Chapter 12
“I was passing by, had something to say, and figured I’d have a drink too.”
Dohun spoke in a cold, subdued voice, looking at Seongwoo and Eunha.
“Good timing. Come, have a seat.”
Seongwoo urged Dohun to sit down. Dohun strode over to the sofa and sat down facing Eunha.
Eunha felt strangely suffocated. It was as if an inexplicable tension had been pressing down on her since he appeared.
But she didn’t want to show it. To act like it was nothing, she curled the corners of her lips into a smile, but Dohun’s face remained cold.
“Are you just now eating dinner?”
“Ah, yes…….”
Dohun’s low, subdued voice seemed to carry some emotion, and while Eunha was flustered, Seongwoo explained.
“Eunha said she hadn’t eaten yet, so I just got her some food. If you haven’t eaten either, you should join us.”
“…….”
“Ah, that’s right. You don’t like this kind of stuff, do you? You’re the rich kid who only eats expensive, fancy things.”
Seongwoo said to Dohun teasingly. In fact, Seongwoo was plenty wealthy himself, but he always talked to Dohun that way.
But today, Dohun had no desire to pick a fight with Seongwoo over his words.
Running into Eunha here was far more important.
He had called Eunha several times that evening, but she hadn’t answered. He was calling to set a date for the parents’ meeting.
Since she didn’t answer, he assumed she must be busy with something and let it go.
Then he thought of Seongwoo. The guy who had spilled all his circumstances to Eunha and then placed her right in front of him. He had come by to condemn him for his loose lips and also to deliver the news that he was ultimately getting married to Eunha.
But Eunha, who hadn’t been answering her phone, was here with Seongwoo.
Moreover, seeing the woman who had lied, saying she didn’t want to eat dinner with him, happily eating tteokbokki and sundae with Seongwoo put him in a inexplicably foul mood.
‘Why is he looking at me like that? Is there something on my face…….’
Meanwhile, as Dohun stared daggers at her, Eunha, not knowing what to do, lowered her gaze.
Thinking there might be something on her face, she pulled a tissue from the box on the table and quickly wiped the corners of her mouth.
But Dohun still stared at her silently.
No matter where she looked, Dohun’s intense gaze kept meeting hers, and Eunha grew tense just from his stare. Her face felt hot for no reason.
Come to think of it, this was probably the first time they’d seen each other in a week. It was the first time since their encounter at ‘Seolhyang’.
“You weren’t answering my calls, and here you are.”
Dohun finally spoke. Surprised by his unexpected words, Eunha asked in return.
“……You called me?”
“I told you. I’d call to set a date for the parents’ meeting.”
“Ah.”
Eunha quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and checked it. Now that she looked, there were several calls from an unknown number.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
She knew he might call, but she had tried not to pay it any mind, even intentionally.
Waiting for his call, developing personal feelings for him as if they were in some kind of relationship—she knew that would only lead to pain.
So, she still didn’t know his number, and she hadn’t tried to find out.
When her father was moved to the VIP room, she had wanted to thank him, but using the excuse that she didn’t have his number, she didn’t contact him separately.
Of course, she could have easily gotten his number through his secretary, Yeongcheol, or by asking Seongwoo. But she didn’t think it was something that needed immediate contact, especially not through such means.
“I’d like you to answer my calls promptly from now on.”
“Ah……. I understand.”
Was he angry?
His tone was so cold and icy that Eunha flinched involuntarily.
‘Answer my calls.’
That had been one of Eunha’s conditions for the marriage.
By bringing it up and reminding her, it seemed he was genuinely upset that she hadn’t answered his call.
It wasn’t as if she had deliberately ignored it; she could have seen the missed calls later and called back. But since he seemed offended right now, she had no choice but to acquiesce.
After all, she too might feel frustrated and angry if Dohun didn’t answer her calls without any explanation.
On the other hand, even though they weren’t married yet, the fact that Dohun wanted the same thing made her heart flutter strangely.
Just then, Seongwoo, with a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ expression, cut in, startled.
“What are you talking about? A parents’ meeting?”
“Didn’t Ms. Yeo Eunha tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“That we’re getting married.”
“What?”
Dohun revealed the fact of their marriage nonchalantly, but Eunha winced in embarrassment.
She felt bad for not having given Seongwoo even a slight heads-up.
Sure enough, Seongwoo was so shocked he couldn’t close his gaping mouth.
She had known this would happen and wanted to explain it herself…
Eunha completely understood Seongwoo’s shock. He was a fan, and he had pestered Dohun just to let her meet him once, and now suddenly she was announcing marriage to him?
From Seongwoo’s perspective, how absurd and confusing must it be?
For a moment, Seongwoo looked back and forth between Eunha and Dohun, speechless, before finally collecting himself and asking Eunha.
“Eunha, what is this? You tell me. Are you really saying you’re going to marry this guy?”
“Yes…….”
Eunha nodded and replied. She wanted to explain the situation, but with Dohun sitting right there, she didn’t know what to add.
Seongwoo, flabbergasted, looked back and forth between Eunha and Dohun.
“What on earth happened between you two that day? No, never mind that. Eunha, do you even know what his intentions are for this marriage? Are you doing this knowing that?”
“I know……”
“You know?”
“Yes……. I overheard you talking to Dohun-ssi on the phone.”
‘Oppa?’
Dohun’s eyebrows twitched upward in displeasure. He was already irritated that Seongwoo seemed to be treating him like some kind of scoundrel, and their conversation was grating on him. And now, hearing the word ‘Oppa’ on top of it all, made his annoyance spike.
Seongwoo, for his part, looked at Eunha in disbelief.
“You mean, you did it on purpose……?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“And so you’re really going to go along with Dohun’s tune and agree to marry him?”
“If it means I can pay for my father’s hospital bills and get out of that house, that’s enough for me. In fact, if I hadn’t made this marriage promise with Dohun-ssi, I would have…… been sold off, for all intents and purposes, to another man my mother found for me to marry.”
Eunha shook her head, thinking of Byeongtae, whom she had met at ‘Seolhyang’. Even now, Dohun was incomparably better than that man.
After wrapping things up with Byeongtae that day, Chansuk had been fuming for a while when she returned home. It seemed Byeongtae had threatened not to let it slide.
Not knowing that a strong prospect like Dohun would appear, and having tried to push things through too easily herself, Chansuk had no one else to blame.
“I’m sorry, Oppa. It wasn’t that I wanted to deliberately deceive you. And I…… I really think I’m lucky to be able to marry Dohun-ssi.”
That was all Eunha could say.
After all, Seongwoo had trusted her and introduced his friend, and now she had become the woman who ‘snagged’ that friend for marriage. She’d be speechless even with ten mouths. Moreover, since it wasn’t a normal marriage, it was even worse.
Seongwoo looked at Eunha with a dazed expression.
He hadn’t known she felt that way. And he hadn’t known she was under such financial pressure.
If he had known the situation, he wouldn’t have introduced them no matter how much she begged. A wave of anxiety and regret washed over him—had he just ruined Eunha’s life?
“That’s enough.”
Dohun said, rising from his seat with a cold expression as if he couldn’t listen anymore.
He didn’t know how close the two were, but seeing Eunha desperately pleading and making lengthy excuses to Seongwoo irritated him immensely.
“I can’t stand watching you apologize to another person like this in front of the man you’re going to marry.”
As Dohun spat out the cold words, Seongwoo snapped at him.
“Hey, Choi Dohun. Find another woman. Not Eunha.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Who are you to pass judgment on my marriage?”
Dohun said with a stern face. No matter how he looked at it, Seongwoo’s meddling was absurd.
“Perhaps, were you betrayed?”
“What?”
“No. It’s not like that.”
Eunha’s face flushed bright red as she shook her head.
She didn’t want to be misunderstood. The word ‘betrayal’ itself was nonsensical. She and Seongwoo were absolutely not in that kind of relationship.
“Then, is it unrequited love?”
Then Dohun asked Seongwoo point-blank. This time, Seongwoo’s face turned bright red.
“Choi Dohun. Do you think you can say whatever you want?”
Finally, Seongwoo’s voice rose.
To Seongwoo, Eunha was always like a cherished younger sister. Her pure, clear, and radiant smile was so pretty.
Even though she was having a hard time with family matters lately, she was still a ray of sunshine to him.
Maybe because Eunha was a high school student when they first met, Seongwoo had never dared to think of her as a woman.
Doing so would have felt like committing a sin.
“Then why are you getting so worked up?”
“This marriage… It’s absurd. At the very least, marriage shouldn’t happen like this! Eunha is especially a dongsaeng I care about. If she’s making a wrong choice, of course I should be the one to stop her. Don’t you think?”
Seongwoo earnestly expressed his thoughts, but Dohun let out a scoffing laugh. He finally understood the general situation.
The foolish, model student Seongwoo hadn’t even realized his own feelings, and Eunha, without revealing her heart to Seongwoo, had been set up with him by Seongwoo.
Anyway, this had become quite a headache. Of all people, she had to be the woman his longtime friend liked.
That said, he had not the slightest desire to yield Eunha.
