The Hidden Woman - Chapter 30

It was Dae Sik.

As soon as Lee Han answered the phone, he urged him in a seemingly urgent voice.

“Where else? I’m at home. Don’t I have no schedule today, hyung?”

– Is the schedule the problem? Something big happened to Ba Ha! Man!

Upon hearing the word ‘Ba Ha’ over the phone, Lee Han suddenly sat up from his lying position and leaned against the sofa. If the bright phone screen had distorted his face just moments ago, now Dae Sik’s words wrinkled it even more.

“What do you mean by that? What about Ba Ha?”

– Hah…… I sent you a link. Check the article.

As soon as Dae Sik finished speaking, he hung up immediately. The sensational headline and two photos below it in the article he sent were enough to guess what this article was about.

[ Cha Hi Ra♥, Lee Han. Secret meeting with a mysterious woman? Who is she? What about Cha Hi Ra. ]

His dark face suddenly turned pale blue. She was a woman who feared coming out to the world more than anyone. Yet here was an article written solely from Hi Ra’s perspective without a single fact confirmed.

“……”

If one only saw this article, Ba Ha would be some nameless X who got between a top star couple. It was questionable how such a report could go out without a single mention to our side, but soon that question was easily solved.

[ Star Patch reporter Lee Ra. [email protected] ]

Lee Ra.

She was a Star Patch reporter and a KH Group dog raised with sponsorship from Cha Hi Ra’s house. As soon as Hi Ra debuted, she wrote her debut article, and wrote only favorable articles for every project she did.

She even released the exclusive article confirming Lee Han and Hi Ra’s relationship at Hi Ra’s direction. People who knew would call Lee Ra Hi Ra’s dedicated reporter, that’s how close she was to Hi Ra.

“Hah…?”

As soon as Lee Han saw the name ‘Lee Ra’, Hi Ra’s face came to mind first.

No wonder our side couldn’t stop it either.

What made the KH princess uncomfortable this time? What was it that she didn’t like so much that she did this?

He could guess roughly.

Just looking at the photos, he felt he knew.

“Hello.”

– Oppa? Why did you call me?

Lee Han called Hi Ra, who had released this absurd article, and upon hearing the bright voice as soon as she answered, Lee Han frowned once again.

“Come home right now.”

He couldn’t possibly live like this anymore. Looking at Hi Ra who had gone too far, Lee Han thought, ‘I will end this relationship now. I will correct the wrong choice I made.’

Alright~ Just wait a little bit.

[This is the timeline separator]

His head was throbbing.

The alcohol was wearing off gradually. As his mind cleared, Ba Ha entered his thoughts out of habit.

Did you feel this way too?

He didn’t know being coldly rejected could hurt this much.

If only I had spoken a little more kindly. If only I had looked at her a little more warmly. No, I should have held on till the end. I shouldn’t have let go.

Beep beep beep beep.

In the quiet house where not even the common sound of a clock could be heard, only the sound of the front door password being entered echoed. As he entered the house and opened the front door, he could see dust floating in the light coming through the slightly open curtains.

A musty smell mixed with a strong alcohol odor filled the house.

“Oppa, I’m here.”

Lee Han saw Hi Ra greeting him as soon as she arrived with a voice that seemed to scratch his insides, but he pretended not to see her. He just picked up the half-empty bottle of alcohol in front of him.

“The room reeks of alcohol. Did you drink again?”

Hi Ra, who had come to his house after a long time, looked around the messy living room and lightly kicked one of the bottles rolling on the floor.

“……”

“How about washing up? Your face looks terrible right now.”

Hi Ra sighed involuntarily seeing his haggard appearance that was beyond words. What was Han Ba Ha that he was like this? She couldn’t understand Lee Han who was so broken down like this.

“Oppa, did you see the script Director Ha sent?”

“……Don’t need it.”

“Oppa, isn’t it time to stop this now?”

There was nothing eternal in this world.

Look at Han Ba Ha and Woo Tae Un. They ended up together after all. So you should let go now too.

“Hah…… So. It’s time to stop. Can’t you stop now too?”

Hi Ra ignored Lee Han’s words that she didn’t want to hear and naturally walked around the house picking up the scattered bottles one by one. Then, as if she were the mistress of this house, she started cleaning up one by one, and the face of the actual mistress began to crumple with rising anger.

“Hah……”

Lee Han brought the bottle he was holding to his mouth as he looked at Hi Ra.

“How long are you going to just drink? Amazing. An oppa who only drinks whenever he has time, an oppa who only thinks of other things whenever he has time! It’s really amazing. What a great love.”

“Stop……! Let’s stop.”

“Stop what? Don’t you understand yet? Look at Han Ba Ha and Woo Tae Un! Nothing is eternal in this world! This is normal!”

Hi Ra shouted at Lee Han who was talking about ending something that hadn’t even started.

“Shut up! It could have been eternal. You ruined everything. You’re the abnormal one!”

As soon as Ba Ha’s name came out of Hi Ra’s mouth, Lee Han got up angrily and grabbed Hi Ra’s shoulders with both hands, shaking her. Hi Ra snorted at his behavior, and Lee Han, infuriated by her reaction, shook her again and again as if telling her to come to her senses.

“That’s right. I’m abnormal. So you shouldn’t have touched me. Did you really not know this would happen? You ignored my warning.”

“Do you even know what you’ve done?”

“What did I do? Just a few lines of an article came out? Why are you overreacting! I can do worse!”

“Please…… stop!”

Lee Han’s eyes wavered, and he was panting with excitement. Hi Ra’s eyes gradually filled with anger at that great love.

She hated how Lee Han only reacted like this about Han Ba Ha’s matters, and the fact that she was just a crazy X to him hurt her heart.

“That’s right. You could have just played along for a while. You’re good at it. Acting. You should have looked at me even if you had to do that!”

“Cha Hi Ra!”

“Stop calling me!”

There were 2 cases when he called the name ‘Cha Hi Ra’.

One was when they were filming together, and the last one was when you bothered him. If the former had no emotion in it at all, the latter was an honest call even if it was just anger.

So I chose.

The latter.

So Han Ba Ha was just one of the ways to bother you.

“You’re crazy. This isn’t love. It’s obsession. A very severe obsession. It’s a disease. This.”

I didn’t want such an intense reaction. It was just another warning to Lee Han who pretended not to hear my warning.

“I…… don’t care.”

Even if this form of love was just an obsession wearing the mask of love to others, she didn’t even care, but Hi Ra flinched at the word disease that came out of Lee Han’s mouth. If she hadn’t done this much, would there have been even a little space for her in his life? Would there have been any presence at all?

Ring−!

“Oh. Hyung.”

He answered Dae Sik’s incoming call, trying to calm his somewhat excited voice. A sigh heard over the phone, followed by the sound of phones ringing.

It was chaos there too.

– Hah…… It’s a mess. A mess.

“What about Ba Ha? Is Ba Ha…… okay?”

He asked about Ba Ha’s condition first.

It was what he was most curious about, what he was most worried about above all else. She must have been very surprised. She’s a child experiencing this for the first time. She was just an ordinary person, unlike a celebrity who was used to making eye contact with cameras, used to the flashes going off inside them, always having articles written about them.

She was a person from a different world than himself who had become immune.

– She’ll be fine. I don’t know about Ba Ha. I didn’t have time to worry about her. Hah…… How can you look for Ba Ha first in this situation?

“I’m sorry. Hyung.”

– Hah…..

At Lee Han’s voice that had lost all strength, Dae Sik suppressed his rising anger and let out a sigh.

It was pitiful.

A relationship that had loved passionately began an inexplicable breakup and an even more inexplicable love without themselves knowing. It was frustrating that this was all he could do beside him, not knowing anything.

-Daehan’s side released an article first. Saying she’s a childhood friend. And that Hi Ra was there that day too. Well, it’s not exactly a lie…..

“I see. We’ll release an article too, right? Then make it similar to Daehan’s and release it. So Ba Ha doesn’t suffer any more damage.

He was relieved.

Thanks to Tae Un’s quick response, Ba Ha might have been hurt a little less. It was pathetic. It wasn’t him who was helping solve this problem, but Tae Un, and it was too pathetic that he was the cause of the problem, not solving it.

“See, I warned you. Oppa, why did you make things bigger.”

Hi Ra approached Lee Han, who seemed somehow relieved after the call ended, and whispered softly in his ear.

“Oppa, you said I ruined everything, right? No. You made the choice.”

“Yes. I did it. So I regret it. Taking your hand. Believing Chairman Han’s promise.”

Lee Han continued speaking while glaring at Hi Ra, feeling goosebumps and anger rising at her words.

“If you keep this up, I can’t do it anymore either. Cha Hi Ra, you’ve crossed the line now.”