Young In trudged into the powder room between the bedroom and bathroom.
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry at how familiar she was with the layout of this house.
Her brow furrowed as she stood in front of the mirror, displeased with her disheveled appearance.
“What are you doing here…”
Apart from feeling bewildered and dumbfounded at finding herself in her ex-boyfriend’s house like this, she wasn’t angry at Sung Hyuk for bringing her here on his own accord.
It was a complex, subtle emotion – not exactly approval, but not wanting to say it was wrong either.
Young In roughly tidied her messy hair and clothes before leaving the bedroom.
As she walked through the hallway towards the living room, a deep sense of nostalgia washed over her face. This house had changed as little as its owner.
Young In paused briefly in the empty living room, then turned her head towards the kitchen. The homeowner was standing at the dining table, unpacking delivered food.
“I’m leaving.”
Sung Hyuk glanced up briefly.
“Eat before you go.”
He continued calmly.
“Don’t ignore the effort of someone who carefully read reviews to find the most delicious place to feed you.”
“…”
Young In hesitated for a moment, then approached the dining table. She pulled out a chair and sat down, quietly watching him as he opened the lids of the disposable containers.
It’s just because I can’t ignore his effort. That’s all.
She decided to pretend not to notice the feeling of gratitude towards him for giving her an excuse.
Just for today.
[This is the timeline separator]Young In finished a bowl of warm soup.
Her unsettled stomach had calmed considerably, and her parched mouth felt much better.
As Young In put down her spoon, Sung Hyuk, who had been watching contentedly, made a slightly disappointed expression.
“Have some rice too.”
“I can’t eat rice. It won’t go down.”
“Right, forcing yourself to eat and getting indigestion would be worse.”
“I’ll clean up.”
“Please do.”
Sung Hyuk didn’t even make a token effort to stop her because he wanted to see Young In a little longer. If he didn’t do this, she would leave right away.
As expected, Young In said goodbye as soon as she finished cleaning up.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Sung Hyuk frowned in disapproval. He disliked such formal greetings that felt distant – it would be better if she got angry and snapped at him about why he was doing this.
“You don’t need to say things like that to me. Don’t say thank you or sorry.”
“Then what am I supposed to say?”
“Let’s hang out, let’s eat, I miss you – there are so many things you could say.”
“…”
Young In responded by glaring at him.
“Well, let’s save those words for later. For now, just ask me to take you home.”
“I’ll take a taxi.”
Sung Hyuk retorted calmly, as if he had expected this.
“How are you going to take a taxi when you don’t have any money?”
“Why wouldn’t I have money?”
“Isn’t your wallet in your bag?”
“Oh right, where is my bag?”
“An Hae Yoon will bring it to the company.”
Young In was momentarily flustered, but quickly found an alternative.
“It’s fine even without my wallet. I can pay with my phone. Who doesn’t have a credit card or two registered on their phone these days?”
A smile spread across Young In’s face, pleased at having neatly blocked his obvious ploy. However, that smile vanished without a trace when she heard Sung Hyuk’s question.
“Where’s your phone then?”
“…”
Her eyes darted around as she was caught off guard again. She remembered putting her phone in her bag at the lounge bar.
“If you walk home, you’ll be late. Are you okay being late on your second day of work?”
Sung Hyuk knew Young In’s nature better than anyone. He knew that Chae Young In, who was almost obsessively punctual for school, work, and appointments, would never choose to be late.
“If you go straight to work from here, you won’t be late.”
Young In clenched her fists as she looked at him shrugging nonchalantly.
“I need to go home to shower and change before going to work.”
“How are you going to get home?”
Sung Hyuk’s smile seemed to say, ‘Just give up and ask me to take you.’ But Young In didn’t surrender so easily.
“Lend me some money.”
It was a futile request to him.
“Didn’t we say the closer you are, the less you should deal with money?”
“Then we should be able to, since we’re not close.”
“I might do it with others, but not with you.”
“I’m really so petty…”
Sung Hyuk watched Young In grumbling with his arms folded leisurely, certain of his victory.
Finally, the answer he wanted came from Young In’s lips.
“Please take me home.”
The corners of Sung Hyuk’s mouth curved up gently.
“That’s the most pleasing thing you’ve said today.”
Of course, for Young In, it was the least pleasing thing that had come out of her mouth today.
“Let’s go.”
Young In followed him, consoling herself that she had no choice.
[This is the timeline separator]The two went down to the underground parking lot together.
Young In, sitting in the passenger seat, cautiously asked Sung Hyuk.
“Did I get in by myself?”
“No. I carried you in, and piggy-backed you out.”
“Ah…”
Feeling embarrassed, Young In thought she shouldn’t have asked as she fumbled with her seatbelt. She decided to deeply engrave in her heart the wise saying that ignorance is bliss from today.
Thankfully, he remained quiet until they arrived at her house.
To be precise, Sung Hyuk’s car stopped not right in front of Young In’s house, but a few meters away from her front gate.
It was the spot where Sung Hyuk always used to drop Young In off three years ago. It was also the place Young In had wanted.
“Than… Drive safely.”
As Young In quickly changed her words, a satisfied smile spread across Sung Hyuk’s face.
“Yeah, I will.”
How endearing it was that she would act like a prickly cat but obediently follow his words at crucial moments, like a well-behaved child.
It was the reason he had always given in to everything Young In wanted, even if it was something he didn’t like.
Of course, he had no intention of granting all her requests from now on. If he did, he would have to disappear from her sight first.
“Oh, right, Young In.”
Young In, who was about to open the car door to get out, paused. Her heart skipped a beat at the affectionate address.
Young In tried to appear indifferent as she turned to look at the driver’s seat.
“Beom Jun doesn’t know I’ve gone to SL Entertainment yet. He obviously won’t know about Hyesung being merged into SL. You should tell him before he finds out through someone else.”
Sung Hyuk knew that Young In was being treated like an ugly duckling at home, but he couldn’t do anything about it because she didn’t want him to. It was frustrating and saddening, but he couldn’t interfere recklessly if she didn’t want it.
“Okay.”
Swallowing her words of gratitude, Young In got out of the car and walked towards her house, feeling his gaze on her.
Shortly after she entered through the front gate, a car passed by with a heavy sound.
Young In stood quietly until she couldn’t hear that sound anymore, then resumed her steps.
[This is the timeline separator]While driving, Sung Hyuk recalled the conversation he had with Young In last night as he carried her up to his house.
“If it was going to be like this… when I said… let’s stop… seeing each other… why… did you agree…?”
It was a question he never imagined would come from Young In’s mouth. So he returned the question he had only asked himself to Young In.
“If I had said no then, would we not have broken up?”
“No… we would have…”
Even though he realized he didn’t need to regret his actions, he didn’t feel relieved at all. The thought that the conclusion would have been the same anyway made him feel bitter. At that moment, he heard a barely audible mumble.
“But… it might have been… a little less… hurtful…”
Although it was said while drunk, he thought it might be the most sincere thing that had come out of Young In’s mouth since their reunion.
Drunken truth.
It was a confession as meaningful as saying ‘I love you.’
[This is the timeline separator]Young In took a quick shower, changed clothes, and went straight to work. Fortunately, she was able to arrive at the company without being late.
“Good morning.”
Following greetings asking if she got home safely yesterday, groans about feeling like death from drinking too much erupted here and there.
Hae Yoon, who had been waiting eagerly for Young In to arrive, jumped up from her seat and rushed over.
“Team leader, let’s go get coffee.”
Before she could say anything, Young In was led out of the office by Hae Yoon’s hand. She naturally took the initiative.
“Hae Yoon, did you get home safely yesterday?”
“Yes, although I had a hard time taking care of all those voluntary drunkards obsessed with expensive alcohol and sending them home.”
It seems Hae Yoon did yesterday what Young In usually does.
“Did the CEO take you home safely?”
“Yeah, he took me home safely.”
Young In smiled awkwardly, omitting the words ‘to his house.’
“I put your bag at your desk.”
“Thank you. Was there any trouble after I left?”
“Seung Chan was making a fuss about why the team leader left first and came back alone…”
Hae Yoon’s eyes began to sparkle after frowning briefly at the memory of yesterday’s events.
“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”
“What are you talking about?”
Young In feigned ignorance for now. She had to be careful with her words since she didn’t know what conversation had taken place between Sung Hyuk and Hae Yoon yesterday, or how much Hae Yoon knew.
“You said the CEO is your elder brother’s friend and your senior from school?”
A look of relief flashed across Young In’s face.
“Yeah.”
“Is that all?”
“…Huh?”
A meaningful smile spread across Hae Yoon’s face, as the flickering eyes were enough of an answer. So she naturally moved on.
“The CEO came to that lounge bar on purpose yesterday, right?”
“He said his appointment was suddenly moved up, and he remembered what you said about it being hot, so he came to check it out.”
“Ah, I see…”
Hae Yoon grinned and drawled out her words.
She decided to pretend not to notice the clumsy lie for now. She was itching to say how well-matched the CEO and team leader were, but she decided to hold that back too.
“Hae Yoon. Keep my relationship with the CEO a secret.”
Young In instinctively sensed that Hae Yoon had noticed something. However, it felt awkward to say they used to date, so she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“My lips can only be sealed with meat.”
“Let’s go eat beef for dinner today.”
“As expected from an educated person.”
Having quickly reached an agreement, the two women entered the break room.
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
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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