“You found out what I did from meeting Executive Director Choi Da Som, didn’t you?”
There’s no way Ha Joon would have exploded in anger if it wasn’t for something of that magnitude.
Ji An apologized belatedly for her mistake.
“You had every right to be angry. I’ve mentioned ‘formality’ several times, but being cooped up because of the translation manuscript must have dulled my senses. I’m sorry. Did I cause you a lot of trouble?”
“No. Nothing like that happened. …It was just that work was tough.”
“Who are you trying to fool by saying it’s not?”
Ji An could tell from Ha Joon’s gaze. He knew about Executive Director Choi Da Som’s incident.
Despite several polite refusals, she had pretended to be pregnant.
She remembered the iron door of room 901 that was cruelly closed, the cushion that was handed to her, and the words Ha Joon had said.
‘Don’t you understand even after seeing this cushion?’
It was enough reason for the word ‘parasite’ to come out of Ha Joon’s mouth.
Ji An smiled faintly and hardened her resolve.
Even if it wasn’t because of that incident, she wanted to live a little distanced from Ha Joon. It was not just for him, but for her as well.
She bravely confessed her feelings to Ha Joon.
“I’m very simple, aren’t I? The only place I’ve been to is Jeju Island, and I’ve already forgotten about that ‘parasite’ comment. I liked it there so much that I thought a lot about myself. So, what I’m saying is…”
“I don’t want to hear the next part.”
Ha Joon naturally wanted to stop Ji An’s next words since his ominous hunches were never wrong.
In this situation, they were sitting in front of chicken feet simmering in red soup.
Even the discussion about becoming independent happened in front of a pot of hangover soup.
Was it just beef offal and chicken feet?
Thanks to her, Ha Joon had come to know a variety of special parts of meat.
A novel with a bizarre title including several special meat parts, which Ji An read many times, had been made into a romance movie. Later, it was even turned into an animation, and when they watched it together in a cinema, he found himself empathizing with her excitement before he knew it.
As expected, Ji An’s response accurately pierced through Ha Joon’s foreboding.
“I’m going to find a house on my own this time and live like that. I lived alone for a month, and it seems like I can live for two months. And then three months, even a year should be possible.”
“……”
Ji An, leaning her upper body forward to meet Ha Joon’s eyes directly, revealed a firm resolution in her words.
“Yoon Ha Joon. You’ll support me, right? I need your support the most.”
Ha Joon looked at Ji An in distress. His eyes shook, unable to fully express the sting of his emotions.
He could live without being neighbors with Kim Ji An. What was so hard about that?
But he couldn’t utter a response to something theoretically insignificant.
Kim Ji An and Yoon Ha Joon were the kind who saw each other once in the morning and once at night.
Despite the frequent inconveniences, he was happy to help, because it was Kim Ji An.
Now it seemed you were the one who was more inconvenient to deal with when absent.
Ji An showed a wry smile at the thoughtfullooking Ha Joon and softly conveyed her intention.
“Ha Joon, use your smart brain properly and think about it. You wouldn’t want me to be completely helpless on my own, would you?”
“What can’t you do on your own? Don’t say that,”
“Support me. By supporting. Okay?”
Ji An smirked and lifted her soju glass for a toast, swallowing the soju in one gulp.
This time, her tone was halfthreatening, with force in her eyes.
“Support me. Don’t you dare not!”
“You, seriously. You’re hopeless.”
Ji An was showing such resolve, promising to do well and asking for his support. He couldn’t dare bet against her.
Pulling the green bottle toward him, Ha Joon filled a water glass with soju and drained it in one gulp. He then filled the glass again and drank it all without a word.
While hearing Ji An’s voice telling him not to, he took his third glass to his mouth.
He acted calmly, but the words that Yu Jin and So Min had said echoed in Ha Joon’s ears.
‘So, you’re upset about sending Ji An in your place. …How many times do you think you’ve heard that you’re unlucky?’
Ha Joon had never refused Ji An’s request before, and the same was true for Ji An.
It had always been a request to meet and reject an annoying woman on her behalf.
It was something that should never have been asked in the first place, especially not with a client like Choi Da Som.
Who to blame? It was selfinflicted.
Yoon Ha Joon, you’ve really become a laughingstock.
Ji An’s voice got louder as she watched the bottle of alcohol emptying.
“Yoon Ha Joon. Stop drinking.”
“You can call a substitute driver. Or a taxi. You know how well lawyers can hold their liquor. I won’t get drunk on this amount.”
Ha Joon, who had refilled his glass, held it up as if to tell her not to worry.
His statement about not having dinner was sincere.
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.”
