It was when spring was fading away that he noticed something odd.

Her period was late that month. It was something that happened occasionally when she wasn’t feeling well, so she thought it was just that. After a month and a half passed, she used a pregnancy test kit she had bought from the pharmacy just in case, with a nervous heart.

When she checked the test result with trembling hands, Hae Yeon unknowingly called out his name. Even though she was alone at home.

– Do Ha!

* * *

Outside the window, the air was hazy with the lights of chaotic traffic. As Hae Yeon’s pale face flickered in the midst of it, he couldn’t bear to face her and closed his eyes.

Do Ha ran his palm down his face. Sweat, or perhaps rainwater, drenched his forehead.

As he stood in the corridor, blankly staring out the window, he felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he found Dr. Moon standing there.

“It’s a temporary shock due to excessive stress. She will wake up after some time passes.”

Do Ha gave a small nod. Dr. Moon’s gaze, flecked with graying hair, took in Do Ha’s appearance. Do Ha, still in his rain-soaked clothes from being outside, looked visibly exhausted.

The hospital room was enveloped in silence. The rain was still falling, and the occasional small beeping of machines could be heard, but that was all. There were two other people besides her in Hae Yeon’s room, but no one spoke, making it eerily quiet.

Eventually, Dr. Moon broke the silence and parted his lips.

“Has she regained her memories?”

“……”

Although it wasn’t a difficult question, Do Ha couldn’t give any answer. He simply raised his trembling hand to hold Hae Yeon’s small one. Her limp hand fell powerlessly into his without any resistance.

“You must call when she wakes up, young master.”

“…I understand.”

Normally, he would have corrected how Dr. Moon addressed him, but Do Ha just silently looked down at Hae Yeon’s pale face that he held preciously. As the room quieted, he plopped down into a chair and brought his hand to her cheek.

His heart ached at her gaunt face, even though not even a day had passed.

– Our baby, our baby……

The image of Hae Yeon wailing with hollow eyes in the middle of Singil Boulevard wouldn’t leave his mind.

Then at some point, she had lost consciousness and was moved to the hospital, but as if a nightmare from a year ago was tormenting her in her dreams, she screamed uncontrollably, shaking. In the end, she was forcibly sedated with medication and was now still like a dead person.

Do Ha clenched his teeth and closed his eyes before opening them again. Lights drifted over the well-manicured hospital garden, shimmering.

‘I’m sorry.’

That was all he could say. Do Ha messed up Hae Yeon’s hair with his trembling hand as he always did, hoping this nightmare would soon pass.

* * *

One year ago.

When Do Ha came home early from work one day, he received an unexpected gift. The second most joyful gift in the world, at that. The first gift he had received from life was, of course, Hae Yeon.

“How did you get off work so early?”

Hae Yeon, beaming and greeting him in a delighted voice, seemed more excited than usual. Seeing Hae Yeon looking so happy, Do Ha, also becoming excited, grinned brightly and shook what he was holding in his hand.

“I wanted to surprise you with a gift.”

“Huh? This is…”

“Remember? It’s the tteokbokki from in front of our university. You liked it a lot.”

Seeing Hae Yeon unable to say anything with a blank expression, Do Ha knitted his thick eyebrows together and made a mischievous face.

“What’s this, Hae Yeon? Do you like this more than me? If I knew, I should have come empty-handed.”

Hae Yeon, her round eyes opened wide, accepted the bag containing the tteokbokki.

“What should I do? I have something to give to Do Ha too.”

With eyes that looked like she might cry at any moment, Hae Yeon took out something she had been hiding and handed it over. Do Ha, receiving the plastic stick Hae Yeon passed to him, faltered, but at her next words, he couldn’t even breathe.

“I’m… pregnant, Do Ha.”

She said our baby is in my belly. Do Ha, holding the pregnancy test with two lines on it, became dumbfounded. As if he had heard wrong, he blankly couldn’t even gasp, so Hae Yeon gently shook his shoulder.

“Do Ha?”

Sounding very unlike himself, he lowered his head and let out a deep breath before speaking.

“Pinch me, Hae Yeon.”

“Huh?”

“My cheek. No, the back of my hand. No, anywhere.”

It was only natural for Hae Yeon to burst out laughing like a flower bud blooming.

* * *

“You have to be vastly superior and perfect compared to others, because that is your reason for existing.”

It was a dry remark, unbelievable as something a parent would say to their child, devoid of any emotion. Not only that, but contrary to the words, the gaze was also barren to the extreme.

Nevertheless, Do Ha could feel an emotion. Greed.

Do Ha stared out the window at the beautiful garden, his expression unchanged. Any visitor to this mansion would marvel at the rear garden, but to him, it evoked no impression or emotion. Just like when he looked at Chairman Yoon.

She weighed the gains and losses in everything she did, and that was the same for family. It was only natural that her husband, Cha Ki Jung, would use her to fulfill his own greed, when she treated even her own flesh and blood as a means and tool for her own benefit.

This was his family.

“You’ll be able to achieve it.”

‘My desire.’ The words Chairman Yoon left unsaid. Do Ha knew what she would say even without her voicing it.

Chairman Yoon, who had never defeated the Mi Bon Group since its founding, tried to resolve her desire through her second son. She had never overtly imposed it, but Do Ha wasn’t stupid enough not to notice.

Cha Do Hoon, who had faced abnormal parents earlier than Do Ha, escaped Chairman Yoon’s eyes through frequent delinquency, but Do Ha grew up without deviating from her path. It was because he couldn’t find a reason to go against Chairman Yoon’s will.

Perhaps it was because life was tiresome. Even opposing something required having emotions.

Happiness, joy, love, laughter, hope. Although Do Ha severely lacked these sentiments compared to his peers, he at least recognized that his upbringing was not normal, so he tried to help his younger sister not live like him.

From the outside, Do Ha seemed enviable and his life seemed smooth. But an indefinable frustration always filled him.

Until he met her.

– I’m lucky today. I went to a gathering I don’t usually attend and saw Min Hae Yeon. Hey, pour me a drink.

At first, it was because he turned his gaze due to the commotion caused by Kim Seung Woo’s rude behavior at the drinking party. Next, he became curious about the name consistently mentioned there.

– It’s a waste. To feed it to the likes of you.

And finally, his eyes were drawn to the subject of that curiosity coolly standing up to Kim Seung Woo.

Having grown up in a different household than others, Do Ha knew vanity better than anyone. What she, who had nothing, showed to someone who had everything was neither pretense nor presumption. How could he not fall in love?

She made him feel, for the first time, the emotion of liking something, and after getting to know her, he experienced a variety of emotions.

– I love you, Hae Yeon.

He liked Hae Yeon so much, and there were countless reasons why. She barged in without giving him a chance to think, and Do Ha really couldn’t help it.

Her crisp, refreshing voice, her dimples that appeared when she laughed, her eye smile that curved whenever she acted cute all made him lose his mind.

– Hey, isn’t Min Hae Yeon pretty great?

– No way, there are tons of guys after her.

The problem was that many people besides himself knew of Hae Yeon’s loveliness. So Do Ha ignored the pretense that Chairman Yoon always emphasized and approached Hae Yeon first. The result was marriage after a short courtship.

Marrying her was like a natural disaster in the life of Do Ha, who had planned to have an arranged marriage with a match provided by Chairman Yoon, as if it was the natural order of things.

While it was the best thing he ever did, ironically, it was also the most regrettable.

– So you’re going to go through with that marriage to the end?

– Yes.

– I guess it can’t be helped. Alright, do as you wish.

To Do Ha, who was being stubborn for the first time in his life, Chairman Yoon eventually gave her permission.

– Raise your company to be in the top 3 in the industry in terms of sales within 5 years.

– Without my help, of course.

But she attached conditions, as was fitting.

It was the point when he had just started his business. Leading a company to the top 3 in sales in the MICE industry without any help or support was nearly impossible.

– Why, do you think I’m being too stingy?

Chairman Yoon smiled like a cold-blooded, cruel viper. Since her trusted second son said he was marrying a penniless woman, she wanted to generate profits in this way to the tune of several times the loss she incurred, as much as she felt she had suffered a great loss.

Do Ha took in Chairman Yoon’s smile. His own mother was someone who could flash a gentle smile while being capable of killing someone.

– If you think so, then you can make it happen. One more thing. It’s best you don’t try to shelter that child in my house.

The moment he introduced Hae Yeon as his spouse to Chairman Yoon, it was something he had anticipated. There was no point in rejecting her proposal once his weakness had been exposed.

However, he counter-proposed that she take her hands off his wife once CH MICE achieved being in the top 3 in the industry. As a born leader, she knew how to appropriately use the carrot and the stick for her company and her greed, so she accepted Do Ha’s proposal.

That was Chairman Yoon’s mistake.

In the end, Cha Do Ha was Chairman Yoon’s son, a fact she had overlooked. That he was a spitting image of her, molded by her own hands, at that.

Do Ha meticulously planned for that contract. Once Chairman Yoon tried to use Hae Yeon to fulfill her greed, even if the goal was completed and the contract expired, she would use any means to exploit them again.

From then on, Do Ha worked himself to the bone day and night. In order to gain the strength to shake off Chairman Yoon with his own power on the day the contract ended.

Top 3 in the industry.

To get a very small company that couldn’t even present a business card in that industry into the top three, he had to put in several times, sometimes dozens of times more effort. For Do Ha, who had to adhere to a grueling schedule and frequent business trips, it was a necessity.

During those ironic three years, even amidst regret, frustration, self-blame and skepticism, he had to maintain his smile in front of Hae Yeon.

“Do Ha, what should we name our baby?”

On the day they returned from getting tests done at the hospital, Do Ha, hearing Hae Yeon’s words as she couldn’t take her eyes off the ultrasound photo she had been touching the whole time, vowed. That he really needed to cut ties with Chairman Yoon now.

Because he had one more person to protect. But why did his shoulders feel lighter than ever?

As early summer began, Do Ha couldn’t contain the corners of his mouth from curving up. Anyone who knew him, someone so unskilled at expressing emotions to the point he never did it, would be surprised to see the corners of his mouth twitching upward several times a day.

As it was her first pregnancy and he couldn’t trust Chairman Yoon, Do Ha didn’t inform anyone besides Dr. Moon about Hae Yeon’s pregnancy.

“Did something good happen to you?”

Yoon Ho was one of the people who didn’t know the reason Do Ha had been smiling a lot lately. He had no choice, knowing Yoon Ho’s playfulness and unpredictable personality.

“No.”

When he answered curtly, even the cheeky Yoon Ho shook his head from side to side.

Do Ha’s focus easily wavered even during work.

“Mr. CEO?”

“Ah.”

Only when Secretary Kim, who had been reporting the schedule, called him again did he come to his senses. He thought he had been concentrating, but before he knew it, his thoughts had drifted to Hae Yeon without him realizing it.

On one hand, he reproached himself. Just because Hae Yeon was pregnant didn’t change the situation he was in.

Now was the time he needed to be most attentive, but he had become too lax. In order to escape Chairman Yoon’s evil clutches with his wife and child, he needed to run even harder, so Do Ha pulled himself together again.

“Haha. CEO Cha, you’re entrusting our Pyeongtaek project to us over other prominent companies.”

Although he spoke lightly with a smile, Do Ha, knowing the meaning and pressure contained within those words, politely bowed his head.

“I will accomplish more than you expect.”

The time Chairman Yoon had given was 5 years. By striving to shorten it by even a single day, he was able to move it up by 2 full years. If he successfully concluded this Pyeongtaek consortium deal on top of the achievements he had made so far, he could aim for something even greater than the goal Chairman Yoon had set.

“Good work. Mr. CEO.”

Secretary Kim spoke with a rather moved expression. A faint glimmer of anticipation spread across Do Ha’s face as well.

He had nearly reached it.

Tomorrow, when he could become independent from the Cha family and fully protect Hae Yeon.