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# Chapter 194: What Her Heart Knows
Eun-seo listened to Min-jun’s words, and as his past unfolded before her, she finally understood what his name meant. Her heart began to race, her hands trembling uncontrollably. She had no choice but to take a step back from him—not just physically, but emotionally as well. The distant rumble of airplane engines from below only deepened the confusion swirling inside her.
She held his gaze. His eyes searched hers, his voice unsettling something deep within her chest. She couldn’t look away. His eyes had captured her completely, and she wanted to hear what they were trying to tell her. They seemed to read her very soul, revealing a depth of concern and understanding that made her breath catch.
“Min-jun,” she said softly, her voice wavering. “Why did you change your name?” She wanted to reach for his hand, to feel its warmth, but something held her back—a force she couldn’t name.
His name carried the weight of his past. In that moment, when she finally understood what it meant, she could see his history written across his face. His name was more than letters and syllables—it was the embodiment of his heart, his pain, his journey.
“I couldn’t use that name anymore,” he said quietly, his voice hollow. “I lost what it meant to me.” Sadness flickered in his eyes like a dying flame. As she listened, as she pieced together the fragments of his past, she understood. His old name wasn’t Kang Min-jun at all.
Sitting on the stairs together, Eun-seo felt the weight of his confession settle over her heart. She finally knew why he had abandoned his original name, why he had chosen to become someone new. And in understanding this, she understood him.
She wanted to take his hand. It looked like it could hold her, could steady her spinning thoughts. But she remained frozen, caught between the pull of her emotions and the fear of what it might mean to surrender to them. His eyes never left hers, his presence overwhelming her senses.
“Why that name, then?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. “Why did you choose it?”
Min-jun blinked slowly, as if the question had pulled him back from somewhere far away. “I wanted to start over,” he said. “I wanted to become someone new. Someone who could leave the past behind.” His voice carried the weight of a dream that had never quite come true.
As they sat there on those cold stone steps, Eun-seo felt something shift inside her. The truth of who he really was—who he had been—suddenly made sense. And in that understanding, her resistance began to crumble.
She looked into his eyes and saw not the man he had become, but the man he had always been underneath. A man searching for redemption. A man carrying scars that no new name could ever truly heal.
“I understand,” she whispered, though she wasn’t entirely sure she did. What she understood was simpler, more fundamental: she could no longer pretend that her heart wasn’t already his.