A Billionaire For Hanni

Chapter 48

The sunset light painted the sky with shades of orange and pink as Minji stood in the penthouse living room, getting ready for the evening. Her heart pounding in her chest, she looked at herself in the mirror, trying to look calm, even as the tension inside her grew by the second. She had everything planned down to the smallest detail: the entire port would be reserved for the two of them, and a private yacht would set sail with a Michelin-starred chef ready to prepare an exclusive dinner. It wasn't just a meeting. It was a desperate attempt to turn back time, to rekindle that spark that, perhaps, had never really existed. Or at least not as Minji had imagined it.

The sound of the intercom made her jump. A shiver of hope ran down her spine. When the door opened for him, Hanni was already arriving, with her usual elegant but uncertain step. He looked at her with a kind of detachment that Minji could no longer ignore, yet there was something in his gaze that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Minji..." Hanni began, her voice cold but not harsh. "I know you planned all of this. But do you really think it could work? Another dinner, another attempt to... fix something that's already over?"

Minji smiled softly, but the weight of rejection was still there in her heart. "I don't want to fix everything, Hanni. I don't think we can go back, but I want you to see that I really care. I want to show you that what I did, what I continue to do, isn't to 'have' you at all costs. It's just... for you. For us, even if only in a corner of my heart, we can still be together."

Hanni looked at her in silence, her face impassive, but Minji noticed a slight tremor in her hands. A hint of doubt?

"Do you remember what you told me that time?" Minji continued, approaching with a slow but steady step. "That you were tired of feeling like a desire? I gave you everything I had, Hanni. But not to force you to feel something you didn't, just to make you know that I loved you. I love you."

Hanni looked away, trying to hide the emotions that were stirring. In those usually impassive eyes, Minji now saw an uncertainty she had never seen before. Her heart skipped a beat. Would she really understand, Hanni?

"Minji..." Hanni whispered, but her voice sounded uncertain. "I don't want to... make any more promises. I can't tell you that this will change anything. But... how did you book the entire marina? An entire yacht... and a Michelin chef? What are you trying to do?"

Minji smiled, but her smile wasn't triumphant. It was just... hope, pure and simple. "I want you to know how much I care. This isn't just dinner. This is... a possibility. For me, for us."

Hanni didn't answer right away. She took a step back, as if she needed to think it all through. "I don't understand what you're hoping to get out of this, Minji. I never wanted you to feel like you had to do this for me."

But her voice, while trying to maintain a tone of disinterest, was more shaky than ever. And Minji knew it. She knew there was still something that connected their souls, but Hanni wasn't ready to acknowledge it yet.

The silence grew heavy between them, but Minji didn't let it scare her. She approached Hanni, not with anger, but with a gentleness that seemed to enter the woman's heart, like a breath of wind slowly shaking a tree.

"You can still change your mind," Minji said, her voice soft but confident. "You don't have to answer right away. But for once, don't think about what you 'should' do or how you feel obligated. Just feel what's between us, without fear. Please."

Minji's words were like a caress on Hanni's heart. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the weight of the situation fall on her. **What was going on inside her?** She felt confused, more than she'd ever wanted to admit. Minji had never forced anything on her. She had never made her feel the weight of a choice, other than that of following her. Yet, in her mind, the relationship with Minji had always had a sort of pressure, a constant need to respond to something she couldn't understand.