“Ah, my head…”
As consciousness slowly returned, so did the hangover. Autumn pressed her forehead and sat up in bed.
Feeling the need to drink something to settle her stomach, she headed to the kitchen, where she found a pot of bean sprout soup prepared by her mother.
“Mom must have made it before leaving.”
Autumn placed the soup on the stove and sat down while waiting for it to boil.
She usually didn’t drink much, but yesterday, caught up in the mood, she had more than usual.
The evening turned out to be more enjoyable than expected.
She found herself asking him various questions, especially enjoying the conversations about art market trends. He had given her some advice on the paintings he had seen in her studio.
He said his knowledge came naturally from traveling worldwide and meeting various artists, despite not being a painter himself. His eye for art and perspective was indeed remarkable.
But then…
“How did I even get home…?”
She must have drunk a lot. Even on graduation day, she had drunk a lot but managed to find her way home and remembered everything. However, she had no recollection of how she got home last night.
She remembered talking about paintings and the night view with the president, and then…
Autumn clenched her lips. Beyond that point, she couldn’t remember anything.
“Ah…! It’s overflowing.”
While trying to recall her memories, the bean sprout soup overflowed first.
‘Did I make any big mistakes?’
After cleaning up the spilled soup, Autumn served it in a bowl and took it to the table, taking a sip.
“Ah, feels like I’m reviving.”
She felt somewhat better after a proper meal. About to take another bite, Autumn suddenly dropped her spoon.
Clang!
The spoon hit the floor, creating a loud noise, but Autumn didn’t bother to pick it up, opening her mouth instead.
“President.”
“Yeah, why?”
“Presideeent…”
“…”
“Presideeent…”
“Don’t call me if you have nothing to say.”
“Okay…”
Why did I do that…?
She faintly remembered calling his name repeatedly while being carried on his back.
What else did I do?
Jumping up from the table, Autumn paced around, but the only memories she could recall were those brief moments.
Groaning, she finally picked up her phone.
‘I should apologize first. Maybe that will lead to asking if I did anything else wrong.’
After several attempts of writing and deleting, Autumn sent a concise and clear message.
[President, I’m truly sorry about yesterday.]Expecting a delayed response due to his busy schedule, she was surprised when the reply came quickly.
[Just woke up?] [Yes. President, did I make any mistakes yesterday…?]
Leaving the now-cold soup, Autumn stared at her phone. The next message seemed to carry his tone.
[You shouldn’t drink.] [Sorry.] [It’s okay.]There must have been a mistake.
Relieved to have apologized, Autumn pondered her last message to him. Before she could send it, he asked first.
[How’s the hangover?] [My head hurts a bit, I’m having soup to feel better.] [Is that so.]His messages ended there, with no further inquiries.
If the conversation ended here, it would be over.
Should she send more messages? Hesitating for a moment, Autumn gathered her courage and typed a few more words.
[How about you, President? Are you okay?] [I didn’t drink much to start with.] [I’ll be more careful next time. I’m really sorry about last night.] [Alright.]After a few more exchanges, he finally signaled the end.
[I have to go. Meeting time.]Autumn was about to reply with a short ‘Okay’ but hesitated and added a few more characters.
[Okay. See you again, President.]His blunt response followed.
Despite his seemingly indifferent attitude, Autumn smiled slightly, knowing he always responded to her messages now.
“Autumn, your dad is really incredible.”
Autumn met with Jooa and Dojin for a drink, a post-competition celebration. The venue was a barbecue restaurant near their now-alma mater, the same place they had their graduation dinner.
As soon as Jooa saw Autumn, she started excitedly chatting. Jooa, always quick with words, spoke even faster due to her excitement.
“When you said at the exhibition that you were his daughter, I was really curious how famous he must be for everyone to be so surprised.”
“Really?”
“Of course! So I searched your dad’s name on the internet as soon as I got home. Wow… All his paintings are ones I know… I was really surprised. Why didn’t you tell us before!”
Dojin, sitting beside her, interjected.
“Right. I was surprised too. To think that Yoon Daeho, the artist, is Autumn’s father…”
Jooa seemed unaware of the details about her father but knew all his famous works, while Dojin appeared to know quite a lot, just not that Yoon Daeho was her father.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret.”
Apologizing, Autumn couldn’t help but smile slightly.
She felt good knowing people still thought highly of her father.
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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