Chapter : 06
Since Taeheon was busy with work, the two of them decided to skip their honeymoon.
After both families discussed where Taeheon and the bride would stay from today onward, the bride returned to her parents’ home with them for the time being.
Taeheon also returned to the company.
“Haa.”
In the back seat of the sedan heading to the company, Taeheon roughly loosened his tie.
It had only been a few hours, yet he was more exhausted than he had been after staying up all night in meetings.
Taeheon sighed and gazed out the window.
The sensation of the kiss had already been neatly sorted out in his mind. It wasn’t difficult, and it shouldn’t have been.
After returning to the executive office and finding himself alone, Taeheon called his personal secretary—the person he entrusted with matters outside the company.
“The bride was switched. Someone else was used as a stand-in.”
What on earth had happened for them to carry out such a bold fraud?
What kind of circumstances had led them to put Soyul forward as the fake bride?
For a moment, Soyul’s flushed face after the kiss flashed through Taeheon’s mind.
As did the face of the friend who had wished for her younger sister’s happiness.
Taeheon’s grip tightened around his phone.
“Find out where Jiminchae herself is right now.”
There was a hint of irritation in Taeheon’s voice as he gave the order.
As the person who had entered into the marriage, he had the right to know what had happened to Jiminchae.
Taeheon’s family lived together with Chairman Kang Deok-heung in the same house.
This, too, was because of Chairman Kang’s love and concern for his family.
After the incident in which his second grandson and his wife died in their twenties, Chairman Kang had come to painfully realize the saying that there was no order to who would die first.
Life was unpredictable.
No one knew who would leave this world first, or when or how.
So, in order to spend even a little more time with his family amid such an unpredictable life, he had gathered even his grown grandchildren under one roof.
That was why Minchae, as Taeheon’s wife, also had to move into Chairman Kang Deok-heung’s residence.
But—
“It is very unfortunate, from a mother’s perspective, to have my daughter married off so suddenly. I hope you won’t mind, but would it be all right if she spends this Chuseok holiday with us and then goes to her in-laws’ home afterward?”
Miyeong asked with tears in her eyes.
The wedding had been on Saturday, followed by Sunday, and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were the Chuseok holiday.
“We also feel sorry that the wedding had to take place only two days after the blind date. Since an elder of the family is currently bedridden, we’re not really in the mood to celebrate the holiday either. Please let the new bride spend Chuseok comfortably at your home.”
Kang Jeong-gyun accepted the request, and in the end, Minchae’s move-in was postponed until after the holiday.
With the extra time they had gained, Miyeong and Sang-yoon spent the entire holiday holding shamanistic rituals and even using talismans.
But it was all in vain.
Minchae still hadn’t opened her eyes even after Chuseok had passed and on the morning of the day she was supposed to move in.
The couple didn’t want to send Soyul again.
This time, the risk was greater.
But now that the wedding had already taken place, they had no other choice.
In the end, the couple had to send Soyul once again.
On the morning of the move-in day, the couple sat Soyul down in front of them.
“So, stay at that house for the time being and make sure you behave yourself so that you don’t cause any problems.”
“If they find out you’re not Minchae, or if you say even one stupid thing about this marriage… you know what will happen, right?”
It meant that nothing would happen to the remains of Soyul’s adoptive parents and older brother.
Soyul bit her lip tightly.
While her parents were running around looking for shamans, Soyul had struggled desperately to recover her family’s urns.
When she went to the columbarium, she discovered that her family’s urns really were gone.
Desperate, she searched every corner of the house, but she couldn’t find a single clue regarding the urns or a new columbarium.
It felt as though the sky itself had collapsed on her, and on top of that, they were threatening her once again to pretend to be Minchae.
How did things come to this…?
Soyul couldn’t bring herself to answer.
“Nod your head! Say you’ll do it! If you refuse, I might just dump all your family’s ashes over your head!”
Miyeong’s face reddened as she panted furiously.
What is she saying she’ll do with my family’s ashes? How can she say something like that? Is she even human?
Soyul’s chin trembled.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
But she couldn’t express her sadness or despair.
In the end, Soyul nodded.
That was the only answer she was allowed to give.
Somehow, no matter what… the ashes…
That was the one thing that had to remain safe.
How much her adoptive parents had loved her, and how much her older brother had cherished her.
The urn was the final place that held all those years of memories.
Above the fear that had yet to fade, a single determination took root.
No matter what happened, she would protect them.
If she failed to do so, then truly, she would have nothing left.
It took Taeheon only a few days to figure out why the bride had been switched.
Emergency hospitalization for acute hepatitis the day before the wedding.
Currently in a hepatic coma and on a ventilator.
“So that’s why they used Soyul.”
Taeheon frowned.
The real bride had been in such a condition that if they wanted to proceed with the wedding, they would have needed a stand-in.
And her younger sister, who had the exact same face, must have been the easiest choice.
Taeheon continued scrolling through the report on his tablet PC.
There was also a medical record from the morning of the blind date.
“Her arm was in a cast and she had subcutaneous bleeding on her face? She didn’t have a cast or any bruises on her face that day.”
Then had it been Soyul instead of Jiminchae that day as well?
“Hah.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“I couldn’t possibly marry the person I knew.”
It was ridiculous that after saying that, he had gone ahead and married that very person.
“At least she was only a stand-in. I suppose it’s fortunate that they didn’t replace the bride entirely with Soyul.”
Whether her parents didn’t want that or Soyul herself didn’t want it, he didn’t know.
But either way.
Taeheon called his personal secretary.
“Quietly instruct them to pay special attention to the hospital where Jiminchae is staying. Make sure Jiminchae can wake up as soon as possible.”
What had already happened couldn’t be undone.
For now, the important thing was for Jiminchae to open her eyes.
After that, Taeheon continued checking Jiminchae’s condition every day through his personal secretary.
However, no report that Jiminchae had awakened came even by the morning before she was supposed to move in.
Taeheon became anxious.
If things continue like this, could it be that Soyul will have to move in tomorrow in her place as well?
He would even have to live in the same space as Soyul?
No.
There had to be another way.
Yes, there was nothing strange about giving his young wife more time to stay at her parents’ home at the beginning of their marriage.
Taeheon casually brought up the matter over breakfast.
“How about giving Minchae some more time to stay at her parents’ home? The Chuseok holiday seems a little short.”
“I was thinking the same thing because I’ve been worried about it…”
Jin Seon-mi trailed off as she put down her chopsticks.
“Your grandfather, you see. His condition improved after your marriage. It was practically a miracle.”
It was true.
That was why the entire family had been surprised and delighted.
“The first thing he did after opening his eyes was ask for his grandson’s wife. He said he felt as though he had survived because of that girl.”
“……”
“He seems to regard her as a benefactor. He says he wants her to come live under the same roof with us as soon as possible, as one family.”
“……”
“And then he even called her parents himself. He told them to send her over as soon as the holiday ended.”
Taeheon sighed inwardly.
“…I see.”
To ask his grandfather to retract those words, he would have to give a reason.
But that reason would immediately expose everything.
Jiminchae has to wake up by tomorrow.
That would be the cleanest solution.
Unfortunately, Taeheon still hadn’t received any report that Minchae had awakened by the morning of the move-in day.
“…Hah.”
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Taeheon pressed his fingertips against his temple.
There was now no way to stop Soyul from moving in.
“So this is how it’s going to be.”
The blind date and the wedding had been events that lasted only for those moments.
Living together was different.
Seeing each other at the same dining table every morning, and lying in the same bed every night.
Keeping his friend’s younger sister beside him under the name of his wife, even if only as a stand-in.
He had thought the shame he felt toward Yeongho would end with the wedding.
“Should I just tell Soyul?”
Tell her that he already knew everything and that she could be comfortable around him.
Taeheon considered the idea for a moment, then abandoned it.
Saying that he knew and that they could quietly continue like this would mean asking her to remain in that situation.
The moment he said it, he would no longer be the one being deceived.
He would become the one ordering her to continue the deception.
“…It is already the truth, though.”
He knew that she was standing in for her sister at the wedding and pretended not to know.
Because of that, his grandfather had opened his eyes, and Taeheon was benefiting from it.
He had already effectively encouraged the deception.
He could only pretend otherwise as long as he didn’t say it aloud.
At least in front of her.
“What a coward.”
Taeheon mocked himself.
Was he really worrying about not wanting to become a bad person in Soyul’s eyes even in a situation like this?
Apparently so.
After all, he wasn’t going to say anything.
“Haa…”
Taeheon let out a sigh.
It was time now.
And yet, his body wouldn’t move.
“……”
Only after some time did Taeheon finally manage to get up.
To go meet his wife—the stand-in for his wife.
He left the bedroom with heavy steps.
Soyul was sitting on the sofa in the living room.
A luggage bag was placed in the entrance hall.
She was waiting for Taeheon, who was coming to pick her up soon.
I don’t want to deceive oppa this much…
Now she even had to live with him.
Deceiving Taeheon, her older brother’s friend, to this extent was something she truly did not want.
She wanted to run away.
If only her family’s urns were safe, she really wanted to do so.
But—
I can’t help it…
Soyul clasped both hands tightly.
For the sake of protecting the urns of her adoptive parents and older brother, the guilt she had to endure was nothing.
Just as she was steeling her heart—
“Hey, hey! Kang Seobang is here! Get ready!”
Miyeong checked the wall pad and shouted.
Soyul took a deep breath and stood up.
But the moment she faced Taeheon at the entrance, her resolve wavered once again.
Taeheon stood calmly before her in a black suit.
Seeing him made something heavy sink in one side of her chest, while at the same time, somewhere deep inside her heart, a small, foolish flutter went thump.
Oppa doesn’t have the slightest idea that the person he’s going to live with isn’t Minchae unnie, but me… I’m really sorry, Taeheon oppa…
Soyul lowered her gaze and bowed her head to him.
