Prey (Lee Seohan) - Chapter 175

Jeonghan nodded heavily.

“I tried to save her, but it didn’t go well.”

The wounds on other parts of her body were severe, but the injury to her head from the fall was especially critical. Keeping her barely alive was all they could do.

The hospital said there was nothing more they could do. They didn’t know how long she would survive like this, but she would never regain consciousness.

“Why did you go so far to save her? If you had just called an ambulance…”

Suhyeon trailed off.

Would Seol Hee-nam have kept her mother alive? Jeonghan must have known the answer to that too.

As Suhyeon bit her lip at the thought, Jeonghan gently pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen over her forehead, tucking them behind her ear.

“…Because she’s someone precious to Seol Suhyeon. That’s why.”

“……”

Suhyeon looked at Jeonghan.

“I didn’t even realize it back then, but without thinking, I gave that order.”

As she quietly watched him, Suhyeon finally spoke.

“You…”

She frowned slightly, swallowing dryly with her parched throat before continuing.

“…You said you’d seen my mother at the hospital before. Before all this.”
Jeonghan’s hand, which had been brushing Suhyeon’s hair, stopped.

“Yes.”

Jeonghan spoke in a low voice. It was what he had said when she had thrown a cushion at him, crying in pain, demanding why he hadn’t told her.

“When we were still married.”

“……”

Jeonghan lowered his hand from her hair and looked at her.

Suhyeon, recalling the image of Jeonghan standing in her mother’s hospital room holding a bouquet, spoke.

“At that time, you were a bad and cruel person to me…”

It was back when he hadn’t even told her anything and had moved her mother’s hospital room without her consent, forcing her to secretly track down the nursing home.

And back then, Jeonghan had said this:

‘Please, hang in there. Just a little longer… even just for a little while.’

‘Seol Suhyeon needs at least one place where she can find solace.’

“But the words you said to my mother that day didn’t sound bad to me at all… it confused me. If anything, it felt like you were worried about me.”

Suhyeon let out a faint, bitter smile.

“You were the one who tried to save my mom, but I didn’t know that. Until now.”

“……”
Jeonghan quietly gazed into Suhyeon’s reddened eyes, swollen from tears.

As their eyes met, Suhyeon opened his mouth to speak.

“Tell me about it. That time… that day, what Seol Heenam said.”

Suhyeon looked directly at Jeonghan. His complexion was pale, but his eyes were clear.

“…….”

“Now, I’m really okay. I won’t be like that again, like earlier….”

Suhyeon earnestly looked at him.

“Tell me, Jeonghan-ssi.”

Jeonghan met Suhyeon’s gaze. He reached out, gently stroking Suhyeon’s cheek as he gazed at him.

“Then, while I talk, keep looking at me like this.”

“……Okay.”

“If it gets hard, just say so anytime.”

“Okay.”

Suhyeon answered as he looked at him.

Jeonghan’s long story began in a low, calm tone.

The story of the time when he lived as Lee Suho. A family that wasn’t wealthy but was happy. The moments when he felt ordinary happiness.

And then, because of Seol Heenam, holding the funerals for both his father and mother in succession and being sent to the orphanage.

The life in the orphanage, and later, when there was a fire and he was hospitalized, the time when Chairman Do Pil-yong came to visit.

From that moment on, he started living not as Lee Suho but as Do Jeonghan.

Watching Seol Heenam.

And eventually watching Seol Suhyeon as well.

As he recounted all these stories, Jeonghan gently stroked her face and shoulders, carefully observing Suhyeon’s condition. He cautiously gauged her state and continued his story slowly.

Thus, Jeonghan spoke about things she didn’t know but only he, as Do Jeonghan, did about her.

The sight of her he saw during his leave.

The sight of her he saw in America.

And the sight of her he saw when he returned to Korea.

He narrated all these stories in a calm tone.

From time to time, Suhyeon’s face turned pale, and she held back tears with great effort, but she tried her best to maintain a composed expression to let him keep talking.