{KOREAN-ENGLISH}
How could she fall for someone who would never look her way?
He had a girlfriend.
And not just any girlfriend,Nari was beautiful, successful, everything So Min wasn't. Compared to her, Joon So Min felt like a shadow.
Why had she agreed to a fake relationship in the first place?
Her heart was paying the price.
Soon, the maids entered the kitchen, smiling gently. She stepped aside and let them prepare breakfast. She needed space from her thoughts, from him,
from her confused feelings.
At the dining table, Lee Seo Jun waited with food in front of him, casually scrolling through his phone. He looked up the moment she walked in.
She sat far across the long table, as though distance could shield her thudding heart.
"Why are you sitting all the way over there?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing," she replied, forcing a smile.
She ate too quickly, barely tasting anything.
"Slow down," he said, amused. "I'll drop you off on my way to work."
"No need. I—I have somewhere else to be."
Before he could respond, she stood and rushed off. Seo Jun watched her go, confused. What was going on with her?
Still, he quietly told one of his bodyguards to follow her and drop her safely.
⸻
In the car, So Min couldn't help smiling softly. He still looked out for her even when she acted like a mess.
She asked the bodyguard to take her to Hye Sua's apartment.
—
Using the spare key hidden in a flower pot, she let herself in. So Min wondered if Sua had forgotten about the key when she kicked her out the other night.
Inside, Hye Sua was cleaning while dancing with wireless headphones on. Oblivious, joyful.
So Min tapped her shoulder.
Sua jumped, nearly flinging the broom across the room. "So Min! You scared me!"
"I'm devastated," So Min flopped dramatically onto the couch.
"What happened, my dearest So Min?" Sua joined her, pretending to fan her face.
"Why now? Why did I have to fall for him now of all times?" she cried, hiding her face in a cushion.
Sua gasped, then smiled like a child handed cotton candy.
"You were with Lee Seo Jun last night, weren't you?"
"So what if I was?" So Min pouted.
Sua's grin widened.
"He has Nari," So Min said, trying to come back to reality. "And Nari's... she's everything I'm not."
"So what? You're more beautiful. And real," Sua said.
"But I can't compare to her."
"Don't say that," Sua frowned. "The way he treats you,he likes you, So Min. Why else would he care that much?"
"But what if—"
"No what-ifs. Ask him out."
"What?! No!" So Min's eyes bulged. Her cheeks flushed pink.
"Yes," Sua smirked. "You're going to ask him to dinner. Just the two of you."
Before So Min could protest, Sua snatched her phone.
"Sua—no! Give it back!" But it was too late.
The phone was ringing.
He picked up immediately.
"Hello?"
So Min snatched the phone, panicked. "H-hello..."
Sua gestured wildly, mouthing Ask him!
"Um... are you free for dinner this evening?" she finally asked, sounding like she might pass out.
There was a pause.
"Sure. I'll pick you up."
"O-okay. See you later."
She hung up.
"He said yes!" Sua screamed and danced around the room.
⸻
Across the city, Lee Seo Jun stared at his phone.
Dinner?
He thought she was upset with him. She had rushed off this morning like she was avoiding him. And now... dinner?
"Mr. No," he called his assistant.
"Yes, sir?"
"What does it mean when a woman acts like she's avoiding you... then suddenly invites you out to dinner?"
Mr. No blinked. "Sir... maybe she's just playing hard to get?"
Seo Jun frowned. "Really?"
"Or maybe she's nervous around you because she actually likes you."
Seo Jun didn't reply.
His mind drifted again to her laughter, her warmth... her eyes when she looked at him like she didn't want to.
He couldn't read her.
And that scared him more than he'd admit.
⸻
That evening, the two of them sat across from each other in a quiet, elegant restaurant.
"The food here is really good," So Min said, trying to hide how nervous she was.
Seo Jun watched her closely. Something was off. Her smile was more forced than usual.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Y-yes! Of course," she laughed a little too loud.
Soon, their food arrived.
He took a bite. Nodded. "It's good."
"Try it with the egg too!" she urged.
He did. "You're right. It's excellent."
Her shoulders relaxed. That was the first real smile he saw on her tonight.
—
Outside, they walked to his car under the street lamps.
"You didn't have to pay," she said shyly. "It was supposed to be my treat."
"You showed me the best Korean food I've had in a while. That's worth more than a bill."
He smiled and she caught herself smiling too.
⸻
In the car, her phone rang.
Her stepmother.
She picked up, curious.
"Where are you, So Min?" Her stepmother's voice sounded... off. Worried.
"Mother?"
There was a pause.
Then she dropped her phone, face white as a sheet.
"What happened?" Seo Jun asked, alarmed.
"D-Dae..."
⸻
They rushed into the hospital, rain still clinging to their jackets.
So Min saw her stepmother curled up in a chair outside the emergency room, tears running freely down her face.
"Mother!" she ran to her.
Seo Jun stayed a few steps back, giving them space but close enough to be there.
"How is Dae?!"
Her mother shook with sobs. "The doctors... they're trying. His teacher said he ran into the road and a car hit him,then drove away. They couldn't even catch the plate number."
"No, no..." So Min held her trembling hands. "Dae's going to be okay. He will. He has to be."
She said it again and again, like it would make it true.
Seo Jun watched silently.
And for the first time, he saw the side of So Min that didn't hide behind jokes or fake smiles.
A girl who loved too hard. Who hurt too deeply.
And his heart broke quietly, watching hers shatter in her hands.