Lee Je Guk could somewhat guess the situation by looking at Gang Jun.

It seemed like Gang Jun had brought Ha In here.

He was already feeling uncomfortable that Ha In had collapsed, but he was angry at the fact that an outsider had taken care of her.

“Hello. I am Prosecutor Choi Gang Jun. Do you remember me?”

“Hello. Yes, I remember. You’re the prosecutor I met at the prosecutor’s office before.”

Lee Je Guk answered, not impolitely but not kindly either.

“Congratulations on the good results today.”

“Are there any good results to speak of? Thank you.”

“But what brings you here at this hour? Are you feeling unwell?”

He asked in a tone characteristic of a prosecutor, trying to probe.

Lee Je Guk suppressed the uncomfortable emotions welling up inside him and made a cool judgment of the situation.

He wanted to ask about Ha In’s condition right away, but his pride wouldn’t allow it. He also disliked that someone else knew what he had failed to take care of.

Above all, if Gang Jun found out he had come here to see Ha In, it would make things difficult for her.

“My maternal relatives are here.”

Everyone knew that the Sunhwa Medical Foundation belonged to Lee Je Guk’s maternal relatives.

With a short answer, he cut off any room for suspicion from Gang Jun.

Gang Jun paused, hiding his confusion.

All his assumptions had gone awry. He was so ashamed of himself for suspecting Ha In just a moment ago. He felt sorry towards Ha In.

“Ah, I see.”

Gang Jun mumbled an awkward answer, not knowing what to say.

Lee Je Guk didn’t ask, but Gang Jun didn’t mention Ha In’s condition either.

That was better. It would have been unpleasant for him to carelessly talk about Ha In.

“Then I’ll be going, as I have something to take care of.”

Lee Je Guk ended the brief conversation with Gang Jun and walked away. There was no reason to harbor ill feelings towards Gang Jun. It was just that this situation aggravated his anger.

As he entered the ward and headed towards the room where Ha In was lying, Lee Je Guk’s pace quickened.

When Lee Je Guk arrived at the hospital room, Ha In had finished all her examinations. But she was unconscious. On top of that, there was a bruise forming on her forehead.

Did she injure her head? Lee Je Guk’s eyes shook with a thud.

Upon hearing the news of Lee Je Guk’s arrival, the head of the medical department hurried into the room.

“What happened?”

Lee Je Guk asked. He tried to remain calm, but his distressed heart showed through in his voice.

“More than anything else, her head, why is her head like this?”

He was so startled at the thought of her injuring her head.

“Ah, it seems the patient hit her head when she collapsed.”

It felt like his heart had dropped.

“And so?”

“Fortunately, the test results show no abnormalities in her brain. There are no problems with its function either.”

Only then did Lee Je Guk heave a sigh of relief.

“Right now, you can think of it as the patient’s body temporarily shutting down its functions in order to survive. According to the person who accompanied her during transport, she hadn’t slept at all or eaten for several days.”

In other words, there wasn’t even an ounce of strength left in Ha In’s body to move a fingertip.

They said she needed to sleep and rest like this to recover, so even if he was anxious, he had to wait.

The head of the medical department emphasized several times that rest and nutrient intake were absolutely crucial for the patient’s recovery.

After the head of the medical department left, Lee Je Guk approached the unconscious Ha In.

Her already small face had become haggardly thin. Just looking at the bruise that had formed on her forehead made him frown.

Ha In was exhaling breaths as thin as threads, without any strength.

Lee Je Guk gently caressed Ha In’s cheek with his large hand.

He wanted to ask for what reason she had spent time tormenting herself like this. Even if she didn’t answer, he felt he knew the reason.

It was because of his confession.

The thought that his sincerity may have been too much of a burden for Ha In made him feel apologetic.

When he told her he hoped she wouldn’t be in pain, she must have clung to her work with the determination to die. Lee Je Guk alternated between looking at Ha In and out the window with worried eyes.

Even when half of the IV fluid had drained, Ha In still remained unconscious.

He tried to think she was just in a deep sleep, but he couldn’t help worrying.

“Ha In.”

Lee Je Guk called out to Ha In in a low voice.

“Ha In.”

He called out once more, but Ha In showed no movement. Lee Je Guk sat down beside her with a deep sigh.

No one else could make Lee Je Guk feel this desperation. Lee Je Guk’s eyes caressed Ha In.

Then, Ha In’s eye muscles twitched. And she struggled to open her eyes.

The swelling from her forehead seemed to have come down to her eyes, making it difficult for her to open them.

“Ah……”

Lee Je Guk stood up from his seat, overjoyed by Ha In’s small movement.

“Are you regaining consciousness?”

Ha In moved her pupils through the barely opened slits of her eyelids.

She couldn’t escape from her deep slumber, but she heard Lee Je Guk’s voice and felt his body heat from somewhere.

A long time ago, it was the same then too.

When she opened her eyes at the sound of someone calling for her in this world where she had no one to look for her even if she died, Lee Je Guk was by her side.

This time too, like then, Lee Je Guk caught hold of Ha In.

But right now, her head hurt so much that she couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality.

“Ah…… Where is this place?”

Although her voice was mixed with heavy breathing and lacked strength, Lee Je Guk clearly heard her voice.

“The hospital, it’s the hospital.”

Lee Je Guk answered Ha In’s question.

At the sound of his voice, Ha In turned her head to look at him.

She clearly remembered watching the news, but she couldn’t recall why she was lying here like this.

Ha In closed her eyes, putting strength into her furrowed brow at the spinning sensation.

“Are you regaining more consciousness?”

Ha In gave no answer.

Lee Je Guk watched over Ha In, observing even the subtle trembling of her facial muscles to see if she was alright.

She looked so painfully and miserably sick. So he felt even more sorry.

“Was my confession that uncomfortable for you?”

Lee Je Guk spoke dryly, but his heart ached terribly. If his sincerity made Ha In sick, it was right for him to abandon his feelings.

Ha In kept her eyes tightly shut without answering.

“If my sincere feelings make you sick, I will gladly set them aside.”

Lee Je Guk made up his mind.

If he had known Ha In was going through such a time, he should have put an end to it sooner, he regretted.

If helping Ha In from behind and from afar would make her happy, then that would be the right choice.

He tried to let go of Ha In’s hand with that thought. But she held onto Lee Je Guk’s hand with all her strength.

Although the strength felt in Lee Je Guk’s hand was very weak, that desperation was conveyed to the depths of his bones.

It was a hand that Lee Je Guk could have shaken off with the slightest force if he wanted to. But he couldn’t do that.

“Don’t, don’t go.”

Ha In sat up, holding onto Lee Je Guk’s hand, forcibly lifting her sick body.

She didn’t want to lose him.

She had buried herself in work, not lived in it.

She had tried her hardest to the point of being on the verge of death, losing all the health he had asked her to take care of.

Only after making such painstaking efforts did she realize that she also liked Lee Je Guk.

Lee Je Guk tried to support Ha In’s body that looked like it would collapse at any moment by letting go of her hand for a moment.

Thinking he was trying to leave her, Ha In got on her knees and embraced Lee Je Guk’s neck.

“No, don’t. Don’t go. I was wrong.”

Ha In spoke, gasping for breath. In this world, the only person who understood and looked into her heart was Lee Je Guk.

She was afraid he would really leave her far away.

The feeling she had when she had to let go of her mother welled up in her chest.

“Sob……”

Ha In felt a huge lump rising up from beyond her throat. She soon began to sob. Ha In’s body shook with grief.

“I, sob…… like you too.”

She poured out her sincerity even though she knew she would get hurt.

“So please, ha…… don’t leave me alone.”

Lee Je Guk caressed Ha In’s thin back.

While comforting Ha In, he didn’t tell her not to cry. They said crying was the only way to heal this sickness, so he let her cry to her heart’s content.

How could he make her cry, he had pondered for days.

To think she was someone who only cried when she was this sick. Thinking about how much she must have endured and put up with while living, it was suffocating.

Lee Je Guk wanted Ha In to cry her eyes out until the lump that had settled in her heart was all gone.

“I won’t go. I want to stay by your side too. Ha In.”

Ha In buried her face in Lee Je Guk’s neck as if digging into it.

Ha In had become a prosecutor with all her might, won numerous trials, and gained honor as a legal professional, but there was an emptiness that she could never fill.

It felt like the emptiness inside her that she couldn’t fill no matter how hard she tried was being filled by Lee Je Guk.

Now she felt like she could live a little.

“Then why didn’t you say you liked me sooner, why did you torment your innocent body like this?”

Ha In hesitated to answer Lee Je Guk’s question. It was a weak and shameful feeling.

“Give me an answer. You asked me to stay by your side, but why do you keep getting sick alone in your heart?”

“I was afraid…… I would get hurt.”

Lee Je Guk inwardly heaved a deep sigh. It was truly a heartbreaking thing to say.

“Ha In, how could I ever hurt you?”

“It’s not that you’re the problem. Sob…… It’s because I’m so wretched.”

Ha In confessed her honest feelings, borrowing the strength from the medication.

“There’s no one in this world who has made me wait like this, who has made me desperate like this, other than you, Ha In.”

Lee Je Guk wanted the sincerity he was expressing now to be definitely and surely conveyed to Ha In.