“Daddy?”
Bianca bristled at Janice’s apology.
“Mother!”
She ignored her son’s outburst, continuing on.
“But don’t you worry, sweetheart. You’re my granddaughter! I knew it the moment I saw you. Want to know a secret? Grandma fell in love with you the second we met.”
Bianca whispered the sweetest, most precious words she could to the precious and lovely child, hoping not to leave even a trace of hurt in her little heart.
Janice, who had braced herself for a scolding, stared at her in a daze as if enchanted. Watching the old woman, something warm welled up in her chest.
She didn’t know why—but she felt like crying. Was it because of this sudden kindness after feeling lonely for so long?
Memories of her late adoptive parents came flooding back, and the old woman’s affection ached in her chest with a painful tenderness.
Tears welled up in Janice’s eyes.
“Poor thing.”
Bianca gathered Janice into her arms and gently patted her back. The sound of the child sniffling echoed through the parlor.
Anyone watching might have thought them the most loving grandmother and granddaughter pair in the world. Garen, however, let out a snort.
“Mother, this is absurd. Why are you being so unreasonable? Do you really want to label your twenty-five-year-old son an unwed father? Who even told you something like this?”
“What’s wrong with being twenty-five? It’s not like you’ll get married at forty-five or fifty-five. You’ll never show me a single grandchild.”
“Mother!”
“I’m not deaf. No need to shout. And tell me—am I wrong?”
Bianca waved him off with an annoyed expression, shooing her hand at him like swatting a fly. Garen ground his teeth as he watched.
Bianca looked at her son with disdain and continued.
“You say you don’t remember, but let’s be honest—your memory’s never been exactly reliable. There’s no certainty. Life is full of ‘what ifs.’”
“I only lost my memory for one year. What could’ve possibly happened in that short time? And you know this too—
I can’t even touch women. My body rejects them. You’re not seriously suggesting that I miraculously recovered during that year and fathered a child, are you? That’s ridiculous!”
Garen laid out his argument with cold, logical precision: there was no way Janice could be his daughter.
Janice froze at the unexpected claim. She remembered him yelling that he broke out in hives just from making eye contact with a woman.
…So that wasn’t just an excuse to avoid responsibility? It’s true?
She looked at Garen with a fresh perspective.
I just assumed he was trash…
From Bianca’s reaction, it seemed the year Garen couldn’t remember overlapped with the time Janice was in the womb.
The problem was that Garen seemed genuinely incapable of being near women. The “rejection response” sounded like a psychological issue that had manifested physically.
She had assumed he was just like her biological father from her previous life—a total scumbag—and had ranted accordingly. But now, hearing this, she couldn’t say she didn’t understand his situation.
Plus, twenty-five wasn’t all that far from her own age in her past life. He had just graduated from college—and suddenly a seven-year-old shows up and says, “Hi, I’m your kid”?
Of course he’d be mad. I would be too.
Janice nodded to herself.
There’s nothing more unreasonable than asking a victim to understand their abuser. But still, when she tried to put herself in his shoes… it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.
Even so, she had no intention of forgiving Garen for insulting her parents. She would rather beg under a bridge than grow up under his roof.
…But then again, is he really not my biological father? Then who is?
Janice’s thoughts were interrupted.
“Garen, you little brat! What have you done this time?”
The parlor doors burst open again with a booming voice. A man who looked like he was built entirely from muscle stormed in. Though speckled with white, his hair and features bore a striking resemblance to Garen’s.
He had to be Bianca’s husband…
“I’ve suffered long enough, my little nightingale! I’ll deal with this unfilial brat myself. To think this is the only child I have…”
“Oh, darling!”
“Nightingale?” Janice blinked, doubting her ears. But what truly stunned her came next.
Bianca, flustered, gave the man a playful punch on the shoulder, and he grinned like a lovestruck teenager.
A flood of saccharine, honey-drenched nicknames spilled from his mouth like candy. Janice shuddered.
As she stood speechless from the cultural shock, the man suddenly snapped his head around. His eyes locked on the tiny girl sitting all alone behind the tall adults.
He’d just been spouting sappy nonsense to Bianca, but his rugged face—scarred by a blade from brow to cheek—looked downright terrifying.
He stared at her. There was no warmth in his gaze. He strode up to her.
…Round two, here we go.
Janice, who’d been watching all this like a movie, was abruptly pulled back into reality.
She bowed her head like a penitent pilgrim, bracing herself for verbal abuse. Then the man spoke.
“Do you know who I am?”
“……”
A cruelly difficult question. He was Garen’s father, so technically her grandfather. But Garen had insisted he wasn’t her father.
And honestly… Garen had a point.
…Could it be this guy?
The man and Bianca looked like a couple deeply in love. Janice couldn’t imagine a family like that—not after her previous life. But then she remembered the saying: cheaters always play the loving husband at home.
Her father from her past life, Min Kyung-tae, had been the same—acting like the perfect dad while living a double life.
Watching the man, Janice’s eyes filled with loathing and contempt.
He spoke again.
“Looks like you’ve figured something out. Go ahead. Tell me—who am I?”
“……”
Janice clenched her teeth. She didn’t want to say it. Not to this man.
But everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer—even Garen, who looked completely baffled.
She had no choice.
Janice gave Bianca a quick apologetic bow, then spoke her guess aloud.
“Daddy?”
A heavy silence blanketed the room.
No one said a word. Not even the man who’d asked for the truth—General No himself.
“Pfft!”
Bianca broke into loud, gleeful laughter.
Janice stared at her with wide eyes, worried she’d cracked from shock.
“…Is he really my father?”
Garen’s trembling voice delivered the final blow.
Then the general’s roar rang through the air.
“You little punk!”
He smacked Garen on the back of the head.
“Father!”
As Garen shouted in protest, the general smacked him again.
Yes!
Janice couldn’t help feeling satisfied. Sure, she might understand where Garen was coming from now—but that didn’t erase the grudge she held over the things he said.
Suddenly, Bianca was beside her, gently hugging her.
“You got confused, didn’t you, sweetheart? Because that boy kept insisting you weren’t his daughter. I’m sorry. But you are his daughter. You’re my granddaughter.”
Janice looked up at her in surprise.
Bianca smiled warmly and continued.
“You must be hungry. Do you like pie? Apple pie. Your grandfather baked it this morning.”
“…That scary, violent grandfather made apple pie? Wait—but you’re sure I’m your granddaughter?”
“Of course. You’re my granddaughter. And your grandfather’s hobby is baking. He bakes pie every morning because I love it.”
Bianca winked.
Janice couldn’t believe it. A man who looked like he could wrestle bulls, whose arms were thicker than her face—baked pies?
Wait… but how does she know I’m her granddaughter?
Janice asked silently with her eyes. Bianca reached out a hand.
“Come now, I’ll explain everything later. First, let’s eat. We need to move so I can give that boy the beating he deserves.”
Janice could’ve sworn she heard her grinding her teeth on that last sentence… but maybe it was just her imagination.
Still in a daze, Janice took Bianca’s hand without realizing it. Bianca beamed.
“A wise choice, my little lark.”
That’s when the weird nicknames began.
“It’s Janice, not ‘lark’…”
“Janice is the lark, and the lark is Janice. Do you like lily of the valley? You remind me of one.”
A sense of dread crept over her. If she said yes, she’d probably get called “lily of the valley” next.
Not that she wanted to be called “lark,” either…
“So, my sweet lily of the valley, how do you like the apple pie?”
💕💕
❤️❤️❤️