Jinwoo departed for the United States.
“I’ll be back.”
Jina smiled faintly at Jinwoo, who spoke confidently, as if going to work.
“Take care.”
No more words were needed. That was enough. After sending Jinwoo off to the airport, Jina contacted her workplace and applied for three days of leave starting today.
It was to avoid having her current situation conveyed to Jinwoo through Jihye. Before leaving, Jina cleaned every nook and cranny.
So that Jinwoo could see a clean and organized place when he returned. The small bag of Jina’s belongings from yesterday was neatly packed in her bag.
The space felt absurdly empty with Jinwoo gone. The clear gap that had felt so full just that morning when he was there now made her laugh bitterly. The pouring sunset, as if trying to fill the empty space, seemed futile.
[Let’s meet after work.]It was the three-day deadline that Dojin had mentioned. Jina received a quick reply to her message.
The place where Dojin and Yoonju had met on their fifth anniversary. It was there that her small hope had shattered into pieces. The actions of the person she had still believed in until the end came back to her.
“Ah…”
She bit her lips unconsciously, and then, belatedly, pain registered. Jina’s slightly parted lips were now stained with red blood.
“I won’t just sit still.”
Eventually, Jina’s eyes became resolute. She might not have known that this could be a chance for her to take cruel revenge.
Jina held a handkerchief to her bleeding lips. Despite the stinging pain, there was no change in her expression. It seemed as if Jina couldn’t feel anything in the absence of Jinwoo.
Soon, she placed the handkerchief on the table and took one last slow look around the house before leaving.
Even without him, his scent still lingered everywhere. From the couch where they enjoyed the night view to the dining table where they shared meals and the bed where they made love, memories of him were embedded in every corner.
Tears that had gathered in her eyes blurred her vision for a moment. Jina, who had reached the bedroom, gently stroked the white bedspread with her hand.
Then, she carefully removed the ring from her finger. She placed the sparkling ring on the bed and smiled one last time.
“I might not be able to keep our promise. But I’ll definitely protect you.”
Thanks for letting me have a brief moment of happiness.
Now, the hot summer is over. Our love is over.
“Goodbye, Seo Jinwoo.”
Jina left the room without turning around.
“Ms. Heo Yoonju, please come out.”
Yoonju, who had been crouching in a corner of the cell, raised her head. Her hopeful eyes sparkled, but the stern face of the detective, devoid of any expression, quickly extinguished the light.
“We’re going to court to receive the actual arrest warrant.”
Yoonju stood up weakly. Her body was not in great shape after spending several days here.
“Can I make one phone call?”
With a pleading tone, Yoonju approached the detective. The detective glanced at his watch with an annoyed expression.
“We’re leaving in 10 minutes…”
“Just one minute. Just one minute!”
“Sigh, make it quick then.”
The detective gave permission. Yoonju held the phone with trembling hands, still in handcuffs.
As Yoonju dialed the numbers, her mind was in chaos, repeatedly recalling the jumbled numbers. Her fingertips trembled endlessly as she pressed the buttons. The few short seconds of the dial tone felt like hours of anxious waiting.
[Dash] Yes.Yoonju’s face lit up brightly at the brief response.
“Hello? It’s Heo Yoonju!”
Yoonju’s voice echoed suddenly throughout the police station.
“I know it’s impolite to call suddenly like this, but please help me just this once.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
“I’m about to be taken to jail. That bastard framed me.”
The detective, who had been checking his watch, finally spoke.
“End the call.”
“Yes, just a moment. Please help me just this once. Please. Help me put that bastard behind bars!”
“Heo… Heo Yoonju.”
“Yes? I’ll do anything.”
A struggle ensued between Yoonju, who refused to hang up, and the detective, who wanted to disconnect the call.
“Please!”
Click.
The detective forcefully hung up the phone and nodded coldly.
“Let’s go.”
Trembling as if the world had collapsed, Yoonju walked away with slumped shoulders. At that moment, someone entered the police station.
“Just a moment.”
A text message arrived on Jina’s phone, which she had left in the taxi on her way to the suddenly changed location.
[Seoul Hotel, Restaurant 00]Jina was somewhat taken aback by the sudden change of location, but she soon hailed a taxi. It didn’t take long to reach the hotel in the city.
Holding the bag strap tightly, Jina got out of the taxi and glanced briefly at the hotel lobby. Jina took a few deep breaths and walked with tense steps, like a soldier going to the front lines, not wanting to show her true feelings to Dojin.
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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