“Arin.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“You might find these words strange, but…”
“It’s okay, go ahead.”
Arin said, seeing Eun-ah hesitate.
“Would you be my friend?”
“What? Friends?”
Surprised, Arin looked at Eun-ah and asked. She touched her coffee cup and continued.
“Actually, I haven’t lived in Korea for a long time, so I don’t know anyone. Sometimes when I come to Korea, you can have coffee like this, and if there’s time, we can have a meal.”
Suddenly, Eun-ah, who had erased her sadness, looked at Arin.
“The age difference might make it weird to be friends, so it’s okay if you refuse.”
“It’s not like that. Not at all.”
Arin shook her head left and right, raising her hands.
“It’s an honor for me. But, I don’t know your name.”
“Oh, right. I’m Heo Eun-ah.”
“Heo Eun-ah?”
“Pfft. There’s no need to address me so formally.”
“Then, what should I call you?”
Eun-ah remained silent as if lost in thought.
Arin waited for her answer as if waiting for a judge’s verdict.
“The title is a bit ambiguous.”
After a not-so-short silence, Eun-ah’s answer confused Arin even more.
“What about calling me ‘Lady’?”
“…That sounds good.”
Looking at Eun-ah, who spoke with a somewhat sad smile, Arin felt strange.
But she couldn’t use any other title.
“Then, I’ll call you ‘Lady.'”
“Sure.”
Friends…
For some reason, Arin’s heart swelled for no apparent reason at the fact that Eun-ah was by her side.
Connections? Honestly, she didn’t care about that.
What made her happy was that Eun-ah was someone she felt comfortable with.
“If you’re okay with it… Let’s be friends, us.”
She also hoped the connection would continue.
Not knowing her name and only having her contact information, Arin occasionally thought of her.
Maybe because she had never met such a person before in her life, she wanted to see Eun-ah again.
Arin felt that her meeting with Eun-ah was a blessing from heaven.
“Thank you.”
Eun-ah smiled brightly.
“I’m counting on you, Arin.”
Then, as Arin continued their short conversation, she suddenly remembered the scene where Mrs. Jung pretended to know Eun-ah.
“…Uh.”
“Why?”
“Earlier with that lady, what happened…”
It was an embarrassing question, and Eun-ah’s face slightly frowned.
“Oh, if it’s awkward, you don’t have to explain…”
Feeling like she asked a foolish question, Arin quickly added more words. However, Eun-ah was faster than her.
“It’s a fateful connection.”
“What?”
“I have a bitter fate with that woman, Jung Hyo-eon.”
Eun-ah answered with a firm voice.
‘Fateful connection…?’
Question marks popped up in her head. However, Arin couldn’t ask any more questions about the relationship between Mrs. Jung and Eun-ah.
‘It feels like I shouldn’t ask, for some reason.’
Arin looked at Eun-ah, swallowing the words she couldn’t utter.
On the same day.
“Vice Chairman.”
A director entered Jaehyuk’s office.
“What’s the matter?”
“Heo Eun-ah would like to contact Vice Chairman.”
“Who? Heo Eun-ah?”
Jaehyuk searched his memory.
‘Who is it?’
No matter how much he thought, there was no one named ‘Heo Eun-ah’ among the names he knew. He traced the traces of ‘Eun-ah’.
In the end, Jaehyuk, who couldn’t find an answer, looked at one director.
“You may not know the name Heo Eun-ah.”
With the director’s words, Jaehyuk abandoned his thoughts.
“Heo Eun-ah is more famous as Rachel Lewis, the wife of L&M Liam Lewis, in Korea under her Korean name.”
“What?”
Surprised, he stood up, pushing his chair back.
“Mrs. Lewis?”
“Yes.”
Liam Lewis and Rachel Lewis were the owners of the world’s largest asset management company based in the United States. Although VAN Group led South Korea, there was no connection with L&M.
What business does a prominent investment company in the United States have?
“Switch it.”
With a pounding heart, Jaehyuk clenched the phone and answered the call with the global giant.
“Mrs. Lewis. It’s an honor to greet you even over the phone. I’m Ban Jaehyuk.”
Jaehyuk greeted politely. However, the voice returning through the speaker was as cold as the Siberian wind.
[Greetings are enough, let’s talk straight.]Eun-ah spoke in a cold and calm voice.
“Oh, yes. Please go ahead.”
Jaehyuk was momentarily taken aback by her attitude but quickly composed himself. After all, it was a situation where they would be involved in business, and strictly speaking, he needed to present himself well to her rather than the other way around.
[If Arin took that child, you should protect her well. Do you let your birth mother misbehave?]“What?”
However, his determination didn’t last long. When Arin’s name came out of Eun-ah’s mouth, his confused emotions tangled.
“What on earth are you talking about?”
It was bewildering.
How does Mrs. Lewis know Arin?
At the same time, anger surged at the fact that his birth mother had bothered Arin again.
“Can’t you explain in detail?”
Jaehyuk gathered his composure and asked as politely as possible. Eun-ah did not provide the answer he wanted. She spoke like revealing a riddle.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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