Kyung Joon held a meeting late into the night, ignoring Seung Oh’s obvious desire to go home. They had to replace the advertising model and decide on a promotional direction for the new product launch.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to go home either. He wanted to tell Seung Oh to go on his own, check on Hae Sun in Seo Ha’s shabby rooftop room, and maybe even gulp down a can of beer while he was at it.
When the meeting finally ended and everyone was exhausted, a message arrived.
[Please send Seung Oh to the design room. Ji Soo is working late, so you can ask him to take her home.]It was a simple request. He just had to get up, stop by the design room on his way down, and tell Seung Oh.
“Ji Soo is probably working late. How about taking her home since it’s late?”
He had suggested it to Seung Oh. Seung Oh, who had glanced at his wristwatch and made a reluctant gesture with his hand.
So, he thought about just leaving. He was tired, and Seung Oh said he wouldn’t go either. If he hadn’t felt a nagging sensation at the back of his head, he would have gone straight to the parking lot.
He shouldn’t have gone.
As Kyung Joon thought this, he strode quickly across the parking lot. Seo Ha followed him with small steps and grabbed his coat.
“Can you slow down a bit?”
“Get in.”
Kyung Joon coldly opened the passenger door for her and then climbed into the driver’s seat. Seo Ha looked puzzled and examined Kyung Joon’s expression.
It was definitely a different attitude than usual. He didn’t look directly at Seo Ha, and there were a few faint creases on his forehead. The car screeched around corners due to his somewhat rough acceleration.
“Excuse me. Assistant Ryu.”
There was no answer when she called out. Seo Ha rubbed her still numb cheek, and when the car stopped for a moment, she spoke again.
“Why are you like this? Are you angry?”
Kyung Joon honked the horn impatiently at the car in front of him, which didn’t move even when the light changed.
Damn it. Kyung Joon tried hard not to look at Seo Ha’s swollen, red cheek, which was on the left side.
Of course, he wasn’t angry. It was none of his business whether Seo Ha got slapped or had her hair pulled by Ji Soo. He was just annoyed.
“Did you call Seung Oh so he could watch you get slapped?”
“Yes. I called him so he could see me get slapped and see with his own eyes what kind of woman that girl he’s living with is.”
“There were plenty of other ways.”
“People react most strongly to the most provocative scenes.”
She was like Yoon Seo Ha again. Yoon Seo Ha, who didn’t fit in, sobbing in the winter rain on the street. Yoon Seo Ha, who stared blankly at her husband kissing another woman.
Yoon Seo Ha, with a wilted flower petallike face, wearing an oxygen mask, unable to die but clinging to life. Yoon Seo Ha. Yoon Seo Ha.
“You got hit in the face for such a petty reason? By someone like Ji Soo?”
“Why can’t I? Without Seung Oh, Ji Soo is nothing. She says she can steal the team leader position without any skills, just with connections.”
Her words were irritating.
He knew that getting slapped and acting pitiful were all part of her act. Still, it was unpleasant to see her get slapped, and her teary eyes were pitiful. Yeah, she was pitiful.
He understood that Seo Ha’s plan of setting a trap was successful. As soon as he saw Ji Soo slap Seo Ha’s cheek, his hatred for her increased even more.
“… Still, this wasn’t the right way.”
The wheels of the luxury sedan stopped in an alley that didn’t quite suit it. Kyung Joon got out of the car and was about to go up the stairs when he spotted a shabby supermarket and went in.
He put a few cans of beer, ice, and two bags of potato chips, which seemed to have been there for who knows how long, on the counter and handed over his card. The elderly store owner asked if he didn’t have cash.
“Here.”
Seo Ha took the plastic bag Kyung Joon handed her and asked, bewildered.
“What’s all this?”
“Cool your face with the ice. Drink beer if you’re upset. The potato chips are for snacks.”
The dim light of an old flickering street lamp fell on their heads. Seo Ha held the heavy plastic bag in her hand, and Kyung Joon had one hand in his pocket as they stared at each other, seemingly observing one another.
“… Do you know this?”
Seo Ha’s voice broke the silence that lasted for a few seconds.
“Mr. Ryu, the secretary, is such a fascinating person.”
He seemed rude, but he didn’t quite cross the line. He seemed like a thief, but he protected the company. He made her angry, but he bought her ice. He even put canned beer in.
“No matter how fascinating I am, can I be as much as Ms. Seo Ha?”
Kyung Joon spat out without smiling and turned away.
“By the way, tell President Kang that I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today. I’ll definitely visit him tomorrow.”
“Why can’t you go today?”
“It’s too late.”
Kyung Joon’s car slowly pulled out of the dark alley. Seo Ha stood still for a moment, then opened the plastic bag again and smacked her lips.
“It should taste good.”
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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