"That's not necessary." Lisa refused as soon as Sehun offered to help.
"There's no shame in asking. If you let the incident play out on its own, you will be harmed much more than them. Even if you decide to be unresponsive, they won't stop until they get what they want. They will keep trying to smoke you out. Instead of being so passive, we can work together and get rid of them."
"Mr. Oh is not dead yet, so no need to try to get ahead and start fantasizing," Lisa coldly reminded him.
"I know. This has nothing to do with Dad. Right now, he won't come out directly to deal with this and will only watch in the dark. I'm guessing this incident wasn't thought out by Sooyoung. Based on how brainless this incident is, it was probably done by Nancy."
Lisa thought so too, but she replied with silence.
Based on how the conversation between Nancy and her went down during the day at the hospital, Nancy would have the biggest motive.
By going public with such a scandal, it would bring a lot of hardship onto Lisa's daily life. They were also using the power of the negative press to force Lisa to make a decision.
She could either go back to the Oh family and accept her identity...
Or leave the Oh family, and never go back.
Initially, it was easy for her to choose. But now, Mr. Oh was rumored to be gravely sick. People would label her as an ungrateful and vicious daughter if she ruthlessly refused to go back.
Lisa knew that this was a trap. The road ahead would be difficult regardless of what she chose to do.
Not to mention, she was powerless compared to Nancy and her family. She had no resources or networks.
Unless Jungkook would make his move...
But she really didn't want Jungkook's help. She had always considered herself to be strong and self-sufficient, and she couldn't possibly always live in the safe bubble that Jungkook provided for her.
"No good will come out of it for Nancy. I'm not that weak, and I won't give up easily. It's too early for them to think they've won. I still have undealt cards."
"Nice. That's very brave of you. There's no comparison between you and Nancy. If we're speaking of pure intelligence, just based on weight, your brain would be heavier than hers by three pounds. However, this incident has brought on a lot of trouble for you. Just like last time, you will be living under the scrutiny of the public eye even though you are not a public figure, which is completely unfair to you."
In reality, Sehun felt a little sorry for Lisa, for he knew that she didn't live much of a good life all these years.
He had always wanted to help her, but she would always push him away.
"Fair? Young Master Oh, do you know how hilarious you sound for saying that? There's no such thing as fairness in this world. Nancy is also an illegitimate child, the same as me - born from a mistress. Yet, she lives a life of abundance as if she deserves it, and me? I've lived with nothing all these years, nothing except for ridicule and abuse. So, where is the fairness you are speaking of?"
"If that's the case, you should take revenge. Give the people that started this a taste of their own medicine."
"I'm not interested in revenge, but I will teach Nancy a lesson or two for sure. However, I won't cooperate with you. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I won't be involved in your family feud, so don't try to recruit me."
"I've said nothing of it so far, so you don't need to worry," Sehun chuckled. He found it interesting that Lisa could be so silly and cute at the same time.
"If you have no other business, I'm hanging up."
"Lisa." His voice was suddenly soft and tender.
Lisa listened in silence...
"Lisa, if you can't take it anymore, you can come to me, and I will definitely help you. You shouldn't expect much from your Jungkook. Don't put your hopes on someone who has abandoned you before. Do you understand?'
Lisa hung up the phone as soon as he finished speaking.
No wonder Jungkook called him a weirdo, he indeed had a sick brain.
She wanted to correct him that Jungkook never abandoned her, it was her who broke up with him seven years ago.
Seven years later, it was Jungkook who took the initiative and steered this relationship back onto its track. Jungkook never owed her anything.
There were too many external factors and obstacles between them... and that was why they hadn't been able to live the life they wanted together.
Late at night, Jungkook came home from working overtime. He walked into the bedroom and noticed that Lisa was deep asleep.
He stared at her beautiful face and kissed her forehead gently.
Lisa turned around and tightly hugged Jungkook by his neck...
Jungkook was startled, he thought she had woken up but found no movement after a while.
He looked down and found her still deep asleep.
How calm was his wife to be able to sleep when things blew up like this? He sighed and wondered.
For Lisa to be sleeping so soundly, she definitely had to be pretty mentally strong.
In the end, Jungkook laid down beside Lisa and wrapped her in his arms like a precious treasure, unwilling to let go for even a second.
"Don't worry, no one can harm you." Jungkook's voice was soft and raspy, filled with infatuation and love.
As if she sensed something in her dream, Lisa buried her face deeper in Jungkook's chest.
Jungkook lifted his arm to untangle and straighten out her hair. He was very gentle, scared to wake her.
*
The next morning, Jungkook left early as he had to drive out for an off-site visit.
By the time Lisa woke up, Jungkook was nowhere to be found, but breakfast was prepared and ready.
Sometimes, she felt that they were living together like roommates.
Sometimes, they would go days without seeing each other. How could they enjoy their newly-wed romance when both of them left early in the morning and came home late at night?
She thought to herself as she took a sip of milk and sent a WeChat message to Jungkook.
"Your whereabouts lately have been strange. Are you cheating on me? Do you have yourself a sugar baby or two?"
Jungkook's reply came in just as she was putting down her phone. It was an instant reply.
"If I did, what would you do? Would you be mad?" Jungkook asked back.
Lisa couldn't tell his tone through the text, so she couldn't identify if he was kidding or half serious.
"As long as I, the empress, never dies, they will only ever be concubines."
"I thought you would divorce me and let me go," Jungkook replied to her after a while.
"Is that what you want?" Lisa asked carefully, probing for his reactions.
"No, I won't divorce you. Even if the day comes where you no longer love me, I still won't divorce you. I've been captured by one person this whole life, and that person is you."
Initially, she was just kidding around. Now, Lisa didn't know what she should do after hearing such an affectionate confession.
She couldn't help her heart from speeding up like crazy. Her face felt burning, and for a moment, she felt like a teenage girl who was getting asked out for the first time.
"Ha, I'm just kidding! Why would I divorce you, you've invested so much in me. It would be a big loss to get a divorce. Oh right, you've been really busy recently! Did you eat breakfast yet? Don't just worry about me, take care of yourself as well."
Lisa quickly changed the subject...
"There's been a complicated case at work, I need to visit the site daily and attend meetings."
"Okay, it's about time for me to go to work too."
Lisa went downstairs and drove to work after she finished messaging Jungkook.
She was careful to avoid the many reporters waiting outside the hospital.
- Inside the nurses' on-call station -
Many nurses crowded around Lisa. Out of the crowd, Soojin was closest to Lisa, so she asked curiously, "Lisa, is what the press saying real? Are you really Oh family's daughter? Oh my god, you're a billionaire's daughter then, aren't you??"
Lisa bit her lips and smiled out of awkwardness. She didn't acknowledge the situation nor did she deny it.
"Doesn't that mean you're Oh Sehun's little sister? Oh my gosh, you're so lucky! Do you have his phone number? What about his Wechat ID? Give it to me!!" The nurses excitedly crowded closer to Lisa.
Lisa didn't know what to say, "Sorry, I don't. I never contact him."
"Lisa, if you're really a member of the Oh family, why are you out here being a nurse? The Oh family is so rich, you should be a socialite like Nancy!"
Women always liked to gossip, but Lisa didn't want to answer the questions that were being asked.
"Don't you all have work to do?" Head Nurse walked over.
"Head Nurse." The nurses stepped back as they were afraid of her.
"Get back to your stations, you are all at work right now." head nurse used her authority to immediately disperse the crowd.
"You okay?" she glanced at Lisa and asked gently.
"Yes, Head Nurse, I'm fine."
"If you need the day off, just let me know."
"It's okay, I'm fine."
"Okay, I feel much more relieved seeing that you're okay. However, Young Master Park's situation is not so well. He's kicking out all the other nurses. He hasn't had his medicine for a couple of days, nor did he have any transfusions done. Even the reassessment has been canceled. I believe the situation would be much more different if you were to tend to him. After all, you're the only nurse that was successful in giving him injections."
"So I'm guessing you want me to go and take care of him?" Lisa didn't feel like going.
"I'm just mentioning the situation to you, and it's fine if you don't want to." Head nurse was a smart cookie, she knew better than to play hardball.
Lisa felt a little guilty and embarrassed after hearing what she said.
"I will try my best to help out." Lisa buttoned up her uniform and walked over to room 1 with the medicine.
The bodyguards were thrilled when they saw Lisa, because they noticed that she was the only nurse capable of handling their boss.
Jimin was reading the newspaper when Lisa walked in; he looked rather serious.
"Get the hell out," Jimin said without glancing at the door, he thought the woman at the door was one of those social climbers.
Lisa walked over without a sound, turned open the medicine bottle, held out a couple of pills and said, "Fractures take about a hundred days to heal. It's not that big of a deal since you only tore your ACL, but it's not something that should be overlooked. You need to take the medicine and get reassessed."
Jimin looked up upon hearing Lisa's voice, his eyes glimmered with the slightest amount of happiness.
"Should you really be worrying about me? Did you take care of your own business already?" Jimin purposely asked with a straight face.
"Should a man really be so interested in gossip?" Lisa crossed her arms and asked Jimin.
"How is this gossip? Didn't this news shake up the entire city? How are you taking care of it?"
"How I take care of it is my business, you don't need to worry about it. Hurry up and take your medicine; I need to go play chess with the grandpa next door. Stop wasting time, everyone's very busy."
Lisa nagged impatiently, causing Jimin to not know whether he should cry or laugh...
He wanted to ask if the grandpa next door was really so charming that she would rather go play Chess with him than take care of a rich young man?
"Is it Chess? I know how to play too, wanna play?"
"No," Lisa rejected him directly.
"Why not?" Jimin asked.
"Because staring at your face for a long period of time gives me depression." Lisa turned on her heels and left.
"You….?" Before Jimin could say anything, Lisa interjected, "Take your medicine."
She then shut the door with a loud bang. Jimin glanced over at the tray that contained the medicine and water, furrowed his brows, and took it.
This woman had a special charm about her that made him want to listen to her.
She was much better than those women who approached him with other motives, even though she only cared about him because it was her duty. But also, he was very interested in how Lisa would handle this whole illegitimate child incident.
Lisa didn't go straight home after she got off work. Instead, she went over to the Asan medical center.
Inside the VIP room, Mr. Oh was not surprised to see Lisa walk in.
"You're here?" He glanced over at Lisa, his expression complicated.
"Mr. Oh, I need to speak with you privately," Lisa glanced at Hyunjae, who was also in the room, and said.
Hyunjae was not happy and sneered, "If you have something to say, just say it. I'm not an outsider; I'm dad's son, unlike you, you bastard child."
Lisa glanced at him coldly and replied, "As if you're not the child of a homewrecker as well."
"What did you say?" Hyunjae was the same as Nancy - uncalm, extremely arrogant, spoiled, and used to getting his way.
Upon hearing what Lisa said, he immediately burst out in anger.
Luckily, Mr. Oh raised his head and stopped their banter. "Hyunjae, go outside."
"Dad…?" Hyunjae was clearly unwilling.
"It's fine, I also have some things I need to talk to her about." Mr. Oh's expression was serious.
Hyunjae glared at Lisa, and then he left the room unwillingly.
Mr. Oh glanced at Lisa and asked, "Did you come to find me because you think that I exposed you?"
Lisa shook her head, "No, I know that it was Nancy and you had nothing to do with it. I just have some things to say."
"Your mother was here this morning as well, it was clear that she was upset because she thought that it was my fault and that I wanted to force you to come back. She spent the morning yelling at me. Her temper hasn't gotten any better, it seems," Mr. Oh recounted the morning's events with a calm demeanor that suited his current age and status. After all, he was a businessman that had been through all sorts of hardship.
"I was not aware of that, she didn't call me. I'm just here to express my personal opinions today."
"What do you want to say?"
"I want to say… rather than hoping that I will help them, you should teach them to protect themselves. From what I see, with Nancy and Hyunjae's IQ, it won't be long before they die in Sehun's hands. If it weren't for you, they would have been kicked out a long time ago. Looking at the surface, what Nancy did doesn't benefit me, because everyone thinks that Mom only gave birth to me in an attempt to climb into the Oh family. But, that doesn't affect me negatively. In fact, I could take this opportunity to return to the family, but I wouldn't be the most trustworthy ally since they've already resorted to treating me that way. Do you really think I would still be stupid enough to help them? Furthermore, if anyone were to dig deeper into this matter, they will find out that Nancy's mother was the third person in your marriage with your legal wife, which will only harm their reputation. Only Nancy could do such a self-harming act. In fact, I'm pretty concerned for her IQ, so I'm telling you that you should discipline her more, or else the end result won't be pretty."
Lisa's words were like blades cutting through Mr. Oh's heart.
The pros and cons of the situation were clearly laid out, and since Lisa was a commoner to begin with, she would be the same no matter how many insults and abuse she endured.
But Nancy was different. If their dirty laundry was aired, she would fall from the status of a respected lady to the daughter of a homewrecker.
Not to mention that Nancy wasn't yet engaged, so this would definitely affect her future prospects.
Mr. Oh fell into a deep thought after listening to Lisa…
After a moment, he raised his head and asked her, "Will you not come back even if I beg you? Even if it's to help me?"
"What do you think?" Lisa laughed coldly.
"What if we were to make a deal? Relax, you wouldn't be doing this for anything. I can invite the lawyers to prove that the company shares I'm giving you are really yours, as long as you promise to stand by Nancy and Hyunjae. Those stocks are worth billions." Mr. Oh didn't believe that with Lisa's intellect, she wouldn't want any of his inheritance.
Lisa smiled, "Sorry, Mr. Oh, I'm in need of everything but money at the moment. To me, I would rather have you promise to make up for the 20 years of paternal love that I missed out on than the billions of inheritance money that you're offering."
Mr. Oh was feeling a little guilty. Paternal love? He didn't have any, he only ever favored Nancy and Hyunjae.
For some reason, he just didn't like Lisa, no matter how intelligent and shrewd he knew she was.
"Don't be conflicted, I'm just joking. Uncle Watanabe was great; he was actually like a father to me, so I'm not missing out on any paternal love. Okay, I've said my piece, this was just a kind-hearted warning, and it's up to you to listen or ignore it. There's one more thing I have to say."
"What is it?" Mr. Oh looked at Lisa in confusion.
"Your mistress and daughter are too aggressive, I think… it's time for me to strike back." At that, Lisa smiled confidently, then turned around and walked out.
Lisa's behavior was very calm and collected, and her words were full of logic.
Mr. Oh suddenly thought, if Nancy had even half of Lisa's maturity and intelligence, she wouldn't be in a situation where he had to worry about her on a daily basis.
Pity… It must be because of his previous sins.
*
That night, Lisa watched cartoons at home while eating chips, as calm as any other day.
Jungkook hadn't returned from work. Just then, her cell phone rang; it was Kai again.
Lisa watched it ring for a while before picking up.
"What is it?" She thought that he wanted to remind her of his wedding date with Krystal again. What a lingering bastard.
Surprisingly, Kai called to ask about something else.
He said, "Lisa, are you really related to Oh family?"
Lisa immediately knew what Kai was calling about. Smiling wickedly, she replied, "Of course, I even went to the hospital to find Mr. Oh today, and he kept yelling about giving me some shares of inheritance. I was thinking, what am I supposed to do with all that money, it's not like I'd ever finish spending it."
"Why didn't you tell me these things?" Kai's tone became a bit reproachful.
"You never asked me." Lisa found the situation rather funny.
"I really think we missed out on so much, my relationship with Krystal isn't what you think. I don't love her," Kai suddenly said.
Lisa nodded. "Yeah, you just want to have a baby with her, that's not love."
Such blatant mockery left Kai immediately speechless…
He said, "Lisa, do you still blame me for everything?"
Just as Lisa was about to say something, she heard the key turning in the door, and she immediately hung up.
As expected, Jungkook had come home…
"What are you doing? You're acting suspiciously." Jungkook could tell that Lisa was nervous.
"Um… Nothing." Lisa felt a bit guilty.
"I thought I heard you on the phone? Were you talking to that miserable looking ophthalmologist?"
"Are you Sherlock Holmes?" Lisa was exasperated that he could guess that.
(a/n- just finished watching Enola Holmes 2😉✌️ it is a good watch, better than the first I would say)
"So you did a terrible thing, are you going to apologize or what?" Jungkook removed his jacket, straightened his tie, and asked seriously.
Lisa immediately lowered her head… calculating her next move.
"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll go make it right now." In order to impress him, Lisa changed the focus to the dinner menu.
"Steamed Lisa."
Jungkook sat down next to Lisa on the sofa, speaking casually.
"Jung… Kook? Stop joking around." Lisa pressed her lips together and gazed at his handsome profile.
"If steamed is too much of a hassle, then how about dipped in wasabi, like sashimi?"
"Honey… don't be like that." Lisa finally decided to use her ultimate move against Jungkook.
107 days after getting their wedding certificate, at 7:25 PM, Lisa called Jungkook "honey" for the first time.
As expected, Jungkook's expression changed immediately, his pupils becoming deep and serene.