The Temperature Difference with Him (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
Ji An, wearing a red cashmere coat, stepped into the coffee shop.
Winter sunlight stretched long across the window. Her pace quickened when she spotted the middle-aged man beside the banyan rubber tree.
“Dad.”
The moment she called out to him, the longing she’d held back welled up inside her.
Jae Yoon rose from his chair and patted Ji An’s back as she clung tightly to him.
“Have you been well?”
“Dad! Dad!”
“My girl, have you been doing okay? Did you finish your deadline?”
“Huh? Oh—yeah, I finished. Ah! So that’s why…”
So that’s why you’ve been waiting for my call, Dad. Ji An suddenly felt ashamed for calling him only now.
“Dad, how have you been? You’ve been here a while already.”
“I had Janice’s interview schedule, and since it’s been months since I came back, there was a lot to take care of.”
Instead of sitting across from him, she sat right beside Jae Yoon.
It was the first time seeing her dad in eight months—since he’d left for England last spring for Janice’s tour.
She’d skipped summer vacation because she’d been translating two novels back to back.
“Dad, what should we do?”
“We should hold hands and go somewhere nice. That’s what I’d like to do.”
Jae Yoon ruffled her hair as she grinned brightly.
The year Ji An entered university, he’d been forced to retire from the research position he held at his company. After that, as if by some preordained sequence, he became Janice’s road manager.
He’d worried about leaving his newly twenty-year-old daughter alone in Korea, but his wife’s stubbornness had been relentless.
“I scouted so many amazing restaurants just in case we’d go together. Only the really delicious ones. Look forward to it!”
Jae Yoon pushed a shopping bag on the table toward Ji An.
“Look at this first.”
“Dad!”
“There are lots of European concerts this year, so I picked it out carefully.”
Ji An fiddled with the pendant necklace above her turtleneck.
“And this too—Dad bought this for me. I love receiving gifts, but I worry you’re working too hard. Aren’t you?”
“Let’s just see what it is first, my daughter.”
“Perfume? Dad, your taste is still the best.”
“Ha Jun’s doing well, right? It’s men’s perfume, so make sure you give it to him properly.”
“Ha Jun’s… doing fine.”
“Your mom seems really worn out these days—probably because she’s getting older. If we just hang on a few more years, we’ll all be together as a family again…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence and gave a bitter smile instead.
‘You’ve had Ji An beside you for twenty years—now it’s time you be a father to Janice.’
‘All this time, Ji An hasn’t had her mom beside her.’
His wife Eun Ji’s harsh words—and the ones he’d never gotten to ask back.
Ji An, left all alone in Korea that spring at barely twenty, remained an open wound in his heart.
“But Dad, why does your face look like that? Are you sick?”
“Janice had more concerts than last year, so it’s been a bit exhausting. I’ll be fine once I rest.”
As she rubbed the pink liquid from the transparent glass bottle onto her wrist, Ji An asked again.
“You skipped your health check-up last year, didn’t you? You’ve got a management director now—try to ease up a bit. And how’s Janice? Still as elegant and refined as ever?”
“It’s just ingrained in her. Do you really dislike your older sister that much?”
“I don’t know.”
Rrrrr. Rrrrr.
The ringing phone belonged to Jae Yoon. He glanced between it and Ji An, then silently pressed the end call button.
Ji An chewed her lip and asked sullenly,
“Was it Mom?”
“She said she’d call when I told her I was meeting you.… Come on, get up. Dad’s taking you on a date.”
Ji An forced a bright expression and gave a thumbs-up.
She beamed instead of asking, “Why didn’t you answer?”—because she knew she’d cry alone if they parted like this.
Today, even if just for one day, she wanted all of her dad’s love to herself. After all, that’s what a father and daughter were allowed.
Jae Yoon turned to Ji An and asked,
“Should we go to the bookstore first?”
“The bookstore?”
“We need to buy the book our daughter published last summer.”
“I already told you—that’s not my book.”
Resigned, Ji An entered the bookstore and wandered past the shelves toward the genre fiction section.
[Memories of the White Night], which she’d translated last summer.Jae Yoon gently traced his fingertip over Ji An’s name printed beneath the original author’s.
Seeing his daughter’s name on a book cover always filled him with awe.
“Our daughter’s name is so beautiful. So lovely. So cool.”
A surge of pride welled up in his chest, hitting him hard despite how thin it had become over the years.
To Jae Yoon, Ji An had always been his lovable, heartbreaking daughter.
“The passage you emailed me—was it left out again this time?”
“Do you think I can control that? A translator’s duty is to convey the original author’s emotions faithfully to readers.… I have to exclude personal bias as much as possible.”
“But you can at least give me an autograph, right? I’m a fan of the person who translated this.”
“Well… of course I can do that much.”
Suppressing her emotions was a habit ingrained deep in Ji An’s bones.
She always feared rejection, and after years living as Janice’s younger sister, she knew effort often went to waste.
After all, her mom had always said, “You just can’t.”
Even now, time passed though, Ji An remembered that moment vividly.
“Shall we go grab kimchi jjigae now? To that amazing restaurant our daughter discovered.”
As she stepped forward, her gaze fell to Jae Yoon’s shoes—worn since last year, and the year before that. The toes were frayed.
Now that she was grown, she realized nothing was guaranteed—even something as simple as her dad going to a cobbler’s shop.
Linking her arm through Jae Yoon’s, Ji An said,
“Dad, let’s get matching sneakers.”
“Sneakers?”
“I’ve had my eye on a pair we could wear together. Now that we’re here, let’s buy them. There’s a store on the second floor.”
Leaving the shoe store, Jae Yoon marveled at the passage of time as he walked beside his daughter in matching sneakers—the girl who’d once insisted only on pink heels had grown so much.
Happy Officetel, Unit 902.
Ji An entered the living room and dropped her shopping bags onto the floor.
Alone in her space, her tangled emotions surfaced clearly in the quiet stillness, like a knotted thread unraveling.
“Just leave me alone for once.”
As the golden sky darkened, Ji An’s phone began ringing incessantly. The caller was her mother, Eun Ji.
Her time with Dad had lasted only half a day.
Her mom hadn’t intended to wait any longer—after all, her world revolved around her eldest daughter.
To her mother, it was only natural that Dad and Ji An sacrifice themselves for Janice.
Crouching in front of the dandelion pot on the balcony, Ji An tapped it lightly.
Her voice lacked energy, sounding small and withdrawn.
“Are you unhappy here? Would you prefer a sun-drenched meadow instead?”
She plucked the dandelion, its seeds fully bloomed, and opened the window.
“I just wanted to make you feel special. Just because something’s common doesn’t mean it’s not precious.”
She waved her hand vigorously out the window and murmured,
“Whether blooming yellow or bearing white seeds, dandelions bring people happiness. I want to be that kind of person too—not an ugly duckling.”
Gazing outside, Ji An hummed a tune, wondering when she’d finally stop feeling lonely.
Only when she spotted a white midsize car turning the corner did she finally head back inside.
Pushing open the front door with a shopping bag filled with men’s cologne, she saw a familiar figure standing under the dim hallway light.
“Ha Jun! I saw Dad today. Aren’t you jealous?”
Ji An stepped into the hallway and sauntered in front of Ha Jun, looking up to meet his eyes as she walked backward.
Ha Jun strode forward as if he hadn’t seen her at all.
“Yoon Ha Jun! Can’t you see me?”
Thud.
“Huh?”
What Ha Jun thrust toward Ji An’s chest wasn’t a blow—but a pink cushion, puffing out the front of her knit dress.
“Oh! This! I forgot to take it. Gosh, thank you, Attorney Yoon. Without this, lying on the couch gets really uncomfortable.”
She stood on tiptoe to face Ha Jun, who remained stubbornly silent.
As Ha Jun entered the passcode for Unit 901, the door beeped open. He pulled it toward himself, blocking the entrance by turning his back.
Ji An’s forehead collided firmly with Ha Jun’s chest.
She looked up and asked,
“Ouch! Why?”
His chest felt rock-hard, and still he said nothing.
Playfully, Ji An tapped his chest with her forehead.
“Ugh—like a boulder.”
“…”
He pressed her forehead with his palm, fingers splayed as if gripping a rugby ball around her head.
Ji An cried out urgently,
“What? What is it!”
No reply came. The door to 901 slammed shut behind her retreating figure—cold, merciless, and utterly final.
The number “901,” the beige steel door, the shopping bags in her hands, and the pink cushion—all imprinted sharply in her vision.
Stunned by Ha Jun’s unexpectedly rude behavior, Ji An stood frozen.
“What’s with this cold shoulder? Why’s he acting like this? How am I supposed to know if he doesn’t say anything? Hey!”
She stared at the fortress-like steel door in disbelief. He’d never acted like this before.
Wait—actually, once.
It was the day Aunt Yeon Woo said, “I wish I had a daughter like you.”
When Ji An replied, “Then let me be your niece,” Ha Jun shoved her out and slammed the door—banging it shut just like this. She’d been very young then.
Ah—one more time.
During the sudden growth spurt of adolescence.
It was report card day, and she’d scored unusually high. Without knocking, she burst into Ha Jun’s room.
He’d just been changing out of his school uniform. In nothing but his underwear, he marched over, grabbed her head like a rugby ball just like now—exactly like this—and tossed her out before slamming the door shut.
Ji An pounded on the door and shouted,
“Open the door—before I open it myself.”
From behind the heavy steel door, she heard the lock click twice.
Such pettiness—and he was utterly serious about it.
Clenching her fists, Ji An banged on the door again.
“Yoon Ha Jun!”
Bang bang. Bang.
Being the cherished child had always been Ji An’s lifelong assignment.
That’s why she understood better than anyone how terrifying rejection and silence from someone who should’ve been on her side could be.
She couldn’t just walk away. After all, Ha Jun had always been her person.
Just as her knocking weakened, she heard the familiar electronic chime, and the doorknob clicked downward.
Ha Jun stepped out, the heavy steel door casting a shadow over her crown as he stood face to face with her.
His voice, sharp and decisive, dropped cleanly into the air.
“You really don’t know? Even after seeing that cushion?”
“The cushion? What about it?”
Ha Jun suppressed his emotions and looked down at Ji An.
Didn’t I ask you politely to stop?
There had been days when Ji An disrupted the quiet rhythm of his life.
He’d always thought caring for her was natural—but Ha Jun had no one to vent the burden to.
It wasn’t that he disliked her. He was just… tired on days like this.
Heaving a long, low sigh, he said,
“How about we try living apart for a while? Enough with the clinging.”
“What?”
“Take care, Kim Ji An.”
The door slammed shut again—merciless as ever.
Clinging?
His words swallowed her whole like a black hole, leaving no room to escape. Her mind went hazy.
How dare he say that—to her, of all people?
She’d only wanted to share her day with him.
He was the only one she could brag to about seeing her dad—and yet, this?
Crushing down her self-loathing, Ji An shouted,
“It’s not clinging—it’s symbiosis! Fine, let’s live separately. We’ll see who regrets it more.”
Gripping the cushion tightly, she kicked the solid steel door. A dull, heavy thud echoed through the hallway.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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