Not for the First Time - Chapter 5

Club, hotel cafe, and home.

These were the places where Young In unexpectedly encountered Sung Hyuk.

While the meeting at the club could be considered a coincidence, the subsequent encounters couldn’t be labeled as such.

He must have considered the possibility of running into Chae Young In when coming to her house.

It was clearly Cha Sung Hyuk’s own decision to show up at the blind date instead of Oh Chang Geun, and today was likely the same.

He wasn’t the type to do things he disliked just because someone told or pressured him to. The phrase ‘had no choice’ didn’t suit him.

‘You came to see elder brother, not me.’

Young In drew that line. She was determined not to attach any meaning to his actions.

Whatever his intentions were, she didn’t want to be swayed anymore. She only hoped for no more disruptions to her daily life.

Since reuniting with Cha Sung Hyuk, not a single day had passed with a calm and peaceful mind. It had been consistently noisy and chaotic. Now she just wanted to return to her tranquil routine.

As Young In stood there motionless, unaware that three pairs of eyes were focused on her, a sharp high-pitched voice pierced her ears.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to greet us?”

Young In’s blurry eyes came back into focus.

Only then did she notice her elder sister sitting next to Sung Hyuk and her elder brother sitting across from them.

“Don’t you know elder brother Sung Hyuk?”

Ah Rim’s expression and tone were full of irritation, due to her frustrated expectations for Young In and Chang Geun’s marriage.

“Mother said it would be troublesome, so I had no choice but to go. I have no intention of getting married.”

Recalling her response to her mother’s question about how the blind date went, anger welled up again.

If she was going to say that from the start, why pretend to be positive about marrying Oh Chang Geun in front of her, only to change her tune less than an hour later? What was that all about?

There’s a limit to toying with people.

Anyway, there wasn’t a single thing she liked about it from start to finish.

“How could she not know? They even had a blind date.”

While Young In was berating herself for failing to maintain a poker face, Beom Jun cut in with a sneer.

“Blind date?”

As Ah Rim’s eyes widened and she straightened her back, Young In sensed that nothing good would come from staying here any longer.

“Hello. Enjoy yourselves.”

After quickly getting through both the initial greeting and farewell at once, Young In walked towards the stairs with Ah Rim’s venomous gaze following her. The reason she was let go without further comment was that there were more pressing matters at hand.

“What do you mean they had a blind date?”

Unlike the impatient Ah Rim, Beom Jun’s expression was rather indifferent.

“Sung Hyuk went to the meeting that was supposed to be with Chang Geun.”

“Why elder brother Sung Hyuk?”

“You know how Chang Geun is a bit free-spirited when it comes to women. From Sung Hyuk’s perspective, he must have been concerned.”

Beom Jun wasn’t at all upset with Sung Hyuk for going to the blind date without saying a word to him. He was only momentarily taken aback when he found out. But he did feel resentful towards Young In, who had feigned ignorance.

“What does that have to do with elder brother Sung Hyuk?”

Suddenly realizing the person in question was right beside her, Ah Rim turned to Sung Hyuk and asked,

“Why were you concerned about elder brother Chang Geun’s woman problems?”

Instead of answering, Sung Hyuk countered with a question.

“Why are you curious about that reason? What does this have to do with you?”

“Elder brother… Why are you speaking so hurtfully…?”

As tears welled up in Ah Rim’s eyes, Beom Jun quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

“Why else? It’s obviously because of me. After all, Young In is still my sister in a way, so he probably felt uneasy about just ignoring it, right?”

Beom Jun, completely unaware of what kind of relationship Young In and Sung Hyuk had, sincerely believed this.

“Of course, there couldn’t be any other reason…”

Ah Rim trailed off, studying Sung Hyuk’s expression.

She was anxious that Sung Hyuk might have developed an interest in Young In. The fact that quite a few of Beom Jun’s friends had shown interest in Young In in the past made Ah Rim even more uneasy.

“Elder brother.”

As if regretting her earlier accusatory tone, Ah Rim’s voice became soft and sweet as she called out to Sung Hyuk.

“Pay attention to me too. That’s how it should be, right?”

Ah Rim had harbored a deep inferiority complex towards Young In since childhood.

She resented Young In’s pure face and clear voice, despised her slender figure and delicate jawline. Just looking at her deep, captivating eyes made her inexplicably angry.

As someone who spent tens of millions of won each year on dermatology treatments for acne and whitening, she was insanely envious of Young In’s flawless, transparent skin.

Not only her appearance, but Young In’s academic background also fueled her inferiority complex.

It was already annoying that Young In, a year younger than her, had graduated from one of Korea’s top universities, but the fact that it was the same university as Sung Hyuk was even more vexing.

She couldn’t stand the fact that the two were senior and junior. That’s why her words came out more viciously earlier when Sung Hyuk referred to Young In as his junior.

“What’s right about it?”

“I’m Chae Beom Jun’s real sister. Young In isn’t.”

Sung Hyuk let out a small chuckle.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t know that Beom Jun and Ah Rim didn’t consider Young In as a sister, but for some reason, it felt particularly disagreeable today.

“Then why don’t you go on a blind date with Oh Chang Geun?”

Of course, he wouldn’t care at all if Ah Rim went on a blind date with Oh Chang Geun or even married him.

He wasn’t interested in other people’s affairs, nor was he meddlesome. It was only because it was Chae Young In that he took an interest, only because it was Chae Young In that he interfered.

“Am I crazy?”

As Ah Rim shrieked in horror, her icy gaze shifted to Beom Jun.

“You heard that? She says it’s crazy.”

Unlike Ah Rim’s agitation, Beom Jun’s expression was rather nonchalant.

“I’ve told you, it wasn’t me who arranged the blind date. It was our mother, mother.”

“Knowing full well what kind of guy Oh Chang Geun is, don’t you think you’re worse for not stopping it?”

“…”

Beom Jun avoided Sung Hyuk’s gaze and feigned indifference. He thought it would be better to be misunderstood for not stopping it rather than being caught actively encouraging it.

Sung Hyuk didn’t push him any further. Instead, he asked himself.

Would he really have felt less awful if Chae Young In had been involved with a decent guy instead of Oh Chang Geun?

The answer was ‘no’.

The mere thought of another man standing beside Young In was unbearably unpleasant.

Beom Jun’s room was on the first floor, while Ah Rim and Young In’s rooms were on the second floor. This also meant that Sung Hyuk had no reason to come up to the second floor.

This fact brought great relief to Young In.

As Young In climbed to the second floor under the gaze of the three people, she could finally relax her tense shoulders.

Her jaw ached from clenching her teeth, and her palms were damp with sweat.

‘Should I go out again, saying something urgent came up?’

She quickly dismissed the thought that had flashed through her mind, feeling it would be too flimsy an excuse. Leaving with such an excuse seemed like it would only reveal that she was conscious of Cha Sung Hyuk, so she decided to just stay home.

‘I just need to avoid going downstairs.’

Hurrying into her room, Young In closed the door and leaned against it.

Her body, now free of tension, slowly slid down.

Young In sat on the floor, trying to calm her racing heart. Cha Sung Hyuk’s unexpected appearances were wearing her heart out.

Around the time her heartbeat returned to its normal pace, she became aware of a headache that had started again.

Young In pressed her fingertips against both temples, then got up and gathered some clothes to change into before leaving the room. She thought a warm shower might help ease her headache a bit.

As she glanced at the stairs and walked towards the bathroom, Young In’s legs suddenly froze. A problem she had momentarily forgotten came back to her.

The fact that her sister and brother now knew that her blind date had been with Cha Sung Hyuk, not Oh Chang Geun.

Of course, she had expected and prepared for the two of them to find out eventually. She hadn’t expected it to be quietly overlooked. But now that it was right in front of her, she couldn’t help but sigh.

“Haa…”

Even in the midst of her troubled thoughts, she didn’t resent Sung Hyuk. She was certain he wasn’t the one who had told her brother. Even though she hadn’t received a promise of secrecy from him, she just had that certainty.

What she really resented was herself for unnecessarily speaking to her sister on the day she returned from the blind date.

She hated her sister for pushing for marriage while knowing Oh Chang Geun’s true nature better than anyone. So she wanted to show off to her sister, who would sell her soul to the devil if it meant she could marry Cha Sung Hyuk.

Just like before.

Like that day three years ago when Sung Hyuk asked her to date him.

If she hadn’t been slapped by her sister for no reason that day, she probably wouldn’t have accepted his proposal to date so readily.

At that time, she didn’t know that a relationship that started out of spite would deepen so much, or that parting with him would be so painful.

If she had known, would she have been able to reject him to the end?

To be honest, she wasn’t sure.

Lost in these various thoughts, Young In entered the bathroom and returned to her room after finishing her shower. Perhaps because her mind was even more tangled, her headache showed no signs of improvement.

As she sat on the edge of the bed and then lay down on her back, a neat knock broke the silence.

‘Who could it be?’

Young In’s pupils shook uneasily as she suddenly sat up.

Her sister always barged in without knocking, and her brother either kicked the door or shouted from outside. So it couldn’t be either of them.

‘Is it Mrs. Kim?’

Young In thought of the live-in housekeeper’s face as she cautiously responded.

“Yes…”

The uncertain tone in her voice was due to an inexplicable uneasy feeling. And she realized why she felt that way when she saw the face of the person who opened the door and entered.

Cha Sung Hyuk, with his characteristic languid smile.

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

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