Chapter 58
“I love you. Hyun-oh, do you love me?”
Sua repeated the words that Hyun-oh had uttered, as if wanting to confirm whether she had heard correctly. She couldn’t believe it enough to want to verify. Was it possible? That Hyun-oh liked her.
No, loved her.
Of course, there were times when she thought that Hyun-oh was opening up to her to some extent. When Hyun-oh whispered affectionate words to her, when their bodies touched passionately, and when he looked at her like this.
But she hadn’t mistaken his feelings towards her for love. She wasn’t that naive.
Hyun-oh loving Han Sua? That couldn’t be true.
When they first met, it was she who stubbornly pushed for marriage, presenting various conditions. He had clearly said no.
At that, Sua shook her head. It was as if she was repeating, “There’s no way.”
“You’re lying. You didn’t want to break up with me out of pity, and because you were already married. So I thought you were trying to stop it.”
Maybe he felt too sorry for her since he knew the household was falling apart. Perhaps that made more sense.
“Sua.”
Hyun-oh called her with a low voice.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“I didn’t know my feelings?”
“…You didn’t say it. Even now, I don’t know. Whether this is real or a lie.”
Hyun-oh smiled as if finding Sua’s answer strange. His scarred cheek twitched slightly.
“Why did I desperately cling to you when I didn’t even love you?”
“That’s… But… Why did you?”
There was no reason for him to like her.
Sua was unnoticeable. No one paid attention to her. She had never thought about being loved unconditionally by someone.
But what about Hyun-oh? He always attracted people’s attention. She had always liked him and been restless about him all her life.
Why did he like her?
Hyun-oh frowned as if he didn’t like Sua’s words.
“Do you need a reason?”
It wasn’t like that, but it was hard to understand. Hyun-oh sighed like a breath.
“I don’t know why I started liking you, either. It’s the first time I’ve liked someone.”
Hyun-oh whispered with parched lips.
“So it took me a long time to realize my feelings.”
“…I being annoyed by your expressions, angry when you cried, and impatient when I saw you with another man.”
Hyun-oh’s voice echoed in the small hospital room.
“It was all love, and I realized it too late.”
“…Hyun-oh.”
His gaze was too honest to dismiss as a lie. His serious and calm voice resonated in the hospital room.
The rain seemed to have stopped, and the morning sun slowly seeped into the room. Hyun-oh’s face, which was normally hidden, was revealed in the darkness. It was a worn face, but his pitch-black eyes shone brightly with unparalleled brilliance.
“Even though I’m such a nuisance to you, my love has always been yours.”
“I was a nuisance to you.”
It was absurd to say that Hyun-oh was a nuisance.
“Hyun-oh, you’ve always been my love. There hasn’t been… a moment when it wasn’t love. How could it be tiresome?”
He was hurt badly enough to turn her world upside down just by hearing about it. Just the thought that he might not wake up again made her want to die instead of him. The feeling of her heart being torn apart when she suggested divorce couldn’t even be expressed in words.
Hyun-oh was her only love in life.
But how could it be tiresome?
But to Sua’s answer, Hyun-oh frowned as if hearing unexpected words.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
They hadn’t talked about it from the beginning. That she loved him. After suggesting divorce, she didn’t talk about it anymore to avoid eliciting sympathy from him, but…
Her feelings hadn’t changed.
Hyun-oh still seemed puzzled, as if not understanding.
“…That was just an act.”
“An act?”
“A play to marry me.”
“That’s a play?”
“I thought you were staging it to prevent our marriage. You clearly said you didn’t want it.”
At that, Sua shook her head. Repeatedly, as if there was no way it could be true.
“I love you.”
“Actually, I wanted to marry you. But the reason was because I liked you.”
Because I wanted to reach the person I admired since I was young. That’s all.
Hyun-oh’s eyes trembled. His upright gaze seemed to search through memories here and there.
Why couldn’t he believe it?
“From the beginning, I told you I liked you.”
“No, at that time, Han Dong Group was collapsing, and you needed support. That’s why you married me.”
Sua struggled to understand what he said.
Did he think that my confession of love was all a lie? That I married him because Han Dong Group was collapsing?
“No, that’s not true. From the beginning, I only realized the danger of the company after my father collapsed.”
Even though her father urged her to marry someone else, Sua still liked Hyun-oh. She even dared to stand up to her father for the first time and got slapped for it.
“Then why did you try to leave me?”
“That’s…”
Sua couldn’t say anything. The nuisance wasn’t Hyun-oh, but her own family. Her brother Ji-heon and her sister Ji-soo, who only cared about themselves. She didn’t want them to drag Hyun-oh down.
Does Hyun-oh really love me? But even if I accept his love, is it okay? In the midst of confusion, there was a knock on the door.
“It’s time for the morning check-up.”
“Yes, come in.”
As Sua turned away from Hyun-oh to welcome the doctor, her hand, which had been touching his, still felt the warmth, as if it had been burned.
—
“That was all love, realized too late.”
Hyun-oh’s passionate confession. But as if nothing had happened, days passed as if such conversations had never occurred between them.
She was restless. As soon as Hyun-oh’s condition stabilized, he underwent surgery for his right arm compound fracture. This was followed by detailed brain scans, physical examinations, and so on.
Every day was chaotic. Sua returned to her home in Seoul to bring the necessities for Hyun-oh, and she only wished for his quick recovery. She didn’t have the leisure to think about anything else; her mind was too impatient.
Relationship between them or marriage were just trivial matters compared to Hyun-oh’s well-being.
Then, finally, after a week had passed.
“You can be discharged now. You’ll need outpatient treatment for your arm fracture, but other than that, you should be fine.”
Sua’s face lit up with a bright smile at the doctor’s words.
“You can be discharged!”
“It’s really fortunate.”
The manager, who had been more anxious than anyone else throughout Hyun-oh’s hospitalization, seemed overjoyed as he left, as if he wanted to run.
But Hyun-oh frowned.
“It’s good, isn’t it?”
His sullen words fell coldly.
—
After escorting Hyun-oh and Sua from the hospital to their home, the manager put down his luggage, bowed his head, and left.
“Then please rest well. If you need anything, feel free to contact us anytime.”
As the manager left the house, an awkward silence settled inside.
Sua glanced at Hyun-oh. He had improved significantly compared to when the accident happened, but he still looked somewhat pale. There were still red scars on his white cheeks, and his skeletal structure was more pronounced due to the slight weight loss.
But even with such a handsome face, he still exuded a certain atmosphere.
My gaze keeps wandering to him.
“It’s been a while since this house.”
Hoo, Hyun-oh breathed out a short breath and ran his hand through his hair with his left hand.
After his birthday, he came to this house for the first time. But then he furrowed his brows.
“What do you plan to do from now on?”
Sua bit her lip at his question.
Is he asking with the intention of suggesting we go to a hotel? Or is he asking if I want to leave?
During Hyun-oh’s hospitalization, Sua had thought about it. It might be a somewhat shameless suggestion, but it was an unavoidable choice.
“Well, I decided not to live together anymore…”
Although they had decided to divorce.
Sua cautiously spoke up.
“But until you fully recover, I want to take care of you here at this house.”
He hurt his right arm. It wouldn’t be easy to live alone. Whether it was in a hotel or in this house.
“Of course, only if you’re okay with it…”
At her words, Hyun-oh quietly looked at Sua. His sharp gaze was intense. He closed his slow eyes once and then opened them, lifting his head.
“No, you can’t.”
“…”
That’s right too. They had already decided to divorce. It might be easier for others.
Before Sua nodded her head, Hyun-oh reached out his left hand and placed it on Sua’s cheek. Gently, he stroked her cheek, then her neck, and finally her shoulder. A tingling sensation enveloped her entire body.
“Not only when I’m in pain, but even after I recover, don’t go anywhere.”
“…”
“Don’t go anywhere now. Stay by my side.”
Please.
His pleading voice was deep and thick.
