The suggestion was both sudden and bewildering.
“Me?” Yeon Woo, feeling compelled, turned around to confront the earnest Jun Hwi.
“We need someone to swiftly summarize meeting notes, take care of indexing, and conduct case law searches. No one fits the role better than you, so I’m asking you to help,” Jun Hwi stated.
It was unheard of for a secretary to join the situation room, apart from an old tale of Roan Yul’s early days when secretaries entered with typewriters to act as scribes.
The tasks Jun Hwi listed were seemingly manageable by even the most junior lawyers on the team.
“I can support you adequately from my own workstation.”
“Why not do it right here, since you’re helping anyway?”
Ah, she thought she understood.
He doesn’t trust her, worried she might inadvertently or deliberately act in Cha Han Bin’s favor, wanting to keep an eye on her.
“You don’t trust me, do you, Mr. Kwon?”
Overwhelmed by sorrow, she couldn’t help but voice her true feelings.
“Do you see it that way?”
Unaware of her internal struggle, he let out an easy laugh.
“Yes. Honestly, though it’s my own doing, I have no right to complain, but still…”
“Feeling sad and upset.”
“Yes! Uh, yes…”
How did he know?
“It’s written right here,” he pointed, accurately reading her emotions between her forehead and eyebrows.
“I don’t distrust Yeon Woo; it’s someone else.”
Suddenly, he was casually seated on the desk, bringing them to eye level.
“With the recent incident, I don’t want to leave any chance for that man to interfere. Please join me in the situation room for the time being.”
“Are you referring to Cha Han Bin? I’m not quite following.”
“We’ll discuss that later. So, will you join the situation room?”
“What does Cha Han Bin have to do with me joining here?”
Jun Hwi, desperate for a response, said, “I believe what you experienced yesterday was his doing. Please, join.”
His pleading eyes demanded a clear answer.
“What? Cha Han Bin did that? How do you know? That’s impossible!”
“Yeon Woo,” he called, his gaze intensifying.
“Can’t you just stay by my side? I won’t bite, you know.”
“Uh…”
Each of his offhand remarks caused Yeon Woo’s heart to flutter uncontrollably, more so lately.
This couldn’t go on. It was simply too unsettling.
Her heart acted as if it belonged to Jun Hwi.
Alright, she had decided to assist as much as she could as a subordinate.
She understood he wasn’t doubting her, which eased her earlier gloom.
But his request for her to ‘just’ be by his side – did it imply something more than a professional relationship between a lawyer and a secretary? Was that all there was to it?
It was time for some clarity, for a decision to be made.
“Mr. Kwon, do you like me?”
Truthfully, they both already knew the answer.
Even his reaction to her sudden, contextless question – his eyes rapidly blinking in silence – confirmed it.
She wasn’t expecting to act on his response immediately; rather, she hoped that naming this ambiguous feeling and situation would help sort things out.
She vaguely understood what Jun Hwi meant when he had formally asked her out, expressing his desire for a conclusion.
“Is it a yes or a no? Why can’t you say anything, huh?”
There was also a thrill in it – the pleasure of flustering this stoic man.
Holding his glasses and rubbing his eyebrows, Jun Hwi remained silent.
Yeon Woo, initially amused by his rare display of discomposure, soon faced an unexpected reply that threatened to shake the control she had momentarily gained in their relationship.
“Do you really want me to answer?”
“Of course, you should.”
“Regrets may follow.”
Regrets? In what way?
While Yeon Woo pondered, Jun Hwi, regaining his composure, stood up from the desk and approached her.
“Here we are in the office. Just a plain laptop, documents on the desk, and a view of dull office buildings outside the window.”
“…”
“Don’t you want to hear it in a more special, romantic place? Isn’t that your preference?”
“What?”
“If content is all that matters, I can say it now.”
“Wait, hold on a moment.”
‘That’s not what I meant!’
The conversation was veering off in a bizarre direction, as if Yeon Woo was pressuring Jun Hwi for a confession.
How did it get so twisted?
“Just don’t answer! Forget it, cancel.”
Something seemed off. In this atmosphere, this man, now liberated by stamping his feelings official, seemed likely to become more assertive.
“Ah, so next time, with proper TPO (Time, Place, Occasion)?”
“No, not that either! Definitely not.”
“Now you say not to respond. What am I to follow?”
“You don’t have to follow anything. Just stay as you are, quietly.”
“Is that so?”
Surprisingly, Jun Hwi nodded easily.
Yeon Woo, suspicious of his unusual hesitation, tried to close the conversation with a concluding smile.
“I like you.”
His sudden, heartfelt confession left her frozen, breathless as if she had forgotten how to breathe.
“I like you.”
His deep, calm voice electrified her, sending tingles throughout her body.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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