Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 20

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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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#20

Watching the amber eyes trembling faintly, Beom Jin thought to himself.
He wanted to swallow her whole.
He wanted to fill her insides with himself, or to flood his own depths with her.
He wanted to lock her away in his arms where no one could see.
In a place where no other bastard looked at An Soo-i the way he did, he wanted to keep etching into her, over and over.
That he was the only man who could hold her, kiss her.
“Until the moment you dig your nails into my shoulder.”
The warmth of Beom Jin’s breath against her earlobe sent a strange current racing down Soo-i’s spine like electricity.
Just as she was about to push him away, she caught sight of the shopping bag in her hands and turned with a startled expression.
“Mr. Ki. This is my friend, Beom Jin.”
“A friend.”
As Beom Jin whispered softly behind her, as if amused, Soo-i fixed him with a sharp look.
‘Are you out of your mind?’
He surely understood what her gaze meant, yet Beom Jin didn’t back down—instead, he met it with brazen composure.
“I’m ready to take the punishment, darling.”
“You, why are you—!”
“My mistake. Guess I was out of my mind that night.”
Rather than silence himself as he usually did, Beom Jin was pulling her deeper and deeper into the quicksand.
This version of him seemed like a completely different person from the one she’d known all this time.
“…Ms. An.”
At the subdued voice behind her, Soo-i spun around in haste and bowed her head.
“I’m, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’ll need a ride today after all.”
Soo-i stood there at a loss.
A dangerous-looking man who called her “darling” and smiled with lazy ease.
By any measure, this was no ordinary friendship.
Yet as long as Soo-i hadn’t granted permission, Ki Ju-won couldn’t cross that line.
“Then I’ll take my leave for today.”
“Yes, I’m truly sorry.”
“I’ll be waiting to hear from you, Ms. An.”
But he had no intention of letting her go like this.
At first, it was her appearance that caught his eye, but what truly captivated him was the pride and seriousness she brought to her work.
Her clear, upright gaze—yet within it, an inexplicable sadness that drew him in.
He wanted to comfort that sadness, and ultimately, to erase it.
He wanted nothing more than to see that beautiful smile on her face always.
His affection wouldn’t have dimmed even if she’d been like other women, fawning over his background and wealth—but she wasn’t.
She was clearly making an effort to see Ki Ju-won the person, not the Chaebol heir.
“I’ll wait.”
Ki Ju-won spoke his heart once more.
Whatever her past held, none of it mattered—not when he couldn’t bear to let her go.
“…Yes, I will.”
Reassured by her answer, Ki Ju-won glanced at Beom Jin’s face once more, then exhaled silently.
‘He’s terrifying, sure—but needlessly handsome, damn it.’
His face was so striking that it undid all his efforts to appear indifferent.
Everything about him—his features, his build, his height—was flawless.
The clothes he wore were expensive, his bearing consistently composed.
Though young, there was something unmistakable about him: the ease of someone accustomed to looking down from a height of power.
“Then I’ll see you again another time.”
Ki Ju-won bowed slightly and forced his reluctant feet to move.
……
The way Beom Jin’s eyes followed Ki Ju-won’s departing figure was like that of a predator locking onto prey.
The only reason he’d kept his composure was that Soo-i hadn’t spoken that man’s name aloud—otherwise, he might have lost control altogether.
“Beom Jin.”
Then Beom Jin’s gaze shifted toward the voice calling from beside him.
“Let’s talk about us.”

***

Underground Parking Lot.
Beom Jin and Soo-i sat in a black sedan.
“This car is yours too?”
“No. Company car.”
Soo-i was incredulous.
What company gave a junior employee a luxury sedan like this?
“I’m supposed to believe that?”
“It came from the department head—he had something come up suddenly, so I’m using it instead—”
“You’re an executive, though.”
Silence fell.
Soo-i exhaled the breath she’d been holding back.
“Beom Jin.”
……
“Are you really the grandson of the Kangho Group chairman?”
Beom Jin said nothing. That was answer enough.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I just can’t understand—why me?”
Soo-i pushed down the emotions churning up from deep inside and continued.
“How could a Chaebol heir live beside me for years, hiding who you are? How could you?”
Soo-i pressed her lips together firmly.
She felt tears threatening to spill.
But she held them back, remembering her mother’s words.
Cry, and he’ll tire of you. Tire of you, and he’ll leave.
Even knowing he’d deceived her, she—foolish as she was—still clenched her jaw.
Hiding away the fear that he might abandon her.
“Who I am doesn’t matter.”
That makes no sense, not at all—!
“What matters is that you’re about to devour me and throw me away.”
For a moment, Soo-i’s mind went blank.
“Devour and throw me away…!”
“You spent all night eating me, then cut off contact and tried to marry another man. That’s devouring and throwing away, isn’t it.”
Beom Jin turned his body fully toward the speechless Soo-i as he spoke.
“What else would you call it?”
This isn’t Beom Jin.
It’s something else wearing Beom Jin’s face.
“Are you… really Beom Jin?”
“Yeah. Still the same bastard who’s only ever known one woman—you.”
Soo-i drew in a sharp breath.
She felt as though she’d heard words she shouldn’t have.
So, meaning Beom Jin sees her as a woman.
“Stop joking around.”
“I’m not joking.”
The more Soo-i spoke with Beom Jin, the more her words failed her.
Since when did he talk like this?
…Ah. So other people have been seeing this side of him all along.

“Dull? Vacant? Are we talking about Beom Jin here?”
“Isn’t it suspicious that he just showed up from America?”

I was the only one looking at the dark side of the moon.
Thinking that was all there was.
“Maybe I misheard. But if your feelings really are the way you say…”
Soo-i’s voice wavered at the end.
But she had to say it.
“We can’t be together anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re from a Chaebol family and you lied to me.”
“You said background doesn’t matter. That what’s important is you and me, friendship between two people.”
“How can you say that after lying to me for years?”
“I’m still me.”
Slowly.
Beom Jin’s hand extended and gently clasped Soo-i’s.
“The me you’ve been seeing is the real me, Soo-i.”
She should have pulled her hand away.
But as if under a spell, Soo-i couldn’t escape the warmth of his touch.
“Being born into Kangho Group meant my life was never my own.”
……
“I wanted to live as myself, not a puppet—as a real human being named Beom Jin, not as a member of the Dok-go family. And I wanted to be beside someone who could see me that way. That someone was you.”
The low, steady voice that reached her ears was almost hypnotic.
“No matter what you say now—”
“I was framed for drug trafficking in America and driven out.”
Soo-i’s eyes widened.
What kind of drugs?
“The person who picked a fight with me happened to be gang-affiliated. It was retaliation. But nobody believed me. Not my family, not the people I thought of as family.”
Beom Jin’s tone was detached, but his grip on her hand tightened gradually.
Having been falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he’d fled America and returned home only to find himself under strict surveillance, his life wholly controlled.
He couldn’t move freely even within the family compound.
The reasoning was that he might be up to no good when no one was watching.
“If I took a shower that was even slightly too long, they’d pick the lock and come in. I couldn’t be alone in my room for more than ten minutes.”
Under strict surveillance, Beom Jin had to keep to a meticulous, suffocating schedule set by the family.
He couldn’t rest, shower, or do anything of his own volition.
“Then I met you.”
Just when his frayed nerves were reaching a breaking point.
Beom Jin found light.
The only salvation that had ever believed in him.
“That’s when I decided.”
“…Decided what?”
“To marry you. Deadline: one year. Until I escape the family’s surveillance.”

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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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