Chapter 1.2

Chapter 1.2

Breaking the engagement…

“I didn’t know you were thinking like this. I’m sorry. It must be because I wasn’t enough, so I couldn’t hold onto your heart…”

Si-eun raised her head, pretending not to notice the sweat pooling on her palms. Her cheek twitched as if in spasm, but she forced herself to smile.

“Eun-seong oppa, can’t you reconsider? I really don’t mind. You can see her as much as you want. You don’t have to break up with her. I can wait.”

They say love has a shelf life of two years at most. Calling off a marriage over a passing feeling, over hormones that will fade in two years, was foolish. And marrying because of them was just as foolish.

Yet at Si-eun’s plea, Seo Eun-seong only looked more appalled.

“You can wait? And after waiting, what exactly is left for you, Si-eun?”

“Well… marrying you, of course.”

What remained was marriage to Seo Eun-seong, eldest son of Jin-gwang Group’s Chairman Seo Man-ho.

“Marrying a man who loves another woman… that’s what you think will be left for you?”

Seo Eun-seong let out a small, pitying laugh, as if he actually felt sorry for her.

“Jang Si-eun, get a grip. The people pulling your strings aren’t messing with someone else’s life. It’s your life.”

“……”

Startled by his sharp rebuke, Si-eun blinked her wide eyes.

He’s right. This is my life. I thought marrying Seo Eun-seong was the best way to keep my life graceful and elegant. But it’s not just these people controlling my life right now. Oppa, you’re doing the same, and you don’t even seem to realize what kind of ditch you’ve just shoved my life into.

She thought all of that, but didn’t say a word aloud.

Instead, her father, Jang Myeong-hwan, spoke up.

“You’ve humiliated my daughter enough, and now you dare offer her advice? You really don’t know when to stop. I’ve heard enough, so we’ll be going.”

He rose from his seat, trying to restrain his anger. Out of formality toward the man who was once supposed to be his father-in-law, Seo Eun-seong also stood. Min Se-hwa took Si-eun by the arm. Si-eun bit her lip hard and took her mother’s hand as she stood as well.

Regrettably, with things reaching this point, there was nothing more Si-eun could do.

“Assemblyman Jang, I’ll talk to Eun-seong so he understands clearly…”

“No. Forget it. I have no intention of giving my daughter to someone who doesn’t want her. This all happened because I lost the election. I must look like a joke now, so even my family must look like a joke to you.”

“N… no, of course not. Seo Eun-seong, you brat, get on your knees and apologize this instant. Who wouldn’t know you’re just pausing before aiming for a presidential run…!”

Si-eun hadn’t watched many dramas, but she couldn’t help thinking she had seen this scene in one.

Everything was so staged, as if every character were following a prewritten script.

Chairman Seo Man-ho held onto Jang Myeong-hwan only out of formality. Even if he had been furious at his son a moment ago, he seemed to have calculated the situation by now. Jo Hyeon-ju was already trying to find out what kind of woman Eun-seong was seeing, asking again and again what kind of girl he had hidden away.

Min Se-hwa, whose face was redder than Si-eun’s even though Si-eun was the one being discarded, endured her shock and humiliation in silence. And Jang Myeong-hwan left the room quickly, afraid someone might try to stop him.

Si-eun looked up at Seo Eun-seong, who stood a step removed from the chaos, as if none of it involved him.

“I don’t think we can talk more today… so call me once things settle.”

“Okay.”

As Jang Si-eun stepped out of the room, Seo Eun-seong called after her.

“I’m sorry, Si-eun.”

Her hand paused on the door, but she didn’t turn back.

“But this will be a better choice for you too.”

At that added remark, she couldn’t help but laugh.

A better choice? As if there were any choices she was allowed to make.

From the beginning, even Seo Eun-seong had never been her choice.

Seo Eun-seong had completely misunderstood something.

***

No one spoke in the car. It was so silent it felt like they were sitting in the eye of a storm, so quiet she couldn’t even hear anyone swallow.

Only after they returned to the house, dismissed the housekeeper, and locked the door behind her did her mother, Min Se-hwa, finally break down in tears.

“This is why I told you not to insist on graduating first…!”

Si-eun swallowed a sigh. Min Se-hwa was referring to something that had happened three years ago, right after Si-eun had graduated high school.

It had already been two years since the engagement was arranged, and both families had begun talking about setting a wedding date.

“But she should at least graduate.”

That was what Seo Eun-seong had said at the time. Si-eun hadn’t had the right to speak for herself, so she simply kept her mouth shut and smiled.