The cafe where she had arrived after receiving the call was quiet.
Taking a deep breath, Da Jung looked around inside and soon spotted a middleaged woman sitting in front of the window. She quickened her steps towards her.
“Hello, Professor.”
Da Jung bowed deeply and greeted politely.
She had many titles Noh Hyung Sook the artist, Professor Noh Hyung Sook, Director Noh Hyung Sook but to show her respect, Da Jung referred to her as a professor.
The call from an unknown number came just as she was about to go for lunch.
“Yoo Da Jung? I am Do Jun’s mother. Let’s meet.” She spoke in a refined and calm tone, but she didn’t hint at the purpose of the meeting.
Da Jung had an idea of what it could be about but didn’t jump to conclusions. After all, she had rejected the proposal. But could Do Jun have told his parents about that problem?
Hyung Sook, who was haughtily crossing her arms and looking up at Da Jung, stood up from her seat.
“Yoo Da Jung?”
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
Da Jung was about to bow once more when it happened.
Slap!
Along with a sharp friction sound, a flash of light burst in front of her eyes. Her ears rang, and her vision blinked white.
Only after her vision gradually returned did Da Jung realize that Hyung Sook’s palm had flown into her face.
She was so surprised that heat gathered at the corner of her eyes, and tears welled up involuntarily.
In the meantime, Hyung Sook sat down elegantly again, as if nothing had happened, very composed.
The few people inside the cafe who had witnessed the moment began to whisper, and she heard murmurs.
Annoyed again by that, Hyung Sook threw a sharp voice.
“What are you doing, not sitting? Are you standing like that on purpose for people to see?”
As Da Jung quietly took her seat across from her, Hyung Sook quickly snatched a napkin and tossed it at her.
“Wipe off your blood. What are you doing, wearing it like a medal?”
Blood? Only belatedly understanding her words, Da Jung touched somewhere on her burning face. As she felt her cheek and pulled her hand away, a faint streak of blood appeared.
Only then did Da Jung notice the glamorous ring on Hyung Sook’s finger. Da Jung clenched the crumpled napkin and pressed it hard against the aching spot.
Still, Hyung Sook spent a considerable time in silence, staring out of the window and frowning.
After what seemed like an eternity, Hyung Sook’s mouth, which had been tightly closed, opened.
“Hey, I won’t talk long. Stay away from our Do Jun. Don’t you have any conscience? How dare you look at my son, let alone being a virgin and even having a child?”
Da Jung watched the grain pattern of the wooden table and gently bit the inside of her mouth.
If she didn’t, she felt like she might burst out at the welleducated professor who claimed to have intelligence and refinement.
She wanted to say how miraculous it was that a son like Kwon Do Jun was born to a woman like her.
Looking at you, I have to strive to not become a shameful mother to my son.
The words had choked her, but she had done her best to swallow them down.
She had to verify the truth before impulsively slapping someone. If she had done so, she would have clarified, “I am not in such a relationship with your son.”
From the start, she didn’t feel the need to do so. Just for the reason that she had given birth as a virgin, she had already been branded as such a woman.
It’s alright. Considering the favor that Do Jun had done for her all this time, and the gratitude she had felt, a slap or two…
If she could repay her debt to him in this way, her heart felt rather at ease.
Her belief became more solidified.
Marriage is indeed a foolish act.
She imagined the issues she would face if she ever married Do Jun, unlikely as that was. This woman wasn’t even Da Jeong’s motherinlaw.
She shamelessly acted out against a stranger, using the possibility of obtaining that position.
Suddenly, she recalled the harsh abuses her grandmother inflicted on her mother. They were certainly not less than what Da Jeong had just experienced.
Da Jeong didn’t have the slightest intention of inflicting such humiliating and abusive actions on herself. She didn’t even consider dragging Si Woo into it.
It was true that she was shaken momentarily by Do Jun’s offer to become Si Woo’s father.
Because she believed that Do Jun could truly be a good father. But now, she felt disappointed in herself for being swayed, if only for a moment.
Marriage should not be a means to provide a father for a child. For that, her mother had killed herself for decades, enduring a painful life.
Who was it that most despised and criticized that choice?
Although Hyung Suk’s relentless cursing continued, none of it reached her ears.
With dry eyes, Da Jeong blinked absentmindedly and endured that time.
It was a bright Monday morning.
Upon arriving at the kindergarten, Da Jeong exchanged a deep farewell hug with her son. Parting after spending the weekend together made her feelings of affection even stronger.
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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