Chapter 4
Despite Dohyeon’s cold order to leave, Ina walked over and sat down on the sofa anyway.
“No. I can’t leave.”
Dohyeon silently watched her before slipping his hands into his trouser pockets.
“It’s only been a year, but you’ve changed a lot. You’re not the same as before.”
“…”
“You must be trying to show me that.”
Speaking in a low voice, he slowly walked toward her.
Then he stood over her as she sat quietly on the sofa and continued,
“If that’s what you’re trying to do, I’m no easier to deal with than before.”
“…I know.”
Ina slowly raised her head and met his eyes.
“You’ve never been an easy person to deal with, Mr. Dohyeon.”
A faint smile crossed his lips as he sat down across from her.
Resting his clasped hands together, he leaned forward slightly and looked at her with an unreadable expression.
“Really? You talk as if you know me.”
At those words, Ina lowered her gaze.
Raising one corner of his mouth in amusement, Dohyeon continued,
“This time, I’m not letting you go.”
“…”
“Even if you call it hell… even if you beg me to let you escape… I won’t let you go.”
“…”
“So… did you know that too?”
Ina felt as if her heart had suddenly dropped.
With difficulty, she held his gaze and slowly nodded.
“Yes. I have no intention of leaving.”
“No intention of leaving?”
“So you’ve either become much bolder…”
“…”
“…or you’ve finally lost what little fear you had.”
As if he couldn’t understand why she would willingly throw herself back into a place she already knew so well, Dohyeon absently rubbed his chin.
“I know what you’re worried about, Mr. Dohyeon. But I’m not that young anymore.”
He immediately shook his head.
“You are.”
“…I’m not the twenty-three-year-old who rushed into marriage without knowing anything.”
“Even when you know what marriage is, it’s still more than most people can bear. And you…”
“…!”
“…you’re standing here acting as though you can handle everything.”
“Mr. Dohyeon…”
“At the end of the day, you’re only twenty-six.”
She called his name again, but he continued calmly.
“I’ll admit you’ve changed.”
“…”
“The girl who used to call me ‘Senior’ every other sentence now calls me by my name naturally. If you’re trying to tell me you’ve grown up since then…”
“…”
“Fine. You’ve matured.”
He paused.
“But only that much.”
His voice remained calm.
“You still aren’t strong enough to endure a marriage with me…”
“…”
“…or stand against my mother.”
He looked directly at her.
“And you’re still too weak.”
As he finished speaking and began to stand—
“It was my choice.”
Ina stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
“I thought about it for days. I struggled over this decision. This is the choice I made.”
“…”
“So I’ll deal with whatever comes afterward.”
She looked him straight in the eyes.
“Please… save my father and my brother.”
Dohyeon already knew.
He knew why she had contacted him again after an entire year.
He knew why the first words she had spoken after seeing him again had been ‘Please save me.’
Slowly pressing his lips together, he deliberately looked away from her desperate eyes.
“And why are you asking me to save them?”
“Because you can.”
“…”
“I know Kanghan Group is connected to the false accusations against my father and my brother.”
One of his eyebrows twitched.
“You’d better have thought very carefully before saying that.”
“I have. I heard that the man who gave the false testimony was a team manager who worked at Kanghan Group for many years.”
“…”
“If it’s difficult for you to deal with this yourself…”
She took a deep breath.
“I’ll do it.”
“Just let me stay by your side so I can.”
Her eyes turned red.
“Please help us. If you don’t… my father and my brother won’t escape being arrested. My father is already in the hospital. If he’s arrested now… he may never recover.”
Dohyeon fell silent for a moment.
He had already heard that Ina’s father and younger brother might be arrested on bribery charges.
He had also heard that the person who testified against them had once been a team manager at Kanghan Group.
However…
The incident had nothing to do with him personally.
It had happened without his knowledge, and he himself had been curious about what was really going on.
He didn’t yet know the full details.
But there was one thing he was certain of.
Ina’s father and brother had been framed.
The family he had come to know over the years would never commit a crime just to gain an advantag
Chairman Gu had two sons and a daughter.
Dohyeon was his second son.
However, the person Dohyeon and his mother were most wary of was Chairman Gu’s eldest son.
Unfortunately, Gu Dojun, the eldest son, was Dohyeon’s half-brother.
For many years, Mrs. Hwang was unable to give birth to a son and had only daughters. Because of that, Chairman Gu’s father constantly criticized and humiliated the couple.
Being an old-fashioned man, he firmly believed that only a son could inherit Kanghan Group.
Under that pressure, Chairman Gu gradually began spending more time away from home. After a one-night mistake with another woman, a son was born.
That son was Dojun.
Then, as if fate were playing a cruel joke, four years later Mrs. Hwang unexpectedly became pregnant with Dohyeon.
From then on, Dojun and Dohyeon had always been locked in a quiet rivalry over the company’s shares.
Now, with ownership of Kanghan Department Store’s flagship branch at stake, the competition between the brothers had become a full-fledged battle over the company’s succession.
Chairman Gu had declared that those who already had children would receive priority in the succession race.
As the only divorced son without a child, Dohyeon found himself at a serious disadvantage.
That was why he had been searching for someone to remarry.
And by chance, Ina had learned about it.
Even as she watched the troubled expression on his face, she quietly answered,
“Yes… I know.”
At her reply, Dohyeon uncrossed his legs and sat upright.
Looking at Ina, who seemed slightly nervous, he asked,
“Do you really understand what you’re agreeing to?”
His voice, which had been flat until now, became noticeably more serious.
“Seo Ina.”
Hearing her name spoken so clearly by him, Ina instinctively straightened her back.
“Yes, Mr. Dohyeon.”
“This isn’t another show marriage.”
His tone reminded her of the way he used to lecture his juniors at university.
Just as she had nodded while listening to his lectures back then, she quietly answered,
“Yes. I know.”
“I’m not asking you to put on another clumsy performance as husband and wife like last time.”
“…”
“We’ll share the same bedroom.”
“We’ll sleep together.”
“We’ll have sex.”
“And we’ll have a child.”
“We’ll become a real married couple.”
She had asked herself those questions countless times.
Could she marry her ex-husband again and truly live beside him in the same room?
More importantly…
Could she share his bed and give him the child he desperately needed?
But perhaps…
The answer had already been decided from the very moment she first married him.
Her admiration for him had turned into sympathy.
And that sympathy had eventually become love.
She had often imagined that if she were ever to give herself to a man for the first time…
She wanted that man to be her husband.
If she could…
She wanted to bear the child of the man she loved.
Just as Ina gathered her thoughts and was about to say, “Yes, I can do it,” Dohyeon spoke again.
“But don’t expect love.”
“Ah…”
Her lips, which had just begun to move, froze.
“That part of the contract stays exactly the same.”
“…”
“I hate wives who nag.”
“I hate having my private life interfered with.”
“You already know that.”
Faced with his commanding gaze, Ina quietly nodded.
“The only difference this time is that we’ll have a child together.”
“So as the parents of that child…”
“…let’s not do anything disgraceful.”
Anything disgraceful…
Did he really think she would do something like that?
That’s right.
Gu Dohyeon is still the same Gu Dohyeon.
Letting out a faint, bitter laugh, Ina bit her lip until it hurt.
“But I won’t divorce you.”
Without hesitation, he continued,
“Marrying the same woman twice is ridiculous enough.”
“Getting divorced from the same woman twice would be even more ridiculous.”
“…I understand.”
“Decide.”
Don’t expect love.
Don’t expect another divorce.
Ina pressed her lips together for a moment before slowly looking at him.
Just like a year ago, his face remained completely emotionless.
“May I… ask you one question?”
He gave a small nod, inviting her to continue.
“Could you… sleep with me?”
The question escaped her mouth before she could stop herself.
Yet he answered just as easily.
“If you mean sex…”
“I don’t see why not.”
“…”
“In fact, you might even be better than another woman.”
For a brief moment, Ina’s heart fluttered.
Then he continued,
“Wouldn’t someone I’ve already lived with, even if it was only a fake marriage, be the better choice?”
“Starting over with someone new takes too much effort.”
“…!”
“That’s a hassle.”
Her husband…
Hadn’t changed at all.
If anything…
He had become even colder than before.
