The Substitute Wife

CHAPTER 52

With the slightest wrinkle between Park Jimin's eyebrows, he looked around the entire living room quickly and calmly. Eventually, he found her on a small round couch in a corner by the window.

With her back to all the others, she was sitting there wordlessly, her phone in hand.

The crowded and happy atmosphere in the room seemed to be irrelevant to her. No matter how loud the screams were, her sight never moved a bit from her phone.

She looked quiet. Except on the occasions that she needed to touch the screen of the phone, she barely moved. Even when she drank, she would pick up and put down the cup with very gentle strength, seemingly afraid to make any noise.

Park Jimin could tell that she was trying to blend into her surroundings, letting the others forget about her.

Before I played cards, she appeared to be talking with people delightedly. Since when does she avoid the others and keep to herself?

If I hadn't remembered her or found her, would I never know she was killing time all alone until it ended?

Her sitting there all alone and her quiet look suddenly generated a slight pain in Park Jimin's heart. He stared at her dully.

"Brother Jimin, it's your turn to discard..." Jeon Jungkook who was sitting opposite Park Jimin raised his hand and knocked on the table. Seeing that Park Jimin continued to ignore him and remained staring outside of the door, Jeon Jungkook stretched his hand to Park Jimin, half-standing and bent over, and looked in the direction Park Jimin was staring, saying, "Brother Jimin, what are you looking at?"

Before Jeon Jungkook had figured out what Park Jimin had been looking at, Park Jimin dropped his eyes coolly to cover that he was looking at Rosè Jang. He then turned his head slowly, drew a random card, and threw it on the table.

This round, Park Jimin didn't focus on the cards. He lost a lot of money to the other three. By the time the game ended, nearly none of the chips that he had won before were left.

Jeon Jungkook intended to start a new round, so he asked for Park Jimin's opinion, but Park Jimin didn't respond, simply turned his head and looked back at Rosè Jang by the window again.

It seemed that she was tired after staring at her phone for such a long time. She lifted her head and looked outside of the window.

The lights in the room reflected on the window, making it a mirror. Through the window, Park Jimin happened to see that there were no changes on her face. She seemed to be enjoying the night scene, or perhaps looking at nothing at all.

In that instant, from the bottom of Park Jimin's heart appeared a strange feeling for no reason other than that the woman he saw now was not someone who belonged to this group... But Yoon Jane had been raised among this group of people... Why did he have that feeling?

"Brother Jimin? Brother Jimin?" Seeing that Park Jimin had ignored his question, Jeon Jungkook knocked on the table again to get his attention.

Park Jimin recovered with an expressionless look. He took a look at Jeon Jungkook silently and put the chips on the table. He waved for one of the onlookers near him to replace him, then walked to the living room.

Park Jimin stood behind Rosè Jang for quite a long while, but the woman didn't notice him approaching.

Once someone came to offer Park Jimin a glass of wine, she heard the words "Brother Jimin," so she turned her head to look back.

Park Jimin took the wine and made small talk with the server. After the server had walked away, he set his eyes on her.

She still looked quiet, but now with anxiety in her eyes.