Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 21

It was just after lunch.

With a knock, Secretary Kim entered the CEO’s office. Junhyeok, who had been looking at the monitor, raised his gaze to survey the other person and spoke in a businesslike tone.

“I’ve been briefed that the branch site purchase has been finalized. If there are any additional matters requiring approval, report them immediately. Ah, how is the work progressing on the outlet I instructed you on last time?”

He assumed the visit, without any specific summons, was solely for business matters.

Given that the monitor was filled with more than one or two pending approvals, it was an understandable assumption. However, no immediate answer came from Secretary Kim.

Only then did Junhyeok take off his glasses and look at Secretary Kim with a puzzled expression.

“The branch site purchase has been cleanly finalized as you were briefed, and construction is scheduled to commence soon through HN Construction. The matter you instructed regarding the outlet is still in preparation, but I expect to be able to report on it shortly.”

It was a diligent answer to the questions asked. Normally, Secretary Kim should have bowed and left after that.

But as if there was indeed another issue, Secretary Kim’s expression was unusual.

“Speak.”

“Yes?”

“You came in because you have something else to say, didn’t you?”

Junhyeok set down the pen he was holding and clasped his hands. Resting his chin on them, he gazed solely at Secretary Kim, and saw his facial muscles twitch minutely.

Junhyeok waited silently for Secretary Kim to continue. A premonition that his hesitation to speak was related to Yeonhee washed over him. Moreover, seeing him struggle this much to bring it up, he felt certain it was a serious matter.

He composed his expression as if nothing was amiss, but steeled his resolve.

Soon, Secretary Kim’s voice echoed in the CEO’s office.

“It’s about Miss Yeonhee.”

As expected, his guess was not wrong.

Junhyeok nodded, urging him to continue.

“It seems the report I gave you last time was not mistaken.”

Secretary Kim’s words did not contain specific details.

Junhyeok furrowed his brow. He recalled the many things Secretary Kim had reported previously.

All of them were related to Yeonhee, so nothing had been unimportant to Junhyeok.

But seeing him speak with such a grave face, it seemed.

“It seems certain that Miss Yeonhee and Ms. Yoon Sera are twin sisters.”

“Ha.”

Junhyeok let out a sigh.

The hypothesis he had hoped was false had become reality, and a throbbing ache spread from his head.

Junhyeok slowly closed his eyes. The words Secretary Kim had spoken were not long, but their impact was significant.

All sorts of thoughts flooded his mind.

As if sensing his confusion, Secretary Kim’s words continued.

“I’ve made contact several more times with the nurse who worked at the obstetrics and gynecology clinic at the time of the birth, and the last time I saw her was yesterday.”

Secretary Kim trailed off, then took an envelope from his jacket inner pocket and placed it before Junhyeok.

“She gave me this yesterday.”

Junhyeok lifted his eyelids and stared intently at the envelope before him.

On the outside of the envelope, the words ‘Seong-a Obstetrics and Gynecology’ were printed in neat lettering.

Though yellowed with age, the name of the clinic was clear.

Junhyeok opened the envelope without delay. Inside was a single, neatly folded piece of paper.

Just holding it made his heart pound anxiously.

After a moment of hesitation, Junhyeok unhesitatingly unfolded the paper.

His gaze fell upon it, sharper and more piercing than ever before.

Yeonhee stepped out of the elevator with a reluctant gait the moment the doors opened.

Taking advantage of Junhyeok’s absence at work, she had come to the hotel suite where she had been confined before her wedding.

The hotel suite where we first met. I’m staying there these days. Since I’ll be in the room all day, let’s set the location as the room, and the time as whatever is convenient for Ms. Shin Yeonhee.

Don’t let Mr. Jung Junhyeok find out I’m meeting you, absolutely not.

This was the message she had to check the moment she woke up early that morning.

Even the text alone exuded an unusual atmosphere.

Until she saw Junhyeok off to work, Yeonhee had to put in a great deal of effort to hide her increasingly uncomfortable feelings.

It had paid off. Junhyeok had left for work without any particular suspicion, so her efforts felt sufficiently rewarded.

But the problem was that the place she had sought out after all that effort was profoundly unwelcome.

“Haa…”

Yeonhee let out a quiet sigh. She didn’t know what would happen next, but it was clear this was not a place she would welcome.

After hesitating for a long time, she rang the bell.

Soon, the door opened, and Sera’s face appeared through the gap.

Yeonhee swallowed dryly and pushed herself into the room.

“Have you been well?”

Yeonhee’s hand, holding a teacup, trembled slightly. But she soon brought the cup to her lips with a brazen act.

The coffee was so hot it was steaming, but she didn’t feel the heat as she swallowed.

Only Sera’s sharp gaze fixed on her face was unbearably stinging.

“You look much better. It can’t be easy living in the same house with a strange man. Are Mr. Jung Junhyeok’s parents treating you well? You don’t show any signs of hardship at all.”

Yeonhee placed the teacup on the table. Sera’s voice, piercing her ears, was laced with thorns.

She had expected it wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting, but now, being treated like this, she suddenly wondered why.

“…Yes. Thankfully, they welcomed me without much suspicion.”

These were carefully chosen words.

From the start, she was in Yoon Sera’s place. So, if anyone showed her kindness, it was directed at Yoon Sera, not Shin Yeonhee.

Therefore, it was not something she should be grateful for.

But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t find any words other than that one that wouldn’t provoke Sera, who was already on edge.

“Of course, they would. Your family quite liked me.”

Sera curled one side of her lips. At the same time, Yeonhee’s facial muscles stiffened. There was a sneer in Sera’s tone that Yeonhee had never felt from her before.

Yeonhee bit the soft flesh inside her mouth hard. The metallic scent pricked her nose, as if the flesh had torn under the strong force, but she couldn’t easily release the tension.

She couldn’t comprehend why she had to endure such treatment.

She had received money, but it was Yoon Sera who had needed her from the beginning. So why was she so displeased now?

Yeonhee clenched the hands resting on her lap. Then, with a resolute face, she looked at Sera.

“Did I make a mistake?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“I don’t understand why you’re suddenly acting like this towards me.”

Although Yoon Sera was the ‘superior’ party in the contract and Shin Yeonhee was merely the ‘subordinate,’ there was no reason for her to endure such humiliation.

Even if she was a bottom-dweller desperate for money, she wasn’t without pride. Moreover, she had experienced enough of that ten years ago.

Yeonhee’s sharp gaze did not soften in the slightest. It didn’t matter if the result was Sera’s mockery.

“Well. If you must know, Ms. Shin Yeonhee, you haven’t made a mistake.”

“Then why on earth are you treating me like this right now?!”

“Because my pride is a little hurt.”

Yeonhee’s brow furrowed uncontrollably. The reason given, without a hint of hesitation, was so absurd it elicited a sigh.

So, it seemed she was taking her anger out on me.

“Ms. Yoon Sera. I am not your emotional dumping ground. It’s true I received a large sum of money from you, but I didn’t get it for free. I received money in exchange for marrying in your stead and maintaining the marriage. Not to be your emotional dumping ground.”

Yeonhee conveyed her point calmly, in her characteristic manner. Even if Sera’s response was to be another barbed remark, she had to say what she needed to say.

But contrary to her expectations, Sera still wore a smile. Even if it was a smile filled with mockery.

“That’s right. You received money on the condition that you marry in my place, Ms. Shin Yeonhee.”

Yeonhee couldn’t unwrinkle the lines on her brow. Sera’s words made no sense to her at all. They were clearly imbued with some hidden meaning, but she couldn’t grasp what Sera was thinking.

However, the words that followed immediately stole away all her capacity for such thought.

“So, about that 400 million won I promised if you maintained the marriage for a year.”

“……”

“I’m thinking of giving it to you now.”

Sera’s lips curved upward even more distinctly. The more she did, the more Yeonhee’s pupils trembled minutely.

Yeonhee could only move her lips, unable to speak.

“Why all of a sudden…”

“It means exactly what it says. You can stop pretending to be the fake bride in my place now.”

The response to her courageous words only plunged Yeonhee into deeper confusion.

Yeonhee looked at Sera without a word.

Then, as if she still had something to say, Sera’s lips moved again.

“I want you to return my husband.”

“Ah…”

Yeonhee let out a groan she couldn’t decipher and bit her lower lip hard.

Her eyes darted around in confusion, and as if by a lie, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t even blink.

Sera’s words, “Return my husband,” kept echoing in her ears.

This was the situation she would face in a year.

She knew it, she knew it.

But it felt like being struck by lightning.

An indescribable emotion washed over her.

Her vision went black.

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