2. The Girl He Loves

Ashley stopped and looked around, searching for a spot that could conceal her completely while still letting her hear their conversation. To her left, about three to four steps away from where Josh was, stood a large pillar. Ashley very carefully walked on tiptoe and hid behind it.

“You mean I can't see you?” The girl's voice sounded raised. “You said you wouldn't leave me. But what? Look. What I was afraid of actually happened, right? All your words turned out to be a bunch of bullshit, huh, Josh?”

“No, no. That's not what I meant. If they see you—” Josh paused for a moment. Instead of finishing his sentence, he remained silent for a long time.

Ashley's neck spontaneously stretched longer, thinking her ears couldn't pick up their voices. But no matter how hard she focused her hearing, not a single sound could be heard.

Even so, Ashley remained still, waiting like a statue. She even breathed in and out very slowly.

“I was just afraid you'd get hurt,” Josh's voice reappeared.

At this moment, from the fragments she heard, Ashley felt she could already guess the big picture of what was happening.

“Even by making you look at me like this, I feel like I've hurt you a lot.”

“Yeah. And you wouldn't understand how much my heart hurts right now. But doing nothing and just imagining you—wondering how you'd look today, what you'd do—feels much more painful for me.”

“That's why you forced yourself to come here? You saw everything from the beginning?” Josh sighed, his voice trembling. “I'm sorry, I'm really sorry.”

“Is she pretty, Josh?”

“Hm?”

“That girl. In a wedding dress. Is she prettier than me?”

Josh laughed softly, his voice sounding warm as he assured her, “You're much prettier. I really mean it.”

“Then do you like her? I saw it. When you guys were together. You like her.”

“Is that a statement—not a question?” Josh chuckled crisply. “I know our situation is incredibly messed up, but once again, can I ask you to trust me on this? I only love one person—and it’s you. There has never been anyone else, and there will never be anyone else. Even then, it wouldn’t feel right to be unkind to her, right? Remember what we talked about the other day?”

The corner of Ashley's lips twitched lightly. She didn't know what feelings were stirring in her heart right now.

A moment ago, she still thought Josh's sincerity in accepting their marriage was as great as hers. Because since their meeting after her return to Seoul—about two months ago—there was not the slightest sign that he was feeling forced.

Josh calmly admitted that he had known all along about their arranged marriage decision, and he had no intention of planning a refusal. The man even spent a lot of time with her. Too much and too often. He was also willing to follow and involve himself in every process leading up to the wedding day cooperatively.

Then how could a guy who was in a relationship with a girl do all those things without showing any suspicious gestures?

Or, perhaps the signs were there? Perhaps Ashley had been too caught up in her own assumptions. Believing that her unrequited love was finally being returned, she never considered that Josh's agreement to this marriage and his feelings for her might be entirely separate matters.

What made her feel completely betrayed was that Josh had more than enough time to tell her about his relationship with another girl. But the man preferred to lie to her.

She didn't know the reason for Josh's decision. But according to Ashley, there was no reason to keep this matter from her. Especially when they both understood the consequences of their decision to agree to this marriage.

There was no need to be honest about everything because their relationship was not a real relationship after all. But there were some things that needed to be disclosed to avoid triggering problems that might cause trouble in the future.

Take, for example, a cheap and risky scandal like this. Ashley really didn't want her life and reputation to be ruined just because of someone else's actions that she never predicted. At least, if she had known this from the beginning, they could have worked together to avoid any bad scenarios that might happen.

Fully conscious and driven by anger, Ashley exposed herself to them.

“You have a girlfriend, Josh,” Ashley’s face emotionless. But the tone of her voice carried a hint of disappointment.

Josh and the girl suddenly broke their embrace, both clearly startled. Josh, perhaps more so, quickly pulled the girl behind him.

“And hid it,” Ashley added. Her gaze shifting from Josh’s worried expression to the girl, who peeked timidly from behind his arm.

Ashley’s stomach churned at the scene in front of her. Josh was being so protective of his girlfriend, as if Ashley herself were a dangerous threat.

Seeing Josh remain silent with his jaw tightly clenched, Ashley felt her annoyance deepen, mingled with a tinge of bitterness.

“You were caught red-handed, cuddling here with another girl on our wedding day. Don’t you have anything to say, Josh?” Her voice tried to be as calm as possible. But with her chest thumping irregularly, it came out as a slightly quivering yell.

“What the hell? You’re not really married, so why are you so chatty?” the girl barked, her frown deepening.

“Ashley,” Josh hurriedly interrupted before Ashley could reply, “I’ll explain later. Can you just not tell anyone about this? Please.”

“So no one can know? If you’re so afraid of being found out by others, shouldn’t you not be this reckless?” her gaze shifting to the girl again. “And you need to know that this is a legal marriage, not some pretend one. Unfortunately, that automatically places you in the position of being the other woman.”

Ashley stressed her last word.

“What?” The girl’s face became increasingly annoyed. She tried to move forward toward Ashley, but Josh held her back. “Who do you think you are to say that? Your marriage is transactional! I’m the one who is in a real relationship with Josh. You should be ashamed of marrying someone else’s boyfriend!” she screamed, her voice growing louder.

“Don’t yell! Please calm down,” Josh panicked. He tried to maintain his position in the center, blocking the girl from getting out of control. 

But no matter how hard he tried, the girl managed to slip past Josh’s block and rushed at Ashley. Her hands directly grabbed whatever she could reach from Ashley. Which turned out to be Ashley’s hair. Both hands yanked with all their might.Her other hand also followed to grab the other part of Ashley's hair. Grabbing it with all her might.

Meanwhile, Ashley, who was very surprised by the sudden attack, staggered backward and fell to the floor. Her face was grimacing with pain. She used both hands to release the girl's grip from her hair.

“Sharon, let go!” Josh darted to the scene of the fight. He grabbed his girlfriend's wrist in an attempt to weaken the grip of his fingers on Ashley's hair, “Let go!”

Josh screeched in a voice he deliberately held back. He was still sober enough not to add to the commotion by shouting along.

“Sharon!” Josh stomped on the girl's hand that still wouldn't stop pulling Ashley's hair.

The girl called Sharon froze when she realized Josh's yell. And in an instant her grip just loosened. Josh, when sensing Sharon's hand muscles loosen, immediately pulled her up. Her body was hugged and half lifted to get away from Ashley.

Sharon glanced around and saw a few people—who might have heard all the noise she made just now—looking curiously at her. Realizing what she was doing was wrong, she pushed Josh away and quickly stepped her feet out of the hotel lobby. With a tangled feeling Sharon tried to keep her face down to avoid the possibility of anyone recognizing her as she walked.

“You should have kept your words,” Josh muttered under his breath. there was an annoyed intonation that Ashley could catch from the man. “You shouldn't have said such a thing to her,” Josh's head turned at Ashley before picking up Sharon’s handbag from the floor nearby.

“You’re blaming me?” Ashley couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Josh didn’t respond. His mouth was locked tight. Instead, he extended his hand to Ashley's arm to help her up.

Ashley let out a bitter laugh. The smirk that only lifted at one corner of his lips showed that she was truly at the peak of her anger. After what that crazy girl did, how could he blame her? She roughly pushed Josh's hand away.

“You owe me a lot of explanations, Josh.”

Josh's breathing felt very heavy. There was an indecision written all over his face. He was clearly torn between worrying what would happen if Ashley revealed what had happened, while he had to ensure Sharon's well-being.

“Please—please don't tell anyone. Later,” he said. His voice faltered, ”I'll explain later.”

Then she saw Josh dart away in a hurry.

And with that, he darted off, leaving Ashley sitting on the floor with her hair in a mess.