OYSB 4

The words he had just spoken rang in her ears.

For a moment, Eunchae almost imagined she could hear her own childhood voice overlapping with his.

“When I grow up, I’m going to marry Doheon Oppa!”

She remembered clearly how she had gone around telling everyone in the neighborhood.

Her childhood dream had been to become Doheon Oppa’s bride. That said it all.

But she had never expected him to be the one to bring up marriage first.

Surely, he couldn’t be serious. Right. He was joking.

He had been teasing her and treating her like a child all this time, after all.

“That’s taking the joke way too far.”

“I’m not joking.”

Even after hearing his answer, she couldn’t believe it. She studied his expression.

Doheon’s face was utterly serious, as if to prove he meant every word.

“Then… is this a marriage proposal? Are you proposing to me?”

When he nodded, confirming that he was, she couldn’t help asking another question.

“Why?”

She had dreamed of marrying him every single day, but she had never dared imagine that it might actually happen.

Especially not after he had returned from overseas after five years, and only two days after they had met again.

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t even begin to guess his intentions.

“Do you like me, Oppa? Since when?”

“I’ve always adored you, ever since you were little.”

“No, I mean, not just because I’m your friend’s little sister.”

Eunchae, whose eyes had widened like a startled rabbit’s, shook her head.

People said that if two hearts were in agreement, they could get married in the blink of an eye. But that kind of marriage was based on love.

“Isn’t it enough that I adore you? What more do you need?”

“Do you see me as a woman?”

“Then what are you? A man?”

At his question, Eunchae let out a deep sigh.

She clenched her fists and lightly pounded her chest, but Doheon gently stopped her.

“I’m the right person to be your guardian.”

At last, he had revealed the real reason behind his proposal. Eunchae, who had been voicing her frustration, fell silent.

“You need someone to be your shelter, someone who can keep you safe.”

He seemed to know everything about her circumstances.

The fact that he had found the money Won Sugap stole and returned it to her was proof enough.

And since he hadn’t asked her a single question about what had happened, it seemed he already knew the whole story.

“Being your guardian on paper is just for show. If I want to do this properly, we need to be legally tied to each other. I can’t think of a better way than becoming family.”

Her heart, which had been beating excitedly, seemed to sink heavily in her chest.

It was as if someone had taken a pin and popped the balloon of hope that had been swelling inside her.

“I’m the person Min Seonwoo trusted to take care of you. Do I really need to explain any more?”

The moment she heard that name fall from his lips, everything became even clearer.

Doheon was saying that he would take the place of her deceased older brother.

“If that’s the reason, then it’s fine. I’m an adult now, and I can take care of myself.”

“But the past two days have been more than enough to prove that’s a lie.”

She thought back to all the incidents that had happened since she had run into Doheon yesterday.

As if getting into a confrontation with her perverted boyfriend hadn’t been enough, she had also been caught crying after her maternal uncle extorted money from her.

Even she thought she had looked pathetic. There was no way she could argue against his point.

“Even so…”

This was ridiculous.

He was going to marry his friend’s little sister just because he wanted to protect her?

“What about you, Oppa? Are you really going to marry someone you don’t even want to marry, just for my sake?”

“Who said I don’t want to?”

Doheon calmly explained, meeting her bewildered gaze.

“I’m the kind of person who would rather die than do something I don’t want to do.”

“For a chaebol, marriage is business. Families join hands based on mutual interests, weighing the business benefits. They sign marriage vows just as they would an MOU, and even at home, it must feel like they’re living with a business partner.”

Eunchae suddenly remembered the news article she had looked up yesterday.

It had reported that Doheon would be taking office as the new head of Sehyun Department Store.

Even now, listening to him talk about such things, she felt just as disconnected from reality as she had when reading that article.

It sounded like a story from another world, one she could never reach no matter how hard she tried.

“Rather than becoming family with someone I don’t want, I’d prefer to become family with someone I do want. So this marriage is necessary for both you and me.”

Even after hearing his explanation, her questions remained unanswered.

No, now that she understood a little more about what kind of person he was, she found it even harder to understand.

“Will your parents approve, Oppa? Would your family really let you marry someone like me?”

Doheon was the son of one of the country’s most prominent conglomerates.

A prince like him marrying a Cinderella dressed in rags?

That might happen in a fairy tale, but it was surely impossible in real life.

“Don’t worry about anything else. All you have to do is make up your mind.”

His firm voice sank deep into her heart.

Eunchae said nothing more. She simply gazed up at him.

“What? Are you worried you’ll marry me in a rush and regret it later? Afraid someone better than me might come along?”

“No, that’s not it…”

There was no such thing as a man better than him in her world.

He was her ideal type, her dream, and the man she had kept in her heart for so long.

“When the day comes that you can stand on your own and no longer need my protection, or if you fall in love with someone else… If you want to let go of my hand then, I’ll let you go.”

He was saying it for her sake, but somehow, it didn’t make her happy.

“Until that day comes, let me take responsibility for you.”

His warm words only made her heart ache more.

“I’ll feed you, clothe you, and let you do whatever you want.”

She was so dumbfounded by the remark that she couldn’t tell whether he was a man proposing marriage or a parent adopting a child.

“So, Eunchae, let’s get married. You and me.”

And yet those words were so sweet that she felt she might go crazy.

Back in their school days.

Doheon had attended the same school as Seonwoo, and the two had been close friends for quite a long time.

The first time Doheon visited Seonwoo’s house, a six-year-old little girl had looked up at him with wide, sparkling eyes.

“Wow! You’re a prince!”

It was the year Eunchae, who had been completely absorbed in playing princess, turned eight.

“Eunchae made this.”

The chocolates she shyly handed him, saying she liked him, kept coming every Valentine’s Day after that.

“You put all that effort into making chocolates for him, and you expect me to eat this?”

He had laughed for a long time at the sight of the handful of chocolates wrapped in transparent bags, each marked with an alphabet letter.

Seonwoo, who had been greedily munching on his chocolates while grumbling about what an ungrateful little sister he had, suddenly spoke up.

“If I happen to die before you, could you look after that little troublemaker for me?”

They were far too young to be thinking about death. Doheon had thought it was hardly something a teenager should say, and asked in disbelief.

“Why would you die before me?”

“You never know what might happen.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got a long way to go before I die.”

He had tried to brush it off as one of Seonwoo’s silly remarks, but his usually playful face looked different that day.

“I mean, just in case. I’m all that little girl has in the way of family.”

The look in Seonwoo’s eyes as he quietly watched Eunchae running around, playing happily, remained vivid in Doheon’s memory.

There was no way to describe the emotions lingering in those eyes.

Worry that followed him like a shadow, affection, compassion. So many complicated feelings were mixed together.

“You’ll promise, right? You’ll take responsibility for my little sister.”

“Sure. I promise.”

It had been easy to agree, and not simply because he thought such a thing would never happen.

Eunchae was a child he cherished just as much as Seonwoo did.

“Of course, I’ll live longer than you.”

Only after getting Doheon to make that promise did Min Seonwoo return to joking around as usual.

“Why does it have to be America? Why are you going so far away?”

“I’m going to visit you during summer vacation, so you absolutely cannot get a girlfriend!”

Those were Eunchae’s tearful last words to Doheon when she had just started high school and he was leaving for the U.S. branch.

He hadn’t seen her during either the summer or winter vacation that year, but her presence remained deeply etched in his mind.

Even after leaving for America, he kept in occasional contact with Min Seonwoo.

After a year of adjusting to life there, just as things had become especially busy, Seonwoo called him.

It was an ordinary, everyday conversation. He never imagined it would be their last.

“I’m on my way to see Mom and Dad.”

Twice a year, Seonwoo visited the memorial hall to pay his respects to his deceased parents.

The call suddenly disconnected while they were talking, but Doheon assumed it was because the connection was unstable overseas.

He began to wonder why he couldn’t get in touch with Seonwoo afterward, and then, much later, he received the news of his death.

“Seonwoo’s funeral was held last week.”

It was a shock to learn that his old friend had died without Doheon even knowing about it, let alone being able to attend his funeral.

He had gone to the place where Seonwoo had been laid to rest, without telling anyone, and struggled to swallow the remorse rising inside him.

He should have told him to take another route. He should have told him to pull over and get out of the car before continuing their call.

Even though the accident had been impossible to foresee, he couldn’t help feeling as though Seonwoo’s death had been his fault because he hadn’t managed to prevent it.

Then he thought of Eunchae, who must have been left all alone. But he had made the mistake of feeling reassured when he heard that her maternal uncle had taken her in.

It was only a few months ago that he learned the truth: someone who had once brought a smile to his face from time to time was slowly withering away.

“Apparently, he’s accumulated gambling debts and even taken out loans from loan sharks.”

“I heard she’s working several part-time jobs to earn her tuition, but it seems that money is going straight to Won Sugap, too.”

He had never known that bastard was such a piece of trash.

He regretted not checking on Eunchae himself and making sure she was safe.

By the time he found out, far too much time had already passed to turn things around.

“I need to move my return to Korea up by another six months.”

“By six months?”

The return of the heir apparent to the Sehyun Group. The arrival of a powerful successor who could change the balance of power.

That was how the media dressed it up, but there was another reason he had rushed to return to Korea.

If he couldn’t undo what had happened, then the least he could do was set things right now.