“Did you cry?”
Jun wrapped my cheeks with both of his hands, inspecting my eyes from side to side. The warmth from your hands transmitted through my swollen eyes was more concerning than the fact that my eyes were swollen, but seeing your serious expression, I couldn’t say anything.
“It seems so.”
Your eyebrows narrowed significantly. Apparently, I was causing you great concern. I thought I would be fine up to this point, but it seemed that it was quite noticeable to you. My mind became busy, and I couldn’t figure out what to say.
“What happened?”
As soon as the words “what happened” came out of your mouth, the scene of meeting Yoon Secretary today suddenly flashed into my mind. I couldn’t bring up that scene. I tried to quickly think of another scene. If I started crying out of the blue here, no words would get through.
What should I say? Why did I cry?
“Yeah? Haru.”
“Oh, that, it’s because of a friend…”
“A friend?”
“I said I was going to meet a friend today. Just wanted to show my face for a moment because my friend seemed to be going through a tough time. I ended up crying without realizing it.”
I looked up at Jun’s face and observed cautiously. You were still holding my cheeks with your hands, so I couldn’t even swallow my saliva. I was afraid it would reveal how nervous I was.
Actually, it wasn’t a complete lie. Even if I replaced the word “friend” with Yoon Secretary, it roughly made sense. Yoon Secretary was indeed going through a hard time because of Jun’s situation. When I realized that all I could offer her was a breakup, I ended up crying.
Ah, yes, that’s right. I…
“Don’t cry again.”
I was surprised by Jun’s words and raised my head again. My eyes widened as if to say, “Huh?”
“If there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s fine. But don’t go crying somewhere again. It hurts my heart.”
Jun lightly kissed my swollen eyes.
“I didn’t go to cry.”
“Whether you went to cry or not, the fact that you came in crying is still the same. It’s heartbreaking. I’m watching.”
I felt endlessly sorry. Tears, uninvited, began to well up again. The realization suddenly hit me that I would have to say goodbye to you tomorrow, someone so warm and comforting.
“Why on earth won’t your tears dry up?”
Jun continuously wiped away my tears with his hands. It was you who couldn’t even see the tears flowing down my cheeks. To you, who was like this, I had to convey tomorrow that my love had ended through my own lips and say goodbye.
I wish you were a little less affectionate today. Before my heart was filled with the unwillingness to let you go, before it made it impossible for me to think of anything else. I wish you had given me a reasonable excuse to push you away.
“It won’t work.”
Jun removed his hand from my teary eyes and, taking a step forward, gently wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
It was as if he were saying, “If you’re going to cry, do it in my embrace.”
Feel free to cry in my arms, as if encouraging me to do so.
What should I do with this much affection? I don’t even know what I’m holding in my heart. Like a fool…
A sad heart eventually started pushing out intense tears. I buried my face in your chest and cried softly. The shirt soaked in tears turned mushy. You gently stroked my back in silence.
“Even if you cry over something else, my heart still aches like this. If you cried because of me, well… if that happened, I wouldn’t have been able to breathe for real.”
The last sentence felt like my breath was being cut off. I closed my eyes tightly. Even with closed eyes, the tears kept flowing more forcefully. The area around Jun’s shirt chest was completely dampened with my tears.
Will your chest be crushed like this with tears and pain tomorrow? The thought made it impossible for me to even swallow my tears.
While Jun went to take a shower, he put the divided porridge into the microwave in the hotel room. After warming up the porridge neatly, he placed it on the table and put a cup of water next to it.
If I hadn’t done this much, Jun would have probably roughly washed up and gone straight to bed. Complaining about an illness that would get better within a week even without taking medicine. Not eating anything and not taking care of his body at all.
Today, for some reason, everything seemed so poignant. Just looking at a bowl of porridge made me feel sentimental, and seeing the medicine lying around without being taken worried me. Perhaps because I kept imagining your figure without me. Your shoulders drooped as much as your lowered eyebrows.
Then, the sound of the bathroom door opening came. The sound of footsteps in slippers gradually approached. When I turned around, Jun, with still-damp hair, was coming into the living room while roughly drying his hair with a towel.
“I smell something delicious.”
Jun smiled and sat down across from me.
“Do you like abalone porridge? I chose what seemed to be the best for your health.”
“If you say you don’t like abalone porridge here, someone might cry again. There’s a crybaby here.”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
