“Should I call you sister-in-law even though you’re not married yet?”

Његов fixed his gaze on Yuri as he raised one corner of his mouth.

Sister-in-law?

Yuri’s brow furrowed involuntarily at the word “sister-in-law.” It wasn’t incorrect, but it felt so awkward it gave her goosebumps.

Marrying Minwoo meant becoming sister-in-law to Jeho, which wasn’t news, but… why now?

Perhaps noticing the subtle change in her expression, Jeho’s gaze on Yuri intensified. Feeling as if her inner thoughts had been exposed, Yuri gently lowered her eyes to avoid his gaze.

“No, elder brother.”

At that moment, Minwoo spoke up casually with a sly smile.

“She was once my fiancée, so it might not be easy to call her sister-in-law.”

It seemed he was deliberately trying to get under Jeho’s skin. However, Jeho just smiled faintly, showing no reaction to the blatant provocation. If anything, it was Minwoo who felt ignored. His expression instantly twisted.

Yuri quietly observed the two men engaged in a battle of wills without an inch of compromise.

Ten years ago or now, both marriages were loveless and strategic, so why this sudden imitation of a love triangle… Clearly, it was the two men battling it out, but why did she, a third party, feel so uneasy, as if sitting on pins and needles? Yuri inwardly sighed as she filled her empty glass with alcohol.

“But you know… I’m curious about something.”

This time too, Jeho kept his gaze on Yuri while asking Minwoo a question.

“Why Yuri of all people? You know well she was going to marry me… Why her specifically?”

“Kuk.”

The overly direct question made her choke. Yuri hurriedly put down her glass and covered her mouth with a napkin, looking at Jeho with bewildered eyes.

But Minwoo seemed unfazed. As if he had anticipated the question, he grinned and wrapped his arm around Yuri’s shoulders, pulling her towards him. Yuri found herself in Minwoo’s arms before she could resist.

“It’s not like we were married and divorced, so what’s the problem?”

Minwoo spoke sarcastically and tightened his grip on Yuri. He squeezed so hard that the arm in his grasp hurt. Her brow furrowed involuntarily, but since Jeho was observing intently, Yuri endured the pain and remained still.

Though Minwoo’s treatment of her as a trophy was unpleasant, she couldn’t push him away in front of Jeho. After all, her marriage partner was Kwon Minwoo, not Kwon Jeho.

Was it because he noticed Yuri’s discomfort? Or did Minwoo’s embrace seem forceful?

Jeho’s gaze remained fixed on Minwoo’s hand gripping Yuri’s arm tightly. Minwoo, drunk on the feeling of possessing Yuri, failed to notice, but Jeho’s eyes were blazing with anger. The atmosphere was so tense it seemed he might tear Minwoo’s hand away from her at any moment.

Inevitably, Yuri gave Jeho a gentle smile as if everything was fine. Even if it was just a formal relationship in name only, she needed to maintain Minwoo’s dignity.

Jeho’s intense gaze, which had been boring into Yuri, cracked at her smile. He twisted his lips into a smirk, then turned his head to the side and leaned back in his chair. With one leg crossed over the other, he looked relaxed, as if watching a play.

“I heard your original match was the eldest daughter of the Taemin Group. But you insisted it had to be Yuri, telling the chairman.”

“Ha, who told you that?”

Irritated that Jeho knew more than expected, Minwoo raised his voice.

Taking advantage of his momentarily loosened grip, Yuri quickly slipped out of Minwoo’s arms. He had held her so tightly that the area he’d grasped stung, bringing tears to her eyes.

Minwoo sometimes got so worked up he didn’t realize how he was behaving, and this seemed to be one of those times. Yuri rubbed her aching arm with her palm. There would probably be red marks on her skin. This had happened several times before. She had warned him to be careful many times, but Minwoo seemed to have forgotten again.

The argument between the two men continued.

“It’s not about who told me, but the fact that it reached my ears that seems important…”

“Let them gossip all they want behind my back. I don’t care. If I had to have an arranged marriage anyway, I wanted it to be with Yuri, whom I’ve been friends with for over 10 years, rather than the Taemin Group’s daughter I’ve never met. That’s what I told grandfather.”

“You’ve been friends with Yuri for over 10 years?”

As Jeho narrowed his brows in surprise, Minwoo lifted his chin with a triumphant expression. It was a habit from childhood that emerged whenever he felt even slightly smug.

“You didn’t know? That I met Yuri before you? We’ve known each other since high school. The marriage talks with you came after that.”

Minwoo was right in terms of timing. But back then, Yuri didn’t know much about Minwoo. She only remembered briefly passing by him at a charity party hosted by Hyunkyung’s Cheong-a Group.

It wasn’t until long after Jeho left for America that they became friends through Hyunkyung’s introduction. Minwoo said they had talked the first time they met, but Yuri regrettably couldn’t remember.

Meeting so many people at every charity party, it was impossible to remember them all. However, not wanting to disappoint Minwoo, she had never told him the truth until now.

“I may not have known she was once engaged to you, but that was only for a very brief time. On the other hand, Yuri and I have always been together for the past 10 years.”

When Minwoo tried to embrace her again, Yuri avoided his touch and gave him a sidelong glance. Noticing Yuri’s discomfort, Minwoo reluctantly placed his hand on the back of her chair instead. In exchange, he spoke tenderly as if whispering words of love.

“Yuri, do you remember when we traveled to Malawi together?”

Minwoo seemed to want to boast to Jeho that he and Yuri were quite close, more than just friends. Yuri nodded silently. It wasn’t something Minwoo had made up on his own. They did go to Malawi together. But Hyunkyung was also there, and it was a volunteer trip.

“We stayed in the same room, remember? I still think about the night sky we saw then. Wow, the starlight in the black night sky sparkled like diamonds…”

Listening to Minwoo, it sounded like a blissful honeymoon. Yuri didn’t contradict him this time either. She figured it didn’t matter since they were going to get married anyway.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yuri agreed briefly and drank her wine. As she put down the glass after taking a sip, her eyes met Jeho’s. Under his slowly blinking eyelids, a cold light flashed. It was as if his eyes were demanding to know if she really had such a deep relationship with Minwoo.

For a moment, Yuri’s heart sank. Even as she hurriedly drank her wine to avoid his gaze, her hand holding the glass trembled faintly. She wasn’t sure of the exact reason. Thinking he might misunderstand made her chest feel tight and constricted.

“I thought it was just an arranged marriage…”

Jeho, who had been silently listening until then, finally spoke.

“But it seems you have feelings for each other.”

“Of course we have feelings…”

Minwoo, who had been openly expressing his inner thoughts, suddenly wore an “oops” expression and quickly closed his mouth. With the wedding right around the corner, he didn’t want Yuri to feel burdened. It was a marriage agreed upon to get what they both wanted, thoroughly excluding emotions.

“Whether we have feelings for each other or not, is that really so important in an arranged marriage?”

Minwoo quickly covered up his slip of the tongue.

“Is that so?”

Knowing how much Minwoo liked Yuri, Jeho turned to her with an ambiguous expression.

“Marriage isn’t like merging companies…”

“Honestly, it’s not that different, is it?”

Yuri frowned at the comparison to a company merger.

“Minwoo and I are getting married because our conditions match, and we believe we’ll be good partners.”

It wasn’t meant to take Minwoo’s side. But feeling somehow criticized and as if he was mocking her, she couldn’t hold back.
Misunderstanding that Yuri was defending him, Minwoo smiled brightly, opening his mouth wide.

“Did you just say ‘conditions’? Not love?”

“Yes, that’s right. Con-di-tions.”

Yuri emphasized the word “conditions” forcefully. As a result, her voice trembled faintly at the end. Jeho noticed the subtle change and twitched the end of his eyebrow briefly, but soon calmed down.

“I don’t believe in fleeting emotions like love. I believe a marriage formed because we need each other has a much stronger binding force than that.”

Jeho didn’t argue back. He just stared at her intently. It was a calm gaze devoid of any emotion. Yet Yuri could no longer bear his gaze and turned her head to the side. Though faint, she could feel the light of contempt contained within it.

Thinking about it carefully, she felt anger slowly rising.

He was making hasty judgments without knowing anything about what had happened to her all this time.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Yuri asked bluntly, not hiding her emotions. Finding her reaction amusing, Jeho smiled briefly, his eyes crinkling.

“I’m wondering if the person in front of me is the same Chae Yuri who blushed 10 years ago saying she didn’t want an arranged marriage.”

At those words, Yuri glared coldly at Jeho.

“Even mountains change in 10 years. Of course people change, and views on marriage change too.”

Was it because of her parents’ influence? She had dated a few men, but most relationships didn’t last long. First of all, she couldn’t fully trust her partners, and they were more interested in her background, namely Assemblyman Chae’s power, than in her.

As a result, at some point she became a person who couldn’t believe in the emotion of love. That’s why an arranged marriage that started without emotions from the beginning was actually more comfortable. At least she wouldn’t be betrayed.

“What about you, elder brother?”

Minwoo, who had been watching the two argue, slipped in.

“Can you say you’re the same now as you were then? Will you never have an arranged marriage?”

“Of course.”

Only then did Jeho take his gaze off Yuri and turn to Minwoo.

“I think marriage should be with someone you love. Marriage isn’t business.”

“Hearing you say that… Elder brother, do you perhaps have someone you’re dating?”

“…Well.”

Jeho didn’t answer and remained silent as if lost in thought. Then, after a moment, he spoke.

“There is a woman who keeps catching my eye and occupying my thoughts.”

Yuri pretended to be uninterested and looked elsewhere, but she couldn’t help her ears perking up.

A woman who keeps catching his eye and occupying his thoughts?

What kind of woman could she be?

Beyond simple curiosity, she felt strange. Her heart stung as if pricked by a needle.

Yuri was startled by her own reaction. Just moments ago, she had said she didn’t believe in emotions like love, yet now she felt a heavy weight pressing on her chest because of a woman she didn’t even know.

It must be that her emotional defenses had temporarily crumbled due to excessive drinking.

“Is that woman in Korea? Or in America?”

“Where she is now doesn’t matter. Because…”

Jeho paused briefly and turned his gaze to Yuri. Then he continued leisurely.

“She’ll soon be my woman.”

A faint smile appeared on Jeho’s lips as he murmured as if whispering.

“…Though it won’t be easy.”