IMFOBO | CH 14 | Just Give In Already

Just Give In Already

 

It’s been a full seven years.

It’s not like it’s only been a day or two. Even though she knew that their ending would eventually play out like this, why does it sting so much?

Is it because it feels like losing something she’d already lost once before?

Two one-sided rejections are just too much to bear.

Eun-cho, not even fully understanding the tangle of emotions inside her, was desperate to get out of there.

She didn’t want her presence, as insignificant as dust—less than even a background extra in a third-rate movie—to be noticed.

Could things possibly get any worse?

It was as if someone hit the pause button; her stream of consciousness just cut off.

She ran and ran until she was breathless.

Without even a glance back.

“……!”

Turning the corner by the familiar wall, she crashed, bam, into something solid.

A subtle vetiver scent mingled with the sharp tang of cigarette smoke, filling her lungs.

“Well, well.”

A burning ember clung to the tip of a white cigarette filter held between long, elegant fingers.

The man lifted the hand with the smoldering cigarette above his head, his gaze dropping down.

He gave a soft smile as he looked at the woman clumsily nestled in his arms.

“Eun-cho, you have a habit of showing up like this, don’t you?”

“Like this?”

“Plunging into my arms out of nowhere?”

He chuckled softly.

His voice, laced with playful humor, was smooth and teasing.

Only then did Eun-cho realize she’d practically thrown herself into Tae-san’s embrace, and her face flushed red.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Tae-san, while grabbing Eun-cho’s wrist to stop her from stepping back, dropped the cigarette to the ground and stubbed it out.

Then he waved away the smoke drifting towards Eun-cho.

As the acrid smoke dissipated into the air, he furrowed his brow slightly.

“Were you crying?”

“I wasn’t.”

Even if her insides were a living hell, she hadn’t shed a single tear, so what was he talking about?

Still, Eun-cho felt as though he’d seen right through to her core, and she desperately avoided his gaze.

But Tae-san gently took her chin in his hand and brought his face closer.

After studying her blurred features, he easily stepped back again.

“You just had that look in your eyes like you’d been crying; maybe I was mistaken?”

As if to be sure, he lightly brushed under her eyes with his thumb, making Eun-cho flinch.

“I was worried I’d made you cry.”

“……”

“Afraid my proposal was too awful?”

His sharp features softened instantly as his lips curled into a smooth smile.

The image of Gu-won and Tae-hee resurfaced, like a lingering afterimage, at the mention of a proposal.

Eun-cho squeezed her eyes shut, then looked back up at Tae-san.

His casually smiling face was skillful and confident.

“It wasn’t so much awful as… out of the blue. Especially with those conditions attached.”

“Then just give in already, and pretend you couldn’t resist.”

There’s no way that tender affection that exists between Gu-won and Tae-hee, who have been lovers for a long time, could exist between the two of us.

It’s a deal, or a bargain, nothing more, nothing less.

A relationship where we can just exchange what we want and take what we need.

“And if I give in?”

“I’ll treat you well.”

Those words, “treat you well,” just don’t fit a relationship like that.

His uniquely mischievous yet playful voice scratched at her ears.

Seeing his face twisted into a grin, she could tell he was thoroughly enjoying this situation.

His nonchalant attitude, regardless of what she might be feeling, made her exhale a silent breath.

Incredibly, what seemed to be reflected in those dark eyes was curiosity and…a tenderness she couldn’t explain.

Tenderness?

It was impossible to imagine, thinking of the man who’d ruthlessly and viciously subdued those gangster thugs.

“So, what am I to you, Ryu Tae-san? Besides a way to get your grandfather off your back or a means to secure some shares… Forget all those plausible reasons.”

She stubbornly pressed, even though she knew perfectly well that there couldn’t be anything there between them.

She just had to try and gauge whether this was a gamble worth staking her life on, so she wouldn’t feel so cheated.

“A woman who makes me wonder what’s next.”

“……”

That was unexpected.

She hadn’t expected such a soft answer.

Was it okay to take that as him saying he was attracted to her, on some level?

Their gazes locked at close range.

Somehow, the breath caught in her throat wouldn’t go down.

It was as if his quiet, still gaze could instantly seize and swallow someone whole.

That feeling made her chest flutter in a strange way.

“Can you be on my side?”

It was a question she blurted out, almost impulsively.

For Lee Eun-cho, who had lived her whole life without a single person on her side, it was the most effective and appealing condition for staking her life on something.

But the moment she said the words, she regretted it.

They weren’t that kind of people.

It felt like she’d reopened wounds that had never fully healed since childhood—wounds she’d been too busy covering up to properly deal with.

“Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

What was she doing—going crazy in front of a crazy person?

Maybe she was just more emotional after seeing that happy couple.

Eun-cho, belatedly coming to her senses, tried to escape the embarrassment, but he gently grabbed her wrist and met her gaze.

His expression was innocently serious, strangely unfamiliar.

“Looks like you came to the right person, Eun-cho.”

“……What do you mean?”

“Because when it comes to taking care of people who piss you off, there’s no one better than me.”

He leaned in close to her ear and chuckled softly, “I’m a Yale-educated gangster, after all.”

He took pride in the most useless things.

It was absurd, but she was grateful that he wasn’t taking the moment too seriously.

“Tell me about it. I’ll make sure they regret it.”

It wasn’t an empty promise.

This was the man who had easily dislocated Tak-soo’s arm, even though Tak-soo was as big as a bear, so it couldn’t have been some bluff.

“……I’ll let you know if anyone like that shows up.”

“Please do.”

His tone as he made sure to get her promise made her palms tingle for no reason.

She pressed the tips of her fingernails into her skin, scratching at it, before finally turning away.

He gestured as if to say that he would finish smoking the cigarette that he couldn’t burn earlier.

Eun-cho turned away, watching Tae-san take a cigarette case out of his inner pocket.

Back in her room, a heavy silence settled against her skin.

The room across the hall, with its light on, was quiet and still.

He hadn’t promised to be on her side, but Ryu Tae-san was definitely the kind of man who could easily clear away the rocky path in front of her.

If someone who should never be turned into an enemy becomes one’s ally, there’s nothing more reassuring than that.

“What is there to even think about?”

As Ryu Tae-san had said, the answer was already there.

She absolutely couldn’t give up this house, if only for her ailing grandmother, and if Ryu Tae-san couldn’t back down either, then the only option was to find a point where the two of them could meet.

Marriage…

If she could just close her eyes and become moderately cunning, everything would be simple.

What was one year, spent as good as dead, if it meant getting this house back? She’d do even worse than that.

And if Jin Gu-won had Tae-hee by his side, it would be better to have someone by her side as well, so she wouldn’t feel inferior.

A relationship where they could use each other in moderation.

Don’t overthink it.

For now, betting on Ryu Tae-san has the highest probability of success.

The deliberation was long, but the decision was quick.

Just then, she heard Tae-san heading into his room.

She tapped lightly on the papered door, and a response came from inside.

“Come in.”

“Ah…”

Tae-san turned around, casually slipping his arms into a t-shirt, as if he’d been in the middle of changing.

The thick abdominal muscles and hip bones that had been briefly exposed quickly disappeared from view.

Her gaze, which had been fixated in one place as if possessed, rapidly scattered.

He was really built like the washboards the old women used in the stream.

She didn’t want him to see her face flushed red, but that man had a sharp eye.

Judging by the faint smile on his face, he’d already noticed.

“Made up your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Glad I don’t have to twist your arm.”

Eun-cho barely managed to compose herself and pulled over the small table.

Tae-san effortlessly picked it up.

The way he gestured for her to sit across from him, with the table between them, was so natural, as if he were in his own home.

Ah, that’s right, this man is the new owner of our house now.

For a man with such innate arrogance and relaxed rudeness, this was bound to be no big deal.

On the contrary, he might think she’s foolish for going as far as getting married over this old house.

But so what?

All that mattered was that she had made a firm decision in that moment.

Eun-cho placed the clean paper and pen she had prepared on the table.

The contrast between the brown table and the white paper was stark.

Like an insurmountable line drawn between the two of them.

“Let’s write up a contract?”

“Because this is a contract.”

“You’re thorough.”

His gaze was gentle, but somehow the playful smile on his lips seemed dangerous.

“Make sure you return it to my grandmother’s name exactly one year from now.”

“I will.”

“This is a precious and cherished house to me, so I don’t want to come crawling here like I’m receiving charity.”

Especially not if it was the price of a deal made with money she made by selling her own life.

The man made a face as if he’d been stung in an unexpected place by her stubborn tone.

Even if it came across as being defiant and composed or setting up useless self-esteem, this was the limit she could accept.

“You’re something else.”

Tae-san’s left eyebrow quirked up.

He seemed to be intrigued by something.