SEVENTEEN

At half past eight, Yujin was ready at the dining table with Jinwoo's oversized clothes and also long pants that were the same size as the shirt she was wearing. Yujin looked fresher after taking a bath with super cold water in Jinwoo's bathroom. She who was initially not used to it could not help but follow Jinwoo's habits from now on. She really couldn't continue to maintain her spoiled or childish nature because now she was a wife. She must learn to be an adult woman who is able to take care of her household well.

"What is this?"

Jinwoo joined the dining table and immediately asked about the results of Yujin's dishes that were served on the table. The woman resentfully immediately asked Jinwoo to sit down and eat his food without much protesting because it was the result of a dish that she could cook in fifteen minutes.

"I can only cook an egg and toast in fifteen minutes. I also made you tea and coffee because I don't know what your favorite drink is in the morning."

Jinwoo pulled out one of the wooden chairs in front of Yujin and began to eat his food in silence. Actually he is not a picky type of guy because he is used to eating anything while carrying out his mission in remote areas. He just wanted to test Yujin and ask the woman what she cooked this morning. And regarding coffee or tea, he seems to prefer mineral water to accompany his breakfast.

"I only drink tea in the afternoon and coffee when I'm late, so just prepare mineral water for breakfast."

Yujin snorted in annoyance as she stuffed a large piece of bread into her mouth. After all, how could she know how Jinwoo's habits were if the man never said anything to her.

"So where are we going after this?" Yujin asked changing the subject.

It would be better if she asked about their activities for today because she was still on leave from college. She deliberately took two weeks off to prepare for her wedding day and also her honeymoon. But regarding the honeymoon, it seems that she doesn't have to expect too much because Lee Jinwoo won't be able to take her on vacation to romantic places like her dream so far.

"To your father's house. We need to pick up some of your necessities since you will be staying here from now on."

"Can we sometimes stay at daddy's house?"

She could not be separated from her father just like that after what she had been through with her father all this time. And she felt that her father would be very lonely after she got married because all her time she would only give to Jinwoo. So she wanted them to spend the night at her father's house every now and then so he wouldn't be lonely when he wasn't busy outside.

"Maybe."

Yujin let out a languid sigh and resumed her breakfast activities. Suddenly in the silence that was enveloping them, Yujin had an idea to partially remodel the appearance of Jinwoo's house. To be honest, she didn't really like the style of Jinwoo's house which was too minimalist and gloomy. Even though the man's house is quite large according to them. It's just that the man did not arrange it properly so that the house seemed gloomy and boring.

"Can I add a little decoration to your house? I find this house too stiff and unattractive. I want to add a little furniture in this house to make it look more colorful and not monotonous."

"Whatever. Do whatever you want, but you must not violate the boundaries I have set."

"Hmm okay, I promise I won't break the rules you set. Erm... by the way, did your men not eat?"

All this time she had always seen Jinwoo's men guarding his house, but she didn't know who was cooking for the guys because Jinwoo never had a household assistant. Even she herself did not know how Jinwoo prepared his food all this time.

"There is a woman who cooks food for them. But she doesn't cook here, but at her house."

"Is that woman still young?" Yujin asked interested. So far she had never seen a single woman in the house. And now Jinwoo told her that there was a woman he hired to provide food for his guys. She was so curious and wanted to meet the woman.

"You'll meet her later."

Yujin actually wanted to ask Jinwoo again. But from the behavior Jinwoo showed, the man seemed to be getting annoyed with all the questions she had asked earlier. So she decided to shut up and quickly finish her breakfast. There was still plenty of time to ask Jinwoo and find out another mysterious side of Jinwoo.

-00-

Yujin and Jinwoo are now on their way to somewhere. Just now Jinwoo's SUV left the spacious courtyard of Minister Im's residence and now they were going to a place that Yujin herself didn't know. Ever since they left Minister Im's house, Jinwoo didn't say anything and just told her to get in his car.

Now they were on the road that did not lead to the Jinwoo residence. Jinwoo's car was currently driving quietly towards a place that Yujin had never been to. Yujin curiously wanted to ask Jinwoo, but her intentions were immediately delayed because of Jinwoo's voice suddenly echoing in the air.

"Your room looks dirty."

Yujin reflexively turned her head to the side while frowning cluelessly at Jinwoo.

"There's a lot of trash in your room. Why don't your servants clean it up."

Hearing this, Yujin concluded that Jinwoo had looked through the contents of her room while she put her things into the suitcase.

Indeed, the maids had not touched the room at all to clean it because the room was indeed prepared for the first night. But she didn't expect that Jinwoo actually thought it was dirty because she thought it still looked beautiful with rose petals scattered around the floor of her room.

"I prepared it for our first night. But we ended up in your gloomy room. Even in an oversized t-shirt that isn't sexy at all. So don't make fun of my dirty room because yours isn't much better than mine either."

"Everything I saw in your room was trash. The flower petals, candles, and trash you should throw away. The room should be used for sleeping, not for doing stupid rituals using candles and flower petals."

"Trash? You said all of these are trashes? I ordered the flowers specifically for hundreds of thousands won to make our first night more romantic, but you're calling them trash. It's in vain that I prepare everything if in the end I just can't enjoy it all. My hundreds of thousands won will only end up in a landfill!"

Yujin continued to grumble in annoyance while staring at the boring scene in front of her. She thought being able to marry Jinwoo would make her happy, but she didn't! In married life it is not enough just to love. There are many things more complex than love that she must learn from now on. Including how to adjust to your partner so that their lives are more harmonious.

"You'd better give your money to homeless people than buy useless trash like that."

Yujin felt like getting angry. But it's useless if she gets angry if in the end the man will comment on it with her irritating scathing words. Finally she chose to play with her cellphone and see her friends' posts on their social media accounts. At least by looking at the cute photos uploaded by her friends, her annoyance at Jinwoo became a little less. Just a little, but not completely gone.

-00-

Yujin got down from Jinwoo's car and looked at the building in front of her with a questioning face. She had never been to that place before, and she felt strange. Moreover, from the front she saw a lot of children were playing with no burden, and looked loose. She then followed Jinwoo into the building and met adorable little children who immediately surrounded them.

"Oppa!! I miss you."

A little girl ran to Jinwoo and immediately jumped into Jinwoo's arms.

Yujin who saw it looked surprised because she had never seen Jinwoo look so human. Now she really saw a very different side of Jinwoo. Jinwoo seemed more gentle and also considerate of the children. Even Jinwoo could interact like a normal man who was far from being a sociopath. She felt like she had found a new Jinwoo. The Jinwoo she saw today looked like it was not Lee Jinwoo who married her before God and the great priest yesterday morning.

"Oppa, who is this beautiful lady?"

"Hello, my name is Lee Yujin."

Yujin introduced herself in a friendly manner while crouching down to one of the children who was around eight years old.

"Lee Jinwoo, is that you?"

A young woman shouted from inside the house and immediately walked out to approach Jinwoo who was chatting with the little girl. Jinwoo smiled gently at the woman and waved his hand briefly in the air.

"You haven't been here in a long time, they're looking for you."

The woman chattered lightly and had not noticed Yujin's presence next to Jinwoo. Just a few minutes later Jinwoo pulled Yujin's waist closer and introduced Yujin to the young woman in the green shirt in front of him.

"This is my wife, Yujin."

Yujin stretched out her hand reluctantly which the young woman immediately greeted enthusiastically.

"So you haven't shown up for a long time because you got married? You evil man! You didn't invite us," said the woman pretending to be angry.

Jinwoo shook his head quickly and immediately explained his true situation to the woman. The reason for not inviting the woman to the wedding.

"We just got married yesterday. Five months ago I got an assignment in middle east, and just returned a week ago. So I didn't get to invite you to my wedding."

"What kind of reason is that? You have many soldiers that you can command as you please. Ordering them to send out invitations to this orphanage was definitely not something difficult. You're just making excuses." The woman snorted lightly.

But Jinwoo was not angry at all, Jinwoo just chuckled with the woman's sneer. Yujin who saw it was quite surprised. She had never seen Jinwoo so intimately with a woman. Even the man couldn't be so warm with her. So who is that woman really?

"Ahh... let's go inside, let's chat inside."

Jinwoo lowered the little girl he was carrying and then stroked the top of the girl's head gently.

"Happy birthday Dayeong-ah, sorry oppa didn't bring a present for you."

"It's okay oppa. Thank you for remembering Dayeong's birthday."

Yujin, who had only been an observer, was increasingly curious about the other side of Jinwoo that she just found out today.

After this morning she saw the firm side of Jinwoo which was very cruel to her, now she saw the soft side of Jinwoo that was able to make her heart melt. The sincerity that the man showed to the children was pure. Jinwoo was not pretending at all. What he saw right now showed that Jinwoo loved the children like his own family.

Yujin was getting impatient to ask the man. In an instant the man managed to change her assessment of her husband's cruel figure to that of a gentle, caring husband. So who are they really?

"So what exactly is this place?"

"This is the orphanage where I was dumped by my uncle."

She did not expect that Jinwoo would still want to visit this orphanage after the man had a bad experience in this place. But as far as she could see this orphanage was not as bad as Jinwoo said. This orphanage looks like an ordinary orphanage that allows their children to joke with each other.

"Is that woman the owner of this orphanage?"

"Not. Jung Sojung was my colleague back then. He took care of this orphanage after the cruel owner died."

"Did you kill him?" Yujin asked anxiously. Seeing Jinwoo's terrible dark side made Yujin speculate badly on the man. Although that's not necessarily true.

"Actually I want to do it too. But that bastard man was already found dead after having overdosed on drugs."

Yujin felt sorry for having prejudiced against Jinwoo. She then took Jinwoo's hand and muttered an apology to the man.

"You hide a lot of unexpected things in yourself general. I'm sorry that I've always thought badly of you all this time."

Jinwoo just stared straight ahead without turning his head to respond to Yujin's sincere-sounding apology. What he showed Yujin today could not fully reveal who he really was to that woman. Yujin still has a lot to learn to know the other side of himself that he has always kept hidden from everyone. And until that moment Yujin could not conclude whether Lee Jinwoo was a good type of man or a terrible man like other people had said about him all this time.

"General Lee even though you don't love me, I will always love you."

Jinwoo smirked slyly in silence while still looking straight ahead. The woman had not seen what he really was.