Chapter 3
“Ah…”
It didn’t feel like he simply meant “let’s take care of each other as husband and wife.”
Bringing up the honeymoon from three years ago seemed unnecessary.
Looking at the intensity in his eyes confirmed it.
No matter how much she thought about it, it had to carry a more intimate meaning.
…How could he say something like that?
Soeun felt her ears and scalp flush bright red in an instant.
Memories of that one-week honeymoon three years ago flashed through her mind like lightning.
The man had held her tightly, moving their bodies together with intensity.
Doing something she had only learned about in sex education, with a man she married right after graduating high school at age twenty.
How scary, how tense, how confusing it had all been—was this even right?
Ordinary twenty-year-old girls would have been excitedly preparing for university entrance ceremonies, not getting married. Not in her position.
Thinking back to that week of the honeymoon, her feelings were mixed and strange.
Though unfamiliar and frightening, her body had strangely adapted to him on its own… and had even been swept up in the pleasure she was experiencing for the first time.
Nights filled with such conflicting emotions.
“What’s the assignment?”
“Huh?”
Soeun lifted her head, brought back to the present by his question as she recalled her past with her husband.
“What’s the assignment? I’ll help. Bring it later.”
Ah. Only now did Soeun remember again—he was pursuing a path to become a professor of business administration in the U.S.
Looking at her, a business student, he probably felt as if he were looking at a future student.
Though he was heir to GH Group, choosing to become a business professor instead of receiving management training felt impressive in a new way.
“Okay, I’ll show it to you later.”
“Right. But first, we have somewhere to go.”
“Uh, where?”
“To my family home.”
The word “family home” made Soeun’s chest tighten.
Whenever she visited her in-laws alone during holidays, the tension was overwhelming. She had to keep her body stiff and her mind alert to avoid mistakes, often ending up with stiff shoulders afterward.
Fortunately, her in-laws were kind people.
Since Soeun was a young bride, far younger than her husband, they tried to treat her without discomfort.
Soeun understood their intentions, yet the thought of visiting her in-laws was still nerve-wracking.
“Oh… so you returned and came straight here without visiting your mother and father first?”
“Why not? Can’t a husband come straight to see his wife?”
“Oh, n-no, that’s not it.”
Soeun lowered her head.
The tension of having to change clothes and formally visit her in-laws with her husband filled her mind.
When she arrived… she had to look happy to see her husband return. She had to do it perfectly, without making mistakes.
But her husband would soon realize it too—she was a woman who grew up without parents, ill-suited to the noble, harmonious atmosphere of her in-laws.
Her husband, too, must have felt compelled to enter this arranged marriage under family pressure.
What if he found living with her unsatisfying, and affection faded?
She didn’t know how to navigate married life. Meeting him again after three years, it was almost like starting from scratch.
If only her parents were alive, she might have had a better sense of how married couples lived.
Her mind was flooded with worries and doubts—thoughts that had haunted her even before the wedding.
Hyunjun’s deep, resonant voice came again.
“Yang Soeun.”
“Y-yes?”
“No matter how reluctant a wife is, there’s no need to look like the earth is swallowing you, right?”
“Ah…!”
Soeun was startled, lifting her head sharply.
He must have misunderstood her expression, thinking she was upset while lost in thought.
“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something else for a moment.”
“While talking to me?”
“W-well…”
The more she talked with him, the more tangled her thoughts became.
Soeun bit her lower lip until it hurt.
Hyunjun sighed softly, perhaps frustrated, and walked toward the study, speaking in a commanding tone.
“Wash up and change into the clothes you’ll wear to my family home. Wait there.”
“Yes,” Soeun replied in a timid voice, staring at his broad back.
She stood quietly, inhaling the lingering citrus scent in the air, until he disappeared into the study.
Seeing him there reminded her of long-past events.
“Soeun.”
“Yes, Grandpa!”
Young Soeun always ran to her grandfather, Byeonghoe, throwing herself into his arms.
Soeun’s parents had passed away in a tragic car accident when she was just two.
Her grandfather, feeling sorry for the orphaned girl, took her in and raised her.
Relatives looked down on her, saying she had “taken advantage” of her parents’ death, but Byeonghoe cared for her as his own child.
Whenever his hands stroked her hair, Soeun would close her eyes.
Though she barely remembered, her grandfather filled the void left by her father’s early death.
Byeonghoe was the owner of the mid-sized company Jusang Foods.
Despite his busy work, he often held Soeun and shared stories with her.
One day, he told young Soeun:
“Soeun, long before you were born, I went to war.”
“War? Like in the history books?”
“Yes. I survived there and formed deep bonds with two friends.”
He pulled out an old, faded photograph from a drawer.
Three young men stood proudly in military uniforms.
Soeun pointed to one of them.
“Wow, that’s grandpa?”
“Of course~”
“An armed soldier… how cool!”
Young Soeun’s eyes sparkled as she listened eagerly.
“Even now, I keep in touch with those friends. And we made a joke long ago: if our first grandchildren are born, we’d have them marry each other. Surviving the war was a miracle and a fate, wasn’t it?”
“Eh? Marry? Really, grandpa?”
He had shared this story with her while she sat on his lap.
“But it turns out each of those friends already has a first grandchild. Even though we made the promise, our precious granddaughter is too dear. No way I’d give her up! She’s so lovable.”
“Hehe, grandpa~”
“So we just let it go. Those friends probably didn’t take it too seriously anyway. Plus, thinking about it now, it was silly—we have an odd number of grandchildren. Two grandsons, one granddaughter. How could we have arranged a marriage? Right, Soeun? Haha.”
Grandpa’s friends’ grandchildren…? And a marriage?
Young Soeun tilted her head in confusion.
As time passed, some were displeased with Byeonghoe’s growing affection for Soeun.
Namely, his second son and his wife.
“Why does father only favor the eldest grandchild?”
“Well, he probably feels closer since he raised her himself.”
“Still, it’s excessive. At the last family gathering, it was obvious he favored Soeun over our children. We have children too—how could he do that?”
Byeonghoe’s second son, Yang Mincheol, had three children: daughters Hyein and Miin, and the only son, Cheorin.
Mincheol and his wife were jealous, believing their children weren’t loved as much as Soeun.
Time passed, and Soeun entered her second year of high school.
Unexpectedly, Byeonghoe suffered a stroke.
Soeun nursed him at a care hospital for two years.
But just as she finished, during her winter break in her final year, Byeonghoe passed away.
Thousands of floral wreaths and countless visitors arrived to pay respects to the honorary chairman of Jusang Foods.
Soeun, clad in mourning clothes, could not stop crying.
“Grandpa… I’m an adult now. I did well on the college entrance exams, just as you said. You should be here to hear my story as I step into the world… please…”
Soeun, overwhelmed with grief, looked up as the funeral hall grew busy.
An elderly man, frail yet dignified, entered with a cane.
Behind him, a middle-aged man and woman followed, exuding elegance and grace.
‘…Those people!’
Even in her confusion, Soeun recognized their faces.
Though faint with the passing years, she remembered meeting them at social events with Byeonghoe—the former honorary chairman of GH Group, Jeon Sooncheol, and his eldest son’s family.
