ANMELDEN[Hannah]
“Miss Barker. Excuse me. Miss Barker?”
A knock on her desk startled Hannah. Mr. Ed’s face was only about a foot away from hers, looking at her with concern. Hannah reflexively pushed her chair back. She blinked repeatedly, as if trying to pull herself back to reality.
Mr. Ed immediately returned to
[Maria]Damian's mother gestured for Damian to come closer. He leaned toward her, and she covered her mouth with one hand before whispering something into his ear.Something that, for whatever reason, I wasn't allowed to hear even though we were sitting at the same dining table.I didn't know what they were talking about. And I didn't really care if they were saying something bad about me.I'd always thought that sort of thing was normal, especially in the world of conglomerates where people constantly stepped on each other to get ahead.Still, if they did it here, it made me a little uncomfortable. As if being excluded was simply something I should be used to.I pretended to foc
[Maria]“Mom! Don’t just ask her that out of the blue.” Damian called out. “You’re making Maria uncomfortable.”“What’s wrong with that? Damian, you’re our only child. Of course you need to give us a grandchild to continue the family line.”“I know, but—"“As a husband, you have to try hard too. Drink some supplements. Don’t overwork. Eat healthy food. Do some exercise.”I didn’t expect this lunch to turn into a conversation like this.“Yeah, but we’ve only been married a few months. We need to—” Damian searched for the right words, “date first. We didn’t date before getting married. We need more time to enjoy our time together as a couple.”
[Maria]I hadn’t visited Damian’s parents’ house in a long time. I didn’t meet them very often either. His family wasn’t like typical conglomerate families that frequently appear at parties and events.In their circle, they were very selective about which events to attend, except for those related to the RQL Group, since Damian’s father was still serving as CEO there.They were on a different level from other conglomerate families. They didn’t need recognition and didn’t need to build connections.People like that had their own aura, and meeting them made me feel slightly intimidated.After all, I’m just the illegitimate daughter of the Wang family.
[Maria]“You’re right. I should have said thank you,” I said while reaching for his arm.Right now, all I could think about was that I needed to calm him down and reassure him first.Besides, Damian was right. Thinking about it, I hadn’t really thanked him since he got injured. For some reason, I don’t know why that sentence never really occurred to me.Maybe it’s because “thank you” is something I say when I get what I want, and clearly, his injury wasn’t something I wanted at all.“About my hand, I’ll tell you someday, not now,” I said softly. “But you really don’t need to worry about it. It’s a completely different situation. I just
[Hannah]Somehow, the anime turned out to be so good that Hannah ended up binge-watching nonstop with Kevin until episode six.She sat on the couch with one leg tucked beneath her, sipping from a can of soda she had helped herself to from Kevin’s refrigerator.The dryer had finished a long time ago, but she found herself strangely comfortable staying there. She was still wearing Kevin’s sweater along with the slacks she had worn to work that day.The ending song for episode six played. Kevin pressed pause and turned toward her.“You’re not sleepy?”Hannah checked her phone. It was 11:24 PM.
[Hannah]“Oh no, Hannah...” Liz winced, covering her mouth.“Sorry, sorry. It wasn’t on purpose.” Kevin quickly grabbed some napkins and held them out to Hannah.But Hannah didn’t take them.Her brain froze for a moment as she looked down at her white blouse stained with coffee.Her house was only ten minutes away, but walking around in a dirty, wet, sticky blouse would be both embarrassing and uncomfortable.Trying to clean it in the bakery restroom wasn’t really an option either. She knew they didn’t have proper soap for washing clothes. And she didn’t want to walk around
[Maria]"For the guest list, they'll provide it this afternoon," Mr. Ed continued. "They need approval from the Wang family first because they're concerned about the privacy of so
[Cecilia]After the party ended, Cecilia hurried back to her hotel room. She couldn't stand another minute of small talk with the guests while her mind was consumed by something else entirely.
[Maria]I helped Damian remove the splint cover and get dressed after his shower. He seemed more resigned now, with no sign of resistance. He just sat gloomily on the bed, leaning against the headboard. His face looked
[Hannah]Hannah felt her heart drop straight to the ground. Her face grew hot. What Kevin had said wasn't exactly wrong or right. But it was indeed something that crossed her mind quite often.More specifically, ever since Mr. Ed had lent her his coat to cover her exposed thighs, Hannah had started







