After the staff member said goodbye and left, Eun Soo picked up her chopsticks again.
Even after imagining such sorrowful scenes just a moment ago, when she saw the food in front of her, Eun Soo swallowed her saliva unexpectedly. For the first time in her life, Eun Soo realized that her appetite, as well as her heart, did not go as she wished.
As if it was her job to eat, Eun Soo consumed the seaweed salad, and without properly mixing it, she put the jellyfish salad in her mouth.
It was delicious.
It was so delicious that she didn’t even doubt whether these foods were this tasty.
“Eun Soo.”
“….”
“Oh Eun Soo?”
Eun Soo was so focused on eating that she didn’t realize Hyuk Joo was calling her name.
She couldn’t think of anything but how it was a waste that the plate was getting emptied.
“Eun Soo.”
“Ah….”
After a while, Eun Soo raised her head at the sound of Hyuk Joo calling her.
“Why are you eating so hastily?”
Hyuk Joo’s brows were deeply furrowed. Only then did Eun Soo realize that she had been eating in such a sloppy manner in front of him.
A wave of shame washed over her for a short moment as she realized she had been eating as if she was a monster, always starving.
“….Actually, I didn’t have lunch.”
At Eun Soo’s words, Hyuk Joo let out a long sigh.
“I sent you porridge for lunch.”
“I had no appetite….”
Eun Soo muttered in a small voice like a sinner.
Around lunchtime, a staff member from Hyuk Joo’s secretarial office had brought her packed porridge. But she had no appetite. She couldn’t eat it because she thought she would throw up if she ate the porridge.
“You said you felt nauseous earlier, didn’t you?”
“Ah….”
It didn’t make sense that she had said she felt nauseous but couldn’t eat.
Unlike the flustered Eun Soo, Hyuk Joo calmly summed up the situation.
“It’s interesting to see someone who couldn’t eat a single porridge because of nausea eating well.”
“….”
“At least you ate something.”
Hyuk Joo got up from his seat with a faint smile. Even his smile did not look pleasant to Eun Soo’s eyes.
It seemed like a sneer, a laugh mixed with a bit of discomfort.
It was only natural for him to react that way.
There wouldn’t be a man who’d look kindly at a woman who was sloppily emptying her plate without realizing her name was being called.
Eun Soo stood up from her seat following Hyuk Joo.
A piece of vegetable that had been hidden at the edge of her skirt, possibly spilled while eating, rolled down onto the floor.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
Biting her lip hard, Eun Soo covered her mouth and nose with her hand.
Just as she had to hold back vomit earlier, now she had to hold back tears.
Hyuk Joo was sitting in the waiting room at the end of the hospital ward corridor.
His wife was a person who didn’t change much. She was like a quiet lake that momentarily rippled when a stone was thrown in and then soon became calm again.
Hyuk Joo, not being the type to show his emotions openly, felt comfortable with Eun Soo’s demeanor.
They had gotten married without emotional exchange through an arranged marriage, and he had drawn a line with Eun Soo from the beginning.
He told her not to expect something like love.
Perhaps because of that, there was no grand event or remarkable conversation between the couple.
Their relationship was as ordinary as the days they went through every day.
Hyuk Joo found stability in such simplicity, and had reached the point where he thought it was only natural that Eun Soo should be by his side.
Eun Soo was no different from a part of his body to him.
Yet, Hyuk Joo was beginning to feel that Eun Soo, whom he never doubted would always be there, was changing these days.
When did this change start?
What could be the reason?
Hyuk Joo wrapped his dry hand around his face and then removed it.
“Brother?”
“… Yeah.”
At the voice of Yeon Ji patting his shoulder, Hyuk Joo got up from his seat.
“There’s nothing wrong.”
“That’s a relief.”
“It’s all thanks to your worry, brother.”
When Yeon Ji tried to fold her arms, Hyuk Joo avoided her arm. At his gesture of rejection, Yeon Ji’s face fell.
“Today is the last day… I’m a bit disappointed.”
“Let’s go.”
Hyuk Joo led the way down the hallway.
Since Yeon Ji had returned to Korea, Hyuk Joo had accompanied her to her followup examinations, as long as nothing unusual happened, just as before.
When he declined to accompany her to the followup examination due to a business trip on Thursday, Yeon Ji said she would take the exam a day earlier.
That’s why he came with her to this examination as well. But Hyuk Joo drew the line by saying that today was the last day.
“Are you still upset about me taking money from Director Moon Young Ran and leaving?”
“No.”
“Then why are you suddenly keeping your distance?”
Hyuk Joo looked straight down at Yeon Ji, who was asking in a tone that said she didn’t understand.
“I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing?”
“Yeon Ji.”
Hyuk Joo spoke in a heavy voice.
“You asked for my help, so I did as you wanted, right? If you need more, tell me. I can do anything.”
“…You know that’s not what I want.”
Yeon Ji sobbed.
In this situation, the only way for her to hold on to Hyuk Joo was to cry.
By crying and showing all her vulnerability, Hyuk Joo, who was pushing her away firmly, would have no choice but to take her hand again.
As she cried, Yeon Ji pulled out a handkerchief from her bag.
It was a handkerchief that was already so worn out that one corner was frayed. She held the handkerchief so that the rose embroidered with blue thread was visible, and wiped her tears with it.
Looking at Hyuk Joo’s eyes, which were turning dark, Yeon Ji purposely shrugged her shoulders.
“I left so you wouldn’t be troubled because of me… why don’t you understand that?”
“……”
“What should I do now if I can’t even just ask to see your face occasionally?”
Yeon Ji leaned her forehead on Hyuk Joo’s chest as she asked in a challenging manner.
Hyuk Joo tightly closed his eyes.
He thought she was someone he had to protect. So, he intended to give her all the help he could.
If the feelings that lingered between them were love, if they really were…
As soon as he heard that Yeon Ji took the money and left for Canada, he should have followed her. But Hyuk Joo didn’t.
Perhaps he was exhausted by Yeon Ji, who constantly tore at her own insides, reminding him of his painful memories of his mother he couldn’t protect.
“Please thank her when you see her.”
The image of his mother who struggled to say those words remained in his mind.
Perhaps it was a mistake from the start, clinging to words that were as good as a will, determined to rescue Yeon Ji from her hard life. Their relationship should have ended with words of gratitude.
It was his fault, trying to dilute the guilt of not being able to protect his mother through Yeon Ji.
Hyuk Joo separated Yeon Ji, who was sobbing in his arms, from himself. Then he helped her into the car that had been waiting outside, his arm around her shoulder.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“You go first.”
After asking Song, who was in the driver’s seat, to take care of her, Hyuk Joo closed the car door. As the car pulled away, he ran his hand over his forehead.
He was tired.
His eyes were dry.
Thinking it would be better to walk a little, Hyuk Joo turned his head. But Hwang In Woo was standing there.
“Hello, Vice President Moon Hyuk Joo.”
In Woo greeted Hyuk Joo with a clear voice.
lu lu lo la ▪️ net (lululola.net)
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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