Jeho’s decision to stop by Geoje was actually close to an impulse. The call about problems with the village hall reconstruction in Changwon came not long after he arrived at work. When Manager Kim said he would go down, Jeho volunteered to go instead. It wasn’t as big of an issue as expected, so it didn’t take long to handle.
He could have taken the KTX straight to Seoul from there, but Jeho rented a car and headed to Geoje without a plan. Even if he went there, he wasn’t certain he could see Yuri. But he drove thinking that if all else failed, he could at least see the sea in Geoje.
After arriving in Geoje, fortunately he was able to find the campaign site without much difficulty. He couldn’t miss it. Posters announcing the campaign site were posted all over the small city.
As he approached the stage to get a closer look, he stopped midway. Behind Representative Chae, he saw Yuri smiling forcedly like a soulless doll. Jeho unknowingly furrowed his brow.
The sight of Yuri standing in front was so unfamiliar. It was a look he had never seen before. Something unnatural, and on the other hand, a sad face. Though she was smiling with her mouth, her lifeless eyes just blinked dryly.
Seeing Yuri’s unfamiliar appearance, Jeho finally understood why she had decided to marry Minwoo. Perhaps she was in a situation where she had to flee from a tiger’s den to a wolf’s den.
The image of Yuri suddenly wilting like a flower as soon as she encountered Representative Chae came to mind again. Compared to Representative Chae, perhaps Minwoo would be an easy match for Yuri.
An inexplicable overwhelming emotion welled up inside. If he could, he wanted to grab her arm and pull her out of there.
After the support speech ended, the representatives who came down from the stage continued their procession, shaking hands with each voter. Jeho quietly followed them from afar, watching.
The scuffle with people from the opposing party happened when Yuri had briefly left her seat. The aides and bodyguards surrounded the bleeding representative and hurriedly got into the van, leaving the scene. When Yuri returned later, she looked around bewildered. But no one came back for her.
Jeho bit his lip at the sight of Yuri making calls here and there with a dismayed face. Her expression grew darker, as if the calls weren’t connecting.
He wanted to approach her, but he couldn’t easily do so. She probably wouldn’t want to show him this side of herself. Still, hoping that at least one person would come back for her, he quietly watched over her.
But contrary to his expectations, no one came even as it grew dark. She was left alone, and thick raindrops fell from the sky covered in dark clouds. Yuri stood still in place like a lost puppy.
Foolishly.
Finally, Jeho ran towards Yuri. He couldn’t leave her alone any longer.
“Are you crazy?”
Before she could react, he pulled her into his arms. He felt her slender hands grasp his waist. Jeho ran to a nearby commercial building where they could avoid the rain, still holding Yuri.
“Getting soaked in the rain like this. Are you in your right mind?”
Jeho cupped Yuri’s face with both hands and slowly wiped away the moisture with his palms.
“What if you catch pneumonia?”
Her eyes were still full of moisture. It didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t rainwater, but tears. Seeing her reddened eyes looking at him, anger welled up inside him.
Unaware of Jeho’s feelings, Yuri slowly blinked with a blank expression. It seemed like his figure was gradually taking shape in her hazy, tear-filled vision.
“…Jeho?”
Her tightly closed lips slowly began to move.
“…What brings you here?”
“Is that important right now? Why I’m here?”
Jeho said in an angry voice as he wrapped his jacket around Yuri’s soaked body.
“First, take off those wet clothes.”
[This is the timeline separator]Click, the door opened and Yuri walked out having changed her clothes. They had hurriedly picked out clothes to change into at a nearby clothing store. Though far from the latest fashion, as the saying goes that the face completes the outfit, when she put them on, they looked as stylish as clothes from the latest Vogue issue.
Getting in the car, Yuri carefully spoke up.
“Thank you. I’ll pay you back as soon as we get to Seoul.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Jeho replied curtly as he checked his wristwatch. Time had already passed 8 o’clock.
“By the way, did you eat properly today?”
Yuri quietly shook her head. She had barely eaten breakfast, and lunch was just a convenience store lunchbox eaten in the car while moving. But even that, she had only managed a few spoonfuls due to the tight schedule.
“Huh, someone who didn’t know would think Chae Yuri was the by-election candidate.”
Though she knew it was a joke, it was a bitter one to hear. Yuri forced an awkward smile and looked at her phone. There was still no contact from Representative Chae. He must have seen the missed call notification, yet still nothing. She was tired of calling first now.
Just then, ding, a text message notification popped up on the screen. It was a message from Representative Chae’s aide.
“Just a moment.”
Yuri excused herself and called the aide who had sent the text. This time, he answered right away.
“It’s me, Chae Yuri.”
[Yes, where are you now?]“What do you mean where am I? I’m at the campaign site in Geoje, of course.”
A muffled sigh was heard over the receiver, as if surprised by Yuri’s answer.
“Aide?”
[Ah, I’m sorry. I thought you had gone up to Seoul alone separately.]It was an absurd excuse. How could she have gone up to Seoul alone, leaving her jacket and bag in the car, wearing the election uniform? Clearly, Yuri’s existence had never been in their minds from the start, and someone had only just realized now. What was even sadder was that the chances of that someone being Representative Chae were slim.
“Are you with the representative now?”
[The representative had to attend a countermeasure meeting about today’s incident, so he went straight to the party headquarters.]That meant everyone had gone up to Seoul, leaving only her behind. Ha, it was so absurd she was speechless. Yuri struggled to speak, steadying her trembling voice.
“I left my clothes and bag in the car when I got out.”
[Ah, yes. I took care of those and brought them to the main house.]“I see. Thank you.”
Yuri ended the call with a brief goodbye. There was no use in complaining to the aide. If her father, Representative Chae, didn’t care for her, what fault could the aide have?
“Is there anything in particular you want to eat?”
Jeho, who had been waiting silently for her to finish the call, asked as he started the engine.
“…No. Anything is fine.”
“Hmm, I’m not really a fan of ‘anything’… Since we’ve come all the way to Geoje, why don’t we go eat some fresh seafood?”
The place Jeho took her to was a local restaurant famous for grilled cod on a stone plate. Though the exterior showed traces of age and looked shabby, the interior was quite neat, as if it had been recently remodeled.
To make choosing easy, there were only two menu items: grilled cod on a stone plate and pan-fried pollack stew.
“Oh no, ‘anything’ isn’t on the menu. What should we do?”
It was a corny joke, but Yuri burst out laughing. Jeho smiled along with her, as if to say “Now you laugh?”
“Can you handle spicy food?”
“Yes, I like spicy food.”
“Then let’s go with the grilled cod on a stone plate.”
The food we ordered didn’t take long to arrive. Though I thought I wouldn’t have any appetite at all, seeing the bright red grilled cod made my mouth water. I also had a hope that eating something spicy and fiery might help clear my stuffy mood.
“Ah, right. But what brings you here?”
“There was a problem with the Changwon reconstruction project I came for last time. The director was going to come, but I came instead.”
But that wasn’t enough. Changwon is one thing, but why Geoje? Yuri looked at Jeho with a questioning gaze. Instead of answering, Jeho slowly drank his water. Yuri patiently waited for him to finish drinking.
“Since tomorrow’s the weekend anyway, I wanted to get some sea breeze while I was here, killing two birds with one stone.”
“But why were you there?”
The campaign site was far from the sea. Most people would head to the beach lined with resorts, not come to the traditional market.
“Are you interrogating me now?”
“…Ah, I’m sorry if I offended you. It was just so strange to run into you here so coincidentally.”
“If that’s the case…”
Jeho spoke slowly, lowering his gaze to Yuri’s hand resting on the table. Her hand was swollen from shaking hands with so many people today. Jeho raised his hand and gently enveloped Yuri’s. Her gaze flickered as she looked at him. But she didn’t pull her hand away.
“Wasn’t our reunion at the mall an even more dramatic coincidence? Ah, I think you were soaked then too…”
Yuri’s eyes narrowed at the mischievous joke. As the slender hand squirmed in his large one, Jeho smiled gently and turned Yuri’s hand over, palm up.
“Your hand is swollen. Doesn’t it hurt?”
“It’s bearable. I’ve been doing this since I was young…”
Yuri smiled bitterly and continued.
“After my mom passed away, I would go out campaigning in her place.”
“When was that?”
“Third year of middle school…”
“The little one went through a lot.”
“I wasn’t little.”
Yuri bristled at being called little and tried to pull her hand away. But Jeho’s actions were quicker. He interlaced their fingers, locking their hands together.
“Alright. Then let’s say young lady. Either way, at that age you should have been eating tteokbokki and gossiping with friends your age. Not following around campaign trails.”
Though it didn’t seem like much, Yuri bit her lip, feeling tears well up. Because no one had ever said such things to her.
Everyone said she had to help her father, following in her late mother’s footsteps. That she shouldn’t ruin the voter base her mother had built. They didn’t care about the heavy responsibility they were placing on the shoulders of a girl who had just lost her mother.
Jeho smiled at her as if he understood her pain, looking straight into her eyes. His sweetly smiling face was so beautiful, it felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Today had been such a miserable day, but it was turning into such a warm day because of the man in front of her.
It was like magic.
[This is the timeline separator]After dinner, Yuri accessed the KTX ticket reservation site on her phone to return to Seoul.
“What should we do? All the tickets are sold out.”
She had assumed there would be seats available, but it was an unexpected setback. It was the same with express buses. The only way to get back to Seoul tonight was to drive a rental car.
“Can you drive to Seoul?”
Having rarely driven on the highway late at night, Yuri couldn’t readily volunteer to drive. Jeho, who came from America, would be used to highway driving, but his shoulder wound hadn’t healed yet. An hour or two might be fine, but any longer could be too much.
“Of course…”
Jeho looked into Yuri’s eyes, pausing before slowly answering.
“I don’t think I can.”
“…Ah, of course.”
Yuri looked at Jeho’s right shoulder with regretful eyes. In reality, while short-distance city driving might be okay, long-distance driving of over 3-4 hours would be too much even in broad daylight.
She was about to say ‘We have no choice. We’ll have to stay the night here and go tomorrow.’ when Jeho spoke first.
“We can sleep together and go.”
What? Sleep together and go?
Though it was similar to what she was about to say, why did she feel a thrill at his words? Was it because of the word ‘together’ added in front? It must just be her imagination?
Yuri took a slow breath, trying to keep her expression neutral. For a moment, Jeho’s eyes flashed dazzlingly as he looked at her. And even more dazzling words followed his gaze.
“I won’t say things like I’ll just hold your hand while sleeping.”
__________
Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up! (Female-dominant)
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
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