Perfect Possession - Episode 2

Madam Kim and Butler Park, waiting at the parking lot entrance, wore tense expressions as they saw the car headlights approaching the house. However, both had worked for the Do-young family for over 20 years.

They were quick-witted, so they wouldn’t be flustered even if Jae-hoon suddenly told them to wait in the parking lot.

When Butler Park received Jae-hoon’s urgent call, he first sent the other house staff on vacation. He had been with the Do-young family longer than Madam Kim.

He had followed Jae-hoon when he moved out, but he originally served Chairman Han. However, he was not the type to betray his current master, Jae-hoon.

“He’s coming.”

Madam Kim adjusted the large towel in her hands.

“He told us never to breathe a word of this to the main house, so it must be serious.”

Butler Park stated firmly, as Madam Kim had served Mi-ryung, the lady of the Do-young household, although she wasn’t worried.

“I know.”

As the car stopped, the two quickly approached. Butler Park hurriedly opened the passenger door. A wave of heat rushed out, startling him.

The heater was on so high it was suffocating. Jae-hoon, who disliked heat, wouldn’t have turned it on for himself.

“Towel.”

Even as Jae-hoon spoke, Butler Park couldn’t take his eyes off the passenger seat. So shocked that he struggled to maintain his composure, he stepped back and yielded his place to Madam Kim, who held the towel.

Madam Kim, who knew Seo-yeon, skillfully wrapped the towel around her wet body. Jae-hoon, who had moved to her side, picked up Seo-yeon and said,

“Please draw a bath.”

“Yes, I understand.”

As Madam Kim hurried into the house, Jae-hoon carried Seo-yeon out and turned to Butler Park.

“Butler Park, please call Jae-moon and Sung-joon.”

“Yes.”

He wrapped the trembling Seo-yeon in the towel up to her face and quickly went inside. He wanted to warm her up before taking her to the doctor.

It was early spring, in the midst of a late cold snap, and the rainy night was quite chilly. Seo-yeon was shivering despite the heater being on so high, indicating how long she had been standing in the rain.

Entering the dressing room connected to the bathroom, he saw a thick mist beyond the glass door, indicating the water had been drawn quickly.

“I made the water hotter than usual.”

“I’ll take care of the rest.”

“I’ll be waiting outside.”

After Madam Kim left, Jae-hoon laid Seo-yeon on the sofa. He was still reeling from the shock of seeing her.

His mind was a mess, feeling increasingly tangled and knotted. But seeing Seo-yeon collapsed, all other thoughts stopped at once.

He wiped her wet hair and called her name.

“Seo-yeon, wake up.”

“…Umm…”

“Seo-yeon, can you hear me?”

“…Jae-hoon…”

“Let’s get you in the tub first. You’re freezing.”

“There’s no time. We have to find them quickly.”

“We will find them. I promise we will, so let’s warm you up first.”

Jae-hoon unbuttoned the dress clinging to her skin. As the sensation of her skin, which he had longed for so desperately, returned to him, he clenched his fists. The scent that only she possessed made Jae-hoon grit his teeth.

He was still struggling to come to terms with the shocking fact that he had a child. Moreover, he couldn’t believe that Seo-yeon, whom he had been searching for like a madman for two years, was standing before his eyes. When bestial desire threatened to ignite, he wanted to slap himself across the face.

“…I can do it.”

At her faint voice, Jae-hoon regained his senses. He looked down at her cold hand holding his. Seo-yeon was still trembling.

“Don’t waste your energy on unnecessary things.”

Jae-hoon avoided looking at her as he undressed her, wrapped her in a towel, and lowered her into the tub. He didn’t leave but sat on the edge of the tub with his back turned.

He heard a splash, and some water spilled over the edge of the tub.

“Soak up to your neck.”

“We have to find them.”

“Is it… my child?”

“You might want to think it’s not, but it is.”

Jae-hoon wanted to grab Seo-yeon and vent his anger at how she could do this. But first, he wanted her to recover.

“I went into labor too quickly. I still had two weeks left. It rained even harder that day than today.”

He knew that Seo-yeon was talking about the day she gave birth. His hand, resting on the edge of the tub, clenched involuntarily.

“A small landslide nearby made it difficult for the ambulance to get through.”

Seo-yeon remembered every moment of that day clearly. But her memory ended before she lost consciousness from the intense labor pains.

Seo-yeon, looking down at her skin regaining its color, closed her eyes. It was hard even to sit in the tub. She would rather be in the rain. As Seo-yeon tried to get up, she heard a low voice.

“Stay still.”

“It’s… too hard like this.”

“Hard? If you have time to complain, explain everything that happened.”

Jae-hoon felt like his heart was being crushed. Just an hour ago, he didn’t even know he had a child. It wasn’t something easy to believe.

But Seo-yeon in front of him was real. So, everything she said must be true. Jae-hoon also felt like his blood was drying up with every passing second.

But without clues, he couldn’t do anything. He had to listen to her, even if it was difficult.

“My mom called a midwife. But she said the baby was dead. The umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck that it was already in trouble before it came out. I blamed myself for losing consciousness from the pain, but that wasn’t it.”

Her voice drifted through the thick mist like fog. Jae-hoon said nothing and quietly waited for Seo-yeon to continue.

“A few months ago, my mom was in a car accident. Before she died, she said the baby was alive. She gave me a phone number, but it only says it doesn’t exist. I’ve tried thousands of times, but it’s no use.”

“So, your mother deliberately took my child!”

Jae-hoon couldn’t help but jump up and turn to her. The Seo-yeon he knew was a beautiful person who wanted nothing.

Even when many people gossiped that she had snagged a chaebol son with her looks, she never wavered and always smiled beautifully.

But her mother, Sung-hee, was different. She demanded money from Jae-hoon’s mother, Mi-ryung, to keep Seo-yeon away.

When she got what she wanted, Sung-hee sent a recording of Seo-yeon’s voice on her phone, and Mi-ryung played the recording for him. He could still vividly hear Seo-yeon’s voice coming from the phone.

‘Money? Great, is that all it takes? Mom likes money, and so do I. I’ll take it and leave.’

Jae-hoon looked down at her huddled with her arms around her knees and took a slow breath. He wanted to ask her right away if those words were sincere, but that wasn’t important now. He could confirm it after finding the child.

Jae-hoon planned to tie Seo-yeon to his side completely, using everything he could, whether it was her body or money, so that she would never leave him again.

When love turned to resentment, its depth was immeasurable. The desire to comfort her and the desire to torment her clamored at the same time. He asked in a heavy tone.

“Is it a girl…?”

Seo-yeon only shook her head.

Jae-hoon clenched his fist so hard that his fingernails dug into his palm. He endured the suffocating pain without even making a sound.

Could it be true that his son, the heir to Do-young, was somewhere unknown, being raised by someone else?

Feeling like his heart was being crushed, he took a couple of rough breaths. Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“The phone number, where is it?”

“It’s in my bag. It’s at that hotel. It’s probably still at the cafe.”

Jae-hoon stared expressionlessly at Seo-yeon, who was looking up at him, then turned away.

“Don’t come out until you’re not cold anymore. Jae-moon will be here.”

Jae-moon was Jae-hoon’s childhood friend and a doctor.

“Jae-hoon.”

“I don’t want to say anything right now.”

As the bathroom door closed, Seo-yeon, left alone, stared blankly at her wet hands before getting up. The color had returned to her skin, which had been pale blue.

Before leaving the tub, Seo-yeon stared blankly at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall, then turned away.

She hated the color that had returned to her skin, making her look alive again. What right did a mother who hadn’t even checked to see if her child was dead because she was scared and afraid have to create warmth and breathe?

The moment she heard that something was wrong with the baby, she felt more distraught at the loss of Jae-hoon’s child than at the loss of her own child.

“I have to find them no matter what. Get a grip. If you have time to cry, search one more place, Min Seo-yeon.”

When she realized there was nothing she could do on her own, Seo-yeon went to Jae-hoon without hesitation. It was a stroke of luck that Seo-yeon, who had gone to his company before calling him, found his car. She followed Jae-hoon’s car from there.

But Seo-yeon, devastated by the fact that he had come to meet a woman, sat in the hotel cafe like a madwoman for a while.

Thinking that she couldn’t go on like this, she looked up and saw Jae-hoon crossing the lobby. Knowing that he would use the back door, Seo-yeon waited there.

Without even wrapping her wet hair in a towel, Seo-yeon left the bathroom. Only then did she realize that she had no clothes to wear.

Unable to go out in just a gown, she decided to wear Jae-hoon’s clothes and opened the closet door.

While rummaging through the clothes, Seo-yeon found a box in one corner. It was stamped with the logo of Jae-hoon’s favorite brand. He used to give Seo-yeon clothes from this brand often.

Seo-yeon didn’t wonder why there were women’s brand clothes in his closet. The day Jae-hoon broke up with her, or rather, the day Sung-hee received the large sum of money he offered, was Seo-yeon’s birthday.

She knew whose clothes these were without even opening the box.

“They’re for Secretary Min.”

Startled by the sudden voice, Seo-yeon turned around in surprise.

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