Seung Hee’s breath became ragged as Yu Ri’s tantrum was followed by a heartbreaking sob. Her lips bitten, Seung Hee’s gaze turned towards the firmly shut bathroom door. She resented her husband for being drunk and asleep, oblivious to this disaster.
“First, wash up and come out, okay?”
“Mom, about Yoon Jae In!”
“I’ll look into it. So for today, just wash and go to bed. Don’t drink any more.”
After pushing her daughter into the shower cubicle, Seung Hee stepped out of the bathroom. She picked up her phone after much deliberation.
She wanted to call Kang Tae Seo, who had reduced Yu Ri to this state, and scold him. But she couldn’t do that to the esteemed eldest son of Kangsun Group. Even if she asked him to come over for a talk, there was no guarantee that the arrogant young man would comply.
So Seung Hee chose a much easier approach.
“Manager Kim, about that old matter. If you don’t want the chairman to find out…”
Seung Hee’s gaze sank heavily as she recalled a memory long buried.
“You’ll have to answer my questions directly from now on.”
Her voice was icy as she called Manager Kim, her husband’s right-hand man.
“Yoon Jae In. Yoon Se Na’s daughter, that girl.”
Just mentioning the two women filled Seung Hee with disgust. Clenching her hand adorned with a thick ring into a fist.
“Where is she right now?”
Manager Kim’s silence on the other end of the phone was laughable. Seung Hee, who knew his secret, often scoffed inwardly when her husband referred to him as a loyal dog.
Not knowing what the “dog” had done behind the owner’s back.
This was no longer a situation to leave to her husband alone. As Seung Hee waited for Manager Kim’s response, she moved her steps and glared at the door of the storeroom beneath the stairs, where Jae In used to stay.
“Yes, Yoon Jae In.”
Jae In was writing down a shopping list on her phone when Tae Seo’s three-letter name popped up on the screen. She tapped the green call button without hesitation.
Had she picked up too hastily, revealing her anticipation? But since she had indeed been waiting, there was no point in hiding it.
“Did you sleep well?”
His voice made her eyes close involuntarily. He didn’t sound sleepy; was he just waking up?
“Yes. But you’re up earlier than I expected? Did you sleep well, Tae Seo?”
She thought he would only contact her in the afternoon due to tiredness, yet it was just past 10 am.
Last night’s call went on for a long time. I brushed my teeth with my phone in hand, changed into pajamas, and lay down in bed.
As our voices grew languid, and even after we exchanged goodnight wishes, the hesitant man on the other end seemed reluctant to rest, so I took the initiative to end the call.
When I last checked the clock, it was past three in the morning. Given the jet lag and his busy schedule, the hours of sleep were undoubtedly insufficient.
“I was thinking, maybe this is how a child feels the night before a picnic.”
My head tilted slightly at the remark.
“It was so exciting I couldn’t sleep.”
His candid confession made me burst into laughter.
“Waking up early too.”
As I pondered Tae Seo’s response with a smile, something struck me as odd, prompting me to blink.
“But why did you say, ‘I wonder’? Haven’t you ever been excited before a school picnic?”
“Ah. I’ve never been to one.”
“You mean to say you never went on a school picnic? Your school didn’t have any field trips or such?”
I didn’t know what the curriculum at the prestigious private elementary school he attended entailed, but surely, there can’t be a school that never goes on a picnic.
“There were, but I never went.”
Given that he was from such an illustrious family, it occurred to me there might have been restrictions for safety reasons. I nodded, fingering the corner of the Madeleine mold sticking out of the eco-bag.
“It’s a bit chilly now… but when the weather warms up, let’s go on a picnic.”
I belatedly realized I had made a future promise to Tae Seo. Had I inadvertently revealed my hope that we would still be together when spring comes? Truth be told, it was a desire I hadn’t even acknowledged to myself.
How should I add to this to make it less awkward? My concern was forgotten when I heard the soft laughter from the other end of the phone.
“From now on, I’ll check the weather first thing when I wake up. Let’s set a precise standard for when it’s ‘warmed up.'”
“…When the flowers bloom.”
“Ah, flowers.”
“It’s still cold, and spring is far away.”
“I’ll wait with joy.”
In this moment, I longed to stand face to face with Tae Seo, who was unexpectedly answering so docilely. I wondered how he would look at me, what expression, what kind of gaze he would have.
“And when can we meet today?”
“Oh, I was just about to go out and buy ingredients for Madeleines. Once I get the ingredients and come back…”
“I’ll just come to your place now. Let’s shop together.”
“Um…”
“I won’t go into your apartment.”
I laughed at his quick-witted response.
“In fact, I’ve already left.”
“What? Already?”
“Um, to be more honest, I’m almost there. Waiting for the signal to make a U-turn.”
To get to my officetel in Jeongryundong, you have to make a U-turn at the big intersection in front of the building.
The thought that he was nearly at my place not only took me by surprise but also filled me with delight. I pressed my flushing cheeks with a blooming smile and stood up.
“I’ll get ready and come down.”
“Don’t rush. The one who impulsively came here is me. I’ll wait as long as it takes, so take your time coming down.”
“Okay.”
“But what room number is it on the 9th floor?”
“Room 904. Are you planning to come up?”
“If I do, will you kick me out?”
“Yes.”
“Even if I offer a gift?”
“Um…”
I carefully chose my words, trying to suppress the bubbling anticipation. Honestly, gift or no gift, I’d be glad if he was just there at my door. But I couldn’t quite bring myself to say that.
“It depends on what the gift is.”
“Hmm, then…”
“Tae Seo?”
There was static in Tae Seo’s voice, and then it disappeared. Realizing the call had been cut off, I put other baking tools into the eco-bag containing the Madeleine mold.
I remembered Sang-hwa’s complaints about poor phone reception in the basement parking lot of the officetel. Tae Seo must have entered the parking garage.
Yoon Jae In remembered Sang-hwa’s grumbling about the poor cell reception in the rather spacious basement parking lot of the officetel. It seemed the man had probably entered the underground parking.
Since she was already prepared to leave, there was no need to keep him waiting. Just as she was giving her outfit a final check in the mirror before leaving, her eyes widened at the sudden sound of the doorbell.
“He said he’d wait, so why has he come up so quickly?”
The man who had just told her to take her time and not hurry seemed to have vanished. Jae In’s eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if troubled by Tae Seo’s impulsive action, but the corners of her mouth, unable to hide her gladness, formed a beautiful curve.
Imagining the handsome man who might be standing at her door, she reached out her hand towards the intercom.
“…….”
But the figure displayed on the screen wasn’t Tae Seo. The smile that had been on her face disappeared in an instant.
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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