Chapter 15 – The Offer

“Did you already have dinner?” Madam Choi asked.

“I don’t feel like eating,” Muyeol replied. 

She knew it.
He wasn’t going to eat anything this time either.

“Alright.
Let’s listen to what you have to say.”

Without the slightest bit of reluctance, Muyeol said, “It’s about the company stock.”

“Yes? You didn’t think I would simply give it to you, did you?”

“Please tell me what you want in return, Granny.” His voice was composed, as if he was determined to do anything.
Muyeol was displaying his willingness to do whatever it took to get his hands on the shares. 

It scared her, and filled her with sorrow, but it also made it easier for her to put forward her own demands.
“I want you to get married.
If you do, then…”

Muyeol did not seem the least bit surprised at the demand, as if he knew what was coming.
He calmly listened to Madam Choi’s suggestion.

“What do you think? Will you accept my offer?” Madam Choi asked.

“If I listen to you, you’ll transfer all your shares to me?” Muyeol wanted assurance.

“You want the shares, right? So why don’t you accept the offer?” 

“If I just need to get married, then fine,” Muyeol’s spoke in a serene voice.

“It’ll be through a blind date, you know? I’ll set it.” Madam Choi was planning to set him up on a blind date with Yiyoung.
If Yiyoung refused, she would tempt her with something she wouldn’t be able to deny to make her sit in front of Muyeol.
If she needed to, Madam Choi was willing to use her power to accomplish this.

But Muyeol stared at Madam Choi in silence, and the look on his face made her feel nervous.
Just to be sure, she asked, “Are you, by any chance, seeing someone?”

Muyeol continued to look at her, and Madam Choi squinted her eyes.
She had assumed he was looking at her, but maybe he was not.
She waited a while longer, and finally realized that Muyeol was staring at something else entirely.

She wondered if her suggestion made Muyeol think of Yiyoung.
In fact, she hoped it did.
There were plenty of good matches for him, but she wished for him to be with Yoon Yiyoung.
He would live well with someone he had feelings for.

‘Oh, darn.
You’re too old now, Choi Kyunja.
Thinking that there’s only one more thing you wish for until your death… Definitely too old.
But still…’ Madam Choi thought.

She only wished for Muyeol’s happiness.
She would want nothing else if she was on her death bed if it meant that Muyeol would live happily.

While Madam Choi plotted to make Muyeol happy, the man in question was lost deep in his thoughts.

“Are you, by any chance, seeing someone?”

The moment his grandmother asked the question, Muyeol thought of her. At one point in his life, being near her allowed him to still be a normal child. Yoon Yiyoung. Thoughts of her filled his mind, each one more vivid than the other.

*

During the time Muyeol was in his junior high school…

‘She’s like a fly.
No matter how pretty and mysterious its iridescent blue color might look, a fly will remain a fly.
And no matter how cute and elegant she might be, she’s broke.
Just like how a fly cannot stay away from a pile of dung, Yiyoung cannot stay put without poking her nose into others’ business… She’s so nosy.
She doesn’t even come from a wealthy family, but still has the courage to start a fight by punching someone in order to protect herself.
Her parents don’t even work at an office, but she’s so proud of them.
She’s never been on a trip abroad, but knows so much about them that it’s as if she’s visited the places multiple times.

‘She’s so short, but she holds her back straight so she looks a bit taller.
When she puts her hair up into a ponytail, it exposes her ears and she looks really cute.
Her bright eyes look so experienced, as if they’ve seen many places around the world.

‘But she’s still a fly.
She has nothing, and her parents’ careers are not great.
She hasn’t even been to Jeju Island yet.
I really hate her.
I hate it when she talks to me and looks at me.
I don’t even like the fact that we have to breathe the same air.
And the only reason I’m writing about her again is because she sat down next to me,’ he had written.

Muyeol snapped his diary shut in a fuss.

“What is it that’s making you close the diary like that?” Yoon Yiyoung, the fly, asked him. 

Muyeol scoffed arrogantly and ignored her.
He didn’t even feel the need to respond to her.

There was a reason why he wrote his diary entries at school.
There was no privacy at home.
He was placed under strict surveillance; there were many people keeping eyes on him, though now he was living with Madam Choi, and he trusted no one except her.