Joo Won thought of the moment they shared just minutes ago. That fleeting moment of real connection gave him a sliver of desperate courage. It was a risk that could destroy everything, but the alternative—silence—now felt like a greater danger. He had to tell her. Everything. His survival, and Ji Woo's, now depended on whether Hana could trust him.
"Hana?" His voice was low, strained with the weight of what he was about to do.
"Mm?" she replied, her expression still soft with concern.
"I have something to tell you," he began, his tone deadly serious. "But you have to swear that not a single soul will ever hear a word of this, not even your father"
Her playful impatience surfaced. "What is it?"
"Do you promise?" he emphasized, his gaze intense, locking onto hers.
"Now you are scaring me. I promise," she said, a little impatiently. "Now tell me."
"Okay," he breathed, steeling himself. "I'll answer every question you have. But you have to trust me. Do you?"
"Bae Hoon," she said, her voice gentle but firm, "you know I trust you." It was the first time Bae Hoon would let her in. She was ready to give her everything for it.
"I know," he replied, his eyes dark with dread. "But this... this is bigger than you and me. Bigger than the both of us." Joo Won clutched Hana's soft, delicate hands for courage.
A flicker of fear passed through Hana's eyes. "Would you just tell me what it is already?"
Joo Won took a sharp, steadying breath. This was it. The first time he would say it aloud.
"Okay." He cleared his throat, the words feeling foreign and dangerous on his tongue. "I am..." He hesitated, the name feeling like a secret he'd buried alive. "I am not Bae Hoon. My real name is Joo Won. Lee Joo Won. I am not the chairman's son."
Hana stared at him, her mind reeling. The earnest, almost desperate intensity in his eyes told her he was deathly serious. A cold wave of disbelief washed over her, followed by a dizzying sense of vertigo.
After the accident, she had always wondered why he seemed different, a voice in her head rationalized. His memory never fully returned. It made sense that his personality had shifted...
But a whole different person?
Or maybe he needs professional psychiatrist help.
The thought was too colossal, too terrifying to grasp. Her body reacted before her mind could catch up. Subconsciously, her hands, which had just moments ago been in the strong manly hands of Bae Hoon were pulled back, shifting slightly and involuntarily creating a sliver of space between them.
A faint, sickening feeling twisted in her stomach. The warmth of his lips still lingered on hers, but now it felt... different. Tainted.
He watched her face closely. Giving her time to process, he continued the story he'd held inside for 22 years finally pouring out. He told her everything—the real Bae Hoon's death, his own kidnapping, the cold installation into the Hwang family, Mrs. Hwang's devastating discovery, the years of being treated as less than a servant, the exile to the U.S. accompanied by Secretary Baek and Hana herself, the Chairman' relentless control. And finally, the blackmail.
Her being used as a pawn in the game made Hana question Joo Won. The chairman might be capable of doing that, but not her father. "You have no idea how long their reach is," Joo Won replied, his voice tight. "Did you know that you being with me was never just about friendship? It was a strategy. Your father's job was to keep me in line. I'm sure he asks you for details every time you see me—where I go, who I talk to, what I say. Am I wrong?"
Hana fell silent. Has he lost his mind? But then again, her father did ask about Joo Won's whereabouts more than he did hers—what's Bae Hoon doing, who's he meeting. She'd mistaken it for her father's curiosity for her friend, not espionage.
"But that's because..." she started, then stopped herself before admitting her mother's dream of a marriage alliance. "...because they wanted me to be a good friend to you," she finished weakly.
"No," Joo Won said softly, seeing the dawning horror in her eyes. "I know you will not believe me, but it's the truth."
Her mind raced, connecting fragments of memory—her father's specific, probing questions, her mother's social ambitions—all of it took on a darker, more calculated shape.
"The one who sent the cake is Ji Woo from the orphanage. He probably doesn't recognize me—we've both changed. But he was my best friend. My brother. I didn't even know he was my online gaming partner until tonight. Our usernames... they had our birthdates in them. His was Mightydragon0301—his birthday is January 3rd. And mine was Startrooper0103..."
Before he could finish, Hana's eyes widened in realization. "...yours is March 1st."
Joo Won could only nod, the truth hanging bare and terrifying between them. He then showed her the photo he had of Ji Woo and himself together. But it was too much to digest for Hana.
The first pale light of dawn, a cold winter blue, was just beginning to bleed into the sky. 5 AM. Christmas Eve. The atmosphere felt heavy inside the elevator descending from Joo Won's apartment, woven from the memory of their passionate kiss, the shocking story that had followed, and the empty beer bottles that stood as silent witnesses on the counter. The air, which hours before had been electric with desire, was now stiff with a profound, unanswerable awkwardness.
Joo Won had called a taxi nearly forty minutes ago. The automated voice on the line had apologized; on Christmas Eve, every cab was booked. The wait was excruciating. They stood in the lavish lobby, not looking at each other, the only sound was the hum of the heating system and the distant, muted echo of their own breathing.
He wanted to break it. He wanted to see even a flicker of trust in her eyes. But all he could manage was a stiff, formal posture, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
Hana stared out the glass doors at the empty street, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her mind was a whirlwind—the feel of his lips, the story of a kidnapped boy, the chilling realization that her entire relationship with him had been orchestrated by her own father. She had kissed a stranger. She was confused as to how to proceed about this now. Was he really a different person or his mind is playing tricks on him?
Finally, the yellow light of a taxi cut through the dim morning. It pulled to the curb as an agent of relief.
"The cab is here," Joo Won said, his voice hoarse from disuse and emotion.
Hana nodded, still not quite meeting his eyes. She moved toward the door, and he followed to open it for her. The freezing morning air rushed in, a shock to the system.
She paused on the threshold, halfway between his world and her own. She turned back, her gaze finally lifting to his. The confusion was still there, but beneath it was a determined, solemn resolve.
"Joo Won-ssi," she said, using his real name for the first time. The sound of it was both a shock and a relief. "I meant what I said. I won't... I won't tell my father anything." Using honorifics unknowingly.
It was a promise.
He gave a single, tight nod with confusion with the sudden use of honorifics but he managed to say, "Thank you" using honorifics.
The moment was heartbreakingly awkward. They were two people who had shared a universe of feelings just hours before, now speaking to each other with the stiff courtesy of strangers, a chasm of terrifying truths and newfound caution stretching between them. With a final, unreadable look, she turned and hurried to the waiting cab, slipping into the back seat without a backward glance.
Joo Won stood in the curb, watching the red tail lights disappear around the corner. The cold seeped into his bones, but it was nothing compared to the icy fear in his heart. He had placed his life, and Ji Woo's, in her hands. And as he closed the door of the empty apartment behind him, he was left with nothing but the deafening silence and a hope as fragile as the dawn.