Chapter 32
It was a day when Taeha left the house early in the morning.
While the housekeeper was out shopping, Sorim quickly slipped into the kitchen.
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing her pale arms that rarely saw the sun.
Sorim took out the ingredients she had hidden deep inside the refrigerator.
She didn’t have time to cook a full meal. She had to clean up all traces before the housekeeper came back.
What she chose was the most basic technique: concassé.
She peeled the tomatoes, removed the seeds, and chopped them into even pieces.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The steady sound of the knife hitting the cutting board broke the silence.
Sorim’s eyes shone in a way they hadn’t before.
When she sat quietly like a doll in beautiful dresses, she had looked lifeless.
But in the cool air of the kitchen, she seemed to bloom.
She put the chopped tomatoes into a glass bowl and mixed in olive oil and a pinch of herbs.
Just doing something so small made her feel alive again.
Yes. This is it.
Her stiff fingers, trapped in long silence, felt like they were finally working properly again.
Then—
“Looks fun. Playing house?”
“……!”
At the cold voice behind her, Sorim’s hands froze.
She turned around and saw Taeha standing at the kitchen entrance.
“…Mr. Taeha.”
She quickly hid her hands behind her back.
But both of them knew it was already too late.
Taeha walked toward her slowly.
His footsteps echoed on the floor like a threatening heartbeat.
He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“I think I told you I don’t like seeing you here.”
“…I was bored. Just making a light snack…”
“Didn’t I say I hate excuses?”
“……”
“And I hate lies even more.”
Taeha gently pushed her against the wall and placed one hand on the counter.
His eyes were filled with complicated emotions.
The Sorim he had seen moments ago—focused, holding a knife—felt deeply wrong to him.
She was far more beautiful then than when she wore the diamonds worth billions that he had bought her.
Her clear eyes. Her confident hands.
That lively 모습 made his heart beat strangely fast.
But at the same time, fear and possessiveness rose inside him.
That light didn’t come from him.
Cooking—a world he couldn’t control—was what made her shine.
If he let that light continue, it felt like she might leave him at any moment.
So this “control” felt justified to him.
“You don’t know how dangerously beautiful you are right now.”
His voice dropped low.
He brushed her cheek, then suddenly grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.
“Ah…!”
He licked and bit each of her fingers, roughly, obsessively.
It was like he was trying to erase the feeling of the knife, to mark her with himself.
“I hate the smell of oil on your hands. I hate food smells on your body.”
“Song Taeha, this is my life. What my parents left me—”
“That life? I already bought all of it.”
He cut her off, whispering into her ear.
“The jewelry I gave you. The clothes. This house. Shine only inside what I gave you, Yoon Sorim. You don’t need to show your talent to the outside world.”
“You’re trying to control even how I breathe.”
“Yes. I’m the kind of man who only feels calm when you’re in the palm of my hand.”
“That’s selfish.”
“Think whatever you want.”
He tightened his grip on her hand.
“You only need to look at me.”
“…!”
“You don’t need other people’s approval. You’re going to be part of the Yunsan Group anyway.”
He pulled her waist hard against his body.
Through her thin T-shirt, she could feel his tension and sharp desire to dominate.
Taeha liked it when Sorim shone.
But if that light wasn’t directed at him, he would rather lock her in darkness and keep her by his side.
He knew his desire was twisted.
Still, he had no intention of changing.
“If you come into the kitchen one more time, I might throw away all the kitchen tools.”
“Are you insane?”
When Sorim glared at him with resentment, Taeha lightly touched her lower lip and smiled.
“You only realizing that now?”
“……”
“Don’t mess with a crazy man. Just live quietly as a pretty doll.”
“Dolls don’t feel pain. And I’m not a doll.”
“If I’m the one giving you pain, then accept it. Just don’t make me angry.”
After kissing her neck deeply, Taeha let her go.
As if nothing had happened, he straightened his tie and walked toward the living room.
“We’re going to the restaurant Secretary Cha booked tonight.”
“I don’t want to eat anything today. Especially not with you.”
“Just go and sit there.”
“……”
“I’ve prepared clothes for you. Wear them and come.”
Left alone, Sorim gripped the counter with shaking hands.
All that remained was the cold scent of his perfume and a suffocating feeling.
She looked at the tomatoes in the glass bowl.
Peeled, finely chopped—just like her own situation.
Beautifully prepared, only waiting to be placed on someone else’s table.
“…Ha…”
She finally let out the breath she had been holding and looked out the kitchen window.
Seoul outside was as bright as ever, but inside this huge glass greenhouse, she realized she was slowly suffocating.
Taeha’s love was not oxygen.
The more he tried to trap her, the more her desire to escape burned inside her.
It was a small spark—but strong enough to burn her dry life to the ground.
* * *
A cold silence pressed down on the penthouse for several days.
What broke it was a short phone call.
It was from her grandmother’s number.
“…This is the hospital. I think you need to come right away. You should prepare yourself.”
At that moment, Sorim’s world stopped.
She pushed past the secretary who tried to stop her from going out late and got into a taxi, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
“Please go as fast as you can.”
The ICU air was colder than the penthouse, filled with the sharp smell of disinfectant.
Seeing her grandmother barely breathing with the help of machines tore at Sorim’s heart.
When Sorim held her grandmother’s wrinkled, thin hand, the old woman slowly opened her eyes.
“…Sorim?”
“Grandma, I’m here.”
Sorim’s voice broke like a sob.
Her grandmother weakly squeezed her hand.
“I’m sorry… I was a useless old woman. I didn’t know anything…”
After a long sigh, she continued in a tired whisper.
“I thought you were living well at Seong-a’s house. I was careless.”
Sorim’s heart dropped.
How did she find out…?
It seemed the abuse from her aunt and uncle had reached her grandmother’s ears.
Her blood felt ice-cold.
Sorim quickly shook her head.
“No, Grandma. Don’t say that. Nothing happened.”
But regret flickered deeply in her grandmother’s eyes.
“Hadong’s wife told me. She said it was too painful to watch. That you were treated like a burden.”
“…!”
Hadong’s wife was a worker from the Yeonhui-dong house.
“I shouldn’t have left you there… I should have kept you with me…”
Her grandmother blamed herself for letting her precious granddaughter suffer.
“Grandma, I’m okay. I’m really trying to be happy.”
“……”
“I’m going to marry someone I love, so…”
Sorim lied while hiding her many wounds, but she couldn’t fool her grandmother.
“Sorim, don’t live tied to anyone.”
“……”
“Spread your wings and live.”
