Na Young, fearing she might develop a heart condition from their prolonged eye contact, lowered her head and replied.
“It’s just the last of three chances, right? We work together at the hospital every day, how can it be the last?”
“If seeing each other at the hospital is enough, what’s the difference between you and Yoon Ina?”
The mention of Yoon Ina by Professor Choi Tae Hyuk brought back her dream, making her feel as if someone was suffocating her.
Tae Hyuk, looking down at her flushed face, turned and walked away from the seashore.
When he set her down, her body wobbled for a moment.
Na Young clung to his arm to avoid falling.
His voice dropped over her head.
“If you don’t muster up your last bit of courage, I’m out of options too.”
Na Young looked up at his face.
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk had an expression she had never seen before.
The sorrow in his face seemed to fall into her eyes, blurring her vision.
“No matter how much I like you, there’s nothing I can do.”
His admission that his feelings were not just physical desire but genuine affection made her heart race, but the reminder that their relationship couldn’t progress due to her defensive nature made her heart heavy.
The real problem wasn’t the hospital.
It was her retracted heart since that incident, wary and distrustful of people, trapped in her own well, feeling like a failure.
She had started to dislike this side of herself.
“Let’s eat first.”
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk said lightly, walking towards the restaurant.
Na Young watched his retreating figure, then followed him.
Being by the sea, they went to eat grilled clams.
The table was lavishly set with clams alone, leaving them wondering where to start.
The clams sizzling on the fire whetted the appetite just by looking.
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk placed a nicely cut scallop on her plate.
“Try it.”
Before eating, Na Young looked at his face.
“Why aren’t you eating first today?”
His eating habits, from her perspective, were quite wild.
Aggressive, fast, and a lot.
“I want to see you enjoying your meal.”
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk by the Gangwon Province sea was different from the one at the hospital.
More romantic. Heart-fluttering.
She carefully put the hot scallop in her mouth.
“Is it good?”
At his question, Na Young nodded honestly.
“Now you eat, Professor.”
Seeing him happily holding chopsticks, she smiled too, but when he reached for the ramen instead of the clams, she immediately grabbed his chopsticks.
Tae Hyuk looked at her with eyes saying it was cheating.
“Eat the clams, not ramen.”
“I always eat ramen first at clam grills.”
Na Young really didn’t like his fondness for ramen.
If she had the authority, she would cut off his ramen first.
At that thought, she looked at Professor Choi Tae Hyuk with startled eyes.
Misunderstanding her reaction, Tae Hyuk thought he might not get to eat ramen today and began to explain at length to her why he had to eat ramen at a grilled clam restaurant.
Thus, Na Young couldn’t even speak.
She had just begun to consider the possibility of a deeper relationship between them.
Time by the sea seemed to flow more slowly than in the city.
The sound of the waves coming and going was heard over and over, but it wasn’t boring.
The sunset gradually progressed.
As the sun dipped into the sea, the sky was enveloped in purples and reds, creating a spectacular display of nature’s beauty.
Still, Na Young felt compelled to say something.
“Is there any meaning in watching the sunset instead of the sunrise at the East Sea?”
“Do you want to see the sunrise tomorrow before we go?”
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk suggested staying the night, as casually as he talked about eating ramen at the clam grill.
“I have to be at the hospital at that time, Professor.”
Her sudden formal tone, as if a resident reporting to a professor, made Tae Hyuk not insist further.
“Then let’s return to Seoul.”
The moment he suggested returning to Seoul, Na Young felt there was still something she wanted to say to him.
“Professor, I…”
As she began to speak, Tae Hyuk stopped walking and turned around.
But when their eyes met, Na Young couldn’t easily find the words.
Pulling out the last bit of courage he mentioned was something only she could do, yet it seemed beyond her reach at the moment.
“If you have nothing to say, let’s go.”
And Na Young wondered why Professor Choi Tae Hyuk was being so cool at this moment.
Normally, he would have pressed her for a proper response.
Could it be that in his mind, the three chances were already over?
Feeling as if he had drawn her into this relationship only to end it himself, Na Young followed him with mixed feelings.
The sun had set, and darkness had fallen over the sea.
In the car back to Seoul, Na Young kept her mouth shut, saying nothing.
Professor Choi Tae Hyuk also focused on driving, not making an effort to speak to her.
Getting back to Seoul without too much delay was now the most important thing.
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.”
