A Relationship of Convenience - Chapter 28

“……Why.”

“……”

Teardrops falling helplessly from large eyes rolled down faintly flushed cheeks, clinging to the edge of the chin.

The small body trembled with each exhale, unable to contain its anger, and the lower lip bitten between teeth turned pale white.

The man’s expression, as he peered at that face with a sidelong glance, seemed both indifferent and flustered.

Kang Jae Kyung, who had been quietly gazing into the tear-filled eyes, gently released the woman’s arm as she tried to pull it away.

His feet descended the steps to match her eye level.

“……I’m annoyed.”

The voice was filled with hurt rather than mere irritation.

Like a student encountering a new type of exam question for the first time, the man faced an unfamiliar situation, lowering his upper body further to level their gazes.

“Why is Kye Da Hae angry?”

“I don’t know either!”

The man, with his fierce gaze softened, looked like a guilty Husky. Regardless, her sharp eyes continued to glare at him mercilessly.

Her lips, which had just regained some color after trying to calm down, were bitten again.

The storm of anger and the tears that burst forth unbidden were equally bewildering to her.

The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

Not a single member of her in-laws’ family, outwardly packaged as an ideal household, was in their right mind.

So much so that Kang Jae Kyung, whom she had always dismissed as mentally unstable, now seemed normal in comparison.

While the immature Kang Pil Seung could be excused due to his young age, her fists trembled at the thought of how her consistently indifferent father-in-law and her modern-day evil stepmother must have mistreated her all this time.

Kang Jae Kyung, who was always competent and arrogant. Kang Jae Kyung, who even made Oh Se Dong surrender.

Whatever the reason he was tolerating such childish behavior, she couldn’t just stand by and watch.

She was incredibly upset, enough to install a motor in her dry tear ducts.

Even amidst their bickering, the well-mannered man simply stared at her crying face. There was no comfort offered, no handkerchief extended, no words of consolation.

Da Hae tried hard to steady her breathing, perhaps finding her own sniffling, echoing off the emergency exit wall like a cave, rather pitiful.

“What are you looking at?”

“……”

The man, unable to take his eyes off her tear-stained face despite her curt rebuke, slowly raised his hand.

His index finger, hesitating in mid-air, unable to make contact, finally approached her damp eyes.

Rather than wiping, it was more of a gentle pressing motion on the tear tracks. Poke. Poke.

Her shoulders, which had tensed slightly at the touch on her face, slumped as if losing strength.

Da Hae’s wet eyes narrowed thinly. A breath, whether a sigh or a laugh, escaped through her slightly parted lips, bewildered.

“Are you testing me?”

Why would I poke? The man, seemingly realizing it was a bit odd himself, withdrew his hand with a chuckle.

His hand approached again, gently caressing her warm cheek. Soon, her small face was cradled in his large hands.

They say if you laugh while crying, horns will grow on your bottom. Thanks to his thumb caressing her cheek as if handling something precious, laughter kept escaping. Her chest felt heavy.

The cool temperature and musty cement smell of the emergency exit.

“Thank you.”

A low voice softly resonating through the space. Her wet eyes, which had been avoiding him, followed the sound.

The tear ducts, once opened, seemed broken as the bridge of her nose stung again.

The hand that had been caressing her cheek tucked her hair behind her ear and then gripped her delicate shoulder.

“People who take my side usually have obvious motives. Being wary from the start has become a habit ingrained in me.”

That’s why he seemed insensitive even to others’ tears, he said.

Their firmly locked gazes remained entangled for a while. Da Hae, mulling over his mellifluous voice, almost mistook even that reproachable sentence as sweet.

“I’m not in a position to have ulterior motives towards you, Mr. Kang Jae Kyung.”

Even as she snorted, she understood. Living among such people, it’s not unreasonable to be that way, she thought.

However, finding it absurd was separate from understanding. It hurt that she too was a subject of his wariness without exception.

Even though they weren’t close enough to feel hurt, lately her heart had been particularly moved. Perhaps it was because of spring.

Anyway, now that she had received thanks, it wasn’t the time to be just emotional.

Da Hae boldly crossed her arms. If she was going to demand something in return for his gratitude, now was the time.

“If you’re really grateful, stop teasing me with proposals. Let’s pretend I never heard it.”

“I don’t make deals where I lose out.”

“Oh my? Is the spirit of a daughter-in-law who stood up to her in-laws worth less than drunken ramblings?”

“That’s no ordinary incident. Women are crazy about……”

“Ugh, I’m really sick of this.”

The woman, shaking her head vigorously in displeasure, turned her back on the man. Her shoes, now composed, clicked against the floor at a steady pace.

Following behind her, Kang Jae Kyung’s gently smiling face was touched by a strange emotion.

He thought ignoring it would be enough. It had been that way in reality too. He didn’t even know he was lonely, living like an outsider among them. Until he tasted warmth.

Being defended by someone felt similar to trying coffee for the first time. Something very unfamiliar but highly addictive.

Perhaps it was from this moment. That Kang Jae Kyung’s obsession began.

The elevator carrying the two opened on the first floor.

Not going down to the underground parking, but stopping here, she thought he might need the restroom urgently, but the man who got out first headed towards the front desk.

“Where are you going?”

Da Hae’s puzzled voice as she followed stopped Jae Kyung in his tracks.

“I can’t say one thing and do another.”

“…?”

Her confused head tilted. His expressionless face tilted slightly in the same direction.

“You said let’s stay up late.”

“Pardon?”

Thinking she might have misheard, she genuinely asked again. Huh? she repeated.

His nonchalant face and nodding head, as if he was doing her a favor by agreeing, were incredibly shameless. Since when had he started listening to her words so well?

“No, that was…”

“There’s no better place to fill a void than here.”

…What could she say to that?

On one hand, she wondered if he was being sincere.

Whether he was doing this to complete the scenario, or if he really intended to do something.

“If we leave now and run into them, it’ll be embarrassing.”

“Well, they say there’s no place like home.”

“Alright then.”

The man readily agreed, making his earlier determination seem embarrassing.

His slender fingers scratched the nape of his neck. It wasn’t because he was disappointed.

Entering the elevator that soon arrived, Jae Kyung lightly snatched the handbag from Da Hae’s side.

The bag dangling delicately from his thick elbow looked almost like a hostage.

As she narrowed her brows as if to ask what he was doing now, his handsome face, unaffected as always, smiled brightly.

“Let’s go. Home.”

* * *

O Hotel Suite Room.

Starting with tiny hot pants, discarded clothes trailed from the entrance like shed skin.

Pil Seung, with his arms folded behind his head, stared at the ceiling with an indifferent expression.

Even as rising star Yoon Si Ah paraded around the room without a stitch of clothing, he seemed uninterested.

“A hotel room after a family dinner. When you think about it, oppa, you’re quite a pervert too.”

Si Ah crawled across the sheets to reach Pil Seung’s side, then climbed on top of his body.

“I wonder what worries a rich young master has. Ignoring the goddess of dreams, Yoon Si Ah, and thinking of other things.”

“Watch your words. I never undressed you.”

“I saved you the trouble. You should be grateful.”

After seeing Kang Chul Won and his wife leave, the two had come up to the hotel and spent passionate moments together.

Even during that time, Si Ah’s phone kept ringing with calls from her manager.

It was unplanned. Si Ah had readily agreed to Kang Pil Seung’s impulsive invitation for intimacy, despite his usual caution in all matters.

“That woman earlier. Your brother’s wife. She’s the granddaughter of Young Son Industries, right? I’m exclusively contracted with them.”

I know. That was precisely why he had chosen Yoon Si Ah.

Pil Seung, who had been in a bad mood since the end of dinner, was uncharacteristically rough.

The burning thirst, whether from anger or jealousy, couldn’t be quenched by mere sexual gratification.

Si Ah stared sullenly at the face of the man who had been whispering words of love while holding her in his arms just moments ago, but now showed no interest, not even sparing her a glance.

“Again, that expression that teases people. I want to leave.”

“Where to?”

Her slender waist, easily captured by the arm that immediately reached out, was pulled sharply into Pil Seung’s embrace.

As the coquettish laughter echoing from within the greatly inflated blanket faded away, the air, still not cooled from the previous heat, began to warm up once again.