Min Hye’s face, which had been glistening in the spotlight until a moment ago, had never seemed so annoying. At the sudden question about her boyfriend, Ji Na swallowed her dry saliva.
“Uh…? Uh, boyfriend…”
She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had broken up with a new employee at her company. Who could be more pitiful than her? How charmless must she be? Ji Na gave an awkward laugh and waved her hand.
“My boyfriend is doing well.”
Could it be her imagination that Jin Woo’s eyes sparkled for a moment? More than anything, Ji Na wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
“If you’ve been dating for 5 years, talk of marriage must be coming up, right?”
Min Hye was persistent.
“I wonder if I really have to get married… It’s always the woman who loses.”
At Ji Na’s words, it seemed like she could hear Bora and Yoon Ji blinking. Min Hye blinked her large eyes a few times and then burst into laughter.
“Oh, girl. Why should the woman lose? She will be treated like a queen for life?”
Min Hye’s haughty nose shone under the lights.
“If you keep moping around like that, your boyfriend will be stolen by another woman. You.”
For a moment, Ji Na almost poured her glass of water over Min Hye’s carefully drawn arched eyebrows and long eyelashes.
“Haha… Well, then it wouldn’t be destiny.”
It was miserable. The fact that she was sitting here talking about destiny.
After finishing her words, Ji Na bit her lips.
“If a man really loves you, he’s the one who pressures you to get married.”
“That’s true.”
“We’ll be turning thirty next year. My mom told me not to go past thirty, but my boyfriend is more of a problem.”
Her laughing face was annoying.
Ah… Why did I become friends with her? Why, exactly? Since when were we friends?
Ji Na thought she might seriously need to consider the starting point of this damned friendship.
“Hey, that’s why a relationship happens when the guy likes you.”
Min Hye pretended to know and shrugged.
“You should be thankful that I stopped you, Ji Na.”
“Huh? What did you stop?”
Again, all eyes gathered on Ji Na. Contrary to the interested looks, Ji Na stared at Min Hye with wide eyes. Her look pleaded for silence, but Min Hye opened her mouth anyway.
“It’s an old story, but Ji Na used to like Jin Woo.”
“Oh my, really?!”
“Really?”
The noisy reactions of her friends made Ji Na feel even more uncomfortable.
“Who didn’t like Jin Woo back then… He was so popular.”
Ji Na hastily excused herself. Her face was burning so hot she couldn’t bear it. She wasn’t even a teenager anymore.
“I told you not to even look at trees you can’t climb. People should live according to their place. If not, there are consequences. That’s why we can meet like this with Jin Woo now. If things were awkward back then, it would be awkward with Jin Woo now too. Isn’t that right, Jin Woo?”
Min Hye’s annoying voice ended with her propping her chin on both hands and looking at Jin Woo.
“Ah… Min Hye used to say things like that.”
Jin Woo’s voice sounded vaguely as if scraping the bottom.
“Ji Na, dear. If it weren’t for me, you’d be a lifetime single. You should know how lucky you are to have a good friend.”
Min Hye made a big deal and glanced at Ji Na.
It was a very long time ago, but it was still vivid in Ji Na’s heart, as if it had happened just yesterday.
The fact that Ji Na started to like Jin Woo, that Min Hye discovered her feelings, and that Min Hye told Ji Na to give up on Jin Woo.
And the last time Jin Woo confessed his feelings to Ji Na.
Everything was vivid. It was etched in Ji Na’s heart like an old photograph.
Soon the food was served. The friends chatted and ate as if they had been waiting, but Ji Na felt like she was on a deserted island alone.
A wound that had been slowly healing felt as if it had been ripped open again, causing one side of her chest to ache. Her nose stung, her eyes started to well up, and she couldn’t properly handle her fork.
“Guys, I need to go to the bathroom.”
Just before the tears came, Ji Na ran to the restroom. She didn’t want to cry in front of her friends, especially in front of Min Hye.
Ji Na, who had cooled down her emotions with cold water, soon came out of the bathroom. Jin Woo was standing diagonally in front of her.
“Oh? You also came to the bathroom.”
The men’s and women’s restrooms were adjacent, so Ji Na nonchalantly spoke and tried to pass Jin Woo. However, Jin Woo’s business was not with the bathroom, but with Ji Na. He grabbed Ji Na’s wrist and headed for the emergency stairs next to the bathroom.
“Did you like me?”
Jin Woo’s black eyes flickered. His gaze seemed reproachful, as if asking why she didn’t say anything. Ji Na’s eyes shook slightly as she looked straight into Jin Woo’s eyes.
Would things have been different if I had spoken then? Would I have avoided being a lifetime single, as Min Hye said?
As they stood close to each other in the dim emergency stairway, the notably tall stature and build of Jin Woo entered Ji Na’s eyes. She felt an indescribable intimidation from him. Ji Na tried to remain as calm as possible and spoke indifferently.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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