Chapter 05
“What are you doing, kid? Yeeon-ah?”
“Ah, I’m Yoo Yeeon. It’s nice to meet you.”
As Yeeon slowly raised her bowed back, her eyes met the man’s again.
His lips, slightly full and tinged with a suitable red, seemed ready to spill cold words without hesitation, and his chilly black pupils even looked arrogant.
It was only natural that worry piled onto her anxiety when she thought that this might be the person she would marry.
Internally, the thought flashed through her mind that it wouldn’t be easy to get close to someone like this. Feeling uncomfortable under the man’s gaze, Yeeon slightly turned her head away.
“Thanks to the Chairman of Shin Yoo Group, this meeting has come to fruition, and it’s truly meaningful.”
“We are the ones who are at a loss for how to act, thanks to Chairman Cha for looking upon us so favorably.”
“Just as I heard, your daughter is very pretty.”
“Haha, thank you for saying so.”
Her stepfather beamed, seemingly pleased by the compliment about Yeeon. It was the first laughter Yeeon had heard since arriving with her mother.
“Yeeon-ah, what are you doing? You should sit down.”
As soon as Yeeon took her seat, the meal commenced. The expensive food felt unfamiliar, and the atmosphere was stifling enough to take one’s breath away.
“I hear you’re a law student.”
“Yes, I’m in my fourth year now.”
“That’s wonderful. It would be good if you could work in the same field even after marriage.”
A relaxed smile spread across Chairman Cha’s face as he looked at the two, who would inherit their family businesses.
“Indeed. Having similar professions should make you more compatible.”
This time, even her mother seemed proud of Yeeon, as a calm smile graced her lips.
The Jeong Yul Law Firm had built a high profile by leading major domestic and international cases to victory. Furthermore, it had solidified its trustworthiness through various social contribution activities like pro bono legal advice and scholarship programs.
*’I heard a sunbae from our department failed the Jeong Yul Law Firm’s exam three times and got rejected.’*
It was an envied workplace among her classmates and a place everyone dreamed of.
“When would be a good time for the children to marry?”
“We will fully comply with Chairman Cha’s opinion.”
Her stepfather actively agreed with Chairman Cha’s view. By joining hands with Jeong Yul, they could take immediate action on tricky business issues and expand the business with ease. The reason he was putting more effort into this marriage was also due to recent minor friction in his business.
For the past few days, her stepfather had been plagued by a headache due to an employee who had been staging a one-person sit-in protest against internal downsizing.
That employee, who had continued the protest for days, skipping meals, was ultimately fired not long ago.
*’To be fired like this! I devoted my life to this place!’*
However, her stepfather hadn’t wavered in the slightest.
It was an end that was too cruel for someone.
Even though her mother, Mihyun, had paid off all of her father’s debts, money didn’t just appear on its own.
She couldn’t help but think of her father, whose business had failed and who occasionally took on manual labor.
Yeeon had asked her mother to find a job for her father, and thanks to her readily agreeing, the brief glimpse she had of him a few months ago was the last.
Remembering her father’s shabby appearance as he firmly pressed a few banknotes into her hand, Yeeon’s expression darkened.
“Rather than my thoughts, shouldn’t the children’s wishes be more important?”
Chairman Cha turned his head towards Wookyung with a calm smile.
“Wookyung, what are your thoughts?”
Wookyung, who had been lifting his water glass with a nonchalant face, replied indifferently.
“Well, if it’s not an urgent matter right now, why don’t you decide after giving it some thought?”
At Wookyung’s answer, the table froze instantly. Her mother’s face, which had been smiling all along, stiffened rapidly, as if Wookyung wasn’t pleased with Yeeon.
“Of course. Marriage should be approached carefully.”
Her mother, anxious that all her carefully laid efforts might go down the drain, uttered words she didn’t mean and struggled to keep her mouth shut.
But Wookyung’s actions went even further off-script.
“If you’re finished with the meal, may I excuse myself first?”
Wookyung, who had put down his utensils, quietly rose to his feet.
“Cha Wookyung. What kind of manners are these?”
Even under Chairman Cha’s stern, reproachful gaze, Wookyung didn’t bat an eye.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting up?”
Wookyung gestured his head towards Yeeon and arrogantly lowered his gaze. Yeeon, looking at Wookyung, wore a bewildered expression.
Only then did Chairman Cha’s face relax leisurely, as if chiding himself for not understanding his grandson’s hidden meaning.
“Look at me, losing my mind. I didn’t even realize you two would want to spend time together.”
Following Chairman Cha’s hearty laughter, Yeeon’s parents also played along. Just then, prompted by a sharp nudge in her side from her mother, Yeeon rose from her seat in a daze.
“I’ll excuse myself first.”
As Wookyung took the lead, Yeeon, following behind, thought to herself that accompanying this uncomfortable man was preferable to staying.
***
Wookyung happened to run into an office staff member in the lobby and told Yeeon to go down to the parking lot first.
He didn’t want to create any unnecessary misunderstandings.
*’Is Attorney Cha dating?’*
But just as he feared, at the staff member’s meaningful smile as they scanned Wookyung’s fully suited figure, he let out a light scoff.
Dating? What nonsense. He had several cases to handle.
There wasn’t just one or two women who had shown bold interest in Wookyung after coming to request legal services. He even recalled the bitter remark from Managing Attorney Byeon, who said that Wookyung, obsessed with work and nonchalantly ignoring the attention around him, wouldn’t have a girlfriend, even when matchmakers, who specifically targeted those in professions starting with ‘Attor-‘, came visiting.
*’Attorney Cha getting married? Don’t make me laugh. It’d be quicker for him to marry his work.’*
But he hadn’t expected his grandfather to be the one to blindside him first.
His grandfather wasn’t one to summon people without reason.
At least until he arrived at his grandfather’s private residence, he had thought it was just a whim due to his failing health.
*’I’ve set the date for the meeting. Get married while this old man is still healthy.’*
His father had married against his grandfather’s wishes. Despite his grandfather’s demand to take over the family business, Wookyung’s parents had gone abroad to become human rights lawyers, where they met with an accident.
Having lost his own child, his grandfather wanted to control his grandson’s marriage as he saw fit.
But if the chosen candidate was the child brought in by CEO Yoo—who had no children of his own—through his remarried wife, wasn’t the purpose all too obvious?
Wookyung’s lips twisted thinly as he let out a *pfft*—a sneer.
Moreover, facing the woman in person, she gave off a rather ‘heiffy’ impression, which further put him in a bad mood.
The light beige dress, the clear and serene gaze visible through her neatly tied-back hair—it was unobtrusive yet plain.
Her neat eyelashes shimmered faintly whenever she gently opened her eyes. The slightly upturned corners of her mouth added a subtle vitality to Yeeon’s serene impression.
Was it because hers was a appearance that could easily captivate a man?
Of course, that didn’t mean everyone with that look had issues with men.
No matter how obvious the purpose was, wasn’t this going too far?
Wookyung scoffed.
They say first impressions are half the battle, but how should he reject a woman who had already lost more than half of that battle? Wookyung’s concerns deepened.
He had decided to meet and resolve this first, but just as he approached his car, the man and woman who had caused the commotion in the lobby entered his field of vision.
Wookyung paused for a moment.
“I’m really sorry about earlier. I didn’t confirm anything and assumed wrongly; you must have been very startled, right?”
“It’s really okay.”
“Please, let me at least make it up to you somehow…”
“No, you don’t need to do that.”
At Yeeon’s polite refusal, the two people, not knowing what to do, repeated their apologies several times.
When Yeeon added another comment shortly after, Wookyung burst out laughing.
“It might sound like unsolicited advice, but can you really guarantee that a spark, once lit, won’t happen again? So, please think carefully about your current relationship.”
It was practically telling them to break up, but after observing her scolding the two pointedly, Wookyung’s misunderstanding was cleared up for the moment.
After the two left, and just as the expression on Yeeon, who was waiting for Wookyung, had sunk considerably, he approached the car.
“I thought you were the one having the affair.”
“Pardon?”
At Wookyung’s voice, Yeeon’s head turned.
“Seems you don’t have the guts for that, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“So, at your age, you just readily agreed to a marriage your parents arranged?”
At Wookyung’s rude, seemingly twisted words, Yeeon bit down on the soft inside of her lip.
“Excuse me, Cha Wookyung-ssi.”
“As a law student, you know this well, right? When you stand before a judge, you must set aside all emotions and act thoroughly and rationally. Well, my reason rejects Yoo Yeeon-ssi.”
By this point, he expected Yeeon to get scared and suggest they forget the whole thing. At least, that’s how the scenario Wookyung had drawn up went.
When Yeeon, lost in thought for a moment, didn’t answer, Wookyung’s expectation that she would bring up ending the talk of marriage was completely off the mark.
“For me, it’s a marriage I have to go through anyway, so I have no intention of avoiding it.”
In that instant, Wookyung’s brow furrowed. He looked at Yeeon, who was calmly countering him, his face blank for a moment before he soon gave her a look that seemed to say, ‘Fine, give it a try.’
“Speaking of which, when approximately will you grant the divorce?”
When Yeeon brought up the topic of divorce first, it was Wookyung who was taken aback. However, Yeeon continued with a bright smile.
“Of course, it’ll be you, Cha Wookyung-ssi, who grants it first, right?”
Until that moment, he had been overconfident, thinking he held the upper hand.
But absurdly, the first thing that took root in Wookyung’s heart at that moment was curiosity about Yoo Yeeon.
