Chapter – 01
“I’ll do it. I want to marry you, Teacher.”
Silence fell at Da-yeon’s audacious declaration.
The wrinkled eyes of Chairman Cha, seated at the head of the table, and the sharply raised eyes of Si-heon, sitting across from him, immediately turned toward Da-yeon.
Da-yeon sat upright, looking at them without a trace of hesitation in her eyes. No—there was even a sense of firm determination in her gaze.
“Huh. Just like I expected. Miss Da-yeon takes after Teacher Hee-ok. She’s decisive. And she certainly has a good head on her shoulders. Ambitious, too.”
Chairman Cha smiled contentedly, his gaze subtly lowering as he looked at Da-yeon.
“She seems perfectly suited to become the lady of this household and lead the family in the future.”
Hearing the praise right in front of her, Da-yeon smiled shyly.
“You flatter me.”
Unable to tolerate the conversation unfolding before him any longer, Si-heon abruptly stood up.
“What exactly are you doing, talking to a child like this?”
“A child? Miss Da-yeon is already a fully grown adult—”
“Enough. I didn’t put off all my work and come here just to listen to this kind of nonsense.”
He had been told there was something important to discuss, so he had rearranged his entire schedule and come all the way here.
Clicking his tongue, Si-heon was about to leave when his eyes fell on Da-yeon, who was still sitting perfectly straight on the sofa. She merely rolled her eyes toward him, and seeing her like that made frustration rise all the way to his throat.
What on earth is she thinking, coming here?
“Come on.”
Si-heon strode over and grabbed Da-yeon by the wrist, pulling her along.
The moment they stepped outside the house, Si-heon dropped her hand as though throwing it away.
“Do you even know where you came? And do you have any idea what that answer you just gave means?”
“Of course. Grandpa—no, Chairman Cha told me to marry you, Teacher.”
Da-yeon blinked her innocent eyes as though the answer were obvious. The sheer innocence on her face, as if she had never been touched by the dirt of the world, actually made him let out a hollow laugh.
“Jung Da-yeon. This isn’t some childish game. Do you even know what marriage is? Do you know what married couples do?”
Despite Si-heon’s cold, threatening tone, Da-yeon merely smiled shyly, her face turning red.
“Of course I do. I’m a grown-up now, too.”
As though presenting a royal inspector’s identification plaque, Da-yeon pulled out her resident registration card.
“Hah.”
Si-heon stared at her in disbelief and shook his head. Her cheeks had turned bright red.
Even Da-yeon herself had never imagined that she would confess her feelings to her teacher like this.
Until recently, she had been perfectly satisfied just knowing that she had met her teacher again.
Da-yeon’s thoughts drifted back to the day she had met Si-heon a few days earlier.
A café in Seoul.
A girl in a school uniform sat with both hands neatly folded on her lap. Her fingers fidgeted nervously as, across from her, a middle-aged man with a half-bald head blew on his hot coffee before taking a sip.
What on earth is going on?
Da-yeon was still utterly confused by the situation.
Today was her high school graduation ceremony. The moment she finished delivering the graduation speech as the representative of her graduating class, her father had grabbed her and brought her to this café.
She had wondered why, of all days, her father had brought her somewhere like this. She had waited quietly, expecting something pleasant, but the person who eventually appeared was some bald middle-aged man.
The man looked Da-yeon up and down over the rim of his coffee cup before clearing his throat loudly.
“Heh-heh. Mr. Jung certainly is impatient. I did say I wanted to set the date as soon as possible, but still… bringing a girl here in her school uniform before she’s even had a chance to change…”
Every now and then, people around them glanced in their direction.
Their curious eyes seemed to be asking what on earth two middle-aged men were doing sitting around with a schoolgirl.
“As you know, my situation is rather urgent. Things may be a little unusual, but… she’s an adult, you see. An adult. Her birthday has already passed, and today she even graduated from high school.”
Her father, Du-seop, rattled off a list of facts about her to the strange man he had never met before.
What is this all about?
Unable to understand the situation at all, Da-yeon merely rolled her eyes from side to side.
“Well then, Mr. Go, you two can talk.”
After bowing obsequiously to Mr. Go, Du-seop jabbed Da-yeon in the side and shot her a threatening look.
“You. I’ll see you at home later.”
The muttered words sent a chill down her spine.
After his business went bankrupt, her father had gradually stopped looking at her as his daughter and started viewing her as nothing more than a useful tool.
The way he looked at her, calculating how much money he could get by selling her off or how he could use her to his advantage, had long since made him seem more like a merchant than a father.
Ding.
Not long afterward, the doorbell rang as Du-seop left.
The moment he was gone, the man who called himself Mr. Go spoke.
“So. You said your birthday has already passed? Exactly when was it?”
“Do I really have to tell you that…?”
Under Mr. Go’s toad-like gaze, Da-yeon answered in a timid voice.
“My goodness. What an amusing girl. I suppose you still haven’t figured out what’s going on?”
He laughed incredulously, then looked Da-yeon up and down and clicked his tongue.
“Your father’s business hasn’t been doing very well lately. You know that, don’t you, Da-yeon?”
“Yes.”
“…Right. So your father borrowed some money from me. Quite a lot of money, actually. You probably don’t know this, but that’s how adults operate. When you’re complete strangers, even a small amount of money feels like a fortune. But when you become family, even a large amount becomes a small matter. Something like that.”
At that point, perhaps his throat had become dry, because the man grabbed the cold water beside him and gulped it down.
Da-yeon still didn’t understand.
“Family…? How could we possibly become family?”
“Well, for example… ahem. I mean marriage.”
Mr. Go pointed first at Da-yeon and then at himself with his pudgy fingers.
Me… marry this man?
It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice-cold water over her head.
Only then did she finally understand why her father had been so subservient to this man, and why he had spent so much time asking about her school uniform and whether she was legally an adult.
So this was what was happening.
She had been brought here for a marriage meeting.
Her own biological father had brought her here as though he were selling her off.
While Da-yeon struggled to comprehend the situation, Mr. Go kept glancing around nervously.
Now that Jung Du-seop was gone, he was alone with a girl still wearing her school uniform, and the people inside the café had begun openly staring at them.
“Ahem. It’s rather awkward with everyone watching us. Why don’t we move somewhere else?”
“Somewhere else…?”
“There’s a place I run not far from here. How about we go somewhere without all these people around?”
Alone with this man somewhere where there are no other people?
As her imagination reached that horrifying possibility, Da-yeon’s face went pale.
Stunned, she tightly clenched the hands resting on her lap. Then, as though she had finally made up her mind, she forced herself to speak.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t know this was the kind of meeting I was being brought to.”
“What? You didn’t know?”
“I’m going to leave now. Please finish discussing the rest with my father.”
Da-yeon reached for the diploma and award certificate she had placed beside her.
But Mr. Go suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“What are you doing? Let go of me.”
When she tried to pull her hand away, Mr. Go tightened his grip and spoke to her as though he were lecturing a foolish child.
“You’re young, so I suppose you don’t understand. Marriage is something you do when you don’t know any better. I did the same thing with my first marriage.”
“……!”
“Once we’re married, I’ll treat you like a princess. I’ll cherish you and take care of you. Let’s be honest—wouldn’t that be better than getting a job, suffering through hard work, and cleaning up after someone else?”
“I said I don’t want to. And let go of my hand.”
Da-yeon had been looking forward to entering medical school for years.
She was about to begin the studies she had worked so hard toward. She dreamed of becoming an excellent doctor like her mother.
Her dream couldn’t simply be destroyed like this.
“Enough! Shut up!”
The sly expression in his eyes suddenly disappeared, replaced by something frightening.
He swallowed audibly and glared at her, his thick eyelids widening.
“Why are you backing out now? Do you have any idea how much money your father took from me?”
His scolding words made the corners of her eyes sting.
On a day that should have marked the end of her long school years, she was sitting across from a strange man, being forced into a marriage meeting.
Through the suffocating weight of her emotions, one person came to mind.
Her teacher.
The man who had always supported her dream.
Why am I thinking of Teacher even at a moment like this?
She had sent him countless messages over the past two years, yet he had never replied even once.
“Let’s just go for now. Once we get there, I’ll treat you well…”
Before Mr. Go could finish speaking, someone suddenly smashed a bouquet of flowers against the back of his head.
Petals scattered through the air.
And through the shower of flowers, Da-yeon saw a face even more beautiful than the blossoms themselves.
A man nearly 190 centimeters tall, with a solid, muscular build, broad shoulders, and striking features so dazzling that anyone who saw his face would find it impossible to look away.
Just looking at him made her heart pound wildly and left her breathless with excitement.
He was Da-yeon’s first love.
The teacher who had taught her.
Cha Si-heon.
“Tea… Teacher?”
The voice that escaped her lips trembled with disbelief, and her vision blurred as though covered by a mist of tears.
The person she had waited for so desperately was standing right before her.
Da-yeon’s heart swelled so intensely at the sight of Si-heon that she felt as though it might burst.
