A Marriage with an Expiry (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
So Ri immediately swallowed back the words she’d been about to spit out the moment she saw Hyun Woo’s furrowed brow.
Her hands, which had been fiddling with the lunchbox, faltered and instead scratched the back of her neck.
“Why, don’t you want to eat?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Truthfully, it was too much for her to eat alone, yet too little to share with her NS colleagues.
So.
“Professor, have you had breakfast?”
She shouldn’t keep doing this… yet, without realizing it, So Ri kept crossing the line.
He slowly removed his hands from the keyboard and sank deeply into his chair.
Having boldly asked the question, his dark-brown eyes darted restlessly—he looked regretful, as if he’d just said something foolish.
‘So Ri is scared of Oppa, right? Ever since we were kids, she’d tremble whenever she saw him, couldn’t speak properly, and her face would turn bright red.’
Ji Woo’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
“Go sit over there.”
He stood up, grabbed a bottle of mineral water, and handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
As he sat down on the sofa, he asked casually,
“How’s your body?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
Acting tough seemed to be Yoo So Ri’s specialty. She’d recently realized that the more awkward she felt, the more she talked.
Hyun Woo sat in the more prominent seat while So Ri sat on the multi-seater sofa—they faced each other at right angles inside the lab.
So Ri neatly arranged the stacked lunch containers on the table.
She placed the spoon and chopsticks, which had been packed together, in front of Hyun Woo and gave a sheepish grin.
It was a nervous, awkward laugh—she didn’t know what else to do.
“This really looks delicious. I’ll enjoy it. Professor, please eat plenty too.”
Since Hyun Woo just kept staring, So Ri found herself staring back.
She’d always felt slightly uneasy about the excessive politeness So Ri showed him—it had struck her as odd even back then.
But since he’d never been particularly conscious of how others behaved around him, he hadn’t paid it much mind…
Now, for some reason, he felt he ought to pay a little more attention.
Hyun Woo gave the containers a cursory glance and wordlessly picked up his chopsticks, putting a piece of kimbap into his mouth.
He’d actually eaten a light breakfast and wasn’t hungry at all, but figured he could at least pretend to eat a few bites.
Only then did So Ri finally move her own chopsticks.
An awkwardly silent meal followed.
While chewing on a sausage, So Ri stole a glance at him, then picked up a piece of blanched broccoli and popped it into her mouth.
“You’ll end up eating it all anyway.”
His meaning was clear: the whole lunchbox was meant for her, so she shouldn’t hold back out of nervousness.
“Yes.”
But in truth, So Ri couldn’t taste anything at all.
His kindness and consideration made her so happy it almost brought tears to her eyes—but she couldn’t keep deceiving him any longer.
This was the perfect moment to tell him the truth.
Just as she kept checking his expression, waiting for the right moment to speak,
Hyun Woo put down his chopsticks and checked an email on his phone.
So Ri cautiously set her own chopsticks down as well.
“Professor… there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Eat more.”
“No, I’d like to say it first.”
At her stubbornness, he raised and then lowered an eyebrow, flipping his phone face-down onto the table with a soft thud.
So Ri tightly clenched both fists.
“Professor… I don’t have leukemia.”
“……”
A deep furrow slowly formed between his eyebrows as he stared directly at her.
“I was drunk and said something untrue.”
She couldn’t possibly say that such a ridiculous mistake had occurred at Seohan Hospital, where his father was director.
Moreover, it might put Park Ji Woong—an ambitious fellow aiming for a professorship—in an awkward position.
“So… I’ve been trying to tell you it’s not true all along, but I felt too embarrassed and ashamed… I overreacted.”
Was he angry? So Ri kept watching him closely.
After all, he’d been kissed while she was drunk, tricked by her lies, and even proposed marriage—he had every reason to be furious.
Every other day, she turned out to be the very person making Seo Hyun Woo angry.
He let out a barely audible sigh and looked at her with a sidelong glance.
If there were a mousehole nearby, So Ri would’ve crawled right in.
“I really don’t know why I did that… I’m truly sorry again.”
“Yoo So Ri.”
“…Yes.”
He called her name in a low voice.
Then his calm, icy gaze settled on her.
He shook his head once and said,
“That won’t work on me.”
His eyes seemed to say he understood perfectly well that she wished it weren’t true.
But it really wasn’t!
Hyun Woo’s expression was so cold that So Ri’s mind went completely blank for a moment.
Did “won’t work on me” mean he didn’t believe her?
She could somewhat understand why he wouldn’t—after all, she’d unintentionally lied to him several times already.
In short, to him, she’d become the boy who cried wolf.
“Professor, I really—”
“Shh. Mouth.”
He raised a finger and pressed it against his own lips—a clear signal to shut up if she was going to say something silly.
At this point, nothing she said would make him believe her.
Staring at Hyun Woo’s face—wondering if even showing him the blood test results would convince him—So Ri was left speechless, blinking her wide eyes.
“……”
“……”
An uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
Suddenly, Hyun Woo leaned back heavily into the sofa, slouching sideways.
His gaze remained fixed on So Ri longer than she expected.
Still holding her startled eyes, he leaned forward slightly through the space between his long legs, moving a little closer to her.
So Ri swallowed hard and leaned back just as much as he’d leaned in.
She felt as if the food she’d just eaten might get stuck in her throat.
“Your primary physician—that doctor back then?”
His voice was low, cold, yet gentle—just like yesterday’s.
“No.”
So Ri shook her head in denial.
Ji Woong had nearly become her primary physician, but strictly speaking, he wasn’t anymore.
She couldn’t invent a primary physician who didn’t exist.
This wasn’t working. She should just blurt out the whole truth.
But no—it was far too late now to say there was another Yoo So Ri involved.
Her stomach churned with anxiety.
“It’s really not true. Really.”
“Then that’s good.”
His tone was utterly indifferent,
as if he didn’t care whether it was true or not.
So Ri was about to explain further, but seeing his expression, she bit back her words.
“Marry me anyway.”
He stood up neatly from the sofa and returned to his desk.
So Ri felt utterly lost about how to handle this situation.
On-call room.
She’d closed her eyes for just a brief moment before opening them again.
So Ri groaned softly as she sat up.
“So… it wasn’t a dream…”
A few hours earlier, half out of her mind, she’d fled his lab as if running away.
She must have entered the room with beds, sat down on the lower bunk, and fallen asleep while replaying his words in her head.
But it hadn’t all been a dream after all.
Thinking about it again was shocking—utterly shocking.
Chaotic—completely chaotic.
‘If you need time to think, I’ll give you a day. It’s just a formality, but if there are other conditions you need, consider them.’
“Conditions…?”
He’d offered her a day to ponder this marriage proposal,
as if it never crossed his mind that she might refuse.
“What would you even do if I actually said yes to marrying you right away?”
She felt she needed to clear up his misunderstanding as soon as possible.
Just then, a message popped up on her phone.
[Seo Ji Woo Yu: Yoo So Ri, done with your on-call shift? Heading to bed now?] [Seo Ji Woo Yu: I’ve got a huge issue.]What? Had Ji Woo already told everyone about her illness or the marriage?
Alarmed, So Ri immediately dialed Ji Woo from her recent calls.
—Yoo Ssol, where are you?
“At the hospital—I slept a bit in the on-call room.”
—Go home already. Do you really want to become a hospital ghost?
“I know, right? I meant to leave but dozed off.”
—I’m on my way to your hospital now.
“But why suddenly come to the hospital so early in the morning? Did you get hurt again somewhere?”
—Not hurt. I’ve got something to tell Oppa too.
Ji Woo’s voice sounded unusually hurried.
So Ri’s heart grew anxious—what if the misunderstanding about her illness spread like wildfire?
“What’s this ‘huge issue’ you’re talking about?”
—I can’t say it over the phone. I need to see you first before Oppa. You’re literally the only person I can discuss this with. Got a minute?
So Ri stared blankly at the wall clock.
She still had plenty of time before rounds.
“Yeah, that’s fine. Where should we meet?”
—Let’s meet at D Café next to the hospital. I’m almost there.
“Okay, I’ll head over right now.”
So Ri scrambled to her feet and opened her locker.
There wasn’t a single place in the hospital free from Seo Hyun Woo’s presence.
It felt perfectly alright to escape his territory for just a little while.
D Café.
It was still early morning, so the café was nearly empty.
Ji Woo sat by the second-floor window, wearing sunglasses and a hat—the essentials for any celebrity, even at this hour.
So Ri brought over her ordered coffee and scone, placing the tray on the table.
“How’s your leg? Can you walk okay?”
“Yeah, much better than yesterday. I’m planning to get another treatment session before I leave.”
“That’s a good idea.”
So Ri pulled her coffee closer and took a sip.
She suddenly remembered the lunchbox she’d eaten in the early hours.
“By the way, Ji Woo, I really enjoyed the lunchbox you sent.”
“Huh? What lunchbox?”
“Wait… you didn’t send it?”
“Who sent you a lunchbox?”
“Oh… I guess I must’ve mixed something up.”
So Ri tilted her head in confusion and swirled the ice in her iced Americano with her straw.
“Anyway, what’s this about something you can only tell me in person?”
She asked casually, showing no sign of inner turmoil.
After stirring, she stopped the straw and held its tip between her lips. For some reason, her throat kept feeling dry.
Ji Woo scooted closer across the round café table.
“I’m planning to introduce a girl to our Oppa.”
Pfft!
*Cough cough!*
She almost snorted coffee out her nose.
“What’s wrong with you? Drink some water, Yoo So Ri.”
“Ah—sorry. I just choked suddenly.”
*Cough cough!*
After calming her throat with cold water, So Ri casually asked,
“Why the sudden idea?”
She suspected it wasn’t unrelated to Hyun Woo’s abrupt marriage proposal.
“Actually, Oppa came to the main house yesterday because of me and had a bit of an argument with Dad.”
So Ri kept her expression natural and nodded along.
“Dad suddenly told Oppa that if he’s going to move out anyway, he should just get married quickly.”
“So? What did Hyun Woo Oppa say?”
“At first, he got mad at Dad and told him not to interfere in his life.”
So Ri gulped down a dry swallow.
“But then he suddenly said he already has someone to marry. Does that even make sense?”
“Well… maybe he really does have someone…”
Ji Woo shook her head firmly, her eyes adamant that it was impossible.
“Don’t you know our Oppa? He’s always said he’d never get married in his life. He’s never shown any interest in women—how could a stone Buddha like him, who’s never even dated, suddenly have someone to marry?”
Ji Woo, who always longed for love, was the complete opposite of Hyun Woo in this regard.
Stone Buddha Seo Hyun Woo.
It was precisely that unwavering quality of his that had given So Ri hope.
After all, she’d impulsively kissed such a man first—so asking him to take responsibility didn’t feel entirely outdated.
So Ri finally nodded in understanding.
“I’m worried he might rush into marriage with just anyone… He’s totally capable of doing that.”
“Ugh… surely Hyun Woo Oppa wouldn’t…”
For some reason, a cold sweat trickled down her spine.
“No! If he’s desperate enough, I think he might even bring home a guy.”
*Cough cough!*
So Ri kept choking.
“Why do you keep doing that?”
“Sorry.”
She dabbed the corner of her mouth with a tissue.
Ji Woo was scrolling through her phone’s photo gallery, as if she wanted to show So Ri something.
“So I’m trying to match him with someone I know who’d suit Seo Hyun Woo well. Turns out, lots of people are quietly interested in our Oppa.”
“R-Right.”
So Ri bit her lips tightly, holding back the question she really wanted to ask: “Friend… am I not one of those people you’re thinking of?”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
They are too shy to each other. I hope she will be a little relaxed ☺️
Oh no..she’s gonna tell fl about her mom.yup time for drama
I feel like the dad reveal will be a big one like he is some kind of big shot.