Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#19

“Are you all right?”
At the concerned voice, An Suyi suddenly came to herself and looked up.
“……Sorry?”
“Your complexion seems to have taken a turn for the worse.”
After she returned from the restroom.
An Suyi had changed.
Her face had darkened drastically, and the gentle smile that had lingered there all evening had gone rigid as stone.
Like someone who had glimpsed something forbidden.
Unlike before, when she had hung on his every word, now her gaze was fixed somewhere on the table, lost in thought.
Or rather, it seemed less like she was thinking than trying desperately not to think.
“Did something happen?”
“No… it’s just, I feel a little—”
An Suyi answered with a strained smile.
“Like I’ve eaten too much.”
How could she explain it?
The Convenience Store Chocolate she had so enjoyed all this time was, in fact, the kind of Hotel chocolate her monthly salary could never afford—and knowing that changed everything.
Her stomach had turned.
Something deep inside her was churning, ready to erupt.
“Then shall we head out? Let me take you home.”
“No, I’m fine—”
“Looking at your face now, I won’t be able to leave without helping. Please, let me take you.”
Watching the earnest expression on Ki Juwon’s face, An Suyi finally nodded.
The truth was, she didn’t have the strength to make it home.
All the strength had drained from her body; all the light had gone out of her heart.
The two of them descended from the Sky Lounge to the Hotel Lobby.
“An Suyi, would you wait here for a moment? It won’t take long at all.”
“Yes, of course.”
Ki Juwon hurried off in some direction.
As An Suyi watched him go, her mind filled once again with thoughts of Dokgo Beomjin.
‘How could he deceive me so completely?’
The answer came quickly.
Dokgo Beomjin was a chaebol.
Part of the founding family of Kangho Group, a massive corporation.
There was nothing he couldn’t do if he set his mind to it.
Controlling information to hide his identity would be nothing difficult for him.
‘But then, why?’
Why did you deceive me?
For what possible reason?
Was it just the rebellion of a chaebol heir?
But the time we spent together felt too long for that.
The ordinary days spent in an ordinary neighborhood, in a house that was nice for that area but nothing compared to his, after graduating from an ordinary school, spending time as friends with an ordinary girl—
What possible help could any of that be to the grandson of the Kangho Group chairman?
‘Was it just some Common People Experience or something?’
Why did you choose me, of all people?
Because I was pitiful?
Because I’m an orphan with no one to complain if you played with me?
“…….”
At the thought of the truth she had always tried to deny, her chest crumbled.
What was everything we shared supposed to mean?
“An Suyi!”
Ki Juwon approached her quickly, carrying something in his hand.
“I wanted to give you this.”
“……What is it?”
“It’s the Chocolate I gave you before. You said it was delicious.”
Ah, that.
In truth, she still hadn’t unwrapped it.
The moment she felt burdened by it, resistance had set in, and she’d tucked it away somewhere in a cabinet.
When he’d asked during their meal if the Chocolate wasn’t delicious, An Suyi had simply agreed along.
Thinking of Dokgo Beomjin’s unfamiliar face as he was known then.
“The pastry chef here is apparently quite famous. He’s won several international dessert competitions in Europe.”
“I see……”
“He’s even called an authority on Chocolate, and they say this Macaron is delicious too.”
Chocolate gilded in gold was already more than she could bear; now he was offering Macaron as well.
Ki Juwon extended them lightly and brightly.
As if handing over a feather.
His face radiated absolute certainty that the other person would accept them with equal lightness and brightness.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah… yes, thank you. I’ll enjoy them.”
An Suyi smiled and offered the conventional words of gratitude.
It was the moment Ki Juwon’s tension seemed to ease and he smiled back in return.
Her eyes widened as she turned.
Dokgo Beomjin was walking toward her, his expression cold as winter.

***

“The Chairman would like to see you tomorrow morning, sir.”
“Again? Why now.”
“There’s an urgent matter concerning the Chaebol Family that needs discussion.”
At Director Jung’s words, Dokgo Beomjin let out a scoff.
“I can guess without hearing it. Chairman Kim must have been in touch—it’s bound to be about that granddaughter of his, obviously—”
That was when it happened.
From the West Entrance, Dokgo Beomjin’s gaze caught on a pair approaching through the lobby.
“Sir? What’s the matter?”
His dark eyes passed over the man with a hazy expression and landed on the woman at his side.
Light brown hair pinned up neatly. Eyes of the same shade.
Pale skin. Small, red lips.
A slender, delicate neck and slight frame.
The black jacket and slacks she wore like a uniform.
It was An Suyi.
She who had surfaced endlessly in his mind, tormenting him.
“The car will be here soon, An Suyi.”
“You don’t need to go to this trouble……”
“I want to spend a little longer with you.”
At the man’s words, An Suyi laughed, her eyes crinkling slightly.
As if she were troubled, or shy.
At which point, the gaze of the man who had been making a fuss about taking her home dipped downward, toward her lips.
It was an instinctive movement, made without conscious thought—and Dokgo Beomjin knew this well.
His own gaze always drifted to that same place whenever he was with An Suyi.
“Sir? Where are you going—sir!”
Dokgo Beomjin no longer heard anything, saw anything.
His world contained only An Suyi and the pale, washed-out man standing beside her.
His eyes burned hot while his chest began to freeze over.
And in the moment An Suyi’s eyes widened at the sight of him.
Dokgo Beomjin felt something that had been precariously held together inside him snap clean in two.
“An Suyi.”
An Suyi’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“What are you doing here?”
His low, thick voice cut sharply between the two of them.
An Suyi’s shoulders flinched involuntarily.
It was a first.
Never before had Dokgo Beomjin looked at her with eyes so cold.
“…….”
Her voice wouldn’t come.
As he closed the distance, An Suyi instinctively stepped backward.
The air froze solid—far more than it had before.
“Who are you?”
Ki Juwon moved protectively in front of An Suyi.
Dokgo Beomjin exhaled sharply.
This was pathetic.
Here was someone who looked like a strong wind might knock him over, playing protector.
“My girlfriend.”
At the word, Ki Juwon’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.
“……Your girlfriend?”
An Suyi, standing behind Ki Juwon, felt the same shock.
“Hey, what are you talking about right now!”
“I’ve been neglecting you because work has been consuming me.”
Dokgo Beomjin drew a deep breath.
Angry, yet pressing it down—aware of his own fault.
“I was wrong.”
“Hey, Dokgo Beomjin. Don’t start talking nonsense.”
“The scar on my shoulder keeps aching. That day, the way I hurt you……”
An Suyi, startled, leaped out from behind Ki Juwon and covered Dokgo Beomjin’s mouth with her hand.
Rising on her tiptoes, pressing herself against him with all her earnestness, she felt his expression soften slightly as he bent his upper body toward her.
“Hey, what were you about to say! Are you insane? Do you know where we are right now—!”
An Suyi’s heart pounded.
Very rarely, Dokgo Beomjin did remember nights when he’d been drunk.

“That man. Striped shirt and jeans.”
“Huh? What are you suddenly talking about?”
“He asked for your number the day before yesterday.”
“How did you remember that? You were completely wasted that night.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No. You suddenly collapsed on me, and I was too busy holding you up to remember anything. You don’t recall that?”
“No. I don’t.”

An Suyi slowly withdrew her hand and spoke in a low voice that only Dokgo Beomjin could hear.
“Did you really remember?”
“Yes.”
Dokgo Beomjin bent his head near her ear and whispered.
“Every last thing. All of it.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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