“Where’s U-Ju?”
“He fell asleep early. Despite insisting on waiting for great dad, he got drowsy quickly after his bath.”
“Hmm.”
Seol Won fidgeted with her fingers as she took Chae Ha’s suit.
Chae Ha quickly noticed the hesitation in her movements.
“You look like you have something to say. And you’re even taking my clothes so readily, which is unusual.”
“Well…”
Instead of denying, Seol Won slightly nodded and sighed.
“……I heard it. From Director Jeong. I thought it was strange when your mother mentioned the rumors last time, but when did such a thing…”
“I told you not to talk about it, yet it’s already reached your ears.”
“Don’t blame Director Jeong. It was impossible not to know. The view count of that video today in just a short time…”
“People unnecessarly enjoy gossip. But I, Kwon Chae Ha, trust only you. Only what your eyes and lips say.”
“…….”
Caught off guard by the romantic tone amidst the serious conversation, Seol Won was speechless.
Then, Chae Ha naturally took the suit from her hands and hung it up.
“U-Ju is asleep, shall we have a drink together for once?”
“……Sure.”
It was their first time, but Seol Won didn’t point that out.
Shortly after, they sat opposite each other in the dining room with a bottle of wine.
The dark blue night sky and orange sunset created a unique gradient through the living room window.
After pouring a glass of white wine each, Chae Ha started in a serious tone.
“This might be a difficult topic for you, but I have a request. It’s something I need to know.”
“What is it? I’m okay, so please tell me.”
Seol Won looked at him with her usual firm and straightforward gaze.
It felt like she could reveal anything to him at that moment, even the truth she had kept hidden deep in her heart.
But Chae Ha asked something unexpected.
“I want to hear about when your father passed away.”
“……My father?”
“Yes. Min Seol Won. Your father, the proud firefighter.”
He wasn’t asking out of mere curiosity.
Chae Ha quickly added, proving his intent.
“I’ve been curious for a while. Choi Jae Yoon. And his family. The people who took care of you on the island for five years, I never really got a proper explanation about them.”
“Ah…….”
“Even if islanders are kind, it’s rare for strangers to show such hospitality. It’s a world where even families abandon each other. So, I thought there must be something more, especially after today’s video. The man mentioned a life-saving connection.”
“…….”
Had he said that?
The man in the video, known as a loafer on the island, was familiar with such connections, which wasn’t unusual in a small community.
Seol Won had been planning to tell Chae Ha this story when the time was right.
After taking a sip of the shining wine, she began.
“Yes, the last people my father saved were Jae Yoon’s parents.”
The wine tasted sweet yet bitter, spreading through her mouth.
Simultaneously, painful memories, like bubbles rising in a glass, floated up in her heart.
In her childhood, Seol Won’s family lived in a rural area with vast fields stretching like the horizon.
It was a place where one had to wait for a bus that came every two hours to go to the city.
Yet, Seol Won loved her hometown dearly.
The fields with large, sturdy trees resembled the cover of a fairy tale book.
Sitting side by side on the swing her dad made, listening to beautiful old stories from her mom, was young Seol Won’s joy.
Especially when hearing how her dad proposed to her mom in the middle of the field with simple wildflowers, her young heart would throb.
Her firefighter father diligently worked at the station in the city, taking great care of his family.
Both at work and home, he was a perfect patriarch, lacking nothing.
Was their picturesque happiness envied by the heavens?
When Seol Won had just entered elementary school, that tragedy happened.
The landscape of that day still vividly lingered in Seol Won’s memory.
Since she was too young to ride the bus alone, her mother always came to pick her up after school.
But that day, no matter how long she waited, her mother didn’t come.
Sitting on the playground steps, hugging her backpack, Seol Won stared distantly at the school gate.
Until the sky, which had been blue, was smeared with a vividly burning red sunset.
“……That day, my father died on duty in a fire at a nearby museum. At the time, Jae Yoon’s parents were tourists, having come out from the island. Just before being engulfed in flames, Jae Yoon’s father barely escaped, but his mother had unfortunately gone to the restroom.”
Her father had bravely entered the flames to save the last remaining person, Jae Yoon’s mother.
Fortunately, he managed to rescue her, lying unconscious at the restroom entrance, but he himself couldn’t make it out of the building.
“The museum had many heavy exhibits. A boat model connected to the ceiling fell as it caught fire, trapping him…”
“That’s enough. Stop talking about it.”
Seol Won felt a gentle touch on the back of her hand.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
