Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 393: Secrets At Every Turn.

Her daughter?’

Hei-Ran wasn’t sure she had heard well. Confusion glowed in her eyes as she peered at Hei-Ran, her brain still struggling to register what she had heard.

“Your daughter? What do you mean?” Hei-Ran curiously inquired. She was dumbfounded. She gazed at Dan-Han who had a stoic look on his face as he equally stared at A-Yeong, if he was surprised she didn’t know. But how would he?

When she as a family member she didn’t know what child A-Yeong was talking about, so how could a stranger know?

“Su A-Yeong, you better start talking! What child?!” She roared, her voice almost tearing down the roof. Hei-Ran wasn’t sure if she had ever lost her temper like this, but tonight she was going off the chart, and A-Yeong’s silence was making her even more furious.

A-Yeong didn’t know how she had blurted that out, but she had done it before she could hold herself. She raised her gaze to Hei-Ran and then to Dan-Han as she struggled to control her tears, but they kept flowing.

She wasn’t sure how she was going to say the words they wanted to hear. She hadn’t said them to anyone before, but seeing the looks in their eyes she knew she had to.

.....

Falling to sit on the ground, she replied. “His child and mine.” her voice almost coming out in a nervous whisper.

.....

If there was anything Dan-Han had not expected it was Ji-Tae being a father. That was totally unexpected, and it was the second shocking news he had received in one day.

Ji-Tae wasn’t just a dad, he was a horrible parent. Dan-Han had thought the boy was only stupid and impulsive, that he liked meddling with things he shouldn’t be found meddling with because he desperately sought for attention – his attention most especially. For some odd reason, Ji-Tae had always seen him as the enemy he was destined to destroy, and whose defeat would bring him the respect that he thought he deserved.

But it seems Dan-Han was completely wrong about him. The boy wasn’t just stupid and impulsive, he was horribly cruel. Not just to himself, but to his own blood.

Dan-Han raked his hand through his hair for the third time as he made his way back home.

He was right when he said there were secrets lurking around him, secrets that would shatter the people around his life. And it seems at every turn there was a new discovery to be made, and he felt his head was about to explode thinking about everything he had to put in order.

All he needed at the moment was some peace, but he knew he was miles away from getting that.

Dan-Han suddenly wondered if he should continue with his plan of sending those containers to Ji-Tae.

There were many reasons why he had sent Ji-Tae away, completely taking advantage of the crisis in country B to do so, and one of them was to see what Ji-Tae would do when the containers arrived at the site of the project he was working on. His opportunity of ever being president was riding on the success of this project, which was now under the microscopic eyes of the board members, and his overall performance was going to determine if he’d ever have a seat at the table – not that he was going to let him anyway. But this was why he had called for the board meeting.

He was simply trying to back Ji-Tae in a corner, but the boy didn’t know it yet.

He was curious if he’d call in the substandard materials and bring the attention of the company to it, or if hed handle it all by himself -and by handling it, he meant financing the replacement of the materials. If the latter was his route of choice, that meant he had unlimited access to a source of money which really wanted to find out. It couldn’t just be the guns and drugs. He feared Ji-Tae might be involved in something he didn’t know.

There was too much money involved in this. But knowing Ji-Tae’s source of wealth wasn’t the only issue at hand, but protecting the people who had been involved in all this one way or the other. A lot of blackmail has been going on, and he was certain Ji-Tae wouldn’t mind harming the people, hence why he wanted to know his leverage over them.

It was his responsibility to not just look after every member of the Lee family, including the alleged new member of the clan, but also to clean after them.

It was his responsibility to keep the family in line, and that includes ensuring Ji-Tae didn’t have more blood on his hands than he already had.

Dan-Han sent a message to Tae-Ho, informing him to keep the man he had asked them to find, at the base. Fortunately, he hadn’t made contact before he was found.

He had his head resting against the window as he stared into space, completely oblivious to his arrival at his compound. He was lost in thought.

“Sir,” The chaffeur called, bringing him back to earth. “We’re here.” He told him and Dan-Han looked outside the window. He sighed when he realized he was indeed home.

His eyes travelled up to his bedroom window and he could saw her happily waving down at him.

Dan-Han felt every strain and tendril of worry fade off at the sight of her smiling and waving at him. It was true when they said home was a feeling and not a place.

She was his home.

The smile curving her face was what he always wanted to see, he told himself. A familiar face suddenly flashed through his mind and he froze.

As if he has been poked, Dan-Han jumped out his car and stride into the house in hurried steps. He trotted up the stairs and flung the door to his bedroom open.

“Honey, you’re home.” Eun-sun chirped with a vibrant smile and Dan-Han froze. For the first time he saw the uncanny resemblance. It was there in the way her eyes slightly crinkled, and her lips curved when she smiled. It was all there and he wondered why he had missed it all along.

Was it because he had met Song-Hee today?

How could he-

“Hey, are you okay?” Eun-sun asked, a slight frown framed her face when he fixed an awkward gaze on her. She slowly limped towards him, gently so she wouldn’t exert much weight on her injured leg. Dan-Han remained silent as she walked closer.

“You shouldn’t be moving too much.” He said.

“I know. You warned me and I promised, but I missed you and I couldn’t help but look when I heard you come in.” She replied, as her hand moved upward and cupped his cheek. His countenance was unusually solemn and he was looking at her in a strange way, like he has just noticed the color of her eyes for the first time or something.

“Is something wrong? Did something happen at the office?” Eun-sun asked with concern, while Dan-Han replied with a shake of his head.

He sighed as he cupped both side of her face. “I just realized I might have known the truth all this while, but I guess I wasn’t looking hard enough.”

“What truth?” Eun-sun narrowed her brows at him, but he leaned down and softly kissed her lips.

“One we’ve been dying to know.” He cryptically replied. Eun-sun brows deeply furrowed in confusion. She wasn’t sure she understood what he was hinting at.

He took a step closer till she was up against his chest, but he was careful not to hold her too tightly. He lowered his head and he gently took her lips in his. His tongue gently teasing and luring her in till she parted her lips for him. His kiss wasn’t searing, but it told her just how much he had missed in the last couple of hours, and Eun-sun didn’t fail to pour the depth of her emotions into it.

When he broke the kiss, Eun-sun felt like she had suddenly been deprived of something heavenly and sweet, and she instantly missed it, but she composed herself.

“Are you really okay?” She asked again, and he nodded assuringly.

“There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to.” He said making Eun-sun cock a brow at him.

“Who?”