Bound by a Ruthless Contract - Chapter 29
[I’ll come to greet you this week.]
Ga-eun took a breath. This week…?
[We can settle today’s rudeness then.]
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t call it rudeness…”
[Our Ga-eun must be tired.]
His voice suddenly dropped lower.
[You should rest now. Call me again when you’re in your room, our Ga-eun.]
This man, really.
Just as her face started feeling hot…
[Don’t keep me waiting too long.]
Ga-eun bit her lower lip, catching Si-heon’s intention.
He has an unnecessarily gentle side.
[I think I’ll hang up now. You must all be tired.]
At Si-heon’s words, Gye Young-cheol and Woo Ji-hyang nodded with docile expressions, as if he were standing right there.
“Y-yes, let’s meet properly soon.”
[Yes, then.]
After saying this, Si-heon didn’t end the call. He was waiting for them to hang up first.
Seeing Gye Young-cheol’s look that said ‘why aren’t you hanging up quickly,’ Ga-eun finally pressed end.
“…Phew.”
Gye Young-cheol let out his held breath.
To think it was really Executive Director Kwon Si-heon ofHwanhee Group.
Even brushing shoulders with someone like him had been nearly impossible despite their efforts.
And this rolling stone had caught such a big fish!
When Ga-eun disappeared up the stairs…
“Dad, are you just going to let her go like that?”
“Then what should I do?”
“We should interrogate her! Does this make any sense? Hwanhee Group isn’t just some neighborhood company, this is too strange!”
“The Executive Director said he’ll come explain at home.”
“This won’t do, I need to find out myself.”
Gye Young-cheol firmly grabbed So-yeon’s arm as she tried to follow Ga-eun upstairs.
“Didn’t you hear just now? Director Kwon is going to call Ga-eun again.”
“Ha! Ga-eun? Dad, did you just call her by name?”
“…You should change how you address her too. What if you make a mistake?”
He was always a father who tiptoed around his wife and daughter.
He turned a blind eye to their verbal and physical abuse of Ga-eun, even scolding her by saying their anger was due to her wrong behavior.
But now his way of addressing her had changed, as if treating her like a ‘real youngest daughter.’
* * *
Ga-eun went up to her room on the second floor.
After closing the door and putting down her bag, she sat on the bed and called Si-heon.
Soon, his deep, low voice came through.
[Seems like it worked.]
“…Yes, thank you.”
He chuckled at her soft voice.
“Thanks to you, I made it to my room safely.”
[I was worried they’d harass you.]
Somehow, she felt her heart tighten.
Trying to ignore that feeling, Ga-eun spoke with forced composure.
“As we discussed earlier, I told them that you would explain everything to my parents directly.”
Before parting, they had discussed how to answer questions about their first meeting and relationship development.
They hadn’t really had a proper discussion.
Most of it was just Ga-eun being dumbfounded by Si-heon’s one-sided assertion that she should leave everything to him.
