“So, that man looks like a tree you can’t climb?”
“Unless a rope drops from heaven, it seems like there’s no way to climb him.”
Laughing, Jae In intertwined arms with Sang Hwa and merged into the crowd. The streets of Gangnam, just a few days before Christmas, were bustling with countless people. Jae In started to sort out her complicated thoughts as she walked among the people.
First, she had to approach him. She had a feeling it wouldn’t be easy from the start.
He was a man who coldly dismissed even a beautiful woman with a good background like Jo Yu Ri.
He was a man with the wealth to hang out with a number of successful celebrities if he wanted to. There was no way such a man would easily fall for and break off an engagement with me, who only had looks to offer.
Jae In knew she was beautiful. There was no way she wouldn’t know. She could tell just by looking in the mirror. Besides, she’d heard it countless times throughout her life.
However, Jae In found that there were more downsides to being beautiful than there were benefits. Even though her beloved mother had bestowed her appearance on her, she sometimes hated it so much that it was horrendous. That’s why she never planned to reap the benefits of her beauty in her life.
But the first thing she thought of doing using her looks was to seduce her halfsister’s fiancé. Jae In hid her bitterly spreading smile in her muffler.
“You were looking for me urgently. I apologize. I stepped away for a moment to make a personal call.”
Director Jang, who had been on the phone with her mother in the nursing home, hurriedly entered Tae Seo’s office at the words of a secretary who said that the head of the department was urgently looking for him.
What could it be?
Even when he had stopped by a department store to pick a coat to wear instead of the one that had been stained by bird droppings on his late journey back home, due to the chairman’s disapproval, he was infinitely leisurely.
The nervous Director Jang brought his hands together and listened to the sound of water coming from the back of the office. It seemed like he had left the water running in the washbasin.
“Ah, have you arrived? I’ve tried following instructions on the internet in a hurry.”
“What do you mean you followed… Ah, give it to me, please.”
Director Jang reached out when he saw Tae Seo appear over the partition, holding a large vase filled with a bouquet of flowers.
Tae Seo had no interest whatsoever in whether the plants he had received upon his appointment as department head lived or died. He had even instructed a secretary, who watered them, to do other work since the plants were not important.
So, it was not long ago that he threw away all the dead plants as time passed. Since then, a few paintings took the place of plants in the stark office space.
But this bouquet was different. Only today, Director Jang realized that Tae Seo had been changing the water in the vase every day.
The wilting bouquet was what Tae Seo had brought when he appeared in front of Director Jang, who was working late, after leaving work a few days ago to meet his fiancée.
“Do you have a vase by any chance? I need a vase of a size that can accommodate this bouquet.”
“I will look for one.”
“If you can’t find one, bring anything that can hold flowers. The petals seem to be a bit damaged due to the cold weather.”
“Yes.”
“We have to save them.”
To Tae Seo, who had a grave expression as if he were a doctor about to perform an important operation in a medical drama, Director Jang revealed that his mother had long operated a flower shop. He also mentioned that he had done that job for quite a long time and asked Tae Seo to entrust the task to him.
Indeed, Director Jang demonstrated his skills after a long time. He unwrapped the overly flashy bouquet, tidied the leaves, cut off the bottom, and arranged the flowers in a large vase prepared inside the secretarial office.
Tae Seo was now holding the vase in which the bouquet was arranged. However, unlike when Director Jang first handled them, the flowers were messily arranged in a haphazard manner.
“Save it.”
“…Excuse me?”
Director Jang’s voice broke as he asked back, utterly taken aback.
“It’s only been three days since I received them. But they’re already wilting. I found out that you shouldn’t use tap water immediately but leave it for a day. But on the first day, didn’t you just use tap water? Is that okay?”
How should one respond to this complaint? Tae Seo, who claimed plants weren’t important, was making a fuss as if he had lied and was quite serious.
While Director Jang was flabbergasted, Tae Seo’s anxious outpouring continued.
“They will all wilt like this. I searched the internet and it said if you put in some bleach or a few ten cent coins, they last longer. But I don’t have anything like that. One of the secretaries said they didn’t have any either, and I even checked the bathroom, but there was no bleach there.”
“So……”
“So, I put in a few pieces of ice. They say it also has an effect. Can we save them? Director Jang, answer me.”
Why was he so pitiful, changing the water himself and watching the flowers wilt? Without giving him time to come up with an answer, Director Jang rolled up his sleeves.
“I’ll try.”
“We have to save them. Please make sure they survive. It would be nice if most of them remain, even if we have to sacrifice a few.”
“Yes, I will do my best.”
Holding the vase, Director Jang left the office and headed straight to the pantry sink. A secretary, who had been watching, followed her.
“The department head suddenly ran out with a vase after coming back from a meeting…….”
“Bring scissors. The sharpest ones.”
“Ah, yes!”
Director Jang washed the vase thoroughly, ignoring the flurry of questions.
“Soda.”
“Excuse me?”
“Soda, ah, no, bring three bottles of cold sparkling water.”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
