Not Bad! The Female Lead Returns (DISCONTINUED)

#22 Ajumeoni

"The part where I'm her husband?"

Na Re-yee glanced at Ri-yan. As always, he had a devil-may-care attitude.

She left them to talk and just focused on getting to the dining area.

She didn't notice him watching her distant back.

The moment Miss Na was out of ear-shot, Ah-ri elbowed Ri-yan's ribs.

"How dare you hide this from me! We'll talk about this later! Hmph." Then she followed Re-yee.

Ri-yan hunched over in pain but it didn't last long.

Why were the female figures in his life either sharp-tongued, cold or sadistic?

When Ah-ri reached the dining area, she saw him sitting there already.

It took every bit of her not to run to him, to hug him and pour kisses all over him.

She couldn't, she had to remind herself that.

Na Il-jeong was listening to his family casually talking. One wouldn't mistake the glassy emptiness in his eyes.

But it was as though he felt someone's gaze on him because he stiffened.

"We have a visitor?" He asked with a slight frown.

Did he really feel my stare? Ah-ri wondered if all blind people had superb senses.

She was standing by the door, far away from him.

"It's Miss Baek Ah-ri, dear. She's the one who helped Rami a few days ago."

Old madam motioned for Ah-ri to take a seat.

Iljeong's frown eased when he heard his grandmother.

He reached out to the little kid sitting to his right.

"Have you said thanks?"

Rami looked up to him and shrugged.

"Those kids won't dare to hurt me anyway."

Everyone on the table: "..."

There was a ghost of a smile on the gloomy man's face.

"Of course they won't dare. But someone showed kindness to you so you should also say thanks."

Ah-ri was starting to realize how much of a big shot this family was.

Surnamed Na. Had an estate in Namjeon. Rami's confidence that the bullies wouldn't dare to go that far.

There was 99.99% that this was the Na family who owned ME Media Group.

"Okay... Dad."

Okay... Dad.

It echoed endlessly in her ears.

It was amazing how those two words managed to break Ah-ri into pieces.

Okay, don't cry. You can do this! Eat, say thanks for the meal, then go home. Fighting!

She tried to hypnotize herself.

But looking around the table...

At the head was the old madam. To her right was Na Jaehwoon who was probably the old madam's son and the siblings' father.

Beside his father was Il-jeong and next to him was little Rami.

Ri-yan sat to the old madam's left and across his father-in-law.

Beside him was Re-yee and then there was Ah-ri.

Where was Rami's mom?

Ah-ri inwardly shook her head.

Don't think of any evil schemes.

She was constantly repeating this in her mind.

The sound of cutlery echoed in the room.

They were all anticipating Rami's next words.

"Say it then." It was a neutral, detached tone as though he was separated from reality and from everyone here.

But his family seemed used to it, including the little child.

Rami looked at Ah-ri while thoughtfully chewing on his food.

After swallowing it, his crisp voice was heard.

"Thanks for the other day, Ajumeoni." [1]

"Pft~"

Ah-ri snapped her neck to the only one who would have the guts to laugh at her.

"Nice one, Rami! Uncle will give you sweets later."

Rami gave a tight-lipped smile at Ri-yan but his eyes were sparkling.

This brat was really trying to spite Ah-ri.

The old madam glared at her grandson-in-law while Jaehwoon only shook his head helplessly.

But Ah-ri was stirred and her petty side suddenly showed itself.

Before anyone could berate the child, she spoke first.

"Little Rami, I think you made a mistake in your address ah. Tsk, the teachers at your school are surprising me more and more, how can they not teach these things? You should call me pretty noona, try saying it!"

She said this with all smiles and Rami's face fell more and more the further she talked.

The brat never experienced someone talking back to him.

Even the bullies at his school won't disagree once he talked back. They could only go so far because he wasn't fighting back.

He harrumphed and decided to ignore her, focusing on his food instead.

Ah-ri pouted at this, "No fun."

Ri-yan and Re-yee were used to her cutesy, childish and unrestrained attitude. The former was her long-time friend and the latter was her past manager.

She even dared to call Re-yee unni and act like a spoiled child in front of her unlike everyone else who treated Miss Na with awe and respect.

But the rest of the people around the table were slightly surprised yet pleased at how Ah-ri could keep this disposition despite having ideas of the identity of the family she was dealing with.

They believed the girl to be quite capable of guessing it by now.

They were used to people acting cautiously in front of them or showing a sickeningly pleasing attitude to get on their good side.

So Ah-ri's unguarded manner of speaking was admittedly refreshing to them.

If Ah-ri knew what the old madam and Master Jaehwoon was thinking, she'd probably awkwardly laugh. She was just trying to distract herself from being too depressed and slightly bullying the cute Rami was working at the moment.

She'd been sneaking glances at Il-jeong in the most subtle of ways.

Her gazed passed by him whenever the old madam talked or when Ri-yan called her attention.

The gloomy man didn't resemble Ah'Heng one bit in terms of physical qualities and even in demeanor but the way her soul was incessantly pulled by his presence and how she was profoundly aware of the slight fluctuations of his well-hidden emotions, she couldn't deny what her guts were screaming at her.

If this wasn't Xia Yu Heng, then no one could be Xia Yu Heng.

But why did his soul felt so weary, so heavy and so faint?

---

[1]Ajumeoni- a formal way of address for old married woman or old women in general.

Ah-ri is only 22 so Rami was clearly messing with her. Bless that child.

Alrightyyy I finished 5 chaps early so decided to upload them today. Today is Sunday in my timezone (UTC +8:00) so next Sunday, expect 7 chaps :)))