Even the last ounce of composure left in Oh Choong-seon had now completely vanished.
“Ah, no, it’s not like that! Miss Rin, this is a setup. It’s not true!”
“It seems Miss Yoon Dami is planning to post the content she discussed with her lawyer online this evening. From what I’ve heard, she’s going to expose your private life as well as the unjust gains you acquired.”
At those words, something flashed through Oh Choong-seon’s mind.
The night he had gotten drunk, excited over having snagged a fresh young girl after a long time, and had carelessly bragged about embezzling company funds while in bed.
He had thought of her as just some clueless little girl—who would’ve thought she’d remember that?
“Miss Rin, later, I’ll explain everything later! Please tell Representative Hwang that too. I’ll reach out once I’ve cleaned everything up!”
“Take it easy, sir. You’re not exactly young anymore—what if you collapse from a heart attack or something?”
Oh Choong-seon trembled, then quickly turned around and rushed away, realizing this was no time to argue.
Even as he drove the man out, addressing him mockingly as “sir” until the very end, there was no trace of satisfaction or triumph on Jung-hyuk’s face.
Rin stared in disbelief at the man who now sat across from her, as if it were only natural for everything to go his way.
“What on earth is going on?”
“What is?”
“Why are you here? When did you investigate that man? Wait—did you know I was going to meet him for a marriage interview?”
“Yeah. You told me yourself.”
“I did?”
Jung-hyuk nodded. Rin pressed her lips inward, staring at the honesty in his clear, unwavering eyes.
That’s strange. I never said anything.
She hadn’t seen Jung-hyuk since she was nineteen—until today.
“……”
Jung-hyuk’s gaze slowly swept over Rin as if taking her in. Back at the art museum, the distance had made it hard to see her clearly.
Her hair had grown longer. It used to be a bob cut, now it reached down to her chest.
The cheeks he used to want to poke like mochi had lost their baby fat and thinned out. That was a bit disappointing.
Jung-hyuk tilted his head slightly.
Had she lost more weight? She was already slim back then, but now she seemed even more so.
He remembered that Rin’s mother, Hwang Jun-hee, had been extremely sensitive about her daughter’s appearance, and he frowned slightly.
“Sir, please have some of this.”
“There’s only one fork.”
“Oh ho, our Rin doesn’t eat anything after six. Isn’t that right?”
“…Yes, Mom.”
“Still, we should share—”
“Our Jung-hyuk is such a gentleman. But even a little weight makes Rin’s face look so plain. It’s her complex, you know, so I manage it for her. Who else will do it, if not her mother? Isn’t that right, Rin?”
“Yes. Sir, don’t mind me and enjoy the fruit. I’m fine.”
Hwang Jun-hee meticulously managed Rin’s body to keep even a single gram of fat from sticking, and Rin seemed completely accustomed to it.
For some reason, that fact had lingered in Jung-hyuk’s chest for quite a long time—long enough to recall the moment he saw her again.
Anyway.
Though there were still hints of youth left in her, compared to six years ago, Rin had grown into quite the adult. It was both fascinating and strange.
“Have you been well?”
“Ah, yes. I heard you’ve been very busy.”
“From whom?”
“Ah… my parents. They mention you from time to time. You used to teach me, and you’re quite famous, after all.”
“True. I’ve become more well-known recently.”
Rin knew exactly what he meant and fiddled awkwardly with her fingers.
“I—I was referring to your promotion.”
Noticing her effort to be considerate, Jung-hyuk let out a soft chuckle.
If they were closer, he might’ve patted her on the head.
“Congratulations on your promotion.”
“Thanks.”
“I heard you were already very busy, but now it must be even harder.”
“I won’t deny it.”
In fact, after being promoted to Executive Director, work had come flooding in like never before.
Just when he thought he might catch a breath, he found himself having to visit Yeongseo Hotel, too.
“My parents and everyone else say you’re extremely capable. And I think so too.”
With his arms crossed, he tilted his head and smiled faintly.
“So Rin, you’ve learned to say things like that now.”
Her wide, light brown eyes trembled slightly.
“Rin.”
Every time Jung-hyuk called her that, her heart had pounded so hard.
While everyone else addressed her formally, using her full name, he was the only one who called her just “Rin,” gently, with a kind tone.
“It really… feels like I’m being given special treatment.”
“You were my first student.”
Jung-hyuk added:
“My precious student who never had even the slightest ulterior motive.”
He would never know how that single sentence had crumbled her heart.
Rin’s first and last crush had been Jung-hyuk, but he had only cared for her because he thought she didn’t see him romantically.
He’d been very popular, and there were even rumors of girls who stalked him.
Perhaps that was why he treated only Rin—who called him “teacher” and maintained formal boundaries—with gentle warmth.
He had no idea how desperately she had hidden her feelings just to preserve that relationship.
She forced a casual tone to cover the ache inside.
“I mean it.”
“I know. You were never good at lying.”
Jung-hyuk chuckled softly.
“That’s part of why I liked you.”
‘He means he liked me as a student. Nothing more. Don’t misunderstand.’
Clearing her throat, Rin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Her chest tingled strangely.
Thanks to Jung-hyuk, all of Oh Choong-seon’s crass and vulgar words were blown clean from her mind.
But only for a moment.
Rin’s expression darkened again.
The marriage interview, arranged by her stepmother Hwang Jun-hee, had fallen apart.
It wasn’t her fault, but Hwang Jun-hee always pinned every disaster on her. This time would be no different.
What should I do?
Rin would rather die than marry someone like Oh Choong-seon, but she still had to follow her stepmother’s wishes.
Otherwise…
“Young lady.”
It was Jung-hyuk who interrupted the spiraling train of miserable thoughts.
“First of all, I apologize. For showing up unannounced. For ruining the meeting. For letting you hear all those filthy, unnecessary things.”
Rin feared being “corrected” by Hwang Jun-hee, but she was still grateful to Jung-hyuk for ruining the marriage meeting.
Going home was terrifying enough, but the idea of Oh Choong-seon waiting there as her husband was far worse.
She shook her head.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
She had been about to say that she hadn’t wanted the match either.
“No. I want to apologize. And I want to make it up to you.”
At Jung-hyuk’s serious expression, Rin took in a shallow breath. Tension made her gently bite her lower lip.
“W-what do you mean?”
“Let’s say you had the marriage interview with me.”
“What?”
Rin’s voice rose without her meaning it to.
“You didn’t want to marry that b—man anyway. But you had to. Because a good youngest daughter can’t disobey her parents.”
Her widened hazel eyes quivered.
Jung-hyuk’s words were exactly what she had said to her friend Yujin a few days ago at the museum.
“Yeah, I have a meeting. Friday, Yeongseo Hotel lobby. Six o’clock. But still, it’s what my parents want, so I have to go along with it. I’m not a good youngest daughter… just, just…”
Rin looked startled.
“You went to Si-hyun Art Museum?”
“Before you did.”
Apparently, Jung-hyuk had seen her, but she hadn’t seen him.
“You overheard my call.”
“Unintentionally. And for the record, I was already at the garden first. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
The museum’s garden had been designed like a maze with benches hidden among trees to encourage quiet reflection. The structure made it impossible to see others sitting elsewhere.
Rin had unknowingly made that call to Yujin while Jung-hyuk was nearby.
“You heard the date and place of the meeting too, I see.”
“Yeah. That also wasn’t intentional.”
He had visited the museum to clear his head after remembering something a student of his had once told him:
“You seem tired today. I heard there was a big event yesterday.”
“Mm. A little.”
“Then why not go to an art museum?”
“An art museum?”
“Yes. You look at a painting and just let yourself fall into it. As you study all the little details, all the hard stuff in your head just disappears.”
It was that memory that had popped into his mind on his way home after watching his mother faint from the stress of a bizarre scandal involving him.
On a whim, he’d gone to the nearest art museum.
And there, he’d found an unexpected blessing.
Rin.
“That marriage? Have it with me.”
