His hidden mistress

--- 📖 Title: "Despite the Ring... She Was His Hidden Mistress" Genre: Forbidden Romance | Secret Affair | Emotional Drama | Powerful ML | Marriage Conflict Tagline: He had a wife the world praised… But behind closed doors, it was her he touched. Her he couldn’t let go of—his hidden mistress. --- ✦ Episode 1: Not the Wife... But the One He Came Back To The wedding photos were still fresh in the headlines. "Korean Tech Tycoon Ares Ji Marries Heiress Yena Kang" "Business Power Couple of the Year" "Love at First Sight: Ares and Yena Tie the Knot in Paris" The world swooned. The photos looked like a fairy tale. But only one woman watched those pictures from behind a locked door… with a hollow smile and tear-stained eyes. Her name was Irene Min. And she wasn’t the wife. She was the secret. The woman Ares Ji had loved for four years. The woman he left—without a word—only to show up three months later as someone else's husband. But tonight, like every Friday, the door to her tiny apartment opened. And there he was. Tall, cold, breathtaking in his black shirt, sleeves rolled, hair wet from the rain. His wedding ring still on his finger. But he didn’t knock. He didn’t speak. He just entered. Like this place, this woman, still belonged to him. — Irene stood still. She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry tonight. She had promised she wouldn’t let him touch her again. But the moment his eyes met hers—haunted, hungry, desperate—all her strength crumbled. “You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered. Ares closed the door behind him, slowly. The room was silent, except for the soft sound of thunder outside. “I couldn’t breathe,” he said hoarsely. “I went to sleep beside her… and I couldn’t breathe, Irene.” “Don’t.” Her voice cracked. “I missed you.” “You married someone else.” His jaw tightened. “It was forced. My father—” “I don’t care!” she yelled. “You could’ve said no. You didn’t even tell me! You disappeared and then the world told me you’re someone’s husband!” She broke then. Shaking. Chest heaving. Tears falling freely now. “I thought you died,” she whispered, almost choking. “And you… you were just marrying her with that same face you looked at me with.” Ares didn’t move for a long time. Then slowly, he walked toward her. Each step louder than her heartbeat. When he finally reached her, he didn’t ask for permission. He grabbed her face, tilted her chin, and kissed her—hard. It wasn’t sweet. It was aching, raw, selfish. A kiss of guilt. Of love. Of madness. He pulled back only an inch. “I’m still yours, Irene. Even if the world sees her, it’s you I burn for. You I come back to. You I breathe with.” — ✧ Flashback – Two Years Ago She was a junior interior designer. He was already the CEO of JiTech. Their paths were never meant to cross. But during a renovation project for his private villa, she had designed the sunroom he loved most. “You created peace in walls,” he had said. And then he had kissed her under a falling curtain of sunlight. They had fallen hard. Quietly. Secretly. But never as dirty as this. Never with a wedding ring on his hand. — Back in the present... Ares watched her with pained eyes. “I didn’t come to ask for forgiveness. I came to fall apart. With you. Just for one night.” “Only one night?” Irene asked, bitterly. He paused. “For now.” She wanted to slap him. Push him out. Burn every photo. But instead, she let him hold her. Because no matter how badly he broke her… He was the only one who ever made her feel whole. — ✦ END OF EPISODE 1