I Have No Intention of Marrying Her
A plot to pair him off with Go Hye-ri — was that what this was?
"Oh—ah! Since CEO Cha is so busy, I went ahead and called Madam Hong myself. Just to ask how things were progressing."
"Get in."
"What?"
Mu-yeol stepped out through the gate, walked up to Seon-ju's waiting car, and opened the door.
Seon-ju, who had naturally assumed they would be taking Mu-yeol's car, looked faintly puzzled.
"Director Choi will see you home. I have something important to attend to."
"Something more important than your own mother..."
"There is. It's not as if I'm holding the CEO seat as a hobby."
Still holding the door, he went on without a pause.
"I carved out the time to come see you and say this in person only because you're my mother. I hear you've been eating five meals a day. You seem more than well enough, so go back to the family home and get some rest."
"Wait—"
"Director Choi. If you would."
Mu-yeol cut her off cleanly and issued the instruction.
"Leave it to me, sir."
"CEO Cha! Son!"
Mu-yeol, who had been turning back toward his own car, paused as if something had just occurred to him and faced Seon-ju again.
"I'd rather not find myself disappointed in you any further, Mother. And—"
His expression hardened.
Go on a few blind dates and at least show some effort. Then I'll have something to say to the Chairman.
Today's matchmaking venue was the W Hotel as well.
The same place she had sat across from Cha Mu-yeol. The hour, the day of the week — every circumstance identical, and yet the feeling could not have been more different.
Eun-jae walked toward the lounge, lost in thought.
Was there even an end to this?
She let out a small sigh. If they were truly going to let her go after this, she would play along until the very last. But she could not shake the sense that she was still being toyed with by Hong Mi-jung.
"May I have the name on the reservation?"
The staff member smiled as she asked. Eun-jae felt the woman startle the instant she saw her — as if she had recognized her — but a professional smile was quickly pasted back into place.
"It's under Shin Jeon-ho."
"Right this way."
The staff member led her in. Having arrived a little early, Eun-jae found the table still empty.
"Shall I take your order while you wait?"
"A cup of hot chamomile tea, please."
"Just a moment."
Eun-jae took her seat after ordering and turned her gaze to the window.
In contrast to her thoroughly foul mood, the hotel's night view was rather lovely. The lounge lighting had been dimmed for the evening, so the city lights beyond the glass drifted softly into sight.
And over that nightscape, her own face was superimposed — sitting there, looking out, unsettled.
"......"
Refuse him. All she had to do today was refuse him.
If she kept doing that, there would surely be an end to this. There had to be.
A short while later, she sipped the tea that had been brought out and tried, with some effort, to gather her scattered thoughts.
Two hours of waiting for her blind date.
The teacup had long since been drained to the bottom. Even the tea bag inside was visibly drying out.
"When is he even coming?"
Five more minutes. That was all she would wait, Eun-jae decided.
The first thirty minutes, she had tried to be understanding. It was Saturday evening; traffic could be bad. The next thirty, she had wondered if perhaps there had been an accident. The last hour, she had steeled herself with the reminder that this man was nothing more than a tool for getting herself out of her situation.
Even so, a refusal had to be delivered in person.
"I really can't do this anymore."
Waiting out the remaining five minutes felt meaningless. She was just rising from her seat when—
"Looks like I'm pretty late."
A stranger's voice sounded at her ear. Still seated, Eun-jae tipped her head back.
The man looking down at her wore a greasy smile. Unpleasant eyes, heavy-lidded. Clothes that were none too put-together.
A chill crawled over her entire body.
"You're even prettier in person. Shin Jeon-ho."
He held out his hand. After showing up this late, the shamelessness of the gesture made her not want so much as a fingertip to graze his.
She only stared, and the corner of his mouth twisted up at a slant.
"Leaving a man with his hand out like this is a little embarrassing, don't you think? And you're just staring."
"......"
Eun-jae averted her eyes without so much as a reply.
The conclusion was already decided. She was going to refuse him.
Should she just leave? Or sit, talk for ten minutes, and then refuse? She let out a small sigh, still deliberating, as Shin Jeon-ho dropped into the seat across from her. One ankle propped on the opposite knee, the slouched posture looked thoroughly insolent.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we're about to close. I'm afraid we can't take any more orders."
A staff member had approached with an awkward expression to inform him of the situation.
"Ah, is that so. That's a shame."
"My apologies."
"Well, nothing for it, then. We'll have to move."
Shin Jeon-ho chuckled under his breath. Eun-jae clenched the handle of the bag resting on her lap.
Ever since the fact of her orphanage adoption had come out, the way everyone treated her had shifted, little by little. Among them were more than a few who made no effort to hide their dismissive, looking-down-on-her gazes.
It was almost funny. That the title of adoptee, rather than Go Gwang-hyun's daughter, could be this wretched. The thought that even that status had been riding on Go Gwang-hyun's coattails was enough to make her want to laugh.
"Get up. Let's go have a drink."
A drink. Two hours late, and now he was talking about alcohol at a blind date. There was nothing more she needed to see. The man was already the worst.
"No. I'll be going. I think it's best we call this off. If you'll excuse me."
"There it is. Finally hear your voice. Playing pretty hard to get, aren't you."
Even the greasy smile vanished from his mouth. His lips flattened into a hard line, then twisted coldly.
"I don't believe you're in a position to refuse."
"Excuse me—"
"Not 'excuse me.' Shin Jeon-ho, youngest son of Chairman Shin."
And a complete degenerate, at that.
She had heard the name so many times she couldn't not know it. The youngest son of Shinwon Group's chairman, notorious for the trouble he caused.
Ironically, he was a son born of a mistress. The chairman, having no son by his legal wife, had cycled through woman after woman until he finally succeeded.
Perhaps that was why. Chairman Shin had spoiled him rotten, and Shin Jeon-ho had lived so recklessly — hardcore, as people put it — that his name had made the papers more than once.
"You're being incredibly rude."
Eun-jae gritted her teeth and looked him straight in the eye. She was making her displeasure more than clear, but he didn't care in the slightest.
"They say that's my charm. That it's sexy."
Crazy bastard.
She almost never swore. But watching him tilt his head at that slant and spout nonsense, the curse rose on its own.
Having heard enough, Eun-jae stood.
"Looks like you want to turn me down. Fine. I'll reject you myself, nice and clear — so have a drink with me tonight. Okay?"
He was putting real effort into the bullshit. Eun-jae left the lounge without a word, and Shin Jeon-ho hurried after her, snatching her wrist in one motion.
"L-let go of me!"
"If this gets loud, you're the one who'll look bad. I'll personally reject you so Go Eun-jae doesn't end up in an awkward spot. In exchange, spend one day with me. Yeah?"
A sharp ache flared in the captured wrist. If her other hand had been intact, she would have slapped him across the face.
But even moving her right arm still brought considerable pain; she couldn't. She twisted and shook the seized left arm, but it was useless against the strength of his grip.
The gazes of people passing by landed on the two of them.
It was a wretched, infuriating situation, and yet she couldn't even make a scene. Eun-jae clenched her teeth.