There's No Way You'd Do That With a Real Brother

In his school days, Moon Kang-hyun had been popular. And yet Cheon Eun-jung had always found him vaguely unsettling, somehow older than his years.

The way he never revealed what he was thinking, the way he handled people so effortlessly, as if they were tools — it made him feel less like a person and more like something else entirely. That arrogance of his, letting only the people he approved of into his orbit and treating everyone else as invisible, had been insufferable beyond words.

Back then or now, Moon Kang-hyun hadn't changed one bit.

"If I'd known you were my date today, I wouldn't have shown up. Let's pretend this never happened — I'll act like I don't know who you really are."

Cheon Eun-jung waved a hand, barely managing to smooth her expression back into place. She was so visibly straining not to furrow her brow that Kang-hyun let out a hollow breath.

But he didn't answer. He just rocked his crossed leg back and forth.

That blatant dismissal finally broke her composure, and her face crumpled into a full scowl.

After a stretch of silence, Kang-hyun spoke.

"Did you hear about Lee-hwan?"

At the question, her face drained pale in an instant.

"Yeah, I heard. Why do you ask?"

Her sharp retort sounded somehow forlorn. Kang-hyun smiled bitterly, gestured a waiter over, and ordered a coffee. Then he tipped his chin at Cheon Eun-jung — a look that said, order whatever you want, or don't.

"I'll have the same."

Muttering curses under her breath, Cheon Eun-jung forced the corners of her mouth upward.

The more she thought about it, the more ironic it became — that Seo Lee-hwan and Moon Kang-hyun had been best friends.

Once the waiter had retreated, Kang-hyun said it in his trademark cold, careless tone.

"I know you liked Lee-hwan."

"So what if you do?"

This bastard clearly didn't possess even a speck of the decency to pretend otherwise when he knew something.

Cheon Eun-jung glared at him, apparently having abandoned all pretense of managing her expression.

"I was just wondering if that's why you're grabbing the first man available to marry."

He shrugged, utterly indifferent. It was almost suspicious, the way Moon Kang-hyun of all people seemed to care about someone else's business.

Cheon Eun-jung exhaled a long breath and steadied herself. It was true she'd liked Seo Lee-hwan.

Her type had always been the bright, easygoing kind — Lee-hwan, not this arrogant, emotionally constipated block of granite in front of her.

Not that she'd ever tried anything with him.

Born the second daughter of a chaebol family, she had known full well that her marriage would be bound up in business from the start.

It was also true that the news of Lee-hwan's death had shattered her, that she'd shut herself in her room for days. But his death hadn't ruined her life.

"I appreciate that you think I'm some pure-hearted woman ruled by love, but please. This match is a strictly business decision. Tying myself to the Moonseong Group through marriage pays off in every way that matters."

Ah, is that so. Kang-hyun replied flatly and took a sip of the coffee the waiter had brought.

These days the mere sight of that infuriatingly handsome face made her blood boil. Cheon Eun-jung skipped the coffee and crunched on the ice instead.

"Then we should get along just fine."

Kang-hyun set down his cup. The economy of the movement, not a single wasted motion, and those long fingers caught the eye whether she wanted them to or not.

Any woman who only saw his shell would have fallen for him at a glance, he was that attractive.

But Cheon Eun-jung, who knew exactly what filled that shell, recoiled and scrunched up her face.

"So what do you want?"

"Pretend to date me for a few months."

"What?"

She narrowed her eyes, trying to sniff out his angle.

"My mother won't give up just because this match fell through. Play along for a few months — and in the meantime, use the Moonseong Group name as much as you like."

"Why a few months, exactly?"

The proposal sounded reasonable enough on the surface, but she couldn't understand why he'd insist on a deadline.

It almost sounded as if, come the end of those months, he'd have some other way to break off the marriage on his own terms.

"You don't need the details. Let's just say I need some time."

What Kang-hyun needed was time to win Lee-jin's heart completely, and to negotiate with his grandfather. But he had no intention of explaining any of that so helpfully to Cheon Eun-jung.

Still insufferable as ever. Sneering inwardly, Cheon Eun-jung fell deep into thought, brows drawn together. All things considered, though, it wasn't a bad offer for her either.

An engagement to the Moonseong Group was a chance to win her family's trust back and restore her badly damaged reputation in one stroke.

"Fine. Pretend dating it is."

Having finished her calculations, Cheon Eun-jung nodded.

Moon Kang-hyun might be an unbearable bastard, but there was no harm in a partnership of necessity.

"Good to know you're not entirely hopeless."

"Hey!"

That resolve lasted less than a minute, but somehow, a bizarre partnership had been formed all the same.

Lee-jin was throwing pottery at her workshop, her heart in a restless flutter.

After spending a night at Cheongjukje and coming home, she and her mother had grown even more distant with each other. They both tried hard to carry on as if nothing had happened, but the awkwardness kept creeping back in anyway. So Lee-jin had shut herself away in the workshop all weekend.

If she wore her body out, she figured, she could chase away the tangled thoughts — so she gave herself more work and pushed herself to the bone.

Even so, a wave of wistfulness would surge up out of nowhere, or the memory of Kang-hyun's kiss would flash through her mind, and she'd find herself in serious trouble.

"You're such an idiot, honestly."

She let out a deep sigh. She'd never once had a celebrity crush, even as a teenager — and now, at this late date, she was being swayed by Moon Kang-hyun. It was almost funny.

"This is all your fault, oppa."

She grumbled, dredging up Lee-hwan's face for no good reason.

Only four years older than her, yet he'd policed her love life like he was her father. Back in school he'd blocked every suitor with every excuse in the book — you're too young to be dating, boys your age are idiots with nothing on their minds but sex, and on and on.

Which was why, at a full twenty-seven years old, she was this rattled by a single kiss. She had zero experience, after all.

"I'll find you a husband myself, so all you have to do is trust me."

Saying that, and then going ahead without her — how irre responsible could he be?

And she was exasperated at her own thoughtlessness too, at how casually she'd seated Kang-hyun in the empty place Lee-hwan had left behind.

Without even meaning to, she'd started thinking of her brother's friend as a brother figure. All while he was looking at her with eyes that were nothing of the kind.

How on earth was she supposed to face Kang-hyun now? Unable to untangle her restless heart, Lee-jin collapsed the clay she'd been shaping.

The warped form of the vessel, twisted as if it mirrored her own tangled feelings exactly, displeased her.

Just then, the doorbell chimed. Out of ingrained habit, Lee-jin headed straight for the front door.

Even without reservations on the books, customers dropped by unannounced from time to time.

She assumed this was one of those, until—

"Have you been eating actual meals while you work?"

There stood Moon Kang-hyun, looking impossibly crisp and handsome.

"Kang-hyun oppa…"

She hadn't expected him to show up looking so utterly at ease, and for a moment her expression slipped out of her control.

"I brought some desserts you like."

He set the package he was carrying down on the table. The emblem stamped on the bag belonged to the scone shop Lee-jin loved best.

"Ah — one second. I'll go wash my hands."

Glancing down at her clay-stained fingers, she hurried inside. She'd come straight out mid-throwing, so her hands were filthy.

Using the handwashing as an excuse, she tried to sort out her chaotic thoughts.

Only then, she figured, could she face him without betraying how unsteady she felt inside.

But he followed her all the way into the workroom. The whole time she washed her hands, she could feel his gaze on her back, sharp and prickling, and instead of clearing her head it only tangled her thoughts further.

She washed deliberately slowly, but she couldn't stand there scrubbing her hands forever. Lee-jin dried them at last and turned around — and the moment her eyes met Kang-hyun's, she flinched before she could help it.

His piercing gaze looked supremely confident, as if it had already seen straight through her agitation — and at the same time, it burned with a heat that felt like it might swallow her whole.

"Lee-jin."

Her heart thudded at the low, weighted resonance of his voice, but she forced herself to answer as if nothing were wrong.

"What?"

"Are you angry that I kissed you without asking? Or do you just can't stand the sight of me?"

She hadn't expected him to come right out and ask, so Lee-jin froze for a moment, brow knitted.

"No, I'm not angry. It's not that I can't stand you, it's just…"

"Just?"

He took a step closer. Only one step, but his stride was so long he was suddenly right in front of her. His scent washed over her in a rush, and her mind went blank for a beat.

"It's just, I've never thought of you as a man before. So I guess I was flustered. I always saw you like my own brother."

Hearing her somewhat jumbled explanation, Kang-hyun leaned down and brought his face close to hers, his gaze dropping level with her eyes.

"I see. No wonder you were flustered. I did spring it on you out of nowhere."

It sounded like he understood exactly how she felt, and for a moment the tension drained from her shoulders.

But only for a moment. Kang-hyun reached out and brushed his thumb across her lips as he spoke.

"But then, you wouldn't do this with your real brother, would you? And you certainly wouldn't feel anything while kissing him."

Feel anything? When Lee-jin stared at him in silent refusal, Kang-hyun flashed a smooth smile and asked,

"You really didn't feel anything?"