Flower Fiancé Chapter 37

“After I realized that I like the Managing Director, I regretted not telling you back then instead.”

He glanced up and looked at Choi Moohyuk. He was sitting with his long legs crossed, leaning back at an angle, with one hand placed on the dining table. Choi Moohyuk’s forearm muscles caught his eye through the shirt that was pulled taut and smoothed flat. Ji Yeonwoo, who had been quietly watching, squeezed his eyes shut—kkuk—and lowered his gaze.

“I don’t know if this will sound like an excuse, but I truly didn’t know. That I would come to like the Managing Director this much, in such a short time… “

When he finished saying this, he couldn’t guess at all what kind of expression he would wear or what he would say.

Thinking of the usually kind Choi Moohyuk, it seemed he would accept anything he said, but right now, his eyes were sharp as if they could cut. Even when Ji Yeonwoo closed his eyes, that sharp gaze did not waver in the slightest.

His tension-filled body grew rigid. Even his breath trembled with unstable breathing. Ji Yeonwoo, who had been calming his breathing and shaking off the tension with his gaze lowered, opened his mouth with difficulty.

‘Managing Director, actually, everything I do with the Managing Director is not my first time.’

It was not easy to bring out words that only circled in his head. It was the moment when Ji Yeonwoo, hesitating with only his lips twitching, wringing out courage he didn’t have, was about to put strength into his voice.

“That’s enough.”

His heart sank with a thud.

“Pardon?”

“I said that’s enough, so you can stop.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been abruptly cut off, had to stop with his mouth open. Having forgotten even to breathe, Ji Yeonwoo opened his eyes wide and looked at him.

“That I can stop. What do you mean by that?”

The dark pupils looking at Choi Moohyuk wavered, unable to find their bearings.

Choi Moohyuk, who had loosely lowered his gaze, saw that the gold Rolex watch on his wrist resting on the dining table was crooked. Expressionless, he turned the gold Rolex watch on his wrist round to set it in place.

“I have a rough idea.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been looking at him with puzzled eyes, opened his mouth.

“It would be good to hear the truth from Mr. Yeonwoo’s own lips, but I think it’s better to get answers to the questions I have first.”

He tilted his head slightly.

Ji Yeonwoo, still unable to gauge the situation, just blinked his eyes and looked at him.

“However, I need to confirm first how much of my speculation is the truth.”

“How, do you intend to confirm it?”

“You just have to answer the questions I ask. I think that shouldn’t be difficult.”

He opened his eyes a little wider as if seeking agreement.

“No half-hearted answers are necessary. Yes. No. That will be enough.”

Actually, just that was easy enough. But was that really all? Ji Yeonwoo wore a tense expression and reluctantly nodded.

Heum, Choi Moohyuk let out a long breath and continued speaking.

“Right now, there are exactly three things I’m curious about.”

Because he didn’t know what words would come out of his mouth, tension ran across Ji Yeonwoo’s face.

“First… “

While waiting for him to speak, he swallowed dryly—gulkkeok—his throat ringing. Choi Moohyuk looked straight at Ji Yeonwoo like that and opened his paused mouth.

“Is the person who made Mr. Ji Yeonwoo lose his pheromones and the person who supposedly gave you French marigolds one and the same?”

Faltering, Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulders jumped. From the very first question, it had completely missed his expectations. Truly, he had no inkling whatsoever of what Choi Moohyuk would ask next.

“…Yes. It’s the same, person. But… “

In his anxious state, he hastily added more words…

“My questions aren’t finished yet.”

Choi Moohyuk spoke in a lowered voice, languidly casting his eyes down. Overwhelmed by that force, Ji Yeonwoo hastily closed his mouth.

Choi Moohyuk, who had been continuing his words while staring somewhere on the dining table and lost in thought, raised his eyes.

“Second. So, after losing his pheromones, Mr. Ji Yeonwoo was divorced by that person. Is that correct?”

The moment he heard Choi Moohyuk’s second question that followed, Ji Yeonwoo’s already pale face began to grow even paler.

This person, just how much does he know?

“Ma-Managing Director… “

Ji Yeonwoo called Choi Moohyuk in a trembling voice.

Choi Moohyuk, who had been tapping the dining table at a steady rhythm—tok, tok—with his index finger, paused his words for a moment and clenched his fist tightly.

“Is that bastard, JT Trading’s Lee Hyunjoon?”

∞ ∞ ∞

Ji Yeonwoo’s lips only trembled—pareureu—unable to give any answer. Except for the first question, he gave no clear answer to any of them, but his wavering eyes and pale face were all answering in his stead.

“Ma-Managing Director, how… “

A small voice barely escaped between his parted lips.

Since when on earth had he known?

Choi Moohyuk had given him reason to guess he was a very perceptive person, having pieced together several facts with his instantaneous judgment over time. But wasn’t this separate from simply being perceptive? The facts he already knew alone couldn’t have led him to deduce the divorce and the existence of Lee Hyunjoon.

And he had absolutely never mentioned Lee Hyunjoon’s existence either…!

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been looking at Choi Moohyuk with wavering eyes while lost in thought, opened his eyes wide.

‘Do you still keep in touch with the person who gave you the French marigolds?’

‘There’s no way. I don’t even know where he is or what he’s doing. I don’t even have his contact info.’

He remembered the conversation they’d had when he had first come to his house. The brief exchange that hadn’t seemed special at the time now came to him with a different meaning.

Then, had he been pretending not to know even though he knew all along?

Ji Yeonwoo forcibly suppressed the thought that had suddenly surfaced. That couldn’t be. At the very least, the Choi Moohyuk he knew was an extremely direct and honest person, so if he had known from the start, he was certain he wouldn’t have tried to hide or conceal it.

“That’s a face that needs an explanation.”

“I know it’s shameless, but still, I’d like to know through which channel you found out.”

Choi Moohyuk continued without hesitation.

“I heard it in a certain public place. And entirely by chance at that.”

“A public place?”

Ji Yeonwoo asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Mr. Lee Hyunjoon’s reputation doesn’t seem to be very good. Seeing them badmouth him so explicitly, even though he just returned from America and one would think they’d be glad to see him.”

Ji Yeonwoo still had an expression of incomprehension.

“The people talking probably didn’t know either. If they had known that I was around that corner, and that I happened to be in a relationship where I’m seeing Mr. Ji Yeonwoo, they wouldn’t have talked such explicit badmouthing.”

“…”

“Perhaps such coincidences overlapping means that Mr. Ji Yeonwoo and I are not just a connection that passes by.”

He, who had spoken in a voice steeped in thought, raised his eyes and looked at Ji Yeonwoo.

“Do you need more explanation?”

“No. No. It’s enough.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been gauging the mood, startled and raised his voice. What more explanation could he possibly need? That he had no ill intent had already been proven early on through his words and actions. If he had intended to use that fact and hold it against him from the beginning, he wouldn’t have considerately called him out to the parking lot, nor would he have looked at him with such kind eyes.

“First of all, regarding what you asked, everything you speculated is true.”

Ji Yeonwoo answered in a trembling voice.

“Then, what happened today?”

“It wasn’t anything serious. I got a call from that person… I had already blocked his number a long time ago, so I didn’t know he’d call from a different number.”

Choi Moohyuk, sitting across from him, fixed his gaze and focused as if telling him to continue.

“I think I was… a bit shocked. Even if you don’t want to hear it, you can’t help news that comes flowing to you, but I never imagined he’d change his number just to call.”

“Didn’t you say there’s been no contact all this time.”

“Yes. There hasn’t been.”

“Then what did he say was the reason he suddenly called?”

“I don’t know either. As soon as I recognized his voice, I dropped the phone and couldn’t even talk properly.”

“What did he say.”