135.
#Aftermath
Chairman Jeong slammed his palm on the desk, causing a loud bang. The chief of staff standing before him flinched and bit his lip tightly.
“Jeong Dawoon has entered the country?”
Chairman Jeong repeated the report he had just heard. The chief of staff barely nodded.
“And you’re only confirming this now? How on earth are you doing your job!”
Chairman Jeong’s voice echoed throughout the study.
“I apologize. We let our guard down because even the Vice Chairman’s side said they couldn’t locate Jeong Dawoon.”
At the excuse that even Jeong Hayun hadn’t been able to find him, Chairman Jeong glared at the chief of staff as if he wanted to devour him.
“So now Hayun is with Dawoon?”
Unsure whether it was a question or a provocation, the chief of staff couldn’t answer and just bowed his head deeply.
“Find them both and bring them here immediately! Use whatever means necessary to bring them before me!”
It was unreasonable. If the chief of staff knew their whereabouts, he would have gone and begged on his knees to bring them before Chairman Jeong.
“We still can’t confirm their location…”
“Do you think I’m paying you to boast about your incompetence?!”
As Chairman Jeong shouted, his blood pressure seemed to rise, and he grabbed the back of his neck with one hand.
“Chairman!”
The chief of staff was startled and tried to approach, but Chairman Jeong extended his opposite arm in an irritated gesture, indicating there was no need to come closer. The chief of staff watched anxiously, worried that the Chairman might collapse again.
Chairman Jeong took slow breaths to calm the anger that had risen to the top of his head. However, just thinking about Jeong Hayun and Jeong Dawoon made his blood boil again.
“What about finding out how Jeong Dawoon managed to escape, as I asked?”
Unable to immediately confirm Hayun’s location, he asked about the task he had previously assigned.
“Don’t tell me you couldn’t figure that out either?”
“It took some time because all the people we had attached to the Vice Chairman’s side were removed.”
Fortunately, the chief of staff could answer properly this time.
“It seems he received help from writer Choi Seon-gyeom.”
“Choi Seon-gyeom?”
Chairman Jeong asked who that was. The chief of staff briefly explained about him, but Chairman Jeong still frowned as if he didn’t understand.
“Why would that person help Dawoon?”
Whoever Choi Seon-gyeom was, it was fortunate that he wanted Dawoon to be away from Hayun, but there could be other motives.
“Well…”
The chief of staff hesitated to answer, looking troubled. Chairman Jeong frowned even more deeply as he looked at her. Under the pressure of his gaze, the chief of staff took a deep breath, her chest heaving, and began to speak.
“Before leaving Korea, writer Choi Seon-gyeom and Jeong Dawoon visited a genetic testing center together.”
“Genetic testing center?”
Chairman Jeong’s eyes narrowed at these unexpected words.
“Finding it suspicious, we inquired through our contact at the testing center and received this.”
The chief of staff opened a tablet PC and showed Chairman Jeong an attached file she had received by email. Chairman Jeong exhaled sharply as he looked at the file she showed him, his eyes focused.
“Jeong Dawoon…”
Chairman Jeong frowned deeply, as if he didn’t want to continue his sentence. What the chief of staff showed was a result indicating that Dawoon’s genes matched with Choi Seon-gyeom, and that paternal lineage was not established with Jeong Hayun.
“I knew this would happen.”
Chairman Jeong gritted his teeth and pushed away the tablet PC he had been looking at.
“To think I’ve been raising someone who could have come from anywhere, calling him my bloodline all this time…”
The more he thought about it, the more he trembled with anger. He was clenching his jaw so tightly that his jawbone protruded. The hand gripping his cane was also tense, with veins bulging.
“How dare… how dare such a person covet Hayun?”
His voice was even more filled with rage than before. At this moment, he seemed to have forgotten the fact that Dawoon had first tried to run away from Hayun. He also seemed to have erased from his memory that it was Hayun who was obsessed.
“Find someone who can handle this matter.”
His voice became low and cold, as if he had made up his mind.
Losing one son, Jeong Seo-hoo, to an unacceptable and insignificant existence was enough. He couldn’t lose Jeong Hayun too, the grandson he acknowledged as the proper bloodline of Haedo Group. At this moment, the only thought in his mind was that he needed to put Jeong Hayun back in his place by any means necessary.
***
After spending one more day in Goseong, the next day, pushed by Dawoon’s insistence, Hayun reluctantly took the wheel. They decided to return to Seoul first to wrap up the incident he had caused, and then return to London together as soon as possible.
“Are you sure you don’t want to see Haram?”
Hayun asked as he parked the car in front of Haedo Group headquarters. Dawoon nodded without looking at him.
“You can at least see him from afar. I’ll have Director Park accompany you, so you can drive there.”
“No, it’s fine.”
He refused even that, fearing it might leave him with unnecessary lingering feelings. He thought that if he saw Haram’s face, all the resolve he had barely managed to build up might crumble again. Hayun didn’t push any further.
“Where will you be?”
Hayun had suggested they go into the company together, but Dawoon strongly objected. He said he absolutely refused to appear with Hayun now, after such a grand disruption of the engagement ceremony, wondering what others would think. Instead, to ease Hayun’s anxiety about leaving Dawoon alone, they agreed that Dawoon would keep Hayun’s phone. Of course, Dawoon could have simply thrown the phone away and left. However, they were in Korea, in Seoul, and here it was difficult to escape Hayun’s grasp.
“In that cafe over there.”
There was a large franchise cafe across from the headquarters. It had floor-to-ceiling windows, making the interior clearly visible from outside.
“I’ll sit by the window, so you can check on me whenever you want.”
As Dawoon conveyed once again that he had no intention of running away, Hayun, who had been staring at him, chuckled.
“Even if you run away, I’ll find you. Then I’ll really give up everything and search every corner of hell or wherever to find you and lock you up.”
“Stop saying scary things and just hurry back.”
Dawoon shuddered, shaking his head, and got out of the car. He gestured for Hayun to leave quickly and stood at the crosswalk. He felt Hayun’s gaze on his back until he crossed the street and entered the cafe, but he didn’t look back.
After entering the cafe and ordering a drink, he sat by the window on the second floor. Until then, Hayun’s car was still parked where he had dropped Dawoon off. He could see Hayun opening the window on the driver’s side and looking towards the cafe. Then, as if he had spotted Dawoon, he finally closed the window and the car started moving. Dawoon watched until the car entered the parking lot of Haedo Group headquarters.
Perhaps the situation Hayun would have to face inside that building would be even messier than Dawoon imagined. Although he hadn’t ordered or directly caused this incident, he was clearly the reason for it, so he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Had he made the right choice? Hayun had chosen not to abandon the company and to do what he could to minimize the damage, but was this really the right decision? He still frequently had doubts.
The more he pondered, the more complicated things seemed to become, so he shook his head to cut off his thoughts. It wasn’t solely because of fear of damage to Haedo Group that he had accepted Hayun.
It was because he had desperately wanted to see him throughout their separation, because his heart ached seeing Hayun’s gaunt face upon meeting him again, because even though he knew it wasn’t right, his heart felt like it would break at Hayun’s words that he would give up everything and only needed Dawoon…
Because the thought of never seeing Jeong Hayun again seemed more unbearable than not being able to see Jeong Haram…
If it would be painful and damaging either way, wouldn’t it be better to be together?
Thinking about it, he was already used to criticism from others anyway. He had wanted Hayun not to face the same finger-pointing as himself…
Ironically, the fact that they were not related also played a part in solidifying his resolve. At least they weren’t violating a sacred familial bond. Thinking this way, his stubborn resistance retreated a step.
No one could know what would happen in the future. Even Jeong Hayun, who was now obsessed with him to the point of death, might change someday.
Nothing was eternal. Even his father, who had loved his mother enough to lie about Dawoon’s birth, had left his mother for someone else in an instant. Perhaps there was no need to take things so seriously.
Maybe it was okay to be a little selfish and go with the flow of his heart.
Whether his current choice was right or wrong would naturally become clear as time passed. Even if it was wrong, even if it couldn’t be undone, he wouldn’t regret it. Because he had done everything he could.
Bzzt. The phone on the table vibrated. Checking it, he saw Director Park’s name.
– Even if you’re bored, please be patient for a little while. I’ll finish as quickly as possible.
It was a message from Hayun, sent using Director Park’s phone.
“He still thinks I’m a child.”
The message, which seemed like it was comforting a child, made him chuckle. Perhaps it was because he had let go of the pressure to not make mistakes and decided to let things be. His heart felt lighter than when he had returned to Korea.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
