It was an unusually cold Sunday, with plenty of rain.

The wedding of Min Woo’s distant cousin.

At the insistence of their fatherinlaw, they had set out early in the morning for the countryside to attend as representatives of the family.

“The traffic is infuriating.”
Min Woo’s irritated voice echoed in the quiet car, and Ji Yeon, who had been watching him, grew anxious.

In the meantime, the message from her motherinlaw was more than enough to perplex Ji Yeon.

[There’s a famous bakery near XXdong. Please buy XX bread from there. It’s not like you go there often, so make sure you buy it! Min Woo must be tired from driving, so you should go by yourself and buy it after the wedding.] Where did she hear about this?

She might have deliberately found out about it just to give Ji Yeon a hard time.

But as she had sent the message several times saying ‘Make sure you go and buy it’, it was difficult to pretend she didn’t know, and the thought of how annoyed she would be if Ji Yeon didn’t buy it sent shivers down her spine.

When she finally told her husband Min Woo about his mother’s errand, an additional layer of irritation settled on his already frustrated face.

“So you’re saying we need to find this place. In this rain.”
One glance at his furrowed brow and wrinkled forehead told Ji Yeon that his patience was running thin.

Fortunately, Min Woo didn’t say anything more and turned the car toward the destination.

After about 30 minutes of breaking through the congested road, they arrived at a dilapidated building in a narrow residential alley.

Despite the rain, many people were already waiting in line at the bakery, which seemed to be quite famous.

“Min Woo, it seems like the line will take at least 20 minutes. Go to a nearby coffee shop and have a cup of tea. I’ll go quickly and buy it, and call you when I’m out.”
Ji Yeon carefully spoke, watching Min Woo’s reaction, and quickly got out of the car with her umbrella.

She didn’t even open her umbrella in her hurry to run towards the bakery, getting soaked in the rain, but Min Woo didn’t notice any of this.

His frowning face was reflected in the rearview mirror.

“Ah… I definitely need some caffeine.”
He didn’t want to do as Ji Yeon said, but it seemed that it would indeed take about 30 minutes.

Driving out of the narrow residential alley, he spotted a coffee shop about five minutes away and parked the car in front. He then stepped inside.

A firsttime encounter with a quaint neighborhood coffee shop, with an outdated interior.

It was a place Min Woo would never have visited under normal circumstances.

But not wanting to wander further in this complex neighborhood, he just went in, and luckily, the café wasn’t crowded, so he could order right away.

“One Americano.”
“That’ll be 3,500 won.”
After paying by card and stepping aside to wait for his coffee, there was a crashing noise from the back kitchen, followed by an annoyed voice.

“No, Se Ah, how many times is this! What will happen if you keep doing this? Even if the boss spares you, you have to do your job properly. Oh, I really have to clean all this up!”
“No, I didn’t do it on purpose, it’s a mistake!”
“Mistakes are once or twice, then clean and tidy this all up, Se Ah!”
A loud argument that completely ignored the customers could be heard, and soon a person popped out from the inside.

“It was a mistake, why keep nagging? And why do they ask me to do their tasks?”
The silhouette of the woman who came out grumbling seemed somehow familiar to Min Woo’s eyes.

“Se… Se Ah?”
Could it be… Staring at her in disbelief, Min Woo began to doubt his eyes.

“Se Ah!”
At Min Woo’s shout, the woman looked at him, her eyes wide in surprise.

“Mr. Min Woo?”
The woman called Se Ah, looked at him in disbelief for a moment, then suddenly sat down on the floor and began to cry like a child.

The few café employees and customers stared at the two of them with curious eyes.

Regardless of whether people were watching, Min Woo ran up and tightly hugged the woman sitting on the floor.

“Se Ah!”
“This… it’s not a dream, right Mr. Min Woo? We really met again, right?”
Se Ah mumbled, crying even harder in Min Woo’s arms.

“It took way longer than expected. Mr. Min Woo must be tired of waiting.”
After a long time in line and slow payment, more than 30 minutes had passed since she left the bakery.

She looked around for Min Woo’s car, but neither he nor his car were anywhere to be seen.

Rrrr Rrrr

The ringtone kept sounding, but Min Woo didn’t answer the call.

“Looking at the fact that the car is not visible, it seems like he went somewhere.”
She tried calling several times, but the ringtone was the only sound.

“He should call soon.”
In the residential area, the only shops were the bakery and a closed hair salon, so there weren’t many places for him to go, and not knowing when Min Woo would appear, she decided to wait in front of the bakery with her umbrella.

When male lead is the homewrecker

“I know she doesn’t love him.”

I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!

The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.

Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.

The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.

I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.

There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.

For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.

I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.

Here’s the story synopsis:

One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.

Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead

Intro 1:

“I know she doesn’t love him.”

With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.

Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.

In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.

Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…

Intro 2:

Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.

He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.

Watched her go public with her boyfriend.

Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.

Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.

The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.

Fan Xia, how can I have you!

【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】

1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy

2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition

_____

Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.

If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.

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