Translator: Nox

The Woman Who Stole My Flower

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

19.

What would happen if he confessed the truth right this second?

‘You’re my first love.’

She would instantly freak out and run away.

[You should marry someone you love! Forcing a marriage to take responsibility when your heart isn’t even in it—it’ll only make both of us miserable, Director!]

She had poured her heart out so passionately. In all his life, Joo-heon had never seen someone speak with such desperate sincerity. In other words, even if he confessed the truth now, it was obvious that he would just get rejected on the spot.

However, if he concealed the fact that she was his first love and let her look for a woman who could never be found, he would buy at least a month of time.

‘A month, huh….’

During that month, he would make Yeon-seo look at him.

That was the best, and the only thing, Joo-heon could do right now.

*

“What? That’s what was going on between them?”

Inside the elevator, Hye-eun took deep breaths to calm her racing heart.

She had gone back to fetch the tumbler she had forgotten when she was kicked out earlier, only to overhear the conversation between Kang Joo-heon and Jeong Yeon-seo inside.

[About that night… I am truly sorry.]

[What, you remembered?]

[Th-that, um… even the part where I… begged you to sleep with me….]

Summing up the dialogue exchanged between them, the story went like this: Jeong Yeon-seo had jumped Kang Joo-heon, and Kang Joo-heon, having lost his virginity, was forcing her to take responsibility through marriage. Jeong Yeon-seo had refused, saying marriage was too burdensome, and instead offered to find his first love for him, which Kang Joo-heon accepted.

‘No wonder. I wondered why he suddenly started coming into our office out of nowhere.’

His objective had been Jeong Yeon-seo from the very beginning. That was why he had gotten so angry and kicked her out when she went up saying she had been assigned as his secretary.

‘Well, it wasn’t that he disliked me in particular.’

Her crumpled pride felt somewhat restored.

[You think just saying you’re sorry is enough?]

Though he talked of marriage, Kang Joo-heon didn’t have a shred of affection for Jeong Yeon-seo. Resentment and bitterness seeped through his every word. He scolded and pressured Yeon-seo so harshly that even Hye-eun felt embarrassed listening.

There was only a single moment when Kang Joo-heon’s voice hadn’t been cold and blunt.

[Do you still love your first love?]

[……I’ve never forgotten her. Not for a single moment.]

It was only when he confessed his feelings for his first love.

In other words, the one Kang Joo-heon still loved was his first love whose whereabouts were unknown, while Jeong Yeon-seo was merely a detestable person who had stolen his virginity. The only reason he was pushing for marriage was his obsessive attachment to chastity.

It wasn’t as if Jeong Yeon-seo had feelings for Kang Joo-heon either. For her part, it was glaringly obvious that she wanted to run away by any means possible. If she liked him even a little, she would have jumped at the proposal no matter the reason. She wouldn’t have gone as far as stepping up to find his first love instead.

The man hated the woman, and the woman only wanted to flee.

Would it really be that difficult to squeeze in between the two of them?

Hye-eun thought to herself: First, she needed to get Jeong Yeon-seo out of Kang Joo-heon’s sight.

“…….”

As Hye-eun stepped out of the elevator, a bright smile bloomed across her face, as though her mood had never been sour at all.

*

Yeon-seo sat at her desk, clutching her head.

She had boldly declared that she would find his first love, but the road ahead seemed utterly bleak. If it were easy, a man as wealthy as him would have found her long ago.

‘Where and how am I supposed to start looking……?’

Just as she let out a deep, ground-sinking sigh, the office door suddenly swung open and someone walked in. It was none other than Kang Joo-heon’s manager.

“Huh, the sasaeng?”

The moment their eyes met, the manager recoiled in horror.

“How did you get in here!”

He immediately pulled out his phone, looking ready to call the police on the spot. Startled, Yeon-seo leaped to her feet and waved her hands frantically.

“No, wait! I’ve become Director Kang Joo-heon’s secretary!”

However, he wasn’t about to believe her so easily.

“Don’t lie. Why on earth would Joo-heon hire a sasaeng as his secretary?”

Every other word was that damn ‘sasaeng, sasaeng’! In the end, Yeon-seo’s temper flared.

“I am not a sasaeng, okay?!”

When she raised her voice, the manager flinched and stepped back. Seeing that he still hadn’t dropped his guarded glare was so infuriating that Yeon-seo blurted out words she didn’t even mean.

“In a month, I’m going to be Kang Joo-heon’s wife. As his manager, you really shouldn’t keep treating me like some stalker.”

“What? Wife? What are you talking about?”

“He asked me to marry him. If you don’t believe me, go in and ask him yourself!”

The manager, who was staring at Yeon-seo with eyes wide as saucers, finally swallowed hard and stepped closer.

“Wait, hold on. Don’t do this—think about it carefully.”

He made calming motions, slowly pressing his hands downward in the air.

“That guy Joo-heon, he’s just acting out in a fit of rage because he thinks he’s already ruined! It’s definitely not because he likes you that he’s proposing!”

Yeon-seo thought: I already know that, but why does hearing it make me feel so annoyed?

“He has a first love he can’t forget even if he dies and comes back to life! He’s a guy who won’t accept anyone other than that woman!”

“I know that too. That’s why I told him I wouldn’t marry him.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I told him I’d find that first love of his within a month instead.”

The manager’s face filled with blatant relief.

“Good call. What was your name again?”

“I’m Jeong Yeon-seo.”

“I’m Kim Ho-jin.”

Only now did the two introduce themselves properly. Ho-jin was thirty-five years old and belonged to Kang Joo-heon’s agency. His role was to assist Joo-heon in all aspects of his life and career.

“By the way, Yeon-seo-ssi, why don’t you want to marry Joo-heon?”

Ho-jin asked curiously.

“You see, my lifespan probably shortened by twenty years because of that whole hickey incident.”

Yeon-seo shared the life motto she hadn’t dared mention to Kang Joo-heon earlier.

“I want to live an ordinary, quiet life—long and slender. How could I ever marry Kang Joo-heon? I’d never die of natural causes.”

“That’s true.”

The manager nodded vigorously.

“I’ve watched Joo-heon by his side all this time, so I know very well. It has to be his first love or no one for him.”

“Right?”

“Him asking you to marry him is probably out of spite too. He ruined his body before he could even meet his first love, so he wants to keep you by his side forever to get his payback.”

Such hidden depths! Yeon-seo shuddered.

“You know that saying, right? Keep your friends close, and your enemies…….”

“Closer.”

Indeed, there had to be a reason he glared at her with pure resentment every time he brought up marriage.

“I have to find that woman within a month no matter what.”

“From what I can see, that’s your best bet.”

And thus, Yeon-seo found herself hitting it off with Kang Joo-heon’s manager.

“Do you happen to know anything about her?”

The manager let out a troubled hum.

“Well, he’s never told me the exact details, so I don’t know much either. But from what I hear, she was Joo-heon’s number one fan.”

“A fan? So they weren’t even dating?”

Hearing ‘first love,’ she had naturally assumed it was the first girl he’d dated. The manager put on a disgruntled expression.

“Dating? He probably barely exchanged a few words with her! He liked her too, but the idiot was so shy back then that they parted before he could even speak to her.”

“And then?”

“Since she was a fan, he just waited all this time thinking they’d meet again someday. Even now, whenever he sees female fans visiting from Korea, he can’t just pass them by and checks every single face. It’s really…….”

Ho-jin let out a deep sigh.

“Anyway, that Joo-heon kept waiting and guarding his chastity like a Joseon-era widow, believing that she would come looking for him one day. And then some random woman pops out of nowhere and gobbles it all up in one bite! How could he not be furious?”

Since her memories had already returned, Yeon-seo couldn’t refute Ho-jin’s words. It was true that she had jumped him.

“By the way, how on earth did things end up like that with Joo-heon?”

Since Ho-jin had spoken frankly, Yeon-seo told him the truth as best as she could from her side.

“That night, I had some really tough personal things going on, so I drank a ton. In the middle of that, I think I went to your agency’s office on a work errand…….”

“And then?”

“I don’t remember after that. I just opened my eyes in the morning and found myself at the Director’s place. I have no idea how we met or how I ended up there.”

Ho-jin tilted his head in puzzlement.

“That’s weird. There’s no way that guy would bring any woman other than his first love to his house…….”

Yeon-seo had wondered about that part as well. In any case, it was Kang Joo-heon himself who had taken her home.

[I want to do it right now!]

Come to think of it, when she had begged so persistently, he hadn’t said he didn’t want to, nor that he wouldn’t. He had told her to do it once she sobered up.

Suddenly, Ho-jin let out a sharp gasp and stared intently at Yeon-seo’s face with new eyes.

“Wait… then could it be that you, Yeon-seo-ssi……?”