DH ✦ Ch 16

✦ Chapter 16 ✦

By late afternoon, the chaos of the move had finally settled down.

Ga-young spent her time in the newly created study on the first floor.

She brought out the suitcase she had stored in the dressing room and filled the bookshelves and wardrobe with the things she had used in New York. She was grateful for the clothes and accessories Chairman Kwon had given her, but they felt like too much, so she doubted she would use them often.

After finishing unpacking, Ga-young turned her attention toward the far side of the room.

Thick blackout curtains covered the window, and beneath them stood a single bed meant for naps.

Of all the changes made to the detached house that day, this was what she liked most.

The room was more than suitable to serve as her bedroom, which meant she could finally give Hyun-jae his bedroom back. His excessive consideration had made the past two nights feel as though she were sleeping on a bed of nails.

After days of feeling as unstable as if she were walking across a rope bridge, she finally felt as though she had stepped onto solid ground.

The script was perfect, and the stage had been set.

Now all she had to do was adapt.

To this house, and to the unfamiliar people in it.

As someone’s wife. As part of a family.

It was a fabricated life, but it was a role she had chosen for herself, and she intended to do her best.

There was only one variable that undermined Ga-young’s confidence.

As if on cue, that very variable called.

Ga-young forced air into her inexplicably shrinking lungs and answered the phone.

“This is Yoon Ga-young.”

“Do you like the new atmosphere in the house?”

At Hyun-jae’s kind question, Ga-young answered sweetly.

“Yes. Thank you for giving me my own room as well.”

“You mean the study?”

“Yes. It’s a very lovely room. I think I’ll be staying there from now on. Starting tonight, I’ll return your bedroom to you.”

“I’m glad you like it. But I’m afraid getting my bedroom back tonight will be difficult.”

“Why?”

“I’m leaving for a business trip to England.”

So Hyun-jae would be away from home for a while.

For some reason, the solid ground beneath Ga-young’s feet suddenly turned into a swamp, and she felt herself sinking into it. Her mind went blank, as if she had been struck on the back of the head, and her lips fell silent.

“I was originally supposed to leave tomorrow, but something urgent came up. I’m heading straight from the office to Incheon Airport.”

“I’m planning to be back in a week.”

“I bring Yoon Ga-young into that house, and then disappear after just two days. What am I supposed to do with you?”

“……”

“Yoon Ga-young. Are you listening?”

“Yes? Ah, yes.”

Ga-young quickly pulled herself together.

There was a trace of amusement in Hyun-jae’s voice as he continued.

“Were you shocked?”

“No.”

“You must feel a little lost, having to stay with nothing but strangers.”

That was true, though technically speaking, Shin Hyun-jae himself didn’t belong in the category of people she knew either.

There was nothing familiar about this place anyway. And if she had to name the person who made her the most uncomfortable, Hyun-jae would be at the top of the list.

So perhaps it was actually for the best that the problem of getting used to her husband had been postponed.

Ga-young tried to look at things positively.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“No. I really am fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

When she gave him such a brave answer, she heard his low laugh.

It brought to mind the gentle expression she had seen on him a few times before—the slight curve of his eyes, the smile spreading across his lips, an unexpected warmth that softened his otherwise cold features.

For no reason at all, her ears grew warm.

Then his deep, rich voice reached her reddening ears.

“If anything makes you uncomfortable, call me.”

“Anytime.”

And so, she was given a week to adjust to her new in-laws without her husband by her side.

On the first day, she spent most of her time shut inside her room, reading. Other than that, she ate in the dining room and wandered around the detached house, inside and out, trying to get a feel for its layout and the rooms it contained.

Starting from the second day, she found herself speaking more often with Mrs. Eom, who was in charge of managing the detached house.

“Madam, I made snail soybean paste stew today. I hope it suits your taste.”

Mrs. Eom’s excessive politeness only made Ga-young uncomfortable.

She reminded her too much of the aunt who had taken care of the vacation house, and Ga-young couldn’t help feeling self-conscious. Being constantly addressed with formal respect by someone older than herself made her uneasy as well.

“Mrs. Eom, please speak to me more casually.”

“More casually?”

“Just call me Ga-young, and please don’t speak so formally when it’s only the two of us.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that. You’re someone I’m supposed to serve properly.”

Standing beside her and pulling out her chair, Mrs. Eom lowered her head.

She wasn’t this formal on my first day here.

Ga-young’s question was soon answered.

“Executive Director Shin gave instructions. He told us to treat you with the utmost respect, Madam.”

Ga-young was young, and from the staff’s perspective, she was someone who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Hyun-jae had apparently taken precautions in advance, worried that the employees might neglect to treat her properly as the mistress of the detached house.

She appreciated how considerate he had been, but this level of formality only made Ga-young feel suffocated.

“Then how about keeping the title, but speaking casually whenever it’s just the two of us?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Please understand, Madam.”

“Then…”

Ga-young hesitated for a moment.

“Would you like to eat with me?”

“Eat with you?”

“I get lonely eating by myself. If you won’t even grant me this request, I’ll be hurt.”

“Uh…”

Mrs. Eom hesitated.

“Hmm… then, shall we?”

In the end, they compromised and agreed to eat together whenever it was just the two of them.

Ga-young mixed her rice with summer greens and the snail soybean paste stew.

When Mrs. Eom stared longingly at her bowl, saying it looked delicious, Ga-young even scooped out a spoonful of bibimbap for her.

“Our Madam certainly knows how to enjoy her food.”

Giggling together and chatting comfortably, they ate their meal.

From that day onward, Ga-young and Mrs. Eom became much closer.

On the third day, in the late afternoon, when the sun had begun to sink—

Ga-young had spent the entire day eating expensive meals and idling around, and she was just beginning to grow restless from boredom when Chairman Kwon Seon-jin summoned her to the main house.

Ga-young followed the butler who greeted her at the entrance and headed to the second-floor terrace.

It was early summer, before the weather had become unbearably hot, and the sunlight was pleasant.

The outdoor terrace overlooked the vast lawn stretching out before the main house, offering a soothing view.

Kwon Seon-jin sat at one of the chairs surrounding a round glass table, reviewing documents as she basked in the sunlight.

“Chairman, I’m here.”

Kwon Seon-jin looked up when Ga-young greeted her.

“Good. I called you over to have a cup of tea.”

“Thank you for inviting me.”

Green tea, steamed rice cakes, and yakgwa had been neatly arranged on the table.

Ga-young sat in the chair the butler pulled out for her. He then filled her porcelain teacup with green tea.

“Go ahead.”

Following Kwon Seon-jin’s lead, Ga-young took a sip.

The fresh, grassy aroma washed cleanly across her palate.

“How have you been? Isn’t it lonely without Hyun-jae around?”

On her way there, Ga-young had been tense, wondering if she was about to be scolded for something.

But contrary to her expectations, Kwon Seon-jin was surprisingly kind.

“No. Thanks to you, I’ve been very comfortable.”

“That’s good to hear. Have some rice cake as well.”

There didn’t seem to be any particular reason for calling her over. It appeared that Kwon Seon-jin simply wanted to check whether Ga-young, who had been cooped up in the detached house, was doing all right.

Behind her reading glasses, Kwon Seon-jin’s eyes moved busily across the documents.

Feeling slightly awkward, Ga-young ate a piece of steamed rice cake and drank her tea. She looked out at the lawn below the terrace, then at the rose garden in the distance.

Eventually, her gaze drifted toward the documents Kwon Seon-jin was reading.

After only a few lines, she could tell what kind of document it was.

It was a report summarizing news articles that had been published in major overseas newspapers the day before.

As a business student who had made a habit of reading financial newspapers every day, Ga-young found the document more interesting than the rice cakes.

She stared intently at the papers on the table.

Noticing this, Kwon Seon-jin casually threw out an unexpected question.

“You attend university in the United States, so I assume your English is good. Are there any other foreign languages you speak?”

“I’ve also studied French, Spanish, and Chinese.”

“Are you good at them?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m fluent, but I can manage everyday conversation.”

Kwon Seon-jin’s gaze left the documents and settled on Ga-young.

“You know the world’s two leading financial newspapers, don’t you?”

“The Wall Street Journal in the United States and the Financial Times in the United Kingdom.”

“And the largest financial newspaper in the Chinese-speaking world?”

“Caijing.”

At her smooth, immediate answers, Kwon Seon-jin removed her reading glasses.

Ga-young kept smiling without avoiding the direct gaze fixed on her.

Despite her delicate appearance, there was something bold about Ga-young. As Kwon Seon-jin studied her intently, a flicker of interest appeared in her eyes.

“Every day at noon, I receive summaries of those three newspapers. Someone from the secretary’s office translates the major articles into Korean.”

“Would you like to try doing it?”

It was an offer Ga-young couldn’t have welcomed more.

Writing reports based on books and articles was one of her strengths. Besides, she had recently begun to feel like nothing more than a parasite living off expensive meals.

“If you entrust it to me, I’ll do my very best.”

That afternoon, Ga-young buried herself in her assignment at the desktop computer in the second-floor study.

She completed summaries of articles from the global financial newspapers according to the sample format she had received from the chairman’s secretary’s office and sent them by email.

Kwon Seon-jin called her almost immediately.

“Not bad. I’ll leave it to you twice a week.”

For a moment, Ga-young wondered if this was some kind of bait—an opportunity offered in the hope that she would make a mistake and give Kwon Seon-jin something to criticize.

She hadn’t forgotten the look in Chairman Kwon’s eyes when they first met.

Where did this girl crawl out from?

That was how dismissively Kwon Seon-jin had seemed to regard her.

Even if she had been forced to accept Ga-young into the family because she couldn’t overcome her grandson’s wishes, Ga-young was probably nothing more than an unwanted impurity to be removed when the right time came.

But their relationship would end in three months anyway.

So Ga-young didn’t particularly mind.

She was simply happy to have been given something to do in her otherwise boring daily life.

People from chaebol families don’t express their contempt so crudely. They know how to hide their dislike with elegance.

Thinking that way made the uncertainty of life here feel much less overwhelming.

That belief was shattered the following day, when she met her sister-in-law.