Seeing his wife’s resolute face, Do Ha felt as if he was suffocating, and loosened his tie a bit.
“If you don’t like coffee, shall we eat? It’s almost 5 o’clock, so we can leave work a bit early.”
He felt more anxious than ever with his wife in front of him.
“Shall we go to the place you liked last time? That JJ Hotel, you liked the pasta there.”
“When are you talking about?”
Hyun Seo smiled bitterly. That was during their honeymoon.
“It was on our first wedding anniversary. My mom even prepared a meal voucher for us and told us to go….”
“Was that so long ago?”
“Yes. Several years have passed in the blink of an eye. You must be so busy that the years feel like just one.”
He often worked late, even on anniversaries due to his busy schedule.
Of course, even when he was busy, he always remembered their wedding anniversary. He never failed to send an impressive bouquet of flowers and a thoughtful gift.
Seeing this, other women would express their envy, saying she had married well, but the unfulfilled loneliness was something only his wife, Hyun Seo, knew.
He seemed to be a person who didn’t understand that his presence was more important than the gifts themselves.
Thinking about it, he had always been this way. Why did she expect anything different? She felt pitiful, still harboring a faint hope.
“We haven’t been able to have a proper conversation for a while, and it’s only now, when we’re discussing divorce, that we can sit face to face.”
“You must know, my father passed the work on to me quickly, so I’ve been busier. Still, I’ll try to leave work earlier to spend time together from now on.”
Do Ha couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was already too late. However, he tried to think of what he could do, even now.
His wife was not as strong as he thought. Why didn’t he realize that? Where had he started to lose track?
“There’s no need. It’s an important time for you and father, so don’t do that because of me. I’m the one who’s leaving soon.”
The more he talked with his wife, the more disheartened he felt.
“I’m not worth enough to be traded for the wellbeing of Jinseong Group.”
“Don’t say things like that, Lee Hyun Seo.”
Knock Knock
Cutting through the awkward silence, the secretary knocked. Stepping inside, she calmly placed two glasses of water on the table. Facing the bowing secretary, Do Ha spoke.
“Everyone should leave work early today. You’ve all been working late these days, but tonight, go home early, rest well, and let’s work hard for just a few more days from tomorrow.”
“Yes, Director. Thank you. Then, see you tomorrow.”
The secretary, who had hesitated, replied quickly. She seemed to have realized that he would be having a sensitive conversation with his wife.
Once the secretary left, Do Ha was the first to speak.
“What happened, Hyun Seo? How serious was it? How serious was it for you to bring up divorce?”
“……”
“Is it because of Mother?”
“It’s not just because of Mother.”
Do Ha looked at Hyun Seo as if urging her to continue.
“I guess… I guess I just don’t love you anymore. Seeing how hard it’s been to bear all this……”
Hyun Seo threw out her words as if shouting, then looked up at her husband.
However, her husband, whom she thought would remain calm even at these words, was staring only at her as if everything else had stopped.
“It’s all my fault. It’s because I tried to strive for something I couldn’t handle. I was arrogant.”
Hyun Seo felt a surge of regret for her situation, being only able to say this.
‘Brother, we’re going to have another baby.’
If only she could say that.
The baby in her womb was also his precious child, and Hyun Seo wanted to tell him everything.
But if he knew, he would never let her go. Because she knew very well that both her husband and the chairman were waiting for a child.
‘I have to leave you to protect this child. I’m sorry.’
“You don’t love me anymore……”
Her husband was chewing over her words, his eyes fixed on Hyun Seo.
“Why, did you think I’d forever have an unrequited love for you?”
Hyun Seo asked with a transient smile on her face, but her heart was infinitely sorrowful.
Because she still loved him.
How long had she only looked at Do Ha?
If her feelings could be sorted out this easily, she would never have started this married life.
Her life until now had been a train heading towards Do Ha. She had boarded it as an immature tenyearold girl and continued to ride for nearly twenty years into her late twenties.
She had been running endlessly towards the destination of love called Do Ha, but now it was time for her to inevitably disembark.
“Anyway, I’ve decided and there’s no changing that decision, so I’d like it to be dealt with as quickly as possible.”
Do Ha, who had been momentarily speechless, finally opened his lips after much consideration.
“Hyun Seo… let’s not do this, let’s take some time.”
At his words, Hyun Seo gazed at her husband intently.
For a while, a silence filled the office. Somehow, this suffocating atmosphere seemed to be gradually choking her.
“You know it too. So far, you’re the only woman for me.”
Surprisingly, that was true. But……
“That doesn’t prove that you loved me.”
Saying that, Hyun Seo felt her throat tightening.
It was a ridiculous feeling now, but it seemed she was still hoping for Do Ha to tell her he loved her.
To say he truly loved her, couldn’t live without her, and that he’d die if he left her.
She must have been foolishly unable to let go of that strawlike hope.
However, Do Ha was a person who never spoke without a clear conviction in his heart. She knew this well, but she couldn’t help but feel a chill in her heart.
“The only woman I know in this world is you, Hyun Seo. You’re everything. That’s why I proposed.”
She knew that was the best he could say.
Yes, she had come this far by taking solace in just that.
“Do Ha. Right now, you’re comfortable with me, not in love with me.”
But this was the conclusion. The fact that he had never loved her in the end.
“It’s just that you’re uncomfortable when I’m not by your side, not that it’s unbearably hard. If you get used to someone other than me, you’ll be able to live well.”
Do Ha’s brows twitched.
“Hyun Seo. Your words are too harsh.”
Someone other than Hyun Seo. He had never even imagined such a thing. The mere thought made him feel awkward and uncomfortable.
Hyun Seo, who had been staring at him, let out a hollow laugh.
“Do Ha. You know well who I was in the past, right?”
“I know well. I’ve known you since you were a snotty kid. But why?”
They had a long relationship. From the time when Do Ha was just Do Ha, long before he became the crown prince of the Jinseong Group.
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.”
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
