“Sure, I’ll come over.”
It was a timing Tae-seok couldn’t refuse. As he was considering calling Hong Manager for a drink, he readily accepted Ji-hyeon-jeong’s invitation.
Irritably, he grabbed his car keys and left the house. He could call the junior manager to drive later. For now, he just wanted to deal with his mood.
Exiting the underground parking lot a bit roughly, Tae-seok glanced left and right, then turned right.
To get to Ji-hyeon-jeong’s place, it would be quicker to go left, but there seemed to be an accident that way, with two cars in a dispute. Choosing to take a longer, quieter route, that decision proved to be problematic.
Choi Yeoreum was sitting at the bus stop.
Just his luck.
And, predictably, he got caught by a traffic signal. Coincidentally.
Tae-seok’s long, straight fingers tapped on the steering wheel. He then gazed at the woman sitting straight ahead at the bus stop.
The woman briefly looked up as the bus approached, then gazed back down at the ground. Just sitting there. Her posture looked like a sigh.
Tae-seok stroked his chin, observing her. It was uncomfortable and strange. He couldn’t define the feeling of his insides boiling.
The woman still looked fragile, as if a mere touch would send her flying, as if shaking her would make her burst into tears. That very aspect agitated Tae-seok.
Usually, women who scam a man and run away with his money live more blatantly and flamboyantly, right? Handbags, shoes, jewelry should be flashing through his mind, but Choi Yeoreum had only an eco-bag today.
No bracelets, no rings, just wearing that thin dress, breathing quietly, then getting up to sit there. Waiting for a bus. Her unexpected and different behavior baffled Tae-seok.
The signal turned green, and he pressed the accelerator. Tae-seok forcefully erased the lingering image of the woman from his mind.
[Star Icon]“Are you here?”
Ji-hyeon-jeong’s house was always lavish. Marble art walls, golden furniture, and interior decorations were as luxurious as her. A luxurious crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and there were expensive paintings worth tens of millions of won. The red sofa in the middle of the living room was crafted by a renowned local artisan.
Tae-seok naturally sat down and accepted a wine glass.
“Your place always seems to get better, noona.”
“Every house is the same. What were you up to?”
“I met Choi Yeoreum.”
Ji-hyeon-jeong paused for a moment while preparing the salad. It was not good.
She didn’t want to feel this way again, so she had eliminated that girl, but the same situation was happening all over again. She should have insisted that girl not come up to Seoul at all, not just hide for a year. She had been too lax at the time.
Forcing a cheerful voice, she asked.
“Did you go to the production office?”
“No, I called her to my place.”
Choi Yeoreum’s life, which seemed insignificant, unexpectedly went smoothly. Ji-hyeon-jeong hadn’t foreseen that. Breaking into the screenwriting world is incredibly hard, and Choi Yeoreum managed it in just a year. That’s where things started to go wrong.
Tae-seok’s house was a place even Ji-hyeon-jeong couldn’t visit often. Tae-seok was extremely reluctant to have outsiders over, only allowing necessary managers and stylists. Even when meeting with Ji-hyeon-jeong, he would always come to her. The fact that Choi Yeoreum easily entered his house irked her.
Ji-hyeon-jeong put the salad on the table and sat close to Tae-seok.
Then Tae-seok slightly stood up, widened the gap between them, and sat back down.
“I feel dirty.”
[Translated from Korean] Did sitting a bit closer on purpose become noticeable? Ji-hyeon-jeong was leisurely pouring wine, but Tae-seok’s sharp response made her flinch. She always acted with dignity, but in fact, she was always conscious of Tae-seok’s mood.“What’s up?”
“It’s about Choi Yeoreum. She really knows how to ruin a mood.”
Tae-seok seemed unbothered by the physical distance between them, changing the subject.
The crystal glasses lightly clinked. The red wine poured into her mouth. Ji-hyeon-jeong waited for his next words. Turning on some classical music softly, the house gained an air of elegance.
“If she did such a thing and left, shouldn’t she at least pretend to be sorry? If she were human.”
Tae-seok’s voice was tinged with sharpness.
“I wonder where she spent all the money she took. She never cared for bags, so I get that, but she liked shoes. Why then?”
Tae-seok gulped down two glasses of wine, cursing under his breath.
“Did you mention taking the money?”
Ji-hyeon-jeong momentarily forgot to fake a smile, furrowing her brows. She just realized they were on the brink of exposing everything.
“No, why would I talk about money? I have my pride.”
Relieved internally by Tae-seok’s answer, Ji-hyeon-jeong’s anxiety didn’t fade.
She had opposed it until the end, fearing such a situation. She needed to take some action, her eyes darting around as she contemplated.
She had drunk quite a bit of wine.
“Hey, noona, drink moderately.”
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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