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“I’ll make it so you can play the violin with this hand again.”
At the words that he would make it possible for her to play the violin again, Hee-jin's heart fluttered helplessly. Even though there was no basis for his claim, tears welled up in her eyes. It felt as if, by some miracle, her hand would heal and she would be able to perform again.
At the same time, however, Hee-jin felt dizzy. It was difficult to accept this paradoxical situation where the person who had shattered her was now claiming he would save her.
“Ugh!”
The moment she unconsciously moved her injured left hand, an unbelievable, sharp pain pierced through her entire body. The pain stabbed at her mind, snapping her back to reality. Was she still not coming to her senses even after everything? Did she actually want to be swayed by a devil's whisper?
“Let go. I don’t need your help.”
Hee-jin let out a low, self-deprecating scoff and yanked her hand away. She couldn't believe she had almost been deceived by Go Seok-hyun's words. Just how weak had she become...? She must not forget that if it weren't for him in the first place, her hand would never have been ruined like this. The man before her was not a savior, but the destroyer who had trampled on her life.
“Noona.”
“Stop acting arrogant, pretending you're going to save me, and just pay the price for what you did.”
Hee-jin snapped sharply, wiping away the tears that had gathered. She even gripped the call button, telling him to leave immediately or she would call the nurse.
Taking a step back, Seok-hyun thought to himself that she was truly consistent, seeing how she didn't give in easily. She was different from the people he had dealt with his entire life. Only Yoo Hee-jin did not move according to his will. That angered Seok-hyun, but at the same time, it piqued his interest further.
“Then what are you going to do after you're discharged? Are you going back to America?”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“Why doesn't it? The 'price' you mentioned includes compensation for damages. What, are you planning to handle it yourself and bill me later?”
“…….”
Hee-jin hadn't properly thought about what she would do after discharge. It would be more accurate to say she had ignored it. She didn't want to think about how long she would have to struggle to fix this hand.
“You have to get the pins removed in six weeks, so you'll have to stay in Korea until then. Will you stay at a hotel? I'll obviously cover the costs... will that be okay?”
The way he asked if it would be "okay" sounded meaningful, and Hee-jin unconsciously looked at Seok-hyun. What did he mean by that?
“You have no one right now, Noona.”
Thump! As he pointed out the reality she had been trying to ignore, she felt a dizzying blow, as if she had been hit with a hammer. When she had checked her phone a moment ago, there were no messages from her mother or father. Not a single one. Setting aside her mother in America, even her father hadn't contacted her. He must have heard the news by now.
A father who had become Yoo Da-ae's father, and a mother who had left to find a new life. Would they even care if she reached out? The reality that there was no one by her side at the moment she needed someone to lean on most was maddeningly miserable and empty. The loneliness bursting from a corner of her heart was as difficult to bear as the pain in her fingers.
Trembling like an aspen leaf, Hee-jin unconsciously looked at Go Seok-hyun. Now, engulfed in the fear of being abandoned even by her family and left alone in the world, the only person by her side was the devil who had ruined her life.
“Has anyone contacted you?”
At the words that served as a finishing blow to her miserable reality, Hee-jin felt as if her heart were tearing apart once more.
“It's only me, right?”
Receiving that gaze, Seok-hyun smiled brightly, as if on purpose. He seemed to feel a sense of euphoria at the fact that he was the only one left by Yoo Hee-jin's side. Hee-jin became afraid of Go Seok-hyun. However, the reality of being alone felt far heavier than that fear.
“I won't ask you to forgive me.”
Sitting back down beside Hee-jin, Seok-hyun took her right hand and brought it to his own neck.
“Instead, keep hating me by my side.”
Hee-jin's fingertips twitched with the impulse to strangle this neck. Facing Hee-jin's eyes, which were shaking desperately right in front of him, Seok-hyun leaned down as if possessed and stole a kiss.
“Ugh!”
Startled, Hee-jin clamped her mouth shut and jerked her head back. Whether the skin had been pierced or torn, Seok-hyun smiled as he wiped the blood trickling from his lower lip. His lips, now tinged with red, reminded her of the cocktail called 'Devil's Temptation' she had drunk in Tokyo.
“What kind of trick is this...?”
“This isn't a trick... I was just led by instinct.”
Hee-jin was appalled. Then, since she wanted to kill him, could she just go ahead and kill him? As she stared blankly in absurdity, Seok-hyun tried to grab her right hand again as if to do it once more. Hee-jin yanked her hand back.
“Stop playing games. No matter how isolated I am, I'm not falling for you.”
“You don't need to fall for me. Like I said, just use me as much as you hate me.”
“…….”
Hee-jin understood what Go Seok-hyun meant. He was telling her to use him to escape this terrible reality as much as she hated and couldn't forgive him.
Of course, she wanted to. She wanted to grab him by the collar and demand he restore her hand to its original state. Even if it were impossible, since he broke it, he should be the one to fix it.
If she nodded here, she would ultimately be dragged along exactly as Go Seok-hyun wanted. He would surely use the excuse of fixing her hand to interfere in her life again and manipulate her as he pleased.
But if she didn't do that, her life with the violin would end here. It wasn't something that would take just a month or two, and she couldn't rely on a family that viewed her as a nuisance. Yet, she didn't have the confidence to give up the violin just like this.
No matter how miserable she was, and no matter how much she hated him, she had to lean on him to stand up again.
Slap! Hee-jin slapped Seok-hyun's cheek mercilessly. Feeling the stinging pain spread through her palm, she glared coldly at his face. It was the first time since the surgery that a look of venom filled Hee-jin's eyes.
“Fix it. My hand. So that it's as if it was never injured.”
As Seok-hyun straightened his head, which had been turned to the side, a red drop of blood clung to his lips. Despite that, a satisfied smile lingered on his mouth.
✾ ✾ ✾
Hee-jin's father, Yoo Seong-hwan, had a complicated heart. It was a great joy that his beloved daughter, Da-ae, had met someone and was getting married, but he had never imagined she would marry into a chaebol family.
Still, after meeting them, he had been relieved that they seemed like good people and that she likely wouldn't suffer from the hardships of in-law life, but an accident occurred where he hadn't expected it. The groom-to-be had a collision with the eldest daughter. He didn't know how the situation had happened, but when he heard that Hee-jin's hand was injured, his vision blurred.
Since the person who caused the injury was someone from the family they needed to impress the most, it was difficult to be angry. Besides, they said it was an accident. He could only find solace in the fact that they were doing their best for her treatment. Seeing her staying in a VIP private room, it seemed those words weren't a lie.
“As expected, she's not answering the phone...”
He wanted to check if she was okay, but Hee-jin didn't answer his calls or messages. It was as if she were avoiding contact. Even when he was told she couldn't be visited, the nurse explained that the patient's mental shock was too great and that situations causing stress should be avoided. It was practically the same as saying Hee-jin didn't want to see him.
“Ah, the groom... Mr. Go Seok-hyun.”
Seong-hwan, who had been lingering at the hospital today as well, spotted Seok-hyun and hurried toward him. Seeing him coming from the VIP ward, it was certain that Hee-jin was meeting him. Seong-hwan could not understand why she would hate to see her own father, a family member, while still meeting the person who caused the accident.
“Father.”
“Are you on your way back from seeing Hee-jin?”
“Yes. She just fell asleep.”
“Is she okay? Is she still... struggling a lot?”
Seok-hyun paused for a moment to catch his breath, hesitating as if he were cautious about answering. Seong-hwan let out a deep sigh as if he had already heard the answer. Seok-hyun's lowered gaze lingered briefly on the box of drinks in Seong-hwan's hand.
“It would be difficult to see Hee-jin, wouldn't it?”
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