Page 95 of Scarbound

Chung-Hee took a step after him.

Noeul flinched. “Please.”

Chung-Hee stopped.

Noeul pressed the elevator button. Neither spoke while they waited. The doors opened, and Noeul stepped inside.

Before they closed, he looked at Chung-Hee one last time.

Chung-Hee remained where he was. The apartment felt impossibly quiet. His gaze drifted toward the painting that had started the afternoon. Only hours earlier, Noeul had stood before it smiling, his face bright with excitement.

So why, whenever Noeul tried to leave, did affection become anger? Why did wanting him become needing to control him?

Chung-Hee slowly sat on the edge of the couch.

Noeul’s words repeated in his mind.

Then why does what you want always matter more than what I ask for?

He had no answer.

What if love wasn’t the only thing holding him to Noeul?

Was it love, or need?

CHAPTER 36

“Have you gotten over him, or do you still want him?” Ms. Lee asked, her voice edged with irritation as she picked up another piece of abalone sushi.

Chung-Hee quietly set his chopsticks down. “My feelings go far beyond mere sympathy, mother,” he replied, each word measured and deliberate.

“I will never allow you to be with him.” Her answer came without hesitation. “You can be with anyone else. Just not him.”

For the past several nights, she had barely slept. She had cried, remembered, prayed. Tried to convince herself that hating Noeul would be easier.

It wasn’t.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw two different boys. One was Gong. The other was the quiet child who had sat at her table, laughed with Haneul, thanked her for every meal, and bowed before leaving her home. She wanted to erase that boy from her memory. She couldn’t.

Life had been cruel to all three of them. She had buried her youngest son. Chung-Hee had fallen in love with the one person she could never accept. And Noeul had survived when everyone wished the past had unfolded differently.

“My relationship with Noeul is my personal matter,” Chung-Hee said, unable to hide the irritation in his voice. “I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions.”

Ms. Lee laughed quietly. “Do you really believe that?” She looked at him for a long moment. “You don’t even recognize yourself anymore.”

Chung-Hee frowned.

“You adore him. You rearrange your life around him. You follow him like a lost dog.” Her expression softened for only a moment. “And I refuse to lose my remaining son too.”

“My love for him is real,” he said. There was no hesitation. No embarrassment. Only certainty.

“And that’s exactly what terrifies me.” She leaned forward slightly. “You’re giving everything to someone who cannot give you peace.”

“He doesn’t have to.”

Ms. Lee stared at him. “He will destroy you,” she whispered. “Just as Gong destroyed Haneul.”

Silence settled between them.