Chapter 57
As he opened his eyes, a surge of pain enveloped Hyun-oh’s body before the brightness could even register. Amidst Sua’s sobbing, a harsh and hoarse voice emerged from his labored breaths.
“Don’t cry.”
What had happened? Hyun-oh looked at Sua crying and tried to recall the memories that had passed. He had broken up with Sua, left the house, and was on his way back from the Gumi factory.
That was as far as his thoughts went.
All memories abruptly stopped there. Try as he might, his head hurt too much to piece together the memories.
Sua lifted her head at Hyun-oh’s voice. Tears stained her pretty cheeks.
“Mr. Hyun-oh… Are you awake?”
“Yeah.”
Instead of nodding, Hyun-oh slowly opened and closed his eyes.
His trembling fingertips lightly touched Sua’s fingers. Even this small action sent a shiver through his entire body. Sua still hadn’t stopped crying. If she was crying this much, was he seriously hurt?
Leaning in, Sua asked, “How’s your body? Are you hurt anywhere?”
It felt like his whole body was shattered into pieces. A pain he had never felt before swept through Hyun-oh’s robust body. But because Sua was crying, he shook his head.
“I’m fine.”
His voice didn’t feel like his own. Sua narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“…Really? Should I call a doctor?”
“No.”
Just a moment, let’s stay together.
Just a moment.
Hyun-oh struggled to breathe through the pain.
His feet hurt so much it was agonizing. No, not just his feet, his whole body felt cold. Only the fingertips touched by Sua felt warm.
Sua nodded at Hyun-oh’s words and stood up, then sat back down. Her hand still firmly held onto Hyun-oh’s, as if she feared he would run away.
“What happened?”
The memories in his mind were blurry.
It felt like he had been driving a car. But after that, he had no consciousness.
Where am I?
Looking around, he saw a white hospital room. It wasn’t the usual hospital he went to at Korea University, but a new place. He saw the words “Kirim University Hospital” on the clock hanging on the wall in the distance.
If it was Kirim University, it was located at the end of Gyeonggi Province.
Seeing Hyun-oh’s bewildered expression, Sua answered for him.
“You got into an accident on the way back from the Gumi factory. Your car skidded on the wet road because of the typhoon.”
“Oh.”
Memories of the car skidding on the wet road came back to him. He bowed his head and looked down at his heavy body. If he was injured like this…
“And what about the Manager Lee and Manager Kim? Are they okay?”
“Manager Kim was barely injured, so he went home earlier today, and Manager Lee only has minor injuries, so he’ll be discharged tomorrow.”
“I see.”
It was a relief that Manager Lee, who had just become a father, and Manager Kim, who had recently married at a late age, weren’t seriously injured. That was fortunate.
“Then…”
What about me?
As he was about to ask, Hyun-oh stopped for a moment.
Perhaps, it was something serious.
“You had a compound fracture in his arm, and a concussion… Thankfully, there’s no bleeding or anything. You’ll need surgery for the compound fracture, but the rest shouldn’t take too long to recover.”
It was a lighter injury than he had thought. Maybe his body hurt because of the bruises.
Hyun-oh furrowed his eyebrows.
“It’s nothing.”
Sua shook her head.
“It’s not nothing. They said if you hadn’t woken up from hitting your head, it could have been serious. Even now, your hands are cold and your flesh is torn.”
“I’ll get better.”
“You say you’ll get better.”
Sua looked at Hyun-oh, her voice trembling. She tightly grasped his hand. Sua, who had been bowing her head and crying, slowly opened her mouth.
“It’s fortunate that you’re okay, but how…”
Sua’s voice faltered as she stumbled over her words.
“How will I live if something happens to you?”
The tears Hyun-oh had stopped when he woke up began to pour out again. Sua’s eyes, usually thin because of her double eyelids, were swollen. Even though they were swollen, they didn’t dry up and continued to flow.
The first time Hyun-oh met Han Sua on the ferry.
He thought grown-up Sua’s smiling face was really pretty. Even if it was a forced smile to be chosen on the ferry.
On such a sunny day, he remembered every detail of her face, down to the shadow that slightly accentuated her pretty cheekbones.
But I keep making you cry.
I keep making Han Sua, who smiles so beautifully, cry.
“Why are you crying?”
Hyun-oh lifted his head slightly and shook it.
“What does it matter whether I live or die?”
I hope you would smile, live happily, and be by my side.
But if you die, I feel like I won’t be able to live anymore.
But you won’t, will you?
The time we spent together was just a means to escape from my father’s oppression. Even if you come back, you’ll go to places I don’t know, do things I don’t know, and probably date another man who isn’t me.
So whether I live or die doesn’t matter. Why are you crying as if my death here is such a big deal?
That self-deprecating sentiment sprung forth from Hyun-oh.
“Just because I’m slightly injured, you’re crying. It makes me keep having expectations.”
It’s not like I’m disabled, or I’m on my deathbed. I just got into a traffic accident, but you stayed by my side all night, crying, looking at me with such a sad expression.
That’s why I keep losing my mind.
“Maybe you thought you might like me. Even though you said let’s divorce…”
“…”
“In truth, it wasn’t because of our tangled situation that you wanted a divorce. I got false hopes because of that. Because you’re crying like this here.”
Suavsaid nothing.
It must be a misconception.
Han Sua is such a kind woman.
Even when a stranger gets hurt in front of her, she gets shocked and cries, feeling sorry for them. She’s the person who wavered here and there when Chairman Han Jung-gi, whom she didn’t have a close relationship with, left this world.
So even though our relationship wasn’t close, even though I always resented her, I can understand why she would cry if her husband, whom she kissed and embraced for over six months, got hurt.
Even though I knew it was irrational, Hyun-oh’s heart kept harboring different emotions.
“I kept having expectations because of this tangled situation between us. I thought you wanted a divorce because of that. I got false hopes because you’re crying like this here.”
Sua looked at Hyun-oh silently, still holding his hand.
“I have something I want to ask, Mr. Hyun-oh.”
What could it be?
Does she want to ask if I still have such false feelings?
While still holding onto Hyun-oh’s hand, Sua slowly spoke.
“Did you really know that Han Group will get bankrupt when you married me?”
Hyun-oh’s expression wrinkled at the unexpected question.
“…What’s this all of a sudden?”
“I’m curious.”
What’s the point of knowing now? With a wry smile, Hyun-oh answered. It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.
“I knew. I didn’t know when I first met you, but afterward…”
“How so? If you weren’t among the group of people, you wouldn’t have known.”
“I found it strange. I thought it didn’t make sense for ambitious Chairman Han Jung-gi to marry me, a mere secretary at PY, a smaller-sized company within the Han Group, to his eldest daughter like you. So I looked into it.”
Sua’s deep brown eyes flickered.
“You knew everything and still got married…?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Why… marrying me means nothing if Han Group collapses.”
Hyun-oh moved his thumb, grazing her back of the hand.
The soft skin made his heart flutter. Continuing that action, Hyun-oh spoke.
“I didn’t care about Han Group from the beginning.”
“But to secure the management rights, you needed to marry into a good family.”
“I could earn it through hard work.”
“What you saw on the line, marrying a secretary like me to secure the management rights…”
Sua hesitated, mumbling her words. It didn’t make sense, she shook her head.
Even Chairman Han tried to stop it.
But now Hyun-oh felt like he understood why he made that choice.
Hyun-oh spat out the words towards Sua, who was still trembling.
“Because I didn’t want to marry someone like Choi Dong-ryul from LATS Company.”
“…”
“Because I didn’t want to see you suffer under Chairman Han Jung-gi.”
“Just out of pity?”
“No.”
Hyun-oh firmly shook his head.
“I used to think it was pity. But now I know.”
“…”
“Because I like you.”
At those words, Sua’s body trembled. Hyun-oh was engulfed by the impulse to get up right now and embrace her delicate body.
“Because I love you.”
“…”
“Not someone else, but I want you to be by my side.”
That’s why I had no choice but to marry you.
