Flower Fiancé Chapter 62

Having learned the identity of the photo he’d seen in the study, he felt a bit more at ease, yet somehow he felt as though he had taken on an even heavier assignment.

That was when it happened. The sound of water that had been running in the bathroom ceased. With wavering eyes, Ji Yeonwoo looked back and forth between Choi Minhyeok standing before him and the bathroom where the water had stopped.

The sound of the bathroom door opening was heard.

Ji Yeonwoo and Choi Minhyeok’s gazes simultaneously turned toward the bathroom.

Choi Moohyuk, having finished his shower, walked out the bathroom door with only a towel wrapped around his waist. As he shook out his wet hair with a towel and stepped into the living room, Choi Moohyuk saw Choi Minhyeok standing face to face with Ji Yeonwoo and furrowed his brow.

“What is this.”

Upon hearing the low, rough voice flowing from his mouth, tension spread across Choi Minhyeok’s face. The rude and insolent manner he had displayed in front of Ji Yeonwoo just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

“Why are you here.”

As if the presence of Choi Minhyeok, who was already inside the living room without having been let in, was far from welcome, his eyes twisted. Choi Moohyuk’s gaze naturally shifted toward Ji Yeonwoo. Contrary to the thought that he would have woken up refreshed, having slept through the entire night in his arms without waking once, Ji Yeonwoo’s face was tinged with a certain unease.

“You, this bastard.”

Having roughly sized up the situation, Choi Moohyuk strode forward, and at the sight, Choi Minhyeok flinched and stepped back.

“No, hyung. That’s…”

In an instant, Choi Moohyuk cut between the two of them, shielding Ji Yeonwoo behind his back and blocking him.

“What nonsense did you spout this time.”

He spoke as if he knew that Choi Minhyeok had treated Ji Yeonwoo with rude words. Though no one had told him, it was because he knew his younger brother’s character all too well.

Choi Minhyeok was a guy who didn’t know how to choose his words. Setting aside his lack of tact, he was immature because he had been raised indulgently as the only child of their stepmother. No matter how rough a person wasn’t, he was the type who chipped everything away with his words.

Because he knew that brother of his so well, Ji Yeonwoo had been on his mind the entire time. It seemed like something had been said, but it was because he couldn’t know what kind of words had been thrown around in front of Ji Yeonwoo.

“I didn’t say much. Really. Just asked for his name, his age, and mentioned that I can strongly feel your pheromones on Mr. Ji Yeonwoo… But still, I’m your brother—can’t I even ask that much? Isn’t it natural to be curious when he’s standing in your house wearing only a gown?”

“And when you enter the house, I’ve told you how many times to at least ring the doorbell first.”

“Ah, then change the passcode. How can I, when I know it…”

As Choi Minhyeok tried to make excuses, Choi Moohyuk’s expression turned fierce. Seeing that, Choi Minhyeok read the mood and backed down.

“I said I’m sorry. If I’d known you were with your lover, I wouldn’t have come in either.”

Muttering on as if making excuses, Choi Minhyeok rolled his eyes and darted glances at Ji Yeonwoo, who was visible over Choi Moohyuk’s broad shoulders.

Noticing the gaze, Ji Yeonwoo flinched and stood pressed tightly against Choi Moohyuk’s back. Feeling Ji Yeonwoo’s touch against his solid back, Choi Moohyuk furrowed his brow.

“What’s the matter.”

He was ready to chase him out that very instant if it was a trivial matter. Choi Minhyeok urgently waved the document envelope he was holding in his hand.

“That thing you mentioned before, I found out about it.”

Choi Moohyuk’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the envelope. The explanation wasn’t long, but it was because he had grasped the meaning of what was inside that envelope.

Choi Moohyuk’s eyes flashed sharply. If it was that matter he had ordered to be looked into regarding Lee Hyunjoon before, it wasn’t something to be discussed in front of Ji Yeonwoo.

Glaring at Choi Minhyeok and clicking his tongue, Choi Moohyuk turned around toward Ji Yeonwoo, who stood behind him.

“Mr. Yeonwoo.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, but I need to go over some work in the study. The clothes have been sent to the laundry, so go into the dressing room first and change into my clothes.”

At the words that he would have to be alone, Ji Yeonwoo let out a low sigh.

“It’s something that can’t be postponed… Let’s talk about the rest when I come out.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been moving his lips as if he had something to say, reluctantly gave a nod in place of an answer. Choi Moohyuk, who had been holding Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulder, stroked his soft cheek and turned toward Choi Minhyeok.

“You, come in.”

Choi Moohyuk picked up the shirt and pants he had set out to change into and went into the study. The man who had been affectionate toward Ji Yeonwoo just moments before was nowhere to be seen, and only coldness existed toward him.

Choi Minhyeok, who had been watching the scene as if going back and forth between a hot bath and a cold one, looked alternately at Ji Yeonwoo and Choi Moohyuk heading to the study, and pursed his lips into a round shape.

Entering the study, Choi Minhyeok closed the door and turned around. He held out the document envelope toward Choi Moohyuk, who was putting on a white shirt over loose pants that hung as if draped on his hip bones.

Dressed roughly as if he had shoved his body into the clothes, Choi Moohyuk perched on the edge of the study desk and pulled out several sheets of paper.

On the first page was written, ‘JT Co., Ltd. Financial Statements and Noteworthy Items for the Past 3 Years.’

“While I was at it, I dug into that company as well, but there was nothing to pick at.”

JT’s financial statements for the past three years were, in a word, perfect. With high operating profit relative to sales, they were recording surpluses for all three years. They had expanded their business like an octopus stretching its legs, but all of it contributed to sales growth, and their corporate credit rating had also risen significantly compared to three years ago.

Choi Moohyuk, who had been flipping through the documents and examining them, nodded as if he had roughly grasped the situation. And after flipping through a few more pages, the section listing family information appeared.

Choi Minhyeok smirked crookedly, leaning against the bookshelf with his hands in his pants pockets.

“The problem is Lee Hyunjoon’s side, and the more I looked, the more of a headache it was.”

And he continued speaking while watching Choi Moohyuk, who was scanning Lee Hyunjoon’s history with his eyes.

“He already has a divorce on his record, and the reason they split was pretty ridiculous. Rumor is that the person he divorced was a male dominant omega, but right before the divorce, due to pheromone deficiency…”

“Forget that.”

“Huh?”

“I said I already know.”

Choi Minhyeok, who had been smoothly reeling off information, was flustered upon hearing Choi Moohyuk’s voice abruptly cutting him off.

“…You know? How do you know?”

Having scanned through to the last page, Choi Moohyuk placed the documents on the desk and turned his head. There wasn’t the slightest agitation in his expression.

“Having investigated this far, didn’t you think to look into the person he divorced?”

“Well, they divorced and it’s over, so I didn’t bother, thinking what’s the use of digging it up… Should I have looked into that too?”

It was a simple thought process, truly typical of Choi Minhyeok.

“Forget it. What else.”

Seeing Choi Moohyuk completely unruffled, the flustered Choi Minhyeok stammered instead.

“Huh? Uh, well, anyway. So then he went abroad to study in the U.S., and there he met the eldest daughter of Assemblyman Seo’s family and remarried. But this is a bit peculiar…”

Choi Moohyuk, who had been rummaging through the documents, raised his head.

“Peculiar?”

“Yeah. The thing is, they seem like a show-window couple.”

Choi Moohyuk, who had been listening with an expressionless face, frowned.

“Show-window?”

“It’s not certain, but they’re not an ordinary married couple.”

“Grounds?”

“I dug a little into the backstory of the omega he remarried. She barely comes to the place known as their newlywed home; rather, she spends most of the week somewhere else. But you know what’s funny? There’s another alpha there. A completely different alpha, not Lee Hyunjoon.”

Choi Moohyuk’s expression became even more incomprehensible.

“You’re saying she’s already set up a separate household?”

“I don’t think it’s that. I looked into the neighbors in the area, and they said they’ve been visiting each other for well over a year or two already. So, in order of events, that means they were seeing each other even before Lee Hyunjoon.”

In this world, keeping a secondary partner was a common thing. However, the private lives of an owner family greatly affected the company’s image and stock, so it was standard to thoroughly conceal them from the public.

But whether it was normal to find out this much with just a little investigation was something worth considering. If it had reached this level, it was tantamount to saying that both of them didn’t particularly care about each other’s private lives.

“So, what you’re saying is, it’s a contract marriage?”

Choi Minhyeok pointed his finger as if that were correct.