TMPW Ch 8 part 1

Her ears were ringing.

Her mind was blank.

It would have been better if he had gone on a rampage… If he had told her she would never get away with this. It would have been better if he had just threatened to kill Lee TaeKyung.

“Because I don’t want to be separated from you.”

It didn’t make any sense. She never dreamed that he would say something like this.

“No matter what happens, I don’t want to be separated from you. Is that enough of an answer for you?”

No. Yuan shook her head. He didn’t mean that.

“Yuan. Hurry up and tell me where the money is.”

It’s just sweet talk. Doesn’t everyone say that he’s a cold and calculating man? That he believes women are laughable? Wasn’t this marriage a result of a contract?

Seo JoonHun, you shouldn’t act like this. This is cheating.

“Yuan!”

He grabbed her hand and called out. Still frozen, she looked at him. He was telling the truth. His gloomy, dark eyes. His pale face. He was definitely in shock and furious, but he was still trying to fix this.

“…Alright.”

He shouldn’t act like this. She couldn’t believe his reaction. You shouldn’t be like this, Seo JoonHun-ssi.

“Okay. Tell me. Where is the money? Luxembourg? Zurich?”

She opened her purse. There was a USB and a thin pen inside. She took out the USB and handed it over to him.

“If you look in here, you’ll be able to find it.”

JoonHun paused and looked at her. His brow was furrowed. The whereabouts of the 500 billion are inside this USB…?

Suddenly, JoonHun felt a prick on his neck. Surprised, he raised his head. Yuan was looking at him strangely. She was holding a silver pen in her hand.

“…I’m sorry.”

She whispered.

What is she talking about?

He raised his hand and touched his neck.

“…The dose has been adjusted according to your weight, so you’ll wake up in an hour. JoonHun-ssi, I’m so sorry.”

Her voice began to fade away. He didn’t understand what she was saying.

The Han River was as black and blue as always. Yuan was quietly sitting in the passenger seat and looking out at the river. Who knew what was flowing within those black waters? She didn’t know why she felt so horrible. Why was her hand trembling like this? Why didn’t she just open the door and disappear?

She turned her head and looked at JoonHun. Unconscious, his head was tilted to the side. She thought her husband looked different than the first time they met.

When he arrived at their marriage meeting, he looked clean, sophisticated, and terribly cold. Now he looked… She didn’t know how to describe it. Why didn’t he want to break up with her after learning about everything she’d done? Why was he trying to cover up all her mistakes…?

Yuan looked at his closed eyes, the shadows of his eyelashes, his straight nose, and his lips. His hair, his shoulders, his limp hands…

Starting from the first night of their marriage until this morning, she had been embraced by him countless times. Sometimes it hurt, sometimes it shook her, some nights she went crazy and lost herself…

Yuan, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Get out. Open the door and leave him. Think about TaeKyung. He’s in danger right now.

Yuan grabbed the door handle. It opened with a click. The cold spring wind blew into her sleeves. If she opened this door and left, would she never see JoonHun again?

Whether he divorced her or not, Yuan would never be able to return to his side.

She wanted to look back. She wanted to look at him one last time. Just what are you doing? Why are you almost in tears? Yuan grit her teeth. She opened the door and exited the car. Then she left him in the car and walked away.

The car door closed with a thud. The cold night wind brushed up against her. The brilliant nightscape lights of Seoul looked so unfamiliar today. Because only the two of them had gone out today, there were no bodyguards present. The surveillance cameras installed between the pale streetlamps of Han River Park would definitely be recording her.

Yuan adjusted her collar and began to walk. The sound of her clicking heels faded as she walked further away from the car. A few bicyclists rushed past her with a whoosh of air. She could hear the laughter of the parents that had brought their children to the park. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she had finally broken free.

Suddenly, something dripped down her cheeks. Surprised, Yuan raised her hands and touched her cheeks. She realized then that her cheeks were wet with her own tears.

What is this?

Dumbfounded, Yuan lowered her hands.

She didn’t know why she was crying. Was it because she was scared? That was probably it. She made such a big mess and got caught. She was so scared that she felt numb, so of course she’d shed a few tears.

It definitely wasn’t because she was leaving Seo JoonHun. It definitely wasn’t because her heart was hurting. Her departure was inevitable from the start. He’d end up hating her for what she’d done. It was all inevitable.

“Don’t cry, Min Yuan.”

13 years ago, during the winter when her whole life was turned upside-down, her mother spoke to her.

“If you cry, I’m going to gouge out your eyes.”

A wicked witch. A monster hiding in the forest.

Yuan hated her mother. Ever since she was young, she had never seen her mother in her right mind. Even though she was born with a beauty and talent, she was a woman who threw it all away.

Her mother was an alcoholic. She hated everybody in the house, and that included her only daughter, Yuan. When her mother was young, she was well-known as a genius artist. Yuan never understood why someone like that turned out like this.

“Please get ahold of yourself.”

During the winter of that year, Yuan was fifteen. Her mother had gone on a binge all night long and was sprawled out. Yuan pierced her mother with her cold voice. No matter how much she tried, no matter how much she begged, her mother continued to break down little by little every single day.

“Mom, do you really want to live like this?”

Her mother opened her eyes. Her eyes looked even darker than usual.

“Do I want to live like this? Ha… Hahahaha. Who would want to live like this?”

“Mom.”

“What do you know?”

“What do I know? At least I know that I’m not supposed to live my life like you.”

Her mother’s face froze. She lifted her head and looked at Yuan. Her beautiful, light brown eyes. Her long hair flowing down her back. Yuan took after her mother, and she loved her so much. However, her mother only showed this side of herself to Yuan, and Yuan hated seeing it.

Get ahold of yourself. I’m begging you, get ahold of yourself!

She wanted to cry out so badly.

She knew that her mother hated her father. She knew how difficult it was to live in a loveless marriage. However, she couldn’t understand how someone could destroy themselves so completely like this. Couldn’t she find something that brought her joy? There were so many people who lived as they wished on this earth!

However, Yuan didn’t know. She was only fifteen years old. Of course she didn’t understand the depths of someone else’s life. No, Yuan didn’t understand that no matter how many years passed, she would never understand someone else’s pain. Because she didn’t know this, she was cruel.

“Mom, do you hate everything you see? Everybody is a pest to you, aren’t they? Why do you hate people so much? Will that hatred change anything? Who are you to judge people like that? Look at yourself! Look at what you do from morning til night!”

Her mother didn’t say anything. She just continued to stare at Yuan. Then she whispered.

“Min Yuan. What will you do if you’re not Min Yuan?”

“What?”

Now she’d completely lost her mind.

“What if you’re not Min Yuan? What if you’re not even a Min at all? What if your father wasn’t your real father?”

Her mother had really lost her mind.

“Mom!”

“What will you do if the man you call father is the man who killed your real father?”

She’s lost it! She’s truly lost it!

“What will you do if WooKyung-ahjussi’s son, TaeKyung, is actually your brother?”

Yuan trembled as she looked at her mother. What a disgusting person! Why is she doing this? What made her like this?

“The man you believe to be your father, Min DaeYup… What will you do if I tell you that the bastard is the one who made me this way? Will you still speak to me that way? You bitch. You’re the bitch. You don’t know that I’m hanging onto this wretched life for your sake, do you?”

“Are you crazy? Why are you being like this?”

“Crazy? I wish I was really crazy.”