Apollo’s Heart

Chapter 154

He nodded.

“It was I who called Roy Jean. I also asked him not to say a word about me when you come around. As I thought that… maybe you wouldn’t want to see me.”

The gaze in her eyes wavered. In a subdued tone, she asked, “Then why did you come to the exhibition when you already knew so well about how I would feel when I saw you?”

Harsh words burst forth out of resentment. If that was the case, he shouldn’t have let her find out till the end. Moreover, he shouldn’t have come back to stir her up in the first place.

“I came to see the ‘Apollo’ that you made. Roy was once told me that there was a sculpture that is a spitting image of me. I was curious to see how similar it was to myself. And also about how I was portrayed in those eyes of yours.”

Her face flushed as ‘Apollo’, which she had made according to her memory, amounted to a confession. It was like telling him how strongly he was imprinted in her mind. Yuri wondered if he’d noticed it.

“There was only one thing I could think of when I saw you lying on the hospital bed. And that is, I don’t think I can live like this anymore. It hurts my heart just to think of you getting hurt or even to imagine bad things happening to you without my knowledge when the woman that I love is right near at hand.” His long finger touched on her cheek as he reached out his hand. “I won’t bottle up my feelings any longer.”

Yuri couldn’t seem to shake off the warm hands as he tenderly stroked across her cheeks.

“Sorry for not giving up on you still, despite the fact that I had ruined you in the name of love. Sorry for loving you still.”

A tear plopped down her eyes although she had no idea about the reason for it. Then, gently, he brushed his hands against her tear-streaked cheeks.

“Despite all that, I still want to start over with you. But this time we’ll do it your way, not mine.”

Yuri could feel the tremble from his fingertips as he spoke. On the verge of bursting into tears, she quickly bit onto her lip before she said, “But I have nothing to offer to you. There’s no way of knowing when my brain will relapse into illness, and I probably won’t be able to have babies as well. You still want me despite all that?”

“Yes, I do.” He didn’t hesitate to give her his answer.

However, Yuri shook her head instead. “Not out of pity or by some sense of responsibility of yours for ruining me.”

Tae-Jun grimaced at her words. He then took her hand and placed it over his chest. Through his shirt, she felt his racing heart.

“Do you really think it’s beating out of pity or by some sense of responsibility?”

She was at a loss for words. And when she’d tried to pull back her hand, he only grabbed all the more strongly.

“Pity? Sense of responsibility? I’m not familiar with those concepts from the outset. And there’s no need for you to offer me anything because there’s nothing else I’ll need, as long as I have you. All I ask of you is to give me another chance to love you.”

All the tears she had been holding up until now gushed out. But she still wasn’t certain if this was the right thing to do. She knew she shouldn’t choose him if she thought of Hye-Yeon or her father. Yet, she couldn’t deny her desire to be with him although she knew she was being selfish. She could almost hear her inner voice screaming out to her that it would be foolish of her to forgive him despite all the indelible scars he’d left on her. However, she still wanted to start over with him.

Three years was a long enough time for her to recover from her pain, enough for her to start missing him again.

“I love you.”

His sincere words of confession rang about her ears. In a flash, what Roy’s words from before, about how he hoped for her to live in the future, suddenly flashed across her mind. And for the first time in her life, she had pictured herself being with someone in the future. Then… she filled her teary vision with the man before her, in the hope that someone would be Tae-Jun in the end.

“I… love you too. Even though I knew that I shouldn’t, that it was wrong for me to do so, I still wasn’t able to suppress my feelings for you.”

It was high time for her to finally admit her feelings for him.

With a look of joy on his face, he clasped her into his chest. While nestled against his warm, firm chest, Yuri just listened as he whispered his countless thanks to her ears.

“I’ve always thought I’ve already tasted hell well enough that I would rather be in hell myself than to see you in it. But I guess I was all wrong. I couldn’t feel more alive right now. And I can finally breathe and feel the beat in my heart. As Yuri, you were my heart after all.”

Their heated lips touched against each other’s. It was almost as if only the two of them existed in the whole world as the growing sound of the rain muffled all of their surroundings. Meanwhile, she imagined all the precious times she would be spending with him for the rest of her life, loving while being loved.

And that was the real starting point of the two of them.

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