The dark clouds that had rolled in from the distant sea were close enough to touch the road, and as he parked at Dongmun Fish Market, it started snowing.
He mumbled, recalling the lightning and rain from a few days ago.
“Snow this time?”
Dan Woo, who had left Dongmun Fish Market, was carrying a Styrofoam box.
He spread his other palm wide and thought of the weather forecast.
A heavy snowfall warning.
“How much will it snow?”
The snow that landed on his palm quickly melted, but the roads and various parts of the street were already turning white.
The snow that fell heavily soon filled his vision with a pure white scene.
The thickening snow soon turned into a blizzard.
As they moved away from Jeju City and closer to Hadori, the road conditions became the worst.
Dan Woo’s sedan slowly arrived at the stone wall house, making a path with tire tracks on the snowcovered road.
Having just received a call from Tae Yoon, who had just arrived at the architecture office, Dan Woo mumbled.
“This guy won’t be able to get in!”
Dan Woo, who had gotten out of the driver’s seat, carried a Styrofoam box.
The moment he stepped into the gate, treading on the accumulated snow, his steps unknowingly stopped.
What came into his view was a white human bundle, frolicking in the snow like a happy puppy.
Ji An greeted Dan Woo with a broad smile.
“Did you just get back?”
Snow was sticking to her brown hat shaped like a funnel.
Dan Woo responded to her greeting with a small nod and a look.
He passed the courtyard where stepping stones were invisible under the snow and punched the password into the door lock.
Beep. Beep.
He was about to pull the doorknob when he turned to look at Ji An. For a moment, his lips involuntarily opened wide.
Ji An, with her head tilted back and lips wide open, was eating snow. It was the same expression she had when she was enjoying radish soup.
Surprised, Dan Woo’s voice instantly grew louder.
“What are you doing?”
“It tastes cold.”
It seemed that she realized a little late that her words were funny. Her laughter spread white amidst the falling snow.
Waiting for the snow to accumulate in his palm again and bringing his lips to it, Dan Woo’s voice grew louder again.
“Miss Kim Ji An!”
The corners of Ji An’s eyes, who turned to look at him, curled up long.
That was for a moment, and Ji An, who had lost her balance and was flailing her arms, eventually fell on her buttocks.
Startled, Dan Woo dropped the Styrofoam box on the ground and moved his steps.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Yes. I’m fine.”
As he lengthened his stride and came closer, white breath poured out from the lips of Ji An, who had laid long on the snow.
Standing by her side and looking down at her, she was smiling so that her eyes couldn’t be seen.
What’s so funny to you?
The moment had turned colorless as if a big event had approached.
“Excuse me. Can you give me a hand? I guess I played too much. I can’t get up.”
“Sure. Let’s do that.”
Ji An extended her hand, parting the white snowfall.
His large hand and her small one interlocked tightly, casting off the awkwardness. As he gave strength and pulled, her upper body, which held the back of Dan Woo’s hand, came up.
Standing straight and facing each other, Ji An spoke.
“It’s snowing a lot.”
“Yes. They say it’s going to snow more.”
“Do you think it’s okay to eat snow here? Jeju’s air is different from Seoul, so the snow will be pure, too. They even have famous bottled water made from volcanic water. So, what I mean is, the snow here is evaporated volcanic water.”
“Hmm. Well.”
At her absurd logic, Dan Woo briefly shook his head.
Following the man who turned his back first, Ji An entered the entrance and sighed quietly, looking at her slippers.
Her feet were wet because of the soaked slippers.
“Wait. You seem to need a towel.”
After holding Ji An back, Dan Woo headed to the bathroom on the first floor.
The moment his eyes met the long stretched underwear on the towel rack, he only then thought ‘oops’.
The bathroom was a private space for each other.
He should have asked for her permission.
Why did he do such a thing that he usually wouldn’t and end up like this!
When time was delayed, Ji An, standing at the entrance, called for Dan Woo.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes. I’m going out.”
Ji An curled her icy cold feet and took a step.
While water marks were forming on the living room floor, Dan Woo emerged from the bathroom and handed her a towel.
With his arm stretched out, he avoided eye contact and stepped on the stairs leading to the second floor.
“Thank you.”
“See you later.”
“Huh? …Yes.”
Ji An’s lips twitched, wanting to ask the reason to see her later.
Did I do something wrong? Should I ask why he’s doing this?
But she couldn’t utter the sentence ending with a question mark.
Ji An recalled the quite noisy morning of that day.
She had even said that she would go unnoticed, and yet, here she was.
She murmured timidly.
“I’ve occupied the yard a bit since you always come home late. I just loved it because it’s snowing.”
Entering the bathroom, Ji An unknowingly covered her opened lips with both hands.
The underwear she had washed by hand and hung out was starkly stretched on the towel rack.
He saw this.
So, he couldn’t help but avoid the eye contact.
As she turned on the shower, the hot water pouring from the showerhead soaked her head.
“Kim Ji An, you’re up to all sorts of things. Really.”
She wasn’t such a delicate woman.
This was all because there was only one washing machine.
Due to the broken washing machine last spring, and Ha Joon’s indoctrinating education that she should never wash her underwear in the 901’s washing machine.
“It’s because of the snow. It’s all because of the snow!”
There was a small beach beyond the small path in the tangerine orchard in front of the house. It was a place where Ji An spent her time whenever she had a chance.
The snow had started falling after she returned from her walk and had finished her late lunch.
As she looked out the window, snow started to fall from the cloudy sky, and the fluttering snow soon turned into heavy snowflakes.
Perhaps her heart had unwound on its own during a leisurely and relaxed day.
What would Dan Woo think of you?
The endpoint of her thoughts was Woo Dan Woo.
When she poured a bag of ginger tea into the mug, she heard Dan Woo’s footsteps coming down from the second floor.
When Ji An, who turned around, made eye contact with him, he averted his gaze to the window.
Looking at the snowy scenery outside the window, he spoke.
“The landlord seems to be unable to come today. Seems like he’s stuck in the city.”
“Is that so?”
“He asked me to deliver the message.”
Upon hearing his words asking if she had contacted the previous landlord after visiting the police station, Ji An thought of Tae Yoon who had been nodding his head.
She nodded her head in response.
“There’s no need to make a second call.”
Dan Woo nodded his head and put the styrofoam box next to the sink.
Dressed in a shortsleeved shirt and shorts instead of a suit, he appeared significantly more comfortable.
After filling the pot with water and raising the temperature on the induction stove, he cut the string of the styrofoam box with scissors.
Dan Woo turned his head and casually said.
“I’m preparing dinner.”
“Dinner?”
Even though she had impulsively driven to Dongmun Market, this moment of small talk didn’t feel bad.
Dan Woo glanced back at Ji An, who was leaning slightly on the sink from a distance.
He spoke with a small smile.
“I’ve been living alone for a while, so I can cook a bit.”
When he opened the styrofoam lid, what Dan Woo held up for her to see was an octopus. The enormous tentacles with suckers wriggled in the air.
Ji An recoiled in surprise, shuddering and backing away.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
