The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 26

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

26.
Since she and Cha-gyeong weren’t actually dating, there was no way she could have received a gift from him.
Do-ah had no desire to lie, so she answered truthfully.
“I haven’t received any gift, no.”
“What? Really?”
Na-hee’s eyes widened. She looked incredulous.
“My goodness, a man with that kind of wealth won’t even buy you a single gift? Do you really have his affection or not?”
Na-hee pressed on eagerly.
“Or maybe you two are just seeing each other for fun. Ah, I’m joking. Just kidding. Don’t take it too seriously.”
Na-hee waved her hand dismissively, but the atmosphere in the office had already shifted subtly. The glances directed at Do-ah were tinged with pity and suspicion.
Just then, a new employee who had been studying Na-hee’s handbag intently spoke up without warning.
“Um…… Na-hee?”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Is that handbag, by any chance, counterfeit?”
“What, what did you just say?”
Na-hee’s face went white.
“I have the same bag, see. But mine is quite different from yours. The logo placement is off, the stitching spacing is uneven. And this gold plating—authentic pieces have a warm golden tone, but this one is way too yellow.”
The new employee spoke with confidence. Everyone remembered how she’d been boasting that she could become a counterfeiter detector, given her obsession with luxury brands.
“This is ridiculous! Who calls whose bag counterfeit? Maybe your bag is the fake! Who gives a counterfeit as a wedding gift!”
“I, I’m sorry if I offended you. I was just worried you might get scammed, since it’s such an important gift. I’m really good at spotting these things. You should just take it to where you bought it and confirm right away…”
“That’s enough. Stop it. I’ll bring the certificate of authenticity tomorrow and show you it’s real myself.”
Na-hee glared at the new employee with sharp eyes.
“If it turns out Hye-ji was wrong, I absolutely won’t let this slide.”
With that, Na-hee shoved her chair back and left the office.
* * *
Na-hee stared at the handbag on the table with revulsion.
The word “counterfeit” that Hye-ji had casually thrown out was eating away at her mind like a poisonous toadstool.
‘Woo Gyeong-jun, how dare you give me a fake?’
Right after hearing that accusation, she’d had the bag examined and confirmed it was indeed an expertly crafted forgery.
Now all that remained was to make Gyeong-jun pay for foisting such garbage on her.
While she was suppressing her seething anger, the cafe door opened and Gyeong-jun walked in.
“Na-hee, why did you come so early? Did you wait long?”
Na-hee answered with a radiant smile.
“No, I just got here too. It’s hot out there—get something cold to drink.”
Gyeong-jun ordered an iced Americano and looked Na-hee over. She wore a lovely mini dress, and beside her sat the handbag he’d given her as a gift.
“Oh, you brought the handbag I gave you?”
“Mm-hmm. I really love it. Everyone at the office was raving about how pretty it is.”
“Ah, ha ha. Really? It was worth buying, then.”
Na-hee whispered in an affected voice.
“But honey, I accidentally scratched it somewhere, and the chain clasp got a little loose. It costs over ten million won—I don’t know why it’s so fragile.”
“Ha…… haha, really? Luxury items are always a bit delicate, you know.”
“So here’s the thing—let’s go to the department store today to get it serviced. Since you bought it under your name, you need to come along to process it faster.”
The color drained from Gyeong-jun’s face in an instant.
“N, now? But, uh, I really need to get home early today. My manager suddenly gave me urgent overtime…”
“You didn’t mention that when we talked earlier.”
“I just got the call! Just now!”
“Then I’ll go alone. Which store did you say you bought it from?”
Pfft!
Gyeong-jun spat out the coffee he’d been drinking. Na-hee suppressed her disgust and calmly handed him a tissue.
“You’re acting like a child. Seriously.”
“……The bag looks fine on the surface—do we really have to get it serviced?”
“The chain looks like it’s about to fall apart. Since you’re busy, I’ll just go alone, so tell me where the store is.”
“The repair fee will probably be quite high……”
“I’ll pay for it myself. Come on, tell me. Why are you stalling like this? Is it because the bag is fake and you can’t say anything? Aha ha, I’m joking, just joking!”
Hic! Hic!
Gyeong-jun suddenly began hiccupping.
In that instant, Na-hee’s eyes became sharp as an awl.
“Don’t tell me you……”
“Na-hee…… I’m sorry.”
“What? My god, you actually bought me a fake? Me?”
“I, I’m sorry. Na-hee.”
His cowardly apology, laden with all the truth, twisted her face into something terrifying.
* * *
At the same moment, a heavy silence hung over the dining table at Cha-gyeong’s family home.
“I need to see that girl right now.”
A woman with snow-white hair, swept back in perfect elegance, set down her spoon.
The click reverberated across the ebony wood table with weighty finality.
She was Gyu-seon, the vice chair of the Hyunsin Group who had nurtured the Cha family for years, both inside and out—the true power behind the household.
“Yes, bring her at once. What’s the difficulty? You two are already dating, aren’t you?”
Before Gyu-seon had even finished speaking, her husband Seong-taek, the chairman of the Hyunsin Group, chimed in agreement.
A renowned uxorious man in business circles, he had long since delegated all decision-making authority to Gyu-seon.
Cha-gyeong wiped his mouth with a napkin and opened his mouth.
“That’s not possible yet. Please wait a bit longer.”
The moment he finished, his mother Jeong-hye’s palm came down hard on his back.
“What kind of manner is that to speak to your grandmother? Is she one of your subordinates? When your elders speak, you say ‘yes’ and make it happen!”
I have no allies in this house.
Cha-gyeong let out a low sigh.
The accident that had occurred at the amusement park a few days ago had, fortunately, concluded without loss of life.
In truth, only he had been in danger, but the incident was sensational enough to spread rapidly through the media.
Though the fact that the accident victim was the third-generation heir and successor of the Hyunsin Group had been carefully concealed, there was no stopping family gossip.
“If that girl hadn’t been sitting next to you at the amusement park…… I can’t even think about it without everything going dark! The shaman said you two are bound by fate, and look—every word was true!”
“Of course, I did receive considerable help from Do-ah, but that was purely coincidence.”
“Coincidence my foot! Nothing in this world happens without reason! If marriage is too hasty, at least hold an engagement ceremony!”
Cha-gyeong looked at Gyu-seon with a mixture of discomfort and perplexity.
“You’re bringing up engagement at a first meeting? She might get frightened and run away.”
“You can smooth-talk her into it from the sidelines!”
“We’ve known each other less than a month. Who would think a man proposing engagement after that was sane?”
Even against Cha-gyeong’s logical rebuttal, Gyu-seon remained unmoved.
“There are plenty of people who enter marriage halls three days after meeting!”
“That’s hardly the norm. And Do-ah is quite reserved and shy by nature. She needs more time to prepare herself mentally before meeting our family.”
At those words, Gyu-seon’s eyes registered surprise.
“Shy? When I saw her in the lobby, she seemed remarkably bold and spirited.”
Cha-gyeong’s brow twitched slightly.
True—it was hard to think “shy” when one had witnessed a woman wielding a megaphone and causing a scene in the middle of a lobby.
Yet it was the truth. Despite having a boyfriend she was supposedly going to marry, she found it awkward to be alone with him.
She’d startled visibly even at an accidental brush of fingers, and whenever their eyes met, her gaze would flutter down to her feet.
Though humans were indeed complex and multifaceted, it was impossible to tell which version—the drunk one causing a scene or the current one—was her true self.
“The more you avoid this, the more I doubt you’re actually dating!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll put your doubts to rest soon enough.”
“When exactly is ‘soon’?”
“Soon means soon.”
As Cha-gyeong continued repeating himself, Gyu-seon finally slammed the table.
“Director Yoon.”
At her cutting tone, Director Yoon, who had been preparing dessert, hurried over anxiously.
“Yes, Vice Chair?”
“Cancel the medical checkup scheduled at the hospital tomorrow.”

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