His Special Someone

Just then, a child's voice came from outside the door. "Daddy, hurry up and come play racing with me! Mommy's so bad at this!"Shawn instinctively shot to his feet and called out in response. He was already heading toward the door when he turned back to me and said, "I'm only going to play with Neil for a while. He's a boy, so Jill—"I cut him off. "There's no need to explain. I trust you."He faltered. Then, he said, "Good. You should trust me."He opened the door and left.Jill's son, Neil Green, had started calling Shawn "Daddy" since his first day here. I'd expressed my dissatisfaction over this, but Shawn had merely snapped, "How can you be so unsympathetic, Jolene? Neil's just a child! It's sad enough that he's lost his father!"I used to get upset whenever I heard Neil calling Shawn "Daddy", but it didn't seem to bother me this time. I placed a hand over my heart and smiled. It turned out that I would no longer feel hurt once I decided not to love Shawn anymore.…I hear

I chuckled and said decisively, "I don't need it anymore. You guys should enjoy yourselves."After that, I hung up, not caring how Shawn would react.When I got home, I received an update from my workplace. My request to return to Summeria had been approved, and I had to hand over everything here as soon as possible before returning. This was the first piece of good news I'd received in recent days.I was organizing the digital documents I needed to hand over when Shawn returned. He was still mad about how I'd spoken to him over the phone, so he grabbed his clothes and headed to the bathroom to wash up without saying a word.By the time he came out, I was already in bed and ready to hit the sack. He stood by the bedhead and looked at me. I could sense the heat in his gaze even with my eyes shut. I was starting to get annoyed when my phone rang."Isn't it your birthday today, Joey? I've brought you some gifts the company prepared!" Tom's voice was particularly loud in the silence o

I looked down at my arm. It had been slashed open, and blood trickled from it. Neil stood behind me, his expression malicious as he swung a blade around."You're trying to kick us out, you evil woman! Go to hell, you bitch!" He slashed the blade in my direction again.I shoved him to the floor in defense. Shawn ran over to help him up. Then, he roared at me, "Have you lost your mind, Jolene? How could you attack a child? What does he know when he's so young?"I kicked all three of them out of the apartment, ignoring my wounds for the time being. Shawn and Jill didn't argue with me because they were worried about Neil. They took him to the hospital.I didn't know how long had passed before I headed to the hospital. The doctor told me off for not caring about myself when she saw that my wounds were no longer bleeding. She couldn't understand why I'd taken so long to seek medical help.As I left the hospital, I ran into Shawn and Jill. She held Neil in her arms. Shawn's gaze landed o

The shift in Jill's expression was interesting to watch. She went from disbelief to meaningful and pointed.Meanwhile, Neil looked happy. He held onto Shawn and tried to pull him out of the apartment, but Jill stopped him. She said, "Shawnie lives here. How about we head home first?"Neil immediately burst into tears. She hoisted him into her arms and left while dragging her luggage.I wasn't surprised by this—I'd long since known that Jill didn't have any feelings for Shawn. All she wanted was a place where she could live rent-free and take advantage of others. Shawn had served himself on a silver platter after learning about her and Neil coming abroad.After Jill and Neil left, it took Shawn a while to process the situation. He reached out to hold my hand and said, "I've already chased them away, honey. Can we just live our lives properly from now on?"He looked at me expectantly. I merely chuckled and pushed his luggage out the door. Then, I stood there and looked at him.He s

I figured I would never see Shawn again after that day. To my surprise and annoyance, he rented a place near Mom and Dad's home.Every day, he would place meals he'd prepared himself on our doorstep. Whenever Mom saw them, she would helplessly ask me what to do. I would glance at them before saying, "Leave them there. He'll drop by to retrieve the things."Shawn didn't seem bothered by my giving him the cold shoulder. He stubbornly continued preparing different dishes for me daily. He later evolved into including pastries with the meal.One day, I finally couldn't take it anymore and waited by the door for him to show up. His eyes lit up with joy when he saw me, and he hurriedly held out the food he'd prepared that day.He said cautiously, "I made steak and broccoli today, honey. I also made you some cream puffs. Why don't you try them?"I took the food, which pleased him even further. Then, I walked to a nearby trash can and threw the things inside after turning back to glance at