He was always an existence that couldn’t approach first. Still.

There was no Kang Hye-ran, no Park Mu-seong, but why? Until when?

“Ha…….”

Squeezing the phone tightly, Jinsung exhaled a sigh and started the car with the accelerator pressed hard. Even so, recently Song Myunghwan had frequently invited Jinsung to his house. With that trust, Jinsung set off for that house.

However, until not too long ago, the front gate of that house, which he could easily enter, was tightly closed.

And he learned from the intercom outside the gate that Chairman Song Myunghwan was not at home. Strangely, Jinsung, whose self-esteem dropped significantly in front of this house, called his mother, Moonhee.

“Mom, when was the last time you contacted Chairman?”

Chairman? He called today, and we’re here together in the Yangpyeong villa.

“Can I go there too?”

Sure. Until what time will you arrive? Let’s have dinner together.

“I’ll be there soon.”

After ending the call, Jinsung hastily got in the car and headed to Yangpyeong. Speeding up to arrive not too late for dinner, he arrived at Chairman Song’s evening time right on schedule.
“Is your stomach feeling better? I heard you couldn’t eat anything for lunch, so I made chicken porridge.”

Madam Moon Hee, who laid out her homemade side dishes and chicken porridge on the table, sat diagonally across from the chairman and spoke.

Jinsung, who was sitting opposite her, raised his eyes and observed Chairman Song Myunghwan’s complexion. Lips were mushy, and the expression was not good. Even the hearty appetite that usually ate anything seemed to have died, as he hesitantly played with the spoon.

Jinsung picked up a brass-colored spoon and swallowed the chicken porridge. While he waited for the right timing to speak, the dining table was filled with Mrs. Moon Hee’s voice.

No matter what the chairman said, it seemed like he was neither listening nor ignoring. Moon Hee, who had been focusing on the meal later, looked at Jinsung with a worried expression.

“Why can’t you eat like this? Should I tear off more meat for you? There’s some left.”

“No, I’m eating.”

“Is it because of the busy work at the company? Your face looks haggard. Is that why you’re not dating?”

Moon Hee shifted her gaze to Chairman Song.

“Jinsung is at the age for marriage when he turns thirty-five. If there’s a good woman, how about I introduce her? Why, marrying that Eunchae to Congressman’s son….”

“Don’t bring up that topic!”

At that moment, Chairman Song slammed the spoon down with a bang. The sticky rice porridge splattered everywhere, and the spoon rolled on the marble table.

Thump.

The chairman vented his anger and even brought down the table with a thick fist.

“And how long has it been since you got promoted, talking about marriage! First, you need to adapt to work. Show results without letting the gossip spread, show results!”

Having vented his anger, Song Myunghwan forcefully left the dining table.

Moon Hee, who had remained stiff, looked very surprised, clutching her chest as she took a shallow breath. Jinsung was equally surprised. It was a situation where revealing the hidden thoughts might have resulted in insulation.

After checking that the chairman had left, Moon Hee looked at Jinsung with a stiff face, her mouth slightly lowered.

“Well then, you’re also angry, right?”

“…….”

“If you don’t care who you meet, how about an arranged marriage? What kind of blood are you, making me arrange a marriage for you? You’ll marry someone who hasn’t even a drop of mixed blood if you’re going to marry the son of a future president.”

Regardless of what she said, Moon Hee embraced her son, who showed no reaction.

“It’s okay. Everything will be fine now, son. I got a promise from the chairman.”

She looked at her son with eyes that confirmed faith.

Song Myunghwan said he would pay back the value hidden behind the shadows over the past hours. Of course, sweet words like that could be broken anytime, just like the words of love 35 years ago, but there was Jinsung between them, so it was meant to be kept.
When there was no Jinsung. No, when he thought there wasn’t, Song Myunghwan easily abandoned Moon Hee. They fell deeply in love at first sight through a friend’s introduction while working at a beauty salon. He said he would work with Park Musung in Seoul and left because his work was more important.

Moon Hee’s period stopped abruptly after he left.

When she went to the hospital, she was five weeks pregnant. Knowing only that the baby’s father had gone to Seoul, with no idea of where he was and no way to contact him, she went to Seoul.

Raising Jinsung alone in a tiny room, enduring insults as the fatherless child, she held on with the hope that she would meet him someday.

So, as time passed, when Jinsung turned twenty, she was able to find Song Myunghwan, who had married another woman. Even if he didn’t believe that Jinsung was his son, after demanding Jinsung’s hair, he never denied it again.