The two of them sat across each other on a wide and simple table. The yellow light of the lamps over the tables placed at a distance was slowly making its presence felt. This place was an Italian restaurant they had stumbled upon in an alleyway.
“So, did you come here because of me?”
“Perhaps?”
Ji Ho slowly nodded. The slowly slanting sunlight passed over his collarbone and hit the floor. It didn’t seem necessary to shine on his face. It was dazzling enough.
“My goodness. Have you been waiting long?”
Hye Yoon, who was sitting across from him, looked at Ji Ho with gloomy eyes.
“I didn’t wait for long. Time just seemed to……go a bit slower.”
Relieved, Hye Yoon finally felt at ease. Only then did she have the chance to look around the restaurant. There were no customers on the second floor where they were sitting. The jazz music playing in the restaurant made her shoulders sway.
She glanced around here and there, and even shared her gaze with the city view outside the second floor window.
But eventually, she looked at Ji Ho. In this season, at this moment, he was the person her eyes were most drawn to. Of course, there was always something she could tell when she glanced at him at the end of her peeks.
That he was always looking at her, just like when they first met.
Shy from his gaze, she teased the innocent pants with her hands that were laid on her thighs.
“That’s right. The dressing room was too quiet. No music……”
The place was too quiet that time seemed to go slower. That’s why she heard everything she didn’t want to. Thinking of the dressing room, Hye Yoon met Ji Ho’s eyes again.
For a moment, she hoped that he hadn’t heard those words, and the conversation with the director passed by.
Bang!
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Hye Yoon’s clenched fist hit the table hard.
“What’s the matter?”
“Mr. Ji Ho! How long were you there? For how many minutes?”
Ji Ho was startled by her action and leaned forward. His long and cool eyes widened a bit more.
‘Oh, she has quite a volume, doesn’t she?’
‘I’ve never thought of it that way……’
“For someone with a small frame like Ms. Hye Yoon, you’re pretty voluminous.”
It was clear that if the conversations inside were heard outside, it would be the same outside. Desperation boiled in her eyes that looked straight at Ji Ho. He amusingly observed her new expression.
‘To be honest… the underwear helps too.’
Ah, she felt like she knew exactly why, and she found it cute only inside, trying not to show it.
“How many minutes… would you like?”
“Ah……”
In the end, her heart was moved again like this. Wanting to look at that helpless face a little more.
At Ji Ho’s slowly rising smile, Hye Yoon let out a small sigh. He seemed to have heard everything. It was strange that she always seemed to show him her embarrassing side, but she felt a sense of relief as if it was okay if it was him.
“I hope… you waited only for about 5 minutes, Ji Ho.”
So, she just wanted to honestly say what she wanted, even though she knew it was impossible, like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Hehe. Okay, then 5 minutes. I think I waited just about that long.”
Ji Ho’s charming eyes crinkled delightfully. Hye Yoon nodded with satisfaction, feeling that it was too shameless even to respond. It was a cute lie exchanged under agreement.
Soon, they heard the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs from afar. Two staff members were each carrying lasagna and pasta, salad and drinks.
“Yo, your ordered food is here.”
Hye Yoon anticipated the staff’s shaky voice. Their walk towards the table was very awkward after all.
“Excuse me. But we’re really fans of Ji Ho…”
As the male staff member was placing the lasagna and pasta on the table, the female staff member standing next to him trailed off nervously. Ji Ho gave her a polite smile.
“Please, enjoy your meal comfortably. We won’t let any customers upstairs until you two come down. There are no customers these days anyway.”
“Thank you for your consideration. We’ll enjoy the meal.”
After finishing all the settings, the staff members turned around and disappeared. Only then did Ji Ho’s gaze return to Hye Yoon. He was more thankful now that no one would come upstairs. The things he had to talk about were all things he wished no one else would hear.
So he thought it would be just right in the car, but he didn’t expect to feel his heart racing in just 30 seconds.
Ji Ho leaned his head forward and cut an appropriate portion of the lasagna to pass over.
“Thank you.”
After responding to Hye Yoon’s greeting with a smile, he also served lasagna on his own plate. The white plate made the colors of the food even more vivid. The appearance of the thin and balanced meat sauce mixed between the wide noodles.
“What about reconsidering what the manager hyung mentioned before?”
He moved his gaze from the lasagna on the plate to Hye Yoon. He hoped that the things he had to say and the things he wanted to say would be balanced.
“What is it?”
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.”
