Please be my wife for just one year.

EP.14

A few days later.

SH Group Charity Foundation sponsorship event.

At this event, representatives of major domestic companies and even reporters attended.

Wunhak had also been invited and showed up at the venue.

From a distance, he looked at Seongho and Yeoju, then gave a meaningful smile.

'From today, it begins.'


---

Inside the venue.

Yeoju was greeting the guests.

Seongho had stepped away for a moment because of an important meeting.

Then, someone blocked her path.

It was Mun Hana.

Hana "Do you have a moment to talk?"

Yeoju was flustered, but quietly nodded.

The two moved to an empty terrace.

Hana looked at Yeoju with her arms crossed.

Hana "...So it’s a contract marriage."

In an instant.

The smile vanished from Yeoju’s face.

Yeoju "...What do you mean?"

Hana "Don’t pretend you don’t know."

Hana held out her phone screen.

Several photos.

Seongho and Yeoju entering different rooms separately.

A photo from when they first met at the hotel.

The marriage registration date.

How fast the marriage process had gone.

Hana "Wouldn't that be strange enough?"

Yeoju kept her expression calm with effort.

Yeoju "...That’s just speculation."

Hana "Right."

Hana gave a snort of laughter and said,

"So I’m looking for proof."

"..."

"I don’t know about Seongho."

"..."

"But I don’t think you’ll last long."

Leaving those words behind, Hana turned away first.

Yeoju stood there without moving for a long while.

A wave of unease washed over her.


---

At the same time.

Seongho was looking toward the terrace from afar.

Yeoju’s expression after her conversation with Hana was different from usual.

It was full of worry and anxiety.

He immediately walked over to her.

Seongho "...What happened?"

Yeoju forced a smile.

Yeoju "It’s nothing."

"..."

Seongho "Yeoju, you know you’re bad at lying, right?"

At that, Yeoju finally told him everything that had happened.

Seongho listened in silence until the end.

And when the story was over, he said briefly,

Seongho "...I’ll handle it."

Yeoju "Director."

Seongho "Don’t worry."

"..."

"I’ll make sure it never affects you."


---

After the event ended.

Late at night.

The two returned to their newlywed home.

The atmosphere was much quieter than usual.

Yeoju, who had entered the living room, sat weakly on the sofa.

Seongho looked at her for a moment, then sat down across from her.

Silence stretched on for a long time.

Then Seongho spoke first.

Seongho "...Ms. Kim Yeoju."

Yeoju "...Yes."

Seongho "The contract period."

"..."

"There are about ten months left now."

Yeoju nodded quietly.

Seongho clasped both hands together and hesitated for a long time.

It was unlike him.

His face showed he was thinking hard about what to say.

And then, at last.

He slowly opened his mouth.

Seongho "...I."

"..."

"This contract."

He took a brief breath.

"...I want to end it."

In an instant.

Yeoju’s eyes wavered.

Want to end it.

Those words echoed in her head.

'As expected...'

'Because there’s a risk the contract will be exposed.'

'So he’s going to end it now.'

Yeoju forced a smile.

But the corners of her eyes were growing red.

Yeoju "...I understand."

Seongho could tell her answer was strange.

Seongho "What I mean is..."

But Yeoju couldn’t hear him to the end.

She smiled faintly and said,

Yeoju "...It was a contract, after all."

"That it would end someday."

"..."

"I knew that when I started."

Leaving those words behind, she slowly stood up and went into her room.

The sound of the door closing echoed through the house.


---

Seongho remained sitting on the sofa.

'...No.'

'That’s not what I meant.'

That wasn’t the feeling he had wanted to convey.

'End the contract.'

'I want us to become a real married couple.'

But in the end, he couldn’t say it.

Seongho let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

He had lived his whole life doing nothing but work.

His job performance was excellent, but,

when it came to telling the person he liked how he felt, he was utterly awkward.

And beyond the bedroom door.

Yeoju, seated on the bed, was quietly shedding the tears she had finally held back.

She had thought she’d be fine once the contract ended.

But.

It hurt far more than she had expected.

Only then did she realize.

That at some point.

It wasn’t contract partner Park Seongho,

but Park Seongho as a person

that she had come to like.

That day, the two of them each missed the other’s true feelings by just one word.

That brief misalignment began leading their relationship into its greatest trial ahead.