Chapter 14: A Frozen Vigil

“You… wait a bit…”

“Until you hate me. Until I grow to hate you. By my side.”

As the sleep-addled Seohee mumbled on, the light faded further from Leehyun’s face.

‘You don’t have to do that. You shouldn’t do that.’

Leehyun clenched his fists tightly to suppress the urge to grab Seohee by the shoulders. His heart felt as though it had plunged off a cliff, leaving his vision blurred.

“Since I… don’t easily grow tired of things I once liked… it might take some time…”

Leaving the completely frozen Leehyun behind, Seohee exhaled a soft, steady breath.

Haa.

Letting out a heavy sigh he had been holding in, Leehyun sank into his chair.

“Jin Seohee.”

His heart, which had been dragged through the dirt, finally breathed.

At the words her red lips had murmured.

As if granting him a reprieve, the moment Seohee said it would take a long time, Leehyun was able to take a breath.

‘Is this a relief?’

With a hollow face, Leehyun gently caressed her fingers.

“Right. You don’t easily grow tired of things.”

Just like her violin, she would never grow tired of him. Leehyun drove that thought firmly into his mind.

It was a full five hours later when Seohee opened her eyes.

“Leehyun…”

As Seohee blinked, Leehyun licked his dry lips in agitation and stood up.

“Seohee.”

“Hmm?”

Watching Seohee slowly blink at his call, Leehyun swallowed a sigh.

“Is it night?”

At her question, Leehyun blankly stared at the clock.

“It’s dawn.”

All sorts of thoughts refused to leave his mind.

What if she regained her memory?

If she suddenly announced she was leaving, how should he stop her?

Should he shout at her, or if that didn’t work, threaten her?

Since he was already a bad guy, would it really matter if he became even more of a bastard?

Because such ridiculous thoughts filled his head, Leehyun hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his head throbbed under a pressure that felt like it would explode at any moment.

Ugh.

Seohee sat up, her face turning pale as she dry-retched, and Leehyun, turning equally pale, quickly cradled her in his arms.

Seohee’s retching continued for a quite a while.

Eventually, her body went completely limp, and in a different sense, Leehyun’s inside burned up with worry.

The urge to tell her to take morning sickness medicine rose to his throat, but since he didn’t know where her memory had stalled, Leehyun put everything regarding her morning sickness on hold.

Huu.

With a tear-stained face, Seohee tugged at Leehyun’s collar and buried her face.

“When did I fall asleep?”

Her voice was a soft, crawling mumble, but Leehyun didn’t miss a single word.

Instead of asking what happened, she had asked when did I fall asleep. Leehyun flinched as he laid her down.

‘Ah, the patient may not remember the situation, so please do not agitate her in those cases.’

The doctor’s words suddenly flashed through Leehyun’s mind.

He brushed back the hair on Seohee’s forehead and met her brown eyes.

How should he reply?

What could he say to ensure she didn’t receive a shock?

Though it was only a brief moment, Leehyun’s mind was flooded with such questions.

“Leehyun…”

As Seohee turned toward him, unable to fight off her sleepiness and mumbling, Leehyun bit his lip tightly.

‘Does she really not remember?’

“Does anything hurt?”

Seohee only shook her head weakly.

Then, she clutched the fabric of Leehyun’s shirt.

“Seohee.”

“Can’t you… sit here?”

As she pulled Leehyun toward the bed, he obediently sat down exactly as she wanted.

Before they knew it, Seohee was held tightly against Leehyun’s waist.

“It’s really… strange. My stomach is churning, but whenever I breathe in your scent, it gets better.”

So please don’t go anywhere.

As if she had hesitated over those words for a long time, each phrase she uttered with difficulty made Leehyun’s Adam’s apple bob.

In an instant, the incident in the elevator vanished from Leehyun’s mind.

His heart, which had plunged to the depths at her words about trying to dislike him, found its peace.

Grateful, he caressed Seohee’s pale cheek.

“Shall we eat something if your stomach burns?”

Seohee shook her head immediately.

Whew.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Leehyun didn’t press her further.

“It’s dawn. Sleep a bit more.”

As he spoke, covering her with the slipping blanket, Seohee slowly lowered her eyelids.

Her pale complexion had returned, and her cold fingertips regained their warmth.

Cradling her in his arms, Leehyun pressed his forehead with one hand.

Even as the dawn flickered outside the window, Leehyun remained awake, guarding Seohee’s side in that highly uncomfortable position.

“Leehyun.”

Waking to a touch on his face, Leehyun stared into her clear brown eyes, unable to speak.

“Why are you sleeping so uncomfortably here?”

As Seohee asked with worry, Leehyun’s gaze wavered.

‘Does she really not remember the incident at dawn?’

He couldn’t hide his momentarily confused expression.

He had hoped she would never find her past.

Since those old memories were useless, he thought she could forget them completely.

But a corner of his heart was filled with worry.

‘Is this normal?’

Seeing as she couldn’t even remember what happened at dawn, could there be a serious problem somewhere in her brain?

Once the cloud of worry cast its shadow, it filled Leehyun’s chest like a storm.

“Seohee.”

“Yes?”

Her brown eyes met Leehyun’s with transparency.

She didn’t remember collapsing in the elevator at all.

After that, before confusion could set in, her morning sickness took over.

‘This won’t do.’

Looking at her parched lips, Leehyun pursed his lips and offered her a water bottle.

“Just a sip.”

‘You’ll get dehydrated at this rate.’

His eyebrows arched fiercely.

Until now, Leehyun hadn’t openly shown his fierce side, so when he spoke with some force, Seohee’s eyes wavered.

“……Leehyun.”

She was concerned about Leehyun’s bloodshot eyes.

‘Did he not sleep a wink?’

‘Because of me?’

Her chest throbbed.

Just looking at the clear water made her want to vomit, but Seohee endured it and picked up the water bottle.

Before she could even swallow it, the water escaped her lips, spilling onto the bed and the floor.

“Seohee.”

Leehyun hurriedly held her and rubbed her back.

Haa.

Hearing a heavy sigh escape from above her head, a tear slipped from the corner of her eye.

“I won’t force you.”

I will never force you again.

Leehyun murmured the words over and over.

Burying her face in his chest, the endless churning of her stomach settled down.

It was a wondrous thing.

At the same time, her heart beat rapidly, and her cheeks flushed red.

A pleasant flutter of excitement and tension rippled through her.

“Representative.”

Was he called Chief Jung Seungho?

The man entered, offering a polite bow toward her.

Startled, Seohee tried to pull away, but Leehyun remained unmoving.

As if he had no intention of letting her go, he continued to rub her back.

“Executive Director Lee took your place for the breakfast meeting, but you must attend the upcoming one.”

Seungho looked at his watch, as if time were tight.

Leehyun slowly turned his head to face Seungho.

“What about changing the schedule?”

If it had been possible, he would have done it already.

Seung-ho looked troubled, knowing full well that Leehyun was asking despite being aware of the situation.

Leehyun was busy.

With the secretarial team constantly coming and going, meetings scheduled throughout the day, and external events, twenty-four hours didn’t seem enough.

Even knowing this, Seohee didn’t want him to leave.

Because she was anxious. Because she was afraid for no reason.

Like an ignorant child, like someone who lacked tact, she wanted to keep him by her side.

She didn’t care what kind of work he did, or how much influence he had.

She simply liked his warmth, and desperately craved his care.

She had only hoped this touch beside her wouldn’t vanish.

‘How selfish of me.’

‘While that man is dividing up his time for me, I’m only acting spoiled.’

No sooner had she let go of the shirt she was holding than Leehyun called her.

“Seohee.”

His low voice shook her resolved heart.

The sandcastle she had painstakingly built was on the verge of being swept away by a wave.

‘If I don’t meet his eyes, will I be able to let him go?’

The emotion that had washed over her since she woke up was still indescribable.

It was a complex, suffocating feeling that was hard to explain with words like scared or afraid.

Don’t go, I don’t want to be alone.

Suppressing the inner thoughts that threatened to leak out, Seohee pushed him away.

“Representative, you must depart now.”

Seungho, who rarely nagged, urged him.

And with good reason, as Leehyun was always one to move ahead of schedule.

“Chief Jung.”

Leehyun called Seungho by his title, looking displeased.

“I want to wash up a bit.”

Seohee cut off Leehyun’s hesitation in one go.

Rejecting even his support, she called for Aram, and Leehyun took a short, sharp breath.

“I’ll be back.”

She didn’t want to watch his retreating back.

Once she entered the bathroom, everything felt blank.

Thump, thump. Her heart raced.

The heart that had been fluttering with excitement was now trembling with anxiety.

When she gently placed her hand over it, she could feel the movement clearly beneath her palm.

“Yoon Leehyun.”

Murmuring his name, Seohee leaned her head against the wall.

Her heart showed no sign of calming down.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, Aram rushed to support her.

“Madam. The Representative prepared some desserts, thinking you might want to eat something.”

Again.

He had suddenly arranged this, even though he couldn’t stay by her side.

Her brown eyes habitually pictured Leehyun.

The heart she had managed to suppress boiled over once more.

The memory of his tender touch, pushing the blueberry éclair toward her, returned.

‘I miss you.’

At the sudden wave of impulse, Seohee shook her head.

‘How could I feel this way when we’ve barely been apart?’

‘The feelings toward the other person will remain as they were.’

The doctor’s words suddenly came to mind.

Without him here, she didn’t think she could handle the blueberries.

“I want to eat strawberries.”

“I will prepare them immediately.”

At the mention of wanting to eat something, Aram moved swiftly.

“Aram.”

The strawberries wouldn’t do either.

Seohee shook her head lightly.

She remembered the fresh strawberries he had offered her with his hands—the ones with the beautifully raised veins—and the strawberry juice he had fed her with his red lips.

She recalled the soft flesh of his tongue that had roamed inside her mouth to soothe her, and the kiss that had been so dizzying she had almost lost her mind.

An act so dense and intimate that morning sickness couldn’t even find a way to intervene.

“Just give me… anything else.”

Though startled, Aram soon brought a variety of desserts.

Excluding the blueberries and strawberries.

And in the end, Seohee was unable to eat anything.

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