Chapter 182.2

Chapter 182.2

“Will you follow me?”

As he followed the teacher’s guidance across the hallway, the reddish sunlight streamed in through the large windows.

‘Thank goodness it’s a place where the sun shines, baby.’ He bit his lip at the sound of laughter coming from outside.

Entering the empty director’s office, Lee Wooshin began to memorize the positions of the objects around him out of habit, and his gaze suddenly stopped at one wall densely covered with children’s pictures.

Bending down, he closely examined the faces in the photos and spotted one child who wasn’t smiling.

“Ah….”

The pupil behind the black lens trembled slightly. Seeing it this way, it resembled Joo Seolheon’s expressionless face.

At the moment he looked at the face of a child with a pout, the desire to scratch the photo out with his fingernail melted his insides.

Among the numerous frames, he ghosted in on Seoryeong’s photo, losing track of time as he stared. For the first time in a long while, light returned to his parched eyes.

“Hello. Who are you looking for?”

At that moment, he sensed someone’s presence.

It was a short, plump director with tightly curled short hair. The director paused mid-sentence, glancing once at the tall Lee Wooshin and then twice at the photo he was staring at intently.

A flicker of caution appeared on the director’s face.

“Is that photo someone you know, or do you just think it looks like a child model?”

“It’s both.”

His throat felt dry, and his voice came out metallic.

“No one has come looking for that child until now. May I ask what your relationship is?”

“I’m her husband.”

The words came out without a moment’s hesitation. His throat ached as if it had touched fire.

“Seoryeong… got married?!”

The director’s eyes widened to the point of forming wrinkles on her forehead, and she covered her mouth with both hands.

“That child?”

Her tone was one of disbelief. However, after a moment of emotional reaction, the director hardened her expression again and cast a suspicious glance.

“Are you perhaps here to investigate Seoryeong?”

“Excuse me?”

“If you’re her husband, it means you’re already married. What brings you here now, after living well? Is there something… that doesn’t seem right as you go through life? Are you here out of regret or some suspicion?”

“….”

“Is there something like insurance or fraud involved?”

As the director continued speaking, her gaze began to tremble slightly.

“Is it possible… that your in-laws’ health has suddenly deteriorated?”

‘I can’t believe Seoryeong’s reputation has come to this.’

“It’s not what you think.”

“Anyway, I don’t know what you’re curious about that brought you all the way here, but that child had her flaws, yet she wasn’t a bad kid She was always alone until she left. She must’ve really loved her husband to get married”

“….”

“Is Seoryeong doing well?”

It was hard to breathe from the shame he felt. The director’s eyes began to shake rapidly as she read the dark expression on his face.

Please… She clasped her hands tightly together, as if bursting forth the anxiety she had been holding back.

“Please say it’s not an assault case.”

“…!”

“It would be better to have a clean divorce. If you’ve come here and dig up on that child’s history…”

A sudden laugh almost escaped him. The moment her previously tense face relaxed, he felt an overwhelming longing for her.

Holding Seoryeong in his arms, he wanted to bite her nose and ask how much she had pretended around him, while also feeling a sense of pride that he was probably the only one who loved her personality.

‘You need me, and I need you.’ He wanted to say it over and over again while kissing her.

The longing was so deep it felt like his insides were being torn apart.

‘I need you. I need you, the one who fit perfectly in my embrace.’

“No, I’m not even dreaming of a divorce. I can’t give up my wife.”

“Ah…!”

“Then, may I see a picture of Seoryeong?”

As he requested with a faint smile, the director brought over a stack of albums piled up to her chin.

Bright, shiny eyes, a prominent nose, an expressionless face. Did you hide such a face even behind that heavy mask? Innocent, fierce, and yet lovable.

Eventually, Seoryeong, who had been taking pictures a bit away from her peers, grew up little by little. She wore a school uniform and graduated.

Only then did the face of Han Seoryeong, which he knew well, come into view.

As he struggled to take his eyes off the photos, the director spoke while pouring a refreshing cup of green tea.

“She stopped doing gymnastics, and when she was preparing for employment, she suddenly said she wanted to wear a white coat. Since she had been far from studying her whole life, being a doctor was out of the question, so I told her to at least try for a nursing assistant exam. But she failed. So she studied something else and ended up working in a nursing home.”

As she set the cup down, the ice clinked.

“I later asked her why she suddenly wanted a white coat.”

Hearing this for the first time, Lee Wooshin also looked up.

“She said it wasn’t a white coat, but a stethoscope. She couldn’t explain it well, but she just said she liked the stethoscope. Anyway, I thought it was a career that didn’t suit her at all.”

Ah!

The sound bubbled up from deep within his throat.