A Marriage with A Reason - Chapter 7

“My heart races just thinking about the woman I married being in my house. After all, I’m a man too.”

“My heart races.”

“Races.”

“Oh my… he said his heart races!”

Jaehoon had already gone into his room, but Dayun stood there in a daze, unable to believe what she had just heard. Then, as her face turned red, she cupped her burning cheeks and tried to suppress the smile that kept creeping onto her lips. She found herself staring at the door Jaehoon had disappeared behind.

Meanwhile, inside his room, a faint smile appeared on Jaehoon’s face.

“She’s still so young.”

He muttered to himself without realizing it. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned to look at the phone resting on his bed. The smile quickly vanished, replaced by a hardened expression.

“Sigh…”

A deep, suffocating sigh escaped his lips. It was because of the phone call he had received last night—from his birth mother, not the woman he called “Mother” at his family home. The conversation went like this:

That evening, after leaving Dayun behind, Jaehoon had visited Hyeyun, who was drunk. Even though he had sent Dayun away, guilt gnawed at him. For the first time, he thought that maybe Hyeyun had done something wrong. After all, to the world, it must have seemed like both he and Dayun had married for money.

When Dayun disappeared from his sight, Jaehoon couldn’t help but glare at Hyeyun in frustration. But what could he do? She had already passed out from drinking.

“Sigh…”

Jaehoon let out a deep, irritated sigh. He wasn’t sure why he felt this way—or maybe, deep down, he knew but didn’t want to admit it. Frustrated, he took Hyeyun home and then returned to his own house. Once back, he hesitated in front of Dayun’s door, debating whether to knock.

“I’m coming in for a moment.”

There was no response. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly opened the door and peeked inside. He felt that, at the very least, he should apologize on Hyeyun’s behalf. But the room was empty.

“Ah…”

Seeing the empty room left him feeling strangely hollow. He had gathered the courage to apologize, but there was no one to receive it. And then, another feeling crept in—worry. What if she was crying somewhere?

Lost in thought, Jaehoon returned to his own room. Just then, his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Son~~”

“Mother?”

It was his birth mother.

“Yes, my son! My baby boy! It’s your real mom!”

Her high-pitched, ear-scratching voice told him she was drunk.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Haha, just a little? I was feeling so lonely.”

“Where are you? Should I come to you?”

“Huh? No, no. I just got home. I just wanted to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

Hearing that word made Jaehoon uneasy. Still, he tried to keep his voice steady.

“Jaehoon, I know you married that girl as part of my revenge. But I want you to do it properly.”

Yes, the real reason Jaehoon had agreed to marry Dayun was because of his birth mother. To her, Dayun’s family was nothing but a cruel fate. Dayun’s late mother—her birth mother—was Jaehoon’s father’s first love, a woman he never forgot even after marriage. But she had married someone else, while Jaehoon’s father had been forced into a loveless marriage. That marriage only brought pain and loneliness to Jaehoon’s birth mother.

When she learned about Jaehoon and Dayun’s arranged marriage, she had made a desperate request: “Make that woman’s daughter suffer as I have suffered.”

Unable to refuse his mother, Jaehoon chose a loveless marriage, leaving his true love, Hyeyun, with nothing but an excuse about a contract.

But lately, he had started to question if this was the right choice. Not only was he unhappy, but so were Dayun and Hyeyun.

“Properly?”

“I want that girl to truly fall in love with you. That way, her suffering will be doubled.”

Jaehoon felt like he couldn’t breathe. He hesitated.

“Do we really have to go that far? If you think about it, she hasn’t done anything wrong. She doesn’t even know her birth mother was my father’s first love.”

“No, we have to. Her only crime is being born as that woman’s daughter.”

“……”

“Jaehoon, my son, you know better than anyone how I have suffered every single day. I cried every night. I was always lonely. And do you know what angers me the most? My family was destroyed, but that woman’s family was always happy.”

“Sigh…”

“I know this is hard for you. You’re kind, after all. But can’t my kind son help his mother just this once? I can’t stand to see that woman’s family happy.”

Jaehoon wrestled with his thoughts. He wanted to end this. He wanted to say no. But she was his mother. He knew her pain too well. How could he ignore it?

In the end, he gave in.

“Alright. I’ll do as you say.”

Lunchtime arrived. The dining table was filled with delicious food, and Dayun looked at it with satisfaction.

“Wow~”

A happy smile spread across her face. The thought of sharing their first meal together as a married couple made her heart flutter. Everything was ready—now all that was left was for Jaehoon to come out.

“I should call him… Is he still sleeping?”

Nervously, she approached his door and gently knocked.

“Jaehoon, lunch is ready. Jaehoon?”

No response.

“Is he still asleep?”

Carefully, she opened the door and peeked inside. Jaehoon was lying on the bed, covered with a blanket, his eyes closed.

“Still sleeping…”

Unconsciously, she stepped closer. His pale skin, sharp nose, and soft-looking lips… The closer she got, the faster her heart pounded. Slowly, she sat down and gazed at his face.

“Wow…”

He was so handsome. She wanted to touch his face—just like that time back in college. Back then, she had poked his cheek while he was asleep in the club room.

“Hehe… it was so soft back then…”

Just as she was lost in her thoughts—

“What are you doing?”

“Ahh!”

Jaehoon’s sudden voice made her yelp in surprise and fall to the floor. Flustered, she stammered.

“Uh, I-I was just… L-lunch is ready! I was waking you up!”

Her voice grew smaller as she took in his messy hair and sleepy, piercing gaze.

“Just… eat your lunch.”

With that, she dashed out of the room. Alone, Jaehoon smirked.

“She hasn’t changed.”

He could roughly guess what she was thinking. It must be the same thing she was thinking about that day.

Actually, the day Dayun poked his cheek, Jaehoon wasn’t asleep. Sure, he had planned to take a nap because he was tired, but he was just lying there with his eyes closed. That’s when he heard someone open the clubroom door and walk in. Annoyed, he kept his eyes shut. Then someone stood beside him… and suddenly poked his cheek.

He was debating whether to open his eyes or not when someone called out a name that answered all his questions.

“Hey, Choi Dayun. What are you doing here? Don’t you have class?”

It was someone calling out to her—Choi Dayun. She was the one who had poked him. “Why?” That question and a sense of surprise filled his mind. Then he heard Dayun’s flustered voice, as if she were trying to hide her shock.

“Oh! Uh, I’m going now. I just left a book here.”

“Ugh, you clumsy girl. Let’s go already.”

“Yeah.”

He soon heard them leaving. Then Jaehoon slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Still dazed, he reached up and touched his cheek without even thinking. His fingers were gentle, and in his eyes was a strange mix of confusion and something else he couldn’t name.

“So, how was lunch with your crush?”

The dreamy weekend passed, and Monday came. The girls met at the café again to hear Dayun’s story.

“Hey, how was it~?”

“How do you think it was? I was nervous and excited.”

“Ooh~ she said excited!”

Giving in to Suji’s question, Dayun confessed her feelings. Suji responded with admiration, but Sojin, looking sour, spoke up in a disapproving tone.

“Must be nice, being all excited. You were the only one excited again, weren’t you?”

“Well…”

Dayun didn’t have a good reply. As Sojin said, she was the only one who got butterflies over their lunch. Even though they were supposedly a newlywed couple, they hadn’t exchanged a single meaningful word. Sojin sighed, as if she knew this would happen.

“Knew it. You got all excited and happy by yourself again.”

“Ugh…”

“Ugh what? Didn’t I tell you to forget that guy? Just because he’s a little nice to you, you think he likes you back? That’s just your imagination. Think about it—Ahn Jaehoon may be rude, but he’s at least polite, especially to people close to him.”

“I know.”

It felt like Sojin was saying “wake up, you fool,” and that hurt a bit. She knew Sojin meant well, but it still stung. And yet Sojin didn’t stop.

“If you know, then why do you get all weak just because he acts a little nice?”

“I will forget him. I said I will, okay?”

Dayun answered reluctantly, and Suji stepped in to defend her.

“Hey, ease up. From what I heard, she’s made some progress.”

“So what? There’s no real change in their relationship. He’s still all about Song Hyeyun.”

At the mention of Hyeyun, Dayun instinctively frowned. That day flashed through her mind—when Hyeyun treated her like someone who married for money. Her voice, slightly irritated, came out without her realizing it.

“I said I’m going to forget him! I will! So stop bringing up that girl. I don’t even want to think about her.”

“What? Did something happen between you two?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Oops. Dayun froze. If Sojin ever found out what happened between her and Hyeyun, she might run straight to her and yank her hair out. Dayun glanced toward Suji, the calmer one, hoping she’d help. Suji let out a soft sigh and quickly changed the subject.

“Alright, let’s stop talking about this. Let’s talk about something else. Dayun, didn’t you say you ran into Junseok? Tell us about that.”

“Yeah! You said you saw Junseok oppa!”

Just as expected, Sojin forgot all about Hyeyun and perked up. Dayun gave Suji a grateful smile. Suji winked back with a “you’re welcome” lip gesture.

“Yeah, turns out he lives next door to that place we found together.”

Sojin and Suji exclaimed in surprise.

“What? Seriously?”

“Wait, the drama writer is Junseok oppa?”

“Yeah. He’s not a full writer yet, just an assistant. But still, that’s amazing. Oh, and he said he already knew my marriage with Jaehoon was fake.”

Dayun couldn’t bring herself to say that Junseok also knew she had feelings for Jaehoon. It was too embarrassing. But the fact that Jaehoon’s friends knew her marriage was fake shocked Suji and Sojin.

“No way…”

“Well, it’s a bit surprising, but we already knew, so…”

“True. Oh yeah, Choi Dayun, you should call Hyunsoo sometime. He said he’s a bit hurt that you haven’t contacted him since you got married, even though you’ve been friends since you were kids.”

“Ah…”

At the mention of Hyunsoo, Dayun felt a wave of guilt. He was her longtime guy friend—similar to Jaehoon in some ways, but also very different. When she first met Jaehoon, she thought he looked a lot like Hyunsoo. But Hyunsoo had always cared for her, looked after her, and stayed by her side like a dad, a brother, or just a really good friend.

But after she got married, she’d completely forgotten about him. She had been so focused on her one-sided love that she didn’t even notice.

“Oh no… We promised to stay the same no matter where we were, but I broke that.”

“Tsk. Losing your mind over a guy who doesn’t even like you… Even though I love you like my own child, this one’s clearly your fault.”

Dayun pouted at Sojin’s scolding. She knew it was true, but it still hurt to hear.

“I know. I already know…”

Looking defeated, Dayun hung her head. Suji nudged Sojin’s shoulder and gave her a look as if to say, “Enough already.”

“Don’t worry, Dayun. Hyunsoo’s not the kind of guy to stay mad. Honestly, if this was the old days, he probably would’ve called you first. But he gets it—he knows what’s going on.”

“You think he’s not mad?”

“Probably not.”

It was reassuring, but not completely. Then Sojin, clearly frustrated, said,

“Stop overthinking it. Just call him already. I bet he’s been waiting for your call this whole time.”

“… Do you think that’s okay?”

“Of course. If you call first, he’ll probably forget all about being mad. He’ll be happy just to hear your voice. That guy hardly ever smiles at us, but when he sees you, he grins like an idiot.”

Dayun finally felt comforted. Her expression relaxed a little, and she took a sip of her strawberry smoothie.

On the way home, Dayun kept walking, but her eyes stayed fixed on her phone.

“Should I call… or not?”

She had taken out her phone with the intention of calling Hyunsoo, but now she was hesitating to press the call button.

“No, it’s better to get it over with sooner.”

She figured the longer she waited, the more upset he might become. So, with determination, she pressed the button. And sure enough, he picked up almost instantly—like he’d been waiting.

“Hey, Choi Dayun.”

His voice had a slight edge. Dayun, suddenly nervous, spoke in a weak, almost whisper-like voice.

“Hehe… hi?”

Then came a sharp reply.

“Don’t give me that. You wanna die?”

“… I’m sorry.”

“Sigh…”

Her apology was filled with sincere guilt. On the other end of the line, she heard Hyunsoo let out a deep, deep sigh—as if he was trying to calm his anger. Then, his tone changed to one she remembered well: warm and kind.

“Why’d you wait so long to call? I thought I was gonna die, I missed you so much.”

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