Chapter 25: The Breadcrumb and the Rose

“Because I was afraid… that I wouldn’t be able to do this ever again.”

Was it just my imagination, or did I feel a tremor in Leehyun’s hand as he stroked my cheek?

His pitch-black eyes were deep as an abyss, yet his touch was light and cautious.

“Ah, your morning sickness medicine.”

I told you to take it before sleeping, didn’t I?

Leehyun, who had been stroking her gently, suddenly sat up.

When he returned with water and medicine and said, “Ah,” Seohee shook her head.

“I… I don’t think I need to take it.”

“You are in pain right now.”

Leehyun frowned, his voice filled with displeasure. If it were purely a psychological issue, excluding the environment the patient disliked was one method; had that not been the Neuro-center head’s opinion, Leehyun wouldn’t have even considered discharging Seohee.

He was terrified just looking at her fragile body, even though her belly hadn’t even begun to show yet.

“You need to rest.”

A sigh escaped her at his firm tone. Seohee curled her fingers into the hem of the white quilt.

Her mind understood, but her heart wasn’t in it. It was just two tiny white pills, after all.

Leehyun covered the hand that was just clutching the quilt without offering any reply. As she lifted her eyelids, she met Leehyun’s gaze. His pitch-black pupils, seemingly showing no intention of backing down, held her fast.

“If you can’t sleep like this…”

Seohee.

It will be hard on the baby, too.

His coaxing words gently touched her heart.

‘The baby?’

Come to think of it, if I’m having a hard time, the baby must be struggling too.

Half-persuaded, Seohee nodded her head.

“The baby will sleep soundly only if Mommy sleeps well.”

Leehyun drove the point home.

Gulp. With a swallow, the pill went down. As she bit her lip, Leehyun leaned in and planted a light kiss on it.

“Well done.”

The touch of him stroking her hair felt so good that she closed her eyes, and Leehyun continued to stroke her for a long time. As she closed her eyes and felt his touch, her stomach began to feel strange.

As she frowned at the suffocating and churning sensation in her chest, Leehyun, sensing something amiss, leaned over.

Ugh. The vomiting finally erupted. As the medicine and water she had barely managed to swallow spilled out, Leehyun’s eyebrows arched slightly.

“This is trouble.”

Leehyun muttered, grinding his teeth, and stroked Seohee’s back regardless of the vomit spilling onto his side.

“I… don’t want to take it. I can’t eat it.”

She was utterly drained. As she spoke between intermittent breaths, Leehyun wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded. He propped Seohee up against the headboard of the bed and even neatly helped her rinse her mouth.

Leehyun moved naturally, as if it were obvious. She had expected him to call someone and make a fuss.

The way he wiped the floor was so natural it felt strange. Her brownish gaze followed the tips of Leehyun’s fingers.

“I’m… sorry.”

Leehyun’s movement stopped in an instant. He turned his head slightly toward the back. Unable to face him, she stared at the quilt while fidgeting with her fingers, but he turned her head to face him.

“Why do you say things like that?”

“Even so…”

“Just take care of your own body. Don’t think about anything else.”

Leehyun sat up diagonally and watched the sleeping Seohee.

She has definitely lost some weight.

Her cheeks, which had been somewhat full even if not plump, had become hollow. When her naturally long eyelashes cast even deeper shadows, Leehyun’s brow furrowed.

“Seungho.”

Leehyun reached out one hand and quietly picked up his phone.

“Let’s wrap things up for today.”

It was the first time.

The first time Leehyun had come home and stayed by Seohee’s side instead of moving over to the annex.

Yes, understood. At Seungho’s concise reply, Leehyun ended the call without any particular reaction. Leehyun, burying his face in the nape of Seohee’s neck, finally slowly let the tension drain from his eyelids. The insomnia that had plagued him all this time vanished like smoke.

***

Before the sun had even risen, Leehyun sat up.

As he roughly loosened his stiff shoulders and neck and glanced back, he heard her steady, soft breathing.

Thank goodness she didn’t wake up at dawn. Leehyun smoothed his chest.

He wasn’t sure if she had truly found peace because she came home, but Seohee was fast asleep without waking up for the first time in a while. He had been so worried because she had even thrown up her morning sickness medicine.

Leehyun rubbed his eyebrows and tidied Seohee’s quilt.

“Come to think of it……”

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen her sleeping like this.’

Leehyun was the type who always moved early.

As if he were someone conditioned to sleep late and wake up early, he rarely made exceptions. Even on days when he was burning with a high fever, he would wake up before the sun rose.

And from one day on, Seohee had started waking up with him.

She hadn’t specifically said you can sleep, you don’t have to wake up, nor had she ever expressed that it was a delight.

<Leehyun, eat breakfast and go.>

Mornings without employees were always quiet, as they had always been. It was always Seohee’s clear voice that broke the silence and stillness.

Leehyun had said that having people coming and going was inconvenient, and Seohee had lightly agreed. Therefore, even the employees who commuted to the annex usually arrived at 10:00 AM and left around 3:00 or 4:00 PM, after he had already left for work.

It was more like Seohee would just take out what the employees had prepared for dinner or breakfast.

Even that, Leehyun often skipped, so he hadn’t attached much meaning to it.

But it seemed Seohee didn’t feel the same. She hadn’t stepped up to do the cooking herself, but as if it were only natural, she had looked after Leehyun’s breakfast every single day.

Recalling the familiar old memories, Leehyun smiled faintly.

“So you were adjusting to me, is that it?”

Leehyun murmured as he stroked Seohee’s cheek. Leaving a light kiss on her forehead, he stood up.

He had no way of knowing if she couldn’t wake up because of her pregnancy, or if she was naturally a heavy sleeper who had woken up early every day because of him.

There was no way to know, but Leehyun liked Jin Seohee, who didn’t wake up with him, too. He hoped she would continue to sleep soundly without waking up like this.

With those thoughts, Leehyun left the bedroom and stepped into the annex.

“Representative, are you awake?”

Seungho approached as if he had been waiting and began his report. While listening to his daily schedule and the proposals that needed urgent review, Leehyun sat in his study, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

“And, Representative.”

As Seungho set down the file, he carefully opened the floor.

“About that little child from yesterday.”

Swish. Like a sword being drawn from a scabbard, Leehyun lifted his eyelids.

“The child who brought the rose, you mean.”

“So where is the child?”

As Leehyun straightened his upper body with a chilling gaze, Seungho swallowed hard.

“The child said they ran the errand after receiving a Pokemon bread.”

Po, what?

As Leehyun asked back as if to himself, Seungho added the explanation that it was the bread children were currently going crazy over because they couldn’t find it.

“Because they were promised five Pokemon breads just for delivering a single rose…”

At Seungho’s remark that it was a sufficiently tempting offer for a child, Leehyun tilted his head obliquely.

At his look, which asked if he hadn’t missed something important, Seungho handed him a USB containing the hospital’s CCTV records.

“The person who gave the rose to the child is Kang Dohyung.”

“Kang Dohyung?”

Is that the Kang Dohyung I know? J International’s Chief General Manager and Jin Seohee’s cousin.

Ha. Leehyun burst into a mocking laugh.

“I haven’t yet been able to determine with what intent Chief General Manager Kang Dohyung sent the rose. What shall I do?”

Kang Dohyung’s intent, is it.

“Does Kang Dohyung know that Seohee lost her memory?”

There was no way. Leehyun was certain. If she had known Seohee lost her memory, there was no way Jin Heeyoung would have rushed in like that, nor would Song Yoosun be unaware of it until now.

What story about the rose could there be that he didn’t know, to make Kang Dohyung send it and Seohee react to it?

“Shall I look into it?”

Seungho clasped his hands politely, as if waiting for a decision.

“What is the probability of Seohee’s condition being exposed while digging into this needlessly?”

“It is not zero.”

That was why Seungho had hesitated. South Korea might seem like a place where illegal activities were easier to commit than in the United States, but it was the opposite. There were more eyes watching than expected, and plenty of factors that could lead to gossip. Since he couldn’t just kill Kang Dohyung if things got tricky, he needed Leehyun’s precise intentions to move as quietly as possible.

“For now, put someone on Kang Dohyung to keep a close watch. Focus on investigating whether Seohee ever bought roses and if there were any incidents involving roses.”

“Yes. Representative, President Kwon Chang-han of JBS personally requested a call. He seems to have realized the gravity of the situation regarding the advertising contract with Gayun being replied to as a cancellation rather than an indefinite postponement.”

For President Kwon Chang-han, this would be a bolt from the blue. He had no excuse if held accountable for damaging the corporate value of their advertiser, Gayun, and failing to protect their brand image.

Leehyun did not overlook this part.

“He should have realized the gravity before committing the act.”

“I will convey that a call is not possible.”

As Leehyun nodded lightly and stood up, Seungho picked up Leehyun’s jacket and followed behind him.