A child who looks like me

“You’re completely being deceived by Lee Jeong-oh!”

Ji-heon coldly stared at Young-mi, who was shouting in anger.

“How did you know that Jeong-oh and I were meeting?”

A chill ran through his questioning voice.

Young-mi closed her mouth and furrowed her eyebrows.

Ji-heon continued his interrogation.

“Are you investigating me?”

“I heard it from Eun-bi. Yes, from Eun-bi.”

“Eun-bi? What did she say?”

“……”

“Are you saying that Chae Eun-bi did some background check on me?”

“What’s important isn’t that!”

“No, that’s important to me.”

“……What?”

“Who told you that Ye-na is my biological daughter?”

“I found out myself. I figured it out on my own!”

Young-mi wanted to skip over the topic of Chae Eun-bi and point out the ugly behavior of Lee Jeong-oh, but her son was fixated on the core issue. It was frustrating and infuriating.

She pulled out a document labeled “Genetic Test Results” from her bag and showed it to Ji-heon.

“Here! Do you not believe it even after seeing this?”

At the bottom of the front page of the several sheets of results, the phrase “Biological Probability (%): N” was prominently displayed in bold.

Ji-heon received the results, calmly scanned them, and then coldly scoffed.

So, you approached Ye-na, and you didn’t say a word to me.

He could no longer trust his mother at all.

“How did you obtain the samples? How did you approach Ye-na?”

As Ji-heon pressed her, Young-mi’s pupils shook violently. At this point, her son should have been in shock and crumbling, reflecting on and regretting the past, but he showed no signs of wavering, which startled her.

Now, Ji-heon looked at Young-mi with sharper eyes, focused more on the truth than their mother-son relationship. If she had any involvement in harming Ye-na, no matter how much she was his mother, he would have no choice but to report her.

“Were you trying to kidnap Ye-na?”

“W-what…!”

“Did you have a part in Ye-na’s kidnapping case?”

“Kidnap? What kind of nonsense is that!”

Young-mi, feeling wronged in her own way, shouted back.

“How did you find out about Ye-na and Jeong-oh? When did you start knowing?”

Ji-heon persistently pressed her. Unlike the panicking Young-mi, Ji-heon maintained a calm and rational demeanor throughout, which was terrifying.

Under the relentless attack of her son’s questions, Young-mi finally confessed honestly.

“It hasn’t been long! Just two days! I found out because Eun-bi came and was complaining about Lee Jeong-oh!”

“As soon as Chae Eun-bi mentioned the name Lee Jeong-oh, you decided to have a paternity test for Ye-na.”

Ji-heon scoffed coldly.

The outline was slowly coming together.

“You knew that I met Jeong-oh seven years ago.”

In the end, Young-mi had spilled everything.

Since Ji-heon had only confirmed what he had suspected, there was nothing particularly surprising for him. The disappointment he felt towards his mother could never be undone.

Ji-heon looked at the results again.

“The paternity test was done yesterday, and you received the results yesterday as well. Did you personally deliver the samples to the lab?”

“…….”

“You must have had Driver Choi do it for you, right? Can you trust him?”

Young-mi felt a chill at Ji-heon’s sharpness, as if he had placed her in the palm of his hand.

Driver Choi had parked his car in Ji-heon’s underground parking lot and was waiting for Young-mi.

Last night, Young-mi had suddenly called to say she would visit her son’s house at 6 a.m. Though he was displeased, sensing something was off, he agreed without complaint.

Barely shaking off the drowsiness, he woke up, picked up Young-mi, and drove to Ji-heon’s house, hoping she would come out much later.

He wanted to rest a bit longer. But she came out earlier than expected. Moreover, her son, Jeong Ji-heon, was with her.

“Good morning, driver.”

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“Driver, I’m sorry, but I need to check the black box memory card.”

After a light greeting, Ji-heon entered the car and swiftly removed the memory card from the black box. It was a quick movement without any unnecessary actions. Driver Choi stood there, bewildered.

Ji-heon connected the memory card to the tablet PC he had brought. Then he started playing the video stored on the memory card.

The video recorded the moment yesterday at around 4 p.m. when Driver Choi received an envelope of documents from Young-mi and was heading to the lab. It was also when he met Lawyer Chae Eun-yeob.

After watching the video, Ji-heon sighed coldly, and Young-mi looked bewildered.

“Oh, no, why is Eun-yeob… why…?”

Before Driver Choi could explain what had happened, Ji-heon asked first.

“Driver, did you meet Lawyer Chae Eun-yeob yesterday?”

“Ah, yes… The lawyer said he would give me an electric car someday, and I received it yesterday.”

“How many times did that person call you yesterday?”

“About four or five times, I think…”

Ji-heon’s eyes narrowed. Young-mi’s mouth fell open. It was the first time she had seen the dignified Young-mi with such a shocked expression.

Realizing that something was wrong, Driver Choi quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you should stop contacting Lawyer Chae Eun-yeob altogether. Block him completely.”

Driver Choi immediately complied with Ji-heon’s instructions. After confirming that Driver Choi had blocked Eun-yeob’s number, Ji-heon turned to Young-mi.

“How much have you talked about me with Chae Eun-yeob?”

But Young-mi could only shake her head in denial.

“No way. That can’t be true. Look, is this the right time to be swapping something?”

Even after rewinding the video several times, she couldn’t bring herself to believe the truth. The black box didn’t have a device that showed the interior. While it looked like Eun-yeob opened the car door and got inside, it wasn’t clear exactly what he had done.

Young-mi raised her voice again.

“I believe the test results! You’re being deceived! You need to wake up!”

“There’s no need to get worked up, Mother. We can just do the test again.”

People tend to deny reality after experiencing something shocking. Ji-heon knew very well that his mother was currently in that process.

“I’m 100% sure I’m right, but even if I’m not, my feelings won’t change.”

Though he was contemptuous towards his mother, Ji-heon spoke politely until the end.

“Stop it now.”

“…….”

“Because of you, that child has lived without a father for six years. How do you plan to face her later?”

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Early morning.

Hearing sounds from the kitchen, Guk-soon jumped out of bed and went outside.

Seeing Jeong-oh standing in the kitchen, Guk-soon smiled brightly.

After living for a while, she had seen her daughter do the housework.

“What are you doing here? Are you planning to ruin your mother’s housework?”

“No, it’s just that Mom made a lot of food yesterday, so I can just heat it up.”

“Forget it. Just get ready to go to work.”

Guk-soon snatched the frying pan from Jeong-oh’s hands. Jeong-oh, in turn, rubbed her mother’s arm and flirted.

“Mom, you must have had a tough day yesterday.”

“…….”

“Ji-heon said he’s sorry for making you work so hard.”

“What now? Forget it.”

“…….”

“Ye-na’s dad probably worked harder. Besides, I even got told to leave by my daughter.”

“Right… it’s tough, it really is.”

Jeong-oh sighed deeply.

Guk-soon couldn’t help but laugh at the memory of Ji-heon’s flustered expression.

Why is it that both her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend are so cute and acting up?

“Sigh… it makes me feel bad thinking about it, Jeong Ji-heon.”

“That’s just a part of the process. Did you think you could become a dad without going through some trials?”

“…….”

“You need to tread some rough ground and experience some spicy flavors to truly become a dad.”

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“Sigh….”

“There’s nothing to be disheartened about. Soon enough, the two of you will be off having fun without you.”

“Surely not.”

“Just you wait and see.”

With Guk-soon’s confident proclamation, Jeong-oh merely shrugged her shoulders.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

On the way to Ye-na’s kindergarten.

As usual, Ji-heon was waiting in front of the house.

“Did you sleep well, Ye-na?”

Hmph.

Ye-na naturally wrinkled her nose and tightly held Jeong-oh’s hand, walking ahead.

Should she be glad that she didn’t cry and scream like last night? Jeong-oh could completely understand both Ye-na’s feelings and Ji-heon’s, and it made her feel as if fate was being cruel.

Ji-heon followed the two, but he couldn’t find the right words to say. The biggest master of this future family was the 7-year-old little girl, Lee Ye-na.

Worried that Ye-na might burst into tears at any moment or that she might not even be able to get on the kindergarten bus that morning, Ji-heon nervously watched.

After Ye-na left, just like yesterday, Ji-heon waved until the kindergarten bus was out of sight and then informed Jeong-oh about the events of that morning.

“I think Ye-na met my mother yesterday.”

“Your mother?”

“On the way to Ye-na’s academy. I think my mother took some of Ye-na’s hair.”

“Oh!”

Jeong-oh clapped her hands.

“Right, right! Ye-na mentioned that some lady’s bracelet got caught in her hair and messed it up.”

Ji-heon didn’t mention that the lady had given Ye-na fifty thousand won, worried that it might upset her.

It’s so unfortunate. To ruin the first meeting with his granddaughter like that.

After being lost in thought for a moment, Jeong-oh asked.

“So, did you have a paternity test done with Ye-na’s hair?”

“I did, but it came back with no possibility of her being my biological child.”

Worried that Jeong-oh might be upset, Ji-heon spoke softly. However, contrary to his expectations, Jeong-oh burst into laughter.

“Pfft. What kind of test did they conduct? Did they use Do-bin’s hair instead of Ye-na’s?”

Just because you cover the sky with your palm doesn’t mean it will be hidden. You can always do the test again.

“What do you think?”

“What about?”

“Ye-na might not be your biological child, you know. Don’t you doubt it?”

“Chae Eun-yeob must have manipulated everything. The driver met my mother and handed her the materials before heading to the lab, and he met Chae Eun-yeob along the way.”

“No.”

“…….”

“Just be honest. It’s possible that Ye-na isn’t really your biological daughter. Don’t you have any doubts?”

Ji-heon had never doubted from the beginning, but Jeong-oh blinked her eyes and asked again, her expression clearly testing her own feelings. He was no fool to fall for that, but he had never entertained any doubts.

He would never leave her alone again. He wouldn’t let her feel anxious.

If someone were to stir up trouble, he wouldn’t stand for it.

“I don’t doubt it.”

“…….”

“Stay by my side.”

“…….”

“Just stay by my side.”

Ji-heon gave a brief response, expressing his honest feelings as he wrapped his arm around Jeong-oh’s shoulder and pulled her closer.

Jeong-oh recalled what Ye-na had said to her in her sleep last night.

“So please don’t leave me, Mom.”

How could it be that they resembled each other so much, father and daughter?