TO 19

Chapter 19

“You really are something else, aren’t you?”

“Pardon?”

Seo-ah’s knees trembled violently.

“Go-eun was with me at the time. So are you trying to say Go-eun and I pushed you? Is that it?”

“N-No, that’s not what I meant—”

“Ha.”

Seunghi let out a disbelieving laugh, raising her chin in utter scorn.

“Do you happen to know why your mother stopped by just now?”

“What?”

“Your mother! Do you know why she came here?!”

Seunghi’s voice boomed. Seo-ah felt like she might collapse at any second, but she forced herself to stay standing.

“I don’t know. Why…”

“You really don’t know? You two are cut from the exact same cloth.”

Seeing Seunghi’s vicious expression, Seo-ah’s chest heaved up and down as if she were on the verge of a panic attack.

“If you could just explain what you mean…”

“Why explain when you already know everything?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you even actually pregnant? Are you sure about that?”

“I-I checked this morning.”

Overwhelmed by emotion, Seo-ah’s voice shook uncontrollably. Yet instinct told her she couldn’t afford to cry here.

“Did the hospital confirm you were pregnant too?”

Seunghi glared down at Seo-ah with a terrifying gaze, her posture stiff and rigid.

“Well…”

Seo-ah’s eyes darted nervously. The doctor’s vague, evasive words weighed heavily on her heart.

“W-Wait a second. I have the pregnancy test I took this morning in my bag.”

Stumbling, Seo-ah reached out and grabbed her handbag from the sofa. She frantically rummaged through it, but the test strip was nowhere to be found.

“H-How can this…”

The color drained completely from Seo-ah’s face. In a panic, she turned the bag upside down and dumped everything out.

Her phone, lipstick, a small pouch, and her wallet tumbled out one after another, but the pregnancy test was nowhere in sight.

“That can’t be. I definitely…”

I definitely put it in my bag. Seo-ah vividly remembered carefully tucking the test away. Had someone gone through her bag while she was at the hospital?

If anyone had a reason to do that… Seo-ah stared straight at Seunghi.

“Mother, by any chance, did you go through my bag…”

“You really are sly, aren’t you?”

“What?”

A scorching pain throbbed in her lower belly, as if a iron were pressing against her insides.

“Were you planning to blackmail me using something you can’t even prove is a pregnancy or just a period? Did you pull a stunt like this because you know our family is desperate for an heir?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“I’m asking if you and your mother teamed up to play me for a fool!”

Seunghi shouted, her face flushed red like burning coal.

“The second you collapsed, your mother showed up right on cue!”

A sharp, electric pain shot up from the tips of Seo-ah’s toes.

“Why would my mother…”

“Don’t try to play dumb! Wasn’t it your plan all along to extort money from us by framing this as a fake miscarriage?!”

“That’s… My mother doesn’t even know I was pregnant.”

“Oh right, she acted like she didn’t know a thing. But how could her timing be so unbelievably perfect? She was standing right outside our gate, claiming you owed her money. What is that supposed to mean?!”

Seo-ah’s head spun. So her mother had really…

“And I just confirmed it with Dr. Park. He said you’re not pregnant.”

“What?”

Seo-ah felt her heart shatter and sink into a bloody pulp.

“No… Mother, really…”

“How long are you going to keep lying?! Don’t you get that the jig is up?!”

“No, Mother, that’s not true,” Seo-ah pleaded, shaking her head.

“Taehyuk said you were a good, smart girl even if you came from a poor family, so I let him marry you without a fuss. And this is how you stab us in the back? Rolling down the stairs all by yourself and calling it a miscarriage? Unbelievable.”

“No, Mother, it’s a misunderstanding. It’s really not like that…”

“Enough! Where on earth did you learn such disgusting tricks?!”

Seo-ah dropped to her knees.

“No, Mother. Please listen to me. It’s really not what you think…”

“I need to call Taehyuk right away.”

“What?” Seo-ah snapped her head up.

“I need to tell Taehyuk and the Chairman about this! How you used a fake pregnancy as an excuse to scheme like this…!”

“No, Mother…”

Seo-ah lowered her head, completely consumed by shame. The toxic mess her mother had left behind was tightening around her neck like a noose.

Tears dripped onto the floor. Cornered by both the heartbreaking loss of her baby and her own mother’s betrayal, Seo-ah had nowhere left to turn. But she had no way to prove anything either. The hospital, the circumstances—everything was stacked in Seunghi’s favor.

More than the humiliation of being labeled a liar, what broke Seo-ah was the crushing pain of having her baby’s fleeting existence denied entirely.

It wasn’t a pregnancy…?

“There is no security footage.”

Seo-ah looked up at the cold, flat statement.

“What?”

Seunghi’s voice cut like a blade.

“Listen carefully. Do you think the Chairman or Taehyuk would let you stay in this family if they found out about this?”

“M-Mother…”

“If you don’t want to end up like your mother, getting divorced every other day, keep your mouth shut. Do you understand?”

Seunghi’s words sliced deep into Seo-ah’s heart.

“What happened today stays between us. Keep your mouth shut, and everything will be fine.”

“B-But…”

“Go-eun was with me when you fell. She didn’t push you.”

No. That’s wrong.

Seunghi’s defensive attitude only made Seo-ah suspect Go-eun even more. But Seo-ah was entirely powerless—and it was all because of Young-ran.

“You can always have another baby later. So forget about what happened today. Got it?”

Seunghi’s harsh, demanding tone was like twisting a blade into Seo-ah’s bleeding womb.

Watching Seo-ah hang her head as if she had given up on everything, Seunghi barely managed to hold back a sigh of relief. It felt as if heaven itself had helped her out.

Seunghi recalled the exact moment the accident happened. She had stepped away for just a moment to answer a phone call. In that brief window, Go-eun—who was left alone—had pushed Seo-ah from behind. It had happened right as Seunghi stepped outside.

“Go-eun!”

Go-eun looked slightly surprised when she saw Seunghi, but she didn’t run away.

Seunghi had watched the lower half of Seo-ah’s body get soaked in red as she tumbled down the stairs. At first, she thought Seo-ah had scraped herself. Panicked, she rushed over to check on her, but there were no visible cuts.

No way…

Her mind went completely blank.

The image of Go-eun pushing Seo-ah played on a loop in her head. But rather than being outraged that Go-eun had destroyed her own grandchild, Seunghi’s primary concern was protecting herself.

After Taehyuk and Seo-ah got married, Junghyun had explicitly ordered Seunghi to stop seeing Go-eun.

Naturally, inviting her over to the house was completely out of the question. If Junghyun found out she had brought Go-eun into the house, and that Go-eun had pushed Seo-ah, causing a miscarriage…

Never. Absolutely not.

Seunghi glanced up at Go-eun, who was still standing at the top of the stairs.

What do I do…?

Just then, her eyes caught the security camera mounted right above Go-eun’s head. A chill ran straight down Seunghi’s spine.

Seunghi and Go-eun didn’t call an ambulance right away. Instead, they deleted the footage from the home security system. Seunghi felt a shudder run through her as she watched the recording of Go-eun pushing Seo-ah. Sneaking up quietly and shoving Seo-ah in a split second—anyone could tell it was completely deliberate.

‘You were never here today. Go abroad somewhere for a while.’

Go-eun had simply nodded at Seunghi’s instruction with an indifferent expression. There wasn’t a single shred of remorse on her face.

After sending Go-eun away, Seunghi hurriedly grabbed her phone and dialed a number.

“Dr. Park, it’s me. I’m at the house in Hanyang-dong.”

— Mrs. Kang, what’s going on?

It was the director of an OB-GYN clinic who was close with Seunghi.

“I need your help. I have a patient here.”

— A patient?

“She’s bleeding heavily.”

— I’ll dispatch an ambulance right away.

“You must keep this an absolute secret. Got it?”

Soon after, an ambulance arrived at the house with its sirens turned off. As Seunghi rushed to follow the paramedics out, her eyes caught Seo-ah’s handbag. Terrified that Junghyun might walk in while the house was empty, Seunghi scooped up the bag. In her haste, the bag slipped from her grip and hit the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.

What caught Seunghi’s attention was Seo-ah’s home pregnancy test. Seeing the two distinct lines, Seunghi bit her lip.

She was actually pregnant…?

She had hoped it wasn’t true. Now that she had confirmed Seo-ah’s pregnancy with her own eyes, Seunghi swallowed hard.

I need to find a way out of this. By then, the ambulance carrying Seo-ah had already driven off.

She had to silence Seo-ah. If Junghyun ever found out about this, there would be hell to pay. And not just Junghyun—Taehyuk too…

Bringing Go-eun into the house was undeniably Seunghi’s mistake.

After hiding Seo-ah’s pregnancy test, Seunghi rushed outside.

Of all days, even the family driver was on leave, so she had to take a taxi. She pulled out her phone to call a cab and stepped out through the main gate.

“Oh, hello.”

That was when she ran straight into Young-ran, who was just about to ring the doorbell.

Why is this woman here all of a sudden…? Seunghi recalled seeing Young-ran at the wedding. Looking so shabby yet acting so smug had been so absurd that Seunghi hadn’t even bothered to greet her back then.

“I heard Seo-ah… was here.”

“Did you come to see Seo-ah?” Seunghi asked.

“Yes. I have something to talk to her about, but the girl won’t answer her phone.”

“What is it about? You can tell me.”

“Ah, well… it’s a personal matter.”

“She’s my daughter-in-law. Tell me. I’ll pass the message along.”

In that moment, a cunning glint flashed in Young-ran’s eyes.

She had come all the way here to put pressure on Seo-ah. After all, Seo-ah couldn’t possibly ignore her mother showing up right on her in-laws’ doorstep.

At that exact moment, both Young-ran and Seunghi realized they were thinking the exact same thing:

I can use this to trap Seo-ah.