And when it ends, Taehee will be the one to regret and suffer.
Yet, she thought it would be okay.
If she couldn’t cut off and distance herself first, then let Sajun push her away and end this relationship.
After silently watching Taehee for a moment, Sajun, with a big hand stroking his face, sighed as if speaking.
“Mintaehee, why is everything so hard for you.”
The difficult one wasn’t Taehee, but Sajun.
To stay by the overly difficult Kang Sajun’s side, she didn’t lie and made a bleeding effort. She adjusted her entire 24 hours solely for Sajun.
Having secured a place by Sajun’s side through such difficulty, just when she thought it was getting easier, it became difficult again.
But to you, I must seem easy. Just like 13 years ago, and even now after 13 years have passed. That’s why you conduct such tests and say such things easily.
As Taehee’s thoughts reached this point, a bit of resentment cooled her gaze.
“So, Kang Sajun, what’s so easy for you? Ah, everything must be easy for you. I’m easy, and so is this revolving world.”
Sajun smiled crookedly as if he heard something amusing. Brushing his fallen hair with his characteristic languid gesture, he muttered cynically, “This is driving me crazy.”
And then, his laughter faded, his eyes devoid of humor, filled entirely with Mintaehee.
“Mintaehee, is that how you see me?”
I like you.
It took Sajun a long time to say that to Taehee.
It was a cautious word.
Of course, he knew the timing of the confession wasn’t good.
But he didn’t want to say he couldn’t when Mintaehee was asking for it.
The feelings of liking her were longstanding and sincere.
If it’s a problem to not say it and also a problem to say it, then he wanted to seize this opportunity to say it.
I like you, so please date me.
But Taehee’s inner thoughts in response to that confession were incredulously shocking.
You look easy, who on earth looks easy?
“I never showed it because it was too hard. You have no idea what I’ve done just to have you by my side.”
Looking at the woman who was driving him even crazier than before, Sajun asked again.
“I’m asking you, do you think I take you lightly?”
Instead of answering, Taehee’s ambiguous expression brought back memories of a certain day before college graduation.
‘Whether you take over the business or start in politics. It’s time for you to decide your life path.’
Having rejected all of Heegu’s proposals, Sajun offered a condition worthy of him.
He said he would either get married or take over the business management, but until he turns 30, let him live freely.
He had marriage in mind, thinking of Mintaehee.
But there was something Sajun didn’t anticipate.
He didn’t know Mintaehee would stubbornly resist for 7 years.
“You’re hard, Mintaehee. For me, it’s only you who’s difficult.”
With those words from Sajun, Taehee flinched her shoulders as if she heard something she shouldn’t have.
Memories of the times spent with Mintaehee passed by like scenery outside a car window.
Not like some evergreen pine, but Mintaehee, who stayed within the boundaries drawn 13 years ago, remaining unchanged.
Ultimately, not a single anomaly occurred during those damn 13 years.
Sajun succeeded in keeping Mintaehee by his side, but he never dared to step outside that boundary line.
Fearing that even this relationship might break, Sajun instead treated the woman he loved indifferently.
Pretending to be uninterested, as if he could live well without her, as if he was always the dominant one.
With his gaze fixed on Taehee, Sajun picked up the lukewarm jasmine tea.
Savoring the tea slowly, quietly, and deliberately was a habit.
A habit developed because of his stepmother Yeonhwa, who emphasized that even the water he drank shouldn’t look cheap, to be slow and careful.
“If you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do.”
Feeling the bitter taste of the tea spreading in his mouth, Sajun slowly rose from his chair.
“If you’re done eating, let’s get up.”
Taehee, who had stood up from her chair, looked at Sajun cautiously and asked.
“You’re not upset because I refused, are you?”
“No way.”
Sajun smiled slightly.
Very coolly, as if he had no more lingering feelings for Mintaehee’s rejected proposal, so that Mintaehee could be reassured.
After driving for about 40 minutes, Sajun’s car stopped in front of Taehee’s house.
Even without turning off the engine, Taehee hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt to get out, but Sajun said.
“Wait a moment.”
Although she looked puzzled, perhaps feeling sorry for rejecting the proposal, Taehee obediently sat down.
Sajun got out of the car, walked around the hood, and gentlemanly opened the passenger door.
Feeling awkward in the unfamiliar situation, Taehee looked up at Sajun cautiously instead of getting out.
A flicker of wariness and anxiety was visible in her trembling eyes.
“Why are you doing something you’ve never done before? It’s scary.”
It made sense for Taehee to feel that way.
Though he had often dropped her off, he had never gotten out of the car to open the door for her.
He always watched Mintaehee enter her house and saw the light turn on in that small window before leaving.
All of it was calculated behavior.
When someone does something they’ve never done before, it usually means they have affection and interest.
That’s why he was embarrassingly afraid. Afraid that Mintaehee would abruptly cut off this relationship.
It was Mintaehee who proposed not to see each other as romantic interests, and she had faithfully kept that promise for 13 years.
But not anymore.
If she thought he was being too indifferent and taking her lightly, then he had no choice but to treat her very, very difficultly.
If that’s what Mintaehee wanted, he was more than willing to do so.
“I can’t hold back what I’ve wanted to do anymore. I plan to push forward as my heart desires now.”
“I can’t disgrace my grandfather’s face, so I thought I’d practice some manners.”
Of course, he had no intention of letting Mintaehee know that.
She would obviously try to run away again.
“Now that you’ve rejected my proposal, I should probably start seeing people from arranged meetings.”
Sajun shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and looked down at Taehee with slightly narrowed eyes.
“So, Mintaehee, teach me a lot about the manners that women like.”
“……”
“Who else is there to teach me that but you?”
It was, of course, an excuse.
Just to make her nervous about my change of heart, always knowing only you.
Without responding, Taehee looked at Sajun for a moment and then changed the subject as she got out of the car.
“Did you get a new car again?”
“Yeah. The previous one became boring.”
“That car was only a year old. You seem to get bored of everything easily.”
“Yeah, I get bored of everything easily.”
Sajun chuckled and cleanly admitted it.
He never kept people close, frequently changed the interior of the hotel suite room he was staying in, his managed club Gio, the company, and even the cars he drove.
However, there was one exception that Sajun had kept unchanged by his side over the long years.
Sajun smiled slyly, half-jokingly, and half-meaningfully, and tossed out a comment.
“And yet, I’ve been like this with you for 13 years, haven’t I?”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
