Chapter 34: I Want You

“What?”

I whipped around toward Ji-Han, thinking I must’ve misheard.

But the brazen look in his eyes made it painfully clear—he hadn’t misspoken.

“If you just come back, everything will return to how it was.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?”

Why was it so hard to get through to him?

I had clearly declared our engagement was over, yet here he was, insisting everything would be fine if I just returned. I sneered at him.

“I told you I’d do better. I can fix this. I still have a chance.”

I looked up at him, disbelief written all over my face, but he only looked back at me like he was the one being wronged.

How could he possibly clean up a mess like this? It was beyond me.

“Ha… It was nothing but a fleeting whim. Just physical, born out of curiosity.”

“…”

“There were no feelings involved.”

I pressed my lips together tightly, holding back the string of profanity that threatened to spill out.

A feverish heat swept over me, and I rubbed my throbbing temples, but the headache wouldn’t subside.

“You’re really going to marry my brother just because of some woman I slept with before marriage?”

Insane bastard.

My clenched lips trembled with fury.

“You have to think about public perception. You’re part of W Group. You’re a Hojin.”

Even knowing Seo-Rin was pregnant, he dared to call it a whim.

So you make love to Seo-Rin with sweet nothings and expect me to bear the weight of forgiveness and responsibility?

“Ji-Han, who makes a baby with a ‘fleeting whim’?”

Ji-Han seemed to lose his grip on reason. Shaking his head in confusion, he stepped toward me.

I couldn’t bear to even face him.

“Just listen to me! No, come with me. We can talk in the car.”

He approached, desperate to explain something that was already over.

“I’ll take care of the child.”

Take care of it? The child was already there.

Just then, as Ji-Han grabbed my wrist, Jae-Ha appeared, twisting Ji-Han’s arm away.

“Seo Ji-Han, what do you think you’re doing?”

Jae-Ha’s face twisted with rage at Ji-Han’s physical aggression.

“Let go of her.”

“You first.”

Even as his wrist was twisted, Ji-Han still clung to mine.

The strength of his grip made my face contort in pain.

“Seo Ji-Han!”

Seeing my distress, Jae-Ha knocked Ji-Han’s hand away and shoved him to the ground.

“You bastard! Are you blind? Can’t you see she’s in pain?”

Only then did Ji-Han look at me—panting, still clutching his wrist.

“Get in the car.”

Jae-Ha opened the door and ushered me into the passenger seat to keep Ji-Han away.

Watching this, Ji-Han let out a bitter laugh and picked himself up off the ground.

“Ha… In the end, aren’t you just like me?”

His voice stopped me just as I was about to get into the car. He stood there, grinning crookedly at the two of us.

“You’ve been having an affair with my brother, haven’t you? How are you any different?”

“…What?”

Ji-Han laughed like he’d lost his mind.

My anger was about to boil over when Jae-Ha stepped in front of me, blocking my view with his broad back.

“Just because you’re like that doesn’t mean everyone else is.”

“…”

“Judging by what you’re saying, I can imagine how you treated her all this time.”

Ji-Han’s gaze turned cold, as if reason was finally returning to him.

“Stop spouting nonsense about how everything will be okay if she just comes back. Go take care of your own woman.”

At Jae-Ha’s calm yet cutting words, the rage inside me cooled.

He was saying exactly what I’d wanted to say.

But Ji-Han clearly didn’t take it well—his brows furrowed even more tightly.

You really should’ve thought twice before crossing a moral line.

“I don’t care about the baby anymore. And whether you ‘deal with’ Seo-Rin or not—it’s none of my concern.”

Locking eyes with Ji-Han, I spoke each word slowly and clearly.

“You’re not part of my life anymore.”

So go play husband to Seo-Rin in this lifetime.

I turned away from his blank stare and got into the car.

Jae-Ha, who had been glaring down at Ji-Han like he was pathetic, followed and slid into the driver’s seat.

Through the side mirror, Ji-Han’s flailing silhouette slowly shrank into the distance.

Even as we drove away from Pyeongchang-dong, neither of us said a word for a while.

Perhaps bothered by the silence, Jae-Ha spoke up softly. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“But we just had dinner.”

He asked like he’d forgotten we’d eaten together earlier at Pyeongchang-dong.

Well, it wasn’t much of a meal anyway.

When I glanced sideways, he was still facing forward—with a faint, serene smile.

“I saw you didn’t even take a single bite.”

Feeling suddenly awkward, I turned my gaze to the front. As we drove down a quiet street, his voice came again.

“It’s my own house, but even I can’t eat properly there.”

So I wasn’t the only one who had trouble at that dinner. Even the chairman, who was usually warm, had gone cold—making the atmosphere unbearable. No matter how lavish the food, a tense table like that made eating feel worse than chewing sand.

Thinking of Jae-Ha growing up in that kind of environment stirred a strange sense of kinship. Maybe his hell had been even worse than mine.

As I was sinking into those thoughts, his voice brought me back.

“So, if you’re planning to go home and make ramen…”

I flinched instinctively. I had been thinking of boiling some spicy ramen after returning home, untouched dinner or not.

“Let’s eat together.”

I turned my head toward him.

Expecting him to be focused on the road, I was surprised to find him already looking at me.

“Something delicious.”

His eyes glimmered with intensity, his words temptingly persuasive. And right on cue, hunger began to creep in.

* * *

Maybe it was for the best—we had things to talk about anyway.

When we entered the Italian restaurant, a reserved table under his name was already waiting.
This place was notoriously hard to book. I recalled the short phone call he’d made earlier before we left.

“Thorough, as always.”

After we ordered, the server stepped away. Once it quieted down, I gently brought up what I had been meaning to say.

“About the marriage… I was thinking we should set a time limit.”

Jae-Ha, who had just reached for his water glass, froze at my words.

“I think we can just keep up appearances for a while.”

It was something I had been mulling over ever since he first brought up marriage. After all, marrying him wasn’t the ultimate goal of my revenge.

He listened silently until he abruptly cut in, sounding stunned.

“Wait… So first the temporary management rights, and now a temporary marriage too?”

“Yes. A year should be enough.”

The Intech-related project would be wrapped up within the year. If everything went as planned, the outline of my revenge would be complete by winter.

“This is what you wanted to talk about?”

“Yes.”

“Ha… That’s not why I brought you out to dinner.”

His voice was lower than usual, almost sullen. Maybe I’d brought up something too heavy too soon.
With a grim look, he downed his water in one gulp.

Did I just make a mistake?

Seeing his hardened expression, my thoughts became a tangled mess. Wasn’t he the one who had initially rejected the idea of marrying me?

While I was lost in speculation, he finally spoke.

“Why set a time limit? The most secure way to maintain succession rights is through marriage.”

He was right—marrying him did offer stability. But as Ji-Han had proven, money and power could blind even the most sensible people.

“Don’t you need a pillar of support, Yeo-Jin?”

A pillar… There was a time I believed that.

But that was the past.

I was too worn out to gamble on marriage again. That’s why I had chosen him.

Not just because we shared a common goal of revenge, but because he had made it clear he didn’t believe in marriage either.

“I don’t need a husband. Eventually, I’ll find a CEO who’s the right fit for W Group.”

“……”

“And you’ll need to reclaim Hojin in a year, right? Or by then, it might be under a new name.”

Jae-Ha was likely planning to absorb Hojin into a new conglomerate. He was someone who would eventually leave, so I couldn’t rely on him forever.

But he didn’t seem pleased with my decision—his gaze had turned sour. It was rare for Jae-Ha to let his emotions show so plainly. It caught me off guard.

“I see this year as a transition time to stand on my own. So—”

“What if I say I’m not leaving?”

Not leaving? Where?

He interrupted with a dry tone, his words making me blink in confusion.

“…What?”

“What if I say I’m staying—not for a year, but for life?”

When I continued to look at him, puzzled, his eyes changed. The earlier displeasure vanished, replaced by the sparkle of curiosity—like a child who had stumbled upon something fascinating.

“Do you trust me, Yeo-Jin?”

His lips curled into a smile, making me frown without realizing.

That smile… He always wears it when he’s teasing me.

“Yes. To some extent.”

He gave a subtle, unreadable look—as if he’d expected me to say “no.”

We’ve come this far… What’s there not to trust?

He leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand.

“Why?”

Then, with an expression full of quiet intensity, he looked at me as if he genuinely couldn’t understand.

Why do I trust him? What a hard question to ask so casually.

“You’re my partner, Jae-Ha. I’ve decided to trust you.”

We had a clear, shared mission: to bring down Hojin.

And I had no intention of betraying him before destroying Ji-Han and that company. I thought we’d already built a solid sense of trust.

“Our revenge—trust is an unspoken prerequisite, isn’t it? And I’m prepared to compensate you well.
W Group will be the investor in your future projects—”

“I’m not talking about business between companies. I’m talking about you, Yeo-Jin.”

He cut me off before I could finish laying out all my plans. The sudden shift in topic left me blinking in surprise.

“Lately, I’ve been feeling… something strange whenever I see you.”

He said it quietly, eyes fixed on mine. His words were veiled, enigmatic, like a mystery wrapped in layers.

“What do you mean?”

Strangely, something stirred deep in my chest. It felt like whatever he was about to say would shake something loose inside me.

His gaze held steady, intensifying the air around us.

“Other people probably crave the W Group background you have. Just like Hojin does.”

“…Right.”

“But for me… It’s not W Group. It’s you—the woman sitting across from me, boldly talking about a contract marriage. That’s what I want.”

He wants… me?

Our eyes locked—his no longer playful, but calm and sure. And my heart gave a sharp, sudden thud.

…Why?

My mind became a chaotic storm. As I stared at his lips moving, my throat went dry.

“I think I might actually want to try this thing called marriage.”

“……”

“Who knows? Maybe after a year, I won’t want to let you go.”

His voice dropped even lower, echoing softly in my ear.