While grinding her teeth in frustration over Baek I-hyun, Yura heard a soft call.
“Yura.”
Belatedly, Yura remembered who was with her. Surely, Jin Kangsoo’s shouting must have been heard. Confirming this, Sejin hesitantly asked, looking shocked.
“You… are getting married?”
“Everyone gets married, don’t they?”
Sejin asked personally, but Yura answered professionally. She emphasized that it was neither the time nor the relationship to have such conversations. However, Sejin, with a distorted face, blurted out Baek I-hyun’s name as if calling out to a neighborhood kid.
“With Baek I-hyun?”
“Who I marry is my personal matter.”
“Don’t do it with Baek I-hyun. He’s not the one!”
Yura smirked at Sejin’s heated state. She found it ridiculous that he was getting so worked up, seemingly unable to distinguish between personal and professional boundaries.
“It’s not your concern.”
At Yura’s firm and authoritative voice, he hesitated. He seemed pathetic, getting all worked up just to back down immediately.
Yura gathered her personal items from the table, realizing meeting Baek I-hyun was more urgent than dealing with Sejin.
Watching her, Sejin desperately tried to persuade her with nonsensical remarks.
“He’s dangerous, really. I’m not saying this because he pushed me away; he’s genuinely dangerous.”
Yura, packing her laptop into her bag, looked at Sejin calmly.
“If you’re concerned, thank you. But I’ll make my own judgments.”
“That man will ruin you, hurt you!”
At Sejin’s frantic outburst, Yura turned coldly, twisting her lips.
“The one who hurt me was you, brother. I don’t think you have the right to blame anyone.”
Yura smirked at Sejin’s shockingly fluttering eyelids. Just then, her phone vibrated in her hand.
[Here again. Come out.]So, he’s not much better. Yura thought as Baek I-hyun, whom she was about to seek, had somehow known to come to the rehearsal space. With the thought that not even a ghost could be as sly, Yura sighed and bowed formally to Sejin.
“I must leave for today. I apologize for not being able to stay until the end.”
“Yura!”
Sejin shouted as if wronged. Yura, as if issuing a final warning, emphasized their positions once more.
“Please refrain from using that address in the future.”
Before Sejin could say anything further, Yura opened the rehearsal room door and stepped out briskly. Fortunately, he didn’t follow her as he did last time. As a sense of relief washed over her, her eyes caught a familiar figure on the stairs.
Baek I-hyun stood there, immaculately groomed with pomade in his hair and perfectly wearing a dark blue suit. Yura paused to look at him silently.
Despite realizing his good looks every time she saw him, she wondered if her heart fluttered that day because of their close distance and unexpected intimate contact, or was it because of his attractive face?
Recalling a female colleague who joined CH just to see Baek I-hyun, and others saying that CH’s welfare was Baek I-hyun himself, Yura had dismissed such talk as nonsense. But now, she realized those weren’t just jokes or meaningless comments.
‘Am I… a looks-obsessed person?’
Doubting her own preferences, Yura shook her head and resumed walking.
Yura halted her steps two stairs away from the towering figure of Baek I-hyun. The height difference between them, with her barely surpassing 160cm and him towering over 190cm, made their eye levels align just right, giving her a slight feeling of superiority.
With a sneer pulling at one corner of her mouth, Yura tossed a comment.
“Wow, such impeccable timing.”
“Fortunate, isn’t it?” Baek I-hyun’s captivating lips curved into a long smile.
Baek I-hyun led Yura to a restaurant not yet open to the public, a perfect place for a quiet conversation. It was a part of CH Group’s dining ventures, accessible only to a few VVIPs, boasting a luxurious atmosphere and complete privacy.
The place felt like a clandestine meeting spot for the wealthy, almost as if a simple meal there was akin to some illicit activity.
Upon entering the room, they found a table set for two, as per prior instructions. Yura, wiping her hands with a warm towel, asked casually,
“I haven’t even responded yet, but why is the word already out?”
“Did President Jin contact you?” Baek I-hyun casually sipped his water, feigning surprise despite the apparent consequences of his unilateral actions.
“Just stop pretending,” Yura snapped back.
“It wasn’t part of my plan.”
Yura suppressed her urge to question whether his visit that day or their current meeting was planned, not wanting to acknowledge she’d been manipulated. Determined not to dwell on these unpleasant thoughts, she sarcastically remarked,
“Is everyone in the Baek family a fox?”
“Hm?”
Tilting his head as if puzzled, Baek I-hyun paused from lifting his plate.
“You’re worse than Baek Jin-ho. At least he’s just a fox; you’re more like the chief fox.”
Baek I-hyun chuckled, amused. His actions were perfectly fitting the nickname ‘Baek fox,’ a sly strategist.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
