The Grand Temptation - Chapter 67
Shouldn’t I still tell Jeho what happened?
Yuri returned to the bedroom and picked up her phone to call him. But in the end, she couldn’t press the call button. She needed him more than ever, but that’s why she couldn’t contact him.
Yuri clutched her phone with trembling hands, staring intently at Jeho’s number before putting it back down.
The next day, Yuri went to work earlier than usual. As if telepathy had worked, Jeho also entered the office early. Though they couldn’t show it at work due to their secret relationship, since no one else had arrived yet, Jeho approached Yuri who was already seated at her desk.
“Did you rest well at home yesterday?”
He asked, gently stroking Yuri’s hair.
“How are you feeling?”
Yuri silently let him touch her hair. She had actually intended to turn away, but while her mind was willing, her body wouldn’t cooperate. She was annoyed at herself for easily crumbling at just this touch, but she couldn’t help it.
Jeho bent down and naturally embraced Yuri who was sitting in the chair. It was maddening. Even just a light hug made Yuri feel like her heart had dropped. Perhaps it was because she had longed for him all night. Without sleeping pills, she would have spent the night wide awake. So she needed to say it now.
“Please…”
Yuri closed her eyes and spoke with difficulty.
“Can you refrain for a while?”
At those words, Jeho released his arms and stepped back to meet her gaze. Slightly furrowing his brow as if to ask what she meant.
“Last night, sleeping alone was quite comfortable. I was also able to sleep well while you were away on your business trip.”
Jeho’s expression subtly changed, but Yuri continued speaking without regard.
“I’ve been quite tired lately, so I’d like to sleep comfortably alone until my body recovers. Also, we need to be careful since Minwoo now knows I’ve moved out. Father said he gave him my officetel address. Since the marriage isn’t officially over yet, he told me to maintain a good relationship with Minwoo until we announce the cancellation of the marriage.”
He said nothing and just stared at Yuri silently. Feeling burdened by his piercing gaze, Yuri turned her head away, and he whispered softly.
“Look me in the eyes. Yuri, is this really what you want?”
Yuri let out a small sigh and turned back to face him.
“Yes.”
She answered with a brief but firm expression.
“Alright. I’ll refrain from coming over every night for now. But you have to spend weekends with me. At my place.”
“Okay. I will.”
Yuri thought she could endure 2 days out of the week. As long as she kept her heart in check during the weekdays. When she readily agreed, Jeho gently cupped Yuri’s cheek with one hand and smiled softly.
Then he got up and returned to his own seat. Back to his businesslike expression, he set his bag on the desk, turned on his computer, and put on the glasses he only wore while working.
A moment later, the office door opened and Seonyoung entered.
“Good morning.”
Following her, other employees began arriving for work. While exchanging morning greetings with colleagues, Yuri’s eyes happened to meet Jeho’s. He locked gazes with Yuri briefly with an expressionless face before turning his attention to the blueprints.
It was the same icy expression she’d seen the day they reunited at the shopping mall. Why? Suddenly Yuri wondered if perhaps this was his true face. If it had been, she wouldn’t have fallen in love so easily… With that useless imagination, Yuri smiled bitterly.
[This is the timeline separator]A longer and more boring week than usual was somehow passing by. Though the nights sleeping alone without Jeho were difficult, she managed to endure fairly well thanks to steeling her heart.
Since it was a secret relationship, they couldn’t show any signs at the office, so despite being in the same space, opportunities for contact were rare.
Perhaps just smiling at each other when they occasionally bumped into each other in the elevator. Even in the elevator, they had to be careful due to the CCTV cameras.
Jeho seemed to accept the situation more calmly than Yuri. He always maintained a cold expression in the office and treated her with an indifferent attitude.
While she felt relieved, she also felt a bit hurt. At the same time, she hated herself even more for these contradictory feelings.
Thursday morning, as she was leaving home, the door next door was wide open with movers carrying things out. After moving out a few days ago, it seemed a new tenant had already appeared. Only the moving company staff were busily carrying items, and the new neighbor was not in sight.
Yuri passed by the neighboring unit without much thought and got on the elevator. Just as she was getting off at the underground parking lot, someone suddenly blocked her path. Startled, she looked up to see Jeho smiling brightly at her.
“What brings you here?”
“I have to go straight to the site today. And I’ll probably be heading home from there.”
Jeho pulled Yuri into his arms as she looked at him with eyes that seemed to say ‘So?’
“If I didn’t come like this, I wouldn’t be able to see you today, and I just couldn’t bear it. I came to recharge before my battery runs out.”
Yuri’s head warned that this wasn’t right and that she should push him away, but her body stubbornly hugged his waist tightly.
“…But you’re trying to recharge for free?”
“Of course not.”
Jeho grinned and took Yuri’s hand, leading her to his car. He had her sit in the back seat, then handed her a takeout coffee cup along with a chocolate croissant he had prepared.
“This is for now, and I’ll pay you back properly on the weekend.”
When Yuri made a puzzled expression, Jeho said as he unfolded a napkin and placed it on Yuri’s lap:
“I thought you’d probably skip breakfast again today.”
“How did you know I haven’t been eating breakfast lately?”
“On days you eat breakfast, you tend to have lunch later, but on days you skip breakfast, you jump up from your seat as soon as it hits 12. For the past few days, you’ve been going to lunch with Seonyoung right at noon.”
He must have been watching her every little action without missing anything, even though she thought he wasn’t paying attention at all. It may seem like nothing, but Yuri was momentarily at a loss for words at his detailed care. It was a warmth she had never experienced even from her family.
It seems he was truly seducing not just her body, but her heart as well. How could she not love and resist someone who cared for her so tenderly?
Due to the tingling in her chest, Yuri had to bite her lip hard. When she just held the food in her hand without eating, Jeho personally unwrapped it to make it easier for her to eat.
“Here, eat while it’s warm. It just came out of the oven.”
“Thank you.”
As he said, it must have just come out of the oven because when she took a bite, sweet chocolate oozed out from inside the crispy croissant. Yuri looked at Jeho while licking the chocolate smeared on her lips with her tongue.
“But… why didn’t you ever eat lunch with us? You could have eaten together, right?”
“Of course I wanted to eat together. But I avoided it in case I might develop a habit.”
“A habit?”
Yuri asked as she took another bite of the croissant. Once again, chocolate dripped down and smeared her lips. But before she could lick it clean with her tongue, he leaned in first and sucked off the chocolate with his lips.
As Yuri flinched in surprise, Jeho gently grasped her chin with one hand.
“I’d want to keep doing this. Do you know how pretty you look when you eat, munching away? I want to show you in a mirror, that’s how much.”
“Ah.”
Flustered, Yuri unconsciously opened her mouth. Jeho narrowed his eyes and leaned in once more to briefly press his lips against hers.
“And it makes me unable to resist this sight too. So how could I eat together? Don’t you agree, Chae Yuri? I don’t want to get indigestion from forcibly holding back.”
The polite speech he was deliberately using sounded subtly erotic, and with his intense gaze and lips curling up slightly, the man before her felt unbearably stimulating. Suppressing the urge to kiss him first, Yuri quickly changed the subject.
“If you get indigestion, I can prick your finger for you…”
“Prick my finger?”
“Yes. For indigestion, pricking your fingertip with a needle to draw blood is effective.”
Jeho twisted his lips into a smirk as he watched Yuri hastily change the subject. But he went along with her tone.
“Hmm, it sounds like I need to be prepared to shed blood as a sacrifice to meet Chae Yuri.”
It wasn’t far from the truth. Come to think of it, Jeho had already shed blood for her several times.
“That’s not so bad. If that’s the price I have to pay to possess you.”
He whispered as he took the takeout cup from Yuri’s hand and placed it in the car’s cup holder. Then he cupped the back of her head with one hand and pressed his lips against hers for a long time.
Yuri didn’t push Jeho away. She convinced herself that a brief transgression would be okay after holding back for days. There were still two days left until the weekend. She needed recharging just as much as he did. Because life without Jeho was far too bleak.
Yuri slowly closed her eyes as she savored the sweet yet refreshing citrus scent. The warm embrace enveloping her felt so good it almost brought her to tears.
[This is the timeline separator]As he said in the morning, he went straight home from the site. Though she already knew, Yuri still felt an inexplicable chill in one corner of her heart, as if it were empty. As she was shutting down her computer and preparing to leave work, she received a call from Hyunkyung.
[Yuri, can you have dinner together today?]In the past, Hyunkyung used to say “You’re about to get off work, right? Let’s have dinner together.” But after Yuri started her secret relationship with Jeho, it changed to “Can you eat together?” Yuri smiled at Hyunkyung’s consideration.
“Of course. Where should we meet?”
30 minutes later, the two met at a restaurant near the company. As soon as they sat down, Hyunkyung gulped down cold water as if she were parched, then spilled out her story in rapid-fire succession.
“I won’t be able to see you for a while. I’m going on a European trip with Mom tomorrow. We’ll go to England, then France, Switzerland, Italy, and so on. Originally Dad and Mom were supposed to go, but Dad bailed out again saying there was an urgent matter at the company.”
Chairman Joo of Cheonga Group often went on overseas trips with his wife whenever he had free time.
“Don’t even mention it. Mom was so angry. She even talked about getting a divorce. It was thanks to me offering to go instead that it stopped there, otherwise they might have ended up in family court. It could have made headlines as the ‘Divorce of the Century.'”
Though she said that, the Joo couple was known for their good marital relationship. Perhaps that’s why Yuri found it even harder to open up about her family to Hyunkyung. Out of envy and shame. Because of how starkly different her parents’ relationship was…
“By the way, how are you? Is it nice sleeping tightly embraced with Jeho on that narrow bed?”
Instead of answering, Yuri gave a slight glare at Hyunkyung who was teasing her mischievously. Judging by how the bed delivery was being delayed, it seemed Hyunkyung was deliberately postponing it.
“We’re doing alright. These days we’re busy so we only date on weekends.”
“What? How can you only date on weekends? Can you even fall asleep alone at night?”
“What are you going to do if I can’t sleep?”
Hyunkyung frowned as if she couldn’t understand, but didn’t say anything more.
When they finished eating and left the restaurant, it was past 9 PM. She had turned off her phone briefly during dinner, and there was a message from Jeho.
It said he had something to do so he couldn’t call tonight, and to sleep well. Though it was disappointing not to hear his voice, she comforted herself by recalling their brief date in the morning.
As she was locking her car door after parking in the officetel underground parking lot, a familiar voice sounded beside her.
“Are you just coming home now?”
Yuri turned her head towards the voice and was startled. Her eyes widened as she looked at the person.
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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