To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 40

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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 40
* * *
“Ahh…!”
Hee-jo trembled helplessly, writhing like a fish impaled on a spear.
Each time Kwon Yeol’s firm hands lifted her up and down, her pale, voluptuous skin undulated in graceful arcs.
It was a provocative, obscene sight. Enough to sever all reason.
Kwon Yeol lowered his head and filled his mouth with the flushed, heated skin.
When his tongue persistently wrapped around her sensitive spot, Hee-jo swallowed a cry and pulled his head closer.
Her slender thighs trembled and convulsed, tightening around his waist with increasing force.
“I think I’ve heard enough of an answer.”
Kwon Yeol gazed at her glistening, disheveled skin with satisfaction, his reddened lips moving slowly across his tongue.
“You seem to be enjoying this, Hee-jo.”
“Ah… don’t say things like that….”
“Do you want more?”
Kwon Yeol whispered low against her delicate shoulder, biting gently without causing pain.
“Or should I say I’ll give you more.”
Before his words even finished, he thrust his hips upward roughly.
In that instant, an intense wave of pleasure so overwhelming it made her vision flash white coursed through Hee-jo’s entire body.
Her eyes went dizzy and inverted as she forgot even to breathe, her body going rigid.
“You have to tell me, Yoon Hee-jo.”
“Ah, mm, Kwon Yeol… ah!”
“Just whimpering indecently. Calling my name so carelessly.”
Kwon Yeol cradled her small head in his large palm as she gasped against his shoulder, then lifted her effortlessly and carried her toward the bed.
Her auburn hair scattered across the white sheets.
Across her pale skin—nearly as white as the sheets themselves—were scattered the crimson hickeys he had left behind, like scattered petals.
As Kwon Yeol gazed down at those vivid marks with satisfaction, his eyes darkened intensely.
His hand pressed firmly against her smooth, flat lower abdomen.
“Hah….”
How could such a small, delicate body accept him?
Even as he pushed to the limit, instead of breaking, Hee-jo embraced him with searing heat.
No, it was far more than mere acceptance.
She writhed as if to swallow his entire existence whole, and sometimes clung to him with relentless persistence.
This girl, who appeared so docile and fragile on the surface, was beneath him demanding him with such ravenous hunger.
The contradiction made his vision threaten to spin.
Or perhaps it already had.
“I’ll take you again tomorrow.”
Kwon Yeol cupped her flushed cheek as she gasped beneath him, and pressed his lips against hers.
She had asked him to be a “real husband” for as long as they were together.
And I, too, want to hold this girl in my arms and kiss her.
The light in the annex did not go out until dawn broke.
* * *
Eleven days had passed since the wedding ceremony.
Beom Gwon-yeol, the next heir to the Beomho Group and Executive Director, was personally driving his wife to the company.
Upon arriving at their destination, he brought the car to a stop with practiced ease and turned to look at Hee-jo in the passenger seat.
“Have a good day.”
Kwon Yeol unfastened his seatbelt and leaned his upper body toward her.
Smack.
His lips lingered on Hee-jo’s forehead before pulling away.
Smack, smack smack.
As his affectionate touches continued naturally to her eyes and both cheeks, Hee-jo’s face flushed a rosy pink.
“There’s no one watching….”
“I want to do this with my wife.”
He gently caressed the area around her eyes.
“We promised to become a real couple, didn’t we?”
An older brother’s friend, faithful to his promises.
A husband, faithful to his wife….
Hee-jo found herself thinking: someday, when he meets his “real wife,” he’ll be just as tender with her.
The thought stung a corner of her heart, but she deliberately pushed it aside.
She didn’t want to shatter this false sweetness.
“I’ll pick you up when I leave work, so wait for me. Don’t leave first.”
“Your mother asked me to go shopping with her today….”
Hee-jo answered carefully, gauging his reaction.
Ever since Kwon Yeol attended the Jinri Society gathering, Madam Jung had taken Hee-jo along on all her outings.
Her reason was that there was much to teach her so she wouldn’t damage the Group’s image, given how “lacking” she was in everything.
Yet curiously, Kim Jung-yeon appeared wherever they went.
When others were watching, Kim Jung-yeon was either kind or dismissive, but the moment they were alone, she smiled while hurling insults.
“No matter how expensive the clothes you wear, your origins can’t be hidden. You look so shabby, like you picked up someone else’s cast-offs.”
“How does it feel to enjoy luxury on your brother’s life? Are you happy? Really, it’s so shamefully brazen.”
“I understand the importance of one’s upbringing by looking at you, Hee-jo. I wonder how much more repulsively you act in front of Kwon Yeol.”
But Hee-jo had already been tempered by Jin Seo-ryeong to not be swayed by such words.
Watching Hee-jo’s unbothered demeanor, Kim Jung-yeon’s face flushed deeper red with frustration.
Yet what came next made even Hee-jo flinch involuntarily.
“Guilt is heavier than other emotions, and as it accumulates, it numbs reason and crushes a person. Kwon Yeol’s tenderness is merely a compensation psychology for his dead friend.”
She knew it well. She knew it, and yet….
Each time, Hee-jo’s heart was torn to shreds.
It hurt unbearably to realize in every moment that this warmth enveloping her so hotly and softly was nothing but a lie.
“You take my car, Hee-jo. I’ll come pick you up.”
“Will you come with us, brother?”
Seeing Hee-jo’s eyes widen in surprise, Kwon Yeol tapped the bridge of her nose lightly.
“Ow.”
“Why are you so surprised? You don’t want to go with your husband?”
“N-no, it’s not that I don’t want to… I just thought you’d be busy…”
“I’m not the kind of man who can’t manage his schedule well enough to worry you. So stop worrying and just wait. Don’t get swept up by my mother.”
Kwon Yeol rubbed his soft cheek against hers affectionately.
It was a habit that had developed since their marriage.
Before, he had only stroked her hair.
Now, as if to hint at their changed relationship each time, his touch had become bolder and more tender.
Hee-jo held her breath at the warmth of his hand against her cheek.
Was this also one of the ‘husband’s duties’ he had mentioned?
Though she feared he might hear her racing heartbeat, she found herself unable to push away his touch, however brief the moment.
“You need to answer me, Yoon Hee-jo.”
“…Yes, I will.”
“Good girl.”
He lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers.
At the soft, soothing kiss, she closed her eyes and gripped his collar tightly.
* * *
“The Executive Director brought the Vice Director again today.”
At Secretary-General Yeom Ji-young’s report, Jin Seo-ryeong let out an exasperated breath.
“Vice Director? What on earth was Father thinking, putting that girl in such an enormous position?”
“…”
“He said he was too busy to come to my mother’s inauguration ceremony. And I know his schedule is even more packed now than it was then.”
“…”
“The same goes for the Jinri Society meetings. When I became vice president, he only gave a perfunctory greeting, but for that insignificant girl, how much effort did he really put in? And the gifts he brought that day—he didn’t even leave them with Manager Hong. He personally selected every single one?”
Yeom Ji-young bowed her head deeply instead of answering.
Jin Seo-ryeong sighed softly and set down her teacup.
“Did you call Kim Jung-yeon?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kim Jung-yeon’s appearance at any gathering where Jin Seo-ryeong brought Hee-jo was far from coincidental.
To Jin Seo-ryeong, Hee-jo was an ‘answer that could not be corrected,’ while Kim Jung-yeon was ‘the answer already prepared.’
“I still want to become Kwon Yeol’s wife and part of your family.”
Kim Jung-yeon’s eyes glistened with tears as she declared that her feelings for Kwon Yeol would not change even if he became a divorcé, and that she would support him with all her might.
Jin Seo-ryeong appreciated such relentless determination.
One needed that level of ambition to truly manage the Beom household.
At the same time, anxiety crept in.
What if Kim Jung-yeon grew exhausted and gave up?
What if Kwon Yeol remained forever shackled to this girl with nothing but her background…?
That would be a curse not only for Kwon Yeol but for any child born to them.
She could already foresee how miserably isolated a child would be in this world, burdened with a maternal family so powerless and insignificant.
When others soared with wings on their backs, she could not allow her eldest son and grandchild to be held back by the shackles of Yoon Hee-jo.
So Jin Seo-ryeong made her decision.
For the sake of the eldest son and the family’s future, she decided to separate the two of them.
For a man like Kwon Yeol, divorce was hardly a significant blemish.
Even her own nephew had found a better match after his divorce.
“Seo-ryeong, you know how accomplished our Jung Hyuk is, don’t you? The moment the divorce was finalized, calls came pouring in from everywhere… Goodness, he said he’s been exhausted just turning them all down every single day.”
Recalling her sister’s weary boasting about even brewing medicinal tonics to recover her energy, Jin Seo-ryeong steadied her breathing.
Yes, my Kwon Yeol will flourish once he makes a fresh start too.
Then he’ll soar even higher.
For now, being newlyweds and under public scrutiny, he plays the affectionate husband well enough.
But that little girl will bore him soon enough, and he’ll tire of her completely.
That’s what she believed…
“What? Kwon Yeol is coming to pick her up?”
“Yes, Director. Beom Executive Director just said he and the Vice Director are heading to the department store first.”
Jin Seo-ryeong exhaled with a hollow expression of disbelief.
Kwon Yeol had rarely visited the department store in person. Even then, it was only to make a brief appearance for business.
Personally accompanying her for mere shopping?
That man, who despised crowds so much that even after closing hours when the entire department store was reserved exclusively for VVIPs, he refused to go near the place.
“That girl is truly diminishing my son’s stature.”
Rushing to the department store in disbelief, Jin Seo-ryeong painfully realized once again that her dreaded concerns were not unfounded.
“What on earth is all this…?”

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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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