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In the car heading home, Kang-joon’s hand, tightly holding Sehee’s, was warm. The extra strength in his grip, the anxious glances he kept turning to check on Sehee, whispered to Sehee instead of his lips: he was afraid something had happened to her. In that silent whisper, Sehee realized. She had become the sole weakness of this iron-fortress of a man. And strangely, that made her happy. Staring at Kang-joon, Sehee slowly opened her mouth.
“They say love makes you generous, but I think it’s making me more selfish.”
Just then, at a red light, Kang-joon looked at Sehee as if asking what she meant. Seeing his dark eyes completely filled with only her, a surge of strong emotion burst forth. Leaning in, Sehee gave Kang-joon’s sharp cheek a brief kiss on the lips. To a slightly surprised Kang-joon, Sehee mumbled,
“This is all your fault, Seo Kang-joon.”
Making me weak and constantly making me lean on you, making me do selfish things I’ve never done, and even unhesitatingly doing these embarrassing acts. Kang-joon, who had been staring at Sehee with an almost comical intensity, finally averted his gaze when the light turned green again. But the sound of him stepping on the accelerator was, for the first time, rough.
________________________________________
Returning home after four months, there was no emotional reaction to the house. It wasn’t the house she missed and longed for, but this man, Seo Kang-joon. Thud! The moment the door closed, Sehee turned, wrapped her arms around Kang-joon’s neck, and pressed her lips to his. At her active gesture, Kang-joon held Sehee tightly in his arms, as if he had been waiting. Their hot breaths intertwined, and a crackling, pleasant spark ignited in their veins, making her whole body thirsty. Not enough, more. As Sehee, impatient, pressed her body closer, Kang-joon let out a rough breath and pulled his lips away. At Sehee’s gaze, looking up as if asking why he stopped, Kang-joon smirked.
“Let’s get washed up first. As you can see, I’m a mess.”
The man, who was usually flawless from head to toe, was disheveled. His tie was loosely pulled down, a few strands of hair had fallen, and dark reddish stains were on various parts of his suit.
“You can just take them off.”
Kang-joon took Sehee’s hand, which was unhesitatingly reaching for his tie, and warned her with a stern expression.
“Why are you so aggressive today?”
Despite his stern expression, his dark eyes, tinged with heat, were burning intensely. Sehee slowly reached out, placed her hand on Kang-joon’s chest, and slowly confessed her current feelings.
“Because I want you to hold me quickly, Kang-joon.”
“Are you really okay?”
When Kang-joon asked again, Sehee finally remembered something she hadn’t thought of. When Sehee looked at him again, feeling apologetic, Kang-joon, sensing it uncannily, asked,
“Surely you’re not going to say no now?”
“Because of Pré...”
“If that’s the reason, it’s fine. I’ve checked everything.”
Kang-joon whispered seriously into Sehee’s ear, as she looked at him with wide eyes as if asking what he meant. Four months stable period. Although her weight is less for her gestational age, the baby is growing well, and the mother is healthy. And things the husband needs to be careful about. He told her not to worry, as he had asked the doctor at the hospital and received confirmation, and had acquired related knowledge through books.
“So, what you’re saying, Kang-joon, is that you asked the doctor about that?”
She was mortified, but he didn’t seem to care.
“I’m just a very thorough person.”
Sehee looked at Kang-joon, who answered calmly, as if dumbfounded. She couldn’t even begin to guess how to deal with this man who seemed to have no sense of embarrassment. Could their personalities be so different? Sehee even considered changing her doctor, but in the end, she just laughed. What does it matter? Seo Kang-joon is safe in front of me right now. That nightmarish moment came back to her again. The time she had her eyes closed, as Kang-joon had told her to, was the most terrifying and frightening moment of Sehee’s life. The screams and dull thuds that clearly reached her ears pounded her heart like a hammer. Enduring that pain, Sehee desperately wished. Please, let this man be safe. If he’s safe, I’ll never turn away from him again. Just as she desperately wished, Kang-joon was safe, and now it was her turn to keep the promise she made to herself. There was so much she wanted to say to Kang-joon, but that would be for later. She wanted to say the best words she could to Kang-joon right now. Looking at his kind eyes, which had never changed, Sehee calmly said,
“I love you, Kang-joon.”
Kang-joon looked a little surprised. But Sehee stated again, as if nailing it down,
“I want to be your woman, by the name of Joo Sehee, not Yoo Taeryeong.”
The successor of Hanshin is still too much for me, but I still like you so much. I don’t know how much damage the name Joo Sehee will cause you, but I’m going to be greedy now. For you, Seo Kang-joon, as my husband and Pré’s father. Kang-joon, looking at her with overwhelming emotion, embraced Sehee tightly and whispered in her ear,
“You’ve been my woman from the beginning until now, and you will be until I die.”
Kang-joon lifted Sehee into his arms and strode into the house. But they arrived not in the bedroom, but the bathroom. Kang-joon carefully set Sehee down and turned the shower knob. Water poured down, instantly drenching both of them. Kang-joon met Sehee’s slightly bewildered gaze, curved his red lips, and smiled languidly.
“Shall I wash you first, Sehee, or should I wash myself first?”
As always, as if respecting Sehee’s choice. Even though the outcome would be the same either way.
“But washing together is a bit...”
She had been so bold, driving him crazy. But at the actual moment, Sehee blushed and trailed off, looking down at Kang-joon. His dark eyes, openly blazing with heat. With those eyes, he asked a question he didn’t mean.
“Then do you want to wash first?”
Does this man know that looking at me with those eyes makes my heart feel like it’s going to burst? That those eyes pull the bowstring tightly that’s hidden deep within my body?
“You don’t mean it.”
Kang-joon chuckled briefly and muttered as he lowered his lips to Sehee’s,
“Glad you know.”
It was the return of the greatly upgraded, sexy tiger.
________________________________________
She had fallen into a deep sleep. Recalling last night, specifically what happened in the bathroom, Sehee’s face instantly flushed. If the old Kang-joon was a storm that swept in and consumed instantly, last night’s Kang-joon was... what could she say? He was leisurely yet gentle, cautious yet delicate. Enough to sweetly melt her brain.
“Pré shouldn’t have seen that.”
As she mumbled shyly, the bedroom door opened, and Kang-joon entered. Sehee couldn’t bring herself to look directly at Kang-joon as he sat on the bedside. If she looked at his lips and hands, the events in the bathroom would become even clearer.
“Did you sleep well?”
A tray was pushed into Sehee’s sight as she gave a small nod.
“If you slept well, now you should eat well.”
Perhaps it was because her mind was at ease. Her gaze went to the well-baked whole wheat bread, rather than the grapefruit sherbet. The smell that had once made her nauseous was now incredibly appetizing. The bread, which she cautiously bit into, was as delicious as it smelled. Sehee, having slept and eaten well as Kang-joon suggested, looked at Kang-joon with a much more relaxed heart. She had organized her thoughts and made up her mind. Now all that remained was to gather her courage. It had taken a long time to get to this point, and Kang-joon had waited a long time. Sehee took a deep breath, then met Kang-joon’s eyes.
“Kang-joon, I have something to tell you.”
It was time to lay everything bare for Kang-joon and hold his hand.
________________________________________
A private tatami room in a high-end Japanese restaurant. Yesterday, Sehee had finally contacted him to arrange a dinner with Kang-joon. Youngguk had looked into Hanshin’s lucrative subsidiaries and even considered the key positions he wanted. Just then, the tatami room door opened. As Kang-joon, whose head was a good head taller than Sehee, appeared behind her, a smile automatically appeared on Youngguk’s lips.
“President Seo, long time no see. Have you been well?”
“I’ve been well, thanks to Sehee.”
His polite yet subtly arrogant tone and his indifferent, ice-cold eyes exuded an intense, inherent arrogance. He was still tall, confident, and annoyingly excellent.
“No need for a meal, just a warm cup of tea, please.”
Kang-joon spoke to the manager who had shown them to their seats without even asking Youngguk.
“President Seo, the sashimi here is very...”
But Kang-joon cut him off mercilessly.
“Sehee shouldn’t eat raw food. We’ll take care of our meal outside.”
“Ah, is that so. President Seo, please do as you wish.”
Sehee, who had been quiet until now, slowly opened her mouth.
“I’ll speak from now on, Kang-joon.”
“Alright, then.”
Sehee smiled at Kang-joon as if to thank him, then, with the mirth drained from her eyes, she looked at Youngguk and slowly spoke.
“I’m pregnant with Kang-joon’s child.”
“Im-pregnant!?”
Youngguk instinctively looked at Sehee’s belly. Inside there, the next successor of Hanshin? His surprise quickly turned into ecstasy. To become not only the father-in-law of the current Hanshin successor but also the grandfather of the next Hanshin successor! There was no better way to solidify his position.
“Congratulations, Sehee. How grateful I am that you’ve made me a grandfather!”
But Sehee’s gaze, as she looked at Youngguk who was genuinely congratulating her with a smile, was icy.
“I’ll say this only once, so listen carefully. Just like me, this child has absolutely nothing to do with Vice Chairman. So don’t even think about playing the role of my father, or my grandfather.”
At Sehee’s drastically changed demeanor, Youngguk, watching Kang-joon’s reaction, opened his mouth.
“Sehee, I feel like what you’re saying now is a bit different from what you said when we met last time. I clearly did everything you asked...”
“One of the conditions for me to grant your request was managing Aunt. But why should I listen to Vice Chairman when you can’t even properly control Aunt?”
Youngguk recalled what Sehee had said at their previous meeting.
‘When Aunt steps down from her chairman position and loses power, then you, Father, can take firm control of her. It’s time for you to take the lead now.’
No, how was I supposed to know that’s what she meant?
“What on earth did Younghee do?”
“The men Aunt hired tried to do terrible things to me and even tried to film it. Did you know that?”
He naturally didn’t know, but he still thought, this is too much.
“No matter what, you shouldn’t do this to me over something your aunt did on her own!”
The moment an enraged Youngguk slammed his hand on the table, Kang-joon’s calm eyes instantly changed. The gaze that flew at him was as sharp and blue as a finely honed blade, making Youngguk swallow hard.
“The reason I contacted you today is to give Vice Chairman one last chance.”
Sehee looked indifferently at Youngguk, through her long eyelashes, feeling not an ounce of affection.
“I hear rumors that Chairman Inno wants to put his second son in the Vice Chairman position instead of his incompetent eldest son. If you’re pushed out of that position, your younger brother certainly won’t leave you alone.”
Youngguk looked quite surprised that Sehee knew all of Inno’s internal affairs so well.
“However, if you grant just one of my requests, Kang-joon will help you maintain that position for as long as Vice Chairman wishes. Right, Kang-joon?”
“If Sehee wishes it.”
Looking at Kang-joon, who answered without hesitation, Youngguk asked with a sigh,
“What do I have to do?”
Sehee drank her warm tea instead of answering. She had tried to solve things with her own strength and even considered coexisting while holding each other’s weaknesses. Because as a pregnant woman, she wanted to avoid the worst kind of revenge. But it was Chairwoman Jo who ruined that. She had hoped it was just suspicion. But Kang-joon said he had gotten a confession from them that Chairwoman Jo had instigated the terrible act and even ordered the filming. The moment Sehee heard that, she realized. She’s a woman who will harm my child in the future, if not me now. If this is the only way to protect my child, I will gladly become ruthless. So don’t resent me, Aunt. Sehee looked calmly at Youngguk and slowly opened her mouth.
“Please put Aunt in a mental hospital so she can never see the outside world again.”
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