“See? I told you to listen to my story properly.”

“I mean I regret the time I spent talking with Team Leader Yeon Ga Young. It seems I’ll have to work overtime.”

“What! This is!”

Ga Young angrily slammed the door shut.

Jae Kyung slightly covered his ears and then removed his hands, shaking his head.

Not Ha Su Young, but Hwang Min Jun this time? It was enough to line up father candidates 1, 2, and 3.

“Hah… What is this.”

Isn’t this saying that no one knows who the child’s father is except Han Bo Mi?

‘Mr. Won Il.’

Probably that man? The man Han Bo Mi longed for when sober and when drunk.

Jae Kyung sat down and opened the file sent by Secretary Kim.

The child’s name written in family relations.

Spring and summer… Somehow he thought it was a name that suited her child well.

‘I like summer more than spring. Spring’s brilliance is just a moment. You worry about losing it as soon as flowers bloom. I like summer’s greenness that shines consistently all summer long.’

He recalled what the woman in Jae Kyung’s dream had said while walking through the coniferous forest.

Jae Kyung wanted to meet Han Bo Mi.

He needed to confirm directly who the child’s father was, or if she couldn’t allow Jae Kyung because of that child’s father.

He would believe only the words flowing from her luscious lips, not swayed by anyone’s rumors.

“Aunt, aunt!”

“Yes?”

Yeo Reum smiled broadly while pulling on Mi Rae’s t-shirt as she was clearing the dinner table.

At times like this, she really looks just like her elder sister. Mi Rae looked at Yeo Reum with a pleased expression.

“Aunt. Let’s go to the convenience store.”

“Is there something Yeo Reum wants to eat?”

“No… There’s nothing I want to eat right now.”

As her chubby cheeks rise, dimples form. Mi Rae poked the dimples with her fingertips and smiled. So cute!

If such a cute baby were born, it would make one want to get married right away.

“Did you brush your teeth?”

Yeo Reum shook her head, covering her mouth with her maple leaf-like hands.

“Aunt! Yeo Reum will brush her teeth and come back, so let’s go to the convenience store.”

“Why, what do you need?”

Mi Rae asked again, curious about Yeo Reum’s insistent intent.

“Mom said she’s coming home early today, so I want to go meet her.”

“Oh. Our Yeo Reum is so thoughtful! Your mom will be extremely happy.”

“And if I eat an ice cream too, it’ll be even better.”

Yeo Reum’s eyes sparkled as her cheeks flushed.

“Hahaha. Okay. Okay. Our little prince. I’ll buy it for you.”

Mi Rae burst into hearty laughter. What should I really do with this child?

“I’m not a prince… I’m a princess.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Our Yeo Reum is a prince.”

Mi Rae looked at Yeo Reum with a bewildered expression.

“No, aunt. Yeo Reum will go brush her teeth and come back.”

Yeo Reum seemed startled by her own words, rolling her eyes before dashing off to the bathroom. From Mi Rae’s expression, Yeo Reum could tell. This story is something mom shouldn’t know. I should be careful.

‘She doesn’t have a father and her mom is an unmarried mother, right?’

‘What’s an unmarried mother?’

‘They say that’s what you call someone who has a child without getting married.’

Mi Rae’s honest answer to the kindergarten mothers’ questions was the root of the problem. Rumors spread instantly that Yeo Reum had no father and Bo Mi had a child without getting married, leading even children to tease Yeo Reum.

‘You live in that apartment over there, right?’

‘Smells like the countryside.’

The girls were kind to Yeo Reum, but three or four of the boys started bullying her.

Yeo Reum didn’t care about such things. Yeo Reum was happy living with her mom, and felt secure thinking her dad was watching over her from heaven.

She liked this house where sunlight came in well, and didn’t dislike kindergarten because there were friends who were kind to her.

It was enough to keep to herself the matter of a few friends who saw her as a thorn in their side.

“Aunt! Let’s go out quickly!”

While Mi Rae was putting on her shoes, Yeo Reum opened the front door, pattering about.

“It’s dangerous, so hold aunt’s hand.”

The two walked out of the apartment complex, holding hands amicably. The apartment complex was divided into apartments that the Dowon Group rented cheaply as company housing and the high-end for-sale apartments, Dowon Palace, across the street.

The convenience store was closer to the company housing apartments.

Yeo Reum and Mi Rae sat facing each other at a table with an open parasol. Yeo Reum was concentrating on peeling the ice cream wrapper, grunting with effort.

“Yeo Reum…”

Mi Rae’s face suddenly turned pale.

“Aunt emergency!”

“Again?”

Yeo Reum responded grumpily, as if she understood. Just when I was about to open the ice cream…

Mi Rae looked around, scanning the surroundings.

“Yeo Reum. Han Yeo Reum… Aunt wants to go to the bathroom, let’s go together.”

Mi Rae, who had irritable bowel syndrome, had urges at all hours.

Remembering the time she lost Yeo Reum after leaving her alone, she pulled on Yeo Reum’s hand.

“No.”

Yeo Reum shook her head, taking a bite of ice cream.

“Ah… Yeo Reum. Please.”

Mi Rae’s stomach started to rumble with thunder-like sounds.

“Aunt… No matter how much Yeo Reum thinks about it.”

Yeo Reum’s eyes shone coldly.

“I don’t think I can eat ice cream while smelling poop in the bathroom.”

“Huuung. Yeo Reum! Han Yeo Reum.”

Mi Rae wailed in despair.

“May I stay with her?”

Mi Rae looked up to see a handsome and neat man standing there.

“I’m a friend of CEO Han Bo Mi.”

As the man handed over his business card with a slight smile, even a sense of trust that wasn’t there before began to arise.

“Mister!”

Seeing Yeo Reum call the man as if she was glad to see him, Mi Rae’s wariness crumbled.

“I’ll leave her in your care!”

Mi Rae grasped the business card as if snatching it, bowed deeply to the man, and ran to the convenience store bathroom.

“Hello? We meet again?”

Maybe it’s dad on vacation from heaven.

He’s hiding his identity because he thinks Yeo Reum doesn’t know.

“Mister, where do you live?”

Yeo Reum wanted to confirm if Jae Kyung lived in heaven.

“How about introducing yourself first before asking where someone lives?”

“Hmm… I apologize for my rudeness. I am Han Yeo Reum.”

Yeo Reum took her lips off the ice cream, licked around her mouth with her red tongue, and bowed her head in greeting.

Jae Kyung found the child’s actions so cute that he covered his mouth to hide the laughter that was about to burst out.

“I am Do Jae Kyung.”

Dowon Group Director Do Jae Kyung. Ah… So Do Jae Kyung was this person’s name. Now she understood why mom said it wasn’t the company name.

Seeing Yeo Reum’s cheeks turning red, Jae Kyung thought of Bo Mi.

Although he didn’t like children, he thought he could come to like a child that resembled her.

“Are you really friends with mom?”

“No.”

“Uh… You just said you were friends.”

“It’s easier to say that among adults.”

Jae Kyung said as he pulled up a chair next to Yeo Reum and sat down.

“Mister. Isn’t that bad?”

Yeo Reum pouted her lips. Melted ice cream was stuck around her mouth, glistening each time it caught the convenience store light.

Jae Kyung, bothered by Yeo Reum’s mouth, took out his handkerchief.

The handkerchief lightly touched and left Yeo Reum’s lips. When the man’s large hand with thick knuckles cupped her cheek, Yeo Reum opened her plump lips with a “huh.”

The mister’s hands felt hard and nice, different from mom’s.

“Thank you.”

The child’s eyes curved into crescents, and the tear moles at the corners of her eyes disappeared between her eyelids.

“I have a mole here too.”

Jae Kyung said, pointing to his own eye corner.

“I know why you have a mole there.”

Because you’re my dad. Yeo Reum nodded as if certain.

“Why?”

“Mister. You live up there, right?”

Yeo Reum stretched her hand towards the sky.

“How did you know?”

The direction the child’s finger pointed was where Dowon Palace, where Jae Kyung lived, was located.

“I know everything. If there’s something you want to hide because of circumstances, it’s okay to hide it for now. I think I understand what you mean by not being friends with mom.”

“You’re smart.”

“Because I’m mom’s son. My mom is incredibly smart. She can make anything with just a computer.”

Jae Kyung patted Yeo Reum’s head and smiled gently.

“Yes. Your mom is a very smart person.”

“Mister. But what brings you here? Did you come to see mom? Did you come to see Yeo Reum?”

“To see both you and mom.”

See, he is my dad after all. He came from heaven to see mom and me. Yeo Reum looked at Jae Kyung with a pleased smile.

“You must be really close with mom.”

I know even if you don’t answer. You can’t have a child if you’re not close, they say.

“No… We’re not close yet.”

“Why?”

Huh? That shouldn’t be! Could it be that he’s in heaven because he fought with mom?

“Well. I came here because I want to know that reason too.”

“Hmm… If you fought, you should make up…”

Yeo Reum mumbled, trailing off. Jae Kyung felt that Yeo Reum seemed to like him.

He needed to become friends with Yeo Reum to get closer to Bo Mi.

After Ga Young left, Jae Kyung agonized over how to make time with Bo Mi.

There were too many eyes watching inside the company. The fact that someone even took photos and reported to Ga Young reminded him that there might be surveillance everywhere. Jae Kyung decided to directly target Bo Mi’s way home after work.

He started walking from the apartment entrance due to the manager’s strictness that vehicles of non-residents couldn’t be parked.

As he was contemplating whether to call Han Bo Mi, he spotted a familiar little one in front of the convenience store.

Moreover, the woman with her was pleading with the child, calling her Han Yeo Reum.

Han Yeo Reum… Han Bo Mi’s child.

He could finally understand why he felt traces of Han Bo Mi from the child.

“By the way… Yeo Reum. What about your dad?”

It was a topic that had bothered Jae Kyung all day. It might be cowardly to get information from the child, but he felt Han Bo Mi would never tell him.

“Dad…”

Yeo Reum blinked her large eyes that resembled Bo Mi’s. What does she mean by dad looking for dad?

“He was in heaven, wasn’t he?”

So he had died. That’s why Han Bo Mi looked at Do Jae Kyung with such a heart-wrenching gaze, seeming like she would cry at any moment.

He had a feeling this would be a more difficult battle than expected.

If the opponent was someone no longer in this world, it wouldn’t be easy for Bo Mi’s heart to open.

Still, it’s a bit enviable… To have a woman who loves and remembers you even after death.

“But mister. How did Yeo Reum and mom look?”

“Huh?”

“Couldn’t you see well from up there?”

Jae Kyung was suddenly reminded that his face resembled ‘Mr. Won Il’. Could Yeo Reum be mistaking him? Should he say something in response?

“Yeo Reum. Mister is…”

“Han Yeo Reum!”

Just as Jae Kyung was about to explain to Yeo Reum, Bo Mi’s voice interrupted.

“Mom!”

Yeo Reum jumped down from the chair and ran to Bo Mi, pattering.

“Didn’t mom tell you not to talk to strangers?”

“He’s not a stranger. He’s mom’s friend.”

“My friend?”

Only then did Bo Mi turn around to see the man facing Yeo Reum.

“Director…”

Why are you here?

The man she wanted to avoid and not get involved with… His face shone brightly, reflecting in the light. Her heart trembled as his smiling face towards her felt welcoming.