TCE 24

TCE

Chapter 24

There’s a famous saying:

“If someone hates you for no reason, give them a reason to hate you.”

We happen to like that saying very much.

Of course, maybe the other person does have a reason, but she wasn’t clever enough to think about something so subtle.
Not that we go around deliberately doing things to be hated.
At the very least, we tried to behave properly in the positions we were in.

‘So, she hates even how I address her, huh.’

The moment we deliberately said “Mother” and “Miss,” she couldn’t quite hide her displeasure — and we barely swallowed our laughter.
It wasn’t time to give her a reason to hate us just yet, so we kept smiling as much as we could.

‘She’s staring holes into me.’

While glancing lightly at Eun-se, the innocent little lamb who was practically scanning us from head to toe, Hye-won spoke.

“You used to call me ‘Madam’ so dutifully, and now you’ve changed. Did Yoon-jae help with that?”

In other words, did Yoon-jae tell you to do that?

We quickly shook our heads.

“We’re married now. I thought continuing to call you that would make you uncomfortable, Mother. That was my oversight.”

“…Right. This is more comfortable. Of course.”

“Thank you for understanding. And I didn’t realize Miss Eun-se would be here too.”

“Why? Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”

As she smiled brightly and pretended to be relieved, Eun-se, as if waiting for her cue, snapped back.

We waved our hands quickly.

“Of course not. We just thought Mother would be alone, so we only prepared one gift.”

“…A gift? What gift?”

The two of them still hadn’t realized they were walking right into our plan — both their eyes followed our hand.

Looking at the naïve mother and daughter, we set the shopping bag we were holding on the table.

“It’s just a little something.”

We pulled out a tea set — the kind that any true lover of fine things would recognize at once, stamped with the mark of a famous ceramic master.

“You thought I didn’t have a tea set, so you bought this for me…? Hm?”

She’d expected something ordinary and was initially indifferent — until her eyes went wide.

Quickly taking the box, she opened it and was completely captivated by the milky-white elegance inside.

“Wh–where did you even find this? Is it genuine? When did Master Lee make a piece like this?”

The teacups, not simply white but beautifully curved with an unmistakable sense of grace, could rival any porcelain she owned.

We smiled silently — exactly the reaction we’d predicted.

Go Woo-ri, who adored beautiful things, valued collecting them immensely. We even had connections with a firm that helped us acquire rare pieces — a place known only to a select few in the industry.
We’d barely managed to get our hands on one of these unreleased items.

‘It’ll be harder next time, though.’

Thankfully, the contact number hadn’t changed. They changed it so often that getting through again would be unlikely — but what mattered was now.

“It wasn’t easy, but I did my best, thinking of you, Mother. Do you like it?”

We asked knowingly, our eyes sparkling.

Only then did Hye-won, meeting our gaze through her glasses, reluctantly let go of the box.

“You’ve got good taste.”

“Thank you for accepting it, Mother. I’ll have it sent through the driver.”

You could see the satisfaction she couldn’t hide.

Much more naive than expected, wasn’t she?

Knowing what true malice looked like, we smiled sweetly and didn’t forget Eun-se either.

“I’ll prepare something different for you next time, Miss.”

“Wh–who said I wanted anything?”

She snapped back irritably, though clearly flustered.

Hye-won, finally tearing her eyes away from the tea set, stood up.

“Let’s go. We didn’t come here to sit around.”

“Yes, Mother.”

As she watched us stand, her gaze fell on the worn bag in our hand, and her brow furrowed.

Just as we’d expected.

‘Always leave them something to criticize.’

Of course, we didn’t want to be scolded — but trying to be flawless in this kind of situation wasn’t wise either.
You had to leave little gaps, pull back at the right time — that’s how you conquered pride without wounding it.

Catching her disapproving stare at our bag, we said,

“I still have so much to learn. If you could teach me, Mother, I’d do my best to follow.”

“…Would you, now?”

“Yes, Mother. Ah, please wait a moment — I’ll call the attendant.”

Even without saying much, our tact made it impossible for Hye-won to be upset.

And of course, the gift we’d brought was far too exquisite to ignore.

As we spoke with the attendant and gathered our things, Eun-se clung to her mother.

“Mom, what was that?”

“What was what?”

She was visibly confused by what she’d just seen.

“That was weird. Why were you being so nice? Is the gift that good?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? It’s not being nice — it’s basic courtesy. What do you take your mother for?”

Scolded, Eun-se shrank back, and Hye-won went to get her coat.

Left momentarily alone, Eun-se frowned, puzzled.

‘No, seriously. What’s going on? What is that dynamic?’

To anyone watching, they almost looked… friendly.

Normally, Hye-won would call a personal shopper or arrange a private lounge session,
but today, the three of them deliberately went into the store.

They stopped by several shops, making purchase after purchase — the kind that would make anyone gasp at the price.
But the “poor and insignificant” daughter-in-law showed not a flicker of surprise.

“Mother, shall we try that store next?”

In fact, she seemed to thrive — like a fish back in water.

Watching us take initiative, Eun-se whispered,

“Maybe she’s not so poor after all.”

One thing was certain:

‘She’s got an eye.’

A very sharp one at that.
Whether born with it or trained into it, it was clear.

We’d heard she grew up under hard circumstances — yet here she was.

Near the end of the shopping trip, Hye-won ran a finger along the medal on a bag and said,

“The important thing isn’t the price. It’s the value you can see and feel.”

She said it mostly for her daughter’s sake, but Eun-se was too busy yawning in boredom to care.
Meanwhile, we couldn’t help feeling a little impressed.

‘They weren’t exaggerating when they called her noble-born.’

Seo Hye-won —
Her great-grandfather served four terms in the National Assembly,
her father had been a minister,
and her mother’s side produced educators and famous artists alike.
An impeccable pedigree, indeed.

“Hmm? I don’t think I’ve seen this in any of the pamphlets.”

And she, too, loved beautiful things — almost as much as we did.

The moment her eyes lit up, the store clerk approached.

“This is a limited collaboration with artist Paolo Bianca.”

“The Paolo? From Succession?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“He rarely does collaborations. No wonder — it looked different.”

To the untrained eye, the design didn’t differ much,
but those who knew could recognize the subtle branding and signature touches.

We knew the name too, but to us, it was rather unimpressive.

‘Feels like he’s been recycling the same lines lately.’

While we were examining the bag with hawk-like precision, Eun-se came running back.

“Mom, Mom! I want this one—”

“Miss, wait a moment.”

“What? Where are you going? What are you doing?”

Eun-se, clutching a large, luxurious handbag to her chest, looked indignant.
It was one of the store’s top-tier products — a line so exclusive even famous foreign celebrities used it.

But just because it was famous didn’t mean it was right.

We gently pulled the excited Eun-se aside and took out a smaller bag we’d had our eye on.

“You wear light colors a lot and don’t carry many things, so rather than the O-line, the A-line suits you better.”

“…Excuse me?”

“How about this one? It’s from last month’s collection. It suits you perfectly.”

The small bag we handed her was, undeniably, her style — she blinked, speechless.
But saying she liked it seemed to wound her pride.

So, we raised our hand and called the clerk.

“Mr. Yoon-jae will be buying this for you. Please accept it.”

“…Who?”

“Mr. Yoon-jae.”

A gesture of grace — or bribery, depending on how you looked at it.
Just like the tea set for Hye-won.

‘We never said what he was buying it for.’

A sly, cunning little trick. The naive young lady was completely flustered, though.
We had no intention of playing matchmaker between her and her brother, but —
it never hurt to leave behind a trace.
Traces could always turn into goodwill later.

“…”

Since it wasn’t her own money, Eun-se didn’t refuse.
Instead, she muttered shyly, trying to sound annoyed.

“Did you two make some kind of gift-giving pact or something?”

“Huh?”

“Ha-yoon oppa even took the guestbook from that food drive — said he’d send gifts to everyone who volunteered with you.
And now you’re doing this to me.”

“Huh?”

We blinked, completely lost.

“You didn’t know? Everyone who worked the food drive with you got a gift from him.
Something about ‘thanks for helping my wife.’ It didn’t even sound like him, honestly.”

We had no idea.
How could we have? He’d never shown even the tiniest sign of it.

The realization made us blink, then suddenly —

‘…Wait. Did he actually act like a real husband?’

The words we’d once said jokingly came back to us, and our earlobes grew hot.
Realizing there was a side of that usually indifferent man we hadn’t known about,
a strange flutter began in our chest.

Thump, thump.

That small, gentle rhythm—

‘What? Wait. Hold on.’

Startled by the odd reaction, we quickly shook our head.
If we kept this up, our imagination might lead us somewhere truly “bad.”

Luckily, Hye-won’s voice interrupted.

“Do you have more products?”

“They’re prepared in the inner lounge.”

“We’ll go there. Bring similar designs from the other collections too.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Thankfully, that odd flutter was smothered by Hye-won’s voice.
We sighed in relief and hurried to change the subject.

“Let’s go too.”

Leaving the card and purchases with the clerk, we followed Eun-se and Hye-won.