Chapter 02
Flustered, Yiyeon hurriedly hid the shopping bag behind her back. And when she clearly faced the man who was grinning brightly again, she was astonished.
It was her ex-husband, Cha Woo-kyung, whom she was meeting for the first time in three years.
“Why is Mr. Cha Woo-kyung here?”
A question of whether she was seeing correctly flickered in Yiyeon’s eyes, and they blinked once more. She knew all too well what it meant that the underwear she had clearly left behind this morning was now in Woo-kyung’s hand.
…Could it be? Probably not. The moment her denying heart gradually solidified into certainty, her sealed lips parted on their own.
She remembered up to saying she’d only have a light drink or two. But whether it was wine or strong cocktails, or who her last drinking partner was, remained blurry.
However, in an instant, one fleeting afterimage came to mind.
Short, ragged breaths, a presence both unfamiliar and familiar. And the feeling of excessively close proximity and lips touching… that was all.
The moment her gaze, which had been touching her dry, almost cold lips, met Woo-kyung’s smugly smiling ones, the kiss from yesterday came back to her.
*’Ugh, it’s so deep.’*
*’You asked me to do it first, open your mouth a bit more, so I can go deeper.’*
Did I cling to him first and kiss him? And to Cha Woo-kyung of all people? Is this real?
As her heart began to race, the ends of her pale cheeks instantly flushed as if burned by fire.
“You look well.”
“You look like you’ve been well too, Mr. Cha Woo-kyung…”
“Do I seem like it?”
Unlike Woo-kyung, who was leisurely laughing and enjoying the situation, Yiyeon was at a loss due to the awkwardness. Then, she suddenly wondered why Woo-kyung was here.
“I heard you work here.”
“When did you return to Korea?”
She had only heard that Woo-kyung went abroad right after their divorce.
“It’s been about a week.”
The atmosphere between them had clearly changed from before. Or perhaps Yiyeon was the only one who had changed.
“Let’s all continue your conversation. I’ll be back after a quick visit to the managing partner’s office.”
No one in the office knew that Yiyeon’s ex-husband was Woo-kyung. Seizing the moment, Yiyeon asked Woo-kyung in a small voice.
“Mr. Cha Woo-kyung, don’t tell me we yesterday…”
As Yiyeon hesitated, too embarrassed to ask directly if they had slept together, Woo-kyung tilted his head beside her and whispered in a low voice.
“You don’t remember? Should I help you remember then? Right here?”
His eyes met Yiyeon’s gaze squarely before slowly moving down to her lips. At that moment, her heart thumped loudly.
“No. That’s fine.”
Stammering, Yiyeon tried to instinctively avoid his gaze but stopped. In the midst of their awkward breaths, Woo-kyung’s hand slowly touched Yiyeon’s cheek.
“Are you feeling alright?”
The tips of Woo-kyung’s warm, firm fingers trembled slightly.
“I’m fine.”
Flustered, Yiyeon unconsciously pushed his hand away harshly.
“But how far did we really go yesterday?”
Having revealed her first mistake, and in front of her ex-husband whom she hadn’t seen in three years, Yiyeon felt shame welling up.
“We didn’t finish. Someone killed the mood.”
He smiled smugly, as if asking if she knew who that ‘someone’ was, and revealed a hint of regret, seemingly still disappointed about the incident he let slip away yesterday.
*So we didn’t go all the way.* Feeling relieved, the moment their lips touched began to become vividly clear, as if it had never been blurred.
The Yiyeon of last night, who let out a heated moan under his intense movements that ruthlessly ravaged her soft, tender skin, didn’t feel like herself.
*’Haa, feels good.’*
*’Yoo Yiyeon, you drive me crazy. What should I do with you?’*
Exposed to his skilled play, where he sucked and deftly tangled with her tongue, Yiyeon felt her strength draining just remembering it.
A sigh escaped Yiyeon’s lips at her unnecessarily prolonged thoughts. Joo-ho, who had no idea about their night, frowned disapprovingly at the seemingly intimate pair and cut into their conversation.
“How does Manager Yoo know Attorney Cha?”
Yiyeon finally became conscious of Joo-ho’s gaze, which was alternating between Woo-kyung and herself. Knowing through Joo-ho that the two were former training institute colleagues, Yiyeon, not wanting the uncomfortable vibe to be noticed, naturally changed the subject.
“We knew each other from before. Oh, would you like me to show you the case file you were looking for earlier?”
Perhaps Yiyeon wished that Woo-kyung wouldn’t know about her ended relationship with Joo-ho.
But that hope was shattered mercilessly in just a few minutes.
“Don’t tell me you two were involved?” Joo-ho asked, frowning with a suspicious look on his face.
“Even so, the idea of training institute colleagues ‘sharing’ the same woman is quite unpleasant, isn’t it?”
“What, ‘sharing’?”
“Attorney Cha, you’ve lost your edge, I see.”
Joo-ho let out an incomprehensible laugh and slowly looked Yiyeon up and down. The longer his gaze lingered, the clearer his intention became. Then, Woo-kyung, who had been quietly silent, asked as if curious.
“You tell us, Yoo Yiyeon. What’s the relationship between you and Attorney Song?”
Yiyeon wrinkled her brow with an embarrassed expression. But before Yiyeon could say it wasn’t true, Joo-ho intercepted the answer first.
“Can’t you tell just by looking? We’re dating.”
Suddenly finding herself the focus of both their gazes, Yiyeon found the situation quite unpleasant.
Moreover, just the thought of the office manager returning soon made her head spin.
“Let’s both stop this. The office manager will be back soon.”
As if he couldn’t believe their relationship, Woo-kyung looked at Yiyeon. And after a moment, he asked again in a low voice.
“You tell me, Yoo Yiyeon. Are you really dating him?”
Seeing Woo-kyung’s serious expression as he asked, Yiyeon hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should say no. Just then, Manager Moon returned.
“More importantly, what brings Attorney Cha to our firm?”
The moment Manager Moon entered the office, Joo-ho, who seemed displeased with Woo-kyung’s presence, asked the reason with a nonchalant face, as if催促ing.
“Attorney Cha. He’s joined our firm as a contract employee.”
At that moment, the two of them looked at Woo-kyung’s face simultaneously, stunned.
Why on earth would he?
Cha Woo-kyung was the successor of Jeongyul, unquestionably one of the top-tier major law firms in Korea. His entire family was a prestigious legal family composed of judges, prosecutors, and legal professionals.
Both of Woo-kyung’s parents were lawyers, but they had passed away due to an incident. However, Woo-kyung’s grandfather was still alive and well, and Jeongyul walked a solid, unshakable path.
For a man with such superior specs to waste them on a contract position at Lawhyun Firm, a small-to-medium enterprise level firm that only handled mediocre cases…
She didn’t know what he was thinking, but Yiyeon wanted to dissuade him from his decision.
“So, about that. Manager Yoo, I’d like you to temporarily partner with Attorney Cha just until he gets familiar with the work.”
“Pardon? Me? But you know that just supporting Attorney Song is already overwhelming.”
“Who said to handle both? I’m saying you’ll be solely in charge of Attorney Cha for the time being.”
As the manager finished speaking, Attorney Song snorted in disbelief and expressed his dissatisfaction.
“What? Manager, how can you do this to me? What about my cases without Manager Yoo?”
Even if they had broken up minutes ago, work was work. Could they just change partners so carelessly? They had ongoing cases together, and that was a separate issue from personal feelings.
“I’ll assign Manager Han to you instead of Manager Yoo.”
“No. Why not assign Manager Han to Attorney Cha instead?”
Attorney Song’s boastful remark came from the confidence that Yiyeon would naturally choose him.
But he was caught off guard by Woo-kyung’s added words.
“The one condition I had for coming here was exactly that.”
“What?”
“The condition that Yoo Yiyeon would be my partner.”
He agreed to the contract position on the condition that *she* would be his partner? What on earth was he scheming?
Unable to stand it any longer, Yiyeon carefully voiced her opinion.
“We haven’t discussed this with Attorney Song yet, and the organization of ongoing cases isn’t complete. I’d appreciate it if you could reconsider.”
As Yiyeon logically laid out the situation based on her convictions, Manager Moon frowned with a troubled expression. As both were talents he couldn’t afford to lose, his dilemma deepened.
“Then, let’s discuss it again later. I have a client interview at their home, so I’ll be going now.”
Thinking it better to escape this suffocating office, Yiyeon picked up her bag, tucking the envelope containing business cards and case materials under her arm.
As she prepared to leave as usual, an unexpected remark came.
“For work purposes, may I accompany you?”
Before she knew it, Yiyeon had acquired an unwanted appendage.
***
Yiyeon, holding a document folder, looked up at the old apartment complex.
The cracked gray concrete exterior walls held the traces of long years, peeling off in places. Some windows looked precarious, as if broken glass had been hastily patched with tape.
The meeting with the client, who was in the midst of a divorce lawsuit, was for final evidence collection and a last check before organizing the case.
“This is the house?” Woo-kyung, who had neatly taken off his jacket due to the heat and draped it over his firm arm, asked as he rolled up his sleeves.
“Yes, this is it.”
*Why is the attorney coming to the field from the first day of his contract? Why is he here?* Clicking her tongue as she looked at Woo-kyung, Yiyeon climbed the old stairs and pressed the client’s doorbell.
There was no response, as if it was broken. Just as Yiyeon reluctantly tried to knock, suddenly, with a clunk sound, the door opened.
“I told you not to come!”
It happened in an instant.
As ice-cold water poured down over her head, Yiyeon reflexively gasped.
Water dripped through her wet bangs, and from her shoulders to her fingertips, she felt instantly frozen.
As if swallowing the tangled mess of a day, Yiyeon clenched her wet fingertips tightly.
