DH ✦ Ch 38

✦ Chapter 38 ✦

I had already heard the rumors that Gong Cha-hee had permanently returned to Korea ten days ago. Since then, she had called four or five times, but Hyun-jae had no reason to answer, so he hadn’t.

—Have you been well? I missed you so much.

The affection in her voice over the phone sounded ridiculous to Hyun-jae. Naturally, he responded coldly.

“Why am I hearing your voice on Se-jung’s phone?”

—Ah, I’m with Se-jung right now. I asked her to let me speak to you.

Hyun-jae had known Cha-hee since childhood.

Her father was a politician and former prime minister, while her mother was the chairwoman of an educational foundation. Their families were close, as hers was one of the most prestigious and respected families in Korea.

When Hyun-jae was in high school, Cha-hee often visited the Seongbuk-dong mansion under the pretext of seeing Se-jung.

At the time, Cha-hee had less presence in Hyun-jae’s mind than a speck of dust. She had left for the United States to attend university, so it wasn’t as though they had seen each other often.

Afterward, Cha-hee also left Korea.

She attended a music university in Germany, and after graduating, joined a local orchestra, so there was no reason for their paths to cross.

That was until three years ago, when they had met through a blind date arranged in Germany.

“You went to all that trouble for nothing.”

—That’s because you wouldn’t answer my calls. Aren’t you being too cold to your fiancée?

Fiancée?

The corner of Hyun-jae’s mouth twisted.

He might tolerate other people referring to her as his former fiancée, but she had no right to call herself that.

Their relationship had merely been a contractual arrangement made for practical reasons. They had both faithfully fulfilled their obligations, and the contract had ended completely.

There was no reason for this woman to be connected to him in any way anymore.

“Am I being cold? Or are you being pathetic?”

—Oppa.

“If you have a brain, you know the answer.”

—Don’t be like that. Let’s meet and have a meal together. We were engaged once. Shouldn’t we at least have that much friendship between us?

“Why would a married man meet another woman?”

—……

“Ms. Gong Cha-hee, this is inappropriate. Don’t call me again.”

Hyun-jae coldly ended the call.

She was a woman who held less than the slightest bit of significance to him, so he didn’t even feel particularly annoyed.

There was no need to deal with her.

It was Byung-soo who adjusted his glasses and became irritated.

“That was Gong Cha-hee? She took Se-jung’s phone and just talked to you? Why? What does she think she is, coming after you like that? Does she still have feelings for you? This is completely ridiculous.”

Hyun-jae picked up the documents from the printer.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Right…”

Byung-soo finally stopped huffing.

“She’ll back off after that one phone call. What could Ms. Gong Cha-hee possibly do? She has a weakness you can hold over her.”

Even someone with amoeba-level intelligence wouldn’t go around making a fuss about being “Hyun-jae’s fiancée” without having something to rely on.

That was why Hyun-jae remained relaxed.

“Finish your report and go home.”

“Yeah, but eat some of the sandwich. Do I have to shove it into your mouth before you’ll eat?”

Byung-soo moved the sandwich, its bread already beginning to dry out, and the fruit juice directly in front of Hyun-jae.

All Hyun-jae wanted was to go home as quickly as possible. Reluctantly, he put his lips to the straw and took a sip of juice.

There. Happy? Now hurry up.

Taking that as an order to continue, Byung-soo composed himself.

“This next one is a very personal report.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a stock-market rumor going around that your marriage is fake. It even includes a rumor that you’re living with a man.”

What kind of ridiculous rumors are spreading now?

Hyun-jae gave a disbelieving little laugh.

Byung-soo laughed in agreement.

“I was wondering if Ms. Gong Cha-hee saw that and decided to come after you.”

Perhaps it was finally time to reveal his wife publicly.

“He said he’ll meet me soon and buy me a meal.”

Cha-hee lowered her phone and smiled casually.

It had been about an hour since the two women, both dressed head to toe in designer brands, had settled into the hotel’s signature restaurant.

Cha-hee had come to the hotel where Se-jung was staying and arranged the meeting herself.

Se-jung, who had been eating pudding, brightened and became excited.

“Did Oppa really say that? When? Did you set a date? Is Byung-soo Oppa coming too?”

“We couldn’t talk for long. He said he’d decide on a time later and call me.”

“I see. He said he missed you, right?”

“Current Oppa isn’t the kind of person who would say something like that.”

“True. Our old-fashioned Oppa only knows how to say things that make people lose affection for him.”

“He’s married now, so he probably has to be considerate of his new wife, too.”

Perhaps that remark irritated Se-jung. She frowned.

“New sister-in-law, my ass.”

This wasn’t the only time Se-jung had openly shown her dislike for her brother’s wife.

Earlier, she had gone on and on about how they had even fought by grabbing each other’s hair.

Cha-hee had listened to the entertaining story while pretending to be sympathetic. Now she gently scolded the sister-in-law’s detractor.

“You shouldn’t talk like that. No matter how much you dislike her, she’s still your sister-in-law.”

“Whenever I think about how that girl treated me like a dog, my blood still boils. Do you know how rude she is despite being so young? And her temper is absolutely awful.”

“Ah…”

Cha-hee pressed a hand to her forehead and let out a long sigh.

“When you say things like that, I feel so sorry for Oppa.”

“You should feel sorry. It’s partly your fault that someone like her entered our family, too. Why did you break off the engagement over something as trivial as music? Was the cello more important than our Oppa?”

Cha-hee was secretly pleased by Se-jung’s irritated criticism.

Both families believed that Cha-hee’s ambition as a cellist had been the reason for the broken engagement.

When she pleaded that she could not return to Korea because she couldn’t give up her position as principal cellist of the Heimbach Symphony Orchestra in Germany, Chairman Kwon Sun-jin of GB Group had accepted the breakup without argument.

It was a decision befitting Kwon Sun-jin, whose first priority in marrying off Shin Hyun-jae was to increase the number of descendants.

“I’m sorry, Se-jung.”

Cha-hee pretended to be genuinely remorseful.

After spending an entire hour listening to Se-jung complain about her unrequited love, her patience had finally begun to recover.

The fact that a vain girl like Se-jung had spent more than ten years pining after that unbearably irritating commoner named Gil Byung-soo was absurd.

But Cha-hee had exercised this patience because she needed to pretend to understand Se-jung in order to get the information she wanted from her.

“And I’m sorry to you, too. I’m especially sorry to Chairman Kwon.”

Cha-hee took a gift-wrapped package from a shopping bag she had prepared in advance.

“That’s why I brought you this.”

“What is it?”

“Open it yourself.”

Se-jung unwrapped the package.

The moment she saw the premium-line flap bag from Chanel, a huge smile spread across her face.

“This is the new FW collection! It hasn’t even arrived in Korea yet.”

“There’s no way I could give our Se-jung an ordinary gift.”

Se-jung put the flap bag over her shoulder and turned from side to side.

How does it look? Does it suit me?

Cha-hee gladly showered her with lavish praise she didn’t mean.

“I need to go shopping tomorrow for clothes to match this bag. Unni, will you come shopping with me?”

“Of course.”

Se-jung clapped enthusiastically with a bright smile.

“Oh, good. Tomorrow’s schedule is set!”

There was exactly one thing Cha-hee liked about Se-jung: her simplicity.

She had looked miserable while talking about Gil Byung-soo, gloomy while talking about her new sister-in-law, and yet she could become this cheerful over a single Chanel bag.

“We’ve finished eating, so let’s get up.”

Getting Se-jung to reveal the information she wanted was as easy as eating.

“Wait, Se-jung. There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Hm? What?”

Cha-hee finally asked the question she had been holding back since she arrived.

“The woman who married Oppa. What kind of person is she?”

The only information publicly known was that she was a student at Columbia University.

Everything Se-jung had said earlier consistently portrayed her as someone with a terrible personality.

As though she were about to reveal a state secret, Se-jung hesitated before answering.

If the woman had truly been accepted as a member of the enormous GB family, it would have been natural to make her identity public.

The fact that only extremely limited information had been released about the marriage had made Cha-hee suspicious from the beginning.

“It’s just curiosity. Wouldn’t you want to know what kind of woman your former fiancé married?”

“Grandma told me not to say anything…”

“I won’t tell anyone. Only I’ll know. I promise.”

“Hmm, well…”

With an Oh, whatever expression, Se-jung hurriedly blurted out the answer.

“She’s an orphan with absolutely nothing. Completely penniless.”

This was the first thing that shocked Cha-hee.

Shin Hyun-jae had married a penniless woman from a family that had nothing?

“How did Oppa even meet a woman like that?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Does Oppa treat her well?”

“On the surface, yes. Our Oppa isn’t the kind of person who treats people beneath him badly. But if I know my brother, he probably doesn’t really like her.”

“Why are you so certain?”

“She’s young. Don’t you remember how he treated you like a child just because you were three years younger than him?”

“That’s true.”

“I think Grandma probably forced that girl onto Oppa because she wanted a grandchild.”

This was the second thing that shocked Cha-hee.

Chairwoman Kwon had given an orphan to Hyun-jae?

There was no way someone who valued the family’s honor above all else would have done such a thing.

Cha-hee looked unconvinced.

Perhaps offended at being doubted, Se-jung’s eyebrows tilted sharply. She leaned forward.

With a gesture telling Cha-hee to keep quiet, she lowered her voice.

“I’m telling you this especially because of the bag you gave me.”