Soon, my phone vibrated with a notification, likely from an email Jun just sent. I pressed it and saw his brief message.
[Yeah. Hurry up.]No complaints or scolding for being late, just a simple instruction to hurry. I couldn’t help but smile.
Then it hit me, a sudden curiosity.
Had I ever rushed out like this for the few boyfriends I had when they came to pick me up at the broadcasting station?
I usually made up excuses of unexpected overtime, claiming to be too busy, especially when they were already waiting in front of the station. Even when I reluctantly left the office, I would sigh heavily, dragging my heavy feet as if they were glued to the floor.
As Jeong said, treating love like an unwanted overtime.
The difference between then and now was the person waiting for me – Jun. That alone was enough to hasten my steps. Unbelievably, but true.
The emotion driving these eager steps was certainly excitement.
Sigh, Haru, get a grip…
With a heavy sigh, the elevator finally stopped at the ground floor. As the doors opened, I dashed out. The first floor of the broadcasting station was full of people visiting the art exhibition lining the walls and others heading to the café in one corner.
A premature sense of expectation began to occupy a tiny corner of my heart. This kind of anticipation always seems to follow the word ‘maybe,’ twisting the sentences that come after into something more desirable.
Maybe, you don’t hate me.
Maybe, you’ve missed me sometimes.
So, between the resentment that must have filled your heart every time you thought of me, there might still have been a little longing for me.
Maybe, you still like me…
Shocked by my own absurd imagination, I shook my head vigorously. How could I even entertain such thoughts? The one who openly expressed wanting to hate me freely couldn’t possibly harbor such feelings.
The embarrassment turned into self-disappointment. I bit my lip deeply.
I sensed someone’s presence. Distracted by my recent thoughts, I turned my head to look at Jun, feeling embarrassed. Before my embarrassment could be noticed, I spoke first.
“Did you arrive in Korea today?”
“Yeah.”
A very brief response to my normal question. His voice was low, tinged with fatigue.
“Oh… but you came to see me right away. You must be really tired.”
“There’s no choice with such a tight schedule.”
“Ah, yeah. That makes sense…”
Struggling to continue the conversation, words just swirled around in my mouth.
“So… you’ve been pretty busy lately.”
“As long as someone writes the screenplay on time, it’ll be bearable.”
Jun slightly shifted his position in the seat, perhaps already feeling tired at the thought of the screenplay.
Understandable. An unexpected schedule in Korea had suddenly intruded, making his already packed timetable even busier.
Jun casually spoke as if it were no big deal, but he might have been exhausting himself with work all this time.
Looking at Jun now, quietly closing his eyes, his face seemed drier and more haggard than when we last met. Seeing his face still bearing the signs of weariness, I felt a pang of sympathy.
Surprised by the sadness creeping up on me, I hastily turned my gaze out of the window. Outside, buildings with nondescript signs passed by in a blur, matching the speed of the car.
Suddenly, I wished that our memories could be flipped through just as emotionlessly and insignificantly.
When I turned back to Jun, he had fallen soundly asleep, his chest rising and falling rhythmically.
He must have been really tired. Yet, he waited for me in front of the broadcasting station for over 30 minutes. How weary he must be.
But this feeling was fleeting. The old emotions I had cherished for a past lover, the things I would have said to myself, all lost their meaning and crumbled away.
The image of you from the day we met in Japan, the words you said, all these memories pressed heavily on my heart.
The taste in my mouth was bitter, as if I hadn’t drunk anything. As time passed, the bitterness seemed to intensify, and when Jun half-opened his eyes a little later, I couldn’t even utter the common phrase, “Did you sleep well?”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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