Jae Hyuk couldn’t bring himself to heed her words to disappear from her sight. After leaving the store, he sat in his car parked in front of the store for a long time, unable to drive away. Shortly after, A Rin came out of the store.
Seeing A Rin’s unsteady and precarious appearance, Jae Hyuk got out of the car without hesitation. He quietly followed her from behind, trying not to let her notice.
Did he leave too much space between them? He couldn’t cross the intersection in time.
Jae Hyuk started walking on the other side, following A Rin who had crossed the street ahead of him without waiting for the signal.
Then, he saw A Rin bump into a man twice her size and fall to the ground.
“Damn it.”
He tried to run straight to her, but the crosswalk was inconveniently far away. Jae Hyuk ran to the crosswalk and prayed inwardly.
“Hurry up. Change quickly.”
As soon as the signal changed, Jae Hyuk ran towards A Rin. His breath was caught in his throat, but it wasn’t painful at all. Because his mind was filled with the image of A Rin crying.
“A Rin……”
The sound of A Rin’s sobs stabbed at Jae Hyuk’s heart.
Jae Hyuk sat down in front of the crying A Rin.
“A Rin.”
When there was no response from A Rin, Jae Hyuk tucked her fallen hair behind her ear. At Jae Hyuk’s touch, A Rin lifted her head.
Just when Jae Hyuk thought he met her hollow eyes that held nothing, A Rin closed her eyes.
Her body began to tilt.
“A Rin!”
Startled, Jae Hyuk quickly caught her collapsing frail body.
A Rin, who had turned pale white, looked like someone who wasn’t breathing. Suddenly, anxiety and fear washed over him.
“Ambulance! Call an ambulance.”
The memory from a few years ago on the beach in Jeju Island, when he had held A Rin’s limp body and cried out, resurfaced like deja vu, even though he wanted to forget it.
“Please, A Rin……”
Jae Hyuk cried out, holding A Rin’s body.
[This is the timeline separator]The next day.
“……”
When A Rin opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar white ceiling through her blurry vision.
‘Where am I?’
A Rin’s body felt as heavy as a water-soaked sponge. Her throat felt sore as if something was stuck inside. Her throat was so dry that no sound came out.
As she blinked her eyes blankly, her hazy vision brightened.
‘The hospital?’
The white ceiling was definitely the hospital.
‘Why am I in the hospital…?’
To find the missing pieces of her memory, A Rin turned her head. Her eyes fell upon Jae Hyuk, who was leaning against a chair with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
“How… did this happen?”
She tried to recall. How long had she been looking at Jae Hyuk?
He opened his eyes. Surprised, A Rin couldn’t avoid Jae Hyuk’s gaze.
Jae Hyuk abruptly stood up and approached A Rin.
“Are you in pain anywhere?”
“…Where is this place?”
A Rin couldn’t remember anything even as she tried to recall. So she asked Jae Hyuk about yesterday’s events.
Jae Hyuk ran his large hand down his face. His parched lips parted with difficulty.
“You collapsed. This is the hospital.”
“I collapsed?”
“…Yes. Just in case, I didn’t contact Manager Seo. I thought you might not want to worry her, given your personality.”
Ji Yun was very close to A Rin. They had a familial relationship beyond simple friendship. Moreover, A Rin suffered from vasovagal syncope, so Ji Yun was even more sensitive to her collapsing.
If Jae Hyuk had contacted Ji Yun, she would have dropped everything and rushed here. Furthermore, if she had found out that the reason for A Rin’s collapse was due to Jae Hyuk, there was no telling what harsh words she might have said to him, even though he was her superior.
A Rin’s heart fluttered at the thought that Jae Hyuk’s decision not to contact Ji Yun seemed like he was considering her feelings.
“And just in case, Dr. Kang said it would be good to run some tests, so we did……”
A Rin had a feeling she knew what Jae Hyuk was going to say next.
‘He must be having strange thoughts about why I collapsed.’
A Rin didn’t want Jae Hyuk to know about her condition.
“It has nothing to do with you, Ban Jae Hyuk.”
A Rin spoke in the coldest voice she could muster.
“So whatever you found out, please don’t concern yourself with it.”
At A Rin’s words, firmly drawing a line, Jae Hyuk fell silent.
Even though she had drawn a line in her heart, A Rin still couldn’t take her eyes off Jae Hyuk. Her gaze shifted from his trembling shoulders and hands to his downcast eyelashes.
‘It’s all an act. The look in his eyes is definitely all an act. Don’t be fooled anymore.’
A Rin bit down hard on the soft flesh inside her mouth. She turned her head abruptly and spoke.
“When can I leave? I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I want to go back to Jeju Island.”
Seoul felt like hell. She wanted to escape from this terrible nightmare. A Rin didn’t want to stay here any longer.
Jae Hyuk couldn’t easily answer A Rin’s words.
“I know it’s useless now, but……”
A Rin heard Jae Hyuk’s trembling voice breaking the long silence.
“I’ll go first.”
But A Rin didn’t want to give Jae Hyuk a chance anymore. She no longer wanted her life to be shaken by Jae Hyuk.
She didn’t want to waste her emotions. It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by getting angry in the first place.
‘If there’s some misunderstanding, you should just talk it out and clear it up, right?’
If he loved her, why did he act that way during their married life?
If he realized her importance only after leaving, like in dramas, why didn’t he come to find her right away?
Why were there still rumors of marriage and engagement with Min Yu Jin?
No matter how much she thought about it, none of Jae Hyuk’s actions made any sense to her, yet she foolishly tried to understand him.
‘There was no genuine heart in the first place, that’s why he can’t explain his reasons to me……’
After witnessing the scene of Kyung Sook and Jae Hyuk’s meeting yesterday, A Rin reached a conclusion about his behavior.
Ban Jae Hyuk had toyed with Choi A Rin’s heart.
A Rin felt foolish for being swayed by Jae Hyuk, even if only for a moment.
“Stop it.”
‘Stop playing with me. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but please stop now. I don’t want to be hurt anymore.’
A Rin turned her head to look at Jae Hyuk, clenching her hidden fists tightly under the blanket.
“Ban Jae Hyuk.”
“……”
“Please divorce me. Honestly, I don’t want to go as far as a lawsuit.”
“……A Rin.”
“Our relationship is already over. It ended three years ago.”
It was Choi A Rin’s life, but there was nothing in it for Choi A Rin.
‘After finding out that I wasn’t their biological daughter, I struggled not to be abandoned, not to be hated.’
At first, A Rin was angry at herself for being helpless even after knowing that the Chois were falsely accused. But when Madam Jung offered her a chance to do something for the Chois, she was happy to have found a way to help them.
It was a time lived for the family. It was also a life that only sought the affection of others.
Perhaps it was a predetermined ending.
‘I didn’t take care of myself or love myself, so how could anyone else love me.’
Emotions welled up, and A Rin bit her lower lip hard.
‘I can make it clear now. It’s not too late, even now.’
“I mentioned divorce first, but it was you who abandoned me, Ban Jae Hyuk. Isn’t that right?”
“……You’re right.”
A rough, cracked voice flowed from between Jae Hyuk’s dry lips.
“If you know that…… if you have even a shred of conscience, you shouldn’t be doing this.”
Choi A Rin madly loved a man named Ban Jae Hyuk. She loved him so much that she endured and ate away at herself just to stay by his side.
“I left…… with great difficulty. Do you know how hard it is to sort out your feelings? I left with such difficulty that I can’t go back now, even if you say you loved me but didn’t know it.”
A Rin’s voice trembled roughly as she spoke. The pain and hurt of the past were vividly revived, and her heart surged with emotion.
Jae Hyuk silently listened to A Rin’s words.
A Rin felt strange.
“It’s too late…… to mend our already twisted relationship.”
Would her heart also be sorted out as she spoke?
Her trembling voice had somehow become calm.
She felt like she knew what she wanted for herself……
The aftermath of the long love was considerable.
The more she was entangled with Jae Hyuk, the more she couldn’t shake off the feeling of rolling in the mud. That intense emotion was so strong that it faded even the few good memories of the past that remained.
‘I hated you, but I don’t want to genuinely hate you, Oppa.’
She sincerely loved him, and he was also the father of the child that was briefly within her.
Even though he was a bad husband and a bad man to her, she didn’t want to deny his existence itself.
‘I don’t want to deny the feelings I had when I loved you. And above all, hating someone is too painful for me.’
Harboring feelings of hatred and resentment was too hard.
She wanted to let go of everything and start anew.
Her eyes shifted to Jae Hyuk’s hand, where blue veins protruded prominently.
‘I won’t be able to forget the pain of the past and will always be anxious that your heart might change. Since Madam won’t accept me, I’ll have to be mistreated again. Mother will always expect things from you. I’ll feel sorry and have to be mindful.’
From now on, she wanted to live as Choi A Rin.
She no longer wanted to live for someone else.
She no longer wanted to live a life swayed by others.
To do that, she had to put an end to her relationship with Jae Hyuk even more.
She didn’t know what the future held, but for now, she had to end things with him.
The silence continued for a while. Jae Hyuk’s lips wouldn’t part.
“I can no longer accept you who deceived me.”
Of course, even if they weren’t a real family, even if she hated them, she didn’t wish for her father to die.
Then, in the end, her mother’s resentment might have been directed at her……
If the result is good, does it matter how the process went?
A Rin had such thoughts. No matter how urgent the situation was, keeping it a secret from her and helping behind her back was nothing but betraying her.
“Let’s get a divorce. That’s the only thing you can do for me right now, Ban Jae Hyuk.”
“A Rin, I’m sorry for not telling you. I know very well that no excuse can make you understand.”
“I.”
“If you have even the slightest intention of sincerely caring for me, let’s end it. Our relationship.”
[This is the timeline separator]A red flag went off in Jae Hyuk’s mind.
He couldn’t let her go……
He couldn’t even imagine a life without her……
But she didn’t seem like she would let him hold her hand.
No, she wouldn’t let him hold her.
Jae Hyuk roughly ruffled his hair.
‘Where did it go wrong? Is it because our relationship was flawed from the first button that it keeps twisting like this?’
Jae Hyuk’s vision went dark.
His mind was in a mess, not knowing what to say first.
‘Get a grip, Ban Jae Hyuk. This might be the last……’
Jae Hyuk clenched his teeth, trying to swallow the surging emotions. His tightly clenched fists turned white.
After a brief silence, he continued.
“I’m sorry.”
No matter how bad the relationship was, even for lovers who had fought and broken up, time beautifies the memories and makes them recall only the good ones……
But when he thought of A Rin, he only remembered the things he couldn’t do for her.
‘Why couldn’t I treat you well back then? Why couldn’t I say it back then? Why couldn’t I hold onto you?’
The waves of regret surged, intensifying his emotions.
How wonderful would it be if he could convey all his feelings to her?
‘To hold onto you, I have to tell you that the family you thought was real isn’t, and that the family you loved never once gave you love and only tried to use you, but how can I say that?’
Jae Hyuk thought that A Rin still didn’t know that Kyung Sook wasn’t her biological mother. So at that time, he mistakenly believed it was the best way to protect her.
__________
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.