Chapter 6: The Bleeding Reality

“CEO Yoon. We have finished checking the charts sent by your secretarial team. For now, the opinion of the Neuro-center head is…”

As the explanation dragged on, Leehyun’s face turned icy cold. With his back to the director, Leehyun could not take his eyes off Seohee’s flickering eyelids.

Some additional tests were needed, but in the case of a CT or MRI, a consultation was necessary because she was pregnant. They planned to coordinate with the OB/GYN department.

Seohee nodded mechanically at the director’s kind explanation, while Leehyun rubbed his Adam’s apple, looking displeased.

Without realizing how tense the people lined up before them had become, Leehyun asked toward Seohee.

“What shall we do?”

His voice, asking for her decision, was terrifyingly gentle.

“You said I needed… tests.”

She had been in a dazed state of mind, but she had heard it clearly. That additional tests were needed. And not just for the OB/GYN, but for her brain.

“I don’t think you’re in the condition for that right now.”

Leehyun brushed aside her fallen hair and tapped her cheek.

His voice toward Seohee was gentle, and his touch was affectionate, but the gathered medical staff felt a chill in their chests.

From what they heard, it wasn’t a situation where she needed immediate testing, nor was she in a state to handle it; his tone implied that they were talking too much in front of a fatigued patient.

“If it’s a test that absolutely must be done today…”

Seohee said, struggling to keep her eyelids open, blinking slowly.

“Seohee.”

Leehyun, who had been meeting her gaze from below, looked up at her. Whether intentional or not, he was almost kneeling again.

“You can do whatever you want.”

Leehyun coaxed her as if whispering. When Seohee still didn’t respond easily, he asked the medical staff behind him.

“Is that not so?”

At the icy, dripping coldness in his voice, the director coughed shortly and exchanged looks with the staff.

“If you are not currently in any discomfort, you can rest and do the tests later. Do you have any severe abdominal pain or a splitting headache?”

Seohee shook her head. After a moment of thought, she spoke with resolve.

“I want to rest.”

That one sentence was enough. Leehyun sent everyone away, and Seohee showered. Once the warm water touched her, exhaustion rushed in, threatening to make her collapse at any moment.

“Lee-hyun.”

The door opened even though she hadn’t opened it herself. As if he had been waiting. By the time she regained her senses, she was held in his arms again.

“Just dry your hair and sleep.”

Leehyun walked past the bed and laid Seohee down on the sofa in the middle of the room. He brought a hairdryer and dried her hair.

You shouldn’t catch a cold. His low voice, filled with worry for her, sounded like a lullaby. Seohee’s heavy eyelids lost the battle against fatigue and closed.

Watching the sleeping Seohee, Leehyun moved. As he pushed open the door to the hospital room—which was more luxurious than a hotel suite—the waiting director bowed his head flat.

“Clear everything out.”

“……Excuse me?”

What do you mean? The director asked reflexively.

“The entire VIP ward. I said clear it out.”

As if to say he wouldn’t repeat himself, Leehyun rubbed his Adam’s apple.

“T-that’s going too far… there’s the convenience of other patients, and as you know, the VIP ward of Gayun Hospital is so highly sought after that even members of the National Assembly are on the waiting list…”

Leehyun, leaning against the door, pressed his forehead to the endless, rambling explanation.

“You have a VIP room in the cancer ward where Chairman Yoon Junghwan is barely hanging onto life, don’t you?”

He meant for them to figure it out themselves, whether they used that or another ward. As the director nodded at Leehyun’s slowly furrowing brow, Seung-ho, who was standing nearby, gave the order.

“We don’t need the existing security for the VIP rooms. Withdraw everyone.”

Hearing those words, Leehyun quietly entered the room where Seohee was sleeping.

***

High above a building overlooking the city’s flashy lights, Yoon Jihoon held a glass of Macallan Sherry Oak 25-year-old, shaking the glass as if he might spill the whiskey.

“So, Yoon Leehyun finally found Jin Seohee.”

I’m the one who saved her, so why is it you again, Jin Seohee? Why is it Yoon Leehyun, even this time?

Clack. The sound of the ice melting in the whiskey glass rang vividly in his ears.

On the screen covering one entire wall, complex details like Gayun Group’s succession structure, the inheritance, and the separation of affiliates were pouring out.

Jihoon’s gaze fixed on the headline: ‘The Eldest Son of Gayun Group, Who Was Said to Be Dead, Yoon Leehyun.’

The one and only crown prince of Gayun reduced to a second son who only manages a trading company.

After taking a sip of the Sherry Oak, he slammed the glass he was holding onto the desk. Red blood flowed down his left hand.

It was already grieving enough to become a second son overnight, but Jihoon could not accept the fact that he had to lose Jin Seohee, whom he had finally gotten his hands on.

“No, if I lose Jin Seohee now, do I lose the Gayun Group as well?”

Jihoon, who was rubbing his nameplate—scratched by the broken glass—with his blood-stained hand, froze at the sudden realization.

Yoon Jihoon, President of Gayun Corporation Fashion Division. Looking at his own name, he threw the nameplate onto the floor.

At the loud noise, the woman who had been sleeping on the sofa lifted her head blankly. Jihoon didn’t even turn his gaze toward her as he stepped on the nameplate.

“Yoon Leehyun.”

It had all been his. The Gayun Group, and even Jin Seohee. If only Yoon Leehyun hadn’t appeared out of nowhere.

With cold eyes, Jihoon brushed his hand over the waist of the woman crouching on the sofa.

“Secretary Kim.”

At Jihoon’s soft call, the woman in a neat suit turned halfway.

“Your hair.”

I told you I don’t like it when it’s pitch black.

Jihoon, having stepped closer, licked the nape of her neck revealed between her tied-up hair and gripped it tightly with one hand.

Then, as if displeased, he roughly pulled the hair tie. Her long hair cascaded down to her waist.

Jihoon, pressing his body against her from behind, reached his hand past her shoulder, and Seyoung rubbed against him as if waiting for it.

“Jihoon.”

Without even fixing the lipstick smeared by his touch, she whispered against Jihoon’s shoulder.

Jihoon inserted his fingers into Seyoung’s loosened hair and jerked her head back. She suppressed a sound of pain and smiled coyly.

Their breathing intertwined as if their lips were about to touch. Jihoon tapped open the buttons of her blouse with his right hand.

“Is your fashion sense incurable?”

“Jihoon.”

“I told you not to wear such black things.”

At his dissatisfied words, Seyoung gave a weak laugh.

If I don’t dress like this, you’ll just fire me for violating the dress code.

The person who had mandated the pitch-black suit as the dress code for the Gayun Corporation secretary office was none other than Jihoon.

Realizing he was in a very bad mood and acting capricious, as he usually did, Seyoung undid the buttons herself.

Soon, the curve of her voluminous breasts became prominent. Seyoung leaned her upper body forward and placed her hand on Jihoon’s red shirt.

Jihoon’s gaze lingered on Seyoung’s eyes, which shone with a soft brown hue.

One, two, three. Jihoon, who had been still all along, snatched Seyoung’s wrist at the fourth button.

“I told you not to act so cheap.”

At his dry, emotionless tone, Seyoung’s expression stiffened. But Seyoung, who would usually have backed away, hugged Jihoon’s waist tightly from behind.

Her hand moved lower and lower. When her hand, which had been gently rubbing his belt, moved further forward, his pupils turned red with rage.

Jihoon stared at Seyoung’s hair, which hung past her full breasts. He walked heavily to the desk and picked up a pair of scissors.

“J-Jihoon.”

Seyoung stiffened in surprise. Jihoon lowered his upper body and said:

“It’s too long, Seyoung.”

Snip. With a stroke that held no hesitation, long strands of hair fell to the floor.

“Jin Seohee’s hair flutters around this length.”

Jihoon, who had snipped a few times, stood with his arms crossed, watching Seyoung’s face as she shook in anxiety.

Seeing Seyoung frozen, Jihoon lifted her chin.

Jihoon cut Seyoung’s hair without a shred of regret. The hair that had reached her waist was now chopped close to a bob.

“Still doesn’t look like her.”

Jin Seohee doesn’t get scared like that, Seyoung.

Jihoon murmured chillingly. Seyoung, watching the scissors that had just been at her neck, hid her trembling hands and hugged his neck.

As she hastily tried to press her lips to his, Jihoon jerked his body away.

“That’s why you’re not good enough.”

I kept you around because one of your brown eyes looked like Jin Seohee’s, but this attempt to climb higher is pathetic.

Jihoon tapped Seyoung’s cheek with his finger and turned away coldly.

“This is your pay.”

As if to say it was the price for the fun he’d had, Jihoon threw a check onto the floor.

Pay? While Jihoon had bitten, licked, and treated her body in an incredibly sadistic way, he had never once allowed her to touch his. Not even a single touch of his lips.

Seyoung clawed at the floor with her fingernails. Lifting her head, she grabbed the hem of Jihoon’s trousers.

“If it’s not enough, I’ll give you more.”

Thump, thump. All that fell in front of her were checks.

“No need to come to work starting tomorrow, Secretary Kim.”

Bang! Jihoon closed the door without a hint of regret.

***

Seohee, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up, unable to shake off an unpleasant feeling.

The surroundings were dark, as if it were the middle of the night. As she wiped her face with one hand, her dazed vision cleared.

“Does it hurt somewhere?”

It was Leehyun. The fact that he was there calmed her rapidly racing, anxious heart. Leehyun pressed the back of his hand to her forehead.

“You have a mild fever.”

Seohee looked blankly at his brow, which was furrowed in worry.

Leehyun turned on the table lamp and moved to press the nurse call button. Seohee grabbed his wrist and shook her head.

“I… need to go to the bathroom…”

Her lower right abdomen hurt a little. It felt uncomfortable, as if something had leaked downward.

As she put her legs down and stood up, Leehyun moved as if to carry her again. She shook her head, rejecting his actions.

Right now, she felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to be held.

“Ah…”

Entering the bathroom, Seohee’s face turned pale. Ever since she heard she was pregnant, she occasionally had discharge, so she thought it was the same this time.

But what was this brown blood?

‘What do I do?’ Seohee covered her mouth with both hands. Ah. Her mind went completely blank.