a single cent of her own money into her marriage. Since the house and all the furnishings were fully taken care of anyway, she hadn’t needed extra money for herself.

— Well, that was… Do you have any idea how many expenses we have?! Prices have skyrocketed lately! Fruit prices are through the roof. Since wholesale prices went up, we obviously had to raise ours too. And then people stopped buying fruit because it’s too expensive… The fruit is literally rotting away in our storage!

Young-ran ran a small fruit shop with her current husband. It had originally been a shop he ran alone, and Young-ran had rushed into marriage believing he owned the building. As it turned out, the place was rented, and he couldn’t even pay the monthly rent properly. Young-ran had thrown a massive fit, claiming he had tricked her. Her husband had dropped to his knees, begging her for forgiveness and swearing he would never lie again, so Young-ran had eventually given in and stayed.

“So… he used loan sharks just to pay the shop rent?”

— What else were we supposed to do?! We didn’t even have the money for the deposit. After subtracting the overdue rent from our security deposit, we were still short several thousand dollars!

“Haah.”

Seo-ah pressed a hand against her forehead. One of the hidden reasons Taehyuk’s proposal had felt like a dream was that it offered her an escape.

She had desperately wanted to get away from Young-ran, who spent every single day whining about money and throwing wild tantrums. Seo-ah had studied relentlessly to win scholarships and worked part-time jobs without sleeping to save up living expenses—only for Young-ran to snatch the money away the moment it was saved. All Seo-ah wanted was to break free from her. But the moment Young-ran realized her daughter had married into a wealthy family, she tightened her grip on Seo-ah’s neck even further, refusing to ever let go.