After a moment of silence, Woo-seok spoke nonchalantly.
“Anyone overhearing might think I confessed. You’re really full of yourself.”
“Huh? No, I didn’t mean that…”
“I got annoyed for no reason.”
Woo-seok, seemingly irritated, took out a cigarette. By this point, Eun-chae understood Woo-seok’s deep inner thoughts, as he tried to lighten the embarrassment with laughter.
As Woo-seok started to light the cigarette, he glanced at her and took it out of his mouth.
“It’s okay. Smoke.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you can really smoke. Seriously.”
Eun-chae solemnly insisted, and Woo-seok, pushed by her serious expression, reluctantly lit the cigarette.
Eun-chae watched him smoke closely. It was so blatant that she could hardly taste the cigarette properly.
Woo-seok sighed and said, “Seol Woo-seok.”
“Yes?”
Woo-seok, holding a cigarette with a reduced filter, added, putting it in the empty water bottle he brought.
“I don’t know what you’re projecting, but I’m not the person you’re thinking of, I’m Seol Woo-seok.”
Eun-chae was taken aback by his straightforwardness.
“Is it the guy from yesterday?”
Seeing him smoke, she recalled Kijoo. She endured the smell of cigarettes, which she had detested intensely.
Eun-chae lowered her head and apologized again.
“Sorry.”
With that apology, Woo-seok pulled out a new cigarette as if genuinely tired.
“Hey, are you, like, in a thousand-year love affair and then got dumped? Just stop it already?”
Eun-chae was bewildered by his cheerful yet straightforward words. Eventually, she nodded her head.
Is it foolishness or innocence? Looking at Eun-chae, Woo-seok, seemingly uncomfortable, suddenly said, “You’re really a bad guy. How did you turn out like this? Do I look like you?”
“Not at all.”
“Yeah, a person who looks like me can’t be common.”
“…You’re really full of yourself.”
Eun-chae laughed as if finding it absurd. Then, she took a deep breath and spoke in her own refreshing voice.
“I won’t think about it now. Let’s go, Woo-seok.”
After saying that, she really turned away. Woo-seok blushed at her face, which was as beautiful as a lily.
She might be a genius at playing hard to get.
Woo-seok scratched the back of his head while hiding his confusion.
On the day of the call, they had agreed that he would come the next day. By lunchtime the next day, Kwon Ki-joo avoided his gaze.
Moreover, she had even reviewed the interview content, and all of it favored Song Eun-chae.
Everything about that pitiful girl was completely deleted. Seong Mun-hee didn’t like that guy from the beginning.
“Is this okay for the police? We’re also victims.”
Victims.
This wasn’t the first time Ki-joo had seen someone so unfitting for that word.
“Don’t control me like this. If you keep crossing the line like this, I’ll report it too.”
Humans are naturally like that. When given one thing, they want two or three more. Without understanding the topic. Ki-joo looked at Mun-hee with equal eyes.
“I won’t have any articles going public as long as I know. Even if you report it.”
At that, Park Jin-sung, who was next to him, also raised an eyebrow. A smiling face may not spit, but a wrinkled face may stick a knife. Of course, he might spit something other than saliva even when he’s smiling.
“Mr. Park Jin-sung had a remarkable promotion up to the head of the D-One Group. You kept that well. If you have complaints, reveal the truth. It would be interesting to explode the reason you could have moved to a rival company. Oh, did you also enter university with money?”
In fact, people are more emotionally involved in stories that are distant from them, such as enormous sponsors, and such stories attract more attention. University admission fraud, job irregularities, things like that are very appetizing.
Fortunately, Jin-sung seemed to know that much with his bad head and got excited.
“If you’re a policeman, is it okay to threaten like this? Huh? Can the police do this kind of thing?”
“No. This is called a deal. In exchange for deleting part of the interview content.”
“So why should I delete it? Why can’t I talk about Song Eun-chae? Who is she to receive police protection like this?”
“Let’s check the results of the deal in the media.”
With that, Kijoo left the house. Surely the cleaning seemed to be done neatly. It seemed like the smell lingered, and he brushed off his clothes as he came out.
Sweat had formed on his face without realizing it. Kijoo, who entered the elevator, felt warmth in his body and breathed slowly.
Early in the morning, Eun-chae stood in front of the yellow gate. Since it was the day Seol Woo-seok was going up to Incheon, she wanted to say goodbye. As soon as she opened her eyes, she, who was unfamiliar with standing around like a thief, eventually turned her feet when she couldn’t muster the courage to enter someone else’s house so casually. At that moment, the yellow gate opened with a clang, and Woo-seok came out.
“What are you doing here?”
“Ah, just in case you left.”
After conveying a regretful greeting and delivering a brief remark, Woo-seok chuckled at her plain tone.
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.”
