How Disgusting
Kyung-ja looked at Hyun-seo and Tae-yeon with a heart full of worry and relief. Her pulse had raced with the sudden news, but seeing Hyun-seo call her daughter’s name with such gentleness was a relief.
“Tae-yeon-ah, I’m going to my room.”
“Yes, Mom. I’m fine. I’m feeling better.”
“That’s good. I’m leaving then.”
Tae-yeon watched her mother leave with a smile. After Kyung-ja and Hyun-seo departed, dinner arrived in the evening. It was far too elaborate for hospital food. She would need to gather her strength now. After all, she had to play the role of a fake mother.
‘The dead eat better when they’re dead.’ That was what she’d heard. She had psyched herself up to eat and tried, but her throat was so tight she couldn’t swallow a bite. It was all empty words. She couldn’t fool anyone, not even herself. She tried to look bright and positive, but no matter how she thought about it, no one could eat in this impossible situation. Still, she forced herself down.
‘I have to be healthy. If I’m healthy, I can heal my mom’s illness. And now I’m Yun-woo’s mother.’
The image of the baby from the nursery flashed before her eyes. Visiting hours were coming soon. Could she boldly enter the newborn unit as the mother and see the baby?
What would the in-laws do? That worry was the biggest one of all.
Choi Hyun-seo was the sole successor now, but he was not the chairman’s biological son. His mother was Oh Jin-hee, the third major shareholder of Miwoo Group and the chairman’s current second wife. Second wife, but the rumors were not kind.
The chairman had a proper son with his first wife, and when that wife died young, Oh Jin-hee had pushed her way in using Hyun-seo as a shield. The rumors had circulated, but they were from twenty-odd years ago. Tae-yeon knew nothing detailed about Oh Jin-hee except that she was a difficult woman to deal with. While working in PR, one staff member had told her that Oh Jin-hee had slapped him during an interview. She had blamed it on an inappropriate remark, but the story had left a lingering bad taste. Negative thoughts kept swirling.
All night, Hyun-seo did not call. Only the two of them knew about this secret. The hospital doctor knew, of course, but Hyun-seo would have ensured everything was tightly controlled. Regardless, Tae-yeon felt uneasy. She wished he had explained everything in detail, but he never called. She picked up her phone and fidgeted with it. She had never initiated contact with him before the contract. Since the wedding, he had only contacted her for the sudden birth and nothing more in private. Should she call him now?
Then her phone rang. The screen showed Shin Noel. From No-eul oppa.
“Hello?”
“Hello? Tae-yeon-ah. Are you okay?”
Noel’s voice was low. He must have heard from her mother that she was home. Tae-yeon took a deep breath and answered.
“Yes. Oppa. Did you hear from Mom?”
A voice full of embarrassment and sadness came back.
“Didn’t you go on the European trip? Your mom said that. You said so too.”
“I’m sorry, oppa.”
There was nothing else to say. At that moment the door opened and Hyun-seo entered. Tae-yeon tensed immediately and said,
“Oppa, I’ll call you back later. My husband is here.”
She hung up and looked up. Hyun-seo, brow furrowed and one eyebrow raised, looked at her. “Oppa? Where?”
“Not really my oppa. Just a friend from the building I live in.”
“So you’re on a private call with an acquaintance?”
The tone in his words was heavy. Maybe that negative feeling was how Hyun-seo was expressing it. Tae-yeon felt she had to explain.
“He’s the owner of the building where I rent a room.”
“You’re on private calls with that guy?”
She could not mention that he worked at her company right now. She nodded to cut the story short. “Yes. We do talk sometimes.”
To the half-hearted response, Hyun-seo said,
“Tomorrow, my mother and father are coming.”
“The chairman and the lady?”
He nodded once. “They might stop by the ward. Or they could just see the baby and leave.”
It was an absurd idea, but it made sense. People who had just given birth and were the company’s staff would not suddenly grab their daughter-in-law with a big smile.
Silence fell in the private room. Overwhelmed by the heavy air, Tae-yeon looked at Hyun-seo on the sofa and said,
“Director, you should go rest soon.”
Hyun-seo looked at her. When she tilted her head, his chin lifted slightly. “Not yet. I’d look too irresponsible as the father who just had his first child. I’ll leave later. You sleep, Min Dae-ri. Don’t worry about me.”
How could she not worry? Tae-yeon lowered her head and answered instead, then pulled the blanket up. Her mind was too foggy to bear. Every breath sounded loud under the covers. If Hyun-seo heard, it would be terrible. Lying like a corpse, she could not turn over or breathe carefully. It would be unbearable, so she finally sat up.
As Tae-yeon pulled the blanket aside and sat up, Hyun-seo did not glance at her and continued scrolling through the tablet. He looked like he was working. She wanted to say something. That night, she wished he would remember the night they had spent together. He was like a cold flame—dual. His lips and touch were hot, his eyes cold. He had come at her like he wanted to swallow her whole, yet he had not even asked her name.
With them alone, she was nervous and her throat tightened. Her gaze moved to the side of his face. Broad chest, narrow waist, long legs. Between those legs, his body. It kept coming back. His firm, swollen body moved endlessly inside her. His fingers had claimed every secret place, his lips had bitten and sucked countless times. Was this the only thing she would never forget for the rest of her life?
“Min Dae-ri, you have a habit of staring disgustingly.”
“What?”
The words came from Hyun-seo without even blinking. Tae-yeon was startled. “Not pretending to be shy at all? Don’t forget you just gave birth. Every time you keep staring and swallowing, what do you think I should do to you?”
“Director, no. That’s not—”
Before she could finish, Hyun-seo stood and approached her. He was already big, but sitting on the bed he looked even larger. Only the bedside lamp was on, so his shadow stretched long across the room. “I’ll come early tomorrow. Because I’m the father of the first child.”
For a moment his face felt gentle. She could not tell where the act ended and the truth began with this man. He nodded, then left the room. Tae-yeon felt completely drained. Even being alone with Hyun-seo in the same space had exhausted her.
The next day, as promised, Hyun-seo arrived at the ward early. He sat on the sofa and worked, ignoring her. He answered calls and scrolled through the tablet, then closed his eyes for a moment as if thinking, before picking up again. The air around him felt tense. Hyun-seo and his parents were not people who mixed with rank-and-file staff. Tae-yeon realized she knew almost nothing about the man in front of her. Naturally, she knew nothing about Chairman Choi or his wife either. The mention that the chairman and lady might visit kept her nerves on edge the whole time. Hyun-seo’s phone rang. When he answered, Hwang’s voice came through.
“The chairman and the lady are looking at the baby in the nursery right now.”
“Oh. Are they coming to the ward?”
“They seem like they might.”
In front of the nursery, Chairman Choi and Oh Jin-hee were watching the baby. Anyone could see it was a Choi bloodline. The bright forehead and straight nose were so like Hyun-seo’s that the chairman smiled. But Oh Jin-hee did not. “I’m not going to the ward.”
“You can’t do that. You gave birth and worked hard. You should see the baby.”
“I don’t want to see my daughter-in-law who gave birth and immediately pushed the baby in. I need time to prepare my heart.”
Chairman Choi remained silent for a moment, then nodded. He knew arguing would not work. Oh Jin-hee smiled while looking at Yun-woo through the glass. “My son’s child. He’s handsome, so there’s no need to see.”
Even as she said it, her heart was bitter. Through Hwang, she had learned the mother was Min Tae-yeon, twenty-nine, a deputy manager in PR at Miwoo Group. Just a deputy manager with no special talent, and the details about her living situation were even more outrageous. After her father died in high school, she had lived alone with her mother in a rented top-floor room. Her mother’s kidneys were failing, she had to undergo dialysis, and she worked part-time because the company salary was not enough to care for her. Had she sold her body for money? That made no sense either. Selling her body would get money, but here she had to become the son-in-law’s wife and mother to the child who would succeed Hyun-seo. She simply could not bring herself to look at the woman’s face. What was even more outrageous was that she was the chairman’s second wife.