My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 8

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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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8.

Lee Jin could neither agree nor disagree with his words, so she simply blinked, her face rigid.
Her heart raced abnormally fast, and her flushed cheeks showed no sign of cooling.
Everything was chaos itself.
“I’m sorry. I meant to wait longer.”
Kang Hyun exhaled a long breath, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Seeing her notice the subtle shift in atmosphere and move to escape into the room, what little self-control remained shattered.
No—his self-control had already crumbled long ago.
From the moment he’d found Lee Jin with tears reddening her eyes, to when she’d wrapped herself in his jacket, to when she’d laughed over wine, to every calculated word he’d thrown at her that she’d responded to so helplessly.
Each moment had tested what little restraint he had left.
Perhaps it was just as well. From now on, he wouldn’t have to hide what he felt.
The instant his plan went awry, Kang Hyun immediately recalibrated, charting a new course.
His hand brushed gently across her still-stiff cheek as he spoke.
“It’s not because you’re my friend’s sister that I’m taking notice of you. And it’s certainly not out of pity.”
“Then…….”
“You’re a woman to me. Have been for quite some time.”
Her pupils quivered visibly.
The urge to shake Lee Jin until she collapsed against him on the sofa churned in his Dantian like molten fire. But today, this was where he’d draw the line.
Even if his mind was already running through every shameless act he could perform with her—undressing her, tasting her, the whole tangled mess—Kang Hyun was acutely aware of exactly where he would not cross.
For the sake of something better, sometimes you had to step back. That was always the wiser choice.
“I understand this is confusing, but nothing changes. You’ve always been that to me, so there’s nothing new here.”
Since when had he harbored such feelings?
She’d had no idea. Lee Jin wanted to ask so much, but she feared that doing so would entangle her so completely that there’d be no turning back.
“Kang Hyun, I……
Before her stumbling words could continue, he cut her off.
“I’m not asking you to decide anything right now. Just rest for now.”
Yes, that was best. Exhaustion crashed over her like someone had reached into her already-spinning mind and stirred it further into chaos.
Lee Jin nodded. He then opened the door for her himself.
“Get some rest. And don’t go thinking you won’t see my face again.”
Unprepared for him to be so direct, Lee Jin blinked several times before speaking.
“Uh, um, sleep well.”
Kang Hyun gave her a slight smile, then closed the door. The moment it shut, his face contorted and he muttered a curse under his breath.
“Don’t go thinking you won’t see my face again.” What kind of line was that?
He could practically hear Lee Hwan clutching his stomach and cackling at him.
I know I’m pathetic—spare me the commentary, he said to the phantom image of Lee Hwan that materialised before him as he walked on.
When was the last time he’d felt this foolish, this young? The realisation jolted him awake.

Lee Jin walked without truly registering her own movement, and sat down at the edge of the bed in a daze.
The plush bedding offered a pleasant sense of comfort, though she barely noticed.
The sensation of their lips meeting flooded back, and her head spun.
‘He saw me as a woman from long ago?’
She’d never once considered it.
That Kang Hyun—that composed, seemingly indifferent friend of her brother’s—had been looking at her that way all this time.
Without thinking, Lee Jin traced her lips with her fingertips. The dizzying sensation returned, and her heart began to race again.
‘What do I do now?’
She let out a small sigh.
Kang Hyun was no longer simply someone’s friend.
And if anyone asked her whether that was still true now, she wasn’t sure the answer would come quickly.
Kang Hyun. He was someone she couldn’t exclude from her narrow, intimate circle of people. Moreover, because of the Pottery, she’d have to see him often.
“He said I was a woman to him……”
She murmured to herself with an uncertain expression, cradling her face in both hands.
Heat radiated from her cheeks where her palms pressed against them.

***

Ever since the founding ceremony party, after Kang Hyun’s visit, Jin Ae-ran had been wrestling with a serious matter.
Though her youngest had always been headstrong and wilful, she found herself caught in quite a profound dilemma.
“We need to get him married off quickly.”
That was the only way to rein in that thundering brute.
But pushing him into a wedding hall wouldn’t be easy either. Jin Ae-ran exhaled a long sigh and shuffled through the photographs scattered across her desk, lost in thought.
The subjects of these photos were all daughters of prominent entrepreneurs and politicians—women willing to make a match with a man whose face they’d never seen.
It spoke to the value of the Moon Seong Group, certainly, but once these women caught sight of her son’s handsome face, the matchmaking offers would come flooding in tenfold.
The thought made Jin Ae-ran’s mouth turn bitter.
“He makes a spectacle of himself at every turn.”
There had been a rumor during school years, brief though it was, that Kang Hyun was the heir to the Moon Seong Group.
Jin Ae-ran’s eyes narrowed as she recalled how wildly Kang Hyun had kicked up a fuss back then.
Thinking of all the effort and money spent to crush that rumor, her blood pressure spiked even now.
At least it had kept Kang Hyun’s face from becoming public knowledge.
Jin Ae-ran plucked one photograph from the pile.
“She was quite presentable, as I recall.”
Cheon Eun-jung, the second daughter of the Osong Group. Jin Ae-ran nodded slowly as she summoned her memories of their previous meeting.
If this young woman could settle her wayward son, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for her.
She wasn’t hoping for stiff formality, meek compliance, and courteous distance alone.
If the girl could bridle that wild colt—even with a touch of pressure and restraint—that was all that mattered.
In that regard, no one seemed more suited to the task than Cheon Eun-jung. Jin Ae-ran finished her deliberation and placed a call.

***

―You’re leaving without giving your mother a second thought?

Jin Ae-ran’s nagging text messages came pouring in.

―Grand Hotel Sky Lounge, Saturday, 3 p.m. Let’s have some tea. If you don’t show, consider our parent-child bond severed from this moment on. Mark my words.

It was practically a threat. Kang Hyun was reluctant, but he couldn’t bring himself to agree to cutting ties, so he headed for the Grand Hotel.
Thud-thud-thud—as he stepped through the hotel entrance, eyes turned toward him. His tall frame and striking appearance drew gazes wherever he went.
The man himself seemed oblivious to the stares, his face perfectly composed, but inwardly he was thoroughly irritated.
He could predict every word of Jin Ae-ran’s complaints from one to ten.
The thought made him question whether seeing her was really the right choice.
The one thing that kept him sane was the occasional image of Lee Jin’s face flickering through his mind.
Her stolen kiss, the way she’d flushed and turned red at the ears and neck when flustered—that sort of thing.
He’d planned to send her home awkwardly the next day and then meet up over the weekend to smooth things over between them, but Jin Ae-ran’s interference had kept him from making that appointment.
So how could he be anything but resentful about this meeting with his mother?
He entered the Sky Lounge with a face worn by obligation. When he gave Jin Ae-ran’s name to the staff, they led him to a table.
But Jin Ae-ran wasn’t there.
‘So this was the plan from the start.’
Kang Hyun’s lips twisted. The ambush had landed cleanly.
Clearly there had been some prior arrangement with Jin Ae-ran. A woman sat at the table, dressed in elegant, tasteful attire befitting the occasion, and she looked up at the sound of footsteps.
The moment she saw Kang Hyun’s face, her eyes widened.
“Oh?”
Kang Hyun furrowed his brow at the sight of her.
“Cheon Eun-jung.”
Then she let out a hollow laugh.
“So you’re the third son of the Moon Seong Group everyone was gossiping about.”
Her tone was unmistakably mocking.
The woman who had lifted her head with perfect courtesy moments before, her lips curved into a welcoming smile, now wore a deflated expression the instant she saw Kang Hyun’s face.
As if she were saying: Why are you the third son of the Moon Seong Group? Or perhaps she was sneering at the fact that the rumors about him being impressive were hollow.
They were high school classmates—or more precisely, enemies like a dog and a cat. Oil and water, utterly incompatible.
Whenever they were together, they both had to exert considerable effort not to let their disdain show.
“Well, you certainly did your homework before summoning me here,” Kang Hyun said, his smile twisted and sharp as he took a seat.
He felt deep chagrin at his mother’s discerning eye—that she’d chosen Cheon Eun-jung out of all the candidates.
But he couldn’t leave immediately. There were surely eyes watching them in this place.
He decided to sit through enough of a conversation that it could pass as an actual exchange, then slip away.
“You’re going on a blind date? Are you that desperate to marry?” Kang Hyun asked in his characteristically crooked expression, and Cheon Eun-jung recoiled.

“You’re still as insufferable as ever.”

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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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