Chapter 37: The Embrace of Irreversible Choices.

Back to the present.

At first, Cynthia really tried to do as she pleased.

Because the one who lied first was the teacher.

Because he had deceived her and left her alone and left on his own.

The moment she found the teacher again, she tried not to hold back anymore.

She was going to forcibly receive the price for deceiving and betraying her, that reward.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

While hesitating and watching, she came to understand all the circumstances, and in the end, she changed her mind not to interfere with the last rest the teacher had chosen.

Therefore, she forgave and accepted even the sadness and loss she felt from the unilateral severance, and all that she was trying to be satisfied with by watching from afar…

It was a choice that had given up even the desires she had always wanted because she cherished and respected him so much.

But the teacher betrayed Cynthia once again.

Without knowing anything.

Really without knowing anything.

Cynthia had been holding back so much, but the teacher was in the midst of turning his eyes to another woman. And the moment she saw such a teacher…

The devotion that no one recognized turned into a sense of betrayal.

She was resentful. She was so resentful of the teacher who didn’t even know about her consideration and didn’t leave anything for her-

So, this time, she really didn’t just hold back.

As the twisted and desperate desires that had been suppressed for a long time.

She finally won the wish she had been wanting.

‘I’ll help you with your revenge. Instead, please hold me every night, Teacher.’

He couldn’t refuse Cynthia’s proposal as planned… and the feeling she felt during that one night was… a happiness that couldn’t be compared to anything in her life.

It filled her up so much that she couldn’t even go back to the time when she didn’t know anymore.

It was the most ecstatic moment in her life, a time to be remembered forever.

‘Ahh…, Haa❤, Eunge….’

After spending such a dreamlike dawn, waking up in the morning on the same bed with the precious person.

The emotion that first came into Cynthia’s mind was…

A cold sense of unease.

She had clearly achieved the wish she had been dreaming of. Why does it feel like she had made such an irreversible mistake… At first, she couldn’t figure it out at all.

Then, she belatedly realized it. The identity of the uneasiness that had suddenly come to her was… the anxiety that she might be hated because of the choice she had made.

No matter how resentful,
No matter how betrayed she felt,
He was the person who taught Cynthia about memories, happiness, and life.

She cannot help but rely on him. Both in the past and now.

He was always a teacher she respected and admired.

She might not like such a precious person now….

She might not give her a single heart anymore….

Just the thought of that made her heart sink.

Being hated by the most precious person…

It was really something she didn’t even want to imagine.

She knew clearly what she had made the teacher give up with her own desires, but she couldn’t hold back because the reins of longing mixed with love, hate, and possessiveness had been released.

But even all of this obsession was because she loved him, because she wanted to be loved by him, and if he hated Cynthia… she belatedly realized after committing it that it was meaningless…

So, Cynthia, who had woken up first at dawn, carefully got out of bed.

So that Seo Jin, who was sleeping next to her, wouldn’t wake up.

Because she couldn’t even dare to face his gaze that would rise soon…

If, even by chance, disappointment different from what she had seen so far was revealed in the eyes looking at her, she felt like she couldn’t bear it…

Cynthia ran out of the bedroom as if fleeing.

After the night before, Seo Jin woke up a little after noon.

In the bed left alone, he quietly raised his body.

After looking over the bed that had been disheveled by the events of the night, he picked up the clothes that had been scattered haphazardly on the floor again.

And he went out of the bedroom.

A quiet hallway.
A luxurious but somewhat lacking in the feeling of living inside.

Walking for a while in the sunken air, he soon found the back of the person he was looking for.

She was cooking something in the kitchen.

The way she skillfully handled various ingredients and filled the plates one by one seemed quite skillful.

She seemed quite focused, and didn’t seem to notice even though he had come close.

So Seo Jin also sat down at a nearby table.

He just watched and waited quietly for Cynthia, who was still pretending not to know and not turning around.

Light pink hair tied up neatly,

Her white neckline, which was completely revealed, was as elegant as a sculpture.

He came to know that smooth and white skin was much more delicate than he thought, and that even rubbing it a little hard would leave red marks the night before.

The curves revealed below the ordinary everyday clothes and apron also proved that she was no longer the child in his memory… Right after naturally recalling her excessively mature appearance the night before, he unknowingly let out a small sigh.

“Hoo….”

Then, the shoulders that had been pretending to be focused on cooking and not turning around simultaneously jumped up.

A clear awkward reaction. It was evidence that she was conscious of him.

Nevertheless, she continues to pretend not to know and turn her back, but that was only for a moment.

Because the kitchen was full of the food she had made.

Since there was no more place to put the plates, she also naturally stopped her hands.

After a moment of hesitation, she slowly turned around.

It was finally a face that faced each other, but the gazes didn’t meet.

Cynthia’s eyes wandered in the air, but she barely set the table in front of Seo Jin.

She still couldn’t make eye contact while moving each of the dishes she had made a lot onto the table one by one.

So Seo Jin called her directly.

“Cynthia.”

Her small shoulders trembled at that one word.

The fingertips fidgeting without being able to find a direction.

Her eyes that couldn’t make eye contact and were lowered groped the floor.

Then, her eyes slowly rose.
The gaze that met him belatedly trembled with anxiety.

Like a puppy who knew the wrong she had done and was feeling awkward…

Unlike the attitude of devouring him as if she would devour him the night before, a hesitant voice was heard.

“Teacher… that’s…”

Cynthia had clearly been a student who followed his words well from the past.

But rarely, when she fell into one goal, there was an aspect that she didn’t care about anything around her and only focused on that.

She didn’t even care about the means and methods, and the memory of the child, who only came to her senses belatedly after achieving her goal and was anxious because she realized that she had caused an accident and would be scolded, overlapped with her now.

It was a somewhat longing memory.

But now, he can no longer see such a figure as cute like before.

Because the events of the night before were now a choice that could no longer be reversed.

For her, and for Seo Jin.

“….Teacher, I’m sorry.”

He felt a complicated feeling that he couldn’t describe and pity at the same time.

“I know what I did wrong… Please don’t hate me.”

Even in this situation, she was a child who couldn’t give up her reliance on him in the end.

That was the nature of ‘Cynthia Rose’ that he had encountered as a character in the game,
And the nature of the girl he had watched since childhood was also the same.

In fact, Seo Jin knew everything too. So…

“Don’t worry. Cindy, there’s no way I would hate you.”

At that word, she belatedly looked at the teacher’s face.
Her expression changed as if she had faced a glimmer of hope in the darkness.

“….Really?”
“Of course.”

The shoulders that had been crouched down a lot also gradually relaxed.

“You’re really, really forgiving me…?”

Saying that, she came closer little by little, and soon hugged Seo Jin tightly.

Burying her face in his arms, she murmured in a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry for acting so recklessly, Teacher… I’m really sorry…”

Then, with the hand that patted her back without a word, Cynthia closed her eyes and buried her forehead once more. She reflected on her mistake of almost losing something really precious because of her greed in the teacher’s wide and warm arms.

“Teacher… Teacher….”

She couldn’t see it because she was hugging him tighter so as not to let go.

The expressionless face beyond the hand that was comforting her.

Seo Jin thought.

As he said, he doesn’t hate Cynthia now.

Her love, hate, dependence, favor, even her devotion towards him…

Because it has now become necessary.

Seo Jin didn’t blame her at all.

He had already endured even the choice of betraying his own heart for the revenge that he had to achieve, and he could pay any price as well, and he had decided to endure anything.

He was just silently patting Cynthia, who was hugged in his arms.

As she wished.