A Relationship of Convenience - Chapter 23
Ding-a-ling,
“Have a good day!”
A cheerful voice greeted politely as she exited the convenience store.
Da Hae took a big bite of the carefully chosen ice cream. The sweetness seemed to slightly clear her head from the effects of alcohol.
In the residential complex where Da Hae lived, residents who had come out to enjoy the night air were scattered on benches.
LED streetlights illuminated the garden walkway lined with irregularly shaped basalt tiles.
Occasionally, a stumbling woman would wave her Melona ice cream like a weapon and raise her voice, followed by the playful laughter of a man using a Bravo Cone as a shield.
Out of breath, Da Hae stopped walking and grumbled, pressing the back of her hand against her flushed cheek.
“Sigh. My alcohol tolerance has decreased since I entered my thirties. Damn it.”
“You’ve become quite the foul-mouthed housewife. A newlywed shouldn’t be like this already.”
Housewife, indeed. Her small fist struck his arm with force.
Oh Se Dong, that rascal. One of Kye Da Hae’s few friends, Oh Se Dong, had moved in. Right to the floor below, no less.
The walk home after happily sharing a drink of soju with the guy who said they should catch up while the center took care of his move was quite merry.
Their study abroad periods had been mismatched, so they hadn’t met for a while, but goodness, they ran into each other right in front of the complex on the way home. As if it had been planned.
Rather than being happy about the coincidence that would be difficult to intentionally arrange, they first suspected each other. Asking when they had started following the other.
Oh Se Dong and Kye Da Hae had grown up like family since childhood.
Their fathers were close friends, so the two families spent a lot of time together.
In March of the year they turned eight, on elementary school enrollment day, they both experienced the same loss.
A horrific traffic accident that shook South Korea. The vehicle burned completely. All four passengers died.
Se Dong and Da Hae, who lost their parents on the same day at the same time, didn’t share their sorrow or express their pain together.
Because it wasn’t pain that could be shared or relieved by talking about it.
They were more like comrades in loss, silently staying by each other’s side on days when they sought each other out for no reason.
After the accident, Chairman Bae Jung Soon sponsored Se Dong.
Not only did she provide financial support for tuition and living expenses, but she also willingly stepped up whenever a parental role was needed.
If he tried to decline, saying he was almost thirty now and she didn’t need to do this anymore, he would be scolded for being impertinent.
Saying his father was like her own son. So he too was like her grandson.
Sometimes it seemed she cared for Oh Se Dong more than her granddaughter.
When he didn’t show his face at the wedding, she called him an ungrateful brat, only to receive a lecture while still in her dress.
Though they attended school together due to being close in age, she was clearly his elder sister, but he never used proper terms of address.
General, Boss, Chief, Big Sis.
None of them were particularly appealing, but at least they acknowledged her higher status, so she compromised.
“But this place is quite expensive. Has penny-pincher Oh Se Dong started making some money?”
Da Hae stuffed the finished ice cream stick into Se Dong’s shirt pocket and walked ahead, giggling.
“How could a pediatrician afford this? The old lady put me here.”
“Chairman Bae?”
Wondering what this was about.
“She said it was suspicious that you kept the same place after getting married, so she told me to keep an eye on you.”
Hearing his next words, a dry swallow went down her thin throat.
Above the leaping Kye Da Hae was always the flying Bae Jung Soon. It had always been that way.
There must have been quite a few questionable points, but she thought she was getting away with it due to lack of interference. It turned out she had just been watching. With eagle eyes.
It was strange that she had been so quiet even after achieving her long-cherished goal.
The fact that she hadn’t summoned her immediately must have been to catch her tail in something.
A chill crept over her, raising goosebumps. Her fingernails scratched at her crossed arms.
Se Dong, who had been looking at her indifferently while picking his ear, grimaced, creating deep frown lines.
“That’s why your husband left you.”
“……”
The busy movement of rubbing her arms stopped abruptly.
Her face, slightly flushed from the alcohol, fell silent with a deflated expression.
He didn’t leave. I sent him away.
It’s already past 11 o’clock, is he still not home? The person who said he would contact her hasn’t sent even a single message.
……Well. It’s not like adults meeting their lovers are expected to come home the same day. Especially now that they’ve become Romeo and Juliet, how passionate they must be.
A familiar skin scent wafted from the cream-colored knit sweater draped over her shoulders. He always leaves his scent behind like this, as if he were some fairy.
“…I’m annoyed.”
Regret and disappointment. These are emotions that don’t suit her relationship with Kang Jae Kyung.
Nevertheless, the reason for her rising irritation is that she’s worried something might have happened to the man who left with such an expression and hasn’t even contacted her. And she’s annoyed at herself for worrying about him.
Her protruding lower lip remained silent with no signs of opening.
Glancing at that face, Se Dong bumped his shoulder, hunched low, against Da Hae’s arm.
“No rebuttal?”
“……”
“Fight back, General Kye. The attacker put in some effort.”
Even after entering the elevator, General Kye maintained her silence.
The elevator passed right by Se Dong’s floor, one level below.
As the doors opened with the arrival chime, Da Hae stepped out, giggling.
“I’m going to attack you with noise complaints. You’re done for.”
“…Hey.”
The mischievous face that had been walking backwards suddenly tilted in confusion.
Oh Se Dong, who should have been riled up and acting out, was instead wearing an awkward expression and just rubbing his philtrum. Soon after, his slightly raised chin pointed behind her.
Turning her head with a questioning look, Da Hae froze as she came face to face with a familiar shirt.
A sturdy body dominating her field of vision. Feet that stopped just short of colliding. Her round, startled eyes confirmed the identity of the person she seemed to recognize.
“Mr. Kang Jae Kyung?”
As her wide eyes just stared at him as if wondering why he was here, the man with his hands in his pockets tilted his head slightly and examined Da Hae’s face.
That gaze then shifted to Se Dong, who had now approached.
“Looks like you had an enjoyable time. With your phone turned off too.”
“Ah… The battery must have died.”
In fact, there was plenty of battery left, but she had turned it off just a little while ago.
She didn’t like constantly checking for messages that might never come. It seems he had tried to call around that time.
Oh Se Dong’s sneer pierced near her temple. As if to say, “Battery my foot.”
Although it somewhat hurt her pride to tell such a lie, she ignored it.
As Da Hae awkwardly smiled and tried to change the subject, a sigh-like breath escaped Jae Kyung’s lips.
When he realized that the woman who had been out late had her phone turned off, anxiety had overwhelmed him. It was vague.
He was struck anew by how little he knew about Kye Da Hae, and bitterness washed over him.
As he was agonizing over where to go to find her in this situation, the voice he longed to hear reached his ears.
The woman who appeared with a strange man was laughing like a child.
The unfamiliar expression and laughter-filled voice disappeared as soon as she faced him.
In that moment, an unpleasant heat surged through him.
An inexplicable suffocation rising to the base of his throat. It was similar to what he felt on the day the woman lost her wedding ring, when he had dismissed their relationship as insignificant.
…How did he resolve it back then?
The air in front of the entrance, where silence had fallen, sank heavily.
To draw Kang Jae Kyung’s gaze away from Oh Se Dong, whom he was staring at as if he wanted to devour him, Da Hae introduced her unfamiliar companion.
“He’s a friend.”
“A friend?”
Oh Se Dong questioned.
“A friend.”
Kang Jae Kyung repeated.
Somehow, the faces of both men were displeasing. Though she didn’t know why, she first tried to control the more manageable Se Dong.
She nodded at him as if to say he should straighten up and greet properly, but Oh Se Dong just crossed his arms while standing with one leg bent.
It was because he didn’t like the look in Kang Jae Kyung’s eyes.
His swaggering voice, matching his pose, introduced himself.
“Same age, just born earlier in the year. Actually the same age. Just different school years. I’m Oh Se Dong.”
Jae Kyung, who only eyed the outstretched hand offering a handshake, looked up and smiled with curved eyes. His gaze was still sharp.
“Da Hae’s husband. Kang Jae Kyung.”
The winner’s composure felt in the concise introduction.
Da Hae’s husband.
It wasn’t wrong, but the unnecessarily sweet voice sounded quite affectionate, causing Da Hae to bite her lip discreetly.
Oh Se Dong, who had withdrawn his unshaken hand, slowly ran his tongue inside his mouth.
Raising one corner of his mouth crookedly and wrinkling his nose bridge, his face looked not at all intimidated, but rather quite interested.
“I know you’re her husband. Saw it on the news too. But you know what? Brother, um… how should I explain this.”
No. Don’t explain anything.
The tip of her shoe, secretly extended to control the sticky mischief in his voice, tapped Se Dong’s ankle bone.
She didn’t know why the two men who had just met were having a staring contest, but she wanted to send the crazy troublemaker away quickly before he said something foolish.
Se Dong, who had paused his speech and lowered his eyes, grinned at Da Hae, who was using all her facial muscles to send the message to please shut up.
“Not just a friend, but… um… Ah! You could say I changed all of Da Hae’s dirty diapers. That’s how close we are, you know. Yo.”
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.”
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