Translator: Nox

The Woman Who Stole My Flower

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

18.

“Then how exactly do you intend to take responsibility?”

“Um, to tell you the truth… not long ago, I unintentionally overheard your manager speaking on the phone with the company CEO.”

“And what about it?”

“He said you’re desperately searching for your first love from the past, Director.”

Joo-heon stared at her with an utterly indescribable, complex expression. Yeon-seo squeezed her eyes shut and dropped the bomb she had prepared.

“To take responsibility for my actions, I will find that woman for you.”

Ha. A light breath of disbelief slipped through his impeccably shaped lips. He looked astounded, and somehow completely drained.

“So… you’re going to find my first love?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

To be fair, offering to act like a private investigator after stealing his priceless virginity was absurd enough to warrant disbelief. But for Yeon-seo, this was the absolute best she could do. She did her best to persuade him.

“I’m truly sorry, but what’s done is done and can’t be undone, right? So taking this opportunity, wouldn’t it be a happy ending for you to find the woman you genuinely love and marry her instead?”

This was the ultimate compensation Yeon-seo had come up with for Kang Joo-heon’s exorbitant purity.

The victim, however, showed no signs of being open to a settlement.

“No.”

He rejected it flatly, cold enough to make her blush with embarrassment.

“I already swore an oath. That I’d marry the first woman I ever had. Do you think I stayed a virgin all this time just because I was bored?”

“Then what about your first love?”

“She wouldn’t want me anyway.”

“How could you know that?”

Instead of answering, he glared at Yeon-seo with resentment once again. Seriously, why does he glare like that every time I open my mouth!

“I mean, what woman on earth would reject Kang Joo-heon?”

Yeon-seo asked in genuine bewilderment. In fact, though she hadn’t had the luxury to dwell on it right now, his visuals were extraordinary. Handsome, built like a sculpture, making piles of money—what woman could possibly have a reason to dislike him?

Yet he stared right at Yeon-seo and said:

“Didn’t you just say you don’t want to marry me?”

“Well, that’s…”

At a temporary loss for words, Yeon-seo quickly smiled and said with utmost confidence:

“Don’t worry! Aside from me, every single woman on this planet will love you, Kang Joo-heon-ssi!”

It was in this moment Yeon-seo learned that the saying a smiling face cannot be spat upon was a total lie. She had gone out of her way to compliment him, only for it to backfire completely.

Looking even angrier than before, he cut her off sharply.

“Either way, forget it. You took my first time, so you have to take responsibility, no matter what.”

“And what will you do if I say I can’t take responsibility?”

Yeon-seo asked, half-hoping he wouldn’t go as far as throwing down the gauntlet.

“I’ll hold a press conference.”

Joo-heon spoke with absolute, unwavering gravity.

“‘As the entire nation knows, I am an advocate of premarital chastity, but the woman who took my first time refused to take responsibility. Therefore, I will never be able to marry for the rest of my life, and none of you will ever get to see the Kang Joo-heon Jr. you have so desperately wished for, so please be aware.’ That’s what I’ll say.”

Just as Yeon-seo had been earlier, every single syllable from Joo-heon dripped with pure sincerity.

Cold sweat trickled down Yeon-seo’s spine. Joo-heon hadn’t gone so far as to say he would reveal her identity, but if that press conference actually happened, countless people would become frantic trying to hunt her down. Wasn’t his fandom, ‘Honey Joo-heon,’ notorious for an intelligence network that rivaled the National Intelligence Service?

If it was ever discovered that she was the culprit, living in South Korea would be out of the question. But then, which country could she even emigrate to? Was there a country in the world that didn’t know Kang Joo-heon?

Flustered, Yeon-seo scrambled to think of a way to survive. She had to find a compromise somehow!

“Do you… still love your first love?”

He dropped his head. Staring down at the pristine white floor for a long time, he murmured softly.

“…I’ve never forgotten her. Not for a single moment.”

At that moment, his tone was neither sharp nor angry. Spoken as if he were actually standing before his first love, confessing his heart, his voice made Yeon-seo’s face heat up for no reason at all.

Regardless, Yeon-seo breathed an internal sigh of relief. He was only making a fuss telling her to take responsibility because he was so obsessed with premarital chastity; at the end of the day, his heart still belonged entirely to his first love. If she actually found the woman and brought her before his eyes, he’d fall head over heels for her on the spot and wouldn’t spare someone like Yeon-seo a second glance!

“Then let’s do this.”

Yeon-seo played her trump card.

“Just give me one month. I’ll find her for you within a month.”

Unlike before, when a specific deadline was set, Joo-heon’s reaction shifted slightly. Instead of a flat refusal, he asked:

“And if you can’t find her within a month?”

“Then… I’ll just have to take responsibility.”

When she answered reluctantly, he pressed her again, as if to make sure.

“By taking responsibility, you mean you’ll marry me, right?”

She had no intention of doing so in the slightest, but the atmosphere made it feel like she couldn’t say anything else right now.

I’ll just agree for now, find his first love, and make my exit.

With that thought, Yeon-seo nodded.

“Yes.”

She could see his expression grow complicated. Looking at his face as he seemed to wrestle with fierce inner turmoil, Yeon-seo grew anxious right alongside him. What if he said it was out of the question and decided to hold a press conference right now?

Only after a long silence did he lift his head and look at Yeon-seo.

“Just one month.”

Yeon-seo perked up instantly. She didn’t have to emigrate after all!

“Thank you, Director!”

Yeon-seo bowed deeply at the waist, expressing her gratitude.

“Thank you for giving me this chance. I’ll make sure to find her and bring her right before you!”

Joo-heon watched Yeon-seo with complicated eyes for a long while.

Thank goodness. Sweeping a hand over her chest, she stepped out of his office, only to jump in surprise at the sight of Hye-eun standing right outside the door.

“Manager Sung?”

Her heart dropped. Had she overheard what they had just been talking about?

“I came up to grab my tumbler. I forgot it earlier.”

Fortunately, Hye-eun didn’t seem to have heard anything in particular. Picking up the tumbler left on the secretary’s desk, she walked out without even saying goodbye.

*

After Yeon-seo left, Joo-heon collapsed onto the sofa as if all his strength had drained away.

[Instead, I will take responsibility.]

The moment she said those words earlier, what flashed through his mind was the image of Jung Yeon-seo in a wedding dress. She was already beautiful in just jeans and a windbreaker, so how much more gorgeous would she look in a gown?

When he brought home his weekly paycheck and handed it to her, those dark eyes would widen in round astonishment.

‘Why is it this much?’

‘Don’t hold back, spend it all. I’ll give you this much again next week.’

When he puckered his lips and asked for a kiss in return, she’d blush, scolding him with an ‘Oh, honestly’ while glaring playfully at him.

In a split second, his delusions had spiraled endlessly. Should they set up their newlywed home in London, or in Seoul? If they lived in London, they wouldn’t have to send their child to an English-language kindergarten… He had gotten that far in his thoughts, and then.

‘What, you’re going to find my first love?’

It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head.

[I’m truly sorry, but what’s done is done and can’t be undone, right? So taking this opportunity, wouldn’t it be a happy ending for you to find the woman you genuinely love and marry her instead?]

She had wrapped her absolute refusal to take responsibility in words like that. It was as if she wouldn’t get involved with Joo-heon even if a blade were pressed against her throat.

“Am I really that unappealing…?”

Joo-heon looked down afresh at his thighs clad in suit trousers. The thin fabric of his tailored suit couldn’t fully conceal the defined muscle underneath, pulled taut to the point of bursting. How many women had swooned over these thighs, calling them sexy, begging to touch them just once?

In truth, he had never particularly liked those female fans. He disliked people being drawn to his looks rather than evaluating him on his performance as a player. But now, his thoughts were different. If only Jung Yeon-seo liked his face or his body, he felt like he could die happy.

To her, he was no longer that bullied boy on the soccer team, yet Jung Yeon-seo didn’t have a shred of interest in him. Not as an athlete, not as a man, not even the slightest hint of being drawn to his appearance.

[I’ll find her for you within a month.]

He could feel all too clearly how desperately she wanted to find his first love quickly so she could pull herself out of the picture. He had truly never seen anyone whose intentions were so glaringly obvious.

She had said she would take responsibility if she couldn’t find her in a month, but he knew full well that was just something she said to escape the immediate crisis, without the slightest intention of actually marrying him. When that time came, she would just say, I’m sorry, and try to slip away as if nothing had happened. Because running away was Jung Yeon-seo’s specialty.

[Just one month.]

Even though her transparent, scheming intentions were plain as day, the reason he agreed to let her search was simply to buy time.