Chapter 26
“…Pardon?”
“What, you don’t want to?”
Woo-kyung raised his eyebrows playfully.
“It’s not that. It’s just, my commute route is a bit different.”
“Is the way to the law firm different?”
“…Well, it’s similar.”
“Then it’s fine.”
“No, but still.”
“It seems my training you back then paid off.”
Woo-kyung continued nonchalantly.
“If it weren’t for that training back then, you almost would’ve had to take a taxi today.”
Lee Yeon sighed lightly, dumbfounded.
“Cha Woo-kyung, are you doing this because you know I can’t refuse?”
“No.”
Woo-kyung averted his gaze for a moment and shrugged his shoulders.
“I just thought it was a natural interaction between neighbors.”
“Interaction between neighbors?”
“Yeah. Commuting together, what’s wrong with that?”
Lee Yeon, realizing once again that she couldn’t win against Woo-kyung with words, was momentarily speechless.
“Fine. But I don’t like people who talk a lot while I’m driving.”
“Then I’ll be quiet.”
“Really?”
Instead of answering, Woo-kyung gave a faint smile.
“Let’s go. It’s about time.”
As soon as Lee Yeon sat in the driver’s seat, she quickly fastened her seatbelt.
She glanced at Woo-kyung in the passenger seat and then, unnecessarily nervous, repeatedly gripped and released the steering wheel with both hands. Driving alone was fine, but with him next to her, her fingertips felt strangely stiff.
When she fumbled slightly while trying to start the car, Woo-kyung couldn’t help but quietly reach out his hand.
“You do know how to drive, right?”
“I’m just nervous.”
Lee Yeon retorted shortly, her eyes wide.
“But I’ve never been told I lack driving skills. Trust me.”
The corners of Woo-kyung’s mouth twitched into a slight smile.
_’I bet you’d say that.’_
The image of Lee Yeon straining at the steering wheel kept coming to mind. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her lips were pressed tightly together.
“Did you hang up the phone properly yesterday?”
“Why are you asking that now?”
“Just wondering. I heard your voice and wondered if you slept well.”
Lee Yeon stared straight ahead and muttered softly.
“As if that would happen.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Woo-kyung chuckled and turned his gaze out the window.
“It’s not bad, neighbors commuting together like this.”
“This won’t happen again.”
Lee Yeon said decisively.
“We’ll see about that.”
“There’s no need to see.”
“You never know.”
Woo-kyung replied, leaning his shoulder leisurely against the passenger seat backrest.
“My car might break down again tomorrow, or our schedules might coincidentally match again.”
Lee Yeon turned her head and furrowed her brow.
“Cha Woo-kyung, do you call that a coincidence?”
“Yeah. I find coincidences really fun these days.”
Lee Yeon finally sighed and fixed her eyes on the steering wheel.
Woo-kyung, who had been glancing at her, suppressed a laugh, only the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
***
When the car stopped safely in the underground parking garage, Lee Yeon turned off the engine and slowly let out her breath. Even though she had only been driving, she felt completely drained.
Woo-kyung, who got out of the passenger seat, closed the door and let out a short laugh.
“Not bad. You’re better than I thought?”
At Woo-kyung’s words, accompanied by a shrug, Lee Yeon quietly turned her head and said shortly, “Let’s go.”
The two walked side by side towards the elevator.
“Huh? You two came together?”
A familiar voice came from behind them as they walked.
Turning their heads, they saw Representative Han parking his car and walking towards them.
Lee Yeon instantly tensed up.
Thinking he might mention them coming together first, she reflexively opened her mouth.
“Ah, we just happened to run into each other on the way.”
As soon as she said it, she realized it was too rushed.
But it was already too late.
Woo-kyung glanced at Lee Yeon and let out a soft chuckle.
As they got on the elevator, Representative Han suddenly turned his head towards Woo-kyung.
“Attorney Cha, didn’t you say you handled that group case before?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Really? That must have been a tough case.”
Representative Han crossed his arms and nodded.
“We don’t get many cases like that here, but one came in recently. Attorney Cha, do you think you could handle it?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
“Good. But where was it that you handled it back then?”
When the representative asked absently, Woo-kyung moved his gaze forward.
“Shin Yoo Group.”
In that moment, Lee Yeon’s eyes widened.
Her lips stiffened, and her fingertips gripped the hem of her jacket tightly.
“Shin Yoo Group? Ah, I see them in the news often even these days.”
But Lee Yeon couldn’t hear anything.
Her ears felt muffled.
That single name brought back the file title she saw last time and Joo-ho’s face all at once.
_’That case is already closed. That company was cleared of all charges. If someone stirs it up now, I’m the one who’ll end up exhausted.’_
Lee Yeon bit her lip hard and lowered her gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
Woo-kyung asked in a low voice from beside her.
“It’s nothing.”
Lee Yeon shook her head.
The elevator doors opened, and Representative Han got out first, saying to Woo-kyung,
“Then, Attorney Cha, come to my office for now. Let’s talk while looking at the documents.”
“Yes.”
Woo-kyung followed him out. Lee Yeon, who stepped out of the elevator slowly, felt her fingertips slowly clench inside her coat pocket.
As if worried about Lee Yeon’s noticeably slowed pace, Woo-kyung turned back and asked,
“Are you okay?”
Lee Yeon forced a smile and said,
“I’m fine.”
“Then let’s go.”
He started walking first.
But Lee Yeon’s heart, in contrast, throbbed with anxiety.
***
After work, Lee Yeon turned into the familiar entrance of an alley.
Seeing the sign of a sushi restaurant near the law firm, she quietly pushed the door open and entered.
“Over here, here!”
Yujin, who had arrived first, smiled brightly and waved her hand widely.
“You’re late. Were you busy?”
“A little.”
“Law firms are always busy. It’s always tough.”
Lee Yeon approached the seat and took off her jacket.
Yujin slid the water glass she had prepared earlier towards her.
“You look tired. Didn’t sleep well?”
“I barely slept yesterday.”
“Were you working late again?”
“No… Just because.”
Lee Yeon trailed off.
It was a night she couldn’t really explain.
She didn’t want to put the reason for her sleeplessness into words.
But Yujin’s chopsticks stopped mid-air. Her eyes suddenly sparkled.
“By any chance, is it because of that person?”
“What person?”
“Cha Woo-kyung.”
Lee Yeon’s fingertips paused for a moment. Yujin’s sharp eyes didn’t miss it.
“No, your expression says it all. The face that says ‘Nothing’s going on with me’ while giving everything away.”
Lee Yeon deliberately took a sip of water to wet her dry mouth.
“It’s not like that.”
“Yeah? But did he really move in next door to you?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s true.”
Yujin’s chopsticks almost dropped with a clatter.
“He really moved in next to you?”
“How many times are you going to ask? I said it’s true.”
“Are you okay?”
“It’s close to the law firm anyway, and it could be a coincidence.”
“Still, next door? That only looks intentional to me.”
Yujin tapped the table with her finger, her face excited.
“Does he really have feelings for you?”
Lee Yeon didn’t answer.
She slowly spun a piece of sushi with the tip of her chopsticks and lowered her gaze.
Have feelings…?
That word lingered unusually long.
She couldn’t say he had none at all.
But to admit he did… he was too complicated, and came on too fast.
“Look at your face right now. You say no, but your face is confused.”
Lee Yeon forced a smile.
“No, it’s just… I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I don’t know why he’s doing this.”
“Who?”
“Attorney Cha Woo-kyung.”
“What?”
“I already said let’s end it, so I don’t know why he keeps approaching me.”
Lee Yeon’s voice was low and cautious.
Like someone who really wanted to know the reason, but was also afraid to hear it at the same time.
Yujin put her chopsticks down with a thud.
“That reason is obvious.”
“……”
“He probably still has feelings for you.”
Lee Yeon almost spat out the water she was drinking.
“What nonsense.”
“What nonsense. Honestly, the divorce happened because you wanted it, right? It wasn’t because of problems between you two.”
“Yujin.”
“Are you going to run away again?”
“It’s not running away.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m thinking.”
Yujin’s eyes grew round.
“Thinking about it is something. Before, it was an immediate ‘No’.”
“That was the answer back then.”
“And now?”
Lee Yeon took a moment to steady her breath and spoke softly.
“…I don’t know.”
Seeing her expression, Yujin didn’t press further.
Instead, she smiled and picked up a piece of sushi, putting it in her mouth.
“Well, ‘I don’t know’ means your heart is still open.”
“Open?”
“A closed heart doesn’t say ‘I don’t know’. It just ends with ‘It’s over’. But you’re confused right now, aren’t you?”
Lee Yeon quietly pressed down on the sushi with the tip of her chopstick.
His words strangely stayed with her.
Open…?
It was a state she didn’t want to acknowledge.
Yujin smiled and continued.
“I don’t know what kind of person Attorney Cha is, but if he’s come looking for you again, doesn’t it mean something’s different from before?”
Lee Yeon looked up at Yujin.
Yujin’s expression wasn’t playful at all, but quite serious.
“I’m not telling you to date him right away, just don’t run away, that’s all.”
“He’s not that simple of a person.”
“Then he’s even more dangerous. The sincere feelings of a complex person last a long time once they lean in one direction.”
Yujin added, laughing as if to lighten the mood.
“Don’t think too hard. Just go with what your heart feels. You don’t have to have an answer right away.”
Lee Yeon gave a short nod.
“Okay, I’m not going to think too hastily, since nothing’s really resolved yet.”
Internally, Lee Yeon thought it was too early to jump to any conclusions right now.
