Shelter from the Storm
Clutching her shoes, Hye-won burst out of the house and ran for her life.
"You stop right there!"
While her family faltered, Hye-won slipped free, leaving Jin-sang's furious curses behind as she raced barefoot through the neighborhood. Rain began to fall at the worst possible moment, drenching her to the skin in an instant.
She had grabbed her shoes on the way out, yet with Jin-sang hard on her heels she could not stop to put them on. Stones and sharp fragments of debris on the road bit into her soles with every step, but she could not afford to slow down. If they caught her this time, she might truly die. The memory of the murderous glint in Jin-sang's eyes sent a chill racing down her spine, flooding her with terror.
Breath burning in her throat, she rounded a corner with every last ounce of strength she had left.
Someone standing in front of the convenience store yanked her by the arm.
"Ugh—"
Unable to check her speed, Hye-won tumbled straight into the man's arms. She looked up, eyes wide with raw fear.
A familiar scent. A familiar touch. Familiar eyes.
"Teacher."
As if by miracle, Do-heon stood before her.
Do-heon had just finished a meeting when he opened his phone. Two missed calls waited for him—both from the private bodyguard he had assigned to Hye-won without her knowledge.
After confirming once more that she had not changed her mind about going home, he had summoned the bodyguard and ordered him to tail her the moment she left the hotel.
She insisted she needed to go home to settle things once and for all, yet there was no reasoning with people whose eyes had rolled back in greed at the thought of selling their own daughter. If words had ever worked on them, things would never have reached this point.
Was she simply too naïve to believe she could negotiate, or did she have some other reason she felt she had to return?
Either way, Do-heon had reached the same conclusion: he could not trust her judgment. That was why he had attached the bodyguard in the first place.
People who put their hands on her every few days as a matter of course—would they simply leave her alone after she vanished on her wedding day? The same people who had been dreaming of a massive payday from her marriage might well try to kill her.
As expected… He had instructed the bodyguard to intervene only as a last resort, yet the fact that the man had already called meant something had clearly gone wrong.
Rain poured in sheets over the mouth of a narrow alley in the darkened neighborhood. Hye-won was cradled in Do-heon's arms as he stood with his back to the streetlamp.
The moment the bodyguard's call came through, Do-heon had raced straight here and found her being hunted. He had watched her approach, then pulled her into his embrace the instant she rounded the corner.
Her slender body trembled as though it might collapse at any second. Color had drained from her face, and blood was already trickling down it. That devil of a bastard had laid hands on her again in the short time she had been gone.
Do-heon gently brushed the blood away so it would not run into her eyes.
"Hic…"
The moment her cold, limp body sank against him, a strange, inexplicable ache bloomed in his chest and began to torment him. That unfamiliar emotion—something he had never felt before—made him hold her even tighter.
Her fear and terror poured straight into his heart.
"I'm sorry."
The guilt of the day he had forced an injured bird out of his arms and turned away rose again. Do-heon wrapped his arms around her completely, even cradling her rain-soaked hair.
"Hic…"
Hye-won had been fighting to swallow her sobs, but the sound of his voice mixed with the rain broke her. A wretched cry tore free. Her thin shoulders shook as if she were screaming, Please save me. Please just let me live.
"Director, get in the car right away. Miss Han Hye-won looks injured."
Hansu's urgent voice cut in. His gaze had been fixed on her grotesquely chopped hair, the blood streaming down her forehead, and her wounded bare feet.
Jin-sang's roaring approach was growing louder by the second.
Do-heon swallowed the curses rising in his throat, lifted her mud- and blood-streaked feet, and carried her into the car. Fresh wounds already marked the body that had only just begun to heal; rage boiled up inside him.
Fortunately Jin-sang had not yet appeared. The bodyguard, reading both sides of the situation, seemed to be buying them time by blocking him.
Do-heon settled Hye-won in the back seat and took the place beside her.
In the distance, Jin-sang's figure began to thrash through the rain.
Hansu killed the interior lights and locked the doors at once. Even knowing the heavy tint made the interior invisible from outside, he was terrified the madman might try the handles.
"Ugh."
A full-body shudder. Watching from inside the car was already this frightening—the thought that Hye-won had lived twenty years with that demon made Hansu's own chest go cold.
"Cold?"
Do-heon pulled the jacket hanging from the passenger seat and draped it over her. The heater had already warmed the cabin, yet Hye-won's rain-soaked face remained deathly pale.
"I—I'm fine, Teacher."
Afraid of getting his jacket wet, she stubbornly refused and pushed it away with her fingertips. Even with eyes that looked ready to close forever, all she could say was that she was fine.
Right. Han Hye-won never knows any words but "I'm fine," even when she's about to die.
Even with fear-drenched eyes and that bizarre, uneven hair—half torn, half cut. Even with both cheeks swollen bright red and puffy. All she can manage is "I'm fine."
Sure. You're just fine.
Do-heon's gaze grew heavy; the air turned awkward. Then Hansu's voice broke the silence.
"Then how about mine? Mine's not expensive. Hahaha."
Uncomfortable with the few seconds of quiet, Hansu deliberately joked and made a show of offering his own jacket.
"That would be better."
Do-heon reached out with a completely serious expression, and Hansu's eyes nearly popped.
This isn't how it was supposed to go. I was just saying it. At this point he should laugh and call it a joke…
Do-heon still was not smiling. Flustered, Hansu began peeling off his jacket.
So you were waiting for my rag after all.
The belated realization hit him like a fresh shock. He stammered as he held the jacket out—just as Jin-sang's approach became unmistakable.
"Hye-won."
In a single motion Do-heon pulled her against him before she could turn toward the window. He wrapped the jacket completely around her so she could not see outside. Startled into his arms, Hye-won could only blink her large eyes in confusion. The heavy, masculine scent that filled her nose set her heart pounding.
Thank heaven for the rain. The fierce downpour drowned out every sound from outside.
Jin-sang pressed his face right against the glass, peering in. His breath fogged and vanished, fogged and vanished, as if he were panting. He looked like a beast hunting for prey.
Fuck. Is that the face of a father?
His eyes had completely rolled back. It was the look of a man who could commit murder without a second thought.
A monster.
A monster that lived by devouring its own child's flesh.
So this is the living hell Han Hye-won has endured.
In that moment Do-heon finally understood, with absolute clarity, why a girl barely twenty years old had been forced to appear at a matchmaking meeting and beg for marriage—why she had had no choice but to flee into the mountains on her wedding day.
While his thoughts grew tangled, Hye-won—knowing nothing—gazed up at him with faintly flushed cheeks. Pressed so tightly against his chest inside the narrow space the jacket created, heat kept rising to her face. She had never imagined his offered embrace could feel this warm, this solid. Quietly she rested her cheek against him.
The rain that seemed ready to swallow the world no longer reached her ears. All she could hear was the strong, steady beat of his heart.
Her own heart stuttered in answer.
Do-heon held her even tighter. He did not want those clear, pure eyes of hers to ever hold the image of that monstrous creature outside.
"Should I turn the heater up more?"
"Should I?"
At Hansu's question Do-heon loosened his arms just a fraction and asked her. Nestled against him like a child inside the jacket, she met his gaze and curved her torn lips into a small, reassuring smile. She's trying so hard.
"I'm fine, Teacher."
Do-heon let out a short, empty laugh at the girl whose specialty was being "fine," then quietly shifted his gaze to the window.
Rain fell as if the sky itself had torn open, pouring down with a fury that seemed ready to devour the world.
When he had first thought of the life she had spent twenty years living under abuse and constant wariness as an inescapable downpour, this autumn rain had only irritated him. Now, realizing the sound of it had kept her from hearing Jin-sang's raging howls, he was almost grateful.
"We're moving!"
Hansu's clear call rang out and the car began to roll. In the distance Jin-sang could still be seen circling the neighborhood like a madman. Fortunately Hye-won did not seem to have noticed him, yet her eyes still held a restless unease.
They passed several narrow alleys and finally left the neighborhood behind, joining the main road.
Only then did the tension drain from Hye-won's entire body; her head tipped toward the window.
Do-heon shifted closer and gently turned her so that her head rested on his shoulder.
"Mmm…"
Nestling her face against him as if settling into a soft place, Hye-won slipped almost at once into deep sleep. Color returned to her cheeks and lips in a soft flush, and the anxious rhythm of her breathing gradually steadied.
A wave of pity washed over him for the girl who had lived so long she could never once draw an easy breath.
"Director, shall I take us to the hotel?"
Hansu glanced in the rearview mirror. There was Do-heon, lowering his shoulder so Hye-won could sleep more comfortably.
He has a side this careful and gentle?
Hansu kept stealing glances, eyes wide with surprise, waiting for an answer. Even knowing she had once been his student, the way Do-heon carefully adjusted the height of his shoulder to match the angle of her neck was completely unfamiliar. Was that really something he needed to fuss over so much? Hansu almost doubted whether this was the same director he knew. The warm light in the eyes of a man who had always seemed like a cold-blooded creature—someone who would not even feel pain if pricked with a needle—left Hansu thoroughly unsettled.