SET IN STONE• (part-1)

Chapter 26

"I know I was wrong, Lis, I'm sorry, give me another chance, one last chance, okay? Let's not mention the past anymore, let's just stick to our original plan and get married, okay? I'll give you back your portion of the down payment on the apartment, you don't need to worry about the mortgage, and I'll let you drive my car. I'll transfer the ownership to your name, okay?"

"None of these were fundamental issues, Kai, we can't go back. I can't turn a blind eye to everything that happened. It's like if someone stabbed you, yes, the wound will eventually heal, but there would still be a scar. Do you understand?"

"I don't understand, anyway… I miss you, I want to be with you." Concluding his thoughts, Kai drunkenly threw himself at Lisa.

He roughly pressed Lisa onto the desk behind her…

"Kai, what are you doing? Let go of me!" Lisa struggled desperately.

But no matter what Lisa said, Kai ignored her and leaned down to kiss Lisa's lips.

At that crucial moment Lisa panicked and grabbed a porcelain pen holder from the desk behind her and smashed it on Kai's head.

With a crashing sound, Kai's movements came to a violent pause; his entire body froze.

Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, Lisa escaped from his grasp and fled away from him.

"Lisa, did you actually... hit me?" Kai laughed coldly, with a furious look in his eyes.

"Everything happened because of you, Kai. There... was no love between us, so there isn't any hate either. You've treated me with great kindness over the past few years, and I don't owe you anything as I have done my best to repay you."

"You don't owe me anything? when I was trying to win you over, I bought you a lot of things. Wasn't I the one who made sure you weren't cold and were well looked after? How can you say these things? Don't you have a conscience, huh? Did a dog eat it, you ungrateful woman?!" Kai covered his swollen forehead, sneering sinisterly.

Lisa maintained her calm demeanor, the gaze with which she used to look at Kai was now complicated, with an additional hint of sympathy.

"True, you did buy me a lot of things back then, but the combined cost of all those things was probably less than the amount I gave you to use as the down payment for the apartment. The apartment was purchased under your name alone, and since I don't want that money anymore, you can just call it even. In the end, who do you think really owes the other?"

"Fine, so even if you don't owe me from a monetary perspective, what about emotionally? Can you put a monetary value on that? Can you make up for all the emotional effort I've given these years?" kai roared.

Lisa smiled faintly after hearing his words.

"Kai, given how long we've known each other, you should know that I'm not a calculating person. But since you've brought this up, I might as well speak the truth. Honestly, you've been very good to me these past few years, but I haven't treated you poorly either. I often visited your parents, and when your relatives came to the hospital for treatment, not only did I pull connections to get them hospital rooms, I also watched and took care of them through the night. All this was for you, and most importantly... Kai, I'm asking you, if you didn't have me, would you be as accomplished as you are today? Do you think you would have successfully become a doctor at this hospital?"

"You... what do you mean?" Kai clearly felt guilty.

"My point is obvious. With your grades, you never would've graduated from medical school. I was the one who wrote your thesis, and because your thesis on techniques in ophthalmology was outstanding, the Asan medical center's Ophthalmology Department made an exception and accepted you. And even after that, for all these years that you've been on the job, every time you had to write a thesis or report, I was the one who wrote it for you. Isn't all that enough? Tell me, at this moment, what do I owe you?"