Jo-Pil did have an accident five years ago and it left him in a coma for two months. The back of his head had been operated on twice to save him from danger but after he woke up, his memories were all mixed up.
He thought his mother, who had died ten years ago while he was still young was alive and looked everywhere for her. His father, who had been working under one of the four great families, had also passed away during the accident, but his memory was that his father had passed away when he was young, and the one who had been taking care of him was his mother.
His mind was in chaos.
To top it up, he received a notice for loans that he had never once taken. His elder brother took loans in Jo-Pil's name with the guise of paying for his medical bills but what he took was ten times what was covered for the medical bills.
He ran away with the money, leaving his younger brother, who had just come back from the hospital, to pay off those loans.
It was a nightmare.
Just where was he going to find a billion won that had a high interest rate of more than a million a month? His brother had taken money from different loan sharks which amounted to that one billion won.
Even if Jo-Pil worked from that point till his afterlife, he wouldn't be able to pay off the principal or the interest, so he decided to just run.
But no matter where he ran, they always found a way to track him. On top of the confusion of his messed up memories, he needed to find a way to survive.
Along the line, he discovered both his parents were dead, putting him into despair. He didn't have a reason to live anymore but for some reason, he couldn't die either.
He couldn't remember clearly but there was something he needed to do. Something that collided with the time of the accident. It was so important that it was stopping him from taking his own life.
At last, they caught him after five years. By then, the interest had accumulated more than a hundred million won. The best way to get their money was to sell him off to an auction.
And they were in luck since he was an Omega who was rare to come by and a special breed with a high breeding rate. If they sold him to the rich, they would definitely get their money back in five folds.
And that was how Jo-Pil ended up at the auction house where only rich people went to spend on useless trivials with a starting bid of 500 million won.
Ki-hoon stared at the scar that had no hair on the back of my head. It was easy to cover up such a scar with my hair but if I wanted to show it to someone, I just needed to part the hair at that side.
Jo-Pil had been operated twice on that spot in order to save his life.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ki-hoon who was struck with disbelief.
Yeah, that was the reaction I was hoping for. You feel guilty for doubting me now, right?
Now, I'm going to use this to my advantage.
"The doctors told me my brain took a lot of damage, so a lot of my memories were messed up, and most of them lost. He also told me that I should refrain from anything that could stimulate fear to a great degree. But I've been living in fear for as long as I can remember and nothing happened, so..." I lowered my face sadly. "I wonder to what degree he was referring to."
I would win an Oscar at this point. I was so good. I was sure I had Ki-hoon in the palm of my hand Now, let's see how he's reacting.
"Um, sir, are you okay?" I asked, turning my head to see his expression, but he had this darkened expression.
It was scary and I looked away right away. Did I do it wrong? He wasn't going to hit me, right?
I said those things to make him get rid of any thought to force himself on me if I refused but it looked like it only got him angry instead.
What to do?
"So, you're telling me the reason you couldn't make it five years ago was because you had an accident?" He mumbled and I shut my eyes, silently sighing in relief.
I think he bought it. He was just thinking of something else.
Well, I knew how the plot went. I knew the pain Ki-hoon felt in his heart, the resentment he held towards Jo-Pil, and what that 'important' thing that made Jo-Pil keep living despite losing his memories was.
Yeah, you guessed it right. It was Lee Ki-hoon.
"Is... Is something wrong?" I asked him but he did not respond.
He was probably rethinking his life. He lived for five years with hatred and resentment alongside his love for Jo-Pil, but now that he had found out the truth, he was wondering what his years of resentment were for.
He worked hard just so he could catch Jo-Pil one day and get back at him for the hurt he caused but... To think he had been played.
Yup, the misunderstanding actually stemmed from Ki-hoon's jealous cousin, who accused Jo-Pil of playing Ki-hoon.
That very day, a rumor spread that Jo-Pil was, in fact, a gold digger who had used Ki-hoon as well as several other young masters for money.
Ki-hoon didn't want to believe it and called Jo-Pil but the person who picked was someone else. A man whose voice he had never heard of before.
And that man was Jo-Pil's neighbor.
In any case, things went south from there. Jo-Pil's father went to get Jo-Pil so he could explain everything to Ki-hoon before things got worse, but on their way there, they got that tragic accident.
Since Ki-hoon had not heard directly from Jo-Pil, he did not want to believe it. He did not want to believe anything, but then his cousin showed him a picture of Jo-Pil and another man fleeing the country when, in fact, Jo-Pil was fighting for his life in the hospital.
Such a drama, right? That misunderstanding was never cleared till the second half of the novel but I've cleared that now.
Ki-hoon will start to doubt the credibility of the picture his cousin showed him that day and why all that happened on the same day.
'He will probably look into what I've been doing for the past five years and what happened that day as well so I'm not scared. I told him exactly what had happened.'
"You can have dinner on your own," he said as he walked away without saying anything more.
I watched him leave and as soon as he was gone, I sighed and turned to the food in front of me.
"Well, we can't let the food go cold or go to waste so I'll enjoy it on his behalf."
I clasped my hands together.
"Thank you for the food," I said and started digging in.