“No, it’s just… too sudden….”
“Lee Haru.”
Jun placed the tablet back on the table and called my name, suggesting we talk right then and there. I managed to fix my gaze on him. His expression grew serious.
“Do you like me?”
“You, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Despite my words denying it, my voice trembled, surely loud enough for Jun to hear.
“Stuttering words, blushing face.”
Reactively, I brought my hands to my cheeks. I realized too late. Instead of denying it, I was checking if my face was really blushing.
“You keep saying nonsense.”
“Nonsense? Hmm. I’ve never said that. There’s nothing strange about having a kiss scene in a movie. And there’s never been an instance where discussing such scenes in screenplay review was considered nonsense. Moreover, the lines were written by you, the screenwriter, and they were about memories we shared.”
My cheeks, already red, burned even hotter.
“You could’ve just laughed it off if you didn’t like me. Why such a reaction? Why that expression?”
I wasn’t angry, but Jun’s expression seemed like he had inadvertently seen something and now wanted to confirm the sincerity hidden within it.
As if he wanted to prevent me from hastily collecting and hiding the emotions that were about to spill over. His tone and expression were so firm.
If I didn’t become at least a little honest to satisfy Jun, he would probably grasp my wrist tighter and not let go.
Until my emotions poured out.
“……I liked you a lot, too. Without realizing it, those feelings from back then just came to me.”
Jun’s eyes narrowed slightly. If I kept looking into those eyes, I felt like I would lose my ability to speak. My gaze helplessly dropped.
“But not now. It’s obvious…….”
The unnatural dropping of my gaze and the tremble in my voice were enough to invalidate the meaning of the words I had just uttered.
“Haru.”
“……Yes?”
“Look into my eyes.”
My gaze fluttered anxiously from the left to the right corners of the wooden table, then cautiously shifted to Jun’s face. It stayed there, my breath breaking into fine pieces.
In Jun’s clear brown eyes, there was nowhere to hide, only my fine breathing was captured. That’s when I felt his eyebrows slowly coming closer together.
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
Jun’s gaze naturally drifted to his phone in his pocket, freeing me from his intense stare. I let out a sigh of relief, and my stiff shoulders relaxed.
“Ah, sorry. This is a call I can’t ignore.”
I watched Jun walk towards the window. Outside, the sky seemed to have hung a massive orange curtain, the sunset spreading red, even redder.
The heat spreading from my cheeks, which had blushed as red as that sunset, still lingered.
Jun was conversing with someone on the phone.
With Jun occupied, a hefty question began to occupy my heart. The question Jun had asked but, in truth, I should have asked myself.
‘Do you, perhaps, like me?’
I quietly mulled over the words in my mouth, then tried to voice them out. The words were slightly altered as they left my lips.
‘Do I, perhaps, like you?’
At that moment, my eyes met Jun’s, who was standing against the sunset at the window. The face of Jun at twenty-nine overlapped with the pure, loving face of Jun at twenty.
Those pure times we spent together nine years ago. The times that were good but were mercilessly flowing forward, turning even Jun’s face transparent and faint.
I desperately clung to those times, which refused to be clearly captured.
So, I wondered, if I had known today would come, would I have cried a little less, longed for you a little less intensely?
But probably not. At twenty and even now, still liking you, I long for you even when you are right in front of me. Jun, who looked at me with a sun-bright smile. Just holding you in my heart still makes it ache sharply.
What should I do…
I think I still really like you.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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