In the car on the way back to school.
Isu still couldn’t look straight at Jiho, her face flushed.
Wonjin’s words kept lingering in Isu’s mind.
“It’s great to be in love, but be careful when you meet. You’ll figure it out on your own.” Wonjin’s face, earnestly advising with a meaningful expression, came to Isu’s mind, and she tightly closed her eyes.
‘What does he mean by being careful? Does he think I slept with Jiho? Haa… How could he even think that? If he had something to say, he should have said it when we were alone.’
As Isu pondered what Wonjin might have been thinking when he said those words, her face felt like it was about to burst.
Just introducing him as a boyfriend… Isu was only embarrassed by Wonjin’s reaction.
‘Is it because I don’t know much? Is this how it is when you’re in a relationship? Am I too naive? Does Jiho expect and take it for granted that we’re like that? I should have had some dating experience!’
Questions with no answers kept multiplying in her mind, making her want to hide from embarrassment.
Isu turned her head completely toward the window, her hands clasped on her knees.
‘I want to get out of this car quickly.’
Isu hoped that Jiho wouldn’t say anything about what Wonjin said.
She tensed up every time the car stopped at a red light, fearing Jiho might say something.
Breaking the long silence, Jiho spoke first.
“How late will it be today?”
“Uh? Uh… I think it’ll be later than yesterday. I lost some time coming back home.”
Suddenly, more than two hours had passed.
“Then 11 o’clock?”
“Yeah. Probably around that time.”
For Isu, the two hours that felt like a storm had passed in many ways.
Although her plan to confidently declare Jiho as her boyfriend to Yumi and Sumin was successful, Wonjin’s unexpected reaction left Isu bewildered.
‘Are all other dads like this? It’s awkward to ask someone about this.’
Throughout the dinner, under Yumi and Sumin’s warm gaze, Isu felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Then, thinking it was finally over after finishing dinner, Isu felt as if she had been hit by a bomb from Wonjin.
“Jiho, you go first. Don’t stay late because of me.”
Isu felt sorry for Jiho, who arranged his schedule to fit her time every day, and it seemed burdensome to see Jiho any longer today.
“It’s okay. I need to study too. It’s not just you taking the exams.”
“That’s true, but if I always make you take me home, it might be tiring for you.”
“Not at all… I’m not tired when I see you. It’s the only time of the day I get to see you. Should I give up that time for you?”
Knowing that Jiho wouldn’t easily agree, Isu couldn’t say anything in response to his affectionate words.
Unlike other couples who study together, Jiho was considerate of Isu, who didn’t study with him, didn’t even show her face in a different study room, and even turned off her phone.
During a brief pause when the car stopped, Jiho gently wiped Isu’s cheek.
“Give me your hand.”
Jiho’s palm spread widely in front of Isu.
Between Jiho’s fingers, Isu slipped her ring finger.
“You won’t even look at me today?”
Jiho, holding Isu’s hand with his ring finger, asked, gripping it tightly.
“Uh? Uh…”
Isu, still embarrassed to look at Jiho, stumbled over her words.
The more Isu thought about Wonjin’s words, the more curious she became about what Jiho was thinking.
Is Jiho thinking the same way as Wonjin does?
Isu found it difficult to handle the deepening kisses that Jiho initiated, and there were a few times when she pushed Jiho away.
If she hadn’t pushed him away, would there have been something to be cautious about, as Wonjin said?
Did Jiho think that far and act accordingly?
Isu stared directly at Jiho’s profile as he drove.
Jiho, who had been smiling with his mouth upturned since earlier, seemed unaffected.
He even looked happy.
‘I hope Jiho forgot what my dad said.’
Jiho pulled Isu’s hand, which he was holding, toward him.
Isu’s body leaned toward Jiho.
“I keep looking at you because of driving. So you can see me when I look back… Hmm? Can’t I do that much for you?”
“Uh…”
Isu, cautiously tilting her head, opened her mouth.
“Why have you been in such a good mood since earlier?”
“Um… Everything.”
Jiho briefly turned to look at Isu and smiled sweetly.
“Formally introducing you as my boyfriend to my father was good, and earlier…”
After a moment’s pause, Jiho continued.
“The warning was… It means he acknowledges that we’re dating. I feel good because it feels like he gave us permission.”
Isu squinted her eyes.
‘Ha. He’s really crazy. What permission did we get?’
“Your father… seems quite… open-minded.”
Jiho added a laugh at the end of his sentence.
Yumi sat on the kotatsu in a dimly lit room with slumped shoulders.
Throughout dinner, she felt like she was constantly under investigation by Isu.
Isu declared to everyone that Jiho is her boyfriend and left.
‘I kept pretending not to know. Why suddenly reveal it like this?’
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.”
