Ensnared by the Trap (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
As evening arrived, Se Hee began preparing to head to the formal dinner venue.
Se Hee had already known in advance that there were parties held every night on the cruise ship and that each onboard restaurant had a set dress code, so she had brought quite a few outfits.
Yet once she actually arrived here, she couldn’t help feeling she had prepared far too modestly.
She wasn’t sure if it was just the people on this particular cruise who loved to dress extravagantly.
The company blouses and H-line skirts she had simply packed thinking formal attire would suffice for the dinner restaurant were now completely unwearable.
“Sigh. How would I know when I’ve never been on a cruise before? I should’ve brought more dresses instead of swimsuits.”
With no other choice, Se Hee pulled out the pink evening dress she had been saving for the event party she really wanted to attend.
A softly glowing pastel-toned pink dress.
She had seen it in a department store, fallen in love at first sight, and splurged on it impulsively; it seemed perfect for an upscale restaurant.
After putting on the dress, she finished the look with the pearl set she had received as a gift.
Having completed her preparations and left her cabin, Se Hee headed toward the lounge on the 21st floor.
On the topmost 21st floor were a handful of VVIP suites, the grand banquet hall, and the ship’s most luxurious restaurant, Francois.
Stepping out of the elevator, a wide and beautifully decorated gallery space appeared before her.
It was Se Hee’s first time in this area, and her eyes grew wide.
It was a gallery on the scale of a famous art museum.
Next to each exhibited painting, as if they were works by renowned artists, the painter’s lengthy biography was displayed.
While slowly walking and admiring each piece one by one, Se Hee stopped in front of a small painting hanging at the very end.
It gave off a slightly different atmosphere from all the works displayed before it.
The red and yellow tones blended so exquisitely that it even felt mysteriously enchanting.
Se Hee sensed a warm energy carrying faint longing emanating from the piece.
A work hanging alone with no introduction of the artist somehow felt even more endearing.
She was completely absorbed in the painting when someone called her name.
“Miss Se Hee.”
Turning around, she saw Sung Jae walking toward her looking dashing in a sharp suit.
“Mr. Sung Jae?”
Sung Jae looked completely different from when he wore casual travel clothes.
They say clothes make the man—he appeared so refined that even his gait seemed transformed, without a single flaw.
“I hurried over thinking you might come early. Looks like I was right.”
Sung Jae smiled gently.
“Would you grant me the honor of escorting the beautiful Miss Se Hee?”
If this had been the Sung Jae from Mykonos, it would surely have sounded like playful teasing, but the man standing before her now exuded elegant grace.
“Ah… yes. Thank you.”
She couldn’t bring herself to refuse the arm he offered so courteously.
In that brief moment when Se Hee took his hand and was about to turn, Sung Jae felt an intense gaze directed at them.
A piercing stare impossible to ignore.
Glancing sideways, Sung Jae met eyes that sent chills down his spine.
An unfamiliar man was glaring straight through him.
The instant their gazes locked, an invisible sharp current dangerously swirled between them.
Yet that energy, those eyes—somehow they didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar.
Who was he?
It felt like a presence he had definitely encountered before.
A western yet somehow eastern appearance mysteriously blended together.
But Sung Jae quickly turned his head away.
Right now, the most important thing was the woman standing beside him.
* * *
Just yesterday—no, even this morning—he had been informed that she had gone on the port tour alone.
Yet now she was with a man who looked quite close to her.
And a Korean man, at that.
Kyle suddenly grew curious about their relationship.
“With whom?”
The words slipped out before he realized.
At the sound, Dave, who had been standing beside Kyle, momentarily panicked.
Dave had also witnessed the passenger from suite 1305 heading to the restaurant with an unfamiliar East Asian man.
But with an important business meeting ahead, he could never have imagined Kyle’s attention drifting elsewhere.
“…Yes. They are the delegation from the Mykonos hotel side. As in the materials prepared in advance, the attendees today are….”
Having made his judgment, Dave began explaining in detail about the delegation waiting in the private room.
Kyle’s eyebrow twitched for a second.
“…We’re late.”
Kyle quickened his pace.
The delegation, including the other side’s representative, had already arrived in the private room.
This meeting was merely the final review before the Mykonos resort project presentation.
The moment Kyle entered, the opposing representative immediately stood up.
They had all heard the rumors about Kyle’s thorough preparation and bulldozer-like approach that left no room for the other side to think, so even seasoned veterans could not relax.
Once the meeting began, it wasn’t long before Dave was stunned.
The opposing delegation was being overwhelmingly pushed back by Kyle’s momentum.
Today, of all days, Kyle’s style was extraordinarily aggressive.
The Kyle who usually remained rational and cool-headed while skillfully finding compromise points was now giving his counterparts no time even to breathe.
Facing Kyle’s unrivaled charisma that allowed zero concessions, the opposing delegation had already turned pale.
The meeting ended in an instant.
Before even half the scheduled time had passed.
“Please review our proposal once more and contact us. I hope you enjoy a pleasant dinner.”
Recommending a dinner that could never be pleasant, Kyle concluded the meeting with a cold smirk.
Only after Kyle left the room did everyone finally let out the breaths they had been holding.
“R-Representative… Do you perhaps have any unofficial plans afterward?”
Dave, chasing after Kyle, asked cautiously.
“If my own secretary doesn’t know my schedule, who would?”
Kyle shot back sharply.
“Ah… I just wondered if there was a separate reason for shortening the meeting time.”
“Time?”
Kyle checked his wristwatch.
As Dave had said, it had taken barely half the usual meeting duration.
His brow immediately furrowed.
He had thought he wasn’t paying any attention to the woman who had been with that unfamiliar man—but apparently that wasn’t the case?
At Kyle’s small sigh, Dave merely tilted his head in confusion.
* * *
Se Hee, Jung Yeon, and Sung Jae were leisurely enjoying an excellent dinner course.
However, Sung Jae still couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling from the man’s gaze he had met before entering.
“What’s wrong? Your expression has been strange for a while.”
Jung Yeon would never miss something like that.
“I saw a guy on the way in who looked kind of familiar. Nah, probably not. Never mind.”
“Why? Was he so strikingly handsome that you’d never forget him after seeing him once?”
“Hey now, why do you always jump to the negative? Let me tell you, there are far cooler guys in this world than that jerk who went to Alaska.”
Sung Jae narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
“Then the opposite? Where, where? If there’s a guy like that, you should’ve reported it to your big sis immediately, you little punk.”
Jung Yeon noisily looked around.
At Sung Jae’s words, Se Hee suddenly thought of Kyle.
If it was a man striking enough to stand out even to other men…
“Have you attended any of the events here?”
When Jung Yeon couldn’t spot the man Sung Jae mentioned no matter how much she looked, she changed the subject and asked Se Hee.
“I attended the Cocktail Night once.”
Of course, an incident happened, so she couldn’t stay until the end…
Se Hee swallowed the rest of the sentence.
“Ah… I skipped it because I don’t drink weak alcohol.”
Jung Yeon snickered.
“This cruise ship really has a ton of events and parties prepared. Do you know about the wedding event, by any chance?”
At Jung Yeon’s words, Se Hee tilted her head.
It was the first time she had heard of it.
“They hold a drawing among participating passengers and actually throw the wedding that the winners want. Real weddings for actual engaged couples, and mock weddings for those doing it just for fun.”
Sung Jae added an explanation.
“Oh… there’s an event like that?”
Se Hee’s eyes sparkled.
“You get to wear a wedding dress designed by a super famous designer. And everything wedding-related is provided by the cruise. My partner isn’t exactly to my taste, but it was an event I couldn’t miss, so I entered anyway.”
As she spoke, Jung Yeon glared at Sung Jae.
“What? I told you to write someone else’s name. You’re the one who insisted on writing mine.”
Sung Jae bristled at her glare.
“You have to write both the applicant and their partner. Miss Se Hee, would you like to enter too? It would be a true honor if you chose me as your partner.”
Sung Jae bowed deeply with a serious expression, greeting her like a medieval noble.
“Yes… I’ll think about it.”
Se Hee smiled brightly.
“The wedding dresses are astronomically expensive, so it seems everyone entered just to try one on, even if they’re not actually dating anyone. I think several entry boxes are already full.”
“Really? I had no idea. I thought I had researched pretty thoroughly.”
Se Hee shrugged cutely.
“Good heavens! Coming on a cruise without knowing that kind of info is absurd. Anyway, tonight there’s…”
Jung Yeon went on to explain in more detail the various parties and events happening on the cruise ship.
Sung Jae enthusiastically added his extremely subjective opinions from the side.
Because the time together was so enjoyable, none of the three noticed how late dinner was running.
After a delightful time with the two of them and parting ways since they were attending tonight’s event party, Se Hee slowly headed back to the gallery.
She remembered the painting she had seen before going to the restaurant.
At this hour with no one around, she thought she could quietly appreciate it at her leisure.
She had come expecting the gallery to be empty because it was late, but someone had arrived before her.
And it was someone Se Hee knew.
“Mr. Graham?”
Se Hee called out to him happily.
But he was so absorbed in the painting that he seemed not to hear her voice.
As she slowly approached his motionless side, she saw the painting he was admiring.
It was the very painting she had taken notice of and come back to see again.
Se Hee silently gazed at him, completely lost in appreciation of the artwork.
He was simply standing there, yet even that looked perfect.
When Se Hee stepped a little closer, Kyle finally sensed her presence and turned his gaze toward her.
Yet the way Kyle looked at Se Hee seemed oddly dry.
“You must really like this painting. I liked it a lot too. It was my first time in the gallery this evening, and I couldn’t leave this painting for ages.”
Excited that he was interested in the same painting she had noticed, Se Hee didn’t realize his gaze had turned cold and began sharing her thoughts on the piece.
“It’s smaller than the other works and not in a great spot, but strangely I couldn’t just pass it by. It draws you in, somehow? It makes my heart feel calm and warm, and looking at it just puts me in a good mood.”
Though no one had asked, her bright smile and words about the painting were full of sincerity.
It makes the heart feel calm and warm?
Whether her sincerity reached him or not, the coldness in Kyle’s eyes as he looked at her gradually softened.
“But all the other works had the artist’s biography, yet this one had no introduction at all.”
Se Hee remarked curiously.
“It wasn’t by a famous artist.”
Kyle’s low voice flowed out.
“You know the artist?”
At Se Hee’s question, Kyle quietly nodded.
“Oh… an acquaintance, then. What kind of person are they? Judging from the feeling in the painting, they seem like a really warm and kind person.”
Se Hee smiled innocently.
In that moment, something resonated in Kyle’s heart.
The small vibration slowly spread gentle ripples through his chest.
Startled by the unfamiliar sensation, Kyle turned his gaze back to the painting to hide his expression.
He had met quite a few Koreans over the years, but not one had ever given him this feeling.
“What do you think of this painting, Mr. Graham?”
This time Se Hee asked.
Kyle’s deep ocean-like eyes slowly turned to her.
“…I like it.”
Kyle’s lazy voice felt like an unexpected spring breeze gently brushing Se Hee’s heart.
He was clearly talking about the painting, yet because of the way he looked at her, Se Hee’s heart fluttered strangely.
Her cheeks quickly flushed pink.
Then, entirely out of the blue, Kyle threw a provocative question.
“…So, did you enjoy your date?”
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
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.
Intro:
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.
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.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
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.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[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.
_____
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