Early in the morning, the meeting room was filled with chatter and brunch.
“I haven’t decided what to do yet, if there’s nothing, I’m just planning to rest at home.”
Everyone was excited, talking about their upcoming vacations while sharing various flavored breads placed in the center.
“Water activities are the best during vacation.”
“I’m going to have a hotel staycation with our Oh Geon. I booked K Hotel!”
“Oh, a staycation, how nice, Nurse Oh.”
As Nurse Oh spoke boastfully, Sung Min responded with an envious voice.
“Mr. Moon should find a good match soon too.”
“What’s with that pitying expression? Huh? At least introduce someone if you’re going to look at me like that.”
As everyone silently ate their bread, Sung Min swallowed with a serious expression and straightened his head.
“Ah, I see.”
“What?”
“Are you not introducing anyone because you misunderstand that there’s something between me and Chae Won, I mean, Dr. Kim?”
Pft. As the staff laughed mockingly, Sung Min stared at them with even more intensity in his eyes.
“We never once had such a suspicion?”
“Why, why not?”
As Sung Min protested in a seemingly offended voice, Chae Won also quietly laughed.
“No, that’s not it.”
With his average height and build, humorous personality, and refreshing charm, he had never been misunderstood as being with Chae Won due to his uniquely unattractive face.
“What’s with you, Ji Hye? Why did you stop mid-sentence? I’m feeling quite uncomfortable?”
As Chae Won, who had a small smile, took a sip of the warm coffee in her hand, Nurse Oh opened her mouth with an ant-like voice, saying, “By the way.”
“Teacher, who was that man from before?”
“What man?”
“You know, the one…”
Nurse Oh put down the bread she was holding and began to explain in earnest.
“The one about this tall. With really broad shoulders. His suit game was no joke… He looked a bit like that model Kang Hyuk.”
Being a dermatology clinic in an area full of entertainment companies, there were quite a number of tall, broad-shouldered male celebrities visiting the hospital.
But seeing Nurse Oh’s eyes, which usually didn’t widen easily, grow bigger as she explained, she knew.
That she was describing Choi Yoo Gun.
“Could it be the tall man who came in a few days ago when I was here?”
When Sung Min asked Nurse Oh, she nodded with even wider eyes.
“Yes, yes, that’s right!”
Sung Min, who had been wearing a gloomy expression, turned to Chae Won and asked.
“Wasn’t he just a patient?”
“No. An acquaintance.”
The staff began to get excited, shouting “Daebak!”
“Then is he your potential boyfriend? Kyaa, tell us more. What does he do?”
He looked like a model. No, could he be a rookie actor?
Everyone speculated about him, even putting down the bread they had never let go of before.
“What potential boyfriend.”
In a month, it would be a relationship where we’d be waving goodbye with a smile.
Chae Won stood up, holding her diary.
“Well then, everyone eat comfortably and start work. Have a good day.”
Leaving behind the voices of staff members asking for more stories, Chae Won came out.
Entering the examination room and standing in front of the mirror, Chae Won put on a white gown over her well-dressed blouse and carefully checked her appearance for any disheveled spots.
Although the tight blouse might be a bit uncomfortable for work, she was someone who could never give up on style.
As the text vibration buzzed, Chae Won looked at her phone.
“Hmm… Common and nice, the movie theater.”
It was a text from Yoo Gun about their first date location today.
Even though they were just pretending, he said they needed proof photos.
Still, it was fortunate that they could substitute dating with taking one photo a day, and it could also hide Hee Ju’s bedridden state.
As she was replying “Okay,” there was a knock, and Sung Min poked his head in.
“How sneaky to diet alone? Buying all those breads and not even touching them.”
After sending the reply, Chae Won put down her phone.
“You know I don’t eat breakfast.”
“Your schedule is fully booked all day, will you be okay eating lunch hastily too?”
“I need to make money.”
“So you’re giving up your lunch break to see Han Ji Sook? I thought that patient’s appointment was missed.”
“Of course, I’m going to be rich.”
“Wow, impressive! Kim Chae Won.”
Although she always talked like this, she was surprisingly full of dedication as a doctor.
She would give up her lunch break to treat patients who needed essential treatment, even if not for cosmetic procedures.
The burn patient Chae Won was taking care of would be impossible to treat completely if the appropriate timing was missed.
“Moon Sung Min.”
Sung Min sat down in front of Chae Won, fiddling with his permed hair.
“Why are you calling my full name so scary?”
“Are you free this weekend?”
“No? I might be busy?”
“I’ll contact you, so keep your phone handy.”
“Hey, I said I might be busy?”
“Roughly between 11 AM and 2 PM, I’ll text you the location.”
Sung Min, who had been leaning back in his chair wiggling his legs, straightened up as if to object.
“No, I was planning to sleep in and probably be busy that day.”
“Ah, I left my coffee behind.”
Chae Won got up and went back out to get her coffee.
“Hey, hey, Kim Chae Won.”
Left behind, Sung Min made a sound with a dumbfounded expression.
“Who am I talking to? Huh?”
Having no choice but to get up, Sung Min tilted his head and muttered.
“Could it be, she’s trying to set me up on a blind date?”
Ah, is that it?
Sung Min, who had thought as he pleased, soon went out with a smile on his face.
*
Jae Min picked up the baby ultrasound photo that caught his eye while working.
“Our little bean, I want to see you soon.”
Jae Min, who had been grinning, gradually straightened his head.
“But where on earth is that girl with no parents doing?”
Kim Hee Ju was a naive woman who knew nothing of the world.
Even on the day her father passed away in a hit-and-run accident, when I met her as a lawyer, her pure face was soaked with tears.
The woman I observed from the side was kind, gentle, and delicate, making me feel protective, and that’s what attracted me.
But after marrying her, the unfortunate events happening in the family, and after hearing a shaman say that Hee Ju’s father’s spirit was lingering in this world, I unknowingly began to find everything about Hee Ju unpleasant and frustrating.
“Where are you and what are you doing?”
Jae Min, who called Hee Ju, spoke with a sharp voice, his eyes tense.
− Do you miss me that much?
“What? This is ridiculous. That’s not what I mean.”
− Even if you miss me, hold back and wait until the weekend.
“Hey.”
− You’ve been saying ‘hey’ for a while now, call me by my name. The way you address me is so cheap.
“What’s cheap?”
Jae Min closed his eyes and opened them again as if trying to be patient, and spoke in a much more gentle tone.
“Okay, Kim Hee Ju. I’ll give you more property, let’s divorce.”
− Why are you calling to say such obvious things?
Did she become money-hungry after leaving home? Why is she acting like this?
“What’s obvious? What have you done?”
− I took care of your mother and the household, feeding you and your family diligently.
“What?”
− Don’t you know, as a lawyer? In a divorce, property should be divided according to contribution, of course.
Right, even Kim Hee Ju must have become greedy facing divorce.
She must have done some internet searching to try and get more.
Jae Min, looking at the ultrasound photo in his hand, soon spoke with an expression that seemed to have endured a lot.
“Alright. I’ll give you half of the property. Is this enough for you?”
− I’ve told you several times that’s a given. And I said, divorce is on hold.
“What on earth are you doing! I said I’ll give you a lot of property!”
− Let’s talk on the weekend. I’m busy.
“He-Hello? Kim Hee Ju, hey!”
No matter how much he called, there was no answer.
With one hand holding the disconnected phone and the other clutching the ultrasound photo, Jae Min closed his eyes tightly and cried out.
“This is driving me crazy, really.”
How long does she intend to hold out?
Coming all the way to the house and even lying that she doesn’t remember due to an accident when it’s disadvantageous, it’s clearly a ploy to drag out time to avoid divorce.
Jae Min clenched his fist, determined that he should properly settle this on the weekend when she was supposed to come.
*
After briefly looking at Hee Ju’s face, who had not yet awakened, Chae Won arrived at the movie theater, the agreed meeting place.
Being a weekday afternoon, there were just enough people, not too crowded.
As she reached the ticket booth where they were supposed to meet, there was Choi Yoo Gun, standing nonchalantly while receiving glances from all sorts of women.
“How can he be so calm when people are glancing at him like that?”
Looking at that fine man who seemed effortlessly handsome, Chae Won felt a strange feeling.
Is it because she hasn’t dated? It was the first time someone other than Sung Min was waiting for her, so it felt odd.
Of course, the difference is that this man exudes an incomparable tension compared to Sung Min.
“I can’t be intimidated.”
Chae Won let down her hair, removing the half-up clip pin she had put on for a modest concept.
With her luscious hair flowing, Chae Won walked towards him.
“You have good manners. You’re always here early.”
“You’re 5 minutes late.”
Chae Won nodded her head a couple of times with a faint smile, hiding her embarrassed expression.
She had deliberately used the compliment tactic, but it didn’t work.
“I’m naturally the type to be considerate and make a lot of concessions.”
As Chae Won began to speak irrelevantly with a prim expression, Yoo Gun slightly tilted his head.
“Even when I see a car cutting in, I think, ah, they must have some urgent business, and yield. Even when getting on the elevator, I always let strollers, the elderly, and children go first. Today, there were so many occasions to yield. If it weren’t for that, I would have arrived 10 minutes early. What can I do but blame myself for being so full of consideration and courtesy.”
“There was a parking ticket on your car.”
Chae Won, who had been putting on a pitiful expression, had her eyes slightly shaking.
“It’s vehicle number 9355, right?”
Was the vehicle number included in the matchmaking information, or is living in the same apartment complex the problem?
Protecting privacy was urgent.
“There was an unavoidable circumstance for that.”
“I see.”
Chae Won, who had been thinking with her gaze half-lowered, changed the subject while looking around.
“I think it would be good to take a picture with that as the background, it would show that we’re at the movie theater.”
He nodded in agreement to the changed atmosphere, thankfully turning his head in the direction Chae Won was pointing.
“Let’s do that.”
“Is it okay to take it with a phone?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll always take the pictures with my phone.”
“Alright.”
Chae Won walked, boasting about various things like how her latest phone has good image quality, and how it turns out well even without beauty apps.
“I was in the drama club in middle school. So I can act a bit. Don’t worry at all about pretending to be affectionate lovers for the photo.”
“I see.”
“Let’s do the first photo with the concept of looking at each other affectionately and smiling. Us.”
Chae Won, standing in the position she mentioned, approached a passing movie theater employee.
“I’m sorry to bother you when you’re busy. Could you please take a picture of us?”
“Ah, yes.”
The employee received the phone with a kind face, and Chae Won moved to stand next to Yoo Gun.
As Chae Won turned to look at him with a natural smile, he also quietly turned his head according to the set concept.
He wasn’t smiling as clearly as she was, but perhaps because he was usually expressionless, even a very slight smile made his face quite soft.
“Alright, I’m taking the picture.”
While hearing the kind employee’s voice, they fixed their gaze on each other.
Chae Won felt strange from the long eye contact and slightly averted her gaze.
“Oh, it’s blurry. I’ll take a few more for you!”
At the employee’s words, she had no choice but to fix her gaze on his eyes again.
His unwavering and deep gaze slowly caressed Chae Won’s nose, then her fair cheeks, and finally her slightly parted red lips.
And then back up to meet his eyes again.
Feeling a strange sensation, Chae Won pulled up her falling corners of her mouth and asked.
“By the way, was Mr. Choi Yoo Gun also in the drama club?”
Chae Won asked with some confidence, given that he was the CEO of an entertainment agency.
“No.”
“Ah, I see.”
Then why is his gaze like that?
The melodramatic eyes looking at her up close were no joke.
Thinking that she shouldn’t be captivated by such eyes, Chae Won distanced herself as soon as the photo was taken.
__________
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Synopsis:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
He even had his eyes on another woman.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
Su Mu expressed her disdain.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
She also wanted to embrace Xie Yi, who had silently stayed by her side in her previous life and committed suicide by taking poison after her death.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
—–
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.