A Light Contract - Chapter 14

Baek Yi Hyeon’s gaze, voice, and words seemed as if he truly cared for a beloved partner. It almost felt like an illusion that only the two of them existed in this place.

Somehow, the gaze he directed at Yu Ra seemed passionate, and it didn’t feel like something fabricated just to convince the adults.

Clearly, my head understood, but my heart pounded as if it knew nothing. The thumping heart felt foreign, as if it wasn’t my own.

What was even more surprising were the adults who accepted that nonsensical logic.

“Well, if that’s what you say, let’s do it that way. What do you think, in-law?”

“Well, if that’s what they think.”

Yu Ra suddenly realized the source of Yi Hyeon’s confidence. She thought that perhaps he was so confident because he had parents who agreed with and supported his words.

While a person’s innate temperament is fundamentally important, the environment they grow up in and the home education they see and learn are equally important. For Baek Yi Hyeon, both nature and nurture were sources that nurtured his confidence.

“Then, we’ll take our leave first, with that understanding.”

At Yi Hyeon’s sudden announcement of departure, Mi Hee and Young Eun sent regretful looks. Yu Ra quickly got up to follow Yi Hyeon, thinking she could escape this uncomfortable situation.

Yi Hyeon, as if accustomed to it, placed his hand on Yu Ra’s shoulder and calmly uttered embarrassing words to the adults.

“Yu Ra is so busy that we don’t even have enough time to date.”

Yu Ra tried her best to smile naturally at Yi Hyeon’s words.

After excusing themselves from the adults and leaving the room, Yu Ra got into the car and asked him about the most shocking sentence from today’s meeting.

“I like cherry blossoms?”

“No, I do.”

Yi Hyeon swallowed the rest of the sentence, ‘you under the cherry blossoms.’ The moment that sentence came to mind, even he felt puzzled. He had seen Jin Yu Ra standing under the cherry blossoms in the courtyard long ago. It was true that he thought she looked pretty then.

But being pretty and being liked had different meanings. At least for Yi Hyeon, that was the case.

It was just a thought that occurred to him unconsciously, so he decided there was no need to put it into words. Moreover, he dismissed the idea that he liked Jin Yu Ra under the cherry blossoms as just an illusion created by this situation.

“That’s unexpected. That you like cherry blossoms.”

“How about a movie?”

Yi Hyeon threw out an unexpected question. Originally, he had gotten up early because of unfinished work. So he should have just sent Yu Ra home and gone to the company, but the word ‘date’ he had used as an excuse kept bothering him.

“Are we really going on a date?”

“Yes.”

He had never done it before, and didn’t want to either. But somehow, the thought of going on a date with Jin Yu Ra seemed worth trying. At least, the time spent with Jin Yu Ra didn’t seem like it would be boring.

With an absurd reason at the family meeting, the date was set, and time flew by quickly.

With Baek Jin Ho’s help, Yu Ra was temporarily excluded from the practice schedule with Oh Se Jin. Thanks to this, she could devote all her time to performance planning and wedding preparations.

They said wedding preparations required more attention than expected, but the reality was different. Once the big framework was set, the rest was coordinated and decided by the wedding planner and the two mothers, and all Baek Yi Hyeon and Yu Ra, who only knew about work, had to do was give final confirmation.

Unlike what they had heard from others, the wedding preparations were going incredibly smoothly until they hit a snag today.

“Didn’t you say you’d give me everything I want?”

Yu Ra, standing in a pure white wedding dress, was in a standoff with Yi Hyeon due to an unexpected difference of opinion.

“Don’t use those words here.”

“This is the trend these days.”

“I don’t like it.”

In fact, Yu Ra didn’t really know what the recent trends were either. She tried to persuade him by quoting what the staff who helped choose the dress had said, but it didn’t work at all.

She didn’t like anything too revealing, but the A-line dress with lace covering the upper body appropriately was neither too much nor too little, and she liked the clean finish that fell neatly without looking sloppy.

But Yi Hyeon opposed this dress. No matter what she said – it’s my style, it’s trendy, it suits me well – he kept saying ‘NO’.

“Then, try to convince me.”

Unable to persuade Yi Hyeon any further, she countered by challenging him instead. He let out a low sigh and then spoke to the staff who had been helping with the fitting.

“Could you leave us alone for a moment?”

“Yes, please talk.”

As the staff bowed politely and left the room, Yi Hyeon strode up to Yu Ra.

“Do you know who designed this dress?”

“The designer? No, I don’t. Is it because the designer isn’t famous?”

The designer’s fame wasn’t important. What mattered to Yi Hyeon was the existence of this designer.

Among the miscellaneous information he had gathered upon Oh Se Jin’s appearance, there was an interesting piece of gossip.

There was a secret scandal between Oh Se Jin and a woman called a rising star in the designer world, and the dress Yu Ra was wearing now was made by that woman.

IF Management had thoroughly silenced the matter, so the affair between the two wasn’t reported in the news, but it was already quite famous in that industry.

That wasn’t a big problem up to that point, but the backstory of that scandal was the issue.

This damn dress was the design she had intended to wear for her engagement ceremony with Oh Se Jin. When things fell apart between them, the woman commercialized it, and that’s how it came to Korea.

There was only one reason Yi Hyeon adamantly refused this dress. It was because it was connected to that bastard, Oh Se Jin. He didn’t want Oh Se Jin’s name to be mentioned in front of Jin Yu Ra’s name for any reason anymore.

“This designer has a bit of a bad reputation. I don’t like the idea of you wearing their dress and becoming the subject of gossip along with them.”

“Is that so? You should have said that earlier then.”

He thought she would scold him for caring about such things, but Yu Ra unexpectedly backed down easily.

Yu Ra readily complied with his words. She had no choice but to do so because her marriage to Baek Yi Hyeon would soon be reported in the news and spread everywhere.

Rumors were already circulating, but neither family had yet made any official statement. This was to prevent early news reports and journalists from following them around.

CH Group was a company that attracted a lot of public attention. How much more so for the wedding?

The dress she wore and the jewelry would also be a topic of much discussion. There was no need to become a subject of gossip because of a designer with a story.

Even without that, it was clear that the marriage to Baek Yi Hyeon would be tiring enough. He was a person with that much influence and impact.

Adding one more piece of gossip to that barrage wouldn’t make much difference, but it was an issue that could change Yi Hyeon’s reputation because of her, so she wanted to avoid unnecessary rumors.

If he had said so earlier, they could have avoided this useless argument, and it felt like they were wasting energy on unnecessary emotional consumption.

While Yu Ra was pondering which one to wear, Yi Hyeon rummaged through the prepared spare dresses and pulled out another one.

“This one.”

“This, this one?”

Yu Ra frowned at the long-sleeved bell-style dress made of satin material.

With a design that looked like it belonged on a little girl’s toy doll from the old days, the only decoration was the lace emphasizing the neckline. Although Yu Ra didn’t prefer dresses with too many decorations either, this was too far from her taste.

“Even though the cherry blossoms have bloomed, it’s still chilly.”

Thinking he might have chosen a long-sleeved design out of concern for the cold, she looked at him incredulously as he pulled out another dress.

“If you don’t like this one. How about this?”

Seeing a dress not much different from the first one, Yu Ra crossed her arms over her chest. The dresses he chose only considered the seasonal aspect. Looking at the second dress with long sleeves and a high neckline, she sarcastically remarked.

“If you dislike exposure that much, should we just wear matching tuxedos?”

“Don’t be sarcastic.”

“I’m not being sarcastic. It just looks too stuffy.”

Seeing Yu Ra’s indifferent reaction, Yi Hyeon looked as if he couldn’t understand what the problem was. Yu Ra’s feelings were as stuffy as the dress design.

An acquaintance who got married earlier had said that you must go dress shopping with your future groom. She said that sometimes women come with friends or mothers, but nothing could look more pathetic than that.

No matter if it was a contract marriage and he wasn’t particularly interested in the preparations, she didn’t want to look pathetic either. That’s why she had urged Yi Hyeon, who said he absolutely couldn’t find the time, and this was the result.

Yu Ra let out a low sigh. This process was so burdensome that she wondered if she had done something unnecessary.

She was irritated at wasting so much time on a dress she would only wear for an hour or two. Not wanting to waste any more time, Yu Ra shrugged her shoulders and decided to go along with Yi Hyeon’s opinion.

“Fine, let’s wear anything. It’s not like it’s some grand wedding ceremony.”

Yu Ra decided to go with Yi Hyeon’s choice, having no more energy to argue. The fact that she didn’t particularly have any romantic notions about wedding dresses also played a part.

“Call the staff. I’ll try it on.”

“Okay.”

Yi Hyeon briefly replied and opened the door to call the staff when a familiar voice was heard.

“Did I come at a bad time?”

“Mother?”

Yu Ra, who had been fiddling with the dress, looked towards the entrance with wide eyes. She bowed her head as Mi Hee entered with a gentle smile.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Have you decided on a dress?”

“Yes.”

“The one you’re wearing now?”

Yu Ra shook her head, feeling Mi Hee’s gaze.

“No. Elder brother said he didn’t like this one, so we’re going with this one.”

Mi Hee frowned as she looked at the dress Yu Ra pointed to. As Yu Ra smiled awkwardly, she turned to Yi Hyeon and sighed.

“Oh my, goodness. Is this the 19th century? Who would wear something like this? Oh dear.”

“Mother, this is our…”

“How important a wedding dress is to a woman, and you’re just doing as you please. The flower of the wedding isn’t the decorated fresh flowers, but the bride. She should stand out the most, but what kind of dress is this!”

“Haah.”

“I had some business nearby and was on my way back, but somehow I felt like dropping by.”

Yu Ra had thought that no one could shut up the oh-so-great Baek Yi Hyeon, but she couldn’t help but smile at the unexpected bickering between the two. With the unexpected appearance of an ally, a smile didn’t leave Yu Ra’s lips.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity, Yu Ra put on her 100% business smile that she used when dealing with artists and gently crinkled her eyes.

“Mother, what do you like?”

“Would it be alright if I made some recommendations?”

“I’d be grateful.”

With Mi Hee’s sudden appearance, the tide turned in choosing the dress.

The future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law called the staff and chose dress after dress with various designs. Amidst the seemingly endless conversation, a dress was finally decided upon.

A moment later, the curtain opened, revealing Yu Ra in a new dress with the help of the staff.

It was a design with dense lace lightly covering the back of her hands and a neckline that accentuated the volume of her chest. The mermaid-line dress that elegantly revealed the overall curves of her body made her shine even more alluringly.

Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman

When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…

One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.

Synopsis

During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.

Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.

Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”

Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.

Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”

With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.

Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?

He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”

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