The city outside Lee International was still buzzing when Claire stepped out of the building. Seoul's traffic roared in the distance, and the air was thick with the faint smell of rain. She stood there for a moment, clutching her handbag as if it might anchor her against the tide of everything that had just happened.
A marriage proposal. From Evan Lee Hyunsik of all people. It wasn't even a proposal. It was a transaction. A trap dressed in legal language and strategic benefits.
Claire walked down the front steps, each heel clicking against the stone like a drumbeat counting the seconds she had to decide her future. Her phone vibrated in her hand, but she ignored it. Whoever it was could wait.
She replayed his words in her mind.
You hate men like me. That's why I chose you.
He had said it so simply, as if her dislike for him was a currency he intended to spend. She hated how confident he was. How his voice never rose, how his eyes didn't flinch. He made her feel like she was already losing even before she decided to play the game.
She finally reached the sidewalk and flagged a taxi. The driver glanced at her through the mirror as she slid into the back seat. "Where to?"
"Home," she said quickly, her voice sharper than she intended.
The ride was silent except for the city's evening chaos. Lights blurred past her window, neon bleeding into the rain-streaked glass. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes, trying to breathe past the tension that had lodged in her chest.
She could almost hear her father's voice again, soft but exhausted.
Areum, we just need a little more time. The investors are losing faith.
She had promised him she would help, but she had not imagined help would come in the form of selling herself into a one-year contract marriage.
Across town, inside Evan's office, Kangwoo entered without knocking. Evan was still seated at his desk, his hands resting loosely on the armrests of his chair, gaze fixed on the skyline.
"She left," Kangwoo reported.
"I know," Evan said without looking at him.
Kangwoo hesitated. "She didn't take the folder."
"She will," Evan replied. His voice was calm, but there was an edge to it that made Kangwoo choose his next words carefully.
"Sir… if I may, she does not seem like the kind of woman who responds well to pressure."
"That is exactly why she will respond to it," Evan said, finally turning his eyes toward him. "She is not greedy. She is not ambitious for herself. She is dangerous in her own way, but that makes her predictable."
Kangwoo frowned slightly. "Predictable?"
"She will not fight for herself, but she will fight for her family," Evan said. He leaned back, his fingers steepling. "All I have to do is make her believe this is the only way to protect them."
Kangwoo did not answer. He had worked for Evan long enough to know when an argument was pointless. But as he left the office, he couldn't shake the feeling that this plan was not just business for his boss.
Later that night, Claire sat at her small dining table, the city lights spilling in through the window. The untouched dinner in front of her had gone cold. Her phone lay between her hands, the screen lit with a text from her father.
I signed nothing today. Areum, did you meet someone from Lee International?
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, but she couldn't bring herself to reply. Not yet.
Instead, she rose from the table and crossed to the window, staring out at the maze of streets below. Somewhere out there, Evan Lee Hyunsik was probably still working, still planning. The thought made her skin prickle.
Her mind shifted to her ex. The man who had once claimed she was too naive, too soft, too clueless about the real world to be worth the effort. He had left without hesitation when things got hard.
And now, Evan was offering her a way to save her father's company. Offering it like he was handing her a choice when he was really just cornering her.
The sound of her doorbell jolted her. She turned, frowning. It was almost eleven at night. She crossed the apartment cautiously and looked through the peephole.
Kangwoo stood in the hallway, holding the same black folder she had seen in Evan's office.
When she opened the door, he offered a polite bow. "Miss Yoo. Mr. Lee asked me to deliver this to you personally."
Claire's eyes narrowed. "He could have sent it by courier."
"He thought you might have questions," Kangwoo said evenly. "And he wanted to make sure you read it tonight."
She took the folder reluctantly, the weight of it heavier than she expected. "And if I choose not to?"
Kangwoo's gaze held hers for a moment before he answered. "Then I suspect Mr. Lee will find another way to persuade you."
The door closed behind him with a quiet click, leaving her alone with the folder. She set it on the table, staring at it like it was a live thing that might bite.
For a long time, she didn't touch it. Then, slowly, she opened it.
The first page was a list of terms. The second page was a timeline. The third was a clause that made her breath catch.
If either party breached the agreement before the one-year term ended, the other party had the right to claim full ownership of mutually agreed assets.
In her case… that meant the company her father had built.
Her stomach tightened as if the words themselves had reached out and gripped her. The neat black type stared back at her, merciless and cold, each line printed with the precision of a guillotine blade.
Claire pushed the folder shut, her hands lingering on the cover. It felt heavier now, as though it carried not just paper, but the weight of her future. Her reflection stared back faintly in the lacquered surface of the table, eyes uncertain, lips pressed in a line she didn't recognize as her own.
Beyond the window, the city blinked with a thousand restless lights. Far below, car horns called out to one another in the dark, and somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled like a warning.
For a moment, she let herself imagine walking away, leaving the folder on the table, ignoring Evan Lee Hyunsik and everything he represented. But the image dissolved quickly, crushed by the memory of her father's voice on the phone, the desperation he had tried to hide.