Jaein fell asleep. She had resisted and pouted, claiming that it was too much for Taesuh, who pushed her a bit roughly and persistently, before succumbing to a deep sleep as if fainting.
Taesuh, looking down at the white shoulders revealed in the moonlight, reached out his hand. It wasn’t to cover her, as the room was warm enough. He just didn’t want anyone else’s hands or gaze to touch Jaein besides his, even if it was moonlight.
Even if it was moonlight.
“…….”
He was someone who despised the word “obsession” more than anyone else. Taesuh, who bit his lip to swallow the sigh that wanted to escape, lay down again next to Jaein, who was asleep without any movement. The gaze that embraced her and locked her in his arms sank into tranquility.
Five hours ago, as Taesuh walked the path leading home, he had carried Jaein. The moon was bright, and the wind was calm. The alley late at night was quiet, and slightly tipsy Jaein walked like a child, swaying her steps in the excitement of being carried for the first time.
Whether it was good to be carried or not, she buried her face in his back and neck, laughed, tightened her arms around his neck, and sometimes leaned quietly on him. Taesuh found Jaein’s actions charming and refrained from speaking.
Although he was walking towards home, he thought of just passing by when he arrived at home.
That much time was precious to Taesuh. It was the first time that their silent relationship was not burdensome, and Taesuh wanted to savor the happiness that filled the quiet.
“Taesuh.”
“Yeah.”
Taesuh replied briefly, indicating that he was listening. The voice of Jaein, now showing signs of drowsiness, was sweet. Each time she called his name, Taesuh’s heartbeat accelerated. It was an overwhelming excitement.
“Did I tell you that I like you, Taesuh?”
“……. ”
“I’m not sure if I did or didn’t. Did I?”
At the unexpectedly thrown question, Taesuh unconsciously stopped his steps. The heartbeat that was pounding a moment ago seemed to be twisted tightly by someone.
“…I never said it.”
Though his voice trembled as he barely answered, the slightly drunk Jaein seemed unaware. He had never said that he liked her, but he knew. However, knowing and hearing it directly were different.
“I like you.”
In Jaein’s short whisper, Taesuh closed his eyes. Though she seemed nonchalant, her eyelids trembled. When he carried Jaein up the hill, her breathing, which was fine, was gradually becoming uneven.
With the sudden confession, Taesuh felt the sea within him rising rapidly. It was the beginning of a storm.
Yun Jaein, who had moistened his dried-up heart, was the one making it overflow rapidly. Emotions, which had formed a sea without anyone realizing, were now raging like a storm. Like the variety of the sea, emotions were diverse.
Joy and anxiety, delight and suspicion, happiness and obsession were entwined, shaking him like waves. Taesuh exerted strength on his legs and adjusted Jaein. However, he still couldn’t lift his footsteps.
“I didn’t say it. I thought it was clear.”
“…If you thought it was clear, why did you do it again?”
“I wanted to…?”
Jaein’s voice, answering naturally and slapping on the cheek, was gradually getting smaller.
He knew it wasn’t waiting for a response to the words “I like you.” Yun Jaein didn’t expect anything and just honestly expressed her emotions.
A woman who had never learned how to love because she had never loved before is so lovely.
Taesuh wanted to say it right away. He wanted to explain his feelings, which were not enough with just four letters, using every word he knew.
But the words that swirled in his throat, Taesuh couldn’t spit out. He couldn’t open his mouth.
“I only have your dad.”
Taesuh’s deceased stepmother used to say that. It was a phrase she always used, whether she was sober or drunk.
“I liked him. I loved him. That feeling hasn’t changed even now. It will never change for a lifetime.”
She, who couldn’t say a word to her husband, confessed her feelings to her son who resembled his father dozens of times a day. And it wasn’t in Korea but far away in the UK.
“So I had you and gave birth to you. You, who look exactly like your dad.”
His mom always touched Taesuh’s eyebrows. From his prominent eyebrows to the straight nose bridge. The part that resembled Kang Shinjae, Taesuh’s biological father, the most.
“Mom, do you like me too? Do you love me too?”
To his mom, who stroked him with eyes full of affection and sadness, young Taesuh never asked even once.
She, who held deep emotions for her husband, confessed her feelings to her son, who resembled his father, dozens of times a day. However, she never said that she liked or loved Taesuh.
Although she gazed at Taesuh’s face and skeleton, which resembled his stepfather, with affection, when Taesuh called her “mom,” it returned as an empty gaze.
Sometimes, there were resentful looks. On days when she was drunk, his mom held young Taesuh and cried.
“I miss you…”
“…”
“Why, why can’t I do it? How much… how much I love you!”
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.”
