After the company dinner ended.
Sitting in the back seat of the taxi, Ju Won was deeply lost in thought.
“I liked you, Oppa.”
“I liked you, Oppa.”
“I liked you, Oppa.”
Hye Ju’s words from earlier didn’t leave his mind.
It was a chaotic mess. Did she really steal my underwear as soon as she came to Korea? And then vehemently deny liking me at all. Just a few days ago, she kept spouting nonsense about liking Seung Won, and now she’s saying she liked me again?
“What the hell.”
She would go crazy, jumping around like a madwoman, making it impossible to understand her true feelings. What was even more confusing was her final statement.
“That day, you rejected my confession!”
When was that day? Is she talking about ten years ago or just a few days ago? Have I ever rejected Oh Hye Ju before?
Ju Won stared out the car window, lost in his thoughts.
Ten years ago was the day Hye Ju threw a candy bar at him, barely the height of a person. As usual, the front of his house was piled with gifts and letters, overwhelming him. With his arms crossed, Ju Won stared intently at the stack of candy bars that took up the center of the room.
“Did she say her name was Oh Hye Ju? Seung Won’s friend?”
He vaguely remembered being introduced to her when they happened to meet in front of his house.
Lately, she hasn’t been acting like a kid. It’s rare to see someone with a bob haircut these days, but she looks neat.
Recalling that memory, their encounter could be summarized in just two sentences.
“I didn’t know she liked me.”
Seung Won had countless female admirers, enough to fill half the field, but Hye Ju was a bit unexpected.
It was because of how confidently she introduced herself without any shyness, speaking my name so boldly. Since childhood, Ju Won was more observant than others when it came to girls who followed him around so often. When he looked into Hye Ju’s clear eyes, there was no trace of ulterior motives.
“Well, well.”
With a slight smile, Ju Won pushed the candy bar to the corner of the room.
A few days later, he ran into Hye Ju on the street. The first thing she said, blushing, was this.
“Oppa, I’m sorry about that day.”
What is there to be sorry about? Throwing away the uneaten candy bar? Is that something to feel so sorry about?
Feeling sorry for her, unable to even lift her head, Ju Won simply replied kindly.
“It was delicious. The almond one.”
It was when she hesitated for a moment and opened her lips again.
“Actually, I like you, Oppa…”
Thunk.
A basketball rolled over from somewhere. Reflexively, Ju Won caught the ball and turned his head.
“What did you just say?”
“Ah, no, nothing!”
Looking at Hye Ju, who blushed like a radish and avoided eye contact, Ju Won smirked.
“You give me a candy bar and act so embarrassed. How ridiculous.”
The unfinished sentence wasn’t “I like you, Oppa,” but “It’s not that I like you, Oppa.” Ju Won, who couldn’t even imagine such a thing, found Hye Ju’s innocent appearance cute.
Afterward, he discovered that they unexpectedly ran into each other often. They saw each other near his house because they were close with Seung Won, and although they were in different grades, they attended the same academy and sometimes bumped into each other in the hallway. Every time that happened, Hye Ju would flee as if running away, and Ju Won would gaze at her intently.
There were several encounters until the moment of leaving for study abroad after finishing the college entrance exam. I don’t remember much about that time, but I clearly remember that Hye Ju was the one who avoided me most of the time.
“I don’t think I’ve ever explicitly rejected her advances. Hmmm.”
So, the meaning behind Hye Ju’s “confession being rejected” must be something recent.
As Ju Won pondered the hazy memories of ten years ago, they resurfaced from a month ago. It was the day he ran into Hye Ju at home after returning from abroad.
“If you want to make friends, make them with some distance. What’s with this stalking behavior?”
A vivid memory of his stern expression and a blunt reprimand comes to mind.
Though he pretended to be unfazed, the truth was that Ju Won was greatly surprised that day as well. He had just finished taking a shower, wearing only a bathrobe, when he found a girl standing right in the middle of his house. It was natural to be startled.
In his confusion, he must have interpreted it as a rejection, which he labeled as stalking behavior.
Moreover, he even called the police, reporting stolen panties. It was only to ensure Hye Ju’s safety, considering her perspective of being completely unaware of the trauma from ten years ago, but it must have been quite bewildering for her.
“Hmm… That could have been interpreted as a rejection.”
Hye Ju’s words about her confession being rejected made some sense.
“Well, whatever. I wouldn’t have accepted it anyway.”
But…
Why does it bother me so much?
Hye Ju’s voice, saying that she completely and cleanly gave up on her feelings, kept ringing in his ears.
“Why did you give up so cleanly like that? How boring.”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
