Hoping for a Happy Ending
“Ah, the courtesy isn’t for me — I simply wanted to preserve yours, Ms. Heeseo. I like things that move fast. I’d have been delighted even if you weren’t wearing a thing, but you might have wanted to show me some courtesy in your own way.”
What kind of nonsense was this? The man had barged into the dressing room uninvited, and now he was painting her as some exhibitionist?
While Heeseo was still doubting her own ears, Jeeon’s expression crumbled. With features that striking, even the slightest frown transformed the entire atmosphere around him.
“And calling it inappropriate… that stings a little. We’re about to become husband and wife. Are you really going to call this much skinship inappropriate?”
He turned his head and murmured right against her ear. For all the rubbish spilling from his mouth, the voice itself was far too beautiful — a waste, almost.
“It’s not as though I said I planned to spend our wedding night right here. Don’t say such hurtful things. I’m rather soft-hearted, you know.”
What on earth was this guy talking about? Heeseo’s lips parted in a blank daze.
From the moment Jeeon had appeared, she hadn’t understood a single word out of his mouth. Skinship? Wedding night? Here? This wasn’t a ghost — this was just some lunatic who’d completely lost his mind.
While she was busy questioning his sanity, Jeeon blew a soft puff of air that sent her veil fluttering.
Heeseo grabbed it on pure reflex. She couldn’t even explain why; she simply didn’t want to face the man with nothing between them.
Watching her clutch the veil first — before the dress that looked ready to slip — Jeeon’s eyes lit up.
“Ah, so you’re saving the face as a surprise? Well… if you’re more confident in your face than your figure, I’ll respect that.”
He tugged his lips into a smile. He’d already seen the photos, of course, but the beauty was still unreal. A pity that every word out of that mouth was pure nonsense.
“……S-surprise. Yes. That. So could you… step back a little?”
Before I snap your fingers clean off. Heeseo barely swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Dressed like this, she had to become Kim Jeeon’s perfect bride.
The wedding unfolded far more grandly than Heeseo had expected. Kim Jonghyeop’s determination to thoroughly deceive the ghost occupying his grandson’s body was plain to see.
Only after she reached the end of the aisle could she finally stand beside Kim Jonghyeop’s grandson.
“Do you believe in superstitions?”
Kim Jonghyeop’s grandson — the man suspected of being possessed by a ghost — whispered low enough that only the veiled bride could hear.
Heeseo said nothing and simply laid her hand atop the one he offered.
“I wanted to come find you in the bridal waiting room. I wanted to see you even one minute sooner.”
So talking nonsense was his hobby. Then again, expecting a normal conversation from a possessed man had been her first mistake.
She didn’t even glance at him. Jeeon leaned closer and murmured again.
“But there’s a superstition that if the groom barges into the bridal waiting room as he pleases, the marriage will be unhappy. We can’t have that, can we?”
Of all things — a possessed man fretting over superstitions. Heeseo barely managed to choke back a hollow laugh.
Yet his whispering didn’t stop. The sharp bridge of his nose brushed her veil as he murmured like someone making a wish.
“I hope this marriage with you ends in a happy ending, Ms. Heeseo.”
I hope you feel the same. The words never reached her; he only murmured them under his breath.
The officiant was a politician famous enough that even Heeseo recognized him. He congratulated GM Group’s lavish wedding and launched into a long congratulatory speech.
The words were so stale and ridiculous that yawns rose unbidden. A typical high-society wedding. Every guest wore extravagant clothes, bags, and shoes, trading plastic smiles.
Even after the short ceremony ended, a reception awaited. The one thing missing from this perfect wedding was cameras.
Once the ghost is driven out, they’ll pretend none of this ever happened. Of course they don’t want photos left behind.
Having changed into an evening dress lighter than the ceremonial gown, Heeseo slipped away from the crowd and found a quiet corner. Simply changing clothes and removing the veil had left her drained.
A small table nearby held champagne flutes and finger foods. She snatched up a glass and took a swallow.
The day had begun before dawn. On an empty stomach, the first taste of alcohol was dizzyingly sweet — sharp enough to snap her eyes wide open.
Is it this smooth because it’s expensive? This champagne must cost a fortune.
She drained the rest in one go and grabbed another. If she’d had a tumbler — no, a whole jug — she would have filled it to the brim and stolen it. The secretary hovering nearby was just about to storm over with fire in his eyes when—
“Is that enough for you?”
Someone gently cupped her elbow and stepped in close. Their shoulders brushed for a heartbeat.
Damn it……. Sensitive to scent as she was, Heeseo knew who it was without turning. That light, cool fragrance — the unique scent that had clung to her the entire walk down the aisle. Kim Jeeon’s scent.
“The glasses at these parties are so tiny they’re frustrating, aren’t they? They always are for me.”
His hand slid smoothly from her elbow up to her wrist. Not a flicker of hesitation in the way he touched a woman’s body.
Pretty faces were always like this. Heeseo’s brows slanted visibly.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you without the veil……. You wear your emotions quite openly on your face, don’t you, Ms. Heeseo?”
At the laughter in his voice she deliberately looked away. His dark eyes were fixed on her with a gaze that could bewitch anyone.
He was right — this was the first time Kim Jeeon had seen her face without the veil. Of course, she had already seen him in photographs.
It’s a face a ghost would fall for, I’ll give him that.
When a life ends and remains in this world, it is called a soul. Among those souls, the remnants of dead humans are commonly called ghosts — gwi.
And so human desire passes straight on to the ghosts.
Ghosts lust after the dazzling and beautiful, the wealthy and radiant. That was why people who easily drew desire from others were so readily enchanted by ghosts.
If Kim Jonghyeop was right and Kim Jeeon was possessed, that face alone made it entirely believable.
His frame — tall enough that even Heeseo, who was taller than average, had to look up — and his solid build were secondary.
He looks exactly like……
The gaze she had tried so hard to avoid swept over Kim Jeeon’s face once more.
“Full?”
“Full.”
Knowing full well her eyes were cataloguing his face, Jeeon only smiled and tipped the champagne bottle, topping off her glass.
Only when the tiny flute was on the verge of overflowing did he set the bottle back on the table.
Like a flower.
Wine spilled over the rim of the clear glass.
“Oh dear.”
Still holding her wrist, Jeeon bent his head and licked the glass.
But the way he acts……
The moment his flushed tongue brushed the fingers gripping the stem—
Like a snake.
Licking the glass alone hadn’t reduced the wine much. The lips that had grazed her fingers closed around the rim.
“It’s not even night yet…… I can’t go soaking my bride.”
Heeseo watched without blinking as the man who had filled her glass drained every drop of her champagne.
The long lashes that fluttered as he swallowed, the deep, flawless black of the eyes beneath them, the large yet delicate eye shape, the high bridge of his nose. Skin so smooth and soft it needed no cosmetics, and that sharp jawline.
It went beyond handsome — it was like looking at a work of art. A face that was, quite literally, flower-like.
Staring at that beauty she felt she would never forget even in dreams, Heeseo thought, half-bewitched:
……Even if I beat him, I shouldn’t hit the face.
Crude as the thought was, if she was being honest, the things Kim Jeeon had said were perfectly acceptable between a newly married couple.
He’s big enough that there are plenty of other places to hit.
Not that she had any intention of forgiving him.
“Are you usually this quiet? Or is it that the champagne isn’t enough?”
However he chose to interpret her silence, Kim Jeeon showed no sign of leaving her side.
Just then Heeseo felt an intense gaze and turned her head.