DAMIR
I don't know if Eli suspects anything.
He was sitting by the window when Lian gave me the signal. I could tell by the way Eli's shoulders dropped that he really thought his dad and Lian had left the estate for good. I had told him it was better this way, that some space would help everyone heal but even as I said it, I saw that flicker in his eyes. That quiet sadness. The kind that never made a sound but echoed all over the room.
He didn't know that everything had already been arranged behind his back. That Lian and I had been texting all night, coordinating this plan to distract him long enough so I could do what I needed to do.
Ask for his hand.
I waited until the estate gates closed behind their car, Eli tucked inside and none the wiser. Then I took a deep breath, stepped into the hallway,waiting patiently for lian to tell Juseon to sneak back into the mansion.
I texted him to meet me in my office instead. I didn't want to risk Eli seeing or overhearing anything. Besides, the office felt safer. Less vulnerable. Less like I was stepping onto a battlefield.
But my hands were sweating. My jaw tight. And I knew I'd never felt this kind of nervousness in years maybe not ever.
When Juseon arrived, he looked at me with mild suspicion but didn't question anything. He sat down calmly, hands folded, that calm, unreadable expression of his carefully intact. For a moment, neither of us spoke.
I cleared my throat.
"Juseon," I began, standing while he remained seated. I didn't even notice I was pacing until I caught his brow twitch slightly in amusement. "I, uh…"
God. I sounded like some teenager coming to confess he broke curfew.
"Can I just ask you to hear me out before saying anything?"
He nodded once, and I stopped pacing, standing right in front of my desk. I let out a shaky breath.
"I love your son," I said. "Deeply. Fiercely. In a way I never thought I could love anyone again."
His eyes didn't flinch. Didn't soften. But I saw his fingers curl a little tighter around each other.
"I know this isn't something you saw coming, not with me. And I can't blame you. I'm your best friend. But somewhere between protecting him and admiring him from afar, I fell in love and when I realized he felt the same way…" I swallowed, "It scared me, honestly. It still does sometimes. But the one thing I've never doubted was how much I wanted to be with him."
Juseon still said nothing. He was listening, but he was also analyzing. Always the careful one.
"I've made mistakes," I admitted. "Plenty. I've pushed him away when I was stressed. I let my fears get in the way of loving him properly. But I've never once stopped loving him. And I never will."
I looked him in the eye then, dropping all pride, all distance.
"That's why I'm asking for your permission… your blessing, really… to marry Eli."
Finally, he blinked. Sat back in the chair like I'd thrown something solid at him.
"Marry him," he repeated softly, more to himself than to me.
I nodded.
"I want to take care of him. Protect him. Make him laugh every day of his life if I can. I want to wake up beside him every morning and fall asleep knowing I'm beside someone I can fight for, someone who saved me in ways he doesn't even understand. I want to give him everything. Not just wealth….God knows he's had that….but safety. Peace. My entire heart."
The silence in the room was so thick, I could feel the weight of every breath. I didn't know if he was going to slap me or hug me.
Instead, Juseon slowly stood. Walked toward the window. Looked out.
"Eli's always been… fragile," he said at last. "He covers it with sarcasm, with that confidence he wears like perfume, but inside? He's soft. Easily wounded. That boy's heart bruises like fruit."
I swallowed down the knot in my throat.
"And I've been watching," he continued. "Watching you. Watching him around you. I've seen how he looks at you when you're not paying attention. Like you're the only safe thing in the world. And I know you are."
He turned to me fully now. There was no smile on his face. Just calm. But I saw the faint shimmer in his eyes, that quiet emotion always buried under years of steel.
"I'll give you my blessing," he said. "Because I know you love him. And because he loves you."
I let out a shaky breath, heart thudding like it had run a marathon.
"But Damir…"
"Yes?"
"Promise me one thing," he said. His voice dipped low, almost trembling. "Never make him feel unloved. Never let him question if he's enough. Not even for a second."
That was when my composure cracked. Just a little. My lips parted. I nodded once, firmly.
"I swear," I said, voice thick. "I'll die before I let him feel like that again."
Juseon nodded. And then, in the smallest gesture, he patted my shoulder once as he passed me by.
"You've got your blessing. Now go make him happy. He deserves it."
And just like that,I finally got his father's blessings.