Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 26

Yeonhee exhaled the breath she had been holding all at once.

Since meeting Junhyeok, there hadn’t been a single moment she hadn’t loved him.

She loved him so much it was painful, so much that she had to force herself to forget him to live; her feelings for him had always been genuine.

Junhyeok couldn’t possibly not know that. Yet, his heart seemed to have been hurt to the point of doubting her feelings.

It was a wound he had inflicted upon himself. So, she couldn’t even blame him for doubting her feelings.

Perhaps, from the very beginning, Jung Junhyeok and Shin Yeonhee were never meant to meet. Not only that, but the thought that they might truly be a terrible, fated misfortune began to fill her mind.

It couldn’t be like this otherwise.

Ten years ago, and now.

There had never been a time she wanted to leave Junhyeok of her own will. Rather, she had only ever wanted to stay by his side forever.

But those around her kept urging her to leave Junhyeok. That it was the only thing she could do for Junhyeok.

She was suffering from the cruel reality just as much. She felt like she was going to die.

If you were going to make us part like this again, you shouldn’t have let us meet in the first place.

If there was truly a god, Yeonhee wanted to cry and rage and throw a tantrum.

But now, she didn’t even have a place where she could pour out her emotions and blame like that.

She had to overcome the reality before her, solely by herself.

Yeonhee glared fiercely and moved her lips, which she had been biting hard.

“Yes. I kept loving you, and I still love you.”

Her voice was colder than ever.

Yeonhee constantly steadied and whipped herself like that, lest her heart weaken even for a moment of carelessness.

“But maybe not as much as you did.”

As soon as she uttered those words, Yeonhee held her breath.

Her chest felt like it was being torn to shreds as she spoke the short words, but she endured with all her might.

She turned away with all her strength, even though Junhyeok’s pained, contorted face was clearly visible.

“Hah, what…?”

Junhyeok’s voice, as if his heart had shattered, could be heard. The dam of her emotions, which she was barely holding back, felt like it would break. But she truly held on with all her might.

“I don’t think I loved you as much as you loved me. Enough to be able to abandon and leave you like this twice.”

“……”

“That’s about all I was.”

This was the limit of what she could do.

So please, Yeonhee begged and pleaded with all her heart, let Junhyeok be disgusted and abandon her at this point.

Despite the tears that kept wetting her cheeks, unbecoming of her heartless words, she prayed Junhyeok would fall for it.

As if her earnest wish reached Junhyeok, he could only stare at Yeonhee without a word.

Yeonhee, who was trying to push him away in a way he had never seen before, was frustrating, yet her appearance was so weary that he couldn’t blame her with a light heart.

Even though he was the one hearing the hurtful words, Yeonhee was the one who felt like she was about to crumble.

If she told him the truth right now, he would do everything he could for her.

Despite him telling her so much, Yeonhee seemed unable to trust him this time either.

His heart felt like it was being torn apart. She was the only woman he had ever loved in his life, so how could she not trust him this much? He felt like he would die of hatred for Yeonhee, yet he couldn’t let her go.

He loved Shin Yeonhee so much, even the Yeonhee who couldn’t trust him, that he absolutely couldn’t let her go.

“You and Yoon Sera are twin sisters.”

Junhyeok blurted out the words he had held back.

He hadn’t intended to tell her like this, but if he could keep her by his side even in this way, there was no reason to hold back.

Even if his words brought great confusion to Yeonhee, if it meant he could keep her by his side, there was no need to hesitate.

“Hah, what are you talking about?!”

“The parents who abandoned you right after you were born are the chairman and his wife of RM Group, and Yoon Sera, who looks exactly like you no matter how you look at it, is your twin older sister.”

Yeonhee’s agitated eyes momentarily froze. Her heaving shoulders didn’t move, and the wrists she had been struggling with to break free from him stopped moving as if by magic.

Yeonhee, her face stiffened, couldn’t tear her gaze away from Junhyeok.

It felt as if the world had stopped.

It was an impossible story.

Twin sisters with Yoon Sera. That she was the daughter of RM Group.

It would be a lie to say she had never thought about the parents who abandoned her.

She was curious. Who were the parents who gave birth to her? Why did they abandon her right after birth? If this was the case, why did they give birth to her?

It was less pure curiosity and more like resentment.

Her life was too hard, and she needed a place to direct her resentment. That place was her unknown parents.

However, even with such resentment, her heart didn’t feel at ease; it only grew more suffocated.

So, at some point, she rationalized that her parents must have had their reasons. That they couldn’t afford to raise her. That they hadn’t lived comfortably after abandoning her.

She had to rationalize and find comfort to endure.

But her parents were none other than the chairman and his wife of RM Group.

“…Don’t lie.”

Yeonhee barely managed to utter the words with a face that looked like it would crumble at any moment.

She desperately wished Junhyeok would say it was a lie.

No matter how much he hated her, this was too much of a prank.

Yeonhee’s eyes turned to Junhyeok. Specifically, they stopped on his lips.

The words that should have come from those lips were that it was a prank, that she had been too selfish so he played a cruel prank, and that he was sorry. That was all they should have been.

But fate betrayed Yeonhee completely until the very end.

“I don’t lie to you.”

Junhyeok said in a steady voice. His gaze towards Yeonhee didn’t waver at all.

All of that perfectly signified that the absurd story he had just told was absolutely not a prank.

Yeonhee sank to the floor. The tears that had been filling her eyes since a moment ago began to fall in a torrent.

She couldn’t even sob comfortably. The occasional choked gasps that escaped between her teeth were the only sounds Yeonhee could make.

“Your birth certificate is in the study. If you don’t believe me, see it with your own eyes. I’ll show you.”

Junhyeok knelt down and met Yeonhee’s gaze. Seeing Yeonhee, who was completely dazed and just shedding tears, felt like his own heart was being crushed.

He knew this would happen. Because he knew this would happen, he had been unable to bring himself to tell Yeonhee until now.

No matter how he told her, it would only be a wound to Yeonhee. So, he had agonized over it for days and nights.

But, as if his agonizing was in vain, he ended up using those words to keep her by his side.

Because if he didn’t, he felt like he would lose Yeonhee forever this time.

So, even as he faced Yeonhee’s complete collapse, Junhyeok felt no regret.

Instead, he knelt perfectly in front of Yeonhee and spoke with all his heart.

“Stay by my side. I’ll help you find your place again. I’ll even let you use me if necessary.”

“……”

“Even if you try to leave me again, I will still do anything you want. There’s nothing I won’t do for you. So, Shin Yeonhee.”

Junhyeok called out to Yeonhee in a firm voice. She, still reeling from the shock, wasn’t even looking at him, let alone regaining her senses.

He felt like he shouldn’t touch even a hair on her head right now, but Junhyeok grasped Yeonhee’s hand.

Only then did he look directly into Yeonhee’s eyes, which had lifted. He held them firmly, ensuring she couldn’t avoid his gaze for even a moment.

“Stay by my side, even if it’s just with the intention of using me, please.”

Junhyeok gritted his teeth. Every word he spoke to keep her by his side felt like a dagger piercing his heart.

It was so painful it felt like death, but he endured.

A greater pain than this would be living a life without Shin Yeonhee.

He had no intention of repeating the mistake he made once, twice.

So, he had to endure this pain as if it were nothing.

Perhaps, at this very moment, Yeonhee was suffering more than he was.

She might even resent him more than the parents who abandoned her.

He hoped she would stay by his side, even if it was out of hatred for him.

He desperately hoped she would completely abandon the idea of leaving him.

Yeonhee offered no reply. That plunged Junhyeok into a pit of anxiety.

Still, Junhyeok could endure. He could overcome even if a more thorny path lay before him.

As long as Yeonhee was by his side. Then, he could do anything.

The night, which couldn’t be said to be more painful for one than the other, grew deeper.

In the dim, dawning light, the two remained unable to rise from their spot for a long time.

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