Please, Confess to Me

Chapter 15 : Unspoken Origins

Rumors about Minji were endless. From her unexpected return to the Kim family at eighteen to her swift rise as President of the Kim Group, she was a constant fixture in whispers and gossip.

Hanni had never thought to ask Minji about the rumors. But now, with her wife bringing it up herself, she felt she was meant to know. She nodded, her voice gentle. "Yes."

Minji took a deep breath, her gaze hardening. "I know people talk about my childhood. Everyone knows I'm Kim Taehyung's illegitimate daughter." The word illegitimate seemed to scrape at her insides, tightening her grip on the porcelain spoon until her knuckles turned white.

Hanni instinctively reached over, her touch light as she tried to ease the spoon from her wife's grip. "Be careful," she murmured softly. "You'll hurt yourself."

Minji's fingers relaxed, though the spoon had already snapped under the pressure, its delicate fragments slipping from her grasp. Hanni gently held her hand, tracing the faint red mark left behind.

"It's fine. I'm not hurt," Minji said, though her eyes revealed a deeper hurt.

As her wife's hands cradled hers, Minji's fingers shifted, intertwining with Hanni's in a tender embrace. Hanni looked up, a flicker of surprise crossing her features.

Minji's gaze held a quiet intensity, her voice dropping to a soft whisper. "Do you mind?"

"What?" Hanni murmured, momentarily lost.

"That I'm an illegitimate child."

Hanni had wrestled with that issue in her previous life. Marrying Minji had meant inheriting the labels that clung to her wife. The scorn Minji faced for her status was mirrored by the ridicule Hanni endured for becoming part of that world. Even after their divorce, the whispers hadn't ceased.

In the beginning, marrying Minji had been a calculated choice for the sake of the Pham Group. But over five years together, Hanni found herself gradually appreciating her wife. If she hadn't known Minji loved someone else, maybe she would've let herself truly fall.

"Do you remember your business trip to Japan?" Hanni asked suddenly. "You left on the second day after our wedding."

Minji blinked, briefly caught off guard.

"That night, I went to Dani's club and ran into Kim Garam," Hanni continued, watching Minji's expression tighten at the mention of Garam.

"I overheard her talking about you," she added, her tone steady.

Minji could almost feel the words that Garam might have used.

"I was just outside their room, so they didn't know I was listening. Then... I went in," Hanni said, unwavering.

Minji's hand closed around Hanni's, her grip tightening, an unspoken question in her eyes.

Hanni met her gaze and continued, "I poured a glass of wine over Garam's head and told her that no one insults my... wife in front of me."

Bam!

Minji jerked, knocking over the bowl in front of her, sending soup splattering onto the table. Hanni quickly jumped up, intending to check for burns, but Minji pulled her back into her seat.

Minji's eyes held an intensity Hanni had rarely seen, her grip firm, as if holding on to something unsaid. They stayed locked in that gaze, caught in a moment neither could break, until Minji exhaled slowly, her composure returning. Standing, she guided Hanni to the sofa in the living room, their fingers still entwined.

As they walked, Hanni noticed the dark stain spreading across the front of Minji's sweater. She grabbed a few paper towels, dabbing at the fabric once they were seated, her touch gentle yet urgent.