Seol Yu-jin sat blankly on the sofa, his head resting against the backrest.
He had returned to Delights, a place so familiar—yet it felt strangely foreign, as if he were stepping into it for the very first time. The time that had passed since he’d fled from this place felt like a dream, blurred and distant.
Nothing about his return after reuniting with Winston had been smooth.
The moment Yu-jin, with no other choice, followed Winston out of the building and saw the waiting car, his face went pale, and he froze in place.
“I—I don’t want to… I’m not getting in! I won’t get in!”
“Daddy, Daddy!”
Seeing him screaming and thrashing like he’d lost his mind, Angela, still in Winston’s arms, turned deathly pale and let out a frightened cry. Winston quickly handed Angela over to a bodyguard and wrapped his arms tightly around Yu-jin.
“It’s okay, I got you. I understand, I get it—just calm down.”
Repeating himself in a soothing voice, he turned to the bodyguard.
“Find out if there’s a place nearby we can land a helicopter.”
His order was carried out immediately.
Thankfully, the helipad on the rooftop of the building was available, and they were able to return to Delights by air.
By the time they arrived, Yu-jin was completely exhausted—physically and emotionally drained.
He heard the sound of the door opening, but he didn’t move a muscle, remaining sprawled out just as he was.
Of course, the person who entered was Winston.
Yu-jin didn’t even have the will to pretend he was asleep—he just lay there silently. Winston crossed the room and looked down at him. Once he confirmed Yu-jin was awake, he spoke.
“Angie’s asleep. She lit up when she saw the teddy bear.”
Yu-jin didn’t respond.
He only faintly pictured in his mind what kind of teddy bear it might be.
“The one you left at Grant’s villa.”
Was it just his imagination, or had Winston’s voice carried some strange undertone when he said Grant?
Yu-jin turned his gaze toward him cautiously. The moment their eyes met, an awkward tension settled in the air.
“…I thought you might kill me.”
The words slipped out of Yu-jin’s mouth as if he were in a trance.
Winston’s lips curled slightly into a crooked smile, devoid of strength.
“I wanted to.”
There was an unspoken weight in those words.
Until the moment he’d found Yu-jin, Winston had been consumed by rage.
He’d played out one gruesome, terrifying scenario after another in his head, certain they’d come true.
But the moment he realized Yu-jin was standing there in front of him—alive, real—all that fury had vanished in an instant.
All that remained in its place was relief. Joy. An ache in his heart.
The simple fact that Yu-jin had been safe and sound was enough for him. He no longer needed anything more.
Yu-jin had no idea just how much peace Winston drew from the sight of him now, calmly staying in his room like this.
Not knowing what kind of reaction Winston might show next, Yu-jin stayed silent.
Winston’s face, quietly looking down at him, bore no trace of anger. But then, what did it mean?
He couldn’t even begin to guess what it meant.
All he could do was bite down hard on his lower lip, steeling himself vaguely for whatever was to come. Finally, Winston opened his mouth to speak.
“…The car.”
The unexpected start left Yu-jin momentarily confused. He blinked, and Winston continued, his tone slow and deliberate.
“Why couldn’t you get in the car? Was there some kind of accident?”
Yu-jin stared at him in silence for a long moment. Winston’s expression held no discernible emotion.
There was no mockery, no sarcastic sneer as if to accuse him of putting on another ridiculous act. No irritation at having been inconvenienced. Nothing.
“Why do you care?”
Yu-jin asked, his voice dry and flat—even to his own ears.
Winston waited a beat before answering.
“Just because.”
A strained silence lingered in the air before he added,
“I just want to know.”
That was all. But somehow, for the first time since they’d reunited, Yu-jin felt something from him that was utterly sincere—pure, even.
None of the hatred, the contempt, or any of the negativity he’d sensed before. Winston simply… wanted to know.
Why?
“You looking for a new excuse to demonize me?”
Yu-jin let out a faint, bitter laugh as he asked. But Winston didn’t respond.
He just stood there, staring quietly at him.
There was something worn out in his gaze.
The faint creases around his mouth, the way his cheeks had sunken, how much thinner he looked than before—Yu-jin could see it clearly.
All at once, the sharp edge of his defensiveness dulled.
What was the point of bristling at a man in this condition?
“…There was an accident.”
With a strange sense of resignation, Yu-jin finally spoke.
He could feel Winston’s gaze still fixed on him as he continued, his voice even and slow.
“After I was thrown out of the Campbell estate… I had nothing. I wandered the streets, scavenging through garbage just to survive. That’s when I met Sam… and somehow managed to land a job. Then one day, a guy I worked with offered to walk me home.”
Yu-jin spoke haltingly, piecing the memories together.
“He was a good man. When I told him I was about to have a baby, that I had no money and nowhere to go… he was really concerned. I was so emotionally worn down at the time… I started crying just from listening to him talk. I cried and cried…”
As the memory returned, a sudden chill swept over his entire body, and his breathing grew shallow.
Yu-jin shut his eyes tightly.
“He was trying to comfort me, and… he made a mistake.”
The blinding glow of the headlights bursting into his field of vision was still seared vividly in his memory. Yu-jin wrapped his arms around his trembling body and curled up tighter as he spoke.
“He didn’t see the car coming from the opposite direction. I found out later that the driver had been drinking and swerved out of his lane. The man I was with did everything he could to avoid the crash… but there was no avoiding it. We collided. Both of us were seriously injured.”
The terror from that moment surged back, threatening to overwhelm him.
Yu-jin choked back a sob and struggled to catch his breath.
Winston reached a hand out to him—but that was as far as it went. His hand hung there in the air, frozen with hesitation, unsure of what to do next.
Yu-jin barely managed to suppress the tide of emotions welling up inside him as he finally spoke.
“I didn’t wake up for two weeks… and even after that, I think I was hospitalized for over half a year. Angela was still a bit away from her due date, but… they had to deliver her early. She was born by C-section and had to stay in the incubator for a long time. I… I wasn’t in any condition to care for a baby back then…”
Yu-jin always blamed himself for Angela being frail and smaller than other kids her age.
He hadn’t eaten properly while carrying her. She hadn’t even made it to full term before being born.
If she had been born to someone else—someone other than him—maybe she would have grown up happier, healthier.
Thinking of Angela, Yu-jin’s throat tightened. The words wouldn’t come anymore.
A few choked sobs, stifled with difficulty, escaped him. Winston watched him quietly.
Suddenly, Yu-jin sensed movement.
Winston was turning, walking away.
He thought Winston was just going to leave—but a moment later, he returned.
“Drink this.”
Winston offered a glass of water in a soft voice.
Yu-jin stared blankly at the cup in his hand, then slowly reached out and took it.
The cool water slid down his throat, and with each swallow, the turmoil inside him began to settle. After finishing the glass, Yu-jin let out a long sigh and placed it on the table.
Just as Winston opened his mouth to speak, Yu-jin beat him to it—still not looking his way.
“There’s no baby. I wasn’t pregnant.”
Winston froze. Yu-jin turned his gaze on him for the first time and asked,
“You’re not seriously surprised, are you? You knew, didn’t you?”
If he dared to deny it, Yu-jin was ready to call him out. But Winston didn’t bother with any pointless performance.
“…Yeah. I knew.”
His calm, composed expression somehow sparked defiance in Yu-jin.
Yu-jin furrowed his brows deeply and snapped, “Is that so? Then did you know this too? I’m infertile.”
He didn’t stop.
“Because of that accident… I can’t have children anymore. I’m barren. You won’t ever get an heir from me. Sucks for you, doesn’t it?”
This was the moment he had waited for all along.
How satisfying it would be—no, Winston had to be shaken, had to be devastated.
Yu-jin had clung to this one truth, told countless lies, endured everything just for the pleasure of watching this man crumble before him.
Just for this.
But Winston’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
Yu-jin blinked in disbelief. Slowly, Winston’s lips parted, and in a low voice, he said, “I already knew.”
The quiet reply left Yu-jin stunned, unable to react.
Winston went on, speaking gently to his dazed expression. “When Charlotte nearly killed you, the doctor at the hospital told me. That you weren’t pregnant… and that you wouldn’t be able to get pregnant again.”
What…?
Yu-jin was dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected this at all.
He knew?
He knew—and yet still bought baby clothes, still held him, still played along with the entire charade?
“You knew… all along?”
“From the beginning.”
Winston corrected Yu-jin’s faltering accusation.
“I knew from the very start. That you weren’t pregnant.”
Yu-jin was stunned into silence again, eyes wide in disbelief. Winston gave a faint, bitter smile and said,
“I told you—I don’t trust anyone.”
“Th-then why…? If you knew, why—?”
Yu-jin couldn’t even finish his sentence. Shock and confusion twisted his thoughts, tangled his words. He stumbled, breathless, and Winston simply watched him for a moment before replying.
“Just because.”
“Just because’?”
It was one absurdity after another. Yu-jin let out a disbelieving scoff. Winston paused, then finally spoke.
“I…”
His voice cracked, and he had to stop. He cleared his throat quietly, exhaled, then continued.
“Just the thought that you might be carrying my child… made me happy.”
Yu-jin’s eyes flew wide open. Winston gave another bitter smile and muttered, almost like a confession to himself,
“Maybe I was hoping… if I pretended hard enough, it would become real.”
What? That a child—your child and mine—might actually exist?
As if answering the unspoken question hanging in the air, Winston ran a hand down his face. His voice, barely audible, trembled slightly.
“I don’t care about an heir.”
He exhaled sharply. Yu-jin tensed unconsciously, waiting. A long pause.
Then, finally, Winston spoke again—and what came out was nothing short of unbelievable.
“I just wanted you.”
A silence thick enough to choke on filled the room. Yu-jin’s mind went blank. Completely, utterly blank.
Could he be serious?
Is it even possible to say something like that—with a face so filled with pain?
Is loving someone supposed to be that hard to admit? Is that what this man feels?
“Don’t lie to me.”
Yu-jin growled between ragged breaths.
Winston flinched, pulled his hand from his face, and looked down at him.
But Yu-jin didn’t stop.
“How can you say you love me when you never even tried to listen to me? If you loved me, you should’ve believed in me—no matter what! But back then, you didn’t even try to hear me out. Even when we met again, all you ever did was accuse me. You don’t know how many times I wanted to tell you—how many times I tried…”
“You slept with my father!”
The memory of Winston’s face, twisted in rage and filled with hatred, flashed vividly before him.
Yu-jin’s voice cracked with emotion.
“You still don’t believe me!”
Haa… haa…
His breath came fast and harsh, ragged from the storm of emotion.
And still, Winston said nothing.
He just stared down at Yu-jin in silence.
Yu-jin glared up at him, panting.
Finally, after a long pause, Winston exhaled slowly.
Yu-jin watched as Winston shifted and lowered himself into the single high-backed armchair—the one reserved for the head of the room.
Out of habit, Winston’s hand reached to his chest, searching for something… but then fell limply to his side as if even that small effort had become too much.
He draped one arm over the chair’s armrest, his entire posture weighed down by fatigue.
It was only after dragging things out with that series of pointless gestures that he finally spoke.
“Tell me—what really happened that day.”
His voice, which had until now been dulled and subdued, held a faint undercurrent of hatred.
“I want to know what could’ve possibly driven you to sleep with my father—right in front of me.”
Yu-jin met the intense gaze of those dark violet eyes, a color so rich it seemed to devour everything in its path. Unconsciously, he swallowed hard.
Outside the window, lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the room in stark white light—followed by a thunderous crack that shook the air.
As if signaling something ominous to come.
FINALLY I WAITED 180 CHAPTERS OF READING FOR THIS