Unaware of the chaos unfolding inside, a nervous Chae Yul Li exited the hospital building and stood behind Jin Ho.
Oblivious to her presence, Jin Ho closed the back door of his car, having just loaded the prairie dog he’d brought along today into the backseat. His broad shoulders caught her eye. Just as he was about to turn and head to the driver’s seat, Chae Yul Li mustered the courage to speak up.
“Hello.”
She tentatively called out to Jin Ho, who was facing forward.
The last time they’d met was at a cafe in Gangnam. It had been well over a week since she’d last seen him. Jin Ho had intermittently reached out to her during that time, but Chae Yul Li, unsure of how to respond, had only read his messages.
At the sound of Chae Yul Li’s voice, Jin Ho’s shoulders flinched.
“Oh, Miss Chae Yul Li.”
The man, turning around, noticed her. A warm smile then spread across his face. Seeing this, Chae Yul Li stood quietly, watching him.
His masculine, sturdy body, his cleancut face, and the joy of meeting Chae Yul Li reflected in his dark eyes.
“I thought we wouldn’t meet even though I came all the way to Dolmare. You seemed busy. But we’ve met.”
She had been ignoring his messages for over a week. Despite this, there wasn’t a trace of anger or any negative emotion on Jin Ho’s face over her lack of response. Instead, he seemed genuinely happy.
The wind blew. His hair fluttered about. Amidst it, she could see his face, directly looking at her.
“I see.”
It was a relief she was able to stop him before he left. She had meant to say this, but Chae Yul Li licked her lips, not knowing why she had run outside and called for him.
“I… ”
Why did I run out?
Since she was a child, Chae Yul Li grew up under the somewhat intimidating presence of her father. What her father demanded, she did unquestioningly. The law of the country, even religion, was less scary than her father’s words.
Her first and longterm boyfriend, Woon Kyu, was the same. When they went out for meals, he always chose the menu first. If she wore an outfit he didn’t like, he’d take her to a clothes shop, buy her a new outfit, and make her change.
But…
Jin Ho was different.
Had it been Woon Kyu, there would have been a fuss if she took even ten minutes longer to reply to a message. He never did things like taking her coat at a restaurant or pulling out a chair for her. But for Jin Ho, all that seemed natural.
He never showed any negative expressions or behavior, and he was always warm towards her during their two meetings.
And so, it was difficult for her.
She couldn’t understand why he acted this way, and strangely, she suspected an ulterior motive was hidden underneath.
So, Chae Yul Li didn’t contact him. She thought it would be better to be with a man who honestly treated her badly. He was so different from the people she had met before that he made her feel uncomfortable.
But.
But why did she run out in surprise when she heard that Jin Ho had come to Dolmare? Why hadn’t she been contacting him all this time?
“Miss Chae Yul Li. Are you okay?”
When Chae Yul Li stood silent, Jin Ho tilted his head, as if something was strange.
“Is there something wrong?”
“No, I’m, okay. You must be mad I didn’t reply.”
“No, I thought you might be busy, so I felt sorry. I contacted you too often, didn’t I?”
“……”
Chae Yul Li’s daily life was always the same. She woke up in the morning, went to the hospital, and went home at seven. It was a normal life with nothing busy.
“No, it’s not that.”
“……”
Her lips were dry. Jin Ho was looking at her warmly. But why was she trying to say this? She could just ignore his contact. Why was she deliberately trying to hurt him?
“I, I think I won’t be able to contact you in the future, Jin Ho.”
The smile disappeared from the face of the man who had been warmly looking at her until a moment ago.
“Ah.”
A brief response. Chae Yul Li moved her lips difficultly once again.
“I’m sorry it turned out this way……”
When she saw Jin Ho’s disappointed face, even though it was an expected result, Chae Yul Li felt a prick in her heart. Perhaps it was because he was too good a person.
As Chae Yul Li bowed her head, Jin Ho raised his hand as if in difficulty and rubbed his chin. After rubbing his rough chin several times, he opened his mouth.
What should she respond? Even though she was the one who had blurted out something unexpected, she felt cowardly waiting for his response. The words that the man, who had been deep in thought, finally uttered were beyond her expectation.
“Miss Chae Rin, you’re such a wonderful person.”
“Huh? What suddenly…”
Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t done anything, but he called her a good person.
“There was no need to say it. But thank you for coming and saying it anyway.”
“Ah, no…”
She thought he was cruel, but the man thanked her tenderly instead.
“Is it because you thought I would wait for you?”
More than that, she felt that she had to say it for some reason.
Perhaps, he might be right. She wondered if he might be waiting for her call and thus she might have to hesitate longer.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
