BENEATH HIS COLD EMPIRE

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(Jae-hyun's Monologue)

The hospital room was quiet.

Too quiet.

The only sound was the soft beep of the monitor, counting every second she was still breathing. Still alive.

Jae-hyun sat beside her, elbows on his knees, hands clenched into fists. He hadn't spoken since she fell asleep.

But the words were loud in his mind.

> "You still won't admit it…"

She had said it so gently. So painfully. Like she had already known what his answer would be — and hoped, just once, that she was wrong.

He stared at her face, pale but peaceful, bandages wrapping the side of her waist where the bullet had torn through her.

> "Why can't I just say it…?"

His heart felt like it was tearing itself apart from the inside out. And for the first time in years, Jae-hyun wasn't angry at the world.

He was angry at himself.

"You asked me if I liked you," he whispered, so soft that only the air could hear.

"I've been trying not to. Every time you smiled. Every time you talked back. Every time you refused to be scared of me…" His voice cracked slightly. "You made it impossible."

He exhaled slowly.

"I don't like you."

A pause.

"I'm in love with you."

He looked at her face again. She didn't move. Didn't wake.

And maybe that was for the best.

Because Jae-hyun knew — even if she heard him now, even if she felt the weight of his heart being dragged out of him in silence — he still wouldn't be able to say it when she opened her eyes.

Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

But here, in the shadows, with no one listening… he let himself feel.

Just for a moment.

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