Deviant 1995 - Chapter 118.2

Chapter 118.2

Friday morning.

It was Juran who went into the operating room, but Miran’s limbs trembled uncontrollably. The intense anxiety she was experiencing for the first time in her life made the ground beneath her feet feel as if it were shaking from an earthquake.

Juran was her mother, her emotional refuge, her home. She could not even imagine a life without her.

André, who had been holding himself back from touching her, finally could not bear it any longer and pulled her into his arms. She went without resistance, clutching the front of his shirt and burying her face against his chest. Her tears streamed down silently, soaking his shirt through.

“André. If I lose my mom, I can’t, I really can’t live. What if something happens during the surgery…”

“Shh. It’s okay. It’ll go well. She’ll come through safely.”

When André cut her off, Miran lifted her head. He cupped her face and wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“…You really think so?”

“Yes.”

André’s dry delivery and unwavering certainty calmed her. As her sobbing subsided, the trembling in her body slowly eased as well.

Miran looked straight up at André. He met her gaze with the same unshaken eyes. The emotion he made no attempt to hide in his green eyes struck her chest hard.

At the most difficult moment, he stayed by her side quietly and steadfastly, without asking for credit, even after she had pushed him away again and again.

In that moment, Miran gave up resisting.

And she decided to let André back into her heart once more.

“Thank you, André. I’ll repay this kindness, I promise.”

Miran’s voice caught. André smiled softly.

“Alright. Spend your whole life paying it back.”

—

While Juran was in the operating room, Miran asked her questions, and Jeongseok began talking as if he had been waiting for the chance.

Juran submitting her resume to the publishing company had been a coincidence. Or rather, in Jeongseok’s words, fate disguised as coincidence. He had cautiously confessed his feelings shortly after Miran entered high school.

Juran had tried to make Jeongseok give up, even revealing that Miran was not her younger sister but her daughter. She also told him she had no intention of having any more children.

But he did not give up on Juran, and his sincerity eventually moved her heart.

She insisted that she had to support Miran’s studies until she entered college, so they did not actually start dating until after Miran was accepted into university.

“Back then, I was so worried you might not get into college,” Jeongseok teased Miran, half joking and half serious.

“Miran. Save your teacher this time too. Juran says she won’t live together or get married until you do, so I’ve been waiting fifteen years for you to get married. Don’t you think it’s about time?”

Jeongseok gestured toward André with his eyes and gave a playful wink.

The surgery ended after two hours. When the doctor passed by briskly with the words, “The surgery went well,” all three of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time. Even Jeongseok, who had been waiting anxiously, slipped a finger beneath his glasses and wiped away a tear.

Juran woke up and was transferred to her hospital room. When the doctor said the results were good and that she would not even need radiation therapy, everyone finally felt a weight lift from their hearts.

After that, André continued for two more days to drive Miran to the hospital every morning. In the late afternoon, he would come back to pick her up, feed her budae jjigae for dinner, take her home, and then return to his hotel.

Seeing the back seat of his car piled high with documents, it seemed he worked whenever he had even a spare moment.

Over the weekend, Yeongran and Geumran came to the hospital and greeted Jeongseok and André. Juran’s coworkers and friends also visited frequently, so the hospital room was always lively.

During the day, Miran stayed by Juran’s bedside, and at night she switched shifts with Jeongseok. As if the crisis had become a turning point in their relationship, Juran no longer pushed him away.

In the hospital lounge, holding a cup of vending machine coffee, Jeongseok confided his true feelings to Miran.

He said that this incident had brought the two of them closer, and that Juran also seemed to have finally changed her mind. So on the day she was discharged, he wanted to take her to his home and propose.

“Miran. I first met Juran when you were in your third year, and ever since then, she’s been the only one in my life. I promise I’ll make your mom happy for the rest of her life. So will you give me your permission?”

Miran nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

Until her mid-forties, Juran had never once lived a life for herself. For the rest of her life, Miran hoped with all her heart that Juran would live purely for herself. Not lonely, but happy, and healthy.

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