Divorce Contract C104

Chapter 104

Go Igyeol found himself recalling the conversation he had once had with Seo Dohyeon. That confession—I realized too late that I loved you—had it been nothing but a lie? The moment he had spoken of divorce, had he gone straight to Na Seunghui, as though he had been waiting for the chance, to seek his counsel? Was this like when Im Yeonhui had handed him a draft agreement—another such document, written with the same cold pragmatism, soon to be delivered?

In truth, such things no longer mattered. Whatever amount Dohyeon offered in alimony, he felt no desire to receive it. What tore his heart apart was not money, but the fact that Dohyeon had sought out Na Seunghui in order to tidy away their broken marriage.

Had Dohyeon truly never once given his heart to Seunghui throughout their acquaintance? Igyeol did not believe it. If he had given no room for it, then how had Seunghui’s feelings deepened? If he had shown nothing at all, how had they grown so obvious?

Was that why their divorce had been entrusted to Seunghui? Because he was convenient, reliable, a man he could lean on, one whose advice could be trusted, intelligent, a dominant Alpha—everything that Igyeol was not. Compared to that man, Igyeol’s own presence felt ever more pitiful.

He brushed back the strands of hair falling across his forehead, blinking as though trapped in a dream he could not wake from.

“Name an appropriate figure. Tomorrow I’ll meet Dohyeon and—”

Seunghui stopped mid-sentence. A man dressed entirely in black strode urgently into the café, swept the room with sharp eyes, and made directly for their table.

“Please rise.”

“And you are?”

“Executive Director Seo  sent me. He said if you don’t return immediately, you’ll regret it.”

“What on earth—”

“Please, stand.”

When Seunghui hesitated, the man no longer waited. He seized his arm and pulled him to his feet.

“If you wait, I’ll see you safely home.”

He addressed Igyeol briefly, then marched Seunghui out. The entire exchange was over in moments. Igyeol stared at the empty seat before him, then slowly raised trembling hands to cover his face. The day felt endless. One after another—Im Yeonhui, now Na Seunghui—they had come, as though by arrangement, to tear his insides apart. His breath heaved shallowly, as though something pressed hard against his chest. He gathered his things, stood, and left the café.

He should have gone home, but instead wandered the streets without aim. He crossed crosswalks, followed the broad avenues, while the buildings around him blurred and vanished from sight.

Several times, he brushed shoulders with passersby. Each time he staggered, each time he muttered thanks to the strangers who steadied him, and then moved on. How long he walked, he could not say. Without intending to, his feet carried him to the hospital. Lifting his bowed head, he entered without hesitation.

He took the elevator straight to the neonatal unit, signed the visitor’s record, and received a pass.

It was not difficult now to find Seo I-hyeon. Through the glass, he gazed endlessly at the sleeping child. At birth, his skin had been raw and red; now, it was soft and pale. His long lashes rested against his lids, his eyebrows already neatly shaped as though drawn.

A nurse bustling within noticed Igyeol and offered a nod of recognition, but he gave no reply. She found his vacant stare strange, but remembering the difficult state he had been in since admission, she chose not to interfere and returned to her duties.

Igyeol felt consumed by a sinking confusion. Why did he feel this way? Why… why had it been Na Seunghui? Why had Dohyeon gone to him? Why him of all people? His parched eyes burned as he rubbed them, yet he could not look away from the child. He had thought seeing the baby would make him feel better. That was why he had come. But it did not. Not at all.

At last, he returned the pass and left the hospital. The sky, once tinged red, had turned black. Again he wandered, aimless. His soles ached, his toes numbed. His steps slowed, then stopped altogether.

“……”

His gaze, fixed on the ground, lifted to the roadway. His body shifted closer, inch by inch, as if ready to step into the street. His mind was blank. He thought nothing at all. Perhaps if he died, it would all end. Perhaps it would have been better if he had died with his parents, instead of being left behind. A fleeting thought of the baby rose, but it was drowned by the certainty that Seo Dohyeon would raise him better than he ever could.

All it would take was a single step. With empty eyes, he closed them and moved his foot forward—when suddenly he was seized by strong arms, dragged back against the curb, into a familiar embrace.

“Haa… haa… Go Igyeol.”

“……”

“Igyeol-ah.”

The thought of what might have happened if he had been a moment later filled Seo Dohyeon’s vision with darkness. He held the ice-cold body tightly.

“If we divorce… will you marry Na Seunghui?”

The question, spoken flatly, made him catch his breath. He answered at once:

“What nonsense is that?”

“You told me not to commit acts of infidelity.”

“I never did.”

The thunderous pounding of his heart filled Igyeol’s ears as scattered thoughts spilled from his lips.

“You knew he liked you, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I knew.”

“Then why… why entrust our divorce to him?”

“…Because I wanted it to be kept quiet, for as long as possible.”

His voice was low and weighted. On the way back, when he had learned that Seunghui had gone to find Igyeol, his vision had blazed scarlet with rage. He could not comprehend it—why, simply for convenience, that man would presume to involve himself. Their marriage was already broken beyond repair. Why were so many people so desperate to thrust themselves between them? His mind seethed with fury.

“Even when I see I-hyeon… it doesn’t make me feel better.”

Igyeol lifted his head from where it had rested, meeting Dohyeon’s eyes. Though his lashes were dry, it felt as though he were crying still.

“The ground just keeps… crumbling beneath me.”

At the whisper, Dohyeon pulled him closer again. He feared he would shatter. He knew it wasn’t true, but he couldn’t be sure.

“…I don’t want to, but I keep comparing myself. And I hate myself for it.”

“Haa…”

“I loathe myself so much.”

With weak arms, he pushed Dohyeon away and refused to look at him again. He knew he should let go. He knew what had been done to him, what wounds had been inflicted. Yet still, something clung to the man, something that refused to loosen its hold.

“When I’m with you, I’ll always feel this way. That… feels unfair. But still… since you’ll always feel guilty too, perhaps that’s enough.”

“……”

“Don’t come on Monday. I won’t change anything. Have Secretary Yoon bring the papers—I’ll sign and return them. Goodbye.”

He pulled away entirely. Retracing the same streets he had wandered, his eyes finally brimmed. At last, he felt it—the end. Their marriage was truly over.

“Uhh… hhh, hhh…”

As he walked, he scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, his muffled sobs twisting into odd sounds. He bit down on his lips, blinking through the blur, his steps heavy. He rubbed at his wet cheeks, and suddenly Dohyeon was there again, blocking his path. He draped his coat over Igyeol’s shoulders without lifting his gaze. Taking out a handkerchief, he wiped the tears streaking his closed eyes, cupped his cold cheeks, traced the faint scar by his ear with his thumb.

“Now I think I understand what I meant when I said I wanted to start over.”

He pressed the handkerchief into Igyeol’s slack hand and stepped back.

“Even being apart by this small distance is unbearable. It hurts. I regret everything. Every moment I destroyed between us.”

As Igyeol raised his head, Dohyeon gave him a faint, wavering smile. He could not bring himself to hold on, but he gazed into those brown eyes for a long, long time. Up close, they were even lovelier. He loved them. He loved the clear, veined skin, the red lips, the slender neck, the delicate frame, the small hands and feet—every part of him. He loved him, without even realizing it.

“I regret it all. Every single thing.”

“……”

“Go inside. Tomorrow the baby comes home—you’ll catch a cold out here.”

Dohyeon turned first. Yoon Jaeseon was already approaching from where he had waited by the roadside.

“Take him home.”

“Yes, Executive Director .”

Jaeseon guided Igyeol to the car, escorted him inside. The car blinked its hazard lights and merged back into the road.

Dohyeon went straight to the café where Seunghui had been left under guard. Rage seethed in him at the thought of the man daring to interfere.

He strode inside. In the corner, Seunghui flinched at his approach. The guard stepped aside.

“I told you not to see him. Was that too hard? Or are you simply a fool?”

“…It’s not that. You were being absurd—”

“And who are you to judge that? Who are you, Na Seunghui? What are you to me?”

“No one pays that much alimony in a divorce! It’s insane!”

The urge to strike him surged, but Dohyeon forced it down.

“I rejected you because your feelings suffocated me, because I hated them. And yet you still don’t understand, do you?”

“…What?”

Seunghui’s eyes grew wet at the blunt cruelty of his words.

“What should I say? That I have never, not once, thought of you as anything different from the rest. Not then, not now. Who knows, maybe if you became Go Igyeol, I could love you. But do you have that power?”