Something was wrong.
Da Hee’s anxious gaze and sharp interrogative voice sent alarm bells ringing in Hye Ju’s mind.
“That day, both Seung Won and I know that it wasn’t cosmetics in your pocket. So honestly, tell me,” Da Hee said.
“What’s the matter, Jjeonda? Do you think I stole something from Kang Seung Won’s studio?” Hye Ju replied.
“I wish that were the case!”
Da Hee shouted angrily.
“That song that echoed from your pocket at exactly 12 o’clock, I was the one who taught it to you.”
“Da Hee.”
“You said you liked someone, that you were going to confess. That confession song I taught you, right?”
Da Hee glared at Hye Ju with resentful eyes.
“The person you like… Is it Seung Won, by any chance?”
Thump, thump.
Her heart pounded wildly. She didn’t want to be caught, not at all.
Out of fear of becoming miserable, out of concern for both of you, out of the fear of losing both of you, she had never wanted to reveal her true feelings.
“That’s absurd. We’ve been friends with Seung Won for years.”
She tried to justify herself, but her excuses fell on deaf ears.
“If you think about it that way, I was friends with Seung Won too. It’s a perfectly plausible assumption,” Da Hee said.
Tears welled up in Da Hee’s eyes, extinguishing Hye Ju’s defense.
“Come to think of it, it’s strange. Ever since I found out about you and Seung Won, we hardly communicate, and he keeps avoiding making plans.”
“Well, it’s uncomfortable for him, that’s why. If you two become a couple, are you going to take responsibility?” Hye Ju retorted.
“You’re overreacting, aren’t you? I’ve never shown any signs of affection in front of you. You were my only friend….”
Her sobbing grew louder.
“If you keep doing that, it feels like I’ve committed a sin. It feels like I’ve taken away your man!”
Hye Ju gently patted Da Hee’s trembling shoulder with a bewildered touch.
“That’s not it. It was just awkward, really. I won’t do it again in the future.”
“Then prove it.”
“What?”
“That confession song, who was it for? Seung Won said it wasn’t for himself. But I don’t think you like Kang Ju Won, either. It’s common sense. How can you like someone who has been in the United States for years?”
“….”
“So, tell me honestly. Who is the person you like, Hye Ju?”
It was a deadend alley.
There were only two options: tell the truth or lie.
“Should I just say it?”
However, being honest would bring her nothing. Their already awkward friendship would become even more uncomfortable, and work would turn into hell.
And most importantly… she would be betrayed. While the two closest friends were getting closer, she had been struggling alone.
“It’s better to beat around the bush.”
Da Hee had quite a persistent style. If someone mentioned someone, she would poke around asking where they met, demanding to see pictures, and it was obvious that she would make a fuss. So Hye Ju had to be even more cautious.
“Who should I mention?”
At that moment, when she rummaged through her brain, pulling out every man stored in her memory, Ju Won appeared above the underground stairs.
“Hey, stalker.”
Even though he had been drinking so much, his skin was smooth like marble, without a single trace of redness.
With each slow step he took, the hidden parts beneath the stairs gradually revealed themselves. From his face to his chest, from his waist to his calves. When he took the final step, his imposing presence completely exposed, enough to turn even the narrow alley into a runway.
“Instead of drinking on the side, where did you disappear to? Seems like you don’t know the basic posture of a stalker.”
Ju Won, who had been walking steadily, took out a lighter from his pocket.
Hye Ju was speechless with astonishment.
“Why is he saying things like that when I explained it clearly last time?”
Even though no one else in the world knew, he did. He knew that the person I liked was Seung Won.
She couldn’t understand why someone like him would say such nonsense again.
Just as she was about to retort, a brilliant idea flashed through Hye Ju’s mind.
“Why not just say it’s Kang Ju Won?”
There were four people who heard the confession song that day.
Among them, the only person who truly understood her feelings was Ju Won. But judging by the way he was speaking, it seemed that Ju Won still mistakenly believed that Hye Ju liked him. It was a very perplexing situation, but at this moment, she was grateful for his delusions.
“This is an opportunity, Oh Hye Ju.”
There was no need to go back when there was a way to end this situation without hurting anyone. Hye Ju gathered her resolve and faced Ju Won.
“Why do you keep calling me a stalker? Is anyone who likes someone who doesn’t like them back automatically a stalker?”
Ju Won, who was about to light his cigarette, froze. The person who had been avoiding him all along suddenly accelerated, causing even that stonelike expression to show a hint of surprise.
This is unexpectedly satisfying.
“Ddalgook!”
Da Hee started sobbing, just as startled as everyone else. Her trembling gaze felt as if there was an earthquake.
Hye Ju placed her hand on her waist and looked up at Ju Won.
“Since we’re alone, I’ll speak comfortably, Oppa.”
Oh. Oppa…?
Ju Won’s lips parted at the unfamiliar term.
“Do you enjoy teasing people’s feelings like that?”
“…Who’s teasing?”
“You keep calling me a stalker, and it doesn’t feel good.”
Ju Won’s pupils flickered left and right. He probably didn’t expect the person who had been confusing him with her onesided love to turn out like this.
“Good. We’ve finally arrived.”
Watching the two completely convinced individuals, Hye Ju felt relieved. It was a bit sad to fail in unrequited love and even have to hide those feelings…
“But now, if I can sacrifice this useless heart and protect our friendship, isn’t it a good deal? Isn’t it?”
Hye Ju took a deep breath and gathered herself. Now it was time to drive the wedge.
I can do it. I can do it.
She closed her eyes tightly and blurted out, repeating it to herself ten times in her mind.
“It’s true that I liked you, Oppa. But now I’ve let go of my feelings. Completely, thoroughly!”
“Uh… Really?”
“That day, you rejected my confession, didn’t you!”
“?”
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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