Till There Was You [FINISHED]

Chapter 11: The Girl

I wake up to a tickling sensation on the side of my face. I stretch my body and embrace his neck then I notice he has a five o'clock shadow. "Someone needs to shave already." I tease.

"Good morning, yeobo." Ha Joon is hovering over me with a wicked smile on his face. He gently tugs at a loose tendril of my hair.

I greet him back with a quick smack on the lips. He catches my lower lip and does not let go. We stay locked in passion for another hour or so.

We are currently having our breakfast in my backyard and sampling the mezcla beans he bought for me from Spain. Ugh, I am loving this roasted coffee.The bitter aftertaste reminds me of something. Shall I open up about the article? He seems oblivious to it. I am not surprised though because my agency called the same day Yumi informed me about it. They did some damage control and that article was taken down quickly. There were some snips taken into social media but the damage was nothing serious. Everyone could sleep peacefully at night. 

How about the picture of the three of them? My subconscious pushes.

Before I open my mouth to ask if he ever knew about it and hope that he can confirm about the photograph included, he takes hold of my right hand that is resting on top of the table. 

"Yeobo, don't you have something to ask me?" He looks at me with worry and for a fleeting moment, I can see sadness in his eyes.

I start to get a foreboding feeling. I squeeze his hand and calm myself before responding. "Hmmm?" I feign ignorance as I am not yet sure if he's talking about that article. 

"I know you saw it already..."

I try to retrieve my hand but he doesn't let me. 

"Please let me explain."

I stare into his eyes trying to read him more but to no avail. His expression is neutral now. I am doing my best to give him the benefit of the doubt. I fully trust him and if I am in his position, for whatever reason, I would also want to be heard. I give his hand another squeeze of encouragement. I just want the truth.

"Go on."

"The man in the picture was me." I look down and try to internally ease the piercing pain I am feeling in my chest. No, please, don't cry...not yet. I tell myself.

He adjusts his chair so he is now closer to my side, still holding my hand. He cups my face and makes me look at him. 

"Before I say anything further, let me assure you, yeobo. I have been true to you since the very beginning. I never intend to hurt you in any way. My faithfulness is yours forever." My insides melt at his words, who wouldn't want to hear those things? But, we can't discount the reality that we have an issue to address. I touch his hand that is holding my face. There is an inner battle I am fighting, to listen or leave. If I leave now, this might drag us into a more complicated whirlwind. So, I choose the former. I will always choose to listen to him because I know he will do the same and he already earned my confidence.

"Just tell me already please... was that your child's mother? Did you hide it ever since we started? Tell me..." I sound a bit hopeless, but I don't care. I just want to ask what's been bugging me for days since I saw that darn article.

For a few seconds, his face reflects that of frustration. He then closes his eyes briefly and when he opens them, he stares right into mine with renewed passion. "You will only be the mother of my child."

I soften up at his intense declaration, my heart is thumping like crazy and that somehow helps me regain my strength to face whatever he's going to say.