Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 59

Yeonhee looked around the cafe.

There was only one person sitting inside.

Yoon Sera.

Sera, who had spotted her, put down her teacup and crossed her arms.

Yeonhee watched her calmly before heading to the counter.

When she ordered her share of tea, an employee said they would bring it to her seat.

Yeonhee nodded and walked towards where Sera was sitting.

“You’re not late. Sit down.”

As Yeonhee stood before the table, Sera, as if she owned the cafe, crossed her legs and gestured to the seat opposite her with an air of arrogance.

It was clear she intended to provoke Yeonhee from the start, but Yeonhee sat down with an unfazed expression.

At this point, why would she get annoyed or angry at Sera’s words?

Yeonhee took a moment to catch her breath.

Sera, across from her, seemed ready to pounce if Yeonhee gave her any opening.

Even though she had come to this meeting, Yeonhee had no desire to hear anything from Sera.

Yeonhee’s sole objective was to deflect Choi Sookhee’s accusations towards Junhyeok onto herself, or, if possible, to eliminate them entirely.

That was all.

Yeonhee pondered for a moment about what to say and how to begin.

In the meantime, her coffee arrived.

The intense tension seemed to loosen slightly because of it.

Yeonhee took a sip of the coffee placed before her and looked back at Sera.

“You look like you have a lot to say to me.”

“If you were me, wouldn’t you?”

“No, you’d have a lot. And you’d be very angry.”

Since her actions were intended to provoke such a reaction, it was only natural for Sera to wear an expression of fury.

Once, she had desperately wanted to see this very expression.

Yeonhee let a bitter smile play on her lips.

She had wanted to make Yoon Sera that way.

To make her lose her composure completely, unable to contain her rage.

And when the moment came to face Yoon Sera like this, she had wanted to deal with her with effortless grace.

She planned to reveal the secret Sera didn’t know, once she assessed the situation and felt the time was right.

It felt too unfair to be the only one shocked and suffering, holding onto such a tremendous secret alone.

She had wanted Sera to be broken.

She wanted her to hurt twice, three times, no, even more than she had.

That hatred had only grown thicker after Yeonjeong collapsed.

She felt like she would die from the accumulated rage if she didn’t destroy Yoon Sera in some way.

But human hearts are truly strange and fickle.

The emotion that felt like it would never subside began to fade, and now, seeing Sera evoked no feeling at all.

Revenge against Sera and Choi Sookhee was not a path towards the happy life Yeonjeong had wished for her.

It was, rather, a path closer to unhappiness.

Her own unhappiness would inevitably make Junhyeok unhappy, and it would even disturb Yeonjeong’s peace in heaven.

So, so this is right.

This is the way…

Yeonhee, who had been staring intently at the corner of the table, pushed something towards Sera.

“What is this?”

Sera asked, looking utterly bewildered.

On the table were a card and car keys.

She couldn’t understand what Yeonhee expected her to do with them.

Then, Yeonhee, who had remained silent, moved her lips.

“I spent the money you gave me. I bought clothes and a bag to pretend to be you. I also bought accessories and many other things. And these car keys were also bought with the money you gave me, Yoon Sera. The card has the remaining money in it. The PIN is the last four digits of your phone number.”

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“I’ll return it. Your money, and the things bought with your money.”

At Yeonhee’s words, Sera’s brow furrowed even more severely.

She hadn’t exactly imagined what would happen at this meeting, but this was a completely unexpected turn of events.

The Shin Yeonhee she had last seen was completely different from the one before her now.

She was a woman who, with a blank expression, shamelessly refused to give up her place, regardless of any emotional change.

But what could returning the money she had given possibly mean now?

That question was answered by Yeonhee’s next words.

“There’s no need to overthink it. The condition for receiving this money was to act as Yoon Sera for the period you desired, and I didn’t keep that promise, so I have no right to keep it. That’s why I’m returning it. This car, and the rest of the items, I left them at home. I kept your belongings in your place, so you can decide what to do with them.”

Sera stared at Yeonhee, her mouth agape.

She doubted if she had heard correctly.

Shin Yeonhee was an unfathomable woman.

She had insisted she wouldn’t return her place even if it meant death, and now she was saying she’d return the money because she wasn’t entitled to it.

She couldn’t believe it and stared intently at Yeonhee, but she could find no other emotion on her face.

She wondered if it was a new way of messing with her, but looking at her calm, settled eyes, she was sure it wasn’t.

By the time she reached this point, Sera had intended to curSeyeonhee out.

Even if she couldn’t reclaim her place immediately, she wanted to vent her frustration for the suffering she had endured confined to her room.

But instead of curses, she found herself choosing her words carefully.

Shin Yeonhee’s words were no different from willingly returning her place.

What emotional change had occurred in the meantime?

After hearing that Shin Yeonjeong, who had been in a coma for a long time, had finally passed away, she had thought reclaiming her place would be even more difficult.

She had encountered the caregiver, and since the position was secured by bribing the guard hired by Jung Junhyeok, it was obvious that she had met Shin Yeonjeong before she lost consciousness.

Therefore, she had expected the vengeful woman to not easily return her place due to that resentment.

Sera’s eyes trembled with confusion.

She couldn’t grasp what to say.

Hearing that her place would be returned brought forth two emotions.

The exhilaration of no longer having to endure a suffocating confinement, and the fear that this might also be a trap.

These conflicting emotions left Sera unable to move forward or backward.

The internal conflict was clearly visible on her face.

Yeonhee watched her intently and spoke again.

“I told you not to overthink it. It was originally Yoon Sera’s place, and returning it is only natural.”

“……”

“How long can I keep pretending to be Yoon Sera? Eventually, I’ll be found out, and it seems your family already knows about me, so there’s nothing more I can do here.”

Although it wasn’t the real reason for returning Sera’s place, it was a sufficient reason to reassure Sera.

Yeonhee blinked slowly.

The seat next to Junhyeok, her true destination, had now completely vanished.

Shin Yeonhee, who had been impersonating Yoon Sera.

Yoon Seyeon, another daughter of RM Group.

The woman who had been Jung Junhyeok’s wife.

Somehow, the pretenses that had weighed so heavily on her shoulders seemed to dissipate into thin air like bubbles.

This brought her a sense of relief, yet also a lingering regret for what she couldn’t completely let go of.

But now, it was truly time for the curtain to fall.

Just as there is a beginning, there must be an end, and for her, that end had arrived.

Thinking so, Yeonhee moved her lips to speak the last words she had prepared.

“I’m sorry for everything. For ruining your image while pretending to be Yoon Sera, you took something precious from me, so let’s consider it an exchange. Of course, I know the blow I have to bear is greater, right? A damaged image is nothing compared to a human life.”

“……”

“So, I have one request.”

Yeonhee spoke with a clear voice. Sera, whose face had been filled with confusion, now looked at her with eyes cleared of their thoughts.

“I heard Chairman Choi is pressuring Jung Junhyeok. As Yoon Sera said, the Chairman pressuring the husband of his beloved granddaughter was clearly to show it to me. To make you give up your place out of guilt that someone else was being harmed because of me.”

“……”

“Since I’m returning your place, albeit late, please help me ensure that Jung Junhyeok is no longer harmed.”

At the end of her words, Yeonhee bowed her head respectfully to Sera. When she raised her head again, she saw Sera biting her lower lip tightly.

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