To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 71
‘No… not this…’
Hee-jo instinctively curled into herself, cradling her lower abdomen.
She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the cold shock of impact against the floor.
But contrary to her expectations, a familiar scent reached her first, and then instead of the hard ground, strong, searing warmth enveloped her completely.
“….”
When I slowly opened my eyes, Kwon Yeol was gazing down at me, his face drained of all color.
“…Hee-jo.”
His voice trembled faintly as he spoke my name.
“Are you alright?”
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
I thought it was my own heartbeat.
But it wasn’t.
The wild, violent pounding that seemed ready to burst through skin belonged to Kwon Yeol.
His eyes gazing down at me, his lips calling my name, and the hands holding me so tightly—all of it trembled uncontrollably.
The moment I realized this, the rigid tension drained from my body all at once.
“Ha… ah…”
Only then did I exhale the breath I’d been holding in ragged gasps.
But as if mocking my still-racing heart, a sharp, stabbing pain suddenly shot through my lower abdomen.
“Ugh…”
As my body trembled with pain, clutching at my belly, Kwon Yeol urgently scooped me up and rushed toward home.
“Oh my, what… what is this? Hee-jo!”
Han Young-sook, who had been in the courtyard, saw me writhing in Kwon Yeol’s arms and dropped the basin she was holding, rushing over in panic.
“What on earth has happened?”
“Hee-jo nearly fell, so I caught her, but then she suddenly collapsed, holding her abdomen.”
At his words, Han Young-sook’s face went deathly pale, and she began to pace anxiously.
“Oh, quickly to the Health Center…! But the doctor went to the mainland today, so there’s no one there…!”
Before Han Young-sook could finish speaking, Kwon Yeol was already running toward the harbor with me in his arms.
Some workers who had just finished their shift at the wharf spotted him and rushed over urgently.
“Executive Kwon!”
“Get Captain Park right away. We need to go to the Hospital.”
“Yes, understood!”
Even then, I continued to whimper, my hands clutching my belly.
Cold sweat beaded across my pale forehead.
“No… please…”
“Hee-jo, stay with me. Come on? Yoon Hee-jo!”
“Huh, hurry… please, protect… please…”
My words trailed off weakly and then ceased.
Soon after, I lost consciousness in Kwon Yeol’s embrace.
A single transparent tear rolled silently down my pale cheek.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, a white ceiling came into view.
Blinking slowly and turning my head, my gaze met a pair of dark, fathomless eyes.
“…Hee-jo.”
A voice, locked away until now, called out her name with desperate longing.
Hee-jo’s trembling lips parted as she heard those words.
“…Why are you still here.”
In that instant, Kwon Yeol’s eyes widened before his jaw clenched shut.
Though his face remained expressionless, Hee-jo could see it.
He was deeply wounded.
…This is strange. It shouldn’t be this way.
Beom Kwon Yeol couldn’t possibly be hurt. And certainly not because of her.
“How are you feeling? Let me call the doctor—”
“Kwon Yeol.”
It was Hee-jo’s thin voice that stopped him from summoning the Hotel Doctor.
A week was enough time for him to express his apologies.
So now, she hoped he would settle his guilt and return to his own life.
“Let’s end this now. Between us.”
“….”
“I heard everything. The conversation between you and Chairman Beom. How he said that if you truly cared for me, you should know how to let go. And how you answered that you understood.”
Kwon Yeol’s eyes trembled visibly.
“You don’t have to dress up your guilt and sense of responsibility as love. You don’t have to stay by my side while deceiving yourself like that—”
“I love you.”
At those words, Hee-jo’s voice cut off abruptly.
Kwon Yeol looked momentarily flustered, as if the confession had escaped him unbidden, then opened his mouth again with a shallow sigh.
“What I said that day wasn’t about following Grandfather’s wishes. I only held back because I feared that if I resisted then, it would make things harder for you… I needed time to welcome you safely and completely.”
Silence settled over the Hospital Room.
After wiping his face with a dry hand, Kwon Yeol met her gaze directly and continued.
“The moment I recognized my feelings, I couldn’t bear them. How I’d treated you all this time, how I should treat you going forward. Everything was chaos.”
It would have been better if I had acknowledged this sooner and confessed my heart honestly.
“I planned to succeed with the Project first, and then formally propose to you. To ask you to stay by my side. To tell you that you’re the only wife I could ever want.”
Hee-jo’s pupils trembled violently.
“I told you I love you.”
That confession which had kept me confused all this time… was it truly sincere?
She deliberately avoided his gaze and murmured.
“…I can’t believe it.”
That Kwon Yeol felt the same way as me.
Even if it was victim mentality, there was nothing I could do about it.
That extraordinary man loved her. It was only recently that her vain hopes had shattered so devastatingly.
If she experienced such pain once more, she felt she truly wouldn’t be able to rise again.
“I’m not right for you. While others spread their wings with help from their wives’ families and soar, you’ll be shackled to me, stuck in place. People will whisper about my background, and each time, you’ll be dragged down with me.”
“I don’t care.”
Kwon Yeol reached out carefully and covered Hee-jo’s hand with his own.
When she didn’t pull away, he grasped her hand firmly, his touch gentle yet resolute.
“The gazes and whispers of others mean nothing to me. The only thing that matters is you, Yoon Hee-jo.”
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“If you won’t go back, then neither will I.”
At those words, Hee-jo’s eyes widened as she looked at him.
Kwon Yeol met her gaze with unwavering determination, making clear this was no impulsive declaration.
“What about the company then?”
“It’s not more important than you.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If you’re trying to manipulate me with words like that—”
“I’ve already submitted my resignation.”
Hee-jo stared at him in disbelief.
“Just now… what did you say? How could you… how could you do that?”
He had been born as the heir to Beom Ho Group, raised his entire life with heir training.
For him, continuing and sustaining the Group had been the very purpose of his existence—and now he was casting it all away.
“You are my everything.”
Because of you.
“I want to protect you with everything I have. Because I… love you.”
Kwon Yeol drew a deep breath, then desperately grasped her other hand as well.
“And… our child.”
At those words, Hee-jo’s pupils contracted sharply.
It felt as though her heart had plummeted.
What had he just said?
“Han Teacher told me. He said rather than have you hear it from a doctor instead of from the person involved, it would be better if you told me yourself.”
Han Teacher had…
“I’m sorry. For making you face this alone. For making you bear it all by yourself… I’m truly sorry.”
Hee-jo couldn’t speak.
Her chest tightened with overwhelming emotion.
“Forgive me, Hee-jo. Give me one chance. Let me become your family.”
Family.
At that warm word, tears began to well up in Hee-jo’s eyes.
Her heart wavered helplessly.
“Can you really handle it?”
Finally, thick tears spilled down Hee-jo’s cheeks.
“What kind of future do you think our child will have, with a mother who’s nothing special?”
“There are plenty of people who had parents but still grew up poorly. On the other hand, there are those who grew up with only their brother and yet became remarkable, becoming someone’s strength and everything.”
Kwon Yeol’s large hand gently wiped away the tears from her eyes.
“Even in the same circumstances, everyone grows differently. Background and conditions don’t matter. What truly matters is the person themselves.”
“Hm…”
“A child blessed with Yoon Hee-jo as a mother will be so happy.”
At those words, Hee-jo finally surrendered to the tears she had been holding back.
Kwon Yeol drew her into his embrace, cradling her warmth, and whispered softly.
“And the man who welcomes you as his wife is equally blessed.”
The warmth of the two of them, holding each other close, filled the Hospital Room.
Beyond the window, the Sea sparkled and shimmered beneath the brilliant sunlight.
As if blessing the path that lay before them.

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