56. I'M IN LOVE WITH A MONSTER

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This is Jiwon

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This is Jiwon. This is Jiwon ― sounded in Jeongguk's head, and everything swirled around. Taehyung's voice seemed to come from the bottom of the well, and he felt as if he was drowning, unable to get to the surface to take a breath.

He looked from Lisa to Taehyung, eager to find answers to a million questions that literally flooded his mind in an instant, but was unable to form any logical sentences. All he managed to say was a pathetic-sounding denial:

"T-That can't be true..."

As soon as the words rolled out of his mouth, Lisa yanked her hand from the tattoo artist's hand and approached him. She grabbed his dark hoodie, pinching her fingers around it, and looked him straight in the eye.

"He's lying to you, Jeonggukie," she said quickly. "You know me. I am Lisa. I am your fiancée. We're getting married on Saturday..." She continued, but Jeongguk almost instinctively lifted his own hands, clamped them around her wrists, and pulled her hands away from him, freeing himself from her grip. He took a step back, creating more distance between them, as if he couldn't bear the closeness.

"P-Please tell me it's not true. It can't be true..." He repeated, feeling his body tremble with too much emotion.

"That's not true, darling," the girl replied. "He wants to turn us against each other. He is behind all this mess."

"Jiwon, stop lying!" The tattoo artist growled. "Stop lying. He deserves the truth."

"Look who's talking," The girl snorted, looking at the red-haired man. "I'm sure you already lied to him about me. You gave him your teary story about how your sweetheart abandoned you, huh?"

"L-Lisa... Is that true? Who are you?" Jeongguk asked.

The girl turned her face towards him again. For a moment, she just stared at him, as if wondering if she should tell the truth. She finally sucked in a gulp of air, trapping the oxygen in her lungs, finally parting her lips and confessing something she had been hiding for over three years.

"My name is Jiwon Lalisa Hwang. Manoban is my mother's maiden name."

Jeongguk parted his lips as if to ask a question, but was unable to say a word. He couldn't believe this was happening. How could he be so blind? How could he have been living with someone for the past three years without realizing that a girl was leading a double life.

"I was born and raised in Daegu, although my mother was from Thailand. I was still a small child when she fell ill and died. From then on, my father took care of me. Although, it's hard to call it "taking care of." My father was an alcoholic. Still is. Unless he has drunk himself to death. I broke off contact with him since I left for Seoul over four years ago," she began to narrate, finally breaking her silence.

"You said you grew up in an orphanage, and your adoptive mother died..." Jeongguk said, recalling the story the girl had told him and all her friends from the beginning of their relationship.

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