By Zephyria “Do you know him?”
After playing around with the seemingly naive part-timer, Lee Do-hee, who was already far away, quickly caught up with her sibling. Her sibling, Lee Do-hyeon, didn’t seem to care about her wearing high heels, striding away with his long legs. Usually, she would have frowned and told him to slow down, but she didn’t mind it so much now. She had something else she was curious about.
She wondered how Lee Do-hyeon knew the part-timer, who looked to be in his early twenties and a student.
Normally, she wouldn’t care who Lee Do-hyeon met, but seeing him acknowledge someone in front of her piqued her curiosity. Surely, he wasn’t trying to do anything with a kid who looked at least ten years younger than him. He wouldn’t be that awful. But no matter how she thought about it, there was no connection.
“I asked if you know him? Who is he?”
What on earth was going on? Even with her blatant question, Lee Do-hyeon didn’t even pretend to hear. Lee Do-hee wasn’t one to back down just because she was ignored. Barely catching up to Lee Do-hyeon, Do-hee trotted alongside him, tilting her head and staring up at him.
“He kept looking at you, you know?”
Whether he had no intention of hiding it or that was the best he could do, it was harder to pretend not to notice the glances he kept stealing.
Actually, she was used to such attention. Long before she was in the media spotlight, Do-hee had received plenty of gazes filled with curiosity and favor, whether she was alone or with her brother. Now that she was almost thirty, she didn’t care about those glances, but she was slightly intrigued by the atmosphere that wasn’t entirely one-sided.
“He was cute. Who is he? He’s an Omega, right?”
Lee Do-hyeon’s brow furrowed as he started to get annoyed. Lee Do-hee looked like she was having the time of her life, planning to bother him until he answered. Do Hwon sighed. Maybe his life was so boring because he had been cooped up in the hospital for years trying to become a doctor. He seemed to find something fun in everything.
“I don’t know him.”
“You looked like you did.”
“I don’t.”
“Hmm.” Do-hee pouted. He definitely seemed to be pretending not to know him. Or was it a one-sided thing? If so, Lee Do-hyeon’s reaction was somewhat understandable. If the part-timer’s constant glances were due to his one-sided interest, then from Lee Do-hyeon’s perspective, it was a trivial relationship that he could dismiss as not knowing him.
Tsk. Do-hee clicked her tongue lightly and swallowed her disappointment. Towards herself, who thought she had found something to tease him with, and towards the part-timer she had just met. If the part-timer was at fault, it was only for being fooled by that handsome but empty shell.
As her interest plummeted, Do-hee’s expression became indifferent. Her face, devoid of playfulness, resembled Lee Do-hyeon’s quite a bit, as if to prove they were siblings.
“When are you going to the main house?”
The interest that had been bubbling up vanished in an instant, and she quickly turned her attention elsewhere. Do-hee asked in a dissatisfied tone. The main house referred to the Pyeongchang-dong mansion where Lee Do-hyeon and Lee Do-hee had lived until a few months ago.
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Wow, you’re leaving me out again. Did Aunt call you?”
“No. Chairman Lee.”
“Wow, seriously……”
If you only heard her words, you might feel the youngest daughter’s disappointment at being intentionally excluded from the family gathering, but you couldn’t find any disappointment on Do-hee’s face. Rather, she was sneering. Do-hee was just as disgusted as Do Hwon with the family’s behavior, which never deviated from expectations.
“If they’re going to be like this, they should just kick me out of the family registry. Do they think it’s enough just to put me in the registry?”
It wouldn’t be common for blood-related family members to hate each other. But it was common in this family. The two siblings’ father, Lee Kang-sun, Chairman of Youngkang Group, who was notorious for his promiscuity, had created this situation.
“Is Lee Gyu-hyeon coming too?”
Do-hee turned her head sharply as if something had occurred to her.
Lee Gyu-hyeon, the eldest of the three siblings. He had a different mother. Lee Gyu-hyeon was the legitimate son of Chairman Lee Kang-sun through his legal wife, Kim Mi-hee, while the other two were illegitimate children that everyone knew about but kept quiet about. In fact, there were reportedly more illegitimate children besides these two, but only these two siblings were able to be registered in the Pyeongchang-dong main house because they manifested as Alphas.
Anyway. Do-hee looked puzzled. A rumor had spread in the stock market a few days ago that the third-generation chaebol A in the drug rumors was Lee Gyu-hyeon. The legal team couldn’t be unaware of this, and Lee Gyu-hyeon was hospitalized in a VIP room in preparation for a possible investigation. She wondered what kind of family gathering a man who was playing around in a hotel-like hospital room, pretending to have health problems in the media, would attend.
“He’ll probably come.”
On the other hand, Do Hwon didn’t care at all whether Lee Gyu-hyeon was hospitalized or not. On the contrary, Lee Gyu-hyeon was more likely to be wary of him. He might be badgering the medical staff and secretaries, wondering what would happen if he couldn’t leave the hospital.
“No, what are you even thinking? Don’t you know your head will be chopped off if you stay like this?”
As if she couldn’t stand it, Do-hee glared at Do Hwon, walking a few steps ahead. She didn’t continue speaking, perhaps conscious of the people around them, but Do Hwon knew what she was trying to say.
Recently, the succession battle for Youngkang Group officially ended. On the surface, it seemed that Lee Gyu-hyeon had won after all three siblings, regardless of gender and age, had jumped into the succession battle, but in reality, it was a foregone conclusion that the legitimate son, Lee Gyu-hyeon, would become the successor. Kim Mi-hee, Lee Gyu-hyeon’s mother, had played a major role by manipulating the board members. Unlike Lee Gyu-hyeon, who had a strong backing, Do Hwon and Do-hee’s biological mother was a woman who worked at a famous room salon in Gangnam.
Lee Kang-sun, the current Chairman, was still alive, but there was no guarantee that he would remain healthy forever, having already passed seventy. If he were to lose consciousness and collapse tomorrow, Kim Mi-hee would reveal her claws as if she had been waiting for it, even more so than Lee Gyu-hyeon. In that case, he would probably be removed from his position as CEO of Youngkang Construction and face an indefinite prison sentence.
Do Hwon stopped in the middle of the parking lot and stared at Do-hee. Her bright red lips mouthed, “What?”
“You think your head will stay on?”
“Lee Gyu-hyeon doesn’t even care about me. He hasn’t even acknowledged me since long before I said I was going to medical school. That bastard, is he ignoring me because I’m a woman? Even though we’re both Alphas.”
“Even if your head doesn’t get chopped off, your body will be put to good use. Marriage is an extension of business, after all.”
Do Hwon twisted his lips. He found his sister, who seemed to firmly believe that she was safe because she wasn’t involved in the succession, amusing. His gaze, scanning Do-hee up and down, felt different from before, as if he were appraising an object.
“You’ll sell well as a doctor.”
Then he turned and walked ahead. Do-hee, who was standing there pale, stomped on the ground so hard that her heels might break.
“That’s why I’m telling you to do something! Don’t just live with your eyes open!”
She felt like she was going crazy with frustration, but Lee Do-hyeon pretended not to hear anything, even though he could hear everything. She tried to get into the passenger seat after Lee Do-hyeon got into the driver’s seat, but the door suddenly locked. Do-hee couldn’t hide her bewilderment at the door that wouldn’t open no matter how hard she pulled. She pressed her face close to the window, which was so heavily tinted that she couldn’t see inside. Then the car window slowly went down. It stopped when it was only down enough to show Do-hee’s face.
“What? Open the door.”
“Go on your own.”
“Give me a ride!”
“Why should I? Did I ask you to meet me? You’re the one who forced me to eat with you when I didn’t want to.”
She had just taken advantage of his day off to get a nice meal, but he was paying her back like this. He was so petty.
“That jerk……”
He really was going to leave her behind. Do-hee glared at the back of the sleek car, then opened her handbag and took out her phone. Yes, driver. I’m sorry to bother you on the weekend. Do-hee, who had conveyed her location with an apologetic expression, hardened her expression as soon as she hung up. She could see right through Lee Gyu-hyeon, who was born from a different womb, but Lee Do-hyeon, who was born from the same womb, was hard to figure out.