“The truth is, when I went to the address Mother gave me yesterday, someone else was living there. You know where she is, don’t you?”
[…Arin.]“Are Mother and Father hiding something from me?”
Arin felt strange asking a family matter from someone else.
“The person living there now said they’ve been there for a long time. That means Mother never lived there, Auntie.”
Ju-yeong remained silent in response to Arin’s question.
“I have no one else to ask but you, Auntie. Yesterday, even though Mother and Father didn’t pick up the call, the line went through, but today it says the number doesn’t exist.”
[What? A non-existent number?]“…Yes.”
Listening to Arin, Ju-yeong raised her voice, but that was all. Silence stretched for a long time. Arin waited patiently for Ju-yeong to speak.
[I don’t know.]But the response left Arin feeling disappointed.
“Auntie.”
She couldn’t give up.
There was definitely something going on. The quickest and most accurate way to find out was through Ju-yeong.
[…I don’t know. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry, Arin.]Her suspicions grew stronger that there was something she didn’t know.
“Auntie, it’s been over five years since I last saw Father. If you know, please help me. There’s no one else I can ask.”
Ju-yeong sighed deeply. As the realization that she was the only one who could guide her to her family sank in, Arin became more insistent.
‘If I return to Jeju now, it will become even more difficult to find where my family is. Auntie might not even answer the phone.’
“Auntie, I’m scared and terrified thinking that Mother has abandoned me, just like before.”
[…Arin.]Ju-yeong had helped her in the past.
‘That incident still haunts me as a trauma. Auntie Ju-yeong knows it best…’
She felt cowardly. It seemed the only way to open up Ju-yeong was to bring up her painful past. Arin reluctantly brought up the wounds she had tried to avoid.
“You took my hand and helped me back then, Auntie.”
[Haah.]A shallow sigh came through the speaker.
“If it wasn’t for you, Auntie, I would have been crying there endlessly.”
[I’m sorry. I’d like to tell you, but your mother…]“Auntie, please understand how I feel, having to ask you about my family. I went to see them, thinking of a family reunion, but someone else was living there. I couldn’t think of anything. Did they leave without telling me anything? Am I not family?”
She felt cowardly and miserable, using someone else’s emotions as leverage.
[I really don’t know.]“At first, I thought Mother didn’t tell me because I was in a tough situation and she was thinking of me. But now, she’s still not telling me anything. I’m sorry for asking too much, Auntie. But you’re the only one I can ask.”
And this approach proved very effective.
Ju-yeong, who had always adored Arin since she was a child, was swayed by her persistent plea. After another long silence, Ju-yeong finally spoke.
[Fine. What fault do you have? Why are they hiding it like this?]“Is there something I shouldn’t know?”
[Kyung-sook will blame me, but I can’t help it. You’re still her daughter.]“…”
It was an unintentional slip from Ju-yeong. She seemed unaware of what she had just revealed.
Of course, being Kyung-sook’s closest friend, it was natural that Ju-yeong knew ‘that fact.’
Still, the words ‘adopted daughter’ pierced her heart like a dagger.
‘No, I can’t be sad about this now. I need to find out where my parents are.’
Arin shook her head vigorously to dispel the intrusive thoughts.
She had struggled for a long time not to be consumed by the darkness that ate away at her whenever she felt weak.
After a while, the words that came out of Ju-yeong’s mouth made it impossible for Arin to think of anything else.
[Your father… has pancreatic cancer.]“Pancreatic cancer?”
[Yes.]Arin couldn’t think at all.
Her heart raced erratically with anxiety.
“He has cancer?”
The idea that her father had cancer left her speechless.
The fact that such a significant event occurred and she wasn’t informed filled her with a mix of resentment and indescribable emotions.
“How is my father now? Is he very unwell? Why wasn’t I told about such a thing…”
[He’s okay now. Maybe back then it was too overwhelming. Kyung-sook didn’t intentionally not contact you. At that time, it was quite a serious condition, life-threatening.]“He’s okay now?”
[I visited recently, and he looked better.]“…That’s a relief.”
Shocked by the news of cancer and relieved to hear he was better now, Arin felt a whirlwind of emotions.
But there was more to come.
[It was almost a disaster, but your husband saved the day.]
“…My husband?”
[At first, she was going to see your mother-in-law, but something happened along the way, so she asked your husband for help.]“…What?”
[In a way, going to your husband turned out to be a stroke of genius.]Husband…?
Upon hearing this, Arin’s mind went blank.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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