It was ridiculous.
With Tae Un’s appearance, the hall was filled with the murmuring sound of curiosity about him and the sound of applause directed at him. Wearing a black three-piece suit, Tae Un walked out with long strides, his expression more confident than ever.
Ba Ha, stunned by the unexpected appearance of a familiar face, clapped robotically while staring at Tae Un.
“Senior, our vice chairman’s face is totally handsome! It’s crazy. Crazy! You should have told me earlier! Then I would have prepared with lots of love…”
Doo Na’s earlier complaints seemed to have disappeared completely, as if Tae Un’s appearance alone had made her forget all her previous troubles. She seemed to have fallen for Tae Un’s face in an instant, and kept clapping while unable to take her eyes off his face.
“Senior, our vice chairman was the head of the U.S. branch…”
After the shock came surprise.
Ba Ha couldn’t hear Doo Na’s chatter. With Tae Un’s sudden appearance, Ba Ha’s face gradually turned pale as she recalled their night together.
Why are you here?
You shouldn’t be coming out from there.
I told you we shouldn’t see each other anymore…
‘Ms. Han Ba Ha, why do I feel like we’ll keep running into each other? Even if we do, let’s not pretend we don’t know each other.’
At that moment, his last words flashed through Ba Ha’s mind.
Did he know about my existence? If so, how much does he know? Does he know that I’m about to go on a blind date, and that the other person is his brother?
No, he couldn’t have known.
No one knew. She had entered Daehan while thoroughly hiding the fact that she was from the Taesan family.
There’s no way he could have known.
And if he had known, we shouldn’t have spent that night together.
I’m about to meet your brother soon. I have to talk about marriage with your brother.
In an instant, Ba Ha’s mind was filled with thoughts of Tae Un instead of his brother.
“Hello, I’m Woo Tae Un. First, at this inauguration ceremony…”
In this absurd situation, Ba Ha slightly pushed her hips forward in her chair and lowered her body.
To be as inconspicuous as possible to his eyes.
Ba Ha hoped that Tae Un wouldn’t find her among these many people, and wished he wouldn’t find her.
We said we wouldn’t see each other again that day.
That was Ba Ha’s true intention.
Tae Un wasn’t part of Ba Ha’s plans. It was just one night, and she had hoped that they would naturally fade from each other’s memories.
“I won’t say anything else. I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who have worked so hard until now, and as the vice chairman of Daehan, I love each and every employee…”
The formal inauguration speech didn’t reach Ba Ha’s ears. She just wanted to stop seeing that face in front of her.
“Why are you here… why.”
[This is the timeline separator]It was absurd.
Ba Ha thought for a moment that all of this might have been a coincidence, but upon further reflection, she realized.
This wasn’t a coincidence.
The look in Tae Un’s eyes when they met showed no sign of surprise or wavering, and it was only Ba Ha who was shocked and shaken. Rather, judging by his seemingly confident gaze, she could tell that this situation was not a coincidence.
“Ha…!”
She was angry.
Only a hollow laugh escaped her lips.
How foolish must she have looked?
Saying they would never see each other again, she had been reluctant to even tell him her name. So she held out as long as she could, only telling him when she couldn’t resist his persistence anymore.
How much must he have laughed inside?
How amusing must it have been to see Ba Ha, who was in the palm of his hand, struggling and squirming, not wanting to reveal herself?
Ba Ha felt increasingly angry, somehow feeling as if she had been disrespected by Tae Un.
“Doo Na, I’m leaving first.”
“What? S-senior…!”
Before the inauguration ceremony was even over.
Ba Ha couldn’t just sit there, clapping and staring at Tae Un, saying it was nice to see him again, like Doo Na who seemed to have fallen head over heels for his polished exterior appearance.
Ba Ha left the hall right before Tae Un’s inauguration ceremony ended, leaving Doo Na behind.
“Ha… What on earth is this…”
Apart from the surprise that followed his appearance, the memories of that night inevitably came back, hurting Ba Ha.
She didn’t want to see him again.
As long as she kept facing him, it felt like those memories from that night would continue to gnaw at her for a while.
“Han Ba Ha!”
Behind Ba Ha, who had escaped the inauguration ceremony, a familiar voice desperately called her name. Ba Ha tried to ignore his voice and walked forward.
“Han Ba Ha!”
Why was she so angry? She couldn’t understand why she was angry.
Tae Un was bewildered when Ba Ha stood up and ran out before the inauguration ceremony was even over. He had only wanted to surprise her in response to her words about not seeing each other again.
That we should keep meeting.
That was all it was.
When Tae Un strongly grabbed Ba Ha’s wrist as she was leaving, ignoring his calls, she finally stopped.
“Let go.”
“Are you angry now? Why?”
Why am I angry?
Ba Ha felt overwhelmed by this tangled situation. Breaking up with the man she had loved all her life. A one-night stand to try to forget him. And then finding out that the person she had spent that one night with was the brother of the man she was supposed to marry.
“Was it fun playing with me?”
“What are you talking about? Ha… Ms. Han Ba Ha, I’ve never played with you.”
“You haven’t?”
“I don’t know what misunderstanding you’re having, but…”
“Enough. Let go of this.”
Ba Ha seemed to feel that this whole situation had exceeded her tolerance limit.
The sudden turn of events was taking its toll on her.
“Why… didn’t you tell me? You clearly knew, didn’t you? That’s why you said that that day.”
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t know?”
“No. I don’t believe you.”
“See? You wouldn’t believe me anyway, right? And the one who said they didn’t have any questions for me was you, Ms. Han Ba Ha.”
That’s right.
She admits it. At that time, she thought she would never run into Tae Un again. So she didn’t ask.
Still, he should have told her.
If she could go back, she wouldn’t have made that foolish choice.
The consequences of that choice were too overwhelming.
“That was because I thought we’d never see each other again… Ha… Nevermind. I’ll be going, Vice Chairman.”
“No, Ms. Han Ba Ha, let’s talk. I’ll explain.”
As Tae Un wouldn’t let go of her wrist, Ba Ha roughly shook off his hand.
She felt resentful.
She resented him for not giving her even a small hint, and she resented Tae Un for approaching her at Alice.
No, she just resented everything.
If she had known things would get this complicated, Ba Ha wouldn’t have taken his outstretched hand back then.
“Explain? What are you going to explain?”
Ba Ha glared at him while rubbing her wrist, which had turned red from his grip.
She felt wronged.
Why did she have to be the only one worrying about this when it wasn’t something she had done alone?
Ba Ha wished Tae Un’s head would become as complicated as hers.
“I’ll do the explaining. Didn’t anything come to mind when you heard my name that day?”
“Not particularly? It wasn’t unfamiliar, but.”
“Ha… You didn’t say anything, Vice Chairman, but I will. I have a blind date next week.”
“What? What did you say?”
“With Woo Min Seok. I don’t need to explain who Woo Min Seok is, right?”
Tae Un let out a hollow laugh at the familiar name that came out of Ba Ha’s mouth.
He had thought it wasn’t unfamiliar.
That was all. It would have been strange to be fixated on just a name while you were right next to me, wouldn’t it?
But what did you say? Who’s doing what?
“Then we might become family. Brother-in-law.”
[This is the timeline separator]“Where are you? Come quickly.”
– Okay. Stop rushing me. What’s going on?
After Ba Ha left, giving him a great shock, Tae Un immediately put all his schedules on hold and contacted Min Seok.
What? Brother-in-law?
What nonsense.
Tae Un let out a hollow laugh, recalling Ba Ha’s expression as she called him brother-in-law.
Clatter.
“Woo Min Seok, why are you so late?”
Woo Min Seok.
He is the managing director of Yoo-an Group and Tae Un’s half-brother. Unlike Tae Un with his sharp lines, Min Seok had soft features, and despite the title of half-brother, the relationship between Tae Un and Min Seok wasn’t bad.
“What is it? Why are you drinking in the middle of the day?”
As the room door opened and Min Seok appeared, he asked with gradually furrowing brows at Tae Un’s immediate scolding. Tae Un wasn’t someone who usually drank at this hour, and he was always someone who maintained composure no matter what he was doing.
Min Seok found this urgent Tae Un unfamiliar.
“Brother, did something really happen?”
At Min Seok’s question, Tae Un reached for the glass in front of him, took a sip to wet his throat, and stared intently at Min Seok sitting across from him.
“Hey, Woo Min Seok. Don’t go on this blind date.”
“What? Suddenly?”
“Yeah. Suddenly. Hand it over to me.”
Min Seok raised one corner of his mouth and smirked at this interesting situation.
Was this urgent behavior all because of his blind date?
“Why? You’re not interested in marriage.”
“I am now. So hand it over.”
“Then… talk to Father. He’ll set up a meeting right away.”
Tae Un frowned at Min Seok’s words.
“…Let’s not bring up that person, shall we?”
“Brother, come back now. Yoo-an is where you should be.”
“No, there’s no place for me in Yoo-an anymore. The moment I left that house, Mother and I were done with that family.”
“Brother…”
Silence fell.
This wasn’t what he had called him to talk about.
Tae Un’s face grew increasingly furrowed. His brother was a fool who always felt guilty for things that weren’t his fault. That’s why he was always trying to give up his position to Tae Un, such a foolish guy.
“How is your mother doing? How’s her health?”
“Same as always. Neither getting better nor worse.”
Min Seok lowered his face, which was gradually hardening, and scratched the innocent glass with his finger. Tae Un sighed as he watched Min Seok.
“Ha… Not getting worse is something. Hey, Woo Min Seok, stop talking nonsense and just hand it over.”
“Ha… Alright. Then if I hand over that blind date, what will you do for me?”
“I’ll do one thing you want later.”
Min Seok flinched at Tae Un’s words.
What on earth was going on for him to go this far?
If he would do anything, this seemed like an opportunity. An opportunity for him to face Father again. He had lived his whole life feeling sorry towards Tae Un. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had stolen Tae Un’s place.
“Anything?”
“Yeah. Anything.”
“Brother, then just meet Father once. You’ll have to see him once anyway if you go to this blind date.”
It didn’t matter.
The moment Min Seok’s name came out of Ba Ha’s mouth, Tae Un had guessed. That he would have to see him once anyway. Even if it meant seeing someone he didn’t want to see, it didn’t matter.
He wanted to take it away. Because he hadn’t yet figured out what this emotion was.
“Okay. So just hand it over. To me.”
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
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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