To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 46

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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 46
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-The local government is being more stubborn than expected. It looks like I’ll need to stay longer.
The moment Kwon Yeol’s words reached her ears, Hee-jo’s grip tightened around her phone.
-I’d estimated two weeks, but it seems I’ll need to stay a full month.
“…I see.”
A month. Hee-jo gazed quietly at the calendar on her desk.
If only I could hold back the passage of time.
For Kwon Yeol, this month was merely an extension of his ordinary routine—resolving important matters. But for me, it meant something entirely different.
With less than a year remaining until the contract’s end.
A month apart from him felt like punishment.
Having resolved to spend the rest of my life carrying him in my heart, the memories I would build during our marriage were my only lifeline to endure what lay ahead.
But Kwon Yeol could never know this.
…Nor did he need to.
This emotion was mine alone to bear, from beginning to end.
“I hope it gets resolved smoothly.”
After a brief hesitation, Hee-jo added softly.
“I’ll be waiting.”
At her words, she heard Kwon Yeol draw in a deep breath.
-Once I resolve this, there shouldn’t be any urgent matters for a while.
His voice dropped low.
There was no anger in his tone.
It was similar to that heat from before—when his eyes darkened and shimmered as he pulled me close.
-When I get back, let’s go somewhere you like. We’ll visit Hee-jae too, catch an exhibition.
At Kwon Yeol’s words, Hee-jo found herself clutching at her chest.
He would never know how much these small gestures and suggestions shake me.
How I’m holding on by gathering the fragments of tenderness he casually throws my way.
“…Just hearing you say that means so much to me.”
A low laugh echoed through the phone.
-Do I really have so little credibility? I’m not just talking.
His voice, tinged with playfulness, tickled her ear.
-I’ll reflect on it. When I get back, I’ll prove I’ve learned my lesson. If I’m going to take Yoon Hee-jo around everywhere, I might need to take a day off each week.
She knows this.
That Kwon Yeol only jokes like this with me.
That I’m the only one he calls first to ask about my day, the only one he listens to with such care, laughing softly at trivial words.
Happy and heartbroken at once.
After the contract ends and we divorce…
He will be just as tender with whoever comes to stay by his side.
“Please eat well. And get proper sleep.”
-That’s what I should be telling you. Don’t skip dinner. If you don’t want to eat alone, call Beom Jae-yeol or someone.
At the mention of “Beom Jae-yeol’s household,” Hee-jo let out a soft laugh.
Before the wedding, after Jae-yeol had driven her to the Hospital, she’d been subtly wary of him—but that wariness had long since faded.
Now Kwon Yeol seemed to have not only lowered his guard against Jae-yeol but was actively sharing work responsibilities with him.
Hee-jo already understood the reason why.
“I’ll repay the debt from last time when you drove me to the Hospital, sister-in-law.”
Not long after the Sanggyeonrye concluded, Jae-yeol had visited the Transmission Hall.
“I want to make a knot and give it as a gift.”
“To whom?”
“There’s a woman I want to marry.”
Jae-yeol’s face flushed in a way uncharacteristic of him.
Watching him, Hee-jo recalled Kwon Yeol’s words.
“Once he’s fixated on something, he can’t see anything else. We’re brothers, after all.”
Seeing the certainty in his voice that Jae-yeol would never look elsewhere as long as he held someone dear, Hee-jo’s heart rippled with emotion.
His claim that brothers knew each other best ultimately meant that Kwon Yeol himself was such a person.
‘If someday you let someone into your heart, would you pour such blind devotion into that one person?’
But suppressing such thoughts deep within, Hee-jo taught Jae-yeol how to tie the knot.
“I never knew you wanted to make something like this.”
“She’s not interested in money or jewels like you are. She finds it burdensome and keeps running away. So I decided to put in time and sincerity instead.”
At those words, Hee-jo found herself envying Jae-yeol’s beloved endlessly.
Unlike herself, who precariously wore false affection, that woman was receiving whole and complete love.
“You show this side of yourself sometimes. You seem like a truly wonderful person.”
“Yeah, she is. She’s really cute and lovely.”
“Ah….”
“Don’t make that face. Your eyes get pretty creepy every time you look at your brother.”
Flustered, Hee-jo’s face reddened as she quickly changed the subject.
“Are you going to marry her?”
“Of course.”
The immediate answer made her acutely aware of how precious that woman was to Jae-yeol.
Moreover, the fact that their circumstances were similar weighed heavily on her mind.
Jae-yeol’s beloved was also not from this world, he’d said.
Though she seemed lovely to his eyes, she felt she had nothing to offer and kept her head down.
Hearing that she couldn’t quite accept Jae-yeol’s feelings and kept retreating, Hee-jo’s heart ached.
Though unlike herself, that woman was receiving Jae-yeol’s complete love.
Still, because that woman felt so much like herself, Hee-jo quietly opened her mouth.
“Tell her that objectively speaking, my marriage to Kwon Yeol doesn’t make sense either. My father is an alcoholic, and my mother ran away when I was young—I don’t even know her face.”
“Hey, you….”
“Even I, who was unofficially supported by the family, am living well like this now. So… if she truly loves him, she shouldn’t be afraid.”
Hee-jo spoke with sincere conviction pressed deep within her words.
“I’m paving the way through thorns first, so all she has to do is walk that path. Then she’ll surely find happiness.”
It was a message for that woman, but perhaps it was also something she wanted to tell herself.
Don’t regret the path you’ve chosen.
Even if the journey is difficult, you’ll eventually find happiness.
-Hee-jo.
At the sound of her name spoken in that low, thick voice, Hee-jo suddenly came to her senses and answered.
“I will. Don’t worry about me.”
-That’s not something you should be saying. You’re the only person I need to worry about.
“….”
-Just wait a little longer. I’ll finish up as quickly as I can and come back.
Hee-jo’s lips trembled slightly before she gave a small reply, “Yes.”
-Sleep well.
“…You too, Kwon Yeol.”
Hee-jo stared blankly at the darkened screen before finally exhaling the breath she’d been holding.
She’d almost let slip how much she missed him.
‘If I had, he would definitely regret it. Kwon Yeol would have felt burdened.’
Good job holding back, Yoon Hee-jo.
As she comforted herself with a forced smile, her eyes gradually grew hollow and vacant.
In the quiet room, the Hotel Doctor’s monotone voice from earlier that afternoon echoed back to life.
“Based on the test results, you are not pregnant. It appears to be simple stress-induced irregular menstruation.”
At those words, the woman standing beside her nodded with an expressionless face. She was a monitor sent by Beom Hun-young’s Household.
Only after the report confirming she was not pregnant had been sent up did Chairman Beom finally grant permission to behave normally again.
Not long after returning home that way, a call came from Kwon Yeol, and she had just finished the conversation.
Leaning back against the bedroom wall, Hee-jo stared blankly at the ceiling.
She’d known what she was getting into from the start, so why did it feel like a part of her was being worn away?
The hollow space carved into her heart had begun to ache.
Still… I have to endure.
‘Because that’s the only way I can stay by Kwon Yeol’s side for whatever time remains.’
Even the days when she could feel this way were steadily diminishing. Even now, in this very moment.
She slowly closed her eyes.
She missed Kwon Yeol terribly.
* * *
Kwon Yeol, whom she thought she wouldn’t see for another month, returned in two weeks, contrary to expectations.
Hee-jo had no way of knowing, but Kwon Yeol had been tormented by a desperate thirst for the person waiting for him, and had frantically pushed through the remaining schedule to finish it.
The moment he stepped into the entrance hall, Hee-jo burrowed into his arms, and he stiffened briefly at her warmth before letting out a low laugh.
“Missed me that much?”
It was a light joke.
One meant to shake off his accumulated fatigue while also easing the tension that Yoon Hee-jo had built up during their time apart.
“Yes. I thought of you every day, every moment.”
But at Hee-jo’s answer, spoken while she held him tightly around the waist, the smile vanished from Kwon Yeol’s face in an instant.
“I really… missed you so much.”

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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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