The Mother Behind Him

Julian’s home was in an old demolition district.

Most residents had moved out.

The buildings were cracked, walls marked with large red demolition symbols.

I went there intending to meet his mother.

Instead, I heard them arguing before I knocked.

“What do you mean you’re giving up revenge?” a woman screamed.

Julian’s voice followed.

“I don’t want revenge anymore.”

“I want to marry Iris.”

“If this continues, she and I will never be possible.”

My heart skipped.

He would give up?

For me?

His mother laughed sharply.

“You know what her parents did to me!”

“They destroyed my life!”

“And you, my son, want to marry their daughter?”

Glass shattered.

“You disappoint me!”

Julian’s thoughts came faintly through the wall.

I’m sorry.

But Iris is my only sunlight.

Without her, I don’t know how to live.

I pressed my ear closer, barely breathing.

His mother raged after he left.

The things she shouted made my blood run cold.

She had once dated my father.

After they broke up, she waited for him to return.

He did not.

He met my mother.

They married.

So Vivian Yun hated my mother.

She said she sent thugs to ruin my mother.

But the thugs turned on Vivian instead.

She became pregnant.

She never knew who Julian’s father was.

She called him cursed.

A bastard.

A tool.

All these years, she had told Julian that my parents caused her suffering.

She raised him on lies and hatred.

And he believed her.

No wonder he wanted revenge.

No wonder he was so controlled, so careful, so desperate to plan every step.

He had never been a son.

Only a weapon.

I left quietly, shaking.

For the first time since everything began, my anger toward Julian softened into pain.

He had lied to me.

Used me.

Nearly destroyed my family.

But he had also been used from birth.

That did not excuse him.

But it explained the wound.

I copied the recording that night and ordered a full investigation into the past.

One week later, Father was discharged.

He told me Julian had resigned.

Returned the thirty percent shares.

Completed every handover.

Confessed he was not Father’s son.

Father, surprisingly, was not angry.

“He stopped before real damage was done,” Father said. “That takes character.”

I frowned.

Something was wrong.

If Julian truly gave up, he would not give up me.

We rushed to his apartment.

The place was destroyed.

Broken glass.

Blood on the floor.

And in the middle of it, a bloodstained diamond ring.

My heart stopped.

Then I heard it.

Faint.

So faint it was almost not a thought.

Has Iris married someone else?

I have no chance now…

“Dad,” I whispered, running toward the door. “He’s nearby.”

Outside, near the entrance gate, Julian lay collapsed on the ground.

Blood soaked through his shirt.

I dropped beside him.

“Julian!”

His lashes trembled.

But he did not wake.

Father called an ambulance.

I held Julian’s cold hand and shook so badly I could barely breathe.

“Idiot,” I whispered. “I said I would marry someone else to scare you.”

“I never meant it.”

“I love only you.”