The sight of her scratching the bridge of her nose with the finger holding the chopsticks looked gentle, and her face waiting for the answer was clear.
He reminded her of their first encounter in a few words.
“The Libera Hotel coffee shop.”
Ji An, who had remembered the man, steadied her slightly shaking body.
The man with the handkerchief?
“Woo Dan Woo! The name that could never be a number? Ah! My goodness. ……I apologize. This mouth of mine.”
Ji An laughed, covering her lips with both hands at the words that suddenly sprang out.
Without realizing, Dan Woo found himself smiling. Her face, laughing until her eyes closed, looked like spring sunshine.
“That’s correct. Woo Dan Woo.”
“Ah! Just a moment. It will only be a moment.”
As memories came back, Ji An hurriedly crossed the living room and entered the bedroom on the first floor.
Then, after a while, she came out of the bedroom and offered a square envelope made of craft pulp.
“I was grateful that day.”
Dan Woo turned the envelope he received around, untied the decorative string, and opened it.
It was the handkerchief he had given to the woman at the Libera Hotel.
Not expecting to receive it back, he looked at Ji An with a puzzled look.
In Jeju, and even meticulously packaged.
By this point, it must have been washed and even ironed.
He asked Ji An while looking at her.
“You carried this around? All the way to Jeju.”
“I thought the handkerchief with the initials might have a special meaning.”
“…….”
“It’s not common for coincidences to happen, but just in case we meet.”
Dan Woo nodded subtly, digesting her words.
So, she was saying that she carried the handkerchief around all this time.
“It’s not a meaningful handkerchief, but thank you. For the sentiment.”
Ji An awkwardly nodded her head, patting her thigh with her palm a few times.
When she returned to the kitchen and sat on the stool, the ramen had swollen more than before.
In fact, due to the complicated matters that had arisen, she no longer felt hungry.
While she was pondering whether to eat it or not, the man asked.
“What’s your name? You already know my name, so I think it’s okay to ask.”
“……It’s Kim Ji An. My dad named me.”
As Dan Woo nodded and leaned back on the sofa, the cushion that had been standing next to him fell forward.
He, who had been looking at the cushion from various angles, lifted his gaze to look at Ji An.
“Ah!”
Ji An let out a faint exclamation.
Though unintentional, his action was enough to make Ji An flustered.
The man’s eyes seemed to alternate between the cushion and her belly, and the words she had said to Dasom disorderly resurfaced.
‘Lawyer Yoon Ha Joon does have a longstanding girlfriend. It’s like this quite often. ……My joke was too much. ……If he knew that I came out like this due to his personality.’
“That day……!”
Ji An started to hastily explain that day’s incident, waving her hand.
Could this man possibly be cursing at Ha Joon? That’s what she started to feel.
Ji An’s words became faster and more disjointed.
“That is, what happened was.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t intending to ask.”
She, who had hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth again.
“Ha Joon is actually more like a family friend. You know, the kind of friend who you’ve known for a long time, with no boundaries between what’s yours and mine.”
Ji An, who had abruptly ended her sentence, blinked her eyes and looked at Dan Woo.
Because it didn’t seem like just anyone could have a friend like family. Because she thought her relationship with Ha Joon was that special.
Whether Dan Woo understood Ji An’s inner thoughts, he replied.
“I do have a friend like a brother, as we’ve known each other for a long time.”
“Oh! That’s good to hear. That’s the kind of person Ha Joon is to me. He’s very handsome, so he’s popular with women.”
She paused her words, then deflated like a popped balloon and added in a sullen manner.
“Furthermore, he’s busy. When such an incident occurs, I go out in his place and handle the aftermath. That day was the same.”
Dan Woo asked, leaning forward, interlocking his fingers.
He didn’t usually care about other people’s business, but he became interested in the woman due to the coincidental overlap.
“So you’re close enough to comfortably ask for such favors, but not close enough to get married?”
Dan Woo, who had asked the question, asked his own heart again.
Why was he curious?
He couldn’t believe it and let out a small chuckle with a sigh.
Ji An extended her arms, wagged her two hands, and widened her eyes.
“Marriage? What a grotesque suggestion. That guy is a friend, no matter what anyone says. For over twenty years. ……That long.”
She could not finish her words. The term ‘parasite’ came to mind.
Overwhelmed and with tears welling up, she bit her lower lip, but her vision became blurry.
‘How about trying to live separately? Stop being a parasite.’
She thought she was angry because Ha Joon’s words were hurtful. But that wasn’t it.
Remembering the words she couldn’t dare say out loud hurt her heart. The words became clearer in this unfamiliar place.
Tears welled up and streamed down Ji An’s cheeks. She bit her lip hard, but more tears flowed.
Her intense emotions did not subside easily.
Ji An, who had bowed her head, her back repeated a large rise and fall.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. ……No.”
Ji An’s tears didn’t stop easily, but she seemed to be trying very hard not to cry.
“I’m sorry.”
Dan Woo, who had risen from the sofa, moved his steps, hearing her sobbing.
The voice of the man who stood in the shadow came close.
“If there’s a reason to cry, you should cry.”
He, who had perched on a wooden stool, supported himself on the floor with the foot that was not on the footrest.
Leaning his body slightly, he gently patted Ji An’s back with his large hand.
“Real tears… Tears… because I was suddenly overwhelmed.”
The small back of the sobbing woman held Dan Woo’s gaze.
The back of his mother, who had hidden her face by the window where the morning sun came in, had repeatedly swelled and subsided in the same way.
She always held her breath and cried until the fernlike hand that clung to her clothes was long enough to reach around her waist.
Patting Ji An a little more affectionately, Dan Woo opened his mouth.
“I won’t ask why you’re crying. Because it’s a difficult time.”
Whenever his father, who came down from Seoul, slept a night and left, his mother turned her back and shed tears.
She always gave the same answer when asked why.
‘It’s because the sunlight is dazzling.’
In fact, Dan Woo himself had no memory of crying because the sunlight was dazzling.
Why She Is Still Unmoved (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He uses various methods to seek her affection, but she remains unmoved.
Synopsis:
Si Qingyu is a doctor who has saved countless lives and enjoys tranquility.
Luo Shaoxuan is ruthless, deeply scheming, and the top young master in the capital. He admires Si Qingyu.
Luo Shaoxuan: I want to be the only one in your eyes and heart.
Features a cold and calm female lead vs A noble and scheming male lead.
There will be both sweetness and torture towards the male after their marriage.
