Chapter 5
After Dohun left, Eunha took another shower. Though it was only for a moment, the spot where his lips had lingered still felt hot, as if burned by fire.
“Haa.”
It really hurt a lot.
Remembering him, who had devoured her breasts as if they were prey, made her feel a sudden heat rising in her body.
“This is crazy.”
Eunha shook her head to dispel the thoughts and quickly finished her shower.
But when she went to get dressed, she encountered a problem she hadn’t realized until now.
The dress she had worn here was one that exposed her neck and chest. And the kiss mark there was clear and vivid; going out of the hotel like this would be no different from advertising herself as a woman who had spent the night with a man.
A short sigh escaped her.
It was good that she had approached Dohun and even secured a contract marriage, but she found it ridiculous that she was left in this state, stuck in the hotel room.
She had resolved to throw away her pride to survive, but this hot, indignant feeling kept welling up inside her.
Still, she couldn’t just sit here doing nothing. She had to get out of this place somehow.
“Right, there’s no other way but that for now.”
Muttering to herself, Eunha first changed her clothes. As expected, the red kiss marks trailing from her nape to her chest made her frown.
She averted her gaze and looked at the document envelope Dohun had left behind. Searching inside, she found a business card, just as he said.
< Park Young-chul, Chief of Staff, Strategic Planning Headquarters, Jeil Group >
Eunha didn’t hesitate and made the call. After exactly two rings, a man’s voice, hinting at experience, came through.
- “Hello. This is Park Young-chul, Chief of Staff to Director Choi Dohun.”
The man introduced himself respectfully the moment he answered the call. Eunha felt she should at least give her name, so she replied.
“Hello. This is Yeo Eunha.”
- “If you’ve finished the documents, would you please come down to the underground level? I will escort you.”
He had just said his piece, been indifferent, and left, but he had already arranged for a car to be waiting.
Eunha briefly thought of Dohun’s cold retreating figure from earlier, then shook off the sentiment.
That wasn’t important right now.
“I haven’t filled out the documents yet. I contacted you because I have a request to make before that. I thought you would be better than… Dohun-ssi.”
Truthfully, she didn’t know Dohun’s contact information. Not knowing how to explain that, she sidestepped for now.
And even if she did have his number, she couldn’t even imagine making such a request to Dohun himself.
- “I see. What can I help you with?”
“Could you please get me a scarf? A fairly large one. I’d appreciate it.”
- “Understood. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, that should be all. Thank you.”
Eunha hung up and let out a sigh. Hoo. It was embarrassing to make such a request to someone she’d never met, but he was the only person she could ask for help right now. She couldn’t possibly leave this place looking like this.
After asking Young-chul for the scarf, Eunha began writing down the contract terms she had thought of.
As for her conditions, the first thing to write was, of course, money.
‘1 billion won.’
To decide whether to actually write that amount, Eunha calculated the money she currently needed.
What she needed most right now were her father’s hospital bills and household expenses.
She didn’t want to give Chansuk living expenses, but if she didn’t, Chansuk would never permit this marriage, so she had to consider that too.
And then the overdue salaries for the Haeneul Foods employees.
Eun-pyo had recently been pouring his heart and soul into developing a new product. In the midst of that, he had a traffic accident, halting all progress, and the technology development costs invested so far had simply piled up as debt.
Selling the factory and land had covered some of the debt, but she still hadn’t been able to pay the employees’ salaries.
“Right, he said I could ask for more.”
Gathering her courage, Eunha wrote down the amount of money she needed. Then, holding the pen, she sank into thought for a moment.
As she thought about what else she should demand, she wasn’t sure what exactly she should write.
Dohun had kept it simple, but his position was different from hers.
Then, she suddenly remembered his words: aside from what was written in this contract, he wouldn’t consider anything else.
‘Well, it’s a contract after all… The more detailed, the better, right?’
In the end, Eunha wrote down a few more clauses before putting the pen down.
About 30 minutes later, Young-chul arrived with the scarf. He appeared to be in his early forties and was respectful towards Eunha even though it was their first meeting.
One might expect him to be displeased with a spoiled third-generation chaebol who left kiss marks on a woman’s body and then had his staff clean up the mess, but Young-chul showed no sign of disturbance whatsoever.
- “I will be waiting downstairs. Just in case you might feel uncomfortable.”
He was an experienced secretary indeed. He had even considered things Eunha hadn’t thought of. Given the specific situation of being in a hotel, it would look strange if he waited right outside her door.
“Understood. I’ll get ready and come down to the underground level then.”
Eunha nodded and accepted the shopping bag he held out.
The checkered scarf went quite well with the beige dress. As she wrapped the scarf around her neck, Eunha admired Young-chul’s eye.
‘He wouldn’t have known what I was wearing…’
But how did he manage to find a scarf that matched so perfectly? I guess you don’t become a secretary for a group like that without some skill.
Having such thoughts, Eunha went downstairs to the underground level, where Young-chul opened the sedan door as if he had been waiting for her.
- “Please, get in. The Director instructed me to escort you home. I will ensure these documents are delivered safely.”
“Yes.”
As expected, Dohun had instructed him to take her home.
She didn’t think he was the type to care about such things, but it seemed he had been somewhat considerate after all.
Eunha handed him the document envelope and got into the car.
Just as the sleek, well-maintained sedan was pulling out of the parking lot, her phone rang.
It was her stepmother, Chansuk.
Now that she thought about it, there had been a few missed calls, but she had been so intoxicated with Dohun that she hadn’t even thought to call back.
Having stayed out all night without a word, she was in for a scolding. It wasn’t out of affection that Chansuk would throw a fit, but because she needed to caution Eunha about her conduct with the marriage impending.
It was obvious she’d only hear unpleasant things, and she was conscious of Young-chul, who was driving. He would undoubtedly report her every move to Dohun.
But the phone kept ringing persistently. Thinking that not answering might cause more trouble, she finally pressed the answer button.
Sure enough, Chansuk’s shrill voice came through the receiver.
- “Where are you? Staying out without a word, and your phone was off all day! Do you have any sense at all?”
“I’m on my way home now. I’ll explain when I get there.”
Eunha spoke softly, mindful of Young-chul. But Chansuk, as if unwilling to listen, just said what she wanted.
- “Whatever. I’ll make a call for you now, so go to the salon and get your hair and makeup done. Be at ‘Seolhyang’ by 6 PM.”
‘Seolhyang’ was an upscale Korean fine-dining restaurant, a place where the vain Chansuk entertained important guests. A bad feeling made Eunha ask.
“Why there?”
- “If I tell you to come, just come! Why so many questions? Don’t be late.”
“Wait, Mother…!”
She called out to Chansuk urgently, but the woman paid no heed and hung up immediately. Eunha couldn’t get another word in.
After leaving the hotel, Dohun went straight to the company to handle the piled-up work. Having wasted the previous evening and this morning at the hotel, there was quite a lot to do.
Fortunately, his schedule allowed him to attend the luncheon meeting. If he had been just a little later, he would have had to cancel it or send a substitute, just like the morning meeting.
No matter how busy he was, he hadn’t wanted to leave her alone in the hotel and just walk out.
While rushing through his work, even he didn’t know what was driving him.
Did he want to blatantly show her that he was on a different level than her? Or did he simply want to win her favor? He couldn’t even tell himself.
That afternoon, after finishing the urgent tasks and returning to his director’s office, Young-chul was there waiting for him.
Young-chul, who had dropped Eunha off at home and come straight to Dohun, briefly reported the situation along with the documents Eunha had prepared.
- “As you instructed, I bought and delivered a checkered scarf. It suited her quite well.”
Dohun loosened his tie and nodded.
A checkered scarf with that beige dress.
He had received Young-chul’s call this morning just as he was returning to the company.
Eunha had asked for a scarf. Only then did he think, ‘Ah, right.’
He had made a mess of her neck and chest; he felt a bit irresponsible.
‘Her pride must have been hurt.’
Even if she denied it, seeing how she couldn’t hide her expression whenever her pride was wounded, she was clearly a proud and stubborn woman.
Seeing such a woman, albeit for money, whimpering beneath him gave him a somewhat thrilling feeling.
- “She stayed in the room for about an hour, and after I delivered the scarf, she came out about ten minutes later.”
Dohun listened half-heartedly to Young-chul’s report as he took out the list of demands Eunha had written.
He naturally knew what she would ask for.
Money. She was the one who had openly said she was marrying for money.
He was just curious how much she would ask for.
He wanted to see her caliber and her greed, perhaps?
But as soon as he checked the document, Dohun let out a pfft, a deflated sound.
He had clearly said even more than 10 billion was fine, but she had written exactly 10 billion. She had acted so greedy, but she remained an unfathomable woman.
Instead, perhaps anticipating high medical bills for her father, she had written ‘medical expenses separate.’ It seemed like a practical and smart move.
As his eyes moved down the list, Dohun inadvertently frowned at the next clause.
[Marrying Without Fear]
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