Living with an Ex-Husband - Chapter 59: Michael Song

Chapter 59: Michael Song

Is this what it feels like when your life is running out? Lee Joon stared at the tightly closed doors of the emergency room, unable to look away. Those doors hadn’t been opened for a moment since Eunchae had been in the hospital. 

Lee Joon sighed. Worried, he ran his hand over his face and then dropped his head. When he checked the time, it had been just over an hour since Eunchae had been brought in. 

But for Lee Joon, it felt like hours. The doctor had mentioned that there was no bleeding, which was fortunate, and that was the only hope he was clinging to. 

“Hang on, little one. Please…” 

Lee Joon prayed endlessly to the tiny life he had just discovered. ‘Nothing must happen to the baby. If something did, Eunchae wouldn’t be able to bear it.’

Even the thought of such a catastrophe caused his face to contort in pain. Even though the reality of the baby hadn’t sunk in yet, Eunchae was still his priority, his first concern.

To keep her from falling apart, the baby must be safe. The baby is Eunchae’s anchor, her reason for holding on. And for Lee Joon, it is the only thread that holds him to her.

“Please, don’t leave your mother…”

Lee Joon prayed desperately as if his words alone could change fate. The suffocating tension became unbearable and he tugged at his tightly knotted tie, trying to loosen the suffocating grip of fear around his throat. But no matter how hard he pulled, it did nothing to soothe the terror that constricted his breathing.

As he looked down, his eyes caught sight of his feet – still clad in indoor slippers. A hollow, bitter laugh escaped him. In his shock, he had rushed out of the house without even bothering to change his shoes.

Who could think of proper footwear at such a moment? It was a miracle he had managed to grab anything at all.

His usually impeccable appearance was in a mess. His suit jacket was rumpled, his tie hung loosely around his neck and nothing about him resembled the composed man he always appeared to be.

When the doors to the emergency room finally opened and the doctor stepped out, Lee Joon rushed forward, his heart pounding in his chest. The doctor began to explain Eunchae’s condition.

“The baby is safe. You don’t need to worry too much.”

“Ah…!”

A huge sigh of relief escaped Lee Joon’s lips. It felt as if he had fallen into an endless abyss, only to be lifted back up into the clear sky. The crushing weight on his chest finally began to ease.

“Eunchae suffered some bruises when she fell down the stairs, but there’s no need to worry about that either.”

“Yes, thank you. Really… thank you very much.”

“It’s nothing, President,” the doctor replied modestly, mentioning that Eunchae would probably have to stay in the hospital for a few days.

After confirming this, Lee Joon quickly called his assistant Kwon, and gave him the necessary instructions to make sure everything was in place.

When everything was in place, Lee Joon made his way to the room where Eunchae had been taken.

***

When Eunchae slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Lee Joon sitting beside her, gently holding her hand.

“Eunchae, are you awake?”

Lee Joon stood up quickly and placed his hand on Eunchae’s forehead. He checked her temperature, his cautious yet thorough eyes carefully examining her complexion.

Meanwhile, Eunchae stared at him blankly. Her eyes, blinking mechanically and slowly, were filled with the sight of the worried man’s face, ebbing and flowing like waves.

“My baby?”

Her throat tightened and her voice broke into a low, hoarse rasp. Her eyes trembled, fearful that something had happened to the baby.

“The baby is fine. Don’t worry.”

“Oh… thank you. Thank you so much…”

Eunchae took a deep breath and felt immense gratitude to every god she could think of. The worry for her baby far outweighed the anger she had felt when she first saw Lee Joon after waking up.

“Thank you, my baby is safe. Thank you so much…”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she gently stroked her stomach. Seeing her exhausted and crying, Lee Joon felt an indescribable heaviness in his chest.

Is this what motherly love feels like? Ignoring her injuries and thinking only of her child, her selfless and noble heart made him bow his head in awe without even realizing it.

“They said you were lucky; apart from a few bruises, nothing’s broken. Wait, I’ll call the doctor…” 

When Lee Joon briefly checked on Eunchae’s condition and reached for the call button, she forcefully pushed his arm away. 

His eyes, filled with confusion, trembled. Eunchae’s tear-filled eyes showed no sign of emotion. 

That frightened him. Her gaze was even more hollow and indifferent than the one he had seen at the villa.

“Eunchae.”

“Get out. I don’t want to see your face.”

“I can’t do that.”

At his immediate refusal, a sharp edge appeared in Eunchae’s eyes. Strangely enough, Lee Joon felt a sense of relief at her reaction. He didn’t mind being hated or cursed – he just wanted her to respond to him. Anything was better than being ignored as if she had made him invisible. 

“Why? Why can’t you?” 

“Because I’m your husband… and the baby’s father.” 

“Would you just shut up? How dare you call yourself a father in front of me? You have no right.” 

“Calm down. Our baby must be scared already. You need to relax and rest.”

His shameless concern made Eunchae’s anger boil over. The man who had gone so far as to have a vasectomy because he didn’t want children was now pretending to care for the baby—it was beyond disgusting. 

“What’s wrong with you? What are your true intentions?!” 

“My true intentions. My true intentions, huh…”

A bitter smile spread across Lee Joon’s lips as he murmured. Did Yoon Eunchae really not know? Or was she just pretending not to know because she hated him so much?  

“My true intention… is that I want to be with you. I always want to stay by your side.” 

“Don’t spew nonsense. Would someone who feels that way lie and go through with a divorce?”

Eunchae let out a loud sneer, her lips curling into a mocking smile. To her, every word that came out of Lee Joon’s mouth was pure deception. All the evidence she’d seen pointed to that conclusion.

“Back then… some circumstances left me no choice.”

“And what were those circumstances?”

“I’ll start with the vasectomy. I think that’s the first thing I have to address.”

Lee Joon’s heart was heavy with bitterness and deep regret washed over him.

Looking back, he should have followed Tae-kyung’s advice and told the truth from the beginning. Now he was paying the price for deceiving Eunchae and causing her pain with his lies.

“I didn’t want to pass on my cursed genes to our child. I thought it would be better if the baby never existed than to suffer as I did… with a hereditary disease.”

“A hereditary disease? There’s… a genetic disease in your family?”

Eunchae was taken aback by his revelation. She had never heard of a genetic disease in the Tae family, nor did she know anyone in the family who had one.

“No, my family doesn’t have any hereditary diseases. The family of the man I thought was my biological father… they all died young from hereditary diseases”.

” Wait, what did you just say? The man you thought was your biological father?”

The more she listened, the more confused she became. Lee Joon’s words made less and less sense.

“Yes. It’s a long story…”

Lee Joon let out a troubled sigh. It was embarrassing and shameful to talk about his mother’s secrets, but he forced himself to keep a calm expression as he began.

“About two years after my mother got married, she went on a cruise. She was worried because she couldn’t conceive a child, and my grandmother’s harsh treatment of her was getting worse. On top of that, my father – the only person she could rely on – was distant and indifferent. It must have felt suffocating for her every day.

When he mentioned his mother’s situation, Lee Joon tried to defend her in his way.

“My father, noticing how overwhelmed she was, suggested she go on the trip to clear her head, hoping it would lift her spirits.”

Eunchae couldn’t hide her surprise as she listened, realizing how similar Lee Joon’s mother’s struggles were to her own.

Eun-chae was astonished. The idea that Kang Yeosah, with her strong-willed personality, had once endured harsh treatment from her in-laws was surprising enough. Even more shocking was the fact that she had passed on the same torment to her daughter-in-law, perpetuating the cycle.

“It was on this trip that she met Michael Song, a Korean-American businessman. The two were instantly attracted to each other and fell into a passionate affair. But it was a relationship doomed from the start. Michael was unmarried, but my mother… she had a husband.

Lee Joon’s eyes turned cold, filled with bitterness toward his mother.

“After the cruise, their relationship should have ended, but Michael was serious. He even came to Korea to look for her. My mother, bored and unhappy in her marriage, continued the affair. The problem was that their feelings were very different. For Michael it was love, but for my mother, it was just an escape.

Lee Joon’s face twisted in disgust as he told me about his mother’s sordid past.

“Unaware of my mother’s shallow intentions, Michael believed she would get a divorce and come to him. And then… I came into the picture. My mother panicked. She couldn’t be sure whose child I was.

“Oh my God…”

Eunchae couldn’t help but gasp in shock. Lee Joon gave her a knowing grin, fully understanding her reaction.

“The worst is yet to come. My mother broke things off with Michael after that. He didn’t know anything, and when he tried to come back, she threatened him – said she’d kill herself if he showed up again. He had no choice, so he went back to the US”.

“So… your mother raised you as your father’s child, even though she wasn’t sure whose you really were?”

“Yes.”

“Later, when Michael found out the truth, he came to Korea to find me. It was the winter of my first year at university.

‘So you’re Lee Joon. Nice to finally meet you.’

Lee Joon’s eyes drifted to the window as he remembered his first meeting with Michael. His smile had been as radiant as the summer sun – bright and dazzling. Even the biting cold of the winter wind had felt warm in his presence.

After confessing everything about his relationship with Lee Joon’s mother, Michael dropped a bombshell that would shake Lee Joon’s entire life: that he might be his real father.

Lee Joon refused to believe it. It was hard enough to deal with the fact that his mother was having an affair, but to think that he was the result of that affair? He couldn’t accept it. He rejected it as the ravings of a madman.

‘Then at least let me have a DNA test. If you’re my son… I can’t just let this go. I’ll make sure the world knows the truth.’

Unable to resist the threat, Lee Joon had gone with Michael for the DNA test, and the results confirmed their biological connection.

“Biological connection? You mean the DNA test showed that you’re really his son?”

Eunchae’s head was throbbing with confusion. The story didn’t add up. Something felt wrong.

“He bribed the lab technician. Just in case things didn’t go his way, he made sure that the results would declare me his son, no matter what. I was just a naive twenty-year-old at the time – I couldn’t even imagine that someone would go so far as to bribe a lab technician.