Chapter 113. The Pains That Linger

What he revealed undid him.

There was nothing in his mind but that possibility that he was losing Euna. He knew— in some way, he knew that he lost Seohyun when he realized that she deceived him somehow and it was something so painful for him to accept. But Euna— he can’t lose Euna.

He would go crazy.

Yonghwa left the house more broken than that moment he exposed what he knew that even the tears blinded him. He cried— in front of her he cried. He cried from the pain of deception; from giving her a huge part of him only to realize that he didn’t knew her at all.

And he cried some more thinking of his little one, but grateful somehow that she didn’t need to know all of these. He swallowed, pushing the tears away and tried to spot the closest street he could make a U-turn from. The thought of his baby somehow put his mind back on track. He had nowhere to go and it would be better to get these ugliness settled with Seohyun just for their baby.

There was nothing he could do— he wasn’t ready to lose Euna.

There was no way he was losing his daughter.

Yonghwa drove as fast as he could back to the lake house to face Seohyun again. Whatever resolution they would get after, he would just face them all just to make sure he would have Euna close to him. There was this ache in his chest realizing that he was actually preparing himself to break-up with Seohyun. The complacency that this was no longer temporary was his own doing and it hurt that he made himself believe that despite their agreement, she was his for the long haul.

He never felt this way with anyone else, never even expected to feel like this for anyone. His fairytale was now crumbling down before he even realized that it wasn’t real at all. Then she had the guts to talk about ‘love’— real and raw feelings when she couldn’t even tell him how she really felt.

Or was it all part of the sham?

Did Seohyun plan to make him fall in love with her and wring him dry?

His stomach churned from all these thinking— or was it because of the sudden ominous feeling he had the moment he alighted the car and rushed to the house?

There was this sense of foreboding flooding through him when he stared at the stairs to the bedrooms so he climbed up, two steps at a time until he reached theirs.

It was quiet… and empty.

He knew then they were gone.

What followed was a mad, useless dash to check every room in the house all the while trying to call her only to be received by that automated tone asking him to leave a message. Then, he tried dialing Yuri’s number but she wasn’t picking up. They could be with her or not and he was even worried with the possibility that they weren’t. It was close to midnight and the car Seohyun normally used was still in the driveway.

There was a short-lived moment of relief when he got to her wardrobe cabinet and saw that most of her clothes were there. However, when he checked the baby’s room, most of Euna’s clothes and things were gone. It was then that Yonghwa fell on the floor, his back resting behind the changing table, legs folded close to his body. He was shaking, trembling but his mind went blank. He sniffed, pushing his fingers through his hair in defeat.

The tears no longer came maybe because he wasn’t thinking at all.

Perhaps because there was nothing to cry about anymore.

He lost them.

Staring at the phone by his feet, his fingers went on clicking Yuri’s number and he couldn’t tell how long he sat there until she answered almost quietly.

“Hello, Yonghwa?”

“Yuri-ssi, is she— are they with you?”

“Yes, they’re here…”

“Can I talk to Seohyun?”

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Don’t worry, I will talk to her. Just know that they are with me and they are safe.”

“And Eu-Euna?” His voice wobbled that he had to swallow just so he could continue, “Is she still asleep?”

 “Yes, she was asleep the whole ride. Get some sleep too….”

Yonghwa found himself smiling, the little one was probably exhausted playing with him that she didn’t even wake up from the car-ride. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Please… please look after… them. And w-will you tell Seohyun that I— I need to talk to her?”

“Okay. I will…”

“Thank you…” he said softly and ended the call.

The phone dropped back on the floor once more and his body followed.

~~~~

Seohyun hardly slept that night because her baby was also restless in her sleep and not only because she was still trying to wrap her head around what he revealed. A rush of cold air came to her thinking that she could not even try to deny what he said because she knew in her innermost being that it was all true. She smiled to herself thinking that there were moments when she imagined that it would be a different situation for them—that he would be her first.

And he was— he is.

And she cried again because he had been carrying this pain, this belief that she lied to him. Brushing her hand on her nose, she tugged her chest with the other remembering his tears. He cried because of this stupid assumption but for Seohyun, it only showed her how much he was loving her. But it hurt too that he didn’t trust her enough to just confront her before it exploded the way it did.

The accusation was also painful— after all that she told him about her parents, he would still think that they could manipulate her into doing something she couldn’t even imagine. And why would her parents even do that? Why did he think that she set him up for this? What would she get?

All she could do was to take a deep breath just to stop herself from getting even more frustrated. She wanted to talk to him again because there was still this big hole in his story. But right now, she only need for this anger and frustration to subside or else she would only say things she would regret. After a few more minutes, her little girl started tossing and turning and before long, she opened her eyes to see her sitting close to her. “Good morning, Euna-yang. You overslept today,” she cooed but her baby was not all sunshiny this morning as she continued to whimper so Seohyun just picked her up and hugged her tight smiling sadly, “I wish Appa won’t think of you too much, it’s making you restless…”

A soft knock on the door startled Euna and she quickly turned towards the sound surprisingly smiling despite her tears. However, the moment Yuri peeped in her smile disappeared and just stared at her curiously as if it w