The Unexpected Blind Date

Do-heon was not Jeong Cheol's biological son. Nor was he his son in the eyes of the law.

Ho-yeon and Jeong Cheol had remarried, yet they remained a common-law couple who had never filed the official marriage registration.

They had been each other's first loves. Forced apart by the opposition of Jeong Cheol's father, Chairman Jeong, they had each married someone else, divorced, and then found their way back to each other fourteen years earlier to marry again.

Jeong Cheol had willingly taken Do-heon as his own; Ho-yeon had done the same with So-hyun. Together they had promised to build a warm, close-knit family.

Once more Chairman Jeong's opposition had been fierce, but Jeong Cheol refused to yield. He had already married the woman his father wanted and watched that marriage fail. This time, he declared, he would live with the woman he himself chose. When he made it clear he was prepared to walk away from the company entirely for Ho-yeon's sake, the Chairman had no choice but to accept her.

The eldest son had run off abroad with a young actress, leaving a void that the second son, Jeong Cheol, was filling. The Chairman could not afford to lose him.

There was, however, one condition: the marriage could not be registered. The reason was Ho-yeon's grown son. If Do-heon were entered into Jeong Cheol's family register, no one could predict what might happen. Even full-blooded brothers cracked one another's skulls and spilled blood fighting over the family rice bowl. The Chairman meant to cut off, from the very beginning, any chaos an outsider with not a single drop of shared blood might bring to the line of succession.

He told Ho-yeon to her face that he did not trust her. If she truly had not approached them for the money, then a marriage certificate was nothing of consequence—she could prove her sincerity by simply living the life. In return he guaranteed she would be treated properly as a daughter-in-law.

Ho-yeon accepted the Chairman's proposal without a moment's hesitation. She wanted to prove the depth of her feelings for Jeong Cheol.

That was how the marriage began.

From the start the four of them were as harmonious as if they had always been a family. Though the registration never took place, Ho-yeon was still allowed to attend every family gathering large and small. Relatives openly snubbed and belittled her, yet she did everything in her power to be recognized as a proper daughter-in-law. For Do-heon's sake she wanted to protect this home. And of course, with Jeong Cheol who looked only at her and So-hyun who called her Mother and followed her so willingly, her married life was otherwise perfect. The occasional contempt of the relatives was something she could endure without difficulty.

Still, one hardship remained beyond her power to solve: Do-heon's grades. The boy scored perfect marks on every single exam, making him a considerable threat to Se-hun, the accident-prone eldest grandson of the main house. The fact that the two boys were the exact same age only sharpened the comparisons.

A promising tree is known by its first leaves. Chairman Jeong, who had recognized Do-heon's extraordinary gifts early on, sent him to America. The official reason was study abroad; the real purpose was to remove Do-heon from the sight of the eldest daughter-in-law and Se-hun, both of whom found the boy's brilliance stressful. There was a corporate branch in the United States; after university Do-heon could simply settle there. The Chairman had no intention of letting him go to another company. Do-heon was so gifted that it was a constant regret he was not Jeong Cheol's blood son.

Do-heon's own thoughts, however, were entirely different. He had never harbored the slightest desire to lean on this family for a living. The way they eyed him like a parasite lusting after other people's wealth filled him with disgust.

After finishing his studies in America, Do-heon chose the path of a teacher. Jeong Cheol's opposition was fierce. He knew Do-heon's abilities were far too precious to be wasted in a classroom, and in the end he wore the younger man down until they reached a compromise: two years of teaching, then entry into the company.

And once he entered—what then? No matter what outstanding results he produced, he would still be nothing more than Se-hun's cleanup crew. Whenever Se-hun caused trouble, the Chairman handed the mess to Do-heon. How could we entrust something like this to an outsider? he would say, invoking family and duty in a long-suffering tone. The real message was different: This is exactly where you belong. No matter how brilliant you are, you are only Se-hun's doormat.

And yet people still believed the Chairman would one day recognize his talent. Ha. They had no idea he had been kept close simply to wipe up the shit of that worthless bastard.

"You've worked hard this past year. Grandfather knows everything you've done. Se-hun is grateful too."

"That bastard? You're joking."

Do-heon downed the herbal medicine in one swallow. Looking at Ho-yeon, who still clung to such empty hopes, he felt both pity and frustration; a hollow laugh escaped him. It was the same tired repertoire he had heard so often it made him sick to his stomach.

Grandfather may not say it aloud, but he is always watching over you.

There will certainly be a proper reward.

Someday he will recognize your abilities.

The Chairman's actual conclusion was that Do-heon had suffered cleaning up that bastard's messes. Somehow it sounded different to Ho-yeon's ears.

"Do-heon."

"If it isn't urgent, can we talk tomorrow? I'm a little tired."

"You didn't sleep at all on the way back? Did you stay awake on purpose again so the jet lag wouldn't interfere with work?"

Ho-yeon looked at him with worried eyes.

"I think I'll need to go in early tomorrow morning."

"All right. It isn't anything important. Mrs. Kim asked us to decide the place for the blind date, so I was going to ask you about that."

"If you give me her contact information, I'll call her myself."

"You will?"

She had been secretly fretting that he might change his mind and refuse to go. Now her face showed clear relief.

The blind date had been hastily arranged after Chairman Jeong remarked that Do-heon was of marriageable age. In the Kangho Group it was family custom to marry before turning thirty-three, and the fact that Do-heon had not been excluded from that custom filled Ho-yeon with quiet joy. It felt as though he were finally being acknowledged as one of the Group's own.

She rose, carrying the cup and tray that had held the medicine. If the marriage to the Prosecutor General's daughter went through, Do-heon's position might solidify at least a little. With that hopeful thought brightening her face, she left the room.

Hye-won was waiting for Do-heon in the hotel sky lounge.

She felt sorry when she thought of him expecting the Prosecutor General's daughter, but there had been no other choice. Marriage to Jae-mun was worse than death. Even if it were not Jae-mun, Jin-sang would eventually force her to marry some man who could serve as a reliable source of money. Before he learned that Jae-mun had feelings for her, Jin-sang had even tried to pair her with a man in his fifties—the owner of a shopping arcade who had long lusted after Hye-won. That absurd situation had ended only when she broke open the savings she had painstakingly collected for tuition and used the money to repay the debt Jin-sang owed the man.

Hye-won knew the truth. Until she died or married someone else, she would never escape Jin-sang. One way or another, things would go exactly as he intended. That was why she had chosen the blind date with Do-heon and come this far.

With fifteen minutes left until the appointed time, her heart began to pound. She drew a long breath, trying to shake off the tension.

A blind date with Teacher…

She was curious how Do-heon would react when he saw her, yet the weight of having deceived him sat heavy on her chest. Her fingertips kept trembling; she clenched them hard and lowered her hands beneath the table.

"…Han Hye-won?"

It had been three years since she last heard his voice. Do-heon, guided to the table by the server, stood looking down at her with puzzled eyes.

"Hello."

She rose, hiding the wild hammering of her heart. In that moment she finally understood what Chae-na had meant when she said he looked like a celebrity. Even in their school days she had thought him handsome, but the man standing before her now was so striking it left her speechless. His height completely blocked her view; his shoulders were broad; the suit fit him to perfection. Add to that a face that was handsomely masculine and a cold expression that somehow suited him perfectly—he was the very picture of a grown man. The sheer presence radiating from him was enough to make her feel instinctively cowed.

"What are you doing here?"

Thinking he must have been shown to the wrong table, Do-heon glanced around.

"I came for a blind date. With Jeong Do-heon."

She answered, fighting to keep the tension under control.

"What?"

He questioned his own ears.

"I said I came for a blind date."

"So the woman I'm supposed to meet today… is Han Hye-won?"

"Yes."

For a brief instant an expression of pure incredulity crossed Do-heon's face. Then it settled back into that characteristic look of indifferent composure.