Even at my request to let go of his hand, he didn’t budge, and I lowered my head.

I placed my hand on Jae Ha’s, which was still holding onto me tightly.

“I can’t hold back anymore.”

“What?!”

I was about to push his unwavering hand away when I was startled by his words ringing in my ears.

Seeing his inscrutable expression and locking eyes with him, my heart sank.

“I need to hear right now that you, Yeo Jin, want to live with me.”

“……”

“The article is full of lies, so we should make at least one thing real, so it’s less unfair.”

Only then did he put down the cell phone he had been reading the article on.

“So answer me.”

And he asked me again, with a determined look that said he would wait for my response.

“Do you want to live together, or should we have secret meetings like the article suggests?”

“I… wait. Why are those the only two options?”

His direct question made me even more flustered, as I hadn’t yet made up my mind.

Just a few minutes ago, wasn’t I contemplating whether to live together or live alone?

“The nuance of the options has completely changed, hasn’t it?”

But where on earth did this option of a secret meeting come from?

I looked up at him, eyes demanding an explanation, but Jae Ha simply looked at me impassively.

Instead of an explanation, I was at a loss for what to do under his piercing gaze, and merely licked my lips.

‘He’s doing this again.’

That gaze, which kept the viewer on tenterhooks, not knowing whether it was serious or a joke.

Contrary to my mind, which was filled with thoughts of ‘I want to run away’, my heart was beating faster and faster.

The pounding was so intense that I worried he might hear my heartbeat.

I realized there was no longer anywhere to run.

Just as I instinctively sensed another defeat, Jae Ha’s lips slowly dropped.

“Thinking about it, the previous options were pretty bad.”

His pupils deepened as he looked at my discomfited face.

His mouth, which had been playfully smiling at me, also slowly dropped.

“Whichever you choose is up to you, Yeo Jin, but I’d like you to be where my eyes can see.”

“…Why?”

I couldn’t take my eyes off his pupils, which had grown deep as an abyss.

Yet, even if his words were sincere, Jae Ha didn’t say anything in response to my question.

“I start with trivial concerns, like whether you’re accidentprone due to your impulsive nature, or if you’re eating properly…”

“……”

“And then I wonder if revenge is all that’s in your head, and I get curious about you. Then, as I grow more curious, I start to worry. It seems like I spend all day thinking about you.”

My mind went blank.

Did this man know what he was saying to me?

Unlike my wavering gaze, Jae Ha’s pupils were calm.

“Thinking about it in various ways, it was irrational. So, let’s be together, Yoon Yeo Jin.”

Seeing that I didn’t say anything, Jae Ha pulled me closer to him as if coaxing a response from me.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a pot boiling on the stove.

The soup visible behind his back was bubbling so much it was about to overflow.

“Just a moment, so… Look at that instead. It’s boiling over.”

I pointed frantically at the pot about to overflow, but he remained silent.

I spoke again to him, who seemed uninterested.

“The soup. Soup. It’s going to overflow.”

“I know. And the soup isn’t important right now. There’s something else I want to hear.”

With a nonchalant face, he glanced back at the pot for a moment before turning his gaze back to me.

Looking at the determined Jae Ha, I asked with a bewildered look.

“Are you going to do this until I answer?”

“Yes.”

Jae Ha, who answered so, did not hesitate at all.

“And if you end up living alone, you can’t avoid 24hour close protection. Attorney Park was very adamant about that.”

In any case, staying at Jae Ha’s house was the best option in the current situation.

Even if it was Seo Ji Han, he couldn’t recklessly follow me to where Jae Ha was.

‘If I receive 24hour protection, I’ll suffocate to death.’

Uncle Hyun Ik had been displeased with me moving without a guard.

It had been put off because I had to commute to the broadcasting station.

Uncle would have resolved to attach a guard to me after this incident.

From the beginning, the options Jae Ha proposed to me had a predetermined answer.

It’s just that I didn’t have the confidence to say I would do it right away.

So, our gazes met for a few seconds.

Looking at Jae Ha, who was staring straight at me in a way that was burdensome, I finally sighed heavily.

“Alright. Let’s live together.”

“That was really hard to hear.”

With a satisfied smile, he withdrew his hand that had been holding me.

While trying hard to ignore the strange feeling of emptiness, I was watching Jae Ha move the food.

“What are you going to do about the scandal? It doesn’t seem like something Seo Ji Han would do.”

He asked about the exposé that had occurred today.

“It’s probably Seo Rin. It’s too sloppy for something Seo Ji Han would do.”

“Indeed. Just need to release a rebuttal article. Sit down for now.”

Jae Ha finally put down the last of the dishes.

And he pointed with his chin to the table set with a meal from which steam was gently rising.

“I’m curious about Miss Yeo Jin’s plan, let’s talk while eating.”

It was then that he returned to the Jae Ha I knew.

Morning dawned.

After sending off Jae Ha to work, a call came from the director as soon as I tried to rest.

The purpose of the director’s call was to share the schedule of the disciplinary committee to be held in two days.

After hanging up the phone, I was lost in thought, looking at the screen of the laptop placed on the table.

“I’m going to start by looking into the wedding ring. One thing is for sure, the order would have been placed at least a few months ago. That should be enough to prove that the two were seeing each other long before the divorce.”

I had told Jae Ha my plans for the future at last night’s dinner.

He listened quietly until my long speech was over, then he asked softly.

“How are you going to reveal the article that we’ve been seeing each other for a long time?”

“That’s simple, isn’t it? Jae Ha, you’ve been in the U.S. all this while, and we saw each other at your grandfather’s funeral after several years. Isn’t that what we need to reveal?”

After rejecting our marriage, Jae Ha had immediately left for the U.S.

Considering the timing or various other circumstances, we had no points of intersection at all.

The work Jae Ha was in charge of in the U.S. was topsecret, so I planned to vaguely state that he was living abroad.

After all, it was a few years later that he returned to Korea to take over KBC’s holding company.

That was the plan, but…

“I thought of a source that fits perfectly with that plan. I’ll prepare that for you. Just refer to the content of the video.”

So, I stared intently at the screen of the unreleased interview video I received from him.

The interview video, shot after his return to the country, contained stories about Jae Ha’s life in America.

It couldn’t have been better for proving our relationship.

However, there was one thing that bothered me among the interview content in the video.

It was Jae Ha’s answer to the reporter’s question if he was seeing anyone.

“I’m not currently seeing anyone. Moreover, I don’t have any plans to start a family with someone.”

“Really? I thought you must be seeing someone because you’re such a good person. It seems like you would be incredibly popular, it’s surprising!”

The female reporter, who had been looking at Jae Ha with enchanted eyes throughout the interview, asked in surprise.

Jae Ha on the screen responded with a slow smile to such a reaction from the reporter.

“Yes. But there is a woman I like. For quite a long time, too.”

lu lu lo la ▪️ net (lululola.net)