Chapter 114.1

Chapter 114.1

André couldn’t get a word out and stayed silent for a long while.

There had been a time when he’d mistaken himself for the most important person in her life. He had believed in the blind devotion she’d shown him and acted arrogantly.

He was the one who failed to protect the love he’d received so wholly. There was no one to blame but himself.

He felt chilled to the bone as he sensed, unmistakably, that while he couldn’t live a single day without her, she could live just fine without him.

‘If only I had forced her to become my mistress…’

André squeezed his eyes shut. If she had struggled to hold on to her proud and selfless love for a man as arrogant and selfish as him, she would have discarded him without looking back the moment she saw the bottom of that love.

He let out a breath of relief. For now, even if it was pity, she at least looked at him with a faint warmth.

“I hope the surgery goes well and she recovers in good health.”

“Thank you.”

Miran’s eyes filled with tears in an instant.

Back in New York, whenever she talked about Juran, she had worn that same tender expression. He had thought they were an unusually close pair of sisters, but she was actually her mother.

She was not the kind of woman who would choose love over an ill mother. He accepted it humbly. If he tried to compete with Juran for Miran’s affection, he stood no chance.

André swallowed a bitter breath.

“And besides that, what else.”

He wanted to hear every reason she couldn’t stay by his side. He needed to understand the problems before he could fix them.

She glanced sideways at him, then quickly turned her gaze to the vase. André found himself pathetically jealous of that d!.mned yellow flower simply because it held her eyes.

Miran parted her lips as if to speak, then closed them again, her fingers unconsciously interlacing. It was a habit she had when nervous. The night he told her he would marry Lorraine, the back of her sleeping hand had borne crescent-shaped marks where her nails had dug in.

He wanted nothing more than to gently ease her clenched hands apart. But if he reached out too hastily, she might recoil in alarm. And if he held her hand, he wasn’t confident he could let it go.

After agonizing for a long moment, Miran finally blurted out the one thing that had hurt her the most.

“When I’m with you, people look at me like I’m some sugar baby or an escort, or at best some girl paid to date.”

“…What?”

Even André couldn’t hide his shock this time.

“Who said that garbage. And more importantly, why didn’t you tell me.”

Miran muttered bitterly.

“How could I bring up something that humiliating. And it’s not like you can change what they think. If I’m with you, you might look like the kind of low man who keeps a girl like that. I was more scared you’d notice those looks. And maybe… maybe that’s why you never took me out on dates. Back then, honestly, it hurt.”

With her head bowed low, Miran unclasped her fingers and this time gripped the tablecloth hard, as if she’d tear it.

André let out a breath that sounded like a groan and rubbed his face. He had always been indifferent to how the world saw him. He had never been discriminated against, had been respected everywhere he went, and had never needed to read the room.

So he hadn’t realized it. The woman who stood beside him smiling happily had been enduring those revolting stares all alone.

He’s not our kind, André.

Grace’s voice rang in his ears. Twenty years ago it had only felt vaguely unpleasant. Only after meeting Miran did he understand just how unfair and cruel those words had been.

He couldn’t remake a world full of prejudice. But he could protect her from it more actively. He should have done that from the start.

“Don’t let those worthless words bother you. You’re the most dignified, graceful, and beautiful person I know, inside and out.”

Miran’s head snapped up. André’s eyes were steady and serious as they looked at her. Her nose stung, and she quickly lowered her gaze again. He continued quietly.

“I should have paid more attention. I’m sorry.”

Her cheek twitched as if she were holding back tears.

He wanted to cup her face and kiss the corner of her eye, but he forced his hand down, resisting the impulse.

“And… I didn’t avoid going out with you on purpose. I liked having you in my space. Every night after work, coming home to where you were, it made me happy. I thought you were satisfied the same way I was. That was selfish.”