Chapter 94

***

“The man was…” Gyeonhui asked with a firm expression.

“He was the father of the girl.”

Dr. Seo nodded slowly and replied.

“… Because of a brain hemorrhage…” Dr. Seo said while clenching his teeth.

“Why did she not say a word to me about it at all?”

Hearing Dr. Seo, Gyeonhui’s mind grew heavy because of her family history that he had never heard before. It was her wound that he had never heard of in the three years while he was in a relationship with her.

“She has visited me many times since then.”

Gyeonhui looked at Dr. Seo again upon his continued cries.

“She asked if she told me that she was okay, her dad would have been able to live…”

Dr. Seo sighed into the air and slowly continued speaking again.

“Hah. I explained to her that it is not true, but she wouldn’t believe it. I could never forget her eyes at that time.”

Dr. Seo’s face was heavily subdued.

At that time, Gyeonhui had a memory that was going through his head.

“Wait a minute, when was this? The day of the accident?” He hurriedly asked.

“I don’t remember… I know it was winter.”

Dr. Seo rummaged through the old medical records that he brought from the lab a while ago.

At that time, Gyeonhui remembered the day when he had the accident.

‘I want to be with you today, no matter what.’

Her text message differed than usual.

He suddenly pulled out his phone and checked the date when the text came from her.

“February 7th.”

“February 7th.”

Gyeonhui and Dr. Seo said the date at the same time. Dr. Seo looked at him in amazement.

“How did you know, Gyeonhui…”

“So… that was why she wanted…”

His ominous feeling was never wrong.

The day that Gyeonhui was in a car accident was the anniversary of her father’s death.

“I did what I did to her… on the day…”

His guilt-filled expression distorted painfully.

‘Ten years ago, today… I want to go back in time…’

‘What’s that day?

‘… On February 7th, my high school graduation ceremony.’

The conversation that he had forgotten came to mind.

“Hah…”

The atmosphere was heavily sunken.

He didn’t say anything because he was thinking about everything.

The first person who broke the silence was Dr. Seo.

“I don’t know what went wrong between the two of you, or why you started feeling her pain, but I hope that you can solve the problem with her as soon as possible. This is not advice from a doctor, but a person who has more experience in life. Health can be ruined instantly once your mind is traumatized.”

Dr. Seo said it with nothing but concern, but Gyeonhui was not listening to him.

“Hah…”

Dr. Seo exhaled a slight sigh while shrugging his shoulders.

“Anyway, you have to stay in the hospital for a week. If you don’t, the wound could get infected again. This is an instruction as a doctor. Don’t forget.”

Dr. Seo reminded him several times and exited the room.

“How did this happen…”

Gyeonhui was left alone, and his eyes closed in pain.

No matter how hard he closed his eyes, he didn’t know how to calm the pain in his mind.

He didn’t even know what to do or how to do it.

His chest was aching like an active volcano that would explode at once, and his shattered fist was pale, for it had no blood.

He raised his body; otherwise, he would go crazy. There was only one person in the world he could share his thoughts with.

***

The room of the orphanage’s director.

Sister Andrea carefully poured the brewed tea and pushed it out to Sun.

“Have some tea.”

“… Thank you very much.”

Sun wasn’t moving at all after receiving the cup as if she were frozen.

Andrea took a deep breath to savor the tea after lifting the cup.

Andrea seemed to have kept her eyes open for a moment while staring outside the window to organize her thoughts.

“Where should I start…”

After a while, Andrea nodded slowly.

“I’m going to start talking about the first time Gyeonhui came here.”

Sister Andrea took a sip of tea and continued to speak slowly.

“It’s been more than two decades, but it’s still so vivid…”

Maybe it was a bitter memory for her because her expression sank unusually.

“It was a cold winter. A little boy came here alone. Children would often come here from other facilities, but it was rare for a child to come alone with his own two feet.”

“Then the boy you’re talking about is…”

“Yes,” she said. “How beautiful his eyes were.”

Andrea shivered while remembering that time.

***

It was a cold winter.

Sister Andrea was knitting beside the fireplace when someone knocked on the door of the director’s room.

‘Knock, knock.’

“Who is it?”

Andrea, of course, asked gently while thinking that it’s just one of the children.

However, a short time later, the door opened, and the child that came in was a boy that she hadn’t seen before.

The boy seemed to be about nine years old, with frozen cheeks from the cold.

However, his eyes looked stronger than any other adult’s.

Andrea was a little surprised but rose from her seat and approached the child.

“… How can I help you, child?”

When Andrea asked him carefully, he replied boldly and confidently.

“My mom told me that I have to be here starting today. She said that she will come back to me when I grow up.”

“Oh… okay, boy.”

Andrea fully understood the situation after hearing a few of his words and stroked the child’s head in sympathy.

He blinked, with his mouth closed like he had determined something in his mind.

“What’s your name?”

Andrea asked him in a soft voice.

“It’s Gyeonhui Woo.”

“Gyeonhui Woo. That’s such a great name.”

Andrea looked out through the window while stroking the child’s head.

A black car was disappearing far away in a field covered in white snow.

“Hmm…” With a heavy sigh, Andrea carefully asked the child, “Do you remember your home number or your mom’s contact information?”

“I don’t remember.”

“… Did your mom ask you to answer like that?”

After a moment, the child nodded awkwardly, but he struggled to close his small lips to show that he was never going to say anything more.

“… Come here and warm your body.”

Andrea led the cold and frozen child toward the stove.

Maybe it was because of the warmth, but his rigidly hardened expression loosened a little.

***

“That’s how Gyeonhui came to our orphanage,” Andrea said with a sinking expression.

Sun’s face had become darker than Andrea’s upon hearing the story that she had never heard before.

“He didn’t say anything when I asked him if his family was struggling financially, where his home was, or who his mom was. He only told me that if he goes to college later, his mom will come to find him. I felt so bad for him.”

“Well… In the end…”

“… Yes, he was abandoned by his own mother.”

Hearing Andrea’s words, Sun could not keep her mouth shut.

***

“Hah.”

Standing in front of the VIP room, Ojae sighed nervously.

After taking a few deep breaths, he carefully knocked on the door.

‘Knock, knock.’

Mrs. Shin’s voice was heard from inside,

“Yes.”

Although the voice he heard was gentle and soft, Ojae was so nervous and carefully opened the door to step inside.

“Come inside.”

Mrs. Shin said while she was wiping Chairman Woo’s hand with a towel.

The Chairman seemed unconscious, relying on an oxygen tank and barely breathing.

“How are you, Vice President Shin?”

“Where’s Gyeonhui?”

Mrs. Shin naturally looked for Gyeonhui.