“How many hours are left for the shooting?”
“It looks like it will go past midnight. It might even stretch into the early morning.”
“Alright, I’ll go see my wife for a moment.”
“Sure.”
Kang Hyun grabbed his jacket and left the waiting room.
It was a day when Yoon had her after-school classes and evening self-study supervision. He planned to pick her up after her work.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t had a proper date yet.”
Since there was still some time left before the shoot, Kang Hyun thought of taking Yoon for a casual drive.
The roads were less crowded than expected, and he arrived at the school earlier than planned. Yoon was already waiting outside.
“Mr. Kang Hyun.”
Yoon smiled and got into the car.
“Didn’t we agree to finish at 10:20? It’s dark, and you were waiting there all alone?”
Kang Hyun frowned at the thought of her waiting for him in the dark.
“I didn’t wait long.”
Worried that he might rush over due to the tight schedule, Yoon deliberately delayed the time she told him.
“I should have come earlier if I knew it would take this long.”
Kang Hyun felt guilty at the thought of Yoon waiting for him for a while.
“I really didn’t wait for long. By the way, Mr. Kang Hyun, have you had dinner?”
“I have. Haven’t you?”
“I had school lunch, but today, one of the teachers baked cookies. There are still plenty left. You should try some.”
“Put one in my mouth.”
With Kang Hyun holding the steering wheel and opening his mouth, Yoon gently placed a cookie inside, brushing off any crumbs that landed on the corner of his mouth.
“There’s a shoot early in the morning, right?”
“Yeah.”
Even a short nap would be better, but Kang Hyun, grateful but also pitiful, had come to see her.
“How about a drive?”
“Kang Hyun, you must be tired.”
Yoon offered him some water.
“It’s okay. But now that I think about it, we’ve never really had a proper date, have we?”
“We did. The last time at that restaurant with your dad’s friend.”
“That was just going out for a meal. Anyway, let’s plan a trip once the shoot is over.”
“Well, first, Kang Hyun, get some good rest. You’ve been working so hard for months without proper sleep.”
“I always rest when you’re around. You’re my vitamin.”
Yoon blushed at Kang Hyun’s words. Every time she looked at Kang Hyun, her face kept heating up.
“Why is your face turning red?”
Kang Hyun asked with a smile. Yoon’s heart skipped a beat at Kang Hyun’s smiling face.
“I must be crazy.”
Yoon placed her hand on her blushing cheek. It wasn’t even a delayed onset of puberty, but whenever she was with Kang Hyun, her heart raced uncontrollably.
As Kang Hyun watched her fanning herself, he chuckled, and Yoon also smiled brightly. The two of them exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
Then, his hand, with veins popping out, gripping the steering wheel, caught Yoon’s attention.
“Hiccup!”
Yoon’s face turned crimson.
“Have some water. Your hiccups don’t seem to stop easily.”
Worried about Yoon, who was hiccupping, Kang Hyun offered a water bottle.
“Yes… hiccup.”
“Seeing you hiccup reminds me of when we went to Bali.”
Kang Hyun smiled as he recalled Yoon hiccupping when she fell into the water while playing a prank on him.
Thinking of her clinging to him in chest-deep water, frightened, made him burst into laughter.
“You know, come to think of it, you should learn how to swim.”
“Later… hiccup.”
Seeing Yoon’s face turn even redder as she hiccupped, Kang Hyun burst into laughter. Yoon always made him laugh.
“Hahaha… I’m sorry for laughing.”
“Hiccup…”
Inside the car, Yoon’s hiccups and Kang Hyun’s laughter continued for a while.
Kang Hyun’s car slowly cruised on the quiet, deserted road late at night. Yoon lowered the window slightly.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“It feels refreshing.”
The streetlights illuminating the road seemed unusually tranquil tonight, unlike the bustling thoroughfare it must have been with countless cars passing by during the day.
“Shall I play some music?”
“Yes.”
For Kang Hyun, this was his first time going on a drive. Wandering aimlessly without a specific destination was not at all his preference.
However, today’s aimless meandering without any goals or destinations didn’t feel too bad. It was a feeling of freedom he rarely experienced, breaking away from the daily routine of rushing to predetermined places on a tightly packed schedule.
Kang Hyun thought that even a journey without a fixed destination could be okay, as long as Yoon was with him.
“This is the OST of the drama we’re listening to.”
“Oh, I love it.”
The gentle melody and the singer’s tranquil voice, singing like a whisper, brought a subtle smile to Yoon’s face.
As the car traveled on the quiet road, it felt as if it were flying through the sky, just like the lyrics of the song.
The lamppost lights, which seemed within reach if she stretched out her hand, looked beautiful to Yoon, so she reached out and touched the window.
“What are you looking at like that?”
Seeing Yoon gazing outside, especially sentimental today, Kang Hyun asked.
“It’s because I feel like I’m watching time pass by as the lampposts and trees swiftly go past.”
“You feel like you’re watching time pass by?”
“Yes. The space is standing still, but we’re passing by so quickly.”
Yoon, for a change, looked up at the night sky. It had been a long time since she had seen stars in the Seoul sky. Come to think of it, she had been too busy to even spare a moment to look up at the sky.
“Is it because it’s nighttime? Today, you seem to be in a sentimental mood, Seo Yoon?”
“Oh no, I’m not very sentimental. Sometimes it feels like my emotions have dried up to the point where I wonder if I have any left. I live my life running around too fast, just like Kang Hyun said. I don’t even take the time to look around.”
That was always how Yoon was. Once she had a goal, she ran towards it without looking back. Otherwise, she felt like she might hesitate and never move forward.
Yoon ran, pushing herself to the limit, determined not to lose to herself, battling the feeling of weakness within her.
“It’s because you’ve been working so hard.”
Kang Hyun held Yoon’s hand.
“But from now on, you’re not alone. If it gets tough, you can take a break. I’m here to run in your place anytime you need.”
Kang Hyun gently caressed her hand.
“Kang Hyun, in my place?”
“Yeah, if I get tired, you can take over, alright?”
“Alright.”
Yoon smiled at Kang Hyun’s words. His promise to run in her place felt reassuring.
“I have Kang Hyun with me.”
Yoon was no longer alone. She had a husband she could rely on now.
A little while later, Kang Hyun’s car stopped by the Han River.
“It really feels like time has stopped right now, just like you said.”
“It does.”
Instead of the people who had gone home to conclude their daily routines, silence filled the place.
“Hold my hand.”
Kang Hyun reached out his hand, and Yoon took his big, warm hand.
“I’ll take you home in a little while.”
“…Alright.”
Yoon’s house felt lonely without him. So, sometimes, she would visit his room and sit on his bed while waiting for him to come back.
As I was drawn by the familiar scent, there were days when I would sleep in his room and come out.
Yoon rested her head quietly on his shoulder. Upon doing so, Kang Hyun lifted his arm and embraced her.
“Yoon.”
He called her softly.
“Yes.”
Yoon replied quietly.
“Stay by my side. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Yes. Kang Hyun, stay by my side too.”
“Of course.”
Kang Hyun kissed the back of her hand.
“Shall we kiss?”
In response to Kang Hyun’s question, Yoon wordlessly covered his face with hers. Yoon’s lips met his.
Kang Hyun’s lips stretched out long. Their lips met seamlessly.
Sharing each other’s warmth and caring for one another, in that moment, time seemed to truly stand still, as if it were a lie.
Yoon caressed his face. After discovering the pain and suffering hidden beneath his dazzling exterior, she always found him pitiable.
Yoon also wanted to be someone who could provide warmth to the lonely Kang Hyun and lean on him.
“I’ll always be standing behind you, Kang Hyun.”
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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