Emergency Instinct - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Mother? Ji-an is here.”

She greeted warmly. But Mother had no response today either.

“I missed you so, so much. Mother.”

Ji-an pressed her lips to Mother’s pale white cheek while murmuring the response she wanted to hear by herself.

“Yes. Mother missed me too? You waited because I didn’t come yesterday. I’m sorry. I had quite a few things going on.”

Thinking of Mother who must have been bored, Ji-an deliberately chattered more. Then she made a warm wet towel and sat beside Mother, carefully wiping her dry hands.

“I saw the therapist’s message saying our Mother did physical therapy for two whole hours today? It was tiring but refreshing, right?”

Ah, why are our Mother’s hands so thin like this?

She suddenly felt choked up.

Today especially, Mother’s gaunt hands were particularly bothersome to her eyes.

It was upsetting that the hands that were more beautiful than anyone’s had become rough, and before she knew it, they had dried up to nothing but skin and bone.

As she straightened the bent hands while wiping them, this time the hard calluses painfully embedded in the palms caught her attention.

She wiped the palms with more force. But the calluses that had stuck to Mother’s hard life after losing her husband in an accident didn’t disappear easily.

It was truly persistent.

They were so deep and hard that, like misfortune, no matter how much she wiped them, they wouldn’t come off at all.

Still, Ji-an didn’t give up.

She persistently wiped the hands and found hand cream to apply thoroughly.

She held Mother’s hands tightly, which had become much softer. Though they were nothing but bone and skin, the warmth still made Ji-an’s heart feel tender.

As Ji-an’s tension eased, a man suddenly flashed through her mind.

Without realizing it, she whispered softly.

“Mother. Actually, I caused trouble.”

I slept with a man I met for the first time. That man, well, he’s the hospital chairman.

She wanted to complain that a man she’d never have occasion to meet in life had gotten entangled with her, kept coming to find her and saying strange things, and she didn’t know what to do.

But Ji-an couldn’t bring herself to say more out loud and swallowed it back.

Could it be because of the bag she still hadn’t resolved? Why does Tae-jun keep coming to mind…?

Unconsciously, she took out her phone and looked at the message he had sent.

To find the bag, she’d have to contact him, right?

No, there’s no rush. Grandmother hasn’t contacted her yet either.

Surely he wouldn’t really throw it away? Will he come again tomorrow morning…?

Tomorrow was her day off as her work schedule changed.

Ji-an, who had planned to spend the night at the hospital and absolutely not go anywhere near the dormitory, wavered.

Should she just contact him first?

No. No way.

It was when Ji-an, who had been looking at his name on her phone, shook her head.

As if he had already seen through her confusion, Tae-jun’s name appeared and vibration sounds rang in the quiet hospital room.

Ji-an was startled and reflexively pressed the call button, then immediately came out to the hallway.

Having answered in confusion, Ji-an’s mouth stiffened and no voice came out.

What should she do…?

Her fingertips grew cold, and her heart conversely beat faster from the awkwardness.

As she bit her lower lip tightly, his voice was heard.

-Seeing how you answered right away, it seems you were waiting for my call.

“…No.”

Ji-an, whose mouth opened before her head could think, bit her lips again.

Ah, why am I like this?

She wasn’t being cool-headed, and it seemed like whenever she heard this man’s voice, she kept acting emotionally. She exhaled hot breath and tried to calm herself down.

-Have you eaten dinner?

After a brief silence, another trivial question flowed out.

Absurdly, the fact that she hadn’t eaten came to mind, and Ji-an felt queasy for no reason. One side of her solar plexus felt emptily sunken.

-You haven’t eaten.

As she chewed her lips, Mother’s nagging that she used to hear until her ears were calloused came to mind.

‘My daughter, what about food? You get sad when you’re hungry. No matter how busy you are, you must eat.’

Right, it’s because I’m hungry. Because I didn’t eat.

Ji-an opened her mouth coldly, putting in pointless irritation.

“Chairman. Please stop doing this to me.”

“Seeing how you’re in a bad mood, you really didn’t eat.”

A resonant voice was heard clearly.

Ji-an felt a chilling coldness and turned around.

As always, Tae-jun was standing there looking at her.

“Ch-Chairman. Did you put someone on me?”

A natural suspicion popped out.

Why does he keep appearing in front of her eyes out of nowhere?

Moreover, the nursing home at this hour was absolutely not a place one could visit by chance.

“You left work at the hospital and weren’t home, so I thought you’d be here.”

He has no intention of hiding it at all.

He said so casually that he had investigated someone’s background.

“You don’t need to look at me like that. Articles and reports about Teacher Hong Ji-an came up, and I naturally found out.”

She knew it. He was someone in that kind of position, and just by simply looking through hospital records, her circumstances would have been easy to find out.

It wasn’t something to be ashamed of either.

Mother was sick, and their economic situation was just a bit difficult.

So what? Since she was doing her best, Ji-an was confident about herself.

But even though she knew it in her head, her stomach churned as if her weakness had been discovered.

She had never wanted sympathy or pity from anyone.

Especially not from this man.

Ji-an straightened her back.

There’s nothing to be intimidated about. Let me focus on my purpose first.

Ji-an opened her mouth, recalling the reality that she needed to find her bag.

“Let’s go to a quiet place. There are too many watching eyes here.”

Ji-an spoke calmly while looking around the hallway in case someone might hear. But then.

“Are we doing something bad? Why do you look around at others every time I see you?”

“I don’t know about you, Chairman, but I’m uncomfortable.”

Ji-an spoke firmly and grabbed his arm to pull him along.

Fortunately, he didn’t resist further and was easily pulled along.

Tae-jun was a man who stood out anywhere.

Moreover, wasn’t this the nursing home where Mother was hospitalized? It was incomparably more problematic than simply talking at the hospital.

She was already sufficiently tired from countless attention. She didn’t want to create more unnecessary gossip.

Ji-an looked around and headed toward the emergency exit.

When she opened the door and went in, sensor lights turned on and the dim staircase brightened. Fortunately, no one seemed to be there.

She awkwardly let go of his arm that she had been holding without realizing it.

“Please return my bag.”

Without looking into his eyes, she quickly blurted out the words that were in her head first.

“Have dinner with me. Then I’ll give it to you.”

“No…”

It was the moment when the word “no” was about to burst out next.

Suddenly his large hand touched her cheek.

Flustered by the warmth penetrating her skin, Ji-an’s breath stopped for a moment. But she soon came to her senses and opened her trembling lips.

“Chairman. Wh-what are you doing now…?”

“Teacher Hong Ji-an also grabbed my hand as she pleased.”

Tae-jun murmured lowly. Then he passed her cheek and gently held her chin.

He should have endured it, but his heart moved first.

The radiant appearance he had seen when she confidently stepped forward to save the child was nowhere to be found.

Her face was unusually pale, and her eyes held too much sadness. Her already small face looked even smaller.

When he had rushed here without thinking, it seemed like he had so much to say.

But now that he actually saw her, the right words wouldn’t come to mind. Only the thought that he needed to hold this small woman tight.

Rather than words of comfort he had never tried before, his heated body moved first.

“Let me hold you for just one minute.”

He didn’t have the patience to wait for an answer. No, perhaps he didn’t want to hear words of rejection again.

Unable to restrain himself, Tae-jun pulled her retreating form into his arms and held her tight.

Thump, his heart dropped to his toes and began to boil.

Thump thump thump.

His heartbeat vibrated hotly.

She too looked up at him with surprised eyes.

The worries that had filled his mind melted away, surging up as heat.

He was barely holding onto the thread of reason when.

Click.

The Emergency Exit sensor light went out.

At the same time, his remaining reason flew away too.

As quiet darkness settled, flames of secret desire instantly spread through his chest.

Even in the darkness, her red lips were clearly visible.

His breathing became rough, and his jet-black eyes heated up.

Just as he was about to be drawn to her lips as if hypnotized.

Bang! Crash!

Like thunder, the sound of the Emergency Exit door on the upper floor opening and closing echoed.

Flash!

Soft light poured down from above.

Shh!

Instinctively startled, he held Ji-an close and pressed his body against the corner wall. Her soft cheek pressed tightly against his chest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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