The step between my father and stepmother was broken.
Whether it was because my mother’s place was originally more familiar when it was empty, or if there wasn’t any particular affection, I didn’t have any special feelings about my stepmother. But Eunsu was different.
So, what about Eunsu?
Is she not my sister anymore? No, is she in a worse relationship than others?
During the time when our team was busy with a schedule almost to the point where we could hardly enter our dorm, I barely thought about it with a tired body and a mind that was always hazy due to lack of sleep. I realized that something like a lightning bolt had happened, but realistically, there was nothing I could do.
When I finally managed to find time to go home, Eunsu wasn’t there. There were no traces that she had come in and lived in this house.
A sister who suddenly appeared and was suddenly taken away.
I hesitated whether I should look for Eunsu or contact her. It wasn’t a close younger sister, and she hadn’t lived in the same house for long. I wondered if it would be too much to consider.
Even in the midst of all this, time passed rapidly.
The only time Yunbin could gather the courage and time was during Eunsu’s high school graduation. Even though it had been several years since I last saw her, Eunsu warmly smiled and called me “Oppa” as if it were the first time, along with the lovely words that it felt like she saw me on TV yesterday.
Until then, it was clear.
This feeling was a kind of gratitude. In my younger years, during a lonely time in a house that was as vast as it was scary, I had envied friends who had older brothers, older sisters, or younger siblings.
The old deficiency, which I never expected to be filled, seemed to be filled after Eunsu appeared.
Although the situation was different, there was also a strange sense of camaraderie that she might have felt lonely for quite a long time like me. Since it wasn’t about mixed blood or tangled documents, it could easily be turned back into a man, but she didn’t want that, and that was why.
So, from the beginning, there was only one answer.
I shouldn’t try to find something other than the answer of being an older brother and younger sister.
‘Yes. But why do I keep thinking about it? What’s complicated about it? I just… Eunsu is…’
Even when I tried to calmly organize my thoughts, it didn’t work well. It felt like getting lost on the wrong path in a place where it wasn’t a road.
A feeling that no one should know, a feeling that I didn’t even want to know.
Joo Han’s presence made me realize that.
Since I reunited with Eunsu, so since the high school graduation day at the high school stadium where the snow was falling lightly, Joo Han was next to Eunsu.
Very naturally, like something that was paired from the beginning, like that.
Maybe Joo Han didn’t know, and Eunsu didn’t know either, but from the moment I first saw them, I felt it. It was an instinctive feeling, something close to intuition.
I would lose something very precious to that child.
Even though I didn’t have a sip of alcohol, my head throbbed. An undesirable wish, a perfect wrong answer that I shouldn’t even pretend to express, kept pricking my mind.
Yunbin covered his forehead and eye area with one arm.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Solhee! Over here!”
As Solhee entered the restaurant, she smiled and approached the group that warmly waved at her.
It was a gathering of university friends who kept in touch. One of them was getting married, and they decided to celebrate with a meal.
“Oh, congratulations, bride-to-be Kim Yesin. Our Yesin has really become a bride, huh?”
“Oh, I’ve heard that so many times everywhere.”
“Anyway, congratulations.”
“Thank you, my friend.”
Solhee sat next to the bride and patted her shoulder, and with a playful laugh, Yesin elegantly nodded to the group.
“I’ll go first. I’m heading to the first place, everyone.”
“Kim Yesin, are you in such a hurry because of the promise that you made to give the most money as a wedding gift to the person who gets married first among us?”
“Why not? Am I looking forward to it? Let’s show loyalty by cleanly keeping that promise, right?”
“Did we have loyalty between us?”
“Where is that? Whatever you expect, let’s show less than that.”
“Ah, these guys are really… so embarrassing…”
The four women burst into laughter and chatted about various topics. Although they were in the same major, they were currently working in different fields.
Towards the end of the meal, the protagonist of the wedding invitation, Yesin, suddenly spoke up.
“By any chance, do you guys remember Senior An Yoo-kyung?”
“Who?”
Another friend smirked. Solhee froze in her movements.
“Ah, I remembered! One year above us, right? Quiet and almost always alone. Didn’t she drop out in the middle?”
“Uh, yeah. That senior.”
Yesin leaned forward. The rest, excluding Solhee, also gathered around.
“Do you remember hearing that Senior An Yoo-kyung was dating Gyu-woo Oppa when I was in school?”
“What? Really? When? Why didn’t I know?”
“Well, I’m hearing it for the first time too.”
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.”
