Chapter 158
After dinner, Ga-eun lay curled on her side in bed, cradling her stomach. Her unexpected encounter with Juhan earlier had apparently shocked her body. Her condition had been poor throughout the day, and now she felt pain in her abdomen.
‘It hurts so much…’
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and her back was damp with perspiration. No amount of deep breathing could ease the pain as she clutched the blanket tightly.
‘What if something happens to the baby?’
Breathing heavily, Ga-eun gritted her teeth and tried to stand, but she collapsed immediately upon leaving the bed. Though she managed to grasp the bed, preventing a serious impact, she couldn’t rise again.
“Aunt… Aunt.”
At her strained call, Seon-mi approached, still eating ice cream.
“G-Ga-eun, why are you s-sitting there?”
“Aunt… could you call the elderly gentleman? You remember how, right?”
“Y-yes. Press G-Ga-eun’s phone, and t-tell it to c-call the elderly g-gentleman.”
“That’s right. You know so well. My phone is on the table, aunt. Tell him… I think I need to go to the hospital.”
“G-Ga-eun, are you h-hurting? I’ll c-call him.”
Seon-mi hurried to the table in agitation.
Ga-eun closed her eyes, listening to her aunt make the call.
‘It’s okay. Everything will be fine. It’s just from the shock. It will pass soon.’
She tried to calm herself with these repeated reassurances.
“G-Ga-eun. G-grandfather says he’s c-coming now.”
“Yes… thank you, aunt.”
“G-Ga-eun, does it h-hurt a lot?”
“No, I think I’m just startled. Now that you’ve called the elderly gentleman, everything will be fine.”
Ga-eun forced a smile. She knew if she showed anxiety, her aunt would become even more distressed. And the baby too.
“Aunt, will you hold my hand?”
“Y-yes. I’ll h-hold your hand.”
Seon-mi crouched beside Ga-eun and clasped her hand firmly between both of hers.
“Aunt… I’m going to close my eyes for a bit.”
“Y-yes. When g-grandfather comes, I’ll t-tell him,” Seon-mi assured her.
“Thank you,” Ga-eun whispered faintly before closing her eyes.
Soon after, they heard Kim Hak-sun arrive. Seon-mi released Ga-eun’s hand to open the door, though Ga-eun was too distressed to notice.
“Is Ga-eun unwell?”
“She s-said she was a bit s-startled.”
“It must be because of me,” Juhan, who had accompanied grandfather, said with a self-reproaching expression.
“This isn’t the time for that. Seon-mi, where is Ga-eun?”
“G-Ga-eun is there, by the b-bed.”
Kim Hak-sun and Juhan rushed to Ga-eun, who was leaning against the bed, eyes closed, breathing heavily.
“Ga-eun! Ga-eun!”
Her eyelids slowly lifted.
“Juhan… oppa…?”
“Ga-eun, can you stand?”
Ga-eun nodded, though even this small movement left her dizzy, indicating her poor condition.
“This won’t do. I’ll have to carry you on my back. Grandfather, please help.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll h-help too!”
“Yes, Aunt Seon-mi, please hold Ga-eun’s arm and help her lean against my back slowly.”
“L-like this?”
“Yes, Seon-mi, you’re doing well.”
Just as Ga-eun was about to be lifted onto Juhan’s back with their assistance, they heard the door open. In their haste, they had left it unlocked.
“Who could…”
Kim Hak-sun’s eyes widened as he looked up.
A towering height. An imposing physique.
An exceptionally handsome face beneath jet-black hair.
Yet more overwhelming than all these features combined were his black eyes.
His gaze, fixed on them like a predator eyeing its prey, was unsettling.
Kim Hak-sun knew immediately.
This man was Chairman Kwon Soon-yeol’s eldest grandson.
There was no mistaking it. He was the spitting image of the chairman in his youth.
However, the grandson’s commanding presence was far more overwhelming.
Kim Hak-sun quickly understood why.
Si-heon’s gaze was fixed solely on one person.
Kim Juhan’s pupils widened as he lifted his eyes in response to his grandfather’s reaction.
“Get away.”
“You…”
Si-heon swiftly approached, roughly pushed Kim Juhan aside, and lifted Ga-eun into his arms.
His face contorted the moment he touched his wife.
She was too light. Much more than before.
Was she eating at all?
His insides burned hot at the sight of her smaller, pale face.
His eyes nearly boiled with emotion.
At that moment, Si-heon’s frozen pupils trembled.
“Mr… Kwon Si-heon…?”
Her eyelids slowly rose.
Beneath them, light brown eyes revealed themselves.
A faint fragrance wafted up.
Everything he had desperately longed for.
“How… are you… here…?”
“Close your eyes. We’re going to the hospital.”
“Why… are you…”
“Lean on me. Just relax.”
Like magic, Ga-eun’s body went limp.
Just as he turned to leave—
“N-n-no! You c-c-can’t take G-G-Ga-eun!”
A woman spread her arms, blocking Si-heon’s path.
“W-w-we must be c-careful of s-s-strangers. Y-you can’t take G-Ga-eun, we d-don’t know you!”
Eun Seon-mi’s eyes, lips, limbs—her entire body trembled as she faced Si-heon.
To Seon-mi, who had never seen such a large and solid grown man, Si-heon was overwhelmingly huge, intimidating, and terrifying.
Still, Seon-mi stood her ground against this beast-like man.
If Ga-eun was taken away now, if they never met again—
That single thought alone kept Seon-mi standing.
“Aunt Seon-mi…!”
Seeing how Seon-mi was staring intently at Si-heon, Kim Juhan hurriedly intervened between them.
“Um, well, you see, this is our aunt…”
Kim Juhan’s lips quivered as he carefully chose his words, completely unaware that Si-heon already knew about Ga-eun being an illegitimate child.
What happened after the Royal Hotel bazaar never leaked out.
Of course, it couldn’t be completely dismissed as if it never happened.
It had unfolded clearly before everyone’s eyes, and they all had ears to hear.
However, no one was foolish enough to spread rumors and risk opposing the Hwanhee Group.
It wasn’t about Ga-eun—it was about the Hwanhee Group.
Even if Ga-eun were to divorce after being revealed as an illegitimate child,
Chairman Kwon Soon-yeol and Kwon Si-heon weren’t the type to let anyone who tarnished their reputation go unpunished.
Those who witnessed the scene at the banquet hall were busy whispering only to their spouses or parents, plotting their next moves.
Thus, news of that day never reached Kim Juhan.
“I-I’m Ga-eun’s aunt! N-not Juhan’s aunt!”
At Seon-mi’s cry, Kim Juhan bit his lip.
Kwon Si-heon’s ruthlessness was so well-known that anyone who began researching the Hwanhee Group would quickly learn of it.
Cold, cruel, merciless.
There was a saying that if you pricked him, it wouldn’t be his blood that flowed, but the blood of those he had stabbed.
If such a man were to learn that Ga-eun wasn’t her current parents’ biological daughter, and that she had a sick aunt…
The consequences were clear without having to imagine further.
“Director Noh.”
At Si-heon’s call, a man as massive as himself approached with surprising stealth despite his size.
“Yes, Executive Director.”
“Please escort the aunt. Respectfully.”
“Understood.”
Aunt? Respectfully?
Both Kim Juhan and Kim Hak-sun wore shocked expressions at Si-heon’s words.
Meanwhile, Noh Man-su approached Seon-mi and bowed.
“Would you like to accompany us to the hospital?”
“I-I’m going!”
“Then please, follow me this way.”
As Ga-eun in Si-heon’s arms grew distant, Seon-mi hurriedly followed.
Kim Juhan and Kim Hak-sun, having come to their senses, chased after them as well.
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