Affectionate Obsession - Chapter 6

Sera raised her head and looked at Secretary Lee.

“There was no more information I could uncover. I also tried contacting some current students who were in the same department as Ms. Shin Yeonhee at the time, but I didn’t get any specific information.”

Secretary Lee looked at Sera with a rather troubled expression.

Sera nodded lightly, but her gaze didn’t leave the blank pages.

The limited information that could be gleaned from the sparse pages was Shin Yeonhee’s name and age, the fact that she had enrolled in Korea University but dropped out, that she was abandoned at an orphanage shortly after birth, and that the orphanage director was the same person as her birth mother.

How could this be?

“The more I look, the more fascinating she is.”

Sera twisted her lips into a wry smile.

I thought she would be an unremarkable woman. Yet, the fact that she had the exact same face as me was intriguing, so I grabbed onto her without hesitation.

If it hadn’t been for that woman, I would have been standing at the altar, so it was an opportunity I absolutely had to seize.

But now, a thought is creeping in that perhaps I shouldn’t have just grabbed onto it so carelessly.

“I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve picked up a troublesome tiger cub.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Secretary Lee mumbled as if in a daze, bowing his head towards Sera.

Sera put down the coffee cup in her hand and waved her hand a couple of times.

It was indeed unsettling, but she hadn’t said it to blame Secretary Lee.

“Secretary Lee has nothing to apologize for. You only did as I instructed. That’s fine! For now, let’s just enjoy our freedom.”

Saying that, she leaned back. The soft cushion embraced her back pleasantly.

Sera stretched her lips into a wide grin.

The sunlight pouring through the window was incredibly warm. The clear blue sea spread out below was so beautiful it brought a smile to her face just by looking at it.

That alone made Sera feel very good.

So much so that she wanted to forget all the troublesome problems.

“This is the first time in my 33 years that I’ve had uninterrupted time to enjoy without being monitored, and I can’t waste it like this.”

Sera said, her voice rising a tone, and stood up. The weather was so nice, it felt wrong to just spend time inside the cafe.

She took a step forward, intending to walk on the beach. At that moment, something popped into her head.

Sera paused for a moment, lost in thought, then looked at Secretary Lee and lightly moved her lips.

“Ah, Shin Yeonhee is in Korea right now. Find out where she is and assign someone to her. Although you don’t need to worry since Jung Junhyeok is handling it.”

“…”

“Still, it’s good to have some insurance so I can relax and have fun, right?”

Sera wore a smile that was impossible to decipher.

“Yes. Understood.”

Secretary Lee bowed his head once more, his demeanor unwavering.

Only then did Sera cross her legs again.

“Then I’ll be counting on you, Secretary Lee.”

Until the very end, she didn’t shy away from issuing a command disguised as a request.

Yeonhee stared intently at somewhere deep within the lush forest.

In front of her, steam rose from the coffee cup Junhyeok had prepared.

She had no intention of drinking it. The moment she turned her head to drink the coffee, she was sure she would meet Junhyeok’s gaze, which had been fixed on her the whole time.

She didn’t have the courage for that yet.

“His name is Jung Junhyeok, he’s thirty-three. He’s the third son of HN Group.”

Sera’s words kept echoing in her ears.

She had expected it from the moment she had to face a lawyer ten years ago.

It was already like something out of a drama for a lawyer to show up over a dating issue between two mere university students.

But she had never imagined it would be related to HN Group.

She had just thought it was one of those small to medium-sized companies that could afford to hire a lawyer.

In fact, she would have been surprised even if he had said he was the son of a family running a small company with an annual revenue of about 1 billion won.

She, who had nothing but a healthy body, how could she compare herself to someone running even a small company?

But this was beyond anything she could have imagined.

Moreover, the thought of having entered into a fake marriage with HN Group made her tremble.

Would she be able to avoid getting caught?

Could she successfully complete this fake married life for a year against such a formidable corporation?

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

Yeonhee, lost in thought, flinched her shoulder.

She turned her head and looked at Junhyeok.

He was drinking his coffee with a relaxed expression, his intense gaze never leaving her.

For a moment, Yeonhee stared blankly into his eyes before quickly looking away.

She had only been asked what she was thinking, but she already felt like her entire inner self had been exposed.

“Just…”

She answered vaguely, but in truth, she wanted to ask.

Why didn’t you tell me?

How could you do that?

But in the end, she clamped her lips shut, realizing that even if she asked, there was nothing that could be undone now.

Come to think of it, neither Junhyeok nor she had ever brought up topics related to their families or backgrounds, as if by agreement.

She had been abandoned by her birth parents as soon as she was born and lived thinking of the orphanage director as her mother.

At that time, her youthful pride wouldn’t easily allow her to say such things to the man she loved for the first time in her life.

Perhaps she never had the right to resent Junhyeok in the first place.

“You’re holding up well. From the wedding yesterday, and even with Yoon Sera’s call just now. You must have a lot of questions.”

Suddenly, Junhyeok’s voice pierced Yeonhee’s ears.

Yeonhee’s eyes immediately refocused.

“You know what kind of event yesterday was. You must have guessed it wasn’t just a ceremony for Jung Junhyeok and Yoon Sera’s wedding. That’s why Yoon Sera called just now.”

“…”

“And yet, you’re not asking me anything.”

Yeonhee bit her lower lip.

She hadn’t said a word, but he seemed to have perfectly read her mind, as if he knew everything.

On the other hand, she couldn’t quite understand Junhyeok’s meaningful demeanor.

Just as she didn’t have the right to question him, he had no reason to act so confidently.

They both had secrets they had kept from each other.

So why was he acting so righteous?

Yeonhee furrowed her brow.

“If you have something to say, say it directly. Don’t beat around the bush like that.”

She tried to speak calmly, but her complicated feelings became even more chaotic.

She was already trying very hard. To organize her thoughts simply, without attributing all the blame to Junhyeok.

She kept telling herself that he must have had his reasons, just as she did. But Junhyeok, unaware of her inner turmoil, kept provoking her.

She couldn’t just ignore his attitude and words as if they didn’t affect her. Her mind was too much of a mess right now.

“I thought we needed to talk. I knew that the woman who would appear at the wedding was Shin Yeonhee, but you didn’t.”

Yeonhee held her breath and stared at Junhyeok. Her already slow thought process felt like it had completely stopped.

The fact that Jung Junhyeok had confidently known that the woman appearing at the wedding would be Shin Yeonhee, not Yoon Sera, was an undeniable truth.

He had known she was Shin Yeonhee before they even made eye contact.

However, she hadn’t expected him to state that fact so boldly.

No matter how many times she thought about it, there was no logical way he could have known.

On the day she met Yoon Sera, she had gone to work at the department store as usual, and she had no contact with anyone until she followed Secretary Lee to the hotel suite.

Not only that.

After that day, she couldn’t leave the hotel suite until the wedding day.

Therefore, the only way Junhyeok could have been sure she wasn’t Sera the moment he saw her was if he had hired someone through illegal channels to secretly watch her or investigate her.

It was inexplicable otherwise. Yet, Junhyeok was so nonchalant.

“You must have questions, and there are things you need to know. So, ask whatever you’re curious about. I’m willing to answer anything you’re curious about.”

He paused with an enigmatic smile. But their locked gazes told her his words weren’t finished.

His uncharacteristic hesitation and the smooth curve of his lips suggested something was amiss.

“After all, we’re going to be living as husband and wife from now on, and we can’t just let past feelings fester, can we?”

Yeonhee’s heart sank.

His voice carried an unprecedented hint of joy.

Especially when he said the word “husband and wife,” his lips curved genuinely upwards.

He seemed genuinely pleased to be married to her.

Her own heart was pounding anxiously with the thought of deceiving everyone, yet there wasn’t a trace of anxiety in Junhyeok.

“…When did you know?”

Yeonhee barely managed to move her lips. Then, with a stiff expression, she looked at Junhyeok.

“Know what?”

He asked back with a leisurely smile, as if he were prolonging the suspense.

Just that alone made Yeonhee’s heart race wildly. But she clenched her hidden hand under the table and forced her lips to move.

“That I would appear at the wedding in place of Ms. Yoon Sera.”

It might have been an unimportant matter now.

The wedding had already taken place, and she had no intention of returning the contract money she received from Yoon Sera.

In the end, all she could do was maintain this fake marriage with Jung Junhyeok for a year, and that was it. Yet, she still asked.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had walked into a trap set by Jung Junhyeok.

“Well. What answer would satisfy you?”

Yeonhee narrowed her brows. Junhyeok’s continuous reactions felt like he was teasing her.

Her lips pressed together, and she tried not to show her agitation.

As she continued to look at him without the slightest change in her expression, he seemed to realize she wasn’t in the mood for games, and his playful expression faded as he slowly moved his lips.

“From the moment you met Yoon Sera.”

Yeonhee let out a sharp breath.

Support Affectionate Obsession