Chapter 28
“……Can’t you stop already?”
“What?”
“Your uncle’s company, and Minseo too. She must have realized something by now. How can parents push their own child to be abandoned? And Grandma is…… having a really hard time.”
At Sorim’s words, which she forced herself to say, Taeha frowned deeply.
He stepped closer, looking like he couldn’t understand her at all.
“Are you stupid?”
“……”
“Did you forget how those people treated you? They even set a fire to kill you. If you don’t pull them out by the roots, they’ll crawl back up someday and bite you again.”
“……!”
“And this choice is capitalism. They threw you away, and this time they threw away Park Minseo. I only gave them options. They’re the ones who chose.”
“I know! I know, but—!”
Sorim shouted, her emotions bursting out.
“The one suffering while watching them fall is my grandma! She’s my only family. Seeing her in pain hurts me more than anything!”
Taeha stared at Sorim with cold, sunken eyes.
“Family, huh……”
He muttered with a bitter smile.
“Is this because you’ve grown attached to them somehow? Do you really think you can survive next to me with such a soft heart?”
“……”
“This world eats you alive the moment you show weakness. Whether your grandmother suffers or not, I’ll do things my way.”
“……!”
“When my woman is being hurt, who would just stand by with their arms crossed? Unless they’re an idiot or a fool.”
Taeha wasn’t wrong. In his own way, he was protecting Sorim.
But his way was suffocating her.
He didn’t consider her feelings or her position at all.
Only his anger, his pride, and protecting what he considered his came first.
“……Mr. Taeha, you’re too cruel.”
“You have to be cruel to survive. That’s how I’ve survived. Until now.”
Taeha turned away.
“I’m going to work.”
“……”
“Stay home and rest today. The restaurant burned down anyway, so it’s not like you have anywhere to go.”
He stabbed straight into her wound without hesitation.
The restaurant she cherished so deeply was completely burned down.
She had nowhere to go.
Reminding her of that, Taeha walked toward the front door.
“I’ll eat dinner out, so don’t wait for me.”
Bang.
The front door closed with a heavy sound.
Sorim was left alone in the empty house.
The burning trust she had felt toward Taeha last night—when he saved her from the flames—slowly cooled and faded.
‘……We’re too different.’
Sorim crouched on the floor and buried her face in her knees.
He was too strong, and she was weak.
He was cruel, and she was foolish.
Sorim could sense that this unbridgeable gap would someday become a huge crack that would split them apart.
A few days later, Sorim met Chef Nam Taeyoung.
They sat across from each other in a nearby café. Nam Taeyoung looked thin and exhausted.
“How are you feeling, Chef?”
“I’m fine. Just inhaled some smoke. What about you? Is your hand okay?”
“Yes. They said it’ll heal soon.”
Sorim touched her bandaged hand.
“The restaurant…… it’ll take time to restore it, right?”
“Restore it?”
Nam Taeyoung smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Well, restore it…… I don’t think that’ll be possible.”
“What? Why?”
After taking a sip of coffee, Nam Taeyoung gestured toward Sorim.
“The Vice Chairman Song Taeha’s executive office said the land has bad energy. They’re planning to flatten everything and build somewhere else. Didn’t he tell you?”
“Why is Mr. Taeha—no, Vice Chairman Song—suddenly coming up?”
“You really don’t know anything.”
Nam Taeyoung sighed softly.
“Song Taeha acquired the restaurant. He said his legal team will handle all the messy cleanup.”
“……!”
Sorim stared at him in shock.
She was even more confused because Taeha hadn’t told her anything.
“I heard they’re preparing to open a new place in Cheongdam-dong. Much bigger scale, slightly different concept.”
Nam Taeyoung sighed again, looking tired.
“I’m just a salaried worker, so I do what I’m told. But honestly, it doesn’t feel right. That place was the last location that still held traces of your parents.”
“……”
“I can’t believe it’ll just disappear like that, reduced to ashes.”
Sorim’s chest sank heavily.
To her, Le Dosage was a place filled with memories of her parents and where she took her first step as a chef.
But without even consulting her—and through his secretary, no less—he discarded all those memories just because it was “unlucky.”
To him, Le Dosage was nothing more than a burned-down, failed business.
‘How could he not even talk to me first……?’
As waves of betrayal rushed over her—
“Yoon Sorim.”
Nam Taeyoung called her seriously.
“Are you really okay? Living in that family. Becoming part of that kind of family.”
“……”
“I know Vice Chairman Song is capable and impressive, but as a person…… he’s scary. It feels like he sees people as chess pieces.”
Sorim couldn’t answer.
Because his words hit the mark.
“If things get too hard, tell me. Anytime. I don’t have power like Song Taeha, but I can at least make a hole for you to escape through.”
At his rough but sincere comfort, Sorim forced a smile.
“It’s okay, Chef. This is the path I chose. I have to bear it.”
But the fist she clenched under the table had turned white.
Could she really bear it?
A love that didn’t respect her.
Protection that tightened around her like a noose.
The city outside the café window looked especially bleak.
Her steps on the way home felt unbearably heavy.
The penthouse that once felt glamorous and cozy now felt like a suffocating golden cage.
Back home, Sorim sat in the study and stared at her recipe notebook, but the words didn’t register.
The restaurant that had been both her workplace and refuge was gone, turned to ashes.
And Taeha was now acting as if she shouldn’t cook anymore at all.
Because it was “too dangerous.”
“I’m suffocating……”
Sorim sighed as she looked out the window.
Seoul below was bustling with life, but time inside this tall glass castle felt completely stagnant.
She wanted to cook.
To hold a knife and sweat in front of fire.
That was the only thing that made her feel alive.
Ding—
“……!”
At that moment, the front door opened and Taeha came in—earlier than usual.
Behind him followed the chief secretary and two unfamiliar men in suits carrying briefcases.
“……You’re back?”
When Sorim awkwardly greeted him from the study, Taeha gestured toward the sofa.
“Sit down. We need to talk.”
His expression was serious—no, it sparkled like a businessman about to launch a major project.
He sat in the main seat and crossed his legs. The secretaries spread thick documents and blueprints on the table.
“What is this?”
“A wedding gift.”
Taeha spoke casually, as usual, nodding toward the papers.
“It’s the launch proposal for Le Ciel (The Sky). Take a look.”
“……Le Ciel?”
“Yes. A proper brand. Not that hole-in-the-wall place you worked at.”
“……!”
“I named it after the restaurant your father worked at in Nantes. We’re rebuilding everything from scratch in Cheongdam-dong.”
Sorim picked up the proposal with trembling hands.
As soon as she turned the first page, her eyes widened.
This wasn’t just a simple restaurant opening plan.
