YDCF 16

Chapter – 16

“Saey, can we talk for a bit?”

Finally, the moment had come.

During the rare break, my dad knocked on the door. In a cautious tone, he asked if I could spare a little time.

‘I really have to say it now.’

I needed to tell him about Grandfather’s request for me to return to Jaedamjae, but I hadn’t had a chance yet because I had been running around everywhere.

When I opened the door, I saw my dad with a worried expression. I followed him to the sofa and sat down.

Since coming back to the past, I felt tears welling up just from seeing him—thinking of the time when my uncle had directed a cargo truck to collide with the car he and I were in.

“Baby!”

They say people instinctively try to protect themselves in such situations, but my dad was busy calling for me and shielding me.

Because he took the impact meant for me, the last time I saw him, his body was battered beyond recognition.

‘Even if you hadn’t promised to protect me, Dad, you could have lived well.’

After losing Mom and planning to leave the Joo family, Dad still took full responsibility for me. Even when humiliated by my uncle, he was always on my side.

Had he cut ties with the Joo family without me, he wouldn’t have died like that.

“I called because I wanted to ask you something.”

“……”

“Our princess, is anyone bothering you lately?”

With serious eyes, Dad worried about me again.

“Since it’s vacation, you haven’t been home much… I wondered if you were going through puberty and didn’t want to stay home anymore.”

“That’s not it……”

The moment I began speaking, Dad closed his mouth. I had all the priority.

I explained the whole situation. I left out the part about dying and coming back to the past, and said I had gone to Grandfather because I wanted to be an actress.

I told him I got Grandfather’s permission and was even offered a chance to join Jaedamjae.

“I see… So our Saey wants to act…”

Dad’s eyes turned red, and his face contorted painfully.

Looking back, even in my previous life, when I confessed that I liked acting, Dad had this expression.

At the time, I didn’t know what it meant, but now I understood.

‘He’s remembering someone he misses.’

Grandfather had made the same expression the last time. As if longing for the same person.

“Where did you get the script? I want to see my daughter act too.”

“At Dongwoo Hall. Oh, it was in a box with Mom’s name on it……”

At my words, Dad’s eyes widened. He couldn’t close his mouth and fidgeted continuously. Slowly, a choked sound escaped him.

Dad bowed his head deeply. Soon, tears ran down his cheeks. They fell with heavy plops, wetting his lap.

“Jeongwol….”

“……”

“If only Jeongwol could see Saey acting, she would have been so happy……”

Then he told me something I had never heard before. Mom had wanted to act too. That’s how they met—through the university drama club.

Mom had been the ace of the drama club.

…But she had given up acting due to Grandfather’s opposition.

Only then did I understand why Grandfather had reacted so tenderly toward me, and why Dad was sobbing like that.

Grandma’s scripts were stored in a box labeled with Mom’s name for similar reasons, I guessed.

“Saey, you really take after your mother……”

Dad murmured, voice choked, as he gently stroked my head.

I awkwardly leaned against him. Resting my head on his shoulder, I could hear his heartbeat pounding.

I forced my eyes to stay open to avoid crying and noticed a family photo. It was taken before Mom passed, with Dad and Mom holding little me together.

‘Mom was like me too.’

I had learned about my mother’s childhood dream—a path she never got to walk. I would walk it in her place.

“…Aren’t you scared? You’re okay, right?”

Knowing how much I avoided anything to do with the Joo family, he asked.

His question echoed in my chest. Instead of speaking, I just nodded repeatedly, my head on his shoulder.

‘I have to be okay.’

Even if it’s not okay, I have to make it okay. I had already died once; I would have to face my uncle to survive, for both our sakes.

So Dad, this time, you won’t die unfairly at my uncle’s hands while trying to protect me. Live long and die peacefully, and later…

“…I’ll become an actress I can proudly show Mom when I meet her in heaven.”

That was all I hoped for—that he would tell me I had grown into a fine daughter.

At the home of Chairman Ryu of Seohai Group.

Ryu Do-kyung stared at his phone screen with a somewhat serious expression.

[Regarding the Lunatic Series Advertisement Contract with Seohai Electronics]

He read the document title several times, then checked the name written below.

Joo Saey.

Ever since she had disappeared, the mere thought of her reentering his life had kept Do-kyung on edge.

‘She wants to become an actress.’

He remembered when she used to follow him everywhere. Even as a child, she had loved theater. Though young, she had ambition, once telling him she wanted to play the princess role in a play he was in.

‘Well, a fool like you couldn’t be a princess anyway.’

‘I’ll tell Mom everything!’

‘Do as you wish.’

‘Waaah!’

A puppy-like child, crying when teased but wagging her tail happily afterward.

He was briefly surprised to hear she wanted to be an actress. Even after returning, she seemed unchanged in that regard.

But he thought they could never get close again.

If Saey had thought of him as someone important, she wouldn’t have disappeared like that.

Just seeing her leave him behind in this awful adult world made it clear he was nothing to her.

‘Even that confession of liking me must have been a joke.’

Saey had disappeared after leaving waves in his childhood life by asking him to marry her. Remembering staying up nights imagining her leaving with Dad’s hand in hers, he couldn’t forgive her easily.

Yes, this time, he didn’t want to be swayed. Even if she lingered near him, he wanted to ignore her boldly.

‘It would be best if Do-kyung contacted her directly regarding the ad contract.’

‘Huh?’

‘Why, don’t you want to?’

‘No, it’s not that…’

Yet he could not go against the order of his grandfather, Chairman Ryu. Personal feelings were secondary to the duties of a successor.

So he received Saey’s contact information to send her the ad contract.

“Why does this feel so….”

Frustration filled him. Ryu Do-kyung opened the file with an annoyed expression and checked the contact information he had been given:

[Dongwoo Joo Saey]

There was no profile picture, no background image, not even a status message. He stared at the blank KakaoTalk profile for a long time.

He bit his lip, feeling the same emptiness as staring out a closed window, then pressed the chat button.

[Hey]
[Saey]
[This is Ryu Do-kyung]

Even after sending, the “1” next to the speech bubble didn’t disappear. Others always read his messages immediately, but Saey was different.

‘Let’s see when she replies.’

He set the phone aside stubbornly and waited. Soon, it vibrated. He checked it quickly, only to be disappointed, tossing the phone aside.

[Oppa, I heard you went to Jaedamjae last time? Why didn’t you tell meㅠ]
[When can we meet again? Only after school starts?ㅠㅠ]

It was a message from Joo Su-yeon, the granddaughter of Dongwoo Group’s Chairman Joo and the same age as Saey. She kept messaging, clingy, even when he ignored her.

“Why don’t the ones I want to hear from ever reply….”

Whatever, he thought. He picked up the phone again and sent the ad contract file to the chat that still showed “1.”

[This is the ad contract I mentioned earlier. Please review it.]

He typed quickly and tried to ignore his nerves. The moment he specified it was an ad contract, the “1” next to the speech bubble disappeared in less than five seconds.

[Thank you for sending this.]

Soon, a reply came, sounding like she was keeping her distance. Do-kyung automatically heard her voice in his head as he read the polite words.

“Ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped him. He felt an unexpected possessiveness toward Saey, who was so busy ignoring him.