Couldn't Help But Love You - Chapter 9

This time, Tae Wook was silent.

It was what he had wished for so much. Yet he felt no joy at all.

[I’ll fulfill the remaining 1 year on the contract. So… please allow the resort construction to proceed.]

Gyeo Wool said tearfully.

“Secretary Han.”

[Please.]

“Huu…”

Tae Wook exhaled a long, heavy breath that had been filling his lungs.

He was looking for another way to persuade Gyeo Wool.

But this wasn’t the kind of solution he wanted.

Tae Wook felt extremely uncomfortable, as if he had backed Gyeo Wool into a corner.

[Sir…]

Tae Wook closed his eyes and pressed his hand to his forehead.

“Alright. I’ll give you another chance.”

He could no longer refuse Gyeo Wool.

“But it can’t be for nothing.”

[What do you mean you’ll give me a chance but it can’t be for nothing?]

“Get the executives at ‘The Space’ to be convinced. If you do that, I’ll allow the construction to proceed.”

[Yes. I’ll do that.]

Gyeo Wool readily agreed.

“You’ll be contacted by CEO Bang tomorrow. Make good use of this last opportunity to give a business briefing. And if this deal goes through, our agreement will be finalized as well.”

[Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.]

The call ended.

Tae Wook reached for the glass of alcohol he had set down.

But his hand stopped mid-air, then returned to its place.

He remembered Gyeo Wool’s tear-stained face from 5 years ago, when she received a call from a creditor.

“It will be an especially long night.”

Gyeo Wool would surely be unable to sleep tonight.

He had planned to use alcohol to help him sleep.

But even that kind of sleep seemed like it would be unfair to Gyeo Wool.

[This is the timeline separator]

The next day.

A heavy tension hung over ‘The Space’.

3 hours had passed since Eun Young left to prepare for the briefing at the resort.

The employees were anxiously waiting for Eun Young to return.

Gyeo Wool also seemed uneasy, trying hard to appear calm, but unable to focus on her work.

“I’m back!”

Eun Young finally returned to the company.

The employees who had been waiting for her with bated breath jumped up and flocked to her.

“Director, how did it go?”

“You gave a good briefing, right?”

Eun Young asked in return to the employees’ questions.

“How do you think it went?”

“It went well, right?”

Gyeo Wool asked Eun Young with certainty.

“We’re saved!”

Eun Young grabbed Gyeo Wool’s hand.

“They said they’ll contract with us!”

“They’ll contract with us?”

Gyeo Wool’s voice rose in a cheer.

“It’s all thanks to you. Because of the additional materials you prepared, our company got another chance. You saved the company.”

Perhaps recalling the heartache of the past.

Though Eun Young’s lips were smiling, her eyes had already become moist with tears.

“It’s because you worked so hard, senior. You ran around as if even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.”

Did she know how difficult it had been to watch Eun Young give up on the training center construction and pretend nothing was wrong?

Gyeo Wool felt like she could finally repay Eun Young for her guilty feelings.

.

.

.

After work.

Gyeo Wool headed to Flore Resort.

[I’m going down to Jeju Island tomorrow. Let’s meet at the resort.]

Tae Wook had asked to meet Gyeo Wool before ending the call yesterday.

“He’s in the annex. I’ll escort you.”

Secretary Kim, recognizing Gyeo Wool entering the lobby, guided her.

She obediently followed behind Secretary Kim.

“Please enter.”

Gyeo Wool took a deep breath and stepped into the annex.

“Welcome, Secretary Han. I’ve been waiting.”

Tae Wook stood up from his chair to greet Gyeo Wool.

“Sit down.”

Tae Wook pointed to the chair across the table, opposite where he had been sitting, still by the door.

Gyeo Wool moved her legs, heavy as if tied to stones, and sat down in the chair.

“Are you feeling alright?”

Tae Wook asked, carefully examining Gyeo Wool’s complexion.

She had been exposed to cold wind yesterday and spent a sleepless night, so her condition was terrible.

However, she put on a faint smile, pretending to be completely fine.

“Bring what I asked you to prepare.”

At Tae Wook’s request, Secretary Kim went out of the annex.

Gyeo Wool quietly watched the door close, then turned to look at Tae Wook.

“…Since when?”

Her voice trembled severely, as if suppressing her emotions.

“If you’re asking about the resort acquisition, it’s been over 4 years.”

“4 years?”

That means he acquired the resort about a year after getting married.

Gyeo Wool looked perplexed at the fact that she had been completely unaware of this.

“No one in the family except Grandfather knows about the resort. Of course, if Secretary Han had been my secretary, you would have known.”

Tae Wook seemed to have read Gyeo Wool’s expression.

“The resort has achieved the level of success I wanted, and I thought it was time to reveal myself publicly.”

“Then, who is CEO Ha?”

CEO Ha was the former CEO of the resort.

“Kindly put, my proxy. Harshly put, a figurehead.”

“Huh…”

Gyeo Wool let out a surprised breath at the fact she learned through Tae Wook’s words.

At that moment, Secretary Kim came in with a lemon-scented tea and set it down in front of Gyeo Wool.

“They say it’s good for colds.”

Gyeo Wool stared at Tae Wook with surprised eyes.

How did he know she had caught a cold?

And to even prepare tea in advance.

Was he always this considerate?

“Drink.”

“…Yes.”

Gyeo Wool took a sip of the tea without taking her eyes off Tae Wook.

Was it because of the warmth enhanced by the refreshing scent?

She felt her tense, stiff muscles relaxing lazily.

“I regret that we had to conclude the construction contract this way.”

Tae Wook hoped that even a little of his sincerity would reach Gyeo Wool.

“If I hadn’t reached out for help, what were you planning to do?”

“I suppose I would have had to find another way.”

He had actually been trying to figure out a way to persuade Gyeo Wool.

“Even if something happened to hurt me or the people around me?”

Gyeo Wool seemed to have misunderstood Tae Wook’s answer.

As if he meant he would use any means necessary.

“Have I ever been that cruel of a person?”

“Using someone else’s weakness to avoid losing what’s yours. It could seem cruel to the other person.”

“Watch your words.”

Though his voice wasn’t raised, Tae Wook’s eyes grew cold.

If Gyeo Wool’s words were true, then she too was a cruel person.

−Wait just one year. Then I’ll divorce you as you want, Secretary Han.

−What if I lose the person I love while waiting!

As Tae Wook recalled the time when Gyeo Wool demanded a divorce, he felt his emotions stirring from the bottom.

But he couldn’t reveal his emotions as they were here.

Tae Wook closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and took a deep breath.

Then he looked straight at Gyeo Wool and said in an emotionless voice.

“I hope you don’t forget that it was Secretary Han who called that cruel person for help.”

.

.

.

Secretary Kim left the annex holding the contract signed by Tae Wook and Gyeo Wool.

“Now shall we talk about us?”

“Go ahead.”

Gyeo Wool spoke calmly, but her lips became parched again as she grew tense.

“We’ll go see Grandfather on Saturday.”

“That, that soon?”

She asked in surprise, as the date seemed too rushed.

“It’s already been delayed enough.”

Tae Wook said firmly.

“I told Grandfather that Secretary Han came down to Jeju Island to help with the resort business.”

“I see.”

“The surgery is top secret. So I’d like you to act as if I’ve kept it from you until now and just told you.”

“I’ll do that.”

Gyeo Wool answered weakly and bit her lip hard.

Tae Wook must have believed she would eventually return to his side.

He had created a situation where it wouldn’t be strange even if Gyeo Wool appeared quite a long time after Chairman Kang’s surgery.

“And about ‘The Space’…”

Gyeo Wool swallowed hard.

Of course he would tell her to quit the company.

Since she’d have to go up to Seoul and stay until things were wrapped up.

But when she had to come down from the stage after ending the act.

She would have to come back down to Jeju Island.

‘He probably hasn’t considered such circumstances.’

Gyeo Wool waited for Tae Wook’s next words with a disappointed expression.

However, the words that flowed from his lips were completely different from what she expected.

“I’ll tell CEO Bang that we’re requesting to dispatch Secretary Han to Seoul.”

“A dispatch request?”

“Of course, they might find our request strange. But it won’t be easy for them to refuse.”

Tae Wook was right.

Now that they had signed the construction contract, the resort side was in the superior position and ‘The Space’ was in the inferior position.

“Why…”

Gyeo Wool stared at Tae Wook as if looking at a stranger.

“I thought you’d tell me to quit.”

“The old me might have.”

Tae Wook smiled bitterly and fixed his gaze on Gyeo Wool’s exceptionally dark eyes.

“After losing everything, I realized. Losing happens in an instant, but how much time you have to struggle in agony to find it again.”

Hearing Tae Wook’s words, Gyeo Wool furrowed her brow with an expression of incomprehension.

He spoke as if he had lost and found again what he valued most.

She knew that what he valued most was J Chemical.

And he was still proudly standing as the CEO of J Chemical, both then and now.

Then it must be something else she didn’t know about that he had lost.

What could it be?

As Gyeo Wool pondered, trying to figure it out, Tae Wook casually asked.

“Is there anything else you want to ask me?”

“There is, but…”

“Tell me. If it’s something I can do, I’ll listen.”

“Please keep it a secret from Senior Eun Young.”

A cracked voice flowed out as she opened her dry vocal cords.

“You mean don’t let her know that I’m the CEO of Flore Resort?”

“Yes.”

Eun Young had given up on the training center’s interior construction after learning Tae Wook’s identity.

This time too, if she found out Tae Wook was involved, she might try to refuse the resort construction as well.

“She’ll find out who I am the day we sign the contract anyway.”

“I know. But at least until the contract is signed.”

“Alright.”

Tae Wook seemed to understand what Gyeo Wool was worried about.

“It’ll only be a few days at most. I’ll do that.”

Gyeo Wool hoped and prayed that the construction contract would be signed successfully.

Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me

One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

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