Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 31

‘Who on earth is he to be doing that….’

Yeon-woo pondered intently on the reason why the driver lied to him, but soon shook his head. Even if he tried to guess the driver’s intentions, there was no way Yeon-woo would know. Were they close friends? Since Ki-won was standing with his back to the car, he couldn’t see what kind of expression he was making. What face did he make towards that person who greeted him so affably? Yeon-woo’s eyes, which had been nervously biting his lower lip, trembled for a moment.

His thoughts were flowing in a completely wrong direction. Originally, there was no need to be so curious as to wrack his brain over who approached him. Realizing that he was naturally trying to invade Ki-won’s personal space, Yeon-woo couldn’t hide his agitation. It felt persistent to dismiss it as simple curiosity.

‘But that person…’

The face of the other person he had seen for a very brief moment loomed in front of his eyes. He was someone who made you spontaneously say he was handsome. His eyes that folded prettily when he smiled and his splendid features. Although he couldn’t be sure of his physical type, there was an intuitive feeling that he was likely an omega.

‘And a dominant omega at that… That person must be hyung’s friend, of course.’

Friend. Yeon-woo repeated the word friend several times in his mouth. He should clear his head, but it wasn’t easy. The hand that was biting his lips slowly came down and rested on Yeon-woo’s thigh. Although he knew he had to restrain himself, his confused inner thoughts were not rational.

It’s strange. Lately, there have been many instances where his mind has become complicated. Anyway, they’re going to divorce. They’ll become unrelated, never to meet again in a lifetime once they divorce. So he told himself there was no need to be curious, but the throbbing in one corner of his chest didn’t subside even when he tried to deceive himself.

It must be because the weather is humid these days. Yeon-woo lifted his eyelids that were half-closed. If he turned his head just a little, he could see the car window blurred by the rainwater. His emotions were jumping around due to the influence of the fickle weather. As he lightly clenched his fist, his fingertips turned white.

He had a premonition that if he didn’t wrap up his thoughts this way, he would fall into great confusion. Yeon-woo alternated glances between the window and the driver, then closed his eyelids.

***

Yeon-woo, who entered the front door, shook off the rainwater on his hair and shoulders. When he refused the driver’s offer to cover him with an umbrella when getting out, he ended up quite wet. He thought it would be okay since it was only a few steps to get inside the building, but the rain was heavier than Yeon-woo expected.

Yeon-woo, who went straight to the bedroom to change out of his wet clothes, laid his eyes on the empty trash can. It seemed the people who manage the house had stopped by. Yeon-woo, who hung Ki-won’s coat on a hanger and changed into comfortable clothes, showed a startled look after a short while. It was because he discovered keys in his pants pocket.

He had intended to hand them over together when giving Ki-won the USB, but he completely forgot. Yeon-woo, who pressed his head hard, took the keys and moved to the living room. 

Staring blankly at the keys placed in his hand, Yeon-woo sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. Since he needed an appropriate amount of noise, Yeon-woo stopped at any channel and felt satisfied with the voice filling the empty house and relaxed his posture.

“Should I put this on the desk in the study?”

Yeon-woo, who mumbled to himself, meaninglessly rubbed the rusted part. The material looked strangely cheap to consider it Ki-won’s belongings. Yeon-woo, who was quietly examining the exterior of the key, felt something strange.

Yeon-woo, who made a long sound with his Adam’s apple, blinked his loosened eyelids repeatedly. It was the first time since the box in the storage room that he felt an unpleasant feeling looking at Ki-won’s belongings.

‘The box in the storage room was also a type that opened with a key.’

Is this really a coincidence? It’s hard to be sure, but the color of the wooden box and the color of the key handle seemed to match. The feeling that it looks cheap at a glance is the same too.

‘Is this the key to open that box?’

A plausible guess came to mind that the box he found in the storage room might be the pair to the key. Yeon-woo, who meaninglessly touched the end of the key, moved his eyes toward the storage room.

The box that was clean compared to the other dusty objects seemed to be looming in front of his eyes. He didn’t know why a box that was frequently looked into was kept in storage, but he thought it must be a meaningful item to Ki-won. So he would have kept at least the key in the study where it was easily noticeable.

Even though he knew there was no way to find the answer to his curiosity, Yeon-woo always showed such curiosity. Maybe it’s because the box that should have been unfamiliar seemed familiar to his eyes. Yeon-woo let out a deep sigh and put strength into his straight mouth corners. Yes, it had nothing to do with him what the pair to the key was, since he wasn’t going to open the box anyway. Yeon-woo, who decided to put away the time-consuming thoughts, picked up his cell phone. It was because Ki-won’s words that he should contact him when he got home came to mind.

– Contact me when you get home, Yeon-woo.

The man’s voice, warm and cozy like the warm sunlight. Despite the thick and low tone, the affectionate way of speaking was so vivid that Yeon-woo immediately pressed the call button. Ring, ring. The dial tone rang for a long time. Yeon-woo, who was staring straight ahead without much thought, slowly narrowed his brows. His eyes were capturing the news that had been going on for a while.

“Sugangㅡ corporation?”

Yeon-woo, who was reading the company name written in the news headline intermittently, ended the call connection as if possessed. The voice informing him that the anniversary of the founding of Sugangsan Corporation was approaching flowed into his ears without fail.

Sugang Corporation, his heart beat fast at the very familiar company name and a certain assumption that crossed his mind.

Yeon-woo, who entered the internet app, hurriedly pressed the search box. In a brief moment, his mouth went dry and his breath trembled. It was the moment he realized where the unpleasantness he was feeling came from.

“I knew it… it was this person.”

Yeon-woo, who gained certainty through an internet search, let out a meaningless breath. Sugang Corporation. The company name sounded strangely familiar, and it turned out to be the family that Ki-won was originally supposed to marry.

His heart throbbed with anxiety. Yeon-woo’s complexion also turned pale in an instant as he checked the search results.

He hoped it was a misunderstanding, but the odds were not in Yeon-woo’s favor. Yeon-woo’s eyebrows gradually slanted as he intently examined the personal photo attached to the news article. The mysterious man who approached Ki-won, he was the grandson of the chairman of Sugang Corporation. Although he only saw him in passing, he had a memorable appearance, so there was no mistake.

‘No wonder he looked familiar….’

Yeon-woo ran the tip of his tongue over his bitter mouth. The lukewarm attitude the driver showed when asked who he was started to make sense. Since he was Ki-won’s fiancé, it would have been awkward to say. Yeon-woo rubbed his throbbing heart and exhaled lumps of breath that felt like they were choking his throat.

The inside of his throat felt strangely tight, and his heart rate was beating abnormally fast. His drooping shoulders had no strength, so his whole body felt heavy. He didn’t know how to define this feeling. It was overwhelming just to follow his emotions right now.

Ki-won, who disliked arranged marriages and sought a contract marriage. Yeon-woo recalled again the background of how he came to be by Ki-won’s side and bit his lower lip. But it’s strange. The grandson of Sugang Corporation was showing an unrestrained appearance to Ki-won. If their relationship was such that he avoided marriage, he thought they would be distant, but the relationship between the two that he saw with his own eyes was not like that.

Judging by the way the other person treats Ki-won, they were at least close friends. That’s why Yeon-woo was more confused. What was the reason for avoiding an arranged marriage when they had an intimate relationship? It would be better to have an arranged marriage with a friend than a contract marriage with a stranger. His overloaded mind felt like it was going to explode.

Yeon-woo’s face, which had been wracking his brain for a while, hardened. Ki-won’s actions of meeting his arranged marriage partner again at a time when talk of divorce was going around caught his attention.

“Could it be that hyung’s mind has changed…?”

Yeon-woo, who hugged both knees and buried his head, let out a small sigh.

‘He said let’s not get divorced.’

Perhaps he was seriously listening to his empty words. Yeon-woo tried to quell his disappointed feelings by mulling over Ki-won’s actions and words toward him.

He misunderstood. That he truly wanted him. It’s a relief he noticed in advance, how ridiculous he almost was. Yeon-woo, who swallowed a hollow laugh, clenched his trembling hand.

Kwon Ki-won is an inherently kind and good person, so he only pretended to hold onto him. If Ki-won was seriously thinking of seeing his arranged marriage partner, he didn’t want to interfere with their relationship.

“Maybe he wasn’t seeing me off either…”

The tip of his tongue tingled at the words he blurted out. The image of Ki-won seeing him off all the way outside the company wouldn’t disappear from his eyes. Ki-won, who put his coat on him saying it was cold and stopped to watch until the car departed, making people confused. But if he thought all those actions were to wait for the grandson of Sugang Corporation, it made a lot of sense.

Yeon-woo’s gaze turned back to the news. The content about Sugang Corporation was wrapped up and they had moved on to the next topic, but for some reason he didn’t want to hear the anchor’s voice. Yeon-woo, who eventually turned off the TV, suppressed the unpleasant sensation and grabbed his sleeve as if pinching it.

It felt like only yesterday that he repeated to himself not to have feelings for Kwon Ki-won, but his heart had already become lax. Yeon-woo, who was pressing the underside of his nails with a blank look, looked down at his cell phone, which began to vibrate. Ki-won was calling.

Why didn’t he answer the phone right away? Normally, he would think he was busy with work, but he couldn’t easily answer the phone because he was concerned about the last way he saw him. If he took his call now, it felt like he would hear the voice of the grandson of Sugang Corporation over the handset.

He didn’t know for sure yet how Ki-won’s relationship with him was, but the anxiety that rose to his throat paralyzed Yeon-woo’s thought process. Why is he like this? He was confused as to why he was feeling this way.