A Taste to Spit Out - Chapter 26
…It was true that my father’s will included a provision to bequeath all his assets to the child I had given birth to.
Why?
What on earth happened?
I was the ugly duckling of this house. There were four children born to the legal wife, so why was it that the child I had given birth to was to inherit everything? That kind of nonsense was bewildering. More than anything, it was bizarre that the condition attached was not even my child but one whose existence was uncertain.
-I have certainly submitted the will to the court, and the corporate claims have been received. Of course, the opposition from the other children was fierce, but you don’t need to worry about that at all…
How had he managed to fend them off when they weren’t the kind of people to back down easily? Or did you win a battle against them? Was that how you ended up possessing me?
I lost the strength to respond to the stream of words and abruptly hung up the phone.
It wasn’t just my father’s inheritance.
This house, all the cars in this house, and all the employees in this house—everything was under your control.
Because you had planted your seed inside me.
So, I can’t meet anyone, and this is why I’m trapped in this house. Everything I use is branded with your name, Kang Yeol-jin. I even planned to go abroad secretly without telling you.
It feels as if my name will vanish from the world. One day, like smoke, I will fly away, and without a trace, I will disappear underground.
Yes, now I understand.
I understand why you went to such lengths to keep me alive. Why did you act like someone who would protect me, even when a sharp knife was aimed at my throat.
You needed the child inside me.
So, you saved me, embraced me again and again…
In the end, you lied that you loved me to keep me by your side. Once the baby is born in six months, you would have mercilessly discarded me.
No, maybe it wasn’t just to abandon me like a stray dog.
Perhaps you were pushing me toward death, just like Sun-woo. I would no longer be needed or useful. Maybe my father too… My father, who had never caught a cold and was in perfect health, might have died at the hands of Kang Yeol-jin.
I didn’t have any sentimental feelings toward my father. In fact, I wished for his death. Yet, his passing struck me with shock.
He was more than capable of orchestrating such a plan. Doubts spiraled endlessly, growing larger and larger.
The video I had just seen replayed chaotically in front of my eyes. Perhaps I had tried to end my life before you could kill me. I had intended to jump in front of your car and die.
Now, what should I do?
I gripped my trembling left wrist. The aching in my left wrist seemed to signal my current situation. It was the hand that held the brush. Now, I had become so weak that I couldn’t even properly use chopsticks.
With no will to live left in me, the only thing that sustained me was the memory of Sun-woo, who had always made me feel at ease. It was solely thanks to the memories he had left behind.
‘It’s the child we conceived out of love.’
But I couldn’t allow myself to be used by that man and then discarded. After taking several deep breaths to calm my rapid breathing, I realized that what I held in my grasp was the hilt of a knife.
I stared at the bowl of rice in front of me. The glistening grains of rice caught my eye. I mulled over why I had returned to this world, why I was sitting here filling my stomach.
I couldn’t paint again, nor could I bring Sun-woo back to life.
So, the only thing I could do now was…
Lost in thought, I wandered through the swamp of my musings. Then, as if reaching an unspoken resolution, I clenched my fist tightly. My nails dug into the tender palm of my hand.
How much time passed like that?
“The CEO has arrived.”
I heard Kang Yeol-jin’s presence from outside. I could hear someone asking about Hee-jae. The sound of footsteps approached, searching for me.
Kang Yeol-jin emerged from beyond the wall. I cautiously turned my head. I locked eyes with him. The light from the faint chandelier above seemed blinding.
And I…
I lifted the corners of my mouth and smiled gently.
