A Long awaited Meet

Theron Cox was a man famous for being self-made.
Just from the way he spoke, as if casually letting things slip, one could tell he had lived a difficult childhood.
However, she did not know that his life was so dark that he would describe it as terrible.
People usually only talked about his decent appearance or outstanding abilities.
Selene’s lowered gaze, as she aimlessly tapped the keys, gradually settled.
Suddenly, she thought that she and he still had a lot to learn about each other.
Even though she had kissed Theron several times and even slept with him, it was like she couldn’t say she knew him well.
Hmph.
As her thoughts reached that point, a short sigh escaped Selene’s lips.
Until now, she had never thought of wanting to know Theron.
Theron was a being of necessity to her.
And he had accepted that.
But now, she couldn’t understand why her mind was becoming as messy as an untidy space because of that man.
‘Is it because Theron Cox is my precious observation subject?’
In the confusion of emotions she herself didn’t understand, Selene felt a growing sense of apology.
She was not the type to regret what had been done, but if she had deeply poked at Theron’s pain that she didn’t know, it might have been her fault.
Selene, with her eyes cast down and her gaze vacant, pressed the ‘D’ key with one finger.
Ding.
The sound, which she had thought resembled autumn, sounded particularly lonely today.

‘I thought the day was going well, of all things.’
That was Theron’s impression of the day he had met the long-awaited Selene.
It wasn’t bad that Selene, who had said she had no time, had suddenly called him to the zoo.
Even while a crude jealousy welled up at the thought that he was less than a mole at the zoo, Selene’s face, which he hadn’t seen in a long time, was as pretty as if it were polished.
It wasn’t just that her face was pretty, it was just… he didn’t know.
Selene’s features hadn’t changed, but that day, she had particularly stolen his gaze.
In fact, it didn’t just stop at stealing his gaze; from the moment he met Selene in front of the main gate that day, his heart pounded so fast that he felt like a sick person.
His heart had always pounded out of control when he was next to her, but this was as if he were a crazy fan of a famous movie star.
‘Why do I keep trembling like this?’
Looking back, this symptom had worsened since he had slept with Selene.
His heart had pounded as if it would burst throughout the act, and his fingertips had trembled.
Theron thought he had spoken a little more bluntly than usual to pretend he didn’t notice the trembling.
Nevertheless, that day was generally fine.
Walking through the deserted weekday zoo hand in hand with Selene, watching her laugh with delight at the ugly mole, and getting lost in her face, for the most part.
Every time Selene called him Theron, Theron, he had to struggle to erase the lewd fantasy of the moment in bed when she had urged him on with an aroused face, but by now, getting an erection over nothing when it came to her had become somewhat of a daily routine.
But the problem started from there.
From the moment he saw the crying child and the mother comforting the child.
‘I should have just pretended not to see.’
‘I shouldn’t have superimposed my past onto it.’
The countless regrets that followed now left a bitter taste in Theron’s mouth.
He couldn’t be more ashamed and wish to take back the way he had babbled on about the poverty Selene, who had lived in a different world, would never know, and acted as if he had shouldered all the misfortunes.
Even if he acted as if poverty had nothing to do with him, as if he were used to his current life, it would still be lacking for the daughter of a ducal family, yet he had even gotten angry that she didn’t know his wretched past.
Theron suffered from the aftermath of meeting Selene that day for the longest time.
Although she always swung him around in unexpected ways at unexpected times, this time he had stumbled on his own and fired off resentments at no one in particular.
He was so pathetic that he wished someone would hit him on the head hard enough to knock him out.
In his self-loathing, Theron couldn’t even send a letter to Selene for a while.
He had recovered quickly even when he was called a narcissist or a cancer of society, but this time, it seemed it would take time.
For a few days, Theron only worked inside his mansion, and after dealing with urgent matters, he would mostly drink himself to sleep.
But the more he drank the bitter alcohol, the clearer his mind became, making him realize things he didn’t want to.
For example, the reason he had been so angry at Selene for a moment.
Was that anger because he thought she, who would never know about poverty, dared to talk about loneliness in front of him?
Well, that was also true.
But what angered him more than that was the difference between him and her.
No matter how much he explained and tried to make her understand poverty, that woman, who could do nothing but pity him, was a noble lady who had probably never starved for a single meal in her life.
The more he recognized that difference, the more Theron felt suffocated.
It wasn’t that he was worried Selene would lose affection for him because of his poor past.
Selene was not the type to cut off a continuing relationship just because he was different from her.
She didn’t seem to care about such things either.
And yet, he couldn’t understand why he was so unable to get over that difference, and his chest felt tight.
Then was this an inferiority complex?
An inferiority complex about a past that could never be filled, no matter how much he worked day and night and earned money.
Theron cursed inwardly.
‘What does that damn inferiority complex matter in a relationship that will end someday anyway.’
It wasn’t as if he had to live with Selene for the rest of his life and envy her innate nobility.
But even with the reassuring assumption, Theron’s mood sank even lower.
It felt as if the place he had run to so hard ended in a cliff.
Even though the end of our relationship was already decided from the beginning.
‘I don’t know…’
Theron felt as if a tangled ball of yarn was rolling around in his head.
He didn’t want to think anymore, so he lay down on the sofa as if to let things be.
Perhaps because his brain was also soggy from the alcohol, he couldn’t distinguish what was right.
“Sir, sir.”
A shadow fell over Theron’s listless head.
Gary, who had come in without him knowing, was standing next to him.
“Later…”
“I’m sorry, but that later is now. You’ve already postponed it three times.”
‘Was there something I postponed three times?’
If he had his way, he would have wanted to postpone it a fourth time, but Theron also knew that he had only done the minimum amount of work for the past few days, so he silently got up.
“What is it?”
“This.”
Gary held out a letter.
“It’s a letter from Hadley Hospital.”

[It is time for the guardian’s consultation. We know you are busy, but we would appreciate it if you could take the time to visit.]

‘What a great timing.’
‘Around the time the red leaves are all falling. I know the day of the annual visit is approaching, but I had forgotten about it because of Selene’s matter lately.’
‘Of all days, the day I have to go see the woman who makes me curse my poor past more than anyone has to come.’
“You’re going to visit, right…?”
Gary asked cautiously.
Although he wanted to answer no, Theron knew that this was something he had to do obligatorily, just like handling company work.
A single duty that had to be done, no matter how much he hated and found it dirty.
Theron got up without tidying his messy hair, which was as chaotic as his mind.
“I’ll visit tomorrow. Postpone any scheduled company appointments.”

Since he couldn’t go to the hospital smelling of alcohol, Theron just had a simple meal that evening and went to sleep.
Although his head ached a little from the hangover, it could be said that he was in the most sober state compared to recently.
Still, perhaps because he didn’t seem reliable, Gary had said he would accompany him and drive, but Theron had refused.
‘What’s the point of several people going when the hospital room, where no sound can be heard, will just get noisy.’
Theron drove the car familiarly towards the hospital located in a remote part of Cantora.
Perhaps because it was a hospital for terminally ill patients, it was particularly quiet among the hospitals in remote areas.
As he walked into the white building, a nurse he knew recognized him.
“Mr. Theron Cox. You’re here for Ms. Rosina’s consultation, right?”
“Yes.”
At Theron’s answer, the nurse led him to the consultation room.
As he sat down, the nurse immediately spoke.
“I was worried you might skip the consultation this year because you seemed busy, but thank you for coming.”
‘Is it something to be thankful for, for visiting someone I’ve entrusted?’
Theron replied with a nonchalant look in his eyes.
“I will come every year during the consultation period, no matter how busy I am.”
“That’s a relief. Still, I’ll quickly tell you Ms. Rosina’s condition in detail. Recently…”
The nurse explained diligently.
Her pulse was this, her respiratory rate was that.
The nurse laid out detailed information that he hadn’t even asked for, in case the guardian was curious.
Theron, who had been listening listlessly, cut her off.
“To summarize, there was a seizure recently, but she’s stable now and there are no major problems.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The conclusion he wanted finally came out.
“You don’t have to explain any further, so I’ll just see her face and go.”
The nurse, while rolling her eyes at Theron’s unchangingly cold attitude, did not waste time and stood up.
“Yes, then. Please follow me.”
The nurse, who had left the consultation room, took Theron to a higher floor of the building.
With each step he took up the stairs, Theron felt as if a heavy, invisible weight were dangling from his ankle.
The closer he got to the destination, the hospital room, the heavier that weight became.
Finally, when he reached the hospital room, a heavy air pressed down on his chest.
The nurse, unaware of that fact, opened the door of the hospital room she had arrived at without hesitation.
He saw a woman lying in the white hospital room with a pale face.
“…”
Rosina Cox.
She was Theron’s biological mother, who had become a vegetable after a car accident five years ago.