To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 16

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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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Chapter 16
“And the result?”
I swallowed hard, barely managing to open my mouth.
“The doctor said if I apply the ointment regularly, there won’t be any scarring.”
“Are there any other injuries?”
I nodded.
“No, there aren’t.”
“Then why didn’t you mention your hand?”
“Ah….”
I flustered, instinctively hiding my hand behind my back.
“You’re lying again, Yoon Hee-jo.”
“It’s not a lie… it’s just such a minor injury. I didn’t want to bother you with something so trivial….”
My voice growing smaller, my gaze lowering, my frame seeming particularly fragile today—none of it pleased him.
Kwon Yeol snatched my hidden hand and pulled it toward him.
“You keeping quiet and hiding things because you’re thinking of me, leaving me clueless like an idiot—I hate that, Yoon Hee-jo.”
On my slender hand, a small white gauze square, slightly smaller than the one on my cheek, caught in his line of sight.
Had his mother thrown a vase?
The image of shards scattered by his mother’s hand grazing across me played vividly in my mind.
“Move in with me starting today.”
A pause.
I suddenly drew a sharp breath, my eyes widening as I lifted my head.
My thoughts froze at his unexpected words.
I stared up at him blankly, my lips parting slightly.
“What… what did you just say?”
“We were going to merge our lives anyway. I’m just moving up the timeline.”
“You mean you’re leaving the Transmission Hall?”
“For now.”
“That can’t happen.”
Kwon Yeol narrowed his eyes, pressing and rubbing the inside of my wrist.
“You didn’t listen properly to what I said earlier.”
Then, suddenly rising from my seat, he wrapped his arms around me from behind, pressing me firmly into his chest.
Our chests met without a single gap between them.
“The premise of this contract is that you do nothing without my permission. In other words, if I permit it, you must comply with whatever I say.”
“But….”
Tension and fear flickered in my wide eyes as I hesitated.
“Damaging my woman is the same as damaging me. If you accept this treatment and do nothing, it undermines both the authenticity of our relationship and my standing.”
Kwon Yeol gently brushed away the tears from the corners of my eyes with his thumb. Each touch of his cool fingertips sent a burning sensation across my skin.
“A man who can’t protect his own woman—how could he ever protect his company?”
My woman.
Those words rendered me speechless, and I bit down softly on the tender flesh inside my lips.
My heart trembled uncontrollably, at the most inopportune moments.
Kwon Yeol had surely spoken those words merely for the sake of his business and position, yet even as my mind understood his intentions, my heart raced wildly of its own accord.
My heart pounded fiercely. Pathetically so.
“Did it hurt much?”
At Kwon Yeol’s question, I lowered my gaze and shook my head slightly.
“No. It didn’t hurt at all.”
“Hee-jo.”
His voice, low and measured, pierced through my ears.
His large hand swept slowly up and down my delicate back.
Though his touch was gentle, the weighty pressure contained within it constricted my breath.
“Are you trying to make me look like a fool again?”
“…It’s really true. I only have a wound, but I’m perfectly fine otherwise.”
“Look at me.”
His eyes and tone carried a hint of irritation.
I had thought I knew Kwon Yeol reasonably well.
But I had never seen him wear this cold expression before.
It would have been better if he had simply continued wearing the mask of a kind older brother’s friend as before.
“Don’t lie. That’s the second condition.”
I bit my lip.
Then I’ve already broken the condition.
It was thanks to that lie—that I viewed you merely as a trophy to display—that I was able to conclude this contract.
If I had revealed even the slightest hint of my true feelings, Kwon Yeol would never have looked at me twice.
My truth is poison to you.
So… in the end, I can only answer with lies.
Besides, I’ve already abandoned any pretense of being good.
“Then will you also speak honestly to me? From now on… about everything?”
“When did you become so bold, Yoon Hee-jo?”
Kwon Yeol narrowed his eyes.
“You’re answering a question with a question.”
“I’m also practicing… how to behave to appear as your wife.”
Wife. Kwon Yeol couldn’t understand why such a trivial word seeped so deeply into his chest.
But one thing was certain: his mood had improved somewhat compared to when he heard that she had been injured and visited the hospital—with someone else, no less.
All because of one light remark from a child.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Then I will too.”
I added quietly.
“It hurt a little just now. Not when I was hit, but a little when they were disinfecting it.”
Ha. Kwon Yeol let out a hollow breath.
The sight of her clumsily confessing her pain was both absurd and, in a way, endearing.
Just moments before arriving here, his anger had been so intense it felt like his eyes were boiling.
The cool pressure that had been bearing down on her just moments before dissipated in an instant.
Kwon Yeol sank deep into the sofa and pulled Hee-jo toward him without hesitation.
“Ah…!”
Caught off guard, Hee-jo found herself drawn up onto his lap and gripped his solid shoulders tightly.
“Kwon Yeol?”
Panicked, she twisted her body to escape, but Kwon Yeol wrapped his thick, muscular arms around her and pulled her deeper into his embrace.
“Stay still.”
Kwon Yeol buried his face in the delicate curve of Hee-jo’s neck. The faint scent of disinfectant mingled with her natural fragrance pricked at his senses.
“Just stay like this for a moment. It’s your punishment.”
His low, gravelly voice resonated against her ear.
Hee-jo gradually released the tension in her hands gripping his shoulders and surrendered herself to his embrace.
Whether this was a rebuke for recklessly injuring herself or retaliation for allowing herself to be led to the hospital by another’s hand without his permission, she couldn’t say—
‘…It’s so warm.’
The pain she had endured before Jin Seo-ryeong began to slowly dissipate within this broad, solid embrace.
As the tension drained from her rigid body, she finally realized how much she had been trembling.
Hee-jo closed her eyes and surrendered herself completely to him.
Whatever happened, she thought, she would gladly accept this punishment again and again.
The cool air of the hospital room grew heavy and humid beneath the oppressive intimacy of the two of them.
Their “moment” lasted longer than usual, yet neither of them broke the silence.
* * *
When the two of them left the hospital room, their destination was Han Young-sook’s Transmission Hall.
“Why don’t you rest at home?”
Hee-jo shook her head.
“I have knotwork I promised to give to my teacher. I need to finish the knots by tomorrow morning, and the hospital visit has made me fall behind… I’d appreciate your help.”
Kwon Yeol’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Don’t use the word ‘appreciate’ anymore. A wife can make such requests of her husband as a matter of course, can’t she?”
Wife. Husband.
At those words, Hee-jo felt the heat that had barely subsided in her cheeks flare up again.
It was only because she had managed to postpone his suggestion that they live together starting today that she hadn’t spent the entire time looking embarrassed at home.
‘If I hadn’t, he definitely would have noticed my feelings.’
Hee-jo casually tucked her hair behind her ear and spoke with forced composure.
“You should return to the company as well.”
“It doesn’t matter. Getting you there is my priority.”
…Why did he keep saying things that made her heart race like this?
She was almost afraid her heartbeat would become audible to Kwon Yeol.
“You said you were entering an important project. I don’t want to be the reason it falls through.”
After all, this contract marriage had been chosen to make that project succeed.
She didn’t want her existence to become an obstacle in his path any longer.
“I can just take a taxi when I leave.”
“I’ll send a car. You’re taking it. I won’t compromise on that.”
At Kwon Yeol’s firm words, Hee-jo fell silent.
By now, I should have grown accustomed to it.
Yet his tenderness, spilling out so unexpectedly, still left my heart racing helplessly each time.
To hide the turbulent stirring of my emotions, I turned my gaze toward the window.
“…Yes, I will.”
Satisfied with my obedient reply, the tension finally eased from Kwon Yeol’s eyes.
The car glided forward through a gentle silence, arriving before the Transmission Hall.
It was the moment Hee-jo had just unfastened her seatbelt.
“Thank you for the ride—”
Before the greeting could finish.
Warm softness pressed seamlessly against her parted lips.

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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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