Chapter 71
“I need to do something…”
“That’s right! That’s what should come out.”
Pavel chuckled loudly, as if approvingly, tapping Sarin’s cheek with his finger.
When he struck her cheek, he never forgot the disgrace he had endured. His golden eyes gleamed coldly.
Sarin looked into his eyes and thought of Owen. Whether his offer to give her what she wanted, even if it meant splitting a man’s belly, was genuine, she didn’t know.
But this despicable man was the father of the wounded Hayan. If the test results showed that he could donate his liver, it had to be sincere, not coerced.
“You bastard. Why would you say such things to a child who’s already in pain? Why…!”
Will the day come when Pavel sincerely cares for the child?
With hostility brewing inside her. Sarin bit her lip, clenched her fist, and was about to strike his face, but her wrist was grabbed.
“We were doing fine until just now. Trash, you said. Feeling like listening to trash hurts like hell. Say it again. What should I do?”
Her wrist hurt as if it might break. If she applied a little more force, it might actually break.
Pavel looked pleased as Sarin’s face contorted. But as she endured the pain without screaming and bit her lip hard, his face gradually twisted.
In the end, it was Pavel who let go of her hand.
Sarin hid her numb wrist behind her back.
“Get tested. It’s part of the deal between Nikolai and me.”
“Yeah, as the father, I’m the most likely candidate, right? Judging by your face, it doesn’t seem right.”
Sarin didn’t respond. Pavel grabbed her chin and faced her stubborn expression.
“Ha.”
Unable to contain his anger, he sighed heavily.
“I hate bothersome things. I hate pain too. Do you think the child will be safe if you keep acting up like this? The child’s life, whether dying or living, is in my hands.”
“You crazy bastard!”
Sarin’s voice sounded like he was determined to kill Hayan. She stiffened as if frozen, trembling with chills.
“Shh. We might have someone following you outside coming in.”
“You’re not needed. Just deal with Nikolai again. Keep the child safe…”
“Do you think I’d sit around doing nothing while you’re dealing with Nikolai? Right now, I’m the closest one to the child in this hospital.”
He flicked her nose with his finger.
Although she tried to appear calm, it was clear she was frightened. Pavel smirked.
“Come on, tell me again. What should I do? You asked, didn’t you? It might not be such a bad offer for you as you think.”
Owen promised to protect the child. But Nikolai above Owen sent this devil here.
“What… should… I do…”
Sarin, who now thought to comply with what Pavel wanted, asked again, “What is it?”
“It’s simple. It’s not something difficult.”
“What…”
“Bring Owen’s finger. I’m not asking you to kill him. That’s not something you can handle either.”
Pavel shook his hand, lacking one finger, in front of Sarin. It seemed like no words could reach him, so maliciously hardened.
“I can’t.”
“Quietly get tested, and if suitable results come out, I’ll arrange the transplant.”
His voice was indifferent. Just saying this much made Sarin behave as if she knew she would give in. When desperate, even the thinnest thread seems like something to grab onto and cling to.
Pavel waved that flimsy thread in front of Sarin’s eyes.
Crushing her because he was Hayan’s biological father, for a miserable reason.
“I can’t…”
“If you came this far to save him, did you even consider it for a moment? You should’ve just let him die at the bottom of the lake.”
As the lake story emerged, her mind cleared.
“…Owen knows how to swim. He’s someone who doesn’t expose weaknesses.”
Now she was convinced. Even if she hadn’t jumped in to save him, when the time was right, Owen would have come out on his own. It wasn’t me who dragged him up from the ground; it was Owen.
In a situation where everyone knew he couldn’t swim, it didn’t seem likely that he would just leave it at that.
Yes, Owen was that kind of man.
It’s his nature to pierce through the obvious when everyone else takes it for granted.
“What are you talking about now?”
Pavel’s face twisted. At the moment he tried to poke Sarin, Yuri, who had entered behind him, intervened.
“Step aside, Pavel.”
Knowing that Owen was still in the hospital, Pavel obediently stepped back.
It’s enough. While he couldn’t actually get the real finger, he would surely drive her crazy with his contemplation. That alone seemed enough to make the woman’s heart go back and forth through hell in his eyes. Then she’d become a bit more obedient.
“See you later.”
Sarin, who left the place as if fleeing, naturally greeted behind her back. Yuri, sending a warning look, followed behind.
Sarin headed straight for the greenhouse on the rooftop where the child was, not Owen’s hospital room. She felt she could only be relieved by seeing Hayan’s face.
Just because Pavel was the child’s biological father didn’t mean she had to force affection onto him. However, even if she didn’t want to, she shouldn’t utter cursed words to a child born into the world. A small child suffers during their short lifetime. They say it’s okay to worry more about death than life.
Hayan wasn’t afraid of death.
The one who desperately wanted to see the child crying and feverish for the first time was Pavel, the father.
What meaning would his death be to the father he had longed for so much? She couldn’t even bring herself to ask now out of fear. And it was despairing that the one uttering such words casually was the child’s father.
She wasn’t supposed to come, but she ended up having to. The moment Sarin discovered her sister’s diary, she already felt Eden City, which she had never seen before, calling out to her. It was a vague intuition that the last key to the child’s treatment would be here.
Unable to open the greenhouse door, she pounded her chest with her fist again, suppressing her pounding heart. And before she knew it, she roughly wiped away the tears welling up on her hand.
Upon entering the greenhouse, she saw lush tropical trees that she couldn’t see in Eden City.
While the sky outside was cloudy, the greenhouse was warm and peaceful.
Occasionally, patients sitting on benches, chatting, passed by in a leisurely scene.
It was larger than she thought, but finding the child was easy. Owen, who was kneeling in front of the wheelchair, was clearly noticeable, opening his lips as if to say something.
Sarin’s gaze immediately turned to Hayan’s face. Without realizing it, she clenched her fist. She remembered the fearful face the child had when facing Pavel.
With slightly parted lips, the child listened quietly while Yujin interpreted from behind the wheelchair.
Owen’s lips moved as if drawing lines. Hayan bowed deeply, then straightened up and even crossed his arms.
“Miss.”
“Just a moment.”
Sarin hurriedly spoke as Yuri, who had approached from behind, called her. She was curious about what they were talking about, but as she approached, she felt Owen might stand up.
Hayan didn’t have a frightened expression. It was a face that seemed to be worried about something, but Owen still smiled gently in front of him. He lightly stroked the child’s chin with his large hand.
From a distance, Hayan’s complexion looked even worse. Thoughts of considering transplantation echoed in her mind.
Following that, Pavel’s words about cutting Owen’s finger came to mind, and Sarin’s temples creased.
That would only be the beginning. Even if she fulfills what he wants, it’s just the beginning, and she won’t be able to escape Pavel’s trap.
“Aunt!”
Before she knew it, Hayan was looking at Sarin. Owen remained seated next to him, not getting up but bowing his body towards the child’s feet. Two pairs of golden eyes stared directly at her, as if Owen had signaled to the child that she was there.
Owen slowly opened his lips as he looked at Sarin.
As the lips moved to prevent her from reading them, Hayan’s lips murmured something closer to Moore, and the child, hearing it through interpretation, grinned broadly.
“The elder awaits your response.”
“To allow Pavel to meet the child. Is waiting for an answer while making threats his way of doing things?”
Sarin whispered quietly to Yuri behind her.
“It’s a kind of intimidation. The child will be safe as long as Miss makes up her mind.”
“To the extent of ordering a transplant for his beloved grandson?”
“That’s…”
Yuri also found it hard to believe that Pavel would order his liver to be transplanted to the child, as he indeed cherished Pavel.
Unless there was another alternative.
Besides his son, Nikolai had never shown concern for any sick child. Wasn’t Kirill a good example?
So Kirill’s father saved him in his own way.
“After all, whether the child receives a transplant or receives life-sustaining treatment, it requires money, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. Money comes first.”
That’s why Sarin came here. Money was needed to pay for hospital bills and even to consider the dreamlike transplantation.
“We’ll do our best here to ensure the child’s ‘safety’ until the transplant is ready.”
Yuri asserts that he can clearly confirm what Sarin cannot do. He emphasized the safety that she fears the most.
Pavel and Nikolai were of the same kind. By pushing Pavel forward to the delayed Sarin’s response, it was clear warning that the child’s safety lay solely in Nikolai’s hands.
