Apollo’s Heart

Chapter 53 – Why Did You Disappear? (2)

Throughout the day and all through the night, Yuri suffered from fever. She was confused about whether she was conscious or not as she walked down the corridor of memories. The long path ended in front of a massive door. The passage crashed down with booming noises as she tried to open it. As she fell into the abyss, someone grabbed her hand.

Yuri woke up with a gasp. She opened her eyes to find a sleeping face in front of her. As she blinked, a ray of light shone through the crack between the curtains on his face. Perhaps she was still dreaming. The person who had held her hand when she fell was Tae-jun.

It’s not a dream.

She propped herself up in astonishment. She finally remembered! She did not remember everything yet, but she recognized Tae-jun.

Could this be so simple?

How she had pulled, pushed, and did everything she could to open the doors of her memories, and they still stood resolutely shut. But now, they opened on their own accord, revealing the contents and so quickly.

Yuri carefully pulled back, so Tae-jun would not wake up. However, her endeavors were futile as a large hand grabbed her.

“You seem to be back with us.”

Not waiting for a response, he pressed his hand on her forehead.

“Your fever is gone.”

She tried to speak, but her voice was hoarse.

Tae-jun handed her a bottle of water from the side table when he saw her opening and closing her mouth. She managed to get her words out just after cold water moistened her parched throat.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You had a high fever and were sick all night,” he said flatly.

“Not that.”

Yuri adjusted her breath and met his eyes. “Why did you look for me?”

Tae-jun’s eyes narrowed and searchingly stared at Yuri.

“Did your memories come back? Or was everything just a show from the beginning?”

“I never lied about losing my memory. It is also true that some memories of you have returned to me,” she said defiantly.

Tae-jun’s gaze pierced through Yuri as he picked a cigarette. He wanted to hold back, but the woman in front of him always made it impossible.

He asked a question as he lit the cigarette.

“Why did you disappear four years ago?”

“My memories have not returned to that extent. I remember what happened up to the night before your business trip.”

–Flashback begins–

They had started from the desk in the study and ended on the bed in the early morning.

“We won’t be doing this for some time.”

If Tae-jun wanted sex, he could just find a woman there. She had pushed him away due to fatigue, but he always came back for her.

–Flashback ends–

Yuri, unfortunately, remembered even how he had felt against her.

Tae-jun laughed bitterly.

“Don’t you remember anything unfavorable that had happened to you? How could I believe that?”

Yuri just looked at him and shrugged. She had no evidence to support her claim of recovering her memories just like she didn’t when she said she lost them.

“I don’t care whether you believe me or not, but I’m not lying.”

At her indifference, Tae-jun decided not to push it further and got to the main point.

“All right, say you don’t remember why you disappeared. Why were you a stand-in for Hye-yeon Jin? You told me I had made a mistake but kept your mouth closed after talking with President Jin. What did he say?”

Yuri was visibly agitated. While she had been confident as if she had nothing to hide and looked straight in his, now she had no choice but to turn away from him.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“Now, you’re exercising your right to remain silent?”

Yuri fisted her hands tightly as Tae-jun’s sneer deepened.

“Why do you want to know about that? You should go to President Jin for the answers. He’s the one who started it.”

She was incensed by the mere mention of the man who had kicked off this whole thing. Her desperation and helplessness… that man knew it all.

“I would have done exactly that if he were alive. He would have died at my hands, but still.”

“He died? When?”

Yuri was shocked!

“About a month after you disappeared. He got involved in a fight between hoodlums.”

“That’s not-“

Yuri felt nauseous, and her fingers shook as she heard about Myung-je Jin. The president she remembered was a parasite who would not die no matter how she tried to kill him. Now she knew that both Hye-yeon Jin and he died. Was this only a coincidence?

“How did you know about me?” she asked.

“I saw you at Hotel Seoin. You, a dead woman, are very much alive and walking to me.”

Yuri finally pieced together the puzzle.

Tae-jun became curious about Hye-yeon Jin’s death because he saw me. This means he was neither involved in her death nor my disappearance. 

As Yuri organized her thoughts, Tae-jun seemed to be mocking himself.

“Then I got to know of something even more shocking. I found the woman I lived and slept with for a year was a completely different person. Do you know how I felt when I didn’t even know the woman I held in my arms?” he asked her with a piercing gaze.

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“It doesn’t matter what my name is. I was ‘Hye-yeon Jin’ during our contract.” She nonchalantly replied.

“It doesn’t matter because it was a contract?” His tone was chilling.

Yuri took a breath before meeting his gaze.

“Yes.”

“Then, you know our contract has not ended yet?”