CH 172

But Muyeol didn’t move. He stared at Mr. Cha as he stood in his place before opening his mouth, “Sir, I’m not going to hate you anymore.”

“Ridiculous… Jerk…”

“I grew to hate you because I still considered you to be my father. I wanted to be recognized by you, hoped you would treat me as your son, not a b**tard. But I realized that all that hope was for nothing.”

Mr. Cha glared at him, but Muyeol continued, “I’m going to let go of my hope now. Don’t worry about the company. I’ll run it better than you did.”

Muyeol didn’t feel any sort of attachment to the hope anymore, especially after Mr. Cha called him a b**tard even when he was ill. Hatred was like that… People hated others because they couldn’t get what they wanted, and Muyeol realized that he had hated for the same reason.

He was thirty three now; it took him a long time to realize it. If he had realized it earlier, he could have spent more time loving Yiyoung.

“Filthy b**tard!” Mr. Cha spat. It seemed the anger allowed him to pronounce better.

Muyeol smiled coldly. “Bye now.”

“Crazy jerk. You b**tard!”

Muyeol realized he didn’t need to worry about Mr. Cha. The man seemed to be speaking normally now.

Muyeol nodded at him to show respect before leaving the room. Outside, Yiyoung was waiting for him, getting ready to go home after work.

Muyeol held Yiyoung’s hand. “Shall we get going now?”

“I’m hungry,” she said.

“Me too. Should we go eat something?”

“How about budae-jjigae? I’m craving hot soup because it’s raining.”

“Okay.”

The two held each other’s hands and left the hospital together. And after that, Muyeol didn’t visit Mr. Cha again. In February of the following year, Muyeol became the new CEO of the S group after earning the support of all the shareholders.

* * *

Cold wind rushed in through the open window. It smelled like wet leaves in the rain, reminding all that it was already winter. It blew down the second floor first, passing by a wall filled with picture frames.

A picture of Yiyoung in her white wedding dress and Muyeol in his black tuxedo hung on the wall, their faces bright with huge smiles, as if their laughter could be heard through the pictures. Madam Choi was holding Yiyoung’s hand as Muyeol lifted her in the air. The picture looked lovely.

The wind moved onto the other pictures, each one containing their happiness. Then, it moved downstairs with a satisfied smile. When it entered the bedroom, there was only a messy bed in sight. This time, it went to the kitchen after exploring the living room in its search, and it finally found what it was looking for.

Yiyoung took out a bottle of water from the fridge. “This much will be enough, right?”

She was planning to walk around on a mountain close to their home with Muyeol. The two had coincidentally gotten a day off from work on the same day, and it had been a while since they last had a holiday together.

Muyeol put the water bottle she’d taken out in a bag. “I think so. I heard there are a lot of restaurants in the area there, so it’ll be fine.”

“I’m so excited! I don’t know why I’m so hungry these days. I think I gained some weight, too.”

“You need to eat a lot more to gain weight.”

Yiyoung giggled like a little girl as she followed him. “I heard guys only say that so as to not upset their women.”

“Who told you that?”

“The married people on the staff. They said you wouldn’t actually feel the same way as what you say, and that you would actually want a voluptuous but skinny woman.”

Muyeol burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Why do you believe such things?”

“No, I’m just saying… Am I still pretty?”

“Of course. You’re the prettiest woman out there, and you’d be even prettier if you gained a bit more weight.”

“Even if I become like a balloon?”

Muyeol paused abruptly at that statement.

“So you’ll still like me if I gained a lot of weight, right?” Yiyoung questioned again.

Muyeol’s heart began to pound, already having a vague idea.