When the Clock Strikes|Pi Han Ul x Reader|

(S02) Chapter 41

I stared out the window, watching fences blur by, houses still asleep, the occasional dog trotting through the fog.

We didn’t talk.

Not at first.

Then, after a long stretch of quiet, he cleared his throat. “Are you okay?”

I didn’t answer right away. My eyes followed the horizon, the pale sun trying to break through.

“No,” I said. “But… I can breathe. That’s new.”

He nodded slowly, but the corner of his mouth tugged downward. “Is this the only reason you broke up with me?”

I stayed silent.

His voice dipped lower, more serious. “Yeah. I figured.”

A pause.

“But Ye Na, that was stupid.”

I turned slightly toward him. “Han Wool—”

“No,” he said, a little sharper. “You thought ending us would stop everything from falling apart. You thought if you gave me up, things would fix themselves.”

His grip on the wheel tightened, knuckles white against the leather.

“This person who’s watching, who’s behind all of this—it’s not my father anymore. Whoever it is, they’ve got a reason. A sick one. And we don’t even know what it is yet.”

The morning light shimmered through the windshield, catching in his hair, turning his silhouette almost golden.

“Then why,” he asked, not looking at me, “did you even make that decision without me?”

The silence returned, heavy and brittle.

He breathed out. “Did you even sleep after breaking up with me?”

I looked down at my hand—resting limp in my lap. My fingers trembled just slightly.

He turned to glance at me.

“I know you didn’t,” he said quietly. “That’s why I asked.”

Something cracked open in me then. Something small, but deep.

“I missed you,” I whispered.

His shoulders tensed—but he said nothing.

“I missed you so much it made me hate myself,” I said, my voice trembling. “I told myself I had to let you go. That it was for your safety. For the mission. For everyone. But all I did was fall apart.”

My words tripped over themselves, raw and fast.

“I tried to sleep without you. Eat without you. Pretend I was okay. I couldn’t even look at my phone without thinking of you. And every time I saw your name pop up, I almost replied. Almost.”

My throat tightened. “But I was scared. That if I let you back in, I’d lose myself again. Or worse—I’d get you hurt.”

I looked up, finally meeting his eyes.

“I broke us thinking it was brave. But it wasn’t. It was fear. And I hated myself for it every day.”

He pulled the car off to the side of the road and let it idle.

The warmth of the sun spilled through the windshield, the morning completely awake now—yet everything still felt suspended.

He turned to face me fully.

“Then don’t do that again.”

His voice was low but firm.

“I don’t care how dangerous this gets. I don’t care what’s waiting for us. You don’t push me away again. You don’t decide for me. If I’m going down, it’ll be beside you—not without you.”