Mary recalled that her father once said he rented out the room on the second floor to someone else. However, every time she was about to greet them, there were no one around. That’s why Mary thought it was just someone renting an office, not for a business. Mary didn’t know it had turned out into a newspaper office.
“Oh, my God! Who would kill her?”
“Oh my, she must be young, it’s a pity the story turns out like this.”
“How shameless. How dare they bring up a mistress?! This one is talking about miscarriage.”
Mary lifted her head and looked around her to see people complaining about various things. The customers who had gathered at the bookstore to avoid the rain were complaining about the newspaper that had been published by the ‘Golden Wild Goose Daily’ in their hands. Mary’s brown eyes that had been observing the reaction for a while, began to twinkle.
“There is something I want to do.”
It seemed that this was the good opportunity, which had been mentioned by the oracle earlier.
* * *
Claude had disappeared and left a note for me. As soon as I read the note, my heart broke.
I gradually became angry because I figured out this was how it felt like to be dumped by someone.
‘I can’t believe you disappeared after we kissed. Man, didn’t you seem to be liking it yesterday?’
Was this a prank? It turned out I was the only one who liked it, and I was the only one who thought it was serious.
I felt both betrayed and upset at Claude who disappeared after touching me yesterday. In my past life, whenever my friends complained about being dumped by someone after receiving a message, I couldn’t understand the injustice and anger they harboured. I finally felt what my friends had felt.
If he were going to disappear unaccountably, why did they do that weird hot kiss in the first place? Naughty bird. I wished he got a bird poop on his way.
‘I wish you’ll fall in the bathroom and hit your head!’
I swore and cursed at Claude for a while and tore apart the note he left behind.
“Yeah, right. We can think of it as something that never happened. Well, living peacefully is my lifetime goal, isn’t it?”
I’m going to act cool about it. I was going to act like an American, who thinks liberally. I tried to meditate in order to calm down, but it didn’t work.
“Oh- d*mn. I can’t get rid of this emotion.”
Why am I like this?! The evil b*s*rd had to be beaten with this cold stick to sober up!
What’s the problem with kissing someone? I didn’t raise him to act so irresponsibly. I used to make mistakes when I was drunk, if only I had another excuse. Would that be more pathetic?
Though, Claude wasn’t drunk yesterday. If I used my drunk state as an excuse and told him that I couldn’t remember yesterday’s incident, I would be able to shook it off and feigned ignorance.
“I’ll find a new guy to date because I’m dirty and slutty.”
He’s going to see that his sister is very popular among men.
I’m going to make him regret it. Yeah!
Even when I thought he was flirting with Gloria, I used to worry that Claude was pushing his bad boy facade too far. However, now that I’ve been exposed to his advances, I knew. He was indeed a bad boy who had just touched someone’s heart and disappeared immediately afterward.
I laid down on the table and didn’t move for a while. An upset heart and an embarrassing feeling flowed at the same time. After doing that for a long time, I looked up and stared in the mirror, my face was already a mess. Flushed face with puffy eyes. Tiny veins were visible on my eyes, and tears were welling on my eyes. I didn’t particularly like my oily and messy hair and my overall disheveled appearance.
‘My mother gave birth to me so beautifully. How can I turn out like this now?’
The heavens must be opened. It was still morning, but it was already dark outside. My mood was even worse.
It was raining heavily outside before I realized it. D*mn. Today was the first time I showed my newspaper to readers. It’s ruined. No one came out and brought the newspaper in this downpour. My hard work would probably end up in the trash.
“Huft. I just want to stay in bed on a day like this.”
However, contrary to my thoughts, I stood up with all my strength. I was an entrepreneur who had to work in order to survive now. I have to write newspapers for tomorrow without having a break today. Even if it was a heartbreaking day after having been dumped by someone.
Luckily, I’ve accumulated a lot of articles topic to write. The Morris Empire was more peaceful than expected, so nothing special or dramatic has happened yet.
‘In terms of time, Gloria is not yet married, so this must be the first part of the novel. Gloria and Prince Edmund haven’t even met yet. In that case, it wasn’t the time for the Empress Fionia to be worried.’
So I’ve reoriented my newspaper towards gossip in the meantime.
Philip could edit tomorrow’s newspaper before going to work.
‘Let’s work from home today and have them printed first thing tomorrow.’
Our ‘Golden Wild Goose Daily’ newspaper contained political and social-related articles and there was also, ‘Etiquette Tips of the Day’ on the back for people who are in need of etiquette lesson. I included today’s fortune telling for people to read it lightly as an casual topic.
‘It should be fine to include something like the popular design dresses later. So I can get advertisements from boutiques as well.’
I wrote down the great idea in my notebook.
I wished the anonymous “Today’s Story Corner” that I made up would gain its popularity. The more people who participate and feel interested, the more popular our newspaper would going to be. The more popular the newspaper, the higher the subscription rate and the higher the newspaper’s advertising costs.
If my pockets are already deep enough, I would recruit more reporters to improve the content of the newspaper.
As I was busy editing articles for tomorrow’s paper, the rain stopped pouring. By lunchtime, the rain had lessened and completely stopped. Then the sun shone through the clouds.
‘Still, I must have a good reputation.’
When I was imagining a happy experience in my mind about how all the newspapers published today would probably be sold out because they were free.
Knock, knock.
A knock came from the front door. When I opened the door, Philip was standing in front of it. His boots were dirty because he had just walked through the muddy streets.
“Oh? You came all the way to my house as well?”
“Yes, I stopped by the office and no one was there. I thought you were still at home, so I came straight here.”
“Welcome. I’m sorry for making you come here. I’ve prepared the newspaper for tomorrow. Let’s take it to the printer and do it.”
Being busy throughout the day might make me forget the feeling after having been dumped by Claude. I tried to smile brightly in front of Philip and told him, “Let’s get to work.” However Philip, who was looking at my face and being as sensitive as he usually used to be, noticed it.
“Did something happen? You don’t look good.”
This boy was smarter than he seemed to be. I made excuses by pressing my fingers to the corners of my eyes as if nothing had happened.
“No, I’m not. It’s because today is the first day of the publishing of the newspaper. It’s because I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited.”
“Really? Hmm-hmm. I thought there was someone else who made you cry.”
Philip smiled as he said this. His smile was very beautiful. He was a gorgeous boy. Perhaps because he had such an important role in this novel, I kept looking at Philip’s face. His golden eyes somehow created a dreamy atmosphere, and when I looked at him intensely, I felt that time would pass quickly.
‘Your face is glowing.’
Being the owner who was amused by the faces of his staff. What was I doing?
I slapped my cheeks and went to the printing press with Philip and started printing tomorrow’s newspaper. By the time the printing staff and the big chunk of works had been finished, Philip’s friends appeared with several carts.
“We’ve arrived, boss.”
“Hello.”
Philip’s friends were tall and big overall. I heard they were born and raised in the slums, but they all looked a lot cleaner than I thought. The dark-haired man seemed quite playful and gave good news.
“Do you know, sister-in-law? I stopped by the bookstore on the way here and checked, and those newspapers are so popular that they’re all gone.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Of course! The bookstore owner asked me to bring more newspapers later.”
I felt so happy that I forgot the fact that he had called me ‘sister-in-law’. I felt like flying in the sky when I heard the news from Philip’s friend. Philip glared at his friend, but when I felt happy, he returned my smile.
“Isn’t our newspaper going to be a huge success?”
“Really. I hope so. I should make a lot of money and let Philip and Rwan relax.”
If I made a lot of money from advertising this, I would give Rwan and Philip decent clothes.
I looked down at Philip’s shabby clothes. The cuffs of his sleeves were already torn and the the threads were all over the place. Aware of my stare, Philip just smiled awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.
His dark-haired fellow grinned and opened his mouth.
“In that case, the leader has… Ugh!”
Philip’s other friend quickly elbowed the side of the black-haired dude. Then, the black-haired tried to move his mouth as if he felt a sense of emotional injustice in which Philip quickly intervened.
“We’ll be back after printing the newspapers for tomorrow. You go home and rest today. You don’t look well today.”
* * *
On the way to the delivery place with his friends, Philip’s face became flat. When any ounce of expression disappears from the face of a person who was always smiling, it exudes a frightening charisma.
The brown-haired man raised the corners of his mouth awkwardly and spoke to him.
“Look, I don’t think Lloyd did it on purpose either. I think it’s because he’s too immersed in his role as your friend? Weren’t you, Lloyd?”
“About that…. Yes, of course.”
Lloyd hastily nodded. He didn’t want to get out of his boss’s sight for no reason for this matter.
“I want you to be careful from now on.”
At the end of Philip’s words, there was a silence between them as if they had just been doused with water. They walked one step behind Philip, as if avoiding the uncomfortable air revolved around him. The sun began to appear from behind the clouds in the distance. Just like that day.
Philip chuckled as he recalled the first time he met Haley.
It was the day when he visited his father’s partner.
The Hyron gambling house, which his father managed with a friend, turned out to have more shares than his father. There were three or four branches of Hyron’s sizable gambling center in the capital alone.
Philip visited his father’s friend Baron Holland, asking him to share some of the profits from the gambling house that he had earned over the years, and requesting to join the business instead of his sickly father. However, the man’s refusal was as solid as rock.
“Get out of here! Why do you keep sticking to me?”
If Baron Holland had been on his own, he would have brought him to his knees by force. However, he had brought several skilled bodyguards. Philip didn’t want to make a scene in the streets with these people. There might have been unrelated people involved in the fight and suffered damage.
Therefore, he chose to retreat for the time. After his father got better, he must claim his place, and became merciless in matters of money.
“Ha. Why is it so hard to ask? What should I do now…”
‘How many places should I destroy?’
He got up from his seat with many negative thoughts in his mind, which was the first time to happen again since he had risen to the position of the head of the underworld.
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