“Hidden from my father, and hidden from the man who said he loved me. She’s truly a pitiful child. Well, it’s not really my place to say.”

He couldn’t offer any rebuttal.

He couldn’t.

Lee Han wanted to say that he was different from Chairman Han, but the words wouldn’t come out. If Chairman Han hid Ba Ha for Taesan’s sake, Lee Han hid her under the pretext of his acting career and the excuse of building strength for Ba Ha.

What could he say?

“Han.”

“Yes…”

At Chairman Han’s call, Lee Han raised his head to look at him, and as their eyes met, Chairman Han gave a faint smile.

A smile that somehow looked lonely and bitter.

“Han, neither you nor I are good people to that child.”

He wanted to be a good person.

He wanted to save her from Taesan. He thought he needed money to do that, and he needed power. So he worked like crazy. Taking photo shoots, continuously taking on projects.

He thought it was for their sake, but he was wrong.

Day by day, his name rose in the media. More and more attention focused on him. At first that was the reason, but gradually it became an excuse to hide Ba Ha, and that hiding was eating away at her.

He had been increasingly confining Ba Ha within his own world.

“I… can’t. I know I’m not a good person for her. But how can I break up? I can’t do it. I can’t, Chairman.”

He looked at Chairman Han with trembling eyes.

With eyes pleading for understanding.

“Then may I ask you one thing?”

Chairman Han looked at Lee Han with an unwavering expression to the end. With Chairman Han’s words, the study became so tense that not even their breathing could be heard.

“…Yes.”

“What do you think your weakness is?”

“…”

“Your weakness is Ba Ha, that child.”

Love had become a weakness.

Ba Ha and Lee Han’s love had become each other’s weakness, stabbing at one another. Cha Hi Ra shook Lee Han using Ba Ha, his weakness, and Chairman Han also tried to shake him using Ba Ha.

“…”

He loved her, and he loves her.

The person he loved to death was gradually becoming his weakness.

“Three years. Play along with Cha Hi Ra for three years.”

“…”

“Do what she wants for just three years. Then there will be no more shaking Ba Ha using Taesan’s existence.”

Is this the best option?

Is breaking up really the only way to protect Ba Ha?

For a moment, the image of Ba Ha smiling brightly flashed through Lee Han’s mind. Is this the only way to protect that smile?

“What’s your ulterior motive?”

“Ulterior motive?”

“I know you’re not one to do business at a loss. I don’t understand why you’re suddenly doing this when you’ve always turned a blind eye to Ba Ha. Just protecting Ba Ha won’t bring you any benefit, will it?”

Chairman Han didn’t think this secret, which even Cha Hi Ra knew, would be kept forever. Then Chairman Han wanted to use this deal to get what he wanted.

Though he had no intention of telling what that was yet.

“You’re not the only one worried about that child. No matter how bad a person I am to her, you haven’t forgotten that I’m still her father, have you?”

Father, huh.

Lee Han let out a snicker at the word that didn’t suit him at all, and Chairman Han furrowed his brow at the sight.

“You’ll have to be the worst person possible. You’ll have to hurt that child. That’s the only way our deal will end successfully. Then I’ll guarantee your future too, Han.”

“Can I trust you, Chairman?”

“That’s your choice. People who want to believe will find any reason to believe what they want to believe. And those who don’t want to believe won’t believe for that very reason, no matter what.”

The eyes see only what they want to see, the ears hear only what they want to hear, and if you want to believe, you believe.

Because everyone holds the key to their own heart.

Chairman Han stared intently into Lee Han’s eyes as he continued speaking.

“Whether it’s the right truth or not.”

“So what are you trying to say? That it was a choice made out of love? Is that what you want to say now?”

Tae Un looked at him with a hardened face.

He felt conflicted.

Tae Un poured himself a drink from the glass in front of him, downed it roughly, and let out a sigh heavy with the scent of alcohol.

“I’m saying that if I had known Chairman Han would send Ba Ha to you so quickly, I wouldn’t have made this choice.”

Three years.

A long time if you think it’s long, a short time if you think it’s short. Lee Han thought those three years would be a short time for them.

He believed that if we just got through that short time, we could go back to how we were before, that this level of trial was nothing to us.

He hated himself for choosing to believe.

He wanted to believe in our hearts and in Chairman Han’s words about being a father. Thinking about it now, who could act like nothing happened and speak of love again to someone who hurt them? What father would make deals using his daughter while invoking the name of ‘father’?

His words were right.

People believe what they want to believe.

At that moment, he must have wanted to believe Chairman Han’s words. At that moment, he must have wanted to believe we would be forever. If it was naive, it was naive, and foolish.

“Everything you’re saying now sounds like excuses to me. Am I the weird one?”

“What do you know…”

“What do I know? Did you really think Chairman Han would do that? You must have known best that he’s not that kind of person. Am I wrong? Just say it outright. You simply made a choice for your own future.”

Lee Han’s face reddened at Tae Un’s sarcasm.

He felt ashamed and humiliated. Despite knowing full well what kind of person Chairman Han was from his past experiences, he believed him.

The real fool was himself after all.

“I didn’t need any of that! I just believed, that’s all!”

“Right. Your choice was to believe Chairman Han.”

He must have planned this from the beginning.

It just happened that the timing worked out with that malicious Cha Hi Ra getting involved.

Even Tae Un was disgusted by Chairman Han’s actions.

“You know what makes me angry even after hearing your story?”

“…”

“That Ba Ha’s wishes weren’t included in your choice. You said you just believed Chairman Han, but that’s an excuse. So you just stood by and watched everything Cha Hi Ra did to her because you believed in Chairman Han?”

“Enough. Whatever you say, I’m going to set things right.”

There was no reason to sit and listen anymore.

The more Tae Un talked with him, the angrier he got. She’s a woman who cried a lot after being abandoned by Lee Han. She struggled a lot, and for a while, the smiles she wore were full of sadness, not happiness.

He won’t just stand by and let a nobody like Lee Han ruin everything now that she’s finally endured it all and is trying to move towards happiness.

“Hah… I won’t deny the time you and Ba Ha spent together. The Ba Ha of today exists because you were present in her life. I have no intention of denying any of this.”

“…”

“But if you and Ba Ha are in a situation where you’ve broken up, it’s a different story. If Ba Ha has accepted marrying me, I have no intention of letting her go even more.”

Tae Un continued speaking, trying hard to suppress the anger that kept rising.

“So I’d like her to suffer less. I’m confident I can make her happier when she’s with me.”

“…”

“…I want both you and Cha Hi Ra to leave Ba Ha’s life now. For that to happen, you’ll need to take Cha Hi Ra out with your own hands.”

“…”

“Please, no more tears in Ba Ha’s eyes. Mr. Lee Han.”

Tae Un bowed his head to Lee Han. If bowing his head could stop Ba Ha’s tears, he could bow to him and plead many times over.

This bow was both a final request and a final warning to him.

Lee Han looked at him bowing his head and made a bitter expression as he emptied the glass of alcohol in front of him.

“Hah…”

After parting with Lee Han, Tae Un headed to Ba Ha’s house, where she was. Leaning back in the car seat, he looked out the window to see it was getting dark, and the streetlights illuminated the darkness on the road.

What should I do?

The alcohol he drank earlier still left a bitter taste in Tae Un’s mouth. His heart also felt bitter after parting with him. Thinking about it in the moving car, there was only one answer.

Just because he heard his story didn’t mean he would make a foolish choice himself.

“Hello?”

− Tae Un? Are you coming over now? Did you meet your friend well?

“Yeah. I met him. I’m in front of Han Ba Ha’s house now, can you come out for a moment?”

− What…? Wait just a moment!

The only thing on his mind was Ba Ha.

Tae Un called her in front of her house. As soon as he heard her voice, a smile spread across his face. While waiting for her, complicated thoughts tormented his mind, but he didn’t want to think anymore.

Knock knock.

Ba Ha knocked on the window with a bright smile. Seeing Ba Ha who had run out in a hurry with a plain face without a trace of makeup, Tae Un’s heart only grew more resolute.

“Why did you come here instead of going home? Aren’t you tired?”

“It’s okay. Seeing you, I don’t feel tired at all.”

As Tae Un stroked Ba Ha’s disheveled hair, she blushed slightly and gave a faint smile.

“It’s late, you should go in and rest.”

“Seeing your face is resting for me.”

Unlike his affectionate words, something felt off and strange. Ba Ha stared intently at him with his unusually deflated voice, coming unexpectedly late at night.

“Tae Un… did something happen when you met your friend?”