DH ✦ Ch 12

✦ Chapter 12 ✦

The clock on the wall of the annex living room had passed 2 a.m.

Gayoung silently followed the shadow of Hyunjae heading straight up to the second floor. At the top of the stairs connected to the living room, her suitcase had been placed there by the house staff.

Hyunjae, gripping the suitcase handle, headed straight to the bedroom without hesitation.

Following behind him, Gayoung came to a halt, like someone who had lost her way in a maze.

Near the window of the spacious room stood a bed that looked even bigger than a king size.

If everything until now had been a vague cloud under the name of “marriage,” then the bedroom was tangible reality.

The bed—where she would soon lie down with a man, for that very purpose—filled her with suffocating tension.

Hyunjae disappeared into the dressing room for a brief moment and returned. From the moment they had stepped into the annex, the large man had been busy on his own, not paying any attention to Gayoung.

“I put your suitcase in the dressing room. You don’t need to unpack everything, just take out your pajamas and put them on.”

His tone was casual, but the words were both explanatory and directive.

In his hand were a hanger with a full suit set, a T-shirt, and sweatpants. Without explaining why he had brought them out or what he was doing, Hyunjae’s steps moved unhesitatingly toward the door.

“Good night.”

The farewell, spoken without even looking at her, struck Gayoung as oddly detached.

“Um—”

She called out, stopping Hyunjae just before he crossed the threshold.

He turned his head, now standing in that ambiguous space neither inside nor outside the bedroom. His raised eyebrow said, Why are you stopping me?

“Where are you going?”

“The study.”

Why the study—with those clothes?

Gayoung couldn’t make sense of the situation with the facts she had.

Seeing her confused expression, Hyunjae smirked.

“You thought we were going to sleep in the same bed?”

❦

It was a night spent kicking the blankets in embarrassment.

She had finally fallen asleep just before dawn and woke up in the middle of the morning. The sunlight pricked at her eyes, forcing them shut again.

“So this counts as our first wedding night?”

“Sorry if you were expecting something.”

Her premature assumptions had come back to mock her.

Or maybe that was a harsh interpretation.

Hyunjae wasn’t the kind of shameless man who’d satisfy his desires with a fake bride bound by a lopsided contract. Or perhaps she was just that unappealing to him, not even enough to stir desire.

Regardless, the anticipated disaster of sharing a bed with a stranger hadn’t happened.

Hyunjae’s sense of propriety had turned out to be a pleasant surprise. If it weren’t for the humiliation caused by her mistaken assumptions, this morning could’ve been off to a refreshing start.

“Let’s get up.”

Gayoung set her thoughts aside and rose from the bed.

The air shimmered like a dream in the sunlight pouring through the floor-to-ceiling window on one wall of the bedroom.

Approaching the glass, she saw the expansive garden unfold before her eyes.

She hadn’t noticed it the night before, but it was breathtaking—like a painting. It reminded her of a Renoir landscape.

The garden had three main features: wide lawns, dense clusters of ornamental trees dividing the space, and roses.

The front of the annex was a rose garden. Not bold reds, but mostly white and pink roses.

Freshly blooming buds filled the estate with a showy early summer elegance fit for a chaebol family.

I must be a weed in this rose garden. Destined to be plucked soon.

With that self-deprecating thought, Gayoung stepped away from the window.

After a quick wash in the bathroom, she took her time exploring the second floor. Hallways stretched out from both sides of the living room, and the study was in the hallway opposite the bedroom.

Gayoung carefully examined the inside of the study.

It was a simple yet full space. A large desk held a desktop computer and speakers, and an entire wall was covered with bookshelves packed with general knowledge books of every kind.

There was also a sofa, with a seat width that looked to be at least a meter across. No doubt where Hyunjae had lain last night—a sofa that now bore no trace of sleep.

“He must’ve gone to work already.”

The realization that he was no longer in the house left her with an odd sense of emptiness. She quietly closed the study door.

Her stomach rumbled after a long fast. Hoping to find something to eat, she went downstairs and heard an unfamiliar voice.

“Madam, you’re awake?”

“Yes.”

She responded reflexively and headed toward the kitchen, where the voice had come from. A middle-aged woman in an apron smiled as she placed a plate of bulgogi on the dining table.

“Hello, Madam. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She had a warm and kind demeanor. Judging by the busy state of the sink and the food neatly filling the table, she was clearly the housekeeper in charge of meals.

Gayoung offered a polite bow and asked, “May I ask who you are?”

“I’m in charge of meals and cleaning here at the annex. My name is Eom Suk-hee, but you can just call me Mrs. Eom. Sorry for the late meal. Please, have a seat and eat.”

Mrs. Eom pulled out a chair with a friendly air.

“The Executive Director left for work early. He asked me specifically to take good care of you, Madam.”

That word—Madam—prickled in her ears.

Gayoung considered asking her not to use that term, but decided against it. Dismissing a housekeeper’s formal courtesy learned in a chaebol household felt like overstepping.

“Thank you. Mrs. Eom, why don’t you eat with me?”

“Oh no, I already had my meal long ago. Please, enjoy yours comfortably.”

“Thank you. I’ll eat well.”

Without hesitation, Gayoung picked up her spoon.

The number of side dishes was almost overwhelming, and all the ingredients were high quality. She was hungry, and everything tasted wonderful.

A strange mansion, Hyunjae’s absence, the chairman who disliked her—conditions where any kind of chaos would not be surprising. Gayoung filled up with food, steeling herself to endure whatever storm might come.

❦

At the GB Construction Executive Director’s office, Hyunjae let out a chuckle at the mountain of documents on his desk.

“Nice to see you again, paperwork.”

He had just returned from a four-hour executive meeting that had started at 8 a.m.

Work that buried even the smallest margin for rest had become his daily life.

Though his official title was Executive Director of GB Construction, Hyunjae held multiple positions. He was also Head of Future Strategy at GB Energy, an Executive Director at GB Bio, and a Non-Executive Director at GB Retail.

The reason he carried so many titles lay in Chairman Kwon Sun-jin’s growing impatience as he approached his eighties.

The belief that the company is yours was an outdated mindset—one that belonged to his generation. Understandably, he was obsessed with ensuring a stable succession of power.

Every day of Hyunjae’s life had been a demonstration of his qualification to become the head of GB Group, according to the precise timetable Chairman Kwon had set.

Following the chairman’s wishes hadn’t been so bad.

He had a natural aptitude for management. Based on his record so far, he was highly competent. Above all, the sense of achievement he felt after winning trophies from the economic battlefield couldn’t be matched by any other thrill.

He knew the opportunity given to him was a privilege. For that, he ran forward, eyes on the path, with some gratitude. Not that he’d never had minor indulgences along the way.

The biggest indulgence would be this marriage. Or the divorce, perhaps.

“Divorce.”

Hyunjae rolled the bitter word over his tongue.

It was a prearranged sequence—he would part ways with the woman who had made GB’s Shin Hyunjae a married man, three months later.

Thoughts straying from work naturally drifted to his fake wife, Yoon Gayoung.

Who would’ve thought she had such appeal?

Her sharp mind, her sense, her diligence in everything she was tasked with, the boldness to meet Chairman Kwon’s gaze directly, and the pride that refused to fade from her innocent eyes.

Beneath a shell of pure innocence, she was surprisingly mature.

And what to do with that unexpectedly dirty mind of hers?

Because she had braced herself for their wedding night, Hyunjae’s own night had been a mess.

How many filthy fantasies did I lose sleep over? He had stripped and devoured the imaginary Gayoung, not stopping until he had practically torn her apart. If it had been real, he’d have been trash—utter trash.

He let out a wry laugh just as a knock on the desk pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Executive Director Shin, I have an urgent report.”

Standing there with a stack of documents was Gil Byung-soo, his secretary. While the man often overstepped when they were alone, he was properly formal now.

As Hyunjae reached out to take the documents, the report began.

“The business trip to the UK scheduled for next week will need to be moved up by two days.”

“What’s the reason?”

“The acquisition negotiations with Goodstone Europe have progressed rapidly. If we reach agreement on a few remaining issues, the final contract could be signed within the week.”

Goodstone Europe, headquartered in the UK, was a company GB Construction had been eyeing for a year to expand influence in the eco-friendly construction sector.

“Since you’ve led this project from the planning stage, it would be best if you handled the final negotiations as well…”

The need for Hyunjae to urgently join the negotiation team in the UK was laid out in detail. It hadn’t even been that long since his return from New York, with the condensation trails in the sky likely still fading.

Hyunjae didn’t even want to look at the documents handed to him.

Though it was a deal he had initiated and one that would shape GB Construction’s future, and though he was glad to hear about the progress, something in him fiercely resisted.

With a sigh and a hand to his forehead, Hyunjae murmured dryly:

“I’m on my honeymoon.”