Chapter 8 …

It was then.

“Seohun, Ji Seohun?”

Seoyoon called out loudly to Seohun, who was standing off by himself some distance away.

“What’s with the sudden shouting?”

“Seriously, why are you standing all by yourself?”

The cutesy tone befitting the bride of the wedding grated on him for some reason. He shifted his gaze from his younger sister to Jeonghee.

Their eyes met briefly in midair, and his gaze was noticeably cold.

Yet the moment he turned toward Seoyoon, the chilly expression melted away as if it had never existed, soft and warm like a spring day.

His eyes narrowed sharply when he saw Jeonghee acting as though what had happened with Seohun had absolutely nothing to do with Seoyoon.

As far as Yoo Jeonghee was concerned, Ji Seohun alone was enough to occupy her attention.

Even if it was his biological sister, Seoyoon occasionally got on her nerves, but since it was a special day, she decided to let it slide this time.

“Why’d you call me when everything was fine?”

“I’m asking why you’re standing so far away. Are you somebody else’s brother or something?”

“Maybe it’d be better if I were.”

Jeonghee lightly brushed off Seoyoon’s grumbling as a joke and deliberately hooked her arm through Seohun’s as he came over.

“Stop fighting. I’ll take care of Seohun, so you take care of your husband.”

“Try nagging your husband instead of me from now on.”

As though he had been waiting for that, Seohun naturally picked up where Jeonghee left off and wrapped an arm around her slender waist.

Seoyoon laughed playfully, as if the two of them were hopeless.

The people around them were smiling too as they watched the affectionate couple, Jeonghee and Seohun.

Most of the wedding guests had already gone home.

Aside from the bride and groom, only a few acquaintances remained.

Which meant there was no need to worry about what other people thought.

But—

‘You can break up with me, but you can’t let go of Seoyoon?’

Only two people felt differently.

Seohun, silently watching the scene, and Jeonghee, smiling casually beside him, were both unable to enjoy the cheerful atmosphere.

‘It was all fake anyway.’

‘Why would you believe such nonsense?’

‘Ji Seohun, do I look like an idiot to you?’

‘It’s fine. Nothing’s going to change from now on, either.’

Jeonghee was still being stubborn about something completely pointless.

The way she looked at Seohun was filled with distrust, as though the years they had spent together had all been a lie.

Marriage was business.

A business transaction and an attractive form of collateral.

Even if an engagement between their families still existed, that didn’t mean his relationship with Jeonghee had to change.

At least, that was how Seohun saw it.

Still, if she wanted to show off their relationship in front of other people, he could indulge her once.

The guests had already left, and only friends who knew the two of them remained nearby.

“Okay, that’s enough. Let go of my arm.”

The moment people’s attention drifted elsewhere, Jeonghee whispered quietly.

“Seoyoon keeps looking over here.”

“That’s funny. Since when did you start caring about things like that?”

“You have to seize an opportunity when it comes.”

“Then just say what you want to say.”

Keeping the same gentle smile on her face, she looked up at Seohun irritably.

“There’s still something we need to talk about, isn’t there?”

“I have nothing to talk about with you.”

Seohun, who had been listening quietly, curled his lips into a crooked smile.

Realizing he was telling her not to be stubborn here, Jeonghee’s expression hardened, and she tossed out a cold remark.

“Lead the way.”

* * *

Maybe because there were so many eyes secretly watching them.

Jeonghee followed behind Seohun more willingly than expected.

He led her into an empty waiting room nearby and quietly locked the door.

“Why are you locking the door all of a sudden?”

Startled by the click, she spun around.

“I don’t want to be interrupted.”

“Ha. Who’s going to interrupt us here?”

“To be honest, anyone would annoy me.”

Seohun answered as though it were nothing.

At that, Jeonghee’s irritated expression stiffened with tension.

Hadn’t she depended on him more than anyone else for the past several years?

And yet it had only been about a month.

Every time he saw Jeonghee putting up firm walls and treating him cautiously, Seohun’s mood soured.

For some reason, a corner of his chest felt suffocating.

Maybe it was because she wasn’t moving according to his wishes.

Or perhaps the thorny attitude she now showed him, unlike before, simply irritated him.

“Is there someone you don’t want finding out?”

For example, your fiancée.

The sharp sarcasm slipped from Jeonghee’s lips.

“Why would I care about what other people think?”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t care at all, does it?”

“I told you. I just don’t want to be interrupted.”

Suppressing the uncomfortable tightness in his chest, Seohun put on the gentle smile he always showed Jeonghee.

Then he stepped closer and took her hand as though soothing her.

It was completely different from the way he had bared his teeth and pressured her in the emergency stairwell earlier.

As if that version of him had been an illusion, he had become kind and gentle again.

Jeonghee’s face twisted the moment she looked up at him.

“…You, right now… this is…”

Because Yoo Jeonghee was weak against that kindness.

Just as expected, she couldn’t even pull her hand away from his.

Seohun spoke the words he had prepared.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you beforehand.”

“…Ji Seohun, what are you plotting now?”

His reaction in the stairwell had told him something too.

Forcing the issue right now would only create bigger side effects, so this time he intended to take things more slowly and coax her back.

“A month should have been enough time for you to cool off.”

“So that’s all you think my behavior is? Just me venting my anger?”

“Let it go already. How long are you planning to stay angry?”

As expected, Jeonghee didn’t believe him.

Even when he deliberately acted gentler, her cold attitude didn’t change easily.

“Let it go? Right now, you—!”

“Even if it’s an engagement, it’s nothing more than a business arrangement between families.”

As though he had no choice, Seohun brought up the engagement first.

But that only seemed to make Jeonghee even angrier.

“You got engaged to another woman, and you can still say that?”

“Stop being so sensitive. I told you it’s none of your concern.”

“So what? You want me to stay hidden behind you forever and keep playing the role of your lover?”

Her sharp gaze shot straight into his face.

“Ha… I told you. It’s just business.”

“That’s rich. Calling it business when it ends in marriage.”

Her reply remained cutting, but Seohun had no intention of ending this relationship with Jeonghee.

If it ended someday, he believed it should be by his own choice.

He could not tolerate Yoo Jeonghee deciding to let go of him on her own.

‘So I should make good use of this opportunity.’

This time, he would coax and appease her carefully so she wouldn’t bring up nonsense about everything being fake again.

“Then let’s live together.”

It was a proposal that even Jeonghee had never expected—

No, never even imagined.

So absurd that her voice rose instinctively.

“Ji Seohun, have you completely lost your mind?”

“Up until now, we were basically half-living together anyway.”

“That was then, and this is now!”

“Nothing’s going to change between us.”

Even now, her feelings didn’t matter to him in the slightest.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“You never know what might happen.”

Even after being exposed for having a fiancée, he still showed no intention of ending things with Jeonghee.

In the end, this was exactly how much she meant to him.

He would marry a woman who met the right conditions as part of a business arrangement, while keeping the lover who suited his tastes hidden by his side.

The sheer audacity left Jeonghee speechless.

Biting down on her lower lip, she tried to sort through the tangled emotions inside her.

“I’m not living with you.”

Watching Jeonghee cut him off firmly, Seohun twisted the corner of his lips into a small smile.

“You can think about it slowly.”

“There’s nothing to think about.”

At this point, her expression openly showed disgust.

“You’ll still be my woman from now on.”

Even faced with her deeply displeased expression, Seohun didn’t blink once as he drove the final nail home.