To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 17

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

Chapter 17
The accidental contact brought Hee-jo’s thoughts to a complete standstill.
Captivated by Kwon Yeol’s dark, thick lashes filling her vision and the deep, weighty fragrance brushing against her nose, she couldn’t move an inch.
He wrapped his large hand around the back of her stiffened neck, then slowly parted the space between them and pushed his tongue inside.
After gently holding her, he slowly curved his tongue and drew in the sweetness pooling there.
Their tangled, intertwined hot breaths dampened the inside of each other’s mouths.
Hee-jo gripped his collar tightly.
The sticky, entangling sensation sent a tingle through her toes.
The deep and persistent kiss only slowly pulled away when her breath rose all the way to her throat.
“Hah….”
Kwon Yeol cradled the face of the woman exhaling her held breath in ragged gasps, wiping her wet lips with his thumb as he murmured softly.
“I’ll go straight home.”
Facing Hee-jo’s hazy, flushed expression still warm from their kiss, his thirst only intensified rather than subsided.
“Haa… yes….”
“Call me when you’re done.”
That defenseless way she nodded blankly was quite alluring and endearing.
Kwon Yeol couldn’t help but capture her lips once more.
Unlike before, it was a soft and rich kiss, as if soothing her.
The inside of Hee-jo’s lower abdomen began to simmer.
At the dizzying sensation of thousands of butterflies taking flight at once, every nerve in her body stood on end.
Soft moans kept slipping out without her realizing it.
Because the warmth of the hand cradling her head was so comforting.
Because his kiss was… so tenderly affectionate, like a lover’s.
Hee-jo finally wrapped her arms around his neck and surrendered deeply to this sweet punishment.
* * *
The prolonged farewell had left Hee-jo’s face flushed.
Even fanning herself with her hand couldn’t dispel the heat quickly.
That’s when the Transmission Hall door suddenly burst open and someone rushed out hurriedly.
“Hee-jo!”
Han Young-sook’s welcoming expression froze abruptly, her eyes widening.
“I heard the car and thought it was you… goodness, why does your face look like that?”
Han Young-sook’s face filled with alarm as she examined Hee-jo.
“Are you hurt? Don’t tell me you had an accident, did you?”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing serious, Teacher.”
“Nothing serious? You have gauze on your face and your cheeks are so flushed!”
The wound beneath the gauze was truly minor. Her cheeks had only flushed again because of Kwon Yeol, but she couldn’t honestly admit that fact.
“Goodness, even on your hands….”
“Let’s go inside first, Teacher.”
Hee-jo soothed her flustered teacher and led her into the Transmission Hall.
Upon entering the interior, which carried the cool wooden scent characteristic of traditional Korean architecture, two servings of tea and refreshments were neatly arranged on a large table.
Hee-jo steadied the startled Han Young-sook into a seat, then settled across from her.
“Have you been to the hospital? Did you go?”
“Yes, I’m on my way back from treatment.”
Hee-jo offered a deliberately gentle smile, as if to ease her worries.
Before Han Young-sook could speak again, Hee-jo opened her mouth first, her voice subdued.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Teacher.”
Hee-jo’s gaze, fixed upon the teacup cooling quietly before her, grew grave and still.
“I’m getting married.”
“…What? What did you say?”
“I’m going to marry Kwon Yeol.”
Han Young-sook’s eyes widened even further than before, her expression one of disbelief—as though she couldn’t trust what her ears had just heard.
Yet what came next was far more shocking.
“On the condition that we divorce after one year.”
Facing her speechless teacher, Hee-jo laughed weakly.
“I wanted to be happy. By Kwon Yeol’s side, even if only for a single moment.”
Han Young-sook could not find the words to speak. She knew better than anyone that Hee-jo had carried Kwon Yeol in her heart for a very long time.
From the days when this child was still in elementary school until now, she had watched over those quiet moments when Hee-jo would twist thread between her fingers, nursing a secret heartache.
Han Young-sook, barely composing herself from the shock, parted her lips.
“How… how did this even happen, hmm?”
“Actually, I went on a blind date not long ago.”
“What? A… a blind date?”
“I’m sorry for not telling you beforehand. I knew that if you found out, you’d surely forbid it… so I deliberately kept quiet about it.”
Hee-jo lowered her head. Han Young-sook exhaled a long, hollow breath, then tapped her own chest as if her heart felt heavy.
“Hee-jo, you know exactly what Madam Jung thinks of you. She doesn’t cherish you sincerely—she merely sees you as an ornament to prove her own virtue!”
Despite Han Young-sook’s sorrowful reproach, Hee-jo remained composed. It was something she had known for a long time.
“Yes, I know.”
“Then why! Why were you so stubborn about it, hmm?”
Her quiet voice fell like a whisper above the pristine teacup.
“…Because that’s the only way I can stay by Kwon Yeol’s side.”
If my relationship with Madam Jung were to fracture, it would ultimately be Kwon Yeol who would suffer.
I knew more keenly than anyone how sharp family discord could be, and what wounds its shards could leave on those around us.
I could not bear to watch Kwon Yeol grow distant from his family because of my own selfish desires.
So I endured a little longer, suppressed myself a little more, and catered to Madam Jung’s temperament.
Even in the face of graceful insults, I simply bowed my head quietly and offered a smile.
Because that was the best I could do for him.
The only way to remain by his side without disturbing his world.
“Oh, Hee-jo, what am I to do with you? What am I to do with this poor child…”
Han Young-sook finally could not hold back, and tears spilled forth.
Watching her trembling teacher pull out a handkerchief and dab her wet eyes, Hee-jo instead reached out with steady hands to refill the teacup.
“Please don’t cry, Teacher. I’m all right.”
“Do I look like I’m not crying right now? Sob, so what’s this about divorcing after a year? How could you even say such a thing?”
Han Young-sook’s voice trembled with resentment and sorrow.
Hee-jo lowered her gaze as if carefully choosing her words, then met her eyes quietly and answered.
“I asked my brother for a birthday gift.”
Hee-jo began to unfold what had happened with Kwon Yeol, piece by piece.
Speaking as calmly and composedly as possible, so her teacher wouldn’t be shocked or saddened further.
“So we decided to part ways after a year. Besides, I was already planning to follow you down to your hometown anyway. I’ll just be by his side until then.”
Hee-jo continued in an even tone, as though reciting something predetermined.
“Perhaps, as you suggested, I might go abroad to give lectures. A year felt like just the right amount of time to prepare for that.”
Hee-jo reached out and gently covered Han Young-sook’s hand with her own.
“So please, don’t scold me too harshly. Just watch over me.”
“…”
“This is the only happiness I’ve chosen purely for myself, aside from the knot that bound my birth.”
Hee-jo smiled brightly.
At that smile—so luminous and radiant—Han Young-sook could only swallow the words that had risen to her throat.
“…Will you truly have no regrets?”
After a long silence, the question that came was both permission and resignation. Hee-jo nodded as though she’d been waiting for it.
“Yes. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Now I don’t have to remain only as my brother’s friend’s younger sister.”
Even if I end up as merely one of countless ordinary women, forgotten in the end…
It was far better that Kwon Yeol harbor a fierce, bittersweet love for me than a faint pity and sense of debt.
After studying Hee-jo’s eyes for a long while, Han Young-sook let out a heavy sigh and firmly grasped her hand.
“If it becomes too difficult, come back to me anytime. The Transmission Hall can be sorted out quickly enough. Just abandon everything and come down with me. Understood?”
At her teacher’s words, filled with genuine concern, Hee-jo broke into a radiant smile.
It was the clearest, most luminous smile Han Young-sook had ever seen on Hee-jo’s face.
“Yes, Teacher. I will.”
Han Young-sook’s heart swelled with emotion as she rose and pulled Hee-jo into a tight embrace.
“Don’t forget that I’m behind you. If you endure through hardship without telling me, I won’t forgive you—I’ll scold you severely. Understood?”
Hee-jo held back the tears welling up in her eyes as she embraced her teacher in return.
The warmth she felt in her teacher’s arms gently enveloped her aching heart.
Like a pristine knot completed through countless twists and turns, her teacher’s unwavering support held Hee-jo’s heart taut and steady.
With a life’s knot bound so firmly, she could now gladly begin to tie a new knot at its end.
Even if that end were a perilous, uncertain loop.

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