“Yoo In.”
The dry voice echoed in her ears when the door on the driver’s seat closed tightly. The gaze facing her was sharp and parched.
Was he still angry? The fierceness he showed when dealing with Ji Han just now was no longer visible, but it didn’t seem entirely relaxed either.
“Yes.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t keep getting involved with Yoon Ji Han. What do you think?”
How do I think? The concluding sentence of the question-like sentence didn’t feel like a question because it was too monotone.
After a slight pause, Giyeon turned her head. Her face was frozen stiff, as if nothing could be read from it. The unfamiliar mask of indifference seemed very natural on her.
Lost in clues, Yoo In was confused whether Giyeon wanted an answer or an excuse.
“We met by chance today. Please don’t misunderstand. There was no reason for it.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“What misunderstanding did I have?”
With the calm voice, a small crack appeared in his seemingly firm eyebrows. The previously dull eyes also sank heavily, becoming a deep, quiet black.
As Yoo In, tongue-tied, was about to moisten her lips, Giyeon’s gentle low voice was heard first.
“Don’t misunderstand. Between you and that friend.”
The eyelids that had quietly settled down for a moment were lifted abruptly. The slightly trembling golden-brown eyes looked at Giyeon with a wary gaze.
Then, Giyeon, breathing out a quiet sigh, looked into her eyes and reached out to touch the slightly reddened end of her eye.
“Did you cry?”
“…No.”
At the calm voice, Giyeon sighed slightly with a nose mixed with irritation. Then, with even more slender eyes, she asked.
“Should I comfort you, or not? Yoo In, you decide.”
The eyes that had fallen again due to the exposed lie seemed to avoid answering for a moment and rolled around.
Although it seemed to simply ask for a choice, the true intention behind the given choice was Giyeon’s consideration toward Yoo In. If she didn’t want to bring it up, she didn’t have to.
Regardless of what happened with Ji Han, why she cried, why she didn’t avoid his touch—though curious about these things, amid all this, Giyeon was already considering Yoo In’s feelings first.
Without saying a word, Yoo In lowered her eyes, and a cool palm approached her warm cheek. A cold hand gently wrapped around her. Knowing it wasn’t a push, she opened her mouth straight away.
“Will you comfort me?”
“If you want me to.”
The man, who could provide comfort with just a gesture, answered as straightforwardly and solidly as always.
In her aimlessly wandering gaze, she noticed the trivial things that made up him. The neat creases of the formal pants, the prominent bones on the back of his large hands, and the shiny vest buttons on top. Familiar as it might be from frequent observation, those new aspects always felt sentimental.
Yoo In lowered her head, which had already been lowered in anticipation, and leaned against the inside of his palm. As she did, the supporting strength felt reassuring, as if it could go even deeper.
His tender affection, expressed in such a quiet and calm manner, felt profound.
“I think I might develop a strange stubbornness at this rate. The landlord always says he’ll grant whatever I want.”
“It’s fine for me. So, should I deceive you, or not? How should I handle it?”
His impatient tone softened, caressing Yoo In gently. Although he appeared composed on the surface, there seemed to be a considerable restlessness within.
The tense corners of his mouth, initially stiffened with nerves, began to loosen and twitch.
While watching the man who lost his composure due to her, Yoo In impulsively began to disclose her undisclosed circumstances with a friend.
“Things haven’t been good between Ji Han and me lately. He hasn’t been contacting me much, and he hasn’t shown up even when we planned to meet. So, today, I was planning to study with Jae Hee and go home, but I coincidentally ran into him in front of the library.”
“…”
“But somehow, it turned into another fight… Seems like he’s really angry with me. So, I felt really upset.”
“Yeah, I see.”
Along with the softened response, his rough thumb lightly brushed against the delicate skin under her eyes in a feather-like motion.
The once rigid mask on Giyeon’s face seemed to gently melt away. Or perhaps, it was just my imagination.
“I thought of the landlord. And… I missed you.”
“So, you cried because you missed me?”
“…Mm.”
As Yoo In, who was biting her lower lip and contemplating for a moment, nodded slightly, the man, squinting his eyes as if unable to help it, laughed briefly.
“If you miss me, just give me a call. Why cry, and that too when I’m not around?”
“You called? I didn’t know.”
“I came here to surprise you since I went on a nearby business trip, but I didn’t expect to witness such a ridiculous scene.”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need for Yoo In to apologize.”
“But still.”
“Don’t contact Ji Han for a while and keep your distance. It won’t be comfortable for both of you anyway.”
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.”
