Chapter 2
“So you still haven’t done it?”
“Nope.”
“But you’re practically oozing testosterone… With that body, that face? And you’re sleeping in the same bed?”
“No. We sleep separately. Am I just not attractive…?”
Dejected, Jian downed her soju-and-beer cocktail.
Even on the nights they did sleep in the same bed, they turned their backs to each other, staying at opposite ends—so it was no different from sleeping apart.
Dogeon often fell asleep working in his study, so most days they used separate rooms anyway.
“Maybe at that age, they just don’t have much of a sex drive? We’ve never known anyone in their thirties, after all.”
“…Or maybe he has some fatal flaw. Like, you know, it could be too small down there.”
“That’s not it, though…”
“You’ve seen it? You’ve actually seen it?”
Jian nodded.
When Seo Dogeon lived on the second floor, he preferred light clothing, and after showering, he’d walk around in a robe until his hair dried.
At first, she saw the silhouette. Later, the robe gaped open, and she saw the real thing—her husband probably didn’t know, though…
At first, she thought she’d seen wrong.
It was enormous and intimidating. He walks around with that attached to his body? Does something like that even fit inside a person?
She almost wondered if she should be grateful they weren’t sharing nights together.
“But still, he’s handsome! He seems like he wouldn’t embarrass you in the morning either. Do you know how shocked Hye-ri and I were when we saw him at the wedding? Back when photos of the Se-on Group heir came out, everyone went crazy over his looks, but the pictures didn’t do him justice.”
“Right!”
The year they entered their first year of high school, Seo Dogeon of Se-on Electronics had been officially mentioned as the successor. Since his name frequently appeared in articles about the heir, her friends knew of him too.
“Our Jian was so happy to marry her first love… I wondered why she liked some middle-aged guy, but when I saw him in person, I was totally convinced.”
“He asked us if we were your friends and offered to shake hands. I held my breath. Is this what an adult man is like? When I shook his hand, I completely froze. The courtesy, the composure—I don’t know. His aura was just different.”
When she first said she was getting married, the two of them thought it was a joke and didn’t believe her. It was only when they saw the wedding invitation that they realized she was serious.
They’d told her she’d have her first experience on the honeymoon, so she should watch some visual material beforehand, and they’d even shown her porn at Yoo-jung’s place.
She’d been told not to expect much from the first time—that it would hurt—so she’d mentally prepared herself.
But throughout the entire honeymoon, he didn’t even hold her hand. The only physical contact they had was when he’d grab her shoulder to steady her as cars passed by.
“Could there be another woman?”
“He doesn’t seem to have time for that. He travels a lot for work too—seems like the type who lives buried in his work.”
Once, she’d glimpsed Dogeon’s calendar on his tablet, and it was packed solid. On top of that, emails and work messages came in constantly.
“Why don’t you make the first move?”
“Me?”
“Or you know, do that thing—wait for him in your robe with nothing underneath. Have a drink together, casually hold his hand. If you give him a signal, I’m sure he’ll take it from there.”
“But what if it’s because he doesn’t see you as a woman?”
“No way—you? Are you making fun of us right now? He’s probably just full of himself, right?”
It really did feel like he still saw her as a child.
She’d heard that when she was chosen as his wife, Dogeon had readily agreed. Even that had made Jian’s heart flutter. She’d wondered if maybe he had feelings for her too.
But reality was far from her expectations.
“Jian’s going to cry.”
“Don’t worry too much—let’s just have another drink!”
“What time do you have to be back?”
“Hmm… Ten?”
Myeongheonjae, without Dogeon there, felt stifling. With several times more staff living in that house than family members, it felt like they were all watching her. The brother-in-law she occasionally ran into was cold, and the taciturn chairman was even more intimidating.
Even at the 7 AM breakfast, Jian could barely force down her food.
This marriage was more advantageous to TS than to Se-on, and it was Jian’s family who needed it more. So she was in no position to complain.
When she came to, she wasn’t at Myeongheonjae—she was at her family home in Seongbuk-dong.
She was sure she’d been drinking at Yoo-jung’s place near school. After ditching the driver and taking a taxi, she must have unconsciously given the old address.
Her room, which she hadn’t visited in a while, was unchanged.
When she opened her phone, there were missed calls from her husband.
Husband.
Three missed calls.
She tried calling back, but it hung up before the ringtone even started, and a message came through saying he was in a meeting.
I need to get back to Myeongheonjae quickly. At the very least, I should be home before midnight.
Her parents would be asleep, so she tiptoed. Leaving her room, she walked down the hallway leading to the living room—and strangely, the living room lights were on.
“Oh…”
Jian, who had been about to call for her mother, stopped in her tracks.
“What did Father say this time? Your expression is terrible.”
“About Jian. He asked if there’s any news of a pregnancy.”
“Father is really too much. Jian is only twenty-one.”
“Honey…”
Her mother hadn’t wanted this marriage from the start. It was a marriage pushed by Grandpa—a lifeline to save TS Law Firm from crisis.
Under the patriarchal grandfather, her gentle father had no power, and her parents—who had married against opposition while her mother was pregnant with Jian—wouldn’t have been able to defy him.
“I’d honestly rather they just divorce quickly if she can’t get pregnant within three years. It wouldn’t be too late to start over then.”
“Honey, someone might hear.”
“That contract—it says if she can’t conceive, she has no value as a wife, right? Does Seo Dogeon know about that too?”
“He knows. His family was the one who demanded it.”
This was the content of the prenuptial agreement that Jian hadn’t known about.
So that meant—
That they were a show-window couple.
That if Jian didn’t get pregnant within three years, they would divorce.
That her husband already knew about this.
Only then did Dogeon’s behavior—never even touching her—finally make sense.
Unlike her, who had been full of dreams, her husband had been thinking about divorce from the very moment they married.
Even as Jian returned to her room, her mother kept blaming Se-on and her father-in-law, and her father comforted her, apologizing.
But since all of her mother’s family depended on TS Law Firm’s financial support, her mother wouldn’t be able to defy her father-in-law either.
Back in her room, Jian buried her face in her knees. She was the only one involved who hadn’t known.
Dogeon loosened his tie left and right and leaned his head back. Drinking sessions with the prosecutors always ran later than expected.
He’d played along with Seo Tae-hyeong’s pranks up to a point, but now it was over. He’d turned the tables, but his temples were still throbbing.
Right about now, that degenerate older brother of his—who was probably calling some woman to his hotel room for a roll in the hay—might be choking some girl out of frustration.
“Vice Chairman, I’ve put some headache pills by your side.”
“Thanks.”
He popped the pill into his mouth and washed it down with a sip of water.
Chairman Seo enjoyed watching Tae-hyeong and Dogeon go back and forth. With only one rice bowl to fight over, watching the two of them roll around trying to claim it must look like a sport to the old man.
“I’ll do the marriage. President Seo Tae-hyeong has already been through it once, so it’s only right that I go this time.”
A union with TS Law Firm.
Chairman Seo had intended to push it forward through Seo Tae-hyeong’s remarriage, but Dogeon had learned of the plan first and beat him to it.
Han Jian’s shares were appealing too, but the thought of that trash Seo Tae-hyeong taking Jian as his wife didn’t sit well with him.
Just thinking about it left a filthy taste. With his brother’s perverse sexual proclivities, it was obvious how he’d treat her.
“Is Han Jian still in Seongbuk-dong?”
“Yes, ma’am is still at Seongbuk-dong, I’m told. Shall I contact her?”
Dogeon hesitated for a moment. It was late.
Myeongheonjae allowed Jian a certain degree of freedom, but it was still a conservative household.
It would be better for her husband to bring his wife home than for her to walk in alone in the morning. At the very least, he didn’t want her to be the target of disapproving looks.
“Tell her to come out. No overnight stays.”
