Young-in glanced at the passenger seat.
“Answer it.”
Seong-hyuk, leaning back with his arms crossed and a slouchy posture, maintained a sullen expression, voice, and demeanor.
Concerned something might be up if she didn’t answer, and worried about Jin-gyo, Young-in decided to pick up.
“Yes, Senior.”
Unaware that Seong-hyuk frowned every time she called Jin-gyo ‘Senior.’
Where are you?
“I was just about to drop off the CEO.”
Then you’re heading home now?
“Where else would I go at this hour?”
Just in case you weren’t going home.
Young-in finally caught on to the meaning behind his question.
Why were these two men so concerned about her return home?
Observing both men, equally concerned about the same issue, she realized her previous notion that Seo Jin-gyo and Cha Seong-hyuk were similar was not a misconception.
Young-in, worrying that Jin-gyo’s voice might be heard by Seong-hyuk, naturally switched the phone to her left hand and casually glossed over the conversation.
“I’m about to leave now. Get some rest, Senior.”
Call me when you get home. I’ll wait.
“Okay.”
After hanging up, Young-in turned to Seong-hyuk.
As expected, a chilly air swirled around the passenger seat.
“Worried I won’t send you home?”
“It was just a message to be careful.”
“You think he called to cut us off, worried we might start something if we went up to my house together?”
“It’s not like that, so please get out quickly.”
Seong-hyuk’s teasing expression suddenly became grave.
“Promise me one thing.”
“What promise?”
“Don’t change the way you are with Seo Jin-gyo.”
“…….”
Young-in hesitated, understanding the implications behind ‘the way you are.’
“Don’t use Seo Jin-gyo to push me away.”
Initially, that was her intention.
The fastest and easiest way to give up on Cha Seong-hyuk.
But she had to give up that thought as the two men openly showed hostility. Without even doing anything, their sharp exchanges deterred her from taking any action.
Yet, feeling unjustly accused, Young-in retorted sharply, not wanting to make such an empty promise.
“I can’t make that promise. Relationships can change anytime, like ours did, Senior.”
“Seo Jin-gyo is not a man to you.”
“Don’t assume I’m plotting to betray you.”
“If you don’t want to see me pining, don’t do anything with Seo Jin-gyo.”
“…….”
“You can do whatever with Seo Jin-gyo and I still won’t give up on you. You’ll end up back with me anyway. Just don’t cross the line and regret it later.”
Biting her lip, Young-in shot back coldly.
“Why do I have to hear this? Do you have the right to say this to me?”
“I do. Because I like you.”
A bitter smile escaped Young-in’s lips.
“The person who saw my sister for a blind date dares to be so confident?”
Unable to hold back anymore, she let her frustration out. She wished he would act right before making such statements.
“Did you hear it from Arim?”
“Yes.”
“I tried to preserve your last dignity, but it was a needless consideration.”
“…….”
Sensing there was more to the story than she knew, Young-in’s eyes flickered slightly.
“My mother visited the company yesterday. She asked me to have dinner, so I agreed to meet at 7.”
Seong-hyuk was unaware that Young-in had seen his mother yesterday, let alone that she had met her three years ago. He thought Young-in didn’t even know what his mother looked like.
Seong-hyuk watched as Young-in naturally headed towards his reserved parking spot upon arriving at the villa’s parking lot. He smiled silently, pleased to see that she remembered everything about him, just as he remembered everything about her.
“No need to park. Just go.”
“No, I’ll take a taxi.”
“If I wanted you to take a taxi, I wouldn’t have asked you to drop me off here. We could have just left the car at the restaurant and gotten it tomorrow.”
He had wanted to be with her, not because he disliked taxis.
“I prefer a taxi.”
Seong-hyuk’s eyebrows twitched irritably at her repeating the same words as Seo Jin-gyo earlier.
“Then should I follow you home to make sure you get there safely? Can I drive drunk?”
Young-in stopped the car and turned to him, challenging.
“Would that be alright?”
“Just take it.”
“This car, Beom-joon knows it’s yours.”
“Ah, right.”
He pondered for a moment before offering an alternative.
“Can’t we just reveal our relationship?”
“What do you want to reveal? That we briefly dated and broke up?”
“No, I don’t like that.”
He firmly rejected the idea, then suddenly furrowed his brow.
“Why make it impossible to reveal? How about saying we’re dating now, planning to marry soon?”
“…….”
Caught off guard by his criticism, Young-in stayed silent as he came up with a somewhat reasonable plan.
“Park near another house and walk.”
“What if it gets towed?”
“So what? If it gets towed, it gets towed.”
“…….”
Unlike the carefree owner, Young-in worried about damaging such an expensive car.
“Your car is at the company, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then drive mine to work tomorrow.”
Young-in’s eyes widened incredulously.
“What if someone sees?”
“So what. You care too much about what others think.”
“How can I not? It would look odd to anyone.”
“People will think there’s something between Cha Seong-hyuk and Chae Young-in?”
“Yes.”
“Hope they spread the rumor.”
“…….”
Young-in looked at him, bewildered, but Seong-hyuk had more shocking things to say.
“Ever heard of ‘reverse psychology’?”
“Just try it.”
Determinedly warning him, Young-in felt a vibration in the car.
Seong-hyuk unbuckled and retrieved her phone from the backseat bag, handing it to her.
Seo Jin-gyo’s name flashed on the caller ID.
“Seo Jin-gyo?”
As he predicted, ‘Seo Jin-gyo Senior’ was displayed.
Young-in’s eyes widened in surprise, but she was already so accustomed to Seong-hyuk’s touch that she neither avoided nor resisted it.
“Jealousy.”
“Who’s jealous? I didn’t do that.”
She flatly denied it, but such a feeble denial was never going to work on Seong-hyuk.
“You did that.”
“…….”
“It’s okay to be jealous, just don’t misunderstand.”
“…….”
Young-in, preoccupied with reflecting on her own baseless assumptions, didn’t realize that Seong-hyuk was now stroking the same spot where Jin-gyo had touched her hair earlier.
“Call me when you get home.”
“…….”
“I’ll do it.”
“I’ll call, so please go upstairs.”
After receiving praise and making a promise, Seong-hyuk got out of the car, satisfied. Before closing the door, he bent down to meet Young-in’s eyes.
“Go. Drive safely.”
Young-in just nodded silently, afraid to speak lest she inadvertently say something overly familiar.
There were too many things she shouldn’t say to him.
The next morning, after showering, Seong-hyuk picked up his phone from the bedside table, drying his wet hair with a towel. A message from Young-in had arrived five minutes ago.
Ignoring his request to call last night and sending a dry message saying ‘I’ve arrived’, she did the same today.
Let me hear your voice.
Muttering about her stinginess, Seong-hyuk immediately called Young-in.
“Yes.”
“Where are you now?”
“I’m walking to the subway.”
“What if you just go?”
“What if I don’t?”
“You should have come back with me if you were already at my place. Come back.”
“Stop talking nonsense and get ready for work.”
Seong-hyuk’s brows suddenly furrowed.
“It’s crowded in the subway at this hour, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”
“Don’t stand next to any men.”
The thought of Young-in’s body touching another man’s made him uncomfortable right from the morning.
“Never mind, I’ll come…”
“I’m hanging up.”
The call was abruptly cut off, leaving Seong-hyuk perturbed. He quickly calculated the time it would take from his house to the subway station and hurriedly took off his bathrobe.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
