Chapter 36
“Ha… this is driving me crazy.”
Kang Yoon had been planning to visit Korea over the weekend without telling Bora.
It was almost Bora’s birthday, and he had a feeling she had found out something. He wanted to check on that as well—and see how his grandfather’s health was.
No… the truth was, he simply missed Bora.
The desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her was drying him out day by day.
“Yoon Bora… she’s such a strange woman. Really… how can she drive someone this insane?”
It wasn’t as if he had never dated or never met women before.
That was why he had been able to enter a contract marriage without any fantasies or expectations about love.
But Bora kept stirring his heart again and again.
Even while he worked, even in his dreams, she lingered around him, making him constantly aware of her.
At this point, no matter how rational and cold Kang Yoon was, he had to admit it.
Han Kang Yoon liked Yoon Bora.
And very much at that.
“Ha…”
The foundation of a contract was the perfect execution of its clauses.
But the marriage contract they had written did not include any clause about what to do if feelings developed.
In a “contract marriage,” if one person’s feelings grew heavier than the other’s, the contract was bound to break.
“In that case… Bora just needs to fall for me too, right?”
If they both developed feelings, if the weight of their hearts became equal, then the problem would be solved.
He was deep in thought, wondering how he could completely win Bora’s heart—
“CEO, I think you need to come out to the site for a moment.”
“What happened?”
An employee hurried into the office, letting out a troubled sigh.
“It seems a few workers were injured on the upper floors. If this becomes news, it could affect the project—we’ve only just started. It would be best if you saw it and made the decision yourself.”
“Let’s go immediately.”
Kang Yoon stood up at once.
If a major accident happened less than a month after construction began, it would cause endless complications.
“Please put on your helmet. We’ll go up first.”
Kang Yoon’s face was serious as he arrived at the site and stepped into the elevator.
The long Dubai daylight was slowly fading beyond the horizon.
The crimson sunset seemed to wave at him, and suddenly his mind felt dizzy.
“CEO, it’s over here.”
Kang Yoon followed the employee who walked ahead. He tried to force his heavy eyelids open, but his foot had already stepped onto a railing with a hole in it.
“Ah—ah—ugh…!”
As he felt his body falling straight down, Kang Yoon lost consciousness.
The sunset completely disappeared, and pitch-black darkness swallowed the site.
“Oh, the young Madam is here. Then shall I come back later?”
Secretary Kwak looked startled and tried to close the door again, but Jin Hyun-sook shook her head.
“No, come in.”
“Yes…”
Secretary Kwak stepped into the room awkwardly, and his expression was grim.
“So? Did you find out what Kang Moon ordered?”
“Yes. It’s serious. It seems he instigated someone to cause Young Master Kang Yoon to fall from the Dubai building.”
“What?”
“What did you say?”
Bora and Jin Hyun-sook shouted at the same time.
“The young master is in danger. You must take action immediately—”
“I understand. Secretary Kwak, don’t tell anyone else about this. Bora, book a ticket to Dubai right away. Go to Kang Yoon. I’ll handle things here.”
“Yes, yes. Surely nothing has happened yet, right? What do we do… what do we do…”
Bora’s face turned pale as she rushed out of the room.
“What do I do… Kang Yoon, please… please just be safe…”
She ran upstairs, quickly pulled out a suitcase, and stuffed in clothes and essentials like her charger.
Grabbing her passport, she ran down the stairs noisily.
“Bora, where are you going? Why are you in such a hurry?”
Chairman Han, who had just returned home after spending the afternoon with a friend, looked at her in surprise.
“Grandfather, I’m sorry. I’m in a huge hurry right now… I’ll explain when I come back!”
“Bora, Bora… what on earth is going on?”
As the sound of a car hurriedly leaving the garage echoed, Chairman Han glanced toward Jin Hyun-sook’s half-open door.
“My daughter-in-law. Did something happen to Bora?”
When no answer came—though Jin Hyun-sook had never once delayed responding to his call—Chairman Han slowly approached the room.
“My daughter-in-law, what is going on— Wait, my daughter-in-law? What happened? What is it!”
He saw Jin Hyun-sook sobbing silently and rushed over in alarm.
“What is it? What happened? Are you losing your breath like this? Did that rascal Kang Moon cause trouble again?”
“Father… sob… How could you… how could you do this to me… how…!”
“You have to explain what happened for me to understand. Calm your breathing and speak. Yes?”
Since Han Woo-jin’s death, Chairman Han had never seen Jin Hyun-sook cry so bitterly. Cold sweat poured down his forehead.
Clutching her chest, she cried for a long time before finally managing to speak.
“Kang Moon… tried to kill Kang Yoon…”
“What? What did you say?”
“He paid someone to make Kang Yoon fall from the building… That’s why Bora left for Dubai.”
“My daughter-in-law… what in the world… Why would Kang Moon do such a thing…”
“Father… sob… What if Kang Yoon dies… Because of me… because I failed to recognize my own son… I didn’t give him a mother’s love… Our Kang Yoon, who grew up in pain… If he dies… sob… then I won’t live either! I’ll follow my husband… I’ll follow Kang Yoon and die too!”
“My daughter-in-law…”
Chairman Han realized that she now knew everything. He sank down in place.
“Ha… I’m sorry… I did something unforgivable…”
“That woman… Ahn Ji-hye… she put a curse on us.”
“My daughter-in-law…”
“She switched Kang Yoon and Kang Moon to make her own son the true power of this house… to ruin my son’s life! She must have thought only then would her heart feel satisfied. She must have believed that was the only way her abandoned life could be compensated!”
For thirty-six years, Jin Hyun-sook had never once disobeyed Chairman Han or raised her voice in this house.
But the guilt of not recognizing her real son, the emptiness of raising her husband’s mistress’s son as if he were her own life, and the betrayal of her father-in-law who had hidden it all finally ignited her fury.
“How could you! How could you punish me like this! I lost my husband! I lost my son! What did I ever do to deserve this in this family! Why! Why me!”
“My daughter-in-law! I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry… If I could, I would beg with my life. I was foolish. I was too foolish…”
Jin Hyun-sook and Chairman Han wept facing each other.
No matter how much they cried or screamed, they could not turn back the years.
“Mother, Grandfather. What on earth is going on? Why are you both like this?”
Hearing the wailing clearly from the second floor, Kang Moon came downstairs to Jin Hyun-sook’s room.
Confusion filled his face when he saw his mother and grandfather sitting and crying.
“You… Han Kang Moon… Han Kang Moon, you—!”
“Mother, why are you— Ah! Mom! Let go—Mom! What are you doing? Mom!”
“Mom? Mom?”
“M-Mom?”
Jin Hyun-sook’s eyes were wild as she grabbed Kang Moon by the hair and shook him violently.
Stunned by this side of her he had never seen before, Kang Moon could do nothing but helplessly have his hair yanked.
“If even a single hair on Kang Yoon’s head is harmed, I won’t let you go! If you touch my son! I—no matter who you are—I won’t spare you!”
“M-Mom!”
Kang Moon’s trembling face was reflected in Jin Hyun-sook’s frenzied eyes.
A chilling sense of doom crept over him, and goosebumps rose all over his body.
