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Chapter – 10
Want to Move into My Place?
After standing face-to-face with Hakyung in silence for a few seconds, Winter finally opened her mouth.
“Never mind. My mouth hurts, so I’ll just say a few words, short and sweet.”
“What?”
“I’m my family’s precious daughter too, you know? If my parents, my siblings, my aunts, and my uncles found out I was being treated like this here, they’d come chasing after you with charcoal tongs!”
…Charcoal tongs? Isn’t the usual weapon a baseball bat?
Dokyung looked at her with a puzzled expression at the unexpected word.
But Winter, either not noticing his gaze or not caring, continued firing off the words she’d been holding back at Hakyung like a machine gun.
“What do you take me for, some kind of gold digger? I’m not that desperate or poor! And didn’t you hear me earlier? Dokyung-ssi was the one who pursued me. I didn’t chase him—it was your little brother, Kim Dokyung, who came after me!”
As Winter’s rapid-fire assault continued, Hakyung found himself at a loss for words, and watching the scene, Dokyung desperately held back his laughter.
He hadn’t realized it when she was speaking so boldly to him, but now that someone else was the target, it was incredibly satisfying to watch.
Hakyung’s gaze shifted once to Dokyung, who was covering his mouth with one hand and turning his head away, and once to Winter, who was still fuming as if she had more to say. He let out a deep sigh.
‘Where on earth did he find such a strange woman?’
That was all he could think. Whether this was real or fake no longer mattered.
He wished the woman barking at him would just shut up, but she was proving to be far less easy to handle than he’d expected.
“I can break up with Dokyung-ssi right here and now! You don’t believe me? Want me to try? Want me to tell him I can’t see him anymore because his older brother talked trash to me?!”
In the midst of letting her stream of consciousness take over, Winter’s body was suddenly pulled by someone.
At the same time, she was startled by the firm body that wrapped around her, and then a voice came from above her head.
“No. Don’t say things like breaking up.”
Huh?
Taken aback by the sudden embrace, Winter squirmed to escape, but the arms around her only tightened.
‘This man has no intention of letting me go.’
Quickly assessing the situation, she relaxed and naturally leaned into Dokyung.
Then she heard Hakyung let out an exhausted sigh.
“Haa… Just… go, both of you. Cha Gyeoul-ssi, you should leave too.”
As he finished speaking and turned to open the door to the VIP room, Dokyung called out to the back of his head.
“Apologize. For what you said recklessly and for misunderstanding.”
Dokyung grabbed Hakyung’s wrist as he tried to ignore him and go in, squeezing tightly.
With Dokyung already superior in height, build, and strength, when he deliberately applied force, Hakyung’s face contorted in pain.
“Apologize.”
Realizing Dokyung wouldn’t let go until he said what he wanted, Hakyung turned back around.
“Haa… I’m sorry.”
The apology that came out after a short sigh lacked any sincerity, but Winter just nodded. For now, she just wanted to end this situation quickly and go home.
After leaving the hospital and getting into the parked car, Winter glanced at Dokyung in the driver’s seat.
“Are you sure you don’t need to treat your cheek? Really?”
“Yes. It wasn’t a hard hit.”
“Then that’s a relief. …Did you talk well with your grandfather? Am I not supposed to ask that?”
At her cautious voice, Dokyung chuckled.
“You can ask. I just went in, asked if he was okay, and said I was sorry.”
“Did he forgive you?”
“He softened a little. But he still said he doesn’t believe we’re dating. He said he’ll just watch us a bit longer.”
As she nodded, the car smoothly pulled away.
He said he’d take her home since she had luggage, and she obediently set her home address in the navigation. Then she subtly slipped her feet out of her heels. The taller-than-usual heels had left her feet throbbing and sore.
“But Dokyung-ssi, why is it so hard for them to believe you have a girlfriend?”
“Until now, I was a non-dating kind of person. I didn’t want to waste time on pointless things.”
“Ah.”
It was a perfectly understandable reason. But then she tilted her head again.
One question answered, another arose.
“But why do you need to make your grandfather and other family members believe you’re dating?”
“Well…”
He couldn’t honestly tell her about the stake in the company, or the succession battle that would ensue. If she knew that his work involved a share of Hanju and the ensuing inheritance fight, she’d definitely feel burdened and try to back out.
So he paused for a moment and made up a suitable excuse.
“Grandfather has been nagging me constantly to date and get married. You saw how bad our relationship was earlier, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, since he’s going to pass away soon, I wanted to reassure him. That his worried grandson, the one he was so concerned about, has finally started dating.”
“What a filial grandson. You’re nicer than I thought.”
It was a genuinely unexpected reaction.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. You felt bad because of my brother, right?”
“I did feel bad, but it’s okay. I said everything I wanted to say anyway.”
Recalling Hakyung’s dazed expression from earlier, Dokyung bit his lip to hold back a laugh. It was the first time he’d seen his always-composed brother lose his cool and be struck speechless. It was satisfying, so he hadn’t bothered to stop Winter.
“You did well.”
“Really? I was worried I might have ruined things.”
“Well, there’s a high chance they heard our whole conversation inside the room. Ah, should I say ‘argument’ rather than ‘conversation’?”
At his laughter-laced voice, Winter made a flustered face.
“They heard everything inside?”
“You were talking pretty loudly. I’m just glad they probably didn’t hear the conversation we had right before we went into the room. That would have been a real disaster.”
Dokyung said nonchalantly that they probably hadn’t heard the whispers.
But that was no longer the issue, and Winter made a grimace.
“Either way, you’re saying they heard everything I said to your brother.”
“It doesn’t matter whether those people like you or not. What’s important is making them believe we’re a couple. So don’t worry about it, just be yourself.”
As she nodded, trying to calm her anxiety, Winter’s phone rang. Seeing the name on the screen, she looked puzzled.
“What does the landlady want?”
Muttering to herself, Winter swiped the screen and answered.
“Hello?”
-Ah, miss? It’s your landlady.
“Yes, hello. What’s the matter?”
-What’s the matter? I was calling to ask when you’re planning to move out.
At the abrupt question, Winter’s expression froze. Move out? What was she talking about?
“Excuse me? Move out?”
-I gave you prior notice 7 months ago. I told you I wouldn’t be renewing the contract and to vacate the place.
“E-excuse me? Ah…!”
Only then did she recall the notification she’d received from the landlady 7 months ago that the contract wouldn’t be renewed. Her grandson was coming to Seoul for university, so she’d asked Winter to move out.
She remembered getting calls, texts, written notices, and even face-to-face reminders to find a new place quickly.
So she had been slowly looking for a new place to move to, just a few months ago.
But then the former team leader’s idea-theft incident and the contract with Dokyung happened one after another, and she’d completely forgotten about it.
As she faltered, unable to respond, the landlady sighed as if she’d expected this.
-Anyway, the contract ends in two weeks, so make sure you’re out by then.
“W-wait, hold on! Could you give me a little more time? I haven’t found a place yet.”
-My grandson needs to move in. Besides, miss, you can just go back to your parents’ house.
At the grumpy voice on the other end, Winter pleaded.
“My parents’ house is in Suwon. How am I supposed to commute from Suwon to Jongno?”
-Then rent a hotel room or something! My grandson’s family is in Busan. So move out within two weeks. For sure.
“Ah, ma’am, please!”
Despite Winter’s desperate calls, the line went dead without mercy. Staring at the dark screen with a dazed expression, Winter bent over and buried her head in her knees.
“…I’m screwed.”
How was she going to find a place in two weeks? Should she ask Yehui for help? Or crash at Assistant Ina’s place for a while?
As she racked her brain desperately, trying to find a way out of this situation, Dokyung’s voice reached her ears.
“What happened?”
“Well, the landlady of the officetel I’m living in said she won’t renew the contract. I have to move out in two weeks, but how am I supposed to find a place by then?”
Sitting back up, Winter slumped her shoulders and picked up her phone again.
As she scrolled through real estate apps, searching here and there, Dokyung glanced at her and an idea came to mind.
A good way to make his grandfather and Hakyung more easily believe in their relationship, and also a good way to solve the predicament Winter was facing.
“Then how about you move into my place?”
It was, quite simply, cohabitation.
