By Zephyria Gulping loudly, Yu-jin swallowed hard and slowly nodded. Winston watched the reaction without even blinking.
“It’s a daughter. If something happens to me, she’ll be all alone… Please, put the gun away. I beg you.”
“You have a daughter?”
Winston repeated Yu-jin’s words again this time. Yu-jin blinked in confusion. He couldn’t understand why this man was doing this. His heart was pounding and he felt like he was going to die from the gun pointed at his temple, but Winston himself was calmly repeating the same words.
“You had a child.”
He muttered again with a dazed and bewildered face. Yu-jin placed a glimmer of hope on the low voice, as if he were telling himself. It’s okay, Winston will come to his senses soon. He’ll realize how dangerous and absurd what he’s doing is. Then he’ll put the gun away right away. He might give a bitter smile. He’ll hug me like he used to and say he’s sorry for scaring me…
Suddenly, a corner of his heart felt heavy.
“Whose child is it?”
Suddenly, a chilling voice pierced his ears. Yu-jin was startled and returned to reality. The gun was still in place. Winston’s cold face looking down at Yu-jin, and his eyes despising him, hadn’t changed at all. Realizing that he had been caught up in an absurd delusion, Yu-jin was flustered and didn’t know what to do for a moment. Winston muttered as if he knew he wouldn’t be able to find a response.
“Of course you can’t answer.”
A short laugh, like a breath, leaked out from his twisted lips.
“How would a slut like you know who the baby’s father is?”
Something sharp seemed to pierce his heart in an instant. Yu-jin just stared at Winston with a pale face.
It’s you.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. His desperate sincerity lost its way and wandered inside his blocked vocal cords.
It’s you, Winston,
Winston sneered and mocked Yu-jin, who was in shock and unable to speak.
“Honey, I know better than anyone else in the world how messy of a slut you are.”
He was more confident than ever. That’s why Yu-jin was even more speechless. Yu-jin could also be sure. No matter what he said, this man wouldn’t believe him. He had clearly seen it back then, hadn’t he? He still clearly remembered this man’s face, full of distrust and contempt towards him. There was no reason for the man who had abandoned him so cruelly to change now.
What hope was I even harboring?
The moment he realized this, his self-loathing and anger towards the man overcame his fear and terror. Yu-jin mercilessly kicked the man who was leaning over him in the groin with his knee.
“…!”
Winston couldn’t even scream. Or, he thought he heard a very small groan. What was certain was that he had completely lost his attack power. Taking advantage of the gap where the man was crouching on the bed in pain, Yu-jin quickly rolled over and got out of the spot. The cold sensation that had been pressing against his temple was gone. That alone made Yu-jin feel relieved and liberated.
As if he was afraid of being caught by Winston, he hurriedly wrapped his bathrobe and got out of bed. Without even having the luxury of putting on the shoes he had taken off, Yu-jin grabbed them as if snatching them and was about to open the door and leave the room when Winston shouted.
“…Back then.”
He asked from behind Yu-jin, who had stopped momentarily.
“You said you were pregnant… Is that the child?”
It was too late of a question. He should have said this before insulting Yu-jin. Yu-jin took a deep breath and turned his head. Winston was sitting on the bed, looking at him. Maybe Winston thinks that child is Harold’s. Just like the other Campbell family members.
Looking at the man’s strange expression in the moonlight, Yu-jin opened his mouth. This time it was his turn to laugh at Winston.
“Of course not. Did you forget what you said? It was a lie from the start.”
Angela was smaller than her peers, so it was easy to lie about her age. Even if he met Angela, he would never even guess that she was his child. Above all, Winston didn’t believe in Yu-jin’s chastity at all.
Seeing Winston’s face distort in a satisfying way, Yu-jin felt a small sense of victory and added in a much lighter voice.
“Good night, Winston, sweet dreams.”
Yu-jin closed the door and went out into the hallway. In the silence that suddenly came, he let out a deep breath. Suddenly, his tension was released and his whole body began to tremble. It’s okay, the beginning was a mess, but the ending was good. A good ending makes everything good. He was repeating the words of comfort that he always muttered to himself when it happened.
Crash, a loud noise came from inside the room. Startled and horrified, Yu-jin quickly covered his mouth with his hand. His heart was pounding and tension returned to his whole body. Suddenly, the large flower vase that had been occupying the table flashed through his mind. With an ominous imagination, Yu-jin hurriedly left the spot, still barefoot. He was afraid that Winston would come out of the room and grab him. He ran down the endless hallway, slipping on the smooth marble floor twice, but he didn’t even feel the pain.
After running while looking back several times, he barely found the stairs he had climbed with the maid and limped downstairs. His knee, which he had hit while falling, hurt belatedly, but he couldn’t stop. Yu-jin was barely relieved when he wandered through the hallway and barely found his daughter’s room and saw the child’s sleeping face.
Finding only one person on his side in this large house, his nose tingled and tears welled up. Only then did Yu-jin realize that there was no one in front of Winston’s room. He probably left after confirming that Winston had returned. And he fell into the trap nicely.
But now, relief came before resentment. Anyway, he made it here safely. That’s enough. Yu-jin stroked the face of the child who was sound asleep and muttered in a low voice.
“Don’t worry, Angie. I will never leave you alone.”
It was a promise he had made countless times since he was pregnant with her. If it weren’t for Angela, he might have disappeared from the world a long time ago.
Yu-jin also swore to the child, who was the only one who stayed by his side when he was completely alone, that he would never leave his daughter alone. And for that child, Yu-jin could do anything.
These words of insult and contempt are nothing. Hadn’t he been through much worse than that already? He wasn’t even hit, so it’s okay.
I only need you. Yu-jin replayed it in his mind, forcing his body onto the small bed, hugging the child tightly as he lay down. Angela, sensing something in her sleep, stirred and snuggled into Yu-jin’s chest. Yu-jin held his beloved child close and closed his eyes. It was a cramped and uncomfortable bed, barely enough room to stretch his legs, but he was content, and he slept soundly without waking once until the maid came to wake him in the morning.
*
Winston was in a foul mood from the morning. He had suffered from insomnia for a long time, but it was rare for him not to get a wink of sleep. He usually managed to snatch thirty minutes or an hour of fragmented sleep, but last night he had stayed up all night with his eyes wide open. Winston knew the reason, but no one else suspected a thing. Even Mrs. Campbell, who cherished him especially among her children, assumed that her son’s tired, sharp-edged face was due to something else.
Harold is gone, so he must be exhausted taking over all the work.
Even so, he was doing well. In fact, Harold had been out of the front lines for some time, so there was nothing new. However, the pressure weighing on his shoulders would be different from before. Harold was no longer in this world, and her son was no longer ‘Harold’s proxy’ but ‘the head of the family.’
Mrs. Campbell sat across from him at the tea table, watching her son, who looked tired as he leaned one arm on the armrest and rubbed his forehead, and smiled benevolently.