“It seems like you two are having a good time. Inha. Shall we sit somewhere else?”
After briefly greeting me and Researcher Jung Chan-hyung, Yoo Na-ra went to an empty seat.
“Hmm… I feel a bit sorry.”
He spoke as he glanced at where Baek Inha and Yoo Na-ra had settled. His expression slightly stiffened.
“What is it?”
“Exactly. Why do I feel guilty?”
He pushed the side dishes toward me, his smile not quite warm or fresh but somewhat ambiguous.
“Let’s eat first. The food here is really good. You might have been here before.”
“No, it’s my first time. I’ll be paying, but I’ll enjoy the meal nonetheless.”
Unwilling to let the atmosphere become awkward, I started eating with a bright smile. Seeing me like that, he also picked up his spoon, which he had put down, and resumed his original smile.
“May I ask you something?”
I had only taken a few bites when a question suddenly occurred to me.
“Of course.”
Hesitant, I finally spoke.
“How did you become friends with Yoo Na-ra?”
“I knew Na-ra from college. We were in the same club but never got close because the timing was off. We became closer after joining the same company.”
“I see.”
I grabbed a sausage from the Budaejjigae with chopsticks and popped it into my mouth, then glanced at Yoo Na-ra who was talking animatedly to Baek Inha.
“May I also ask you something?”
This time it was Researcher Jung Chan-hyung who asked.
“Yes, of course.”
I answered confidently, but I soon regretted it.
“Don’t you date, Team Leader Moon?”
I should’ve said not to ask. But it was too late for regrets.
“Well, I don’t have time.”
I skirted the question and took a big bite of rice.
“I see….”
He chuckled at my response and also took a big bite.
After finishing our meal, he insisted on buying coffee, so I had no choice but to accept. We were on our way back to the office, coffee in hand.
“Moon Da Yul?”
While waiting for the elevator, a familiar voice called me.
“Ji Seo Joon? Coming back from lunch?”
Ji Seo Joon looked handsome as ever today. But his handsome face was slightly distorted.
“Hello, Mr. Ji.”
Researcher Jung Chan-hyung greeted him, making Ji Seo Joon’s slight distortion deepen.
“Hello. You two were out together?”
He glanced at our coffee cups with the same logo and asked. Just as I was about to answer, Researcher Jung Chan-hyung replied.
“Yes, we were coming back from lunch.”
Ji Seo Joon’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly. Just as I was about to say, ‘He helped me out, so I treated him to lunch,’ the elevator arrived. Swept up in the tide of people, I got on the elevator.
“No, no…”
The quickly filling elevator. Ji Seo Joon couldn’t get on, and I caught sight of his expression through the slowly closing gap.
This is bad.
After dating, I discovered Ji Seo Joon’s jealousy. I wanted to send him a message immediately, but I had coffee in one hand and it wasn’t easy to pull my phone out of my bag in the cramped space.
“Thank you for the meal today.”
Researcher Jung Chan-hyung got off, and a bit later.
As soon as the elevator stopped at my floor, I quickly got off and sent a message to Ji Seo Joon.
[You know, right? The research team four went on a business trip recently and almost got into trouble due to civil unrest. Researcher Jung Chan-hyung helped out. So.]I was diligently typing when a new message came in.
[Come home after work.]It was from Ji Seo Joon.
Fine. It’s better to explain in person rather than through text. With that thought, I deleted the message I was writing. I let out a deep sigh and returned to my seat.
Even while working, I kept checking the time.
I was eager to see Ji Seo Joon’s face and explain everything.
As soon as it hit 6 PM, I began packing up my things.
“Deputy Moon, do you have something urgent today?”
The team leader called out to me. The timing of his call wasn’t a good omen.
“A new plan came in a little while ago, and it’s a bit odd. Can you look it over with me?”
As expected… I gently put down the bag I had been packing.
“Yes, I will take a look at it.”
I quickly left a message for Ji Seo Joon saying I might be late, and hurried to the team leader’s seat.
[Star icon][Star icon]“Ah, he must be angry, right?”
I quickened my pace, muttering anxiously to myself. Why were there so many people today? I dodged through the crowds, heading for Ji Seo Joon’s studio apartment.
It was past 8 PM.
Although it wasn’t late, I felt rushed thinking about my boyfriend, who would be waiting for me alone in his studio. Moreover, hadn’t he seen me come in after having lunch with Researcher Jeong Chan Hyung today?
‘Beep-beep-beep.’
I punched in the door code while catching my breath.
“I’m here!”
I quickly took off my shoes and entered. Ji Seo Joon was towel-drying his freshly washed hair.
“You took a shower?”
I smiled as brightly as I could and sat next to Ji Seo Joon.
“Wash your hands.”
“Ah. Yeah, I should.”
At Ji Seo Joon’s comment, I sprang up and headed for the bathroom. I turned on the tap, soaped my hands, and scrubbed them thoroughly.
“It doesn’t seem like he’s too upset…”
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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