Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 484: Humbling Jun-Sun

Ni-Na felt sad hearing Eun-sun sound so broken and defeated.

She couldn’t imagine how Eun-sun felt about the whole situation, but she had a feeling it was by no chance pleasant.

“Everything is going to be alright, Noona.” She said to comfort her. “You should know when there’s a steady supply of challenges like this, it’s an indication that what you have is real and truly worth fighting for.” Ni-Na added.

Eun-sun mused on her words. Real and worth fighting for? But weren’t the challenges becoming too much?

Eun-sun sighed. “The challenges are too much, Ni-Na. I don’t want to lose him, but I hate seeing him suffer. It’s so hard.” Eun-sun said as a tear spilled down her face.

Dan-Han always seem to be on the forefront of a battle because of her. Just a few days ago, he had been shot and was yet to heal completely, and that has been because of her. Eun-sun was sure Ni-Na wasn’t aware about that event.

And now he was already charging at another battle, and again it was because of her.

.....

His father would never ask his son to leave the company had it not been for her.

“Are you crying?” Ni-Na asked when she heard a soft sniffle.

“No,” Eun-sun shook her head and mumbled out as she wiped her tears.

It was incredulous to see herself crying again, especially after the good thing that had just happened in her life.

She has just gotten her parents back, and just when she thought things were finally looking up for her, and all she needed was to follow her dreams with the support of her family and the man she loves, she find herself back in the hole she had struggled to crawl out from.

It was official her days of happiness were cursed to be short lived.

There was no doubt the universe had something against her being happy.

Just the moment she thought her cycle of happiness was finally complete, the wicked forces of life suddenly decided to change the rules of the game.

It seems for her to have one thing, she has to lose another. It was becoming a vicious cycle.

But couldn’t she just have everything? She wanted both her man and family. She didn’t want to lose neither of them.

She wanted to be happy like some people out there. She wanted to live her best life by having everything she wanted, was that so hard?

“Everything will be fine. I assure you.” Ni-Na assured her again, but Eun-sun wasn’t convinced even though she wanted to, and it seemed Ni-Na was bent on convincing her about it, as she rephrased the statement using whatever thesaurus she could find of it.

“Thank you, Ni-Na. I appreciate you trying to cheer me up. I promise to be back before you leave for school.”

“I..I might be leaving earlier than expected.”

“Really? Why?” Eun-sun asked. She thought she still had some time before school officially resumed, so what’s with the rush?

Ni-Na stuttered as she tried to whip out a plausible explanation, but no matter how hard she thought of it, there was no other than the truth, and that was, she needed to be away from Kang In-Ha and anywhere that reminded her of him and her foolishness.

It’s been a week since she what happened between her and In-Ha happened, and despite how tough she tried to be, and how casual she tried to make it, nothing was working.

Nothing could change the fact that she had slept with the man of her dreams, the man she had fantasized about all her life, but it had meant nothing.

Not only did she lose the virtue she has been so trying to protect for him, but she had also lost him as well, and for good.

And the worst thing about it was, she couldn’t talk to anyone about it, not even Eun-sun, because it might just end up ruining the friendship Eun-sun had with In-Ha, or worse resulting to In-Ha finding out about her feelings for him, and the times he had crawled into her dreams.

“It’s my final year and last semester. I need all the concentration I can get. If I’m to attain the standard my brother has set for me, then I have to put my all into. I need a 5.0 GPA, to round up my CGPA. And I also want to change my environment. I’m bored already.” She said, choosing to weave behind the thoughts in her head to find something believable.

Eun-sun nodded with understanding. “It’s okay. I’ll try to come as soon as I can.”

“Okay. But please stop crying, or I’ll be one to come find you.” Ni-Na told her, and Eun-sun nodded even though Ni-Na couldn’t see her.

Eun-sun tried not to cry after the call ended, not because she had promised Ni-Na, but because crying would not help anything, and she want anyone to walk into her crying, as that would only worry them.

But Eun-sun didn’t know was that, she was already too late, because Ki-Jun had overheard everything and he heard her cry.

She jerked and swiveled around when she heard his voice behind her.

“Is Ji-Sun’s reason for kicking Dan-Han out of the company really because he doesn’t want you for Dan-Han?” He sternly asked, and Eun-sun blinked in shock.

“I...”

“Do not lie, Eun-sun. Is it?” He pressed.

Eun-sun’s lashes fluttered as she wondered what to say. Should she say the truth that might cause a rift between two friends and further worsen the outstanding problem in her relationship? Or should say the truth?

“The truth, Eun-sun.” Ki-Jun said in a low drawl as if he had read her thoughts.

Eun-sun fisted her clammy hands as she hesitantly nodded, and the moment she did, Ki-Jun scowled.

“This is the reason for that stupid meeting?” Ki-Jun demanded and Eun-sun silently nodded.

Ki-Jun chuckled with incredulity. Who would have thought this was the reason why Ji-Sun would want to kick his son out of the company.

Ji-Sun had stated his disapproval for his daughter, but he had no idea it ran this deep.

He had seen the distasteful way he stared at Eun-sun, when he came visiting, but to this extent?

“Has he alway been hostile to you?” Ki-Jun asked another question Eun-sun wasn’t sure of answering.

“Has he?” Ki-Jun demanded when Eun-sun stuttered.

“Not really. He just doesn’t want me for Dan-Han and he only made that clear.” She said, desperately trying to make it sound casual to Ki-Jun, who didn’t believe her.

He knew Ji-Sun, and when the man doesn’t approve of something, he did everything in his power to make sure he got his way.

He sighed when he saw the anxious look on Eun-sun’s face as she peered at him.

Eun-sun watched as he slowly walked towards her and stopped in front of her.

He reached for her hand and held it in his. “I know we’re still a long way from having a good relationship as a family, but I want you to know that I love you. I’ve always loved you from the moment Sena did her pregnancy test and it was positive, and I knew I was always going to love you forever. I know it’s still too early to say this, but honey, my love for you can’t let you go into a family where you are not valued and accepted. Ji-Sun might be my friend, but I’ll never allow anyone do anything or look down on my child.”

“But I love Dan-Han.” Eun-sun told him. She loves Dan-Han with her whole life, and she’ll love him for all eternity.

Ki-Jun wearily sighed as he held her hand tightly. He rubbed his hand down her hair and cupped her cheek. “I know you do, and it’s obvious the boy loves you too. But honey when you marry a man, you marry his whole family. Dan-Han might protect you as much as he can, but can you always accept that he’d be at odds with his family for you? It will wear you down.” He told her.

Ki-Jun didn’t mean to wear her down but that was the truth, atleast to him.

Eun-sun briefly pondered about it, but she shook her head. “He doesn’t like me because of my background. I’ll work hard and convince him. I just have to make something of myself.” That was all she needed to do, she assured herself as she fought back the tears in her heart.

Ki-Jun sighed and hugged her when he saw the tears she was fighting back. “It’s okay, don’t cry.” Ki-Jun patted her back.

He pulled away and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry for being insensitive and making you cry.” He apologized and Eun-sun quickly shook her head, but before she could refute, he continued.

“If you want to be with Dan-Han, daddy will help you get your man.” He said making Eun-sun stare at him transfixed.

Help her? Eun-sun didn’t know how he wanted to help her, but what really had her stunned was the words he had said, and the way he had said them. Everything he did and said reeked of a doting love she had always secretly desired.

Seeing the question in her eyes, Ki-Jun smiled as she patted the back of her hand.

“I told you, we’ll be attending the shareholders meeting together, that’s because I’m the second largest shareholder in the company.” He said and Eun-sun stared at him wide eyed.

Ki-Jun chuckled at her stunned expression. “Yes, honey. I have 18 per cent of the company shares, while Ji-Sun owns 24 per cent. I had loaned him a huge sum of money at the start up of his computer decades ago, and that made me his first investor. And a majority of the other shareholders in Pk corps are my business associates who I introduced to him. I can talk to a few and we can help keep Dan-Han on his chair.” He told Eun-sun who was staring at him shock surprise.

Ki-Jun was certain Dan-Han knew he was going to in his favor with or without Eun-sun’s arrival in his life.

Though he hadn’t been aware of the reason for Dan-Han’s dismissal, he wouldn’t have d out a capable person from power, not because Dan-Han was his god-son, but because the boy has shown he was capable of leading the company even more than his father.

Eun-sun rapidly blinked with her mouth agape as she wondered what to say. She had figured her father was a shareholder in the company when he mentioned receiving a mail back at the hospital and also when he said she’d be joining him, but what she didn’t expect was that he had such large amount of shares.

His number of shares, and that of Dan-Han’s and the small number she had could be a start for Dan-Han. And if her father would be able to convince some other shareholders to in Dan-Han’s favour, then all they’d be needing would be about 8-10 per cent.

Eun-sun couldn’t fight back the tears that rolled off her eyes as she hugged Ki-Jun. “Thank you, dad. Thank you.” She breathed, out and Ki-Jun smiled heartily.

It was the first time she was calling him dad in the past few days which had seemed like an eternity to hear her call him dad.

“I love you, honey. You don’t have to worry about anything.” He told her and Eun-sun nodded.

Ki-Jun furrowed his brows as he thought a something that seemed amiss.

It could indeed be difficult for Dan-Han to rally up supporters, but it was not impossible.

If he critically pondered on it, Dan-Han seemed to be lagging intentionally. He wasn’t pushing as hard as he should, and he wondered why?

Except....

Ki-Jun’s lips twitch when he thought about it.

Dan-Han mentioning Eun-sun being a shareholder wasn’t accidental. He had done it intentionally, same he had asked him not to tell Jun-Sun about Eun-sun being his daughter.

He had thought he wanted him to delay the introduction till the meeting day, but it seemed the boy had a more larger plan in mind.

He wasn’t trying because he wasn’t interested in winning, but rather in humbling his father.

And what more could be more humbling than Eun-sun having almost the same number of shares as Jun-Sun.

Ki-Jun pulled away and looked at her. “Honey, the shares you have? How many are they?” Ki-Jun asked.

“About 4.5 there about.” She innocently replied and Ki-Jun did the math in his head.

.....

If he was to transfer his shares to Eun-sun, coupled with hers, she’d have 22.5 per cent shares, thereby making her the second largest shareholder in the company.

Now that was a way of teaching Jun-Sun to be a reasonable person.

This was what Dan-Han wanted.

But what if he further polished the plan by buying three more shares under a subsidiary name?

Jun-Sun would not like it, but this would be his way to get back at Jun-Sun for whatever he might have done to his daughter.

He needed to call his legal team.