Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 450: A Mess.

“Ouch!” Dan-Han winced when he received a hard smack from Eun-sun after the call with his father ended.

“What was that for?” He demanded with a glare.

“That’s for being stupid, Dan-Han.” She clunked at him, agreeing with his father calling him stupid. Funny how they finally had a middle ground on something, which was approving Dan-Han’s stupidity.

“You know he hates me. Why are you making matters worse?”

Dan-Han raised a brow at her, “Making matters worse?” He asked back as if oblivious to what she was saying.

“Yes,” Eun-sun firmly replied, hitting him on his arm again.

Dan-Han was only infuriating the man and giving him more grounds to hate her and not want her for him. Though she’d like to feign ignorance of the man’s attitude towards her, she couldn’t do that forever because she knew being with Dan-Han had to come with his approval.

.....

They both needed his blessings if they were ever to stay together, happy and with no worries.

Dan-Han shrugged as he rubbed his arm. “So he’ll hate you more.” He pointedly told her, but he chuckled when her hard glare turned murderous, and she rolled away from him. His hands reached for her and pulled her close before she could get away.

“I was just kidding.” He said and pelted her cheeks with soothing kisses to placate her. His arms tightened around her as she struggled to get away from him.

“You shouldn’t joke with something like that.” She seriously told him. “If your father doesn’t approve of me, then how will you-”

“He’ll definitely approve of you.” He said, cutting her off while Eun-sun raised a brow at him.

“Because of who my real parents are?” That was the main reason he’d do that, and she was certain that was what Dan-Han referred to. Because other than the close relationship her real parents surprisingly shared with him, they were people of real standing, something Dan-Han’s father had always told her she lacked. For some reason, this made Eun-sun feel weird in her stomach.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Dan-Han’s father to stop with his stubbornness and dislike for her, but she didn’t want him to accept her because of a background she hadn’t had all her life but had only recently discovered.

She wanted him to accept her for who she was – for her personality, morals, values, achievements and especially for the fact that she loved Dan-Han irrevocably. Those things should be more important than who her parents were and who they were not.

Dan-Han shook his head and replied to her question. “No, because I’ll threaten to resign and disown him.”

“Disown him?” Eun-sun chuckled. Why did that sound funny?

“You are joking, right?” She asked amusedly. She was sure he was.

“I’m not.” He firmly declared, his face turning somber to sell his words to her, and Eun-sun turned to observe him.

Her gaze narrowed at her. “Are you being serious?” She asked with incredulity.

She didn’t think he was. And she definitely knew he wasn’t when his eyes crinkled at the side, and a smile lit his face.

“Of course, I won’t. I definitely won’t do that.” He declared, and Eun-sun rolled her eyes at him.

“Of course, you won’t. You don’t want to be poor like a prodigal child.” She irritably hissed.

Dan-Han bellowed in laughter, wondering why she was suddenly hating him when she seemed worried minutes ago.

He smiled and kissed her temple. “No, I won’t be poor because you have money to take care of me. And secondly, I can just meet your parents to write me a check so I can break up with you. Isn’t that what rich parents do when their kids date poor people?”

“Like your father gave me a check?” Eun-sun stink-eyed him and hissed irritably.

Dan-Han rupt out in laughter again. “My father is very stingy. He’d rather kill you, buy a cheap coffin, and bury you somewhere.” He amusedly replied.

Eun-sun narrowed her eyes at him. He was enjoying this, wasn’t he?

“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?” She irritably asked, and Dan-Han pecked her lips, stealthily evading her question.

He tightened his arms around her and pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m not worried about money or anything because I can easily build up my company if I want to. But I can’t make such a decision because I can’t leave my responsibilities behind. I’m not such a person.” He told her, and he believed she knew that already.

“But believe me when I say he’ll approve of you soon enough. One visit from your mother will set him in the right place. Two people my father and yours are most scared of are the women they married. And it seems I’m about to make the same mistake. One I’ll happily do ten times over.” He hurriedly added his last words when she tried raising her head to stare at him.

“You know, thinking about it now, I think I finally understand why you are scary.” He hissed

“Hey! I’m not scary.” Eun-Sun refuted, her hands agreeing with her words as she smacked his arms again. Dan-Han didn’t know if he was to cry or laugh, but he chose the latter.

“Of course, you’re not, love. You’re my cute baby, angel.” He said amid laughter, but that only made Eun-sun frown harder at him because she knew he was teasing her.

She softly sighed as she thought about his last words. “Can you tell me about them?” She softly asked, and Dan-Han knew who she was talking about.

He pulled her closer and rested his chin on her head, taking in the lovely scent of her hair. She had made his interest in lavender heighten during their time together. He reeled in his distracting thoughts and focused on answering her question.

“Your mom – aunt Sena, you can say she’s one of the most amazing women on earth...” He started.

Eun-sun patiently listened as he told her about the most incredible couple he had ever met aside from his parents, how they had so much love and warmth to give and how they’d grieved the supposed loss of their child.

Eun-sun found her emotions spiral as she listened to him. Hearing him say such amazing things about them, she felt a bittersweet feeling in her heart.

She had parents who had her but wanted nothing to do with her, while she had another, despite not having her in their life and thinking she was dead, loved her. There was something unstable with life, she thought. It was weird and confusing.

“So what’s going to happen now?” She asked after listening to him.

“About what?” Dan-Han asked back, not entirely sure what her question was about.

“Everything,” Eun-sun replied. “About this evil uncle and his schemes. If he’s going to hurt them, as you said, then I don’t mind them not recognizing me. I’ll be happy knowing they’re alive and well and that they didn’t give me away because they didn’t want me.”

Dan-Han’s brows pulled together at her words. He slightly pulled away and looked at her face. “Then what about them?” He thickly asked.

Hearing the hardness in his voice, Eun-sun promptly sat up.

“What do you mean?” She wondered why he sounded angry over what she had just said.

“Do you think they’ll be okay with just knowing you’re alive after so many years and not having you in their lives? You expect them to just be okay with what you just said?” He sternly asked

“I...” Eun-sun stuttered, still wondering why he sounded upset and made her sound like a villain.

Dan-Han intently stared at her. “I know where you are coming from, but if this was our child and something like this happened, would you agree with what you just said?” He asked. “Would you want to lose out on another opportunity of being with your child?”

“...”

“Exactly what I thought.” Dan-Han hissed with mild annoyance. “Knowing you, you’d turn the world upside down to keep your second chance with your child, so why are you asking something different from those who had been distraught at the thought of losing you? Not that I want to upset you, but I find your words selfish.” He outrightly told her, and Eun-sun silently stared at him as his words looped in her head.

She agreed he was right, but she hadn’t meant to sound selfish with her words or anything. She believed he understood her worries. She just didn’t want to lose any other person from her life and especially not on her account.

Was it so bad not to want them dead? She might not have them the way she’d want to, but she’d love to go to bed each night with the safe knowledge that there were people who loved her, and they were all fine and alive.

She bit her lips as she kept staring at him, unsure of what else to say to him.

Dan-Han sighed when he saw the change in her disposition. He sat up and beckoned her to come closer. “Come here,” He said, and Eun-sun inched closer even if she didn’t want to at that moment.

He made her sit on his thigh and held her chin up. “Look, It’s not that I don’t understand your worries and fears, but this has far exceeded leaving that man be. If Mi-Cha is truly his plan of taking what belongs to your father, he won’t let you be because he’ll see you as a threat to his plans. Even if we attempt to do things the way you want, he knows your father will not leave you empty-handed. He’d split his wealth between you, and that’s something he wouldn’t want.”

Eun-sun’s brows thoughtfully pulled together. “But how will he get the properties from her even if she’s to receive everything? Or is she aware of his plans?” Eun-Sun curiously inquired. That was something she had been thinking about.

She couldn’t think of any other way for the man to take anything from Mi-Cha, except he had intentions of killing her.

“I don’t know.” He honestly replied. He had also thought about it, but he also didn’t know. The whole thing was a mess in and out.