Prey (Lee Seohan) - Chapter 149

“!”

Jeonghan’s face hardened.

Seol Suhyeon?

Why is Seol Suhyeon here?

Jeonghan stared at Suhyeon in disbelief. She stood there with a pale face, then hesitantly stepped back.

“……Suhyeon.”

As he began to turn toward her fully, Suhyeon turned first. Then, she started running down the alley.

“Seol Suhyeon!”

“Ahhh!”

Seol Hee-nam, hit by Jeonghan’s leg as he ran, let out a loud cry and fell hard to the ground.

Without looking back, Jeonghan chased after Suhyeon.

Suhyeon, running blindly, was caught by Jeonghan as soon as she turned a corner.

Huff, huff.

Both of them stood still, gasping for air.

Suhyeon, her arm caught, turned her head slightly to the side.

After catching his breath for a moment, Jeonghan pushed back his disheveled hair and spoke.

“What I just heard was…”

“I…”

Suhyeon’s voice overlapped with Jeonghan’s words. Her head lifted, and their eyes met.

Jeonghan’s face hardened as he saw her pale face.

She looked at him with trembling eyes, her complexion drained of all color.

“The reason why you’re someone I must never love was because…”

…Damn it.

Realizing Suhyeon had heard everything, Jeonghan tightly closed his eyes.

He thought, or rather hoped, that maybe she hadn’t heard all of it.

That she hadn’t heard everything.

The moment he saw her, his mind froze, and when she started running, he chased after her, clinging to that single possibility.

If she had only seen Seol Hee-nam clinging to his legs, if she hadn’t heard the decisive words, he was ready to lie to her as much as necessary.

Even though he planned to tell her the truth eventually, this was the worst way for her to find out.

“Was it… that?”

Suhyeon’s voice trembled faintly.

But she had already figured it out.

In the worst way.

Jeonghan roughly wiped his dry face and spoke.

“Seol Suhyeon, that…”

“The reason you couldn’t tell me.”

Suhyeon cut off Jeonghan’s words again. She inhaled deeply with her red eyes, then exhaled before speaking in a voice trembling with sorrow.

“The reason you couldn’t tell me, no matter how curious I was, is why I was the one you married…”

Jeonghan reached out, his heart aching at Suhyeon’s trembling lips. But Suhyeon avoided his hand and looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

“Is that it?”

Tell me it was just Seol Hee-nam’s nonsense.

Please, please tell me it’s nonsense…

Suhyeon thought this to herself, hoping that the horrific words she had heard weren’t true.

Jeonghan gazed at her with dark, heavy eyes.

“…Yes.”

At his answer, despair filled Suhyeon’s eyes. The ground beneath her seemed to fall away, and her vision spun.

“Seol Suhyeon!”

As her body swayed, Jeonghan caught her, but Suhyeon pushed his hand away.

Thud!

“…!”

Jeonghan looked at Suhyeon with trembling eyes. Tears were overflowing from her furrowed eyes.

A sharp pain tightened around his throat, and Jeonghan felt as if he couldn’t breathe.

“What I hid…”

Jeonghan spoke in a cracked voice, narrowing his brows.

“I’m sorry for hiding it. I couldn’t help it.”

“Why… are you sorry…” H-hic

Suhyeon covered her tear-streaked face with both hands.

Jeonghan looked at her with pity and raised his hand.

“..…”

He couldn’t bring himself to touch her face, and he lowered his hand again.

Jeonghan was staring at her, feeling like he was suffocating.

This was why he hadn’t spoken up until now.

He couldn’t bring himself to tell Seol Suhyeon, who was frustrated, “Why did you hide it?”

He couldn’t bear to say it.

Because he was afraid it would hurt this much.

Because he knew it would be unbearable pain for her.

And because he didn’t have the courage to lessen that pain.