“In the morning, I was so preoccupied that I just left, but thinking about it later, it bothered me. I should have prepared some food for him.”
He had no wallet, no phone, and was even wearing someone else’s clothes, so it was highly unlikely he had any money. There might have been kimchi, rice, and eggs at home, but a chaebol’s son wouldn’t know how to cook.
‘I bet he starved all day yesterday…’
So right after finishing work, Eunseo hurried home with kimbap, feeling a sense of urgency.
Seungju was sitting on the veranda, staring blankly at the setting sun. His wide shoulders seemed smaller today.
Eunseo cautiously approached and offered him the kimbap.
“Here, please eat this.”
“Thank you.”
Seungju seemed somewhat calmer than the day before. Silent, he looked exactly like the CEO Kwon Seungju, making Eunseo uneasy. After all, she had barely been able to look him in the eyes until a few days ago.
“Eat with me, sister.”
He pushed the styrofoam box of kimbap towards Eunseo, reminding her again that he wasn’t the Seungju she knew.
“I already ate. Please, have as much as you like.”
He didn’t eat voraciously, despite probably being very hungry. His neat use of chopsticks, picking up one piece at a time and eating slowly, screamed ‘chaebol son’.
While eating the kimbap, Seungju suddenly asked,
“How much is one roll of kimbap?”
“Three thousand won. Tuna kimbap is four thousand won.”
“Until yesterday, it was a thousand won…”
That comment made Eunseo realize he knew nothing about the current world.
“Um, CEO. You really need to know about the situation.”
She waited until he had eaten enough and then carefully broached the topic.
“I looked into it, and it seems the Chairman is considering a successor change.”
He didn’t seem surprised and simply asked,
“Why?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but that’s what I heard.”
She couldn’t bring herself to mention his stepmother and half-brother just yet. Eunseo thought she’d approach that topic slowly.
“The Chairman never really liked me. He always considered me someone who only knew my mother and ignored my father… It seems it’s still the case.”
It was hard to convey that his father disliked him and wanted to drive him away, but fortunately, Seungju didn’t seem hurt by it.
“You’ve been working incredibly hard, even coming in on holidays. It seemed like you were desperately trying to hold onto your position.”
“Yes.”
“I couldn’t just go to the secretariat and tell them, fearing it might put you at a disadvantage.”
Eunseo hesitated as she spoke. This was the real crux of the matter.
“Um, you can’t stay at my house indefinitely.”
She tried to say it as gently as possible, but Seungju’s response was unexpected.
“You said you are the tenant of this house, right?”
“Yes.”
“And who’s the landlord?”
“You are, CEO.”
As soon as Eunseo answered, Seungju declared,
“Then I will continue to stay here.”
“Excuse me?”
Eunseo was taken aback and looked at him in surprise. He seemed firmly resolved.
“My mother isn’t really dead, she’s just been declared dead after being missing for so long. She must be alive somewhere.”
“CEO…”
Eunseo was at a loss for words, understanding his feelings all too well.
“Even during the separation, my mother took me with her. No matter how much my father harassed her, she always said she’d endure to the end to protect me. She’s not someone who would leave me and die.”
Eunseo then understood the situation. So that’s why the chaebol son was living with his mother in this house during the parents’ separation. The reason for their separation also became apparent. It must have been due to an affair.
“So I’ll wait at home, and she’ll come back someday.”
I understand how he feels. In his mind, it’s only been a year since his mother left the house. Back then, there might have been a chance for her return, but now, 15 years have already passed.
“Your mother is a sane adult. If she was going to come back, why wouldn’t she have done it already?”
Eunseo said this, only to realize too late that it sounded exactly like what Seungju had said.
[If she were to return, she would have already done so by now.]
She regretted her harsh words, wondering if maybe he felt the same way she did.
Knowing how hurtful her words were, Eunseo tried to speak as gently as possible.
“It’s already been 15 years. It’s time to let go…”
But before she could finish, Seungju interrupted.
“My mother could have lost her memory, just like me!”
“…”
“What if she suddenly remembers one day and comes back, but I’m not here?”
It was the same thing Eunseo’s mother used to say.
[Our Eunho must have lost his memory. He’ll come back someday when he remembers.]That’s why her mother never locked the front door at night.
Eunseo understood his thoughts. She empathized, but it was an unrealistic hope.
“You can’t stay here forever. I’m already living in this house.”
“Why can’t I? The room I used is empty, I can stay there.”
While it was true that the house was big enough, that wasn’t the point.
“You must have your own place somewhere. Where was it?”
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.”
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