What a disaster. Startled by Kangwook’s voice, Yunjoo grabbed the hem of the dress she had been about to take off. Changing back would take time, and Kangwook hated it when people weren’t punctual. She gave up on changing and tried to head out, but she couldn’t bring herself to open the door.

‘Ha, hoo.’

She took several deep breaths, and with a face stiff from nerves, managed to answer.

“No! I’m coming out.”

The door opened and Yunjoo stepped out. Kangwook’s dark eyes went still, and his expression froze with them. The sight of her slender shoulders and fair décolletage against the red dress sent a tremor through his eyes.

Kangwook’s eyes were like waves in a typhoon. Yunjoo had become something intensely forbidden, something no words could describe, and it seemed she was about to shake him to his core. What a disaster—that was what he said to himself as his expression twisted.

Without any intention on Yunjoo’s part, and regardless of her feelings, the revenge had already begun on Kangwook’s end. His expression, frozen without so much as a flicker, and his gaze, fixed on her like a nail driven into wood, made Yunjoo uneasy.

“Is it that…… strange?”

She had known it. She felt pathetic for doing something so out of her mind. Kangwook swallowed as he watched Yunjoo standing there, smoothing her clothes with her hands. He stared blankly at the woman dressed in red, then pulled himself together and furrowed his brow slightly.

“If I said it was strange…… would you change?”

“What?”

“Never mind, we don’t have time. Let’s just go.”

“But if it really is that strange, I can change…….”

“It’s fine. Looks like someone is going to make tonight’s party a mess.”

She took it to mean he didn’t like it but they had no time, so let’s go, and blamed herself for the pointless impulse.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean, young lady, is that you’re going tonight as Choi Kangwook’s wife, so stay close to my side.”

“I know.”

“Phew. Cha Yunjoo.”

“…….”

He called her name and let out a quiet breath. She looked up and found his eyes, now deeply colored, holding her inside them. Thump—Yunjoo’s heart fell into those dark eyes and made a sound.

“Where did you buy a dress like that?”

“Oh, when I went out earlier there was this tiny shop and something hanging there was so beautiful I bought it on impulse without even thinking. I used your card. It was a little too expensive to pay for myself.”

“Good. My own card is doing a fine job of shooting me in the foot.”

“You told me to use it, so what are you—”

“That’s not what I mean. I would have been angry if you’d bought it without using my card.”

“Then why have you been acting like this?”

“Because Cha Yunjoo looks like she’s going to make a wreck of me, and I’m already unsettled just thinking about it.”

“I’ll stay quiet and keep to myself like always, so don’t worry about that. And my English is decent enough, so you don’t need to look after me.”

Yunjoo had always been quiet at the events she attended with Kangwook. After the marriage, she had kept up with her English studies. It was something she absolutely needed if she was going to get divorced and study abroad. Having a goal made studying enjoyable, and her English had improved considerably.

At Yunjoo’s mention of speaking English, Kangwook studied her in silence. When she exchanged greetings at his side, she had only used very basic English, and he had never seen her hold a real conversation, so it hadn’t occurred to him that she might be fluent. Yunjoo had always been there and then gone, quiet as a shadow, so he hadn’t even known she spoke English.

“And she speaks English too.”

He wondered whether there was anything he actually knew about Yunjoo. Aside from her name, he truly knew nothing. He had simply assumed she was quiet because her English wasn’t strong. It wasn’t the English—she had disliked those gatherings and had been hiding herself.

They rode side by side and arrived at a grand mansion. A mansion like this in Hong Kong—he thought his family home was already an impressive estate, but this place was more lavish and extravagant. The family home had a neat, dignified interior that could almost seem modest at a glance.

That had been his father-in-law’s taste. But anyone who looked carefully could quickly see how extraordinary the things hidden within that modesty were. The paintings and sculptures in that house were all rare pieces you couldn’t even lay eyes on at an auction.

Kangwook extended his arm to Yunjoo, who was drawing in a slightly tense breath. When Yunjoo’s roaming eyes landed on his arm, Kangwook took her hand and tucked it into his, meeting her gaze. Yunjoo turned to look at him then, and they walked into the party venue with Kangwook smiling softly beside her.

“What a party!”

She tried not to, but her gaze kept scattering in every direction. The splendor was astounding.

“Choi Kangwook’s wife has nothing to feel small about—you know that, right?”

The slight smile on this man’s face sent a small jolt of electricity through Yunjoo’s chest. He had always seemed like a man who didn’t smile, and yet here he was, smiling with ease. And that smile was something else. Yunjoo turned her head away so he wouldn’t catch her expression, and thought to herself.

‘Why have I been like this lately? Sometimes when I look at that man’s face I get this feeling.’

Her wandering thoughts came back when she heard someone greeting them.

“Welcome, President Choi.”

“Thank you for the invitation. Chairman Jin, this is my wife.”

“Ah, she’s such a beauty—no wonder President Choi has been keeping her hidden away without showing her to anyone.”

Yunjoo gave the elderly gentleman a warm smile as he offered his light-hearted joke.

“Hello, I’m Cha Yunjoo. Thank you for the kind words.”

“It’s not a compliment, I mean every word. I thought President Choi had brought a film actress.”

“Oh, not at all. Hehe.”

Kangwook was surprised watching Yunjoo converse in English without a moment’s hesitation. She had mentioned knowing some English when they left the hotel, but he hadn’t known she was this natural. Kangwook kept getting the feeling that tonight’s party was going to be a grueling battle he would have to fight on his own.

They made their rounds through the party, greeting people, and before long Yunjoo’s feet began to ache and she started to grow restless. She slipped away from Kangwook, who was in the middle of a conversation, and moved to a quieter corner, watching from a distance.

Any other time she would have looked around at this person and that, but tonight, strangely, her gaze kept following Kangwook. Each time she caught herself staring at him, she startled herself and hurried to look away. But that only lasted a moment before she was searching for him again.

Sure enough, women always gathered around Kangwook, and right now he was talking with a fairly well-known Hong Kong actress. The woman’s subtle smile was alluring even to Yunjoo’s eyes.

Watching from across the room, Kangwook had a striking face that any woman would notice, a height that had to be at least 190 centimeters, and a solid, well-built frame from years of exercise—more than enough to draw eyes on their own. Add to that the card of being Juon’s heir, and it became a force no one could refuse.

“Especially dressed well today, and why is he smiling so much.”

She muttered under her breath in quiet displeasure, but that was all she could do. She needed to stop caring—at this rate she was going to end up playing the part of his wife, which didn’t suit her at all.

She was still watching the scene of someone working hard to charm Kangwook. This kind of scene at a party was common enough that it shouldn’t have been anything new to Yunjoo, but tonight it grated on her nerves in a way it hadn’t before. She pouted her red lips and glanced over at Yunjoo once or twice, but Yunjoo didn’t seem to register at all in her eyes.

Kangwook had told her to stay close, but he was tracking Yunjoo’s movements from a distance. He had known from the moment they walked through the entrance how many eyes at this party were following his wife. While Yunjoo was looking away from the woman working to charm Kangwook at his side and watching the other guests, someone spoke to her from beside her.

“Excuse me, if you don’t mind—would you like to dance?”

“Oh…… I’m not really, dancing isn’t my…….”

“You’re not from Hong Kong, are you?”

“No, I’m from Korea.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Do you know Chairman Jin well?”

This was another first for her, and Yunjoo looked around trying to find Kangwook to ask for help, but he was nowhere to be seen. Kangwook and the woman were both gone from the spot where they had been standing moments ago. She couldn’t leave on her own, and rather than wondering where the two of them had disappeared to, she just wanted to go back. If it came to this, she would have to handle it herself.