Jinyoung stood across the street long after Kyrah and Seojun disappeared into the apartment building.
He had imagined this moment differently.
For months, he had imagined finding Kyrah and saying everything he had been unable to say before. But he had never imagined seeing her smile like that.
Never imagined seeing another man standing beside her so naturally.
Never imagined seeing someone else know when she was tired, when she needed help, when she was pretending she didn't.
Seojun had taken the bag from her hand without making a big deal about it.
Kyrah had protested.
He had smiled.
She had laughed.
It was such a small thing.
But somehow, that small thing hurt more than anything Jinyoung had prepared himself for.
The look of them like that kept replaying in his head. He lowered his eyes.
His hands curled into fists.
He couldn't leave.
Not yet.
He needed to speak to Seojun.
A few minutes later, the apartment building door opened again.
Seojun stepped outside.
He had his phone in one hand and his car keys in the other. He glanced back toward the building before walking toward the parking area.
Then he saw him.
Seojun stopped.
Jinyoung stepped away from the side of the building and walked toward him.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Seojun recognized him immediately.
The man who had abandoned Kyrah.
The man who had walked away when she needed him most.
The man whose child she was carrying.
Seojun's expression changed, but he remained composed.
"Jinyoung."
Jinyoung gave him a cold look.
"So you know who I am."
"I know enough."
Jinyoung let out a humorless laugh.
"Do you?"
He stepped closer.
"Because from what I've seen, you seem to think you know everything about my life."
Seojun looked at him steadily.
"I don't."
"You certainly act like you do."
"I don't need to know everything about you."
That answer seemed to irritate Jinyoung even more.
"Then who gave you the right to involve yourself in my family?"
Seojun's jaw tightened slightly.
"Your family?"
Jinyoung's eyes hardened.
"Yes. My family."
He pointed toward the building.
"That's my child she's carrying."
Seojun didn't react.
Jinyoung continued.
"You may have convinced yourself that you're some kind of savior, but you're not. You don't know what happened between Kyrah and me. You don't know our history. You don't know what we had."
"I know what you did after you found out she was pregnant."
Jinyoung's face darkened.
"You don't know the circumstances."
"I know she went through it without you."
Silence.
Jinyoung scoffed.
"And now you're playing hero."
"No."
Seojun's voice remained calm.
"I'm not."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I'm standing beside someone I care about."
Jinyoung laughed.
"You care about her?"
"Yes."
"She's carrying my child."
"I know."
"And you're still here?"
"Yes."
Jinyoung stared at him as though Seojun had just said something ridiculous.
"There's something wrong with you."
Seojun said nothing.
"How can you do this?" Jinyoung continued. "How can you look at a pregnant woman carrying another man's child and decide you want her?"
Seojun's expression became colder.
"Be careful."
Jinyoung ignored him.
"You don't love her. You just want to take advantage of her situation. She's vulnerable, she's pregnant, she's alone—"
"Stop."
The single word was calm.
But it carried enough weight to make Jinyoung pause.
Seojun took one step toward him.
"Don't ever talk about her like that."
Jinyoung stared at him.
"You don't get to tell me what I can say about the mother of my child."
"I won't tell you what you can say."
Seojun's eyes remained fixed on him.
"But I will tell you that I won't stand here and listen to you reduce her to a situation you abandoned her in."
Jinyoung's face tightened.
"I never abandoned my child."
Seojun gave him a long look.
"You abandoned the woman carrying your child."
"That's different."
"No."
Seojun shook his head.
"It isn't."
Jinyoung stepped closer.
"I am still the father."
"I never said you weren't."
"Then stay out of this."
Seojun nodded slowly.
"I have no intention of taking your biological relationship with Peppa away from you."
Jinyoung's eyes narrowed.
"Peppa?"
Seojun didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, "That's what she calls him."
Something flickered across Jinyoung's face.
The realization that Kyrah had already given their unborn son a name.
A life.
A place in the world.
Without him.
But he quickly pushed the feeling away.
"He's my son."
"Then you should have thought about what being his father meant when you had the opportunity."
Jinyoung's expression hardened.
"You think you're better than me?"
"No."
"Then stop acting like it."
"I don't think I'm better than you."
Seojun's voice remained controlled.
"I simply don't need to insult you to make myself important."
That one landed.
Jinyoung stared at him.
Seojun continued.
"You came here because you saw Kyrah happy with someone else. You saw her moving forward, and suddenly you remembered what you lost."
"You don't know what I feel."
"No."
Seojun looked toward the apartment building.
"But I know what Kyrah feels."
Jinyoung's eyes followed his gaze.
"And what does she feel?"
Seojun looked back at him.
"She feels safe."
Jinyoung's face fell for half a second.
Seojun continued.
"She deserves that."
"You think you can give her everything?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"I think she can give herself everything she needs. I'm simply here because I want to be beside her."
Jinyoung shook his head.
"You really think she'll choose you over the father of her child?"
Seojun didn't answer.
Because he didn't need to.
Jinyoung's frustration grew.
"I'm not giving up."
Seojun looked at him.
"That's your decision."
"I'll keep fighting."
"Then fight your own battles."
Jinyoung frowned.
"Stay away from Kyrah."
Seojun's expression barely changed.
"You don't get to give me that order."
"She's mine."
Seojun's eyes hardened.
"No."
Jinyoung froze.
"Kyrah is not yours."
The words were quiet but firm.
"She never was."
Jinyoung swallowed.
Seojun continued.
"And neither is her future."
He turned toward his car.
Jinyoung called after him.
"You're making a mistake!"
Seojun stopped.
He turned around one last time.
"The mistake was made long before I met her."
Then he walked away.
He didn't argue.
He didn't threaten him.
He didn't claim Peppa as his own.
He simply left Jinyoung standing there with the consequences of everything he had done.
And somehow, that hurt Jinyoung more than an argument ever could.
---
The next afternoon, Kyrah's phone rang again.
She glanced at the screen.
Jinyoung.
She declined the call.
A minute later, it rang again.
She declined it.
Again.
Again.
Again.
By the fifth call, Kyrah sighed and placed the phone face down.
She had no desire to hear his voice.
Not after everything.
Not after finally building a life that didn't revolve around the pain he had caused her.
Her phone vibrated.
A message.
She opened it.
Jinyoung:
I'm coming to your company.
Kyrah's eyes narrowed.
Another message arrived.
Jinyoung:
You cannot make another man the father of my child.
Her heart sank.
She stared at the words for several seconds.
Then she typed.
Kyrah:
Meet me at the café near the office at 3.
She sent it.
Not because she wanted him back.
Not because she was afraid.
But because she was tired of running from a past that refused to stop knocking on her door.
---
At exactly three o'clock, Kyrah walked into the café.
Jinyoung was already there.
He stood the moment he saw her.
His eyes immediately went to her stomach.
Eight months.
Their child was almost here.
For a moment, something emotional crossed his face.
Kyrah saw it.
She felt nothing.
She sat down.
"You wanted to talk."
Jinyoung sat opposite her.
"I wanted to see you."
"You've seen me."
"Kyrah..."
"No."
Her voice was calm.
"If you brought me here to apologize again, say what you need to say and let me go."
He stared at her.
"I made a mistake."
Kyrah said nothing.
"I know I did."
Still nothing.
"I was scared."
She looked at him.
"You were selfish."
He flinched.
"Yes."
"You abandoned me."
"I know."
"You left me to deal with the pregnancy alone."
"I know."
"You made me believe that I had to survive without you."
"I know."
"Then what exactly are we discussing?"
Jinyoung leaned forward.
"I want to fix it."
Kyrah almost smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was unbelievable.
"You can't."
"I can try."
"No."
"I'll spend the rest of my life trying."
"You shouldn't."
"Kyrah, please."
He reached across the table, but she moved her hand away before he could touch it.
Jinyoung's eyes filled with desperation.
"I love you."
Kyrah looked at him for a long moment.
"I should have told you this a long time ago."
"Then tell me."
"I don't want you back."
His breathing changed.
"I know you're angry."
"I'm not angry."
"Then you're hurt."
"I was."
He stared at her.
"And now?"
Kyrah placed one hand gently over her stomach.
"Now I'm healed."
Jinyoung's eyes followed her hand.
"You can't just erase me."
"I don't need to erase you."
"Then let me come back."
"No."
"I'll do anything."
"You should have done anything when I needed you."
He lowered his head.
"I was wrong."
"Yes."
"I was afraid."
"Yes."
"I listened to the wrong people."
"Yes."
"I regret it every day."
Kyrah's eyes softened for only a moment.
"I believe you."
Hope appeared in his expression.
Then she continued.
"But your regret doesn't create an obligation for me."
The hope disappeared.
"Kyrah..."
"I'm never going back to you."
He shook his head.
"You can't mean that."
"I do."
"After everything we shared?"
"I remember it."
"Then you must remember that you loved me."
Kyrah looked directly into his eyes.
"It was never love."
Jinyoung went completely still.
She took a breath.
"I thought it was love because I was young. I was naive. I believed that loving someone meant trusting them completely, giving them everything, and believing they would protect what you gave them."
Her fingers rested against her stomach.
"I was wrong."
Jinyoung's voice broke.
"But you loved me."
Kyrah looked at him one final time.
"It was never love, Jinyoung."
She paused.
"I was naive."
the woman sitting across from him was no longer the woman he had left behind.