Chapter 86: Dropping Bombs

"Uncle, this may be rude, but what did you want to talk about earlier?"

Halfway through the meal, Yeo Ri raised her head questioningly. She had almost forgotten that Heo Woo Seung had wanted to ask her something.

"Ah, yes..." He pursed his lips into a tight smile, "Don't worry about it. Finish eating first. You can take your time."

Heo Woo Seung hid his nervousness as he shifted in his seat. Yeo Ri was about to finish eating, yet he still did not have the guts to open his mouth. Sooner or later, he had to tell her the truth.

But he was scared. How would she react? Will she hate him? Will she look at him as if he was a b*stard? He was just too afraid to know.

The closer they were to finishing the meal, the more nervous he became. Thanks to that, he didn't even touch the food spread out in front of him.

Because there was just too much food, Yeo Ri was already full by the time she finished a bowl of her noodles and half a bowl of rice. There were a lot of leftovers left. Years of penny-pinching taught her not to be wasteful, so she felt that it was a pity that she didn't have a bigger stomach to consume everything that was left.

"Uncle, can I bring back the leftovers? It's a pity to just leave them," Yeo Ri requested.

"Oh, yes! Of course," Heo Woo Seung was snapped out of his thoughts and nodded towards the girl. "Go ahead," he says. He called for a waiter and instructed them to pack the leftovers.

"..."

The two waited in silence.

Yeo Ri looked at the older man with a curious gaze. She wondered what it was that he wanted to talk about. It must have been quite important, since he even brought her out to eat at such an expensive place.

"Uncle?" She urged the man to speak. "About the thing you wanted to talk about...?"

"Yes..." Heo Woo Seung grimaced. He wondered how he should approach the subject. She might be too surprised so he should just... take it slow. It wasn't that he wanted to hide it, but rather, he was afraid.

"How is Gun?" He started. "I heard he placed first again recently?"

"Yes. I'm very proud of him," Yeo Ri beamed.

"That's great," he smiled placidly. His heart thumped loudly. He really shouldn't dawdle.

"..."

Another bout of silence made its way into the room.

Yeo Ri was rather befuddled. Did he just take her out to eat to ask about Gun's performance in the recent exams? She had a feeling that that was not the case.

The waiter from before came back, and placed a paper bag filled with packed food containers at the side of the table. Heo Woo Seung stopped him before he exited the room, asking for the bill. He took out a credit card and passed it to the waiter.

This allowed them to have some privacy.

"Yeo Ri-ah, I..."

After struggling to arrange his words for a long time, he finally spoke.

"There's something you need to know."

Yeo Ri straightened her back. She felt like there was something foreboding about his words, and the man in front of her seemed to want to speak about something serious. She poured all her attention on the man.

Heo Woo Seung rummaged the inside of his suit coat and took out an object. He slid it on the table, showing her the thing.

It was a picture.

On the picture, a man and a woman stood next to each other, smiling to the camera. The woman held a bouquet of flowers, and the man looked at her with an affectionate gaze. The woman was strikingly similar to her, while the man had some resemblance to Jin Goo. Perhaps, in ten years or so, Jin Goo would have looked similar to the man in the picture.

"!" Yeo Ri stifled her gasp. She looked at the picture with an uncomprehending gaze. She reached out to touch it with trembling hands, intending to scrutinise it closely.

"W-what is this?" She was so shocked that she did not realise that she had dropped the honourifics, asking the man informally.

Heo Woo Seung looked away from the trembling girl with a remorseful look on his face. "You might not believe it, but... I am your father."