“How did you get here…”
Startled, Tae Joon looked at Seo Rin in front of him, still holding his phone, as if he couldn’t believe she was there.
“I’m sorry. But… I wanted to talk to you face to face, Tae Joon. I felt like if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t be able to do it ever.”
That was true.
She thought that if she missed this moment when Bok Sil’s advice had the most realistic effect, the courage she had barely mustered might disappear.
And then, Tae Joon might get hurt for life without even knowing why.
At least, he was the man who deserved to know about her curse.
Maybe, just maybe… she might have pushed him into her curse without even realizing it.
So, he had to know.
He deserved at least a chance to choose.
“I came here to give you a chance.”
A chance to run away from me.
So, a chance for you to live.
From now on, everything was your choice.
Meanwhile, at that moment, Hanako hardened her flushed expression, peeking through the open door.
“Oh, Hanako! You’re later than I expected. Come in quickly!”
It was So Dam. For Hanako, who had imagined Tae Joon, it couldn’t be anything but absurd.
“Well, James is… oh my!”
Before she could even ask about Tae Joon’s whereabouts, Hanako was sucked into the room against her will. She couldn’t resist the strength of the petite woman pulling her.
Right, she had never thought it would be easy to get Kang Tae Joon.
But not only did he easily accept her dinner invitation, but he also told her his room number without a moment of doubt.
As soon as she entered the room, Hanako looked around. She was still hoping to see Tae Joon, but there was no sign of him.
“I heard from the CEO. He apologized that he couldn’t come because he had a personal schedule today.”
Damn it! She had been tricked!
Hanako’s expression became increasingly sour. She couldn’t manage to relax her facial muscles. Her attractive red lips were tightly pressed into a white line.
She couldn’t forgive Kang Tae Joon for daring to insult her like this, let alone reject her.
“What kind of personal schedule does he have that he couldn’t attend this event? Is it more important than work?”
“Well, it might be more important than work if you look at it that way. The woman he loves came.”
Lo, loves? Hanako’s black eyes wavered.
But So Dam was cheering inside as she watched Hanako noticeably flustered.
She wanted to expose Seo Rin’s existence and give Hanako a bigger blow, but she held back because their marriage was not yet official.
Instead, she thought she had taken a very appropriate action by mentioning the ‘person he loves’. Without revealing their marriage, it was just right to draw a clear line for Hanako.
“James, he has a girlfriend?”
“Actually, the word girlfriend is not enough. He’s a woman our CEO can’t live without.”
She thought it was absurd. The man who didn’t even blink an eye when she seduced him, having a woman he couldn’t live without. She couldn’t dare imagine it.
“I haven’t heard any rumors about him dating.”
“You don’t have a personal relationship with him to share his love life. What does the CEO’s love life have to do with business?”
So Dam spoke as she poured a cup of coffee.
She wanted to refute what So Dam had said with a hundred words, but every word was correct, so she couldn’t find a suitable response.
So, her anger only rose.
“Then, since James isn’t here, let’s postpone the meeting until the next opportunity.”
A meeting without Tae Joon was meaningless in many ways.
Moreover, it was a bit warm in the room to be wearing a trench coat, and she couldn’t take it off in front of So Dam as it would reveal her intentions too much.
She couldn’t do this, and she couldn’t do that either.
In the end, she thought the only way for her to survive was to get out of this room as soon as possible.
But So Dam was not easy.
She launched fluent Japanese towards Hanako, who was getting up from the sofa.
“Why, isn’t it the dinner you planned?”
For a moment, the surprised Hanako turned around. Because they had only been speaking in English, she didn’t know what So Dam’s fluent Japanese meant.
But soon she could understand why So Dam suddenly spoke Japanese.
“I heard a conversation you had with your friends in the bathroom during the day. You had a dinner appointment with our CEO.”
For a moment, Hanako’s face turned ashen. Did she hear all that? Well, with such fluent Japanese, she would have understood everything.
However, Hanako was not greatly flustered. Fortunately, the conversation in the bathroom didn’t have any major mistakes.
“That’s right. But I said it was simply a business dinner appointment.”
“So, about that business dinner… let’s do it with me. Actually, the email address Hanako sent was not the CEO’s personal account, but the official company account. So, the dinner Hanako suggested was proposed to the company, not a personal dinner with the CEO. Although I officially act as the CEO’s secretary, I have attended several investor presentations on behalf of the company. So, I think I’m quite qualified.”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
