When the Clock Strikes|Pi Han Ul x Reader|

(S02) Chapter 23

That I wasn’t the only one who remembered.

That I wasn’t the only one hurting.

I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes for just a second.

Then, when I opened them—

Han Wool was still there.

Waiting.

The words hung between us, heavy and suffocating.

He didn’t forget me.

He never did.

Then why…?

I stumbled back, my hands clenched into fists. The weight of everything—the lies, the silence, the years of agony—crashed down on me all at once.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracked as my vision blurred. “Why now? Why after everything—after all this time—are you telling me this now?”

Han Wool’s jaw tensed.

“I know,” he said quietly. “I know I should have told you. I should have—”

“Damn right, you should have,” I spat, the hurt bubbling up too fast for me to control. “Do you even understand what you put me through? I spent years thinking I was going crazy! That maybe I imagined everything! That maybe I was nothing to you!”

Han Wool took a step forward, but I took another step back, my hands trembling.

“Ye Na…”

“No!” I cut him off, my chest heaving. “Do you have any idea how much it hurt? Watching you stand there, looking at me like I was just some stranger? Like I was no one?”

His face twisted with pain. “I—”

“All those times we were together, Han Wool.” My voice wavered. “We’ve been alone so many times. You could have told me once. Just once.”

Han Wool exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “I know.”

I shook my head, trying to steady myself, but it felt impossible.

“Then why didn’t you?” My voice was barely above a whisper now.

Han Wool let out a slow, shuddering breath, looking at me as if he was searching for the right words.

And then, finally—

“I didn’t get the chance.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Chance? We’ve been alone so many times. We—”

“They’re always watching me.”

My breath caught.

Han Wool’s voice was calm, but his eyes—his eyes—were dark with something deeper. Something terrifying.

“There’s never a time when they aren’t watching.” He let out a hollow chuckle. “My mom. My dad. Harin’s mom. Harin’s dad. And more.”

I frowned. “More?”

Han Wool looked away, his jaw tightening. “There are some people. People my father has assigned to follow me.”

A chill ran down my spine.

“They monitor where I go, who I meet, what I say.” He exhaled, rubbing his temple. “The only time I ever got a moment alone with you was when we…kissed.”

My breath hitched.

He ran a hand down his face. “But I was so intoxicated by it, Ye Na. I swear, I wanted to tell you—I needed to tell you. But then I thought, maybe I’d tell you another time.”