Secret Cohabitation Love (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2

“Wow,” “Whoosh.” The short gasp and whistle that burst out simultaneously were instantly swallowed by the heavy air.

A suffocating silence. Tae Ha’s lips, which had briefly curled into a smirk, now dropped coldly.

“What the hell kind of crap is that?”

“I’m glad you put it that way.”

Heh. Tae Ha laughed for the second time. A frosty, hollow chuckle trickled low beneath his chin.

His husband must be speechless—but now she says she’s glad?

“Say that again. That I’m your….”

The word “husband” stuck in his throat, so Tae Ha helplessly spread and then folded his right hand, his brows knitting tightly together.

Eun Seo’s eyes, following his hand, instantly completed his sentence the moment his fingers closed.

“Husband.”

Her firm nod, accompanying the reply, left no room for doubt—so Tae Ha gave the faintest upward twitch of his lips.

For twenty-nine years, he’d never once felt even a flicker of attraction toward any woman; he’d even seriously questioned his own sexuality—yet now, marriage?

“Have the reporters dug up my profile lately? Or did someone leave the doors of a psychiatric ward wide open?”

Only then did the audience—who until now hadn’t dared laugh—begin to titter nervously at Tae Ha’s cue.

“She’s really lost it,” “Must’ve taken something.” Blatant mockery and sneers. Yet Eun Seo remained utterly unmoved, as if she couldn’t hear any of it.

Without another glance, Tae Ha strode straight toward the opaque glass wall shielding the table.

“Everyone, keep today’s incident to yourselves.”

He issued a firm warning to the group, then nodded toward Eun Seo.

“Come with me. Before I get embarrassed.”

His foot, which moments ago had seemed injured, now looked perfectly fine. A bodyguard hurriedly followed behind him.

“Get the car ready.”

After passing several tables and stepping into the lobby, Tae Ha finally turned around. The thumping music faded faintly as the door closed behind them.

“I’ll leave from here. Pretend you never heard that ridiculous talk. I’m letting it slide only because you clearly don’t know who I am.”

“You’re Kwon Tae Ha, aren’t you?”

Hah. Tae Ha clicked his tongue once and pushed the door open without another word. He moved so quickly that Eun Seo could barely keep up.

“The car’s here!”

At the security officer’s call, Tae Ha didn’t hesitate—he stepped into the vehicle that had just pulled out of the parking lot. The moment he settled into the seat, his finger pressed the window button.

“Let’s go.”

Just as Driver Kim, sensing the mood, prepared to press the accelerator, a document was urgently thrust through the narrow five-millimeter gap in the window.

Eun Seo didn’t pull her arm back, even though her wrist nearly got caught.

“What is this?”

“The documents! ……The marriage verification documents!”

At the desperation in her voice, the nearly closed window slowly rolled back down. As the oppressive tint between them peeled away, the man’s deep-set eyes openly revealed his irritation.

Still watching Eun Seo with distrust, Tae Ha carefully unfolded the neatly creased document.

Just a few seconds passed.

While reading, his straight eyebrows abruptly knotted together, and his thick brows twitched violently.

What is this?

The resident registration number was unmistakably his own—and Song Eun Seo was a woman one year younger than him.

Tae Ha straightened his previously tilted jaw, then opened the car door and got out again.

As the man entered the narrow space, Eun Seo hastily stepped back a few paces.

“Hey. Ms. Song Eun Seo, do you even know me?”

“I do now. But do you really not know me, Mr. Kwon Tae Ha? Really?”

Her scrutinizing gaze was as sharp as a freshly honed blade—steady, penetrating every joint and vein without a single gap.

The seemingly youthful woman appeared calm—but unlike before, her eyes trembled faintly, betraying the anxiety her composed voice tried to mask, as if she were the one who’d done something wrong.

Of course—she must be a fraud.

“Ms. Song Eun Seo—do you have two lives? Or maybe your family’s loaded with money?”

“What?”

“To fix this mess, you’ll need to hand over one of those. Can you even handle the consequences?”

“…….”

“I’ve never dealt with someone like you before—I honestly don’t know what to do.”

“…….”

“Who sent you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m asking where you learned to pull stunts like this.”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. Learned? Learned what?”

“Marriage fraud. Heard it pays well? Or are you a stalker?”

Eun Seo’s mouth fell open in stunned silence. The man was thinking exactly what she had feared.

Marriage fraud.

All the doubts she’d harbored before coming here—

Filing a marriage registration alone would’ve been far too difficult and invasive for her grandmother to manage single-handedly; it required thorough knowledge of the other party’s private information.

Could her elderly grandmother have pulled off something this enormous by herself? Impossible.

If a man would go this far to exploit an old woman, he had to be either a con artist after something, a truly despicable person, or someone with serious issues that made normal marriage impossible.

Maybe organ trafficking? Or even human trafficking?

Yet she couldn’t rule out the possibility that this man himself had been caught in someone else’s scheme—after all, for nearly three months since the marriage, her so-called husband hadn’t even contacted her, let alone looked for her.

That’s why she’d come. Even if it meant risking her organs.

Most importantly, her own will and feelings had been utterly disregarded in this marriage—and despite the swirling, chaotic suspicions, her conclusion remained firm:

She’d braved the danger, whether at his home or this party, because one thing was certain—

This marriage had to be annulled.

“I’m not committing fraud.”

“Then what is this? Am I the one committing fraud?”

“Fraudsters don’t look like fraudsters at first glance. Maybe you’re the one deceiving me.”

“What the hell would I possibly want from you?”

“Just because someone looks perfectly fine on the outside doesn’t mean they’ve got nothing they’re desperate for.”

Tae Ha scoffed and leaned his upper body slightly toward Eun Seo.

“You picked the wrong target.”

“That’s exactly what I want to say. I truly have nothing—there’s nothing I can give you.”

“Listen carefully, Ms. Song Eun Seo. I gave you a chance—and you missed it.”

“Wait, I think you’re misunderstanding something. I came here to annul this marriage.”

“One thing is certain—whether this document is fake or real, you’ll have to wait for my lawyer.”

“No, wait. I never thought I wanted to marry you or anything like that….”

Just then, Eun Seo’s phone began ringing loudly in her hand.

She glanced at the vibrating screen, then alternated her gaze between Tae Ha and the phone, hesitated briefly, and quickly turned away.

“Hello?…… Home?”

Her soft voice gradually grew louder, making it impossible for Tae Ha to pretend he hadn’t heard.

“What do you mean? ……Repairs? ……That can’t be. You must be mistaken…… I’ll be right there.”

Her face, turned back toward him, was flushed and flustered.

“I’ll come back.”

After delivering that statement like an order, Eun Seo hurriedly spun around and left.

Watching her rush away, Tae Ha turned to his secretary standing a few meters behind him.

“Team Leader Choi. Follow her. Track her movements at every point, report anything unusual, and find out exactly who this woman is. If necessary, even track down where she lives.”

Even after Team Leader Choi departed, Tae Ha kept his eyes fixed—piercing through the fleeing figure of Eun Seo.

Marriage.

Scoffing quietly to himself as he turned away, he suddenly felt a sharp, searing pain in his shoulder—as if pierced by a red-hot awl.

What the hell? Did a bug bite me?

Another sharp jolt. Ugh.

Tae Ha clutched his left shoulder and leaned against the car.

The muscles near his scapula began throbbing, then a burning sensation—unlike anything he’d ever felt—raced rapidly through his nerves across his entire body.

It felt as if sharp needles were tearing through his skin and scorching flames were slicing through his veins.

Tae Ha gripped the car body so hard his knuckles turned white, while his other hand clutched his blazing shoulder.

Breathing became difficult.

This was the first time in over twenty years—since as far back as he could remember—that he’d experienced such excruciating pain. The characters tattooed onto his scapula twenty-three years ago now reacted violently, as if they were being ripped off his skin.

What the hell is this? Why does it hurt so much?

“President! What’s wrong!”

The chauffeur rushed over to Tae Ha, who was barely holding himself upright.

Seeing the veins bulging in Tae Ha’s neck from the effort of enduring the pain and his deathly pale face, the chauffeur draped Tae Ha’s arm over his own shoulders.

“Lean on me! This way!”

But Tae Ha’s knees soon buckled beneath him.

The gray sky had turned pitch black. Light snowflakes, swirling wide from the apex, vanished instantly against the heat of his cheeks.

White snow scattered dizzily around him. Cold sweat soaked through his shirt. An eerie chill pierced his entire body.

“I’ll inform the chairman!”

At the driver’s urgent words, Tae Ha desperately grabbed the driver’s tie and yanked him close. With his throat constricted, he barely managed to rasp out a hoarse whisper that scraped against the driver’s ears.

“Don’t… don’t tell him about her. Don’t worry her… don’t….”

His vision, narrowing into an oval, soon blurred completely. The last remaining pinpoint of white light vanished, and a black veil instantly swallowed his sight.

Then—total darkness.

* * *

“Hah… hah… hah…”

At the far edge of Gangwon Province, in Pine Scent Village.

Missing the last bus, Eun Seo had to wait until the next day to disembark—and now she sprinted toward home.

Her palms, which had nervously itched the entire bus ride, were soaked with sweat despite the winter cold.

[ Where’d you go without taking your stuff? ] [ What are you talking about? What stuff? ] [ We agreed you’d clear out by today! I’ve been lenient for months—what if you still haven’t moved out when renovations start? How is this even possible? ]

Her lease term had clearly not yet expired—but three months ago, her grandmother had terminated the contract and withdrawn the full deposit.

Her grandmother had received the money in cash, and its whereabouts were now utterly mysterious. She couldn’t even confirm whether it was fraud or not.

Grandma—what on earth happened?

The lease was already over, the deposit gone without a trace. Around the same time came the marriage registration—and then her grandmother’s death.

Marriage. Kwon Tae Ha. Fraud.

Words that should never have entered her life now dragged her into chaos.

Even the hope of returning to the university she’d left after two years, or her dream of attending a translation graduate school to become a translator—all of it had vanished.

The modest government stipend barely covered her grandmother’s medical and living expenses, and the tutoring income she’d earned as a prestigious university student had nearly run out.

She’d temporarily set aside all her dreams for her grandmother, who’d refused to come to Seoul despite her illness, insisting she’d rather die where she was. She’d thought it was only temporary—but never permanent.

Now she had no idea where to even begin.

She’d done everything possible for her only family—and all that remained in her bank account after the funeral was three hundred thousand won.

It felt as if a specter of misfortune had seized her ankles, dragging her into an abyss.

The snow had by now turned into heavy flakes. Hard ice shards scattered in the wind like white ash.

If I lose my home—if even that’s gone—what will I do?

In the winter afternoon, tears streamed endlessly down Eun Seo’s cheeks as she ran without pause down the deserted farm road.