You Were a Woman All Along

Lee-jin couldn't bring herself to agree with him, but she couldn't say he was wrong either, so she simply stood frozen, blinking.

Her heart was beating abnormally fast, and the flush in her cheeks showed no sign of cooling.

Everything was pure chaos.

"Sorry. I was planning to wait a little longer."

Kang-hyun let out a sigh and narrowed his eyes.

He'd watched her notice the strange tension in the air and make a break for her room, and his self-restraint had simply snapped.

No — his self-restraint had broken down long before that.

Ever since he found Seo Lee-jin with eyes rimmed red from crying. Ever since she'd been wrapped up in his jacket like she was trying to disappear into it. Ever since she laughed over a glass of wine. Ever since she swayed helplessly at every word he tossed out to shake her.

Every single moment had been a test of his control.

Then again, maybe this was for the best. At least now he wouldn't have to hide how he felt.

The moment his plan had derailed, Kang-hyun recalculated his route toward a new one.

He gently stroked her still-stiffened cheek and said, "I don't care about you because you're my friend's little sister. And it's definitely not pity."

"Then……"

"You're a woman to me. You have been for a long time."

Her eyes rippled with turmoil.

The desire to shake Seo Lee-jin to her core and bring her to her knees seethed hot in his gut. But today, this was as far as he could go.

Even as his mind was already stripping her bare, licking every inch of her, committing every kind of debauchery imaginable, Kang-hyun knew exactly where the line he must not cross lay.

Taking a step back for the sake of a better future was always the wise move.

"I understand that you're confused, but nothing's going to change. You were a woman to me back then too, so really, nothing has changed at all."

How long had he felt this way about her?

She'd had no idea. Lee-jin had a dozen questions she wanted to ask, but she was afraid that doing so would pull her so deep into him there'd be no coming back.

"Oppa, I……"

Cutting off the words she was stammering out, unsure what to say or how, Kang-hyun spoke first.

"I'm not asking you to do anything right now. Just get some rest."

That was probably for the best. Her head had already been spinning, and now it felt like someone had churned it up all over again — exhaustion came flooding in.

Lee-jin nodded. He kindly opened her door for her.

"Sleep well, then. And don't even think about never seeing my face again."

Lee-jin hadn't expected him to be so blunt about it. She blinked a few times before answering.

"Uh, yeah. Good night."

Kang-hyun flashed her a bright smile and closed the door. The instant it shut, his face crumpled and a curse slipped out under his breath.

Don't even think about never seeing my face again? Really? That's what you went with?

He could practically hear Lee-hwan clutching his belly, cackling at him.

I know I'm pathetic, okay? Give it a rest. Kang-hyun threw the retort at the familiar apparition of Lee-hwan and started walking.

It had been ages since he'd felt like such a lovesick teenager — his head spun with it.

Lee-jin walked back in a daze, barely aware that she was even moving, and sank down onto the edge of the bed.

The plush bedding should have felt cozy, but she didn't register that either.

The memory of his lips pressed against hers surfaced, and her head went spinning in circles.

He's seen me as a woman for a long time?

It had never once crossed her mind.

Moon Kang-hyun — her brother's friend, that striking man who seemed so effortlessly indifferent to everything — had been looking at her that way.

Lee-jin found herself touching her lips with a fingertip. The dizzying sensation came rushing back, and her heart lurched into overdrive.

What am I supposed to do now?

She let out a small sigh.

My brother's friend wasn't just a man.

That much was true — but if someone asked her whether it was still true now, she wasn't sure she could answer right away.

Moon Kang-hyun was someone she simply could not cut out of her small, tightly woven circle of people. And if nothing else, because of the pottery, she'd have to see him often from now on.

"Me, a woman……"

Pressing both hands to her cheeks with a look of utter helplessness, she murmured the words to herself.

Heat radiated off her skin into her palms.

Ever since the launch party — ever since Kang-hyun's visit afterward — Jin Ae-ran had been tearing her hair out.

It was nothing new for her youngest son to run wild and do as he pleased, but this time she found herself mired in genuinely serious worry.

"He needs to get married. Soon."

That was the only way to rein in the thunderbolt of a man who raged about however he liked.

But shoving that brat down the aisle wouldn't be easy either. Jin Ae-ran heaved a long sigh and, as she idly scattered the photographs spread across her desk, sank into thought.

The women in the photos were all daughters of prominent businessmen and politicians — women whose families had offered marriage alliances without ever having seen her son's face.

It meant the Moonseong Group carried that much weight in their eyes. But once they got a look at her son's handsome face, the matchmaking offers would pour in tenfold.

At the thought, Jin Ae-ran's mouth twisted sourly.

"What an absolute circus that was."

Back in Kang-hyun's school days, a rumor had briefly circulated that he was an heir of the Moonseong Group.

Recalling how Kang-hyun had raged and thrashed at the time, Jin Ae-ran narrowed her eyes.

Just remembering the money and effort she'd poured into burying that rumor still spiked her blood pressure.

Though, thanks to all of that, Moon Kang-hyun's face remained unknown to this day.

Jin Ae-ran plucked a single photo from the pile.

"She was a rather likable young lady, as I recall."

Cheon Eun-jung, the second daughter of the Ohsong Group. Jin Ae-ran nodded slowly to herself as she dredged up her memories of meeting her years ago.

If this girl could settle her wayward son down, there was nothing Jin Ae-ran wouldn't give her.

It wasn't as though she wanted a relationship built solely on a stiff, docile, well-mannered foundation.

Even if it took a measure of coercion and restraint — if this girl could put a bridle on that wild stallion of a son, that was all that mattered.

In that sense, no one seemed better suited than Cheon Eun-jung. Having settled on a course, Jin Ae-ran picked up the phone and dialed.

It was a message that amounted to outright blackmail. Kang-hyun had no desire to go, but he couldn't bring himself to actually agree to cutting ties, so he headed for the Grand Hotel.

Every step he took through the hotel doors drew a swarm of stares. His towering height, striking looks, and broad frame turned heads wherever he went.

He himself walked along with a blandly pleasant expression, as though he felt none of those eyes at all — though inside, he was thoroughly irritated.

He could predict, from beginning to end, every last nagging remark Jin Ae-ran would deliver at this meeting.

Which made him wonder whether seeing her was even the right call at all.

The only thing that neutralized the sourness was the image of Lee-jin that kept flickering through his mind.

The lips he'd stolen in a moment of lost control. The way she'd blushed across her cheeks and the back of her neck, so adorably flustered.

He'd sent her home awkwardly the next day and planned to see her over the weekend, hoping to smooth the edges off their new dynamic — but thanks to Jin Ae-ran, he hadn't been able to set anything up.

Was it any wonder the meeting with his mother left such a bad taste in his mouth?

He walked into the sky lounge with an expression steeped in pure obligation. When he gave the staff Jin Ae-ran's name, the man led him to a table.

But Jin Ae-ran was not at the seat he was shown to.

So this was the plan from the very beginning.

Kang-hyun's mouth twisted. The back of his head where he'd been blindsided throbbed quite nicely.

She must have already made arrangements with the other party — a woman was seated there in a gown befitting the occasion, and sensing his approach, she lifted her head.

The moment she saw Kang-hyun's face, her eyes went wide.

"Huh?"

Kang-hyun frowned at her face. "Cheon Eun-jung."

At that, she burst into a hollow laugh.

"So the third son of the Moonseong Group — the one with all the legendary rumors — is you."

Her voice was unmistakably dripping with sarcasm.

The same woman who'd raised her head a moment ago with every courtesy, corners of her mouth neatly lifted, collapsed into a deflated expression the instant she laid eyes on Moon Kang-hyun.

It was as if she were accusing him — of all people, why did it have to be you? — or else sneering at the notion that his glowing reputation had been nothing but hot air.

They were high school classmates — or more precisely, enemies on the level of a dog and a cat. Water and oil, incapable of coexistence.

The kind of relationship where merely being in the same room required tremendous effort just to keep from openly showing their mutual loathing.

"Ha. If you went to all the trouble of dragging me out here, you'd think you'd have done your research more thoroughly."

Kang-hyun let out a thoroughly crooked laugh as he took his seat.

Of all the people in the world, his mother had chosen Cheon Eun-jung. He felt a profound regret for her judgment.

Not that he could simply walk out. There were surely eyes around them watching the two of them.

His plan was to sit there just long enough that it could charitably be called a conversation, and then leave.

"So you're my arranged match. Is marriage some kind of hobby for you?"

When Kang-hyun asked with his signature crooked sneer, Cheon Eun-jung looked utterly repulsed.

"You're as insufferable as ever."