Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 23

Yeonhee lowered her gaze. Not now. If she met his eyes, let alone exchanged words, he would surely see right through her.

“Yeonhee.”

But Junhyeok seemed unwilling to back down today.

A faint sigh escaped Yeonhee’s lips. His voice, calling her name, carried an unusual weight, as if he was determined to get an answer from her today.

If so, answering was the only thing she could do right now. Yet, her throat kept closing up. It hurt as if a peach pit was lodged there.

Yeonhee bit her lower lip hard. Above her knees, her limp hands lay in her lap, visible in her vision.

Her fingers, tangled together, tormented each other at their tips.

She could see her flesh being torn, blood seeping out, yet it didn’t hurt.

She was this anxious.

The thought that she might have to leave Junhyeok seemed to have this much of an impact on her.

“……Yes.”

Yeonhee barely managed to squeeze out a voice. Despite her earnest efforts not to show it, tears inevitably mixed in.

It was despairing that she couldn’t hide her emotions even now.

He was already constantly anxious.

Even while sharing the same space, entangled hotly under the same blanket, he had never known peace.

How much more pain would she inflict upon him?

Just imagining it made her chest ache and her heart pound.

“Is something wrong?”

The question she had anticipated pierced Yeonhee’s heart.

All he had done was speak, yet Yeonhee felt as if she had been brutally cut by a knife.

It wasn’t easy to hold back the tears that had been welling up for a long time. So, she gritted her teeth again.

“No.”

And then she spoke another lie, deceiving him once more.

He must know this was a lie. She shouldn’t be deceiving him, at least.

Yet, knowing that, this was all she could say.

For the first time in her life, Yeonhee looked up with desperate longing.

If anyone were listening, please hear her story. Even if it was only once, her first and last wish, please grant it.

“Nothing’s wrong, Junhyeok. Nothing at all.”

Please, let him stop first.

So, I don’t have to deceive him.

So, I don’t hurt him again.

Please, let him abandon me first, instead of looking at me with such kind eyes.

“Nothing’s wrong, Junhyeok.”

It was a wish that might be even more selfish than deceiving him.

But Yeonhee wished for it with all her heart.

Let Junhyeok abandon her first.

“It doesn’t matter what you say.”

Junhyeok’s voice echoed plaintively into the quiet stillness.

Yeonhee, who had been looking down to hide her face, forgot herself and lifted her gaze.

First, she saw his eyes, wildly fluctuating. Then, his lips, set with great tension.

He was looking at her as if he desperately wanted something, as if he was begging.

“Whatever you say, I’ll believe it. Whatever you want, I’ll…”

“……”

“I’ll do whatever you ask.”

So, just speak honestly.

If what you desire is that position, I will take it from Yoon Sera and make it yours, no matter what.

It felt as if he was saying exactly that. And so, Yeonhee could no longer hold back.

The tears she had held back with gritted teeth fell, pattering onto her cheeks.

I don’t want to leave.

I want to be by your side.

I want to be happy, with you and no one else.

She wanted to say that. She felt that if she said it, he would somehow make it happen. He would truly make anything she wished for come true.

Even if it meant going up against HN Group and RM Group, he would willingly do it.

“Junhyeok……”

Yeonhee looked at Junhyeok, her voice trembling. Junhyeok’s eyes, meeting hers, held a resolve stronger than ever before.

She knew what he wanted.

Giving him the answer he wanted wasn’t difficult for her.

But.

“Nothing’s wrong. Really.”

Once again, she had to turn away from him.

It was the best she could do.

Because it was the first love she had ever known, and a love she could never have again.

Because she loved him that much.

She couldn’t bring herself to ruin him with her own hands.

His face contorted instantly. The profound disappointment was clearly visible.

He looked as if he would get up from his seat at any moment. As if he would come straight to her and demand answers fiercely.

But then, the phone on the table vibrated briefly.

In an instant, both their gazes shifted to one spot.

“I just deposited 400 million into Shin Yeonhee’s account. The house Yeonhee will live in will be contracted tomorrow. Are you going to keep ignoring my calls?”

Yeonhee quickly read the message, then clutched her phone urgently. She lowered it beneath the table.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst. It was something Junhyeok would eventually learn. When she left him and Sera took her place, he would learn about this process as a matter of course.

But even if he was going to learn it eventually, it shouldn’t be like this. She didn’t want him to learn it through her, at least.

“I’m so tired. Maybe it’s because I haven’t slept well.”

Yeonhee stood up. Her restless hands hidden behind her back, she babbled without looking at Junhyeok.

“Sorry, but could you clear the table? I’ll do the dishes a little later.”

She knew this would only make Junhyeok more suspicious, but she’d rather be suspected than be interrogated while sitting there.

Yeonhee headed straight for the bedroom without looking back.

As the night deepened.

Junhyeok sat at his desk in the study, staring intently at a piece of paper.

Reflected in his eyes were the bold letters: Birth Certificate.

‘According to the nurse who was on duty at the time, it is confirmed that Yoon Sera and Yeonhee were born as twins. Immediately after birth, both were admitted to the intensive care unit due to a high fever of unknown origin. The hospital was in a state of near abandonment, as the fever could not be controlled no matter what.’

What he had heard from Secretary Kim a week ago seemed to be stuck in his ears, refusing to be forgotten.

When he first heard it, he thought it was absurd.

Wouldn’t it be? If one was admitted to intensive care immediately after birth due to a severe condition, whether they found the cause and treated it, or died without treatment, the survivor should have grown up as the daughter of RM Group.

Yet, the child known to the world as RM Group’s offspring was not the twin sisters Yoon Sera and Shin Yeonhee, but the only daughter, Yoon Sera.

Even though Shin Yeonhee was alive and well.

Furthermore, Yeonhee didn’t even know who her parents were. For Yeonhee, her parents were Yeonjeong, who was battling cancer.

‘Do you think that explains the current situation, Secretary Kim?’

Secretary Kim had done nothing wrong, yet his voice towards him was sharp with anger.

Despite this, Secretary Kim was unfazed.

As if anticipating the reaction, he continued his prepared words without hesitation.

‘It had been several days since she suffered from the high fever, and it seems the RM Group chairman and his wife were told to prepare themselves. That night, their grandmother visited the attending nurse and proposed that the twin sister be made as if she was never born from the beginning.’

‘What did you just say?’

Junhyeok couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

‘Made as if she was never born from the beginning, does that mean?’

‘She said it was fine to kill her, or if that wasn’t to her liking, to abandon her at an orphanage. Just make sure she doesn’t leave the hospital as RM Group’s child.’

‘Stop.’

Junhyeok cut off Secretary Kim’s words, pressing his temples. He couldn’t bear to hear the rest.

To be made as if she was never born from the beginning.

It was a statement no sane person could utter, even to a stranger with no blood relation.

But how could one say such a thing about their own flesh and blood?

Junhyeok was in a state of panic for quite a long time, unable to regain his composure.

‘It seems a considerable sum of money was given for that purpose. I didn’t hear the exact amount, but it seems enough to live in hiding like a ghost until now.’

‘…You said it was the grandmother who orchestrated that?’

‘Yes.’

‘The grandmother…?’

The image of a gathering at a charity event he had attended long ago flashed in his mind. Next, the memory of a meeting with the in-laws before his marriage to Yoon Sera.

The face of the elderly woman, who had looked at Yoon Sera with a benevolent expression and then tightly held his hand, played vividly in his mind.

‘It is RM Group’s Honorary Chairman, Choi Sookhee.’

RM Group’s Honorary Chairman, Choi Sookhee.

The grandmother of Yoon Sera, and if Yeonhee was indeed Yoon Sera’s twin sister, then also Yeonhee’s paternal grandmother.

So, Secretary Kim’s report meant that Yeonhee had not only nearly been killed by her paternal grandmother but had also been abandoned by her, living her entire life not knowing who her parents were.

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