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After cutting ties with Gyeong-ae, Haejoo had to become tough.
Believing that crying meant defeat, she never broke down even in front of customers who hurled abuse. It was the stubbornness she had built up while dealing with various people as a saleswoman.
Thanks to these efforts, dealing with people who hit on her or acted rudely was a piece of cake. Even the employees who had ignored and envied Haejoo couldn’t treat her carelessly later on.
After becoming an actress, she received praise from film directors for her boldness that didn’t seem like that of a rookie.
Haejoo herself believed she had a strong spirit, but it was nothing compared to Dojun’s. From him, she felt an aura that could suppress any ordinary being.
What if what she was seeing now was just a part of it?
Perhaps he was a man Haejoo couldn’t handle.
“Mr. Park Dojun.”
“Say it.”
“If you interrupt me one more time, I won’t let it slide.”
The corner of Dojun’s lips briefly twitched upwards before returning to their original position.
To him, a rabbit that had come to the tiger’s den on its own and was now yelping was simply adorable.
“Sorry. Go on.”
“I’m an actress, and I want to continue acting.”
“So?”
“As I said yesterday, everything’s been messed up because the fact that I was married got out.”
“Isn’t being married a crime?”
“The public didn’t know I was married, and I didn’t feel the need to disclose it.”
“Why?”
“It was exactly fifteen days! The marital period I knew.”
Haejoo had planned to humbly confess even if the fact of her marriage was revealed. The man she knew as her husband had passed away after a brief relationship, so it was something that could be framed.
But the fact that the marital relationship had continued all this time was a different matter. It just looked like she had been hiding the fact that she had a husband.
The price for unintentionally deceiving the public was severe.
The companies she had CF contracts with demanded the exact truth. If her image was damaged, she would not only have her contracts terminated but also have to take responsibility for the resulting losses.
Sensational articles poured out in real-time. Coupled with unspeakable malicious comments, public opinion was unfavorable.
“I see. I don’t really know much about the entertainment industry.”
Only now did Dojun respond to Haejoo’s words with a serious look. He nodded repeatedly, as if deep in thought.
“If things continue like this, my life is over. There’s no hope left.”
Jinhan was an indispensable person in Haejoo’s life as an actress.
Haejoo didn’t trust people easily and was wary, so casting her had been difficult from the start.
He had poured his energy into making Haejoo a top actress, so much so that people at the agency said his devotion was extraordinary.
The result was a success.
As soon as her debut film was released, Haejoo was hailed as a next-generation actress who would lead the film industry, and her fame soared.
Then the marriage scandal broke. If she secretly got a divorce here, there would be no turning back. Considering Haejoo’s image that she had built up so far, it was better, as Jinhan said, for Dojun to become her devoted husband.
“Tell me what you want.”
“Can you really help me?”
“If it’s possible.”
The fact that a promising young actress had a secret marriage was a difficult problem from the start.
They had to overcome this crisis no matter what it took.
The agency had proposed disguising Dojun as a devoted husband who had sacrificed himself for Haejoo.
They were supposed to act like a couple who had continued their true love, but whether it was possible was uncertain.
What was strange was Dojun’s attitude.
Unlike the anxious Haejoo, he exuded an inexplicable composure.
His lips occasionally twitched upwards briefly, and the corners of his eyes would subtly curve.
However, it wasn’t that he wasn’t serious. He actively responded to what Haejoo said, yet he also seemed to be deep in thought at times. That’s why it was even harder to understand his intentions.
“Let’s do this.”
“Say it.”
“From now on, Dojun and I are a couple who were each other’s first love.”
“First love, huh...”
“And Dojun will be the devoted husband who selflessly helped me, an unknown, from behind the scenes.”
“Devoted?”
“Yes. Is it possible?”
“So, you want us to act like we’ve been living together from the start?”
Haejoo didn’t like the idea of deceiving the public either.
Moreover, it was a dangerous act in the entertainment industry, where one could be buried with a single wrong move.
She couldn’t undo a marital relationship that had lasted for a full three years. If they got a divorce now, as if they had just been caught, it could be an even bigger blunder.
“If we’re going to do this, it should be a romance that the public envies, right?”
“I should be the one asking that.”
“Asking what?”
“Is it possible for you?”
His deep voice, which resonated through the space, stimulated Haejoo’s five senses. It suddenly pushed in, shattering even the slightest bit of her guard.
A profound madness captivated Haejoo.
There were rumors that he was a madman; it seemed it referred to his ability to drive others crazy.
It was Haejoo who was flustered by the unexpected situation. She turned her gaze to the empty air at Dojun’s provocation, which seemed far from romantic.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if romance is even possible between you and me.”
Dojun’s question, thrown back at her, confused Haejoo.
Honestly, she lacked confidence and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.
“I’m an actress, after all. Do you think I can’t even do that much?”
“Weren’t the movies you starred in not romances?”
“What are you thinking right now?”
“Because acting for a moment in front of a camera and living as a real couple can’t be the same.”
Legally, the two were indeed a real couple. But it was a subtle situation where they couldn’t exactly call themselves a couple either.
In that instant, the everyday life of a real couple unfolded in Haejoo’s mind.
Sharing the same bed in the same house, sharing passionate love at night...
For the first time, Haejoo became afraid of the night.
She had only imagined it, but her ears turned red, and she flared up.
“Hey!”
“It’s been three years of marriage. Wouldn’t an ordinary couple have seen everything by now?”
“What’s the intention behind saying that?”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Hey, Park Dojun-ssi!”
“Ordinary couples don’t think anything of walking around naked in the house. So, whether it’s okay or not depends on you, not me.”
Haejoo hadn’t even thought that far.
To perfectly pretend to be a couple, living in the same house as Dojun was the first step.
Suddenly, she felt sorry for Jinhan, who had made her an actress. She had only tried to avoid a brief shower but had encountered a typhoon, making her even more on edge.
“Do I look that easy to you?”
“We’re a married couple. A real couple who’ve seen everything.”
A tie was neatly knotted between the collar of Dojun’s shirt, which was buttoned up to his neck.
Every time he spoke, a thick vein in his neck would protrude and then disappear.
Despite wearing a full suit, Dojun was different.
Even though he was covered from head to toe, the words that came from his straight lips had a strange allure.
Unexpectedly, imagination was added to Haejoo’s mind.
As she pictured his robust body hidden beneath that suit, she clenched her fists tightly.
“We don’t need to be a couple even inside the house.”
“We have to protect our home, don’t we?”
“Stop pushing me like that.”
“You’re the one who should stop denying reality and accept it.”
According to the information she had heard, a reporter from a media outlet was already trying to dig into Haejoo’s past. If they acted clumsily, it would be worse than doing nothing.
So, what he said wasn’t wrong. She just wanted to avoid it.
“Exactly one year.”
“One year?”
At Haejoo’s serious tone, Dojun’s lips formed a straight line.
He leaned back deeply on the sofa and poured the coffee Haejoo had left into his mouth.
Soon, the sound of ice crunching could be heard.
He swallowed the remaining ice granules and nodded briefly.
“Let’s maintain this relationship for only one year. After that, let’s part ways for each other’s happiness.”
“Am I just going to be used and then thrown away?”
“Used? What do you mean?”
“I don’t care if I live like this my whole life. It’s you, Lee Haejoo, who will be the one regretting it.”
“How is that possible?”
“Because I’m trash who was born unable to live an ordinary life.”
Dojun’s eyebrows furrowed low. His coldly drawn gaze held no lingering attachment to life.
It wasn’t as if Mr. Park had kidnapped Haejoo and forced her to stamp the documents.
Whatever the circumstances, it was now meaningless to nitpick.
“Mr. Park Dojun, don’t you date?”
“You’re nosy, worrying about someone else’s love life.”
“......!”
“So that’s why someone like your mother made you enter a marriage you didn’t want to pay off her debt.”
Haejoo’s gaze towards Dojun turned coldly distant.
No matter what else, this was a wound he should never have touched.
Clenching her bloodless hand tightly, she retorted with a sneer.
“What do you know?”
“......”
“Do you even know how desperately I’ve held on all this time?”
Dojun stood up from the sofa.
He took a long stick from a silver case he had placed on the desk and went to the window. He paused as he was about to bring the cigarette filter to his lips.
Soon, he shook his head and threw the cigarette and lighter into the trash can.
He returned to the sofa and stared directly at Haejoo.
“Don’t hold on desperately. I’m enough for that.”
It was Dojun’s clumsy consolation.
The will that seeped from his eyes was clearly readable to Haejoo; there was no lie in his words.
Feeling awkward, she swept back her hair.
As her agitated emotions calmed down, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
His actions and words, as if he had known Haejoo from the beginning, somehow bothered her.
Even now, Dojun was already acting like Haejoo’s husband.
“I have a question.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you perhaps know me?”
“You’re an actress.”
“Not that. I’m asking if you knew me before.”
“Is that important? Shouldn’t we put out the urgent fire first?”
A subtle battle of nerves ensued.
Dojun’s expression, which skillfully avoided suspicion, exuded confidence.
He was truly an unpredictable person.
His large but not clumsy, smooth hand rested on his knee, urging Haejoo’s reply.
A spark of life returned to Dojun’s eyes as he focused on the conversation. It was far from the flippancy she had felt during their first meeting. Haejoo shook her head slightly and inhaled.
“The urgent fire... we should put it out.”
It was an important issue that even involved moving houses.
Even meticulously checking and preparing wouldn’t be enough, but time was absolutely scarce.
Concern was evident in Haejoo’s subtly distorted brow.
As she kept losing her words, she already felt drained.
“I’ll finish what I was saying.”
She couldn’t pry everything out of him in this place. First, as he said, they had to put out the urgent fire and release a statement.
Having no time to argue, Haejoo made her demands clear.
“We have to get a divorce in a year.”
“Okay. But in return, you have to meet the conditions I want.”
Haejoo felt a pang of realization. In her haste, she hadn’t even considered that Dojun might also be a victim.
With this, the two people’s compromise became a tense tug-of-war.
Yet, the question she had put aside earlier slyly raised its head again.
It was yesterday that she had gone to see him. Dojun had greeted her as if he had been waiting, and when Haejoo abruptly made her demands, he had set conditions.
It could only be interpreted as him being quick-witted or knowing this would happen.
“What are your conditions?”
“During our one year of married life, we have to live in the same house.”
“I can’t share a room with you.”
“I’ll concede on that part.”
“And then?”
Up to this point, Haejoo had expected it.
She was on edge, not knowing what Dojun would say next.
She didn’t particularly like being led around by her impatience, but she intended to listen.
“Even for your sake, I don’t want to tell clumsy lies. I’m serious.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll gradually come to know as we live together. How about it?”
Fanning the dying embers was a subtle breeze. Currently, Haejoo felt like her normal thinking had stopped due to the wind Dojun was blowing.
For now, all she could do was block his flames with thorough defense and caution.
“I can’t allow any physical contact inside the house.”
“So it’s okay officially?”
The problem was the traps lurking everywhere.
Dojun, who had opened his jaws to swallow Haejoo, was definitely a monster.
“Only when absolutely necessary.”
It was the moment the compromise was reached.
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