Chapter 13
Why are you here already…?
Jooyoung immediately checked her wristwatch. It was noon—an entire hour earlier than the time she had told him to come.
In that moment—
Thud, thud.
Long strides closed the distance between them. Seonghun quickly stopped in front of her and tilted his gaze downward at an angle.
“Thanks for calling me by a nickname, but wow—your naming sense is terrible.”
“……A nickname, my ass.”
From the start, the man clearly hadn’t taken ‘crazy bastard’ as an actual nickname. She could tell just by his eyes and the way he spoke.
Jooyoung changed the subject.
“Why did you come so early? Didn’t you see my text telling you to come at one?”
“I saw it. That’s why I came.”
His shamelessness left Jooyoung momentarily speechless.
If he’d read the message, he should’ve arrived at one. And if he couldn’t make it because of another schedule, he should have at least informed her—by text or through his secretary—that he’d be coming earlier.
Yes, it was her fault for sending a one-sided notification without checking his schedule first. But Baeseonghun wasn’t any better.
If she had to guess, he had simply come early.
Just because he felt like it.
“…Let’s go up first.”
There were words already at the tip of her tongue, but mindful of the eyes around them, Jooyoung swallowed her irritation.
Ever since the dating rumors, more and more people had begun recognizing Baeseonghun and Choi Jooyoung.
Seonghun seemed to sense it too, because he accepted her suggestion without protest.
“Lead the way.”
After all, this was Choi Jooyoung’s home ground.
Jooyoung went up to her office with Seonghun.
She offered him a drink, but he declined. She then dismissed her new secretary from the room.
That left only the two of them—Choi Jooyoung and Baeseonghun.
“Do people ever tell you that your personality’s weird?”
“Not really. I don’t recall hearing that even once.”
Baeseonghun crossed his legs, leaned back comfortably against the chair, and draped his arm over the backrest.
Jooyoung, who had moved behind her desk to retrieve some documents, let out a dry laugh when she saw him. Did he think this was his office?
“Oh.”
Seonghun, who had been following her with his eyes, added casually as if something had just occurred to him.
“I have heard the nickname ‘crazy bastard’ once.”
“…….”
What a personality.
Jooyoung muttered internally. Maybe his muttering yesterday hadn’t been a complaint at all—maybe it had been self-introduction.
“I’ll say it again. It’s not a nickname.”
Jooyoung picked up the document envelope Seonghun had sent that morning along with cabbage juice and sat down across from him.
Thud.
She placed the envelope on the table. Only then did Seonghun’s gaze finally shift away from her.
“I think you owe me an explanation for why you sent this, don’t you?”
Seonghun glanced at the envelope briefly, then looked back at her.
He didn’t open it. He already knew what was inside.
“Why would I need to explain? You wrote it.”
“If I were asking because I didn’t know, Baeseonghun, you wouldn’t be sitting here. So cut the nonsense and answer the question.”
“You’re better at spouting nonsense than I am.”
Seonghun straightened up from the backrest for the first time.
“Choi Jooyoung, the woman with plenty of other men she could marry. Let’s be honest.”
“…….”
“Was there ever a moment when we felt attracted to each other? At the blind date, or even after meeting again? You acted the way you did because you were sure you’d never get involved with me again.”
“…….”
“And yet you proposed marriage to me. The reason it had to be me—despite the discomfort.”
His words were blunt. He already believed his assumptions were facts.
“To you, I’m the best option.”
He was right.
“A smart woman like you wouldn’t choose a second-best option when the best is right there, would you?”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single flaw in his logic. He was completely right—and that was exactly why it infuriated her.
Why did it have to be this man?
Why marriage of all things?
From the day she was born until now, Jooyoung had done nothing but run relentlessly forward. She’d never once lost first place academically, and now, as the head of CS Department Store, she was on the verge of reaching one trillion won in annual sales.
But none of that mattered in front of marriage.
All those brutal years. All those achievements.
To Choi Kwon-yong, it seemed the profit to be gained from marriage outweighed everything else.
“Aren’t you the same, Baeseonghun? You’ve gone on ten blind dates just this year alone. That means you need to get married too.”
“That’s true.”
“If you didn’t like me, you could’ve just moved on to the eleventh blind date. But you accepted my conditions—that means I appealed to you at least somewhat.”
“That’s some confidence.”
“…….”
“But sure. I’ll agree that you weren’t bad. That’s why I came.”
Baeseonghun leaned forward and reached for the document envelope on the table.
“I’ll—”
His words broke off sharply, like staccato notes. Each syllable was spoken slowly, firmly.
“Be gentle.”
He pulled the documents from the envelope and opened the final page.
“Isn’t that right, Choi Jooyoung?”
Her gaze dropped.
More blank space than text filled the page.
The signature page.
She could see both names—Baeseonghun and Choi Jooyoung—written neatly.
Jooyoung lifted only her eyes to look at him.
“I’m practically moved to tears by your gentleness.”
“Go ahead and cry, then. I’ll wipe them for you.”
“I’ll pass.”
She gathered the papers and slid them back into the envelope.
“If there are no additional clauses, we’ll proceed with the contract as is. We’ll sign and keep one copy each. I’ll have the final version drafted and sent over today.”
She stood up with the envelope and walked back to her desk, opening a drawer as she spoke.
“Oh, and you set the contract revision date at one year after the wedding. Once you’ve discussed the plan with your lawyer and decided on a direction, let me know in advance. I’ll cooperate.”
“Sounds good.”
Seonghun stood up.
Jooyoung moved to see him out. With the contract discussed, there was no reason to stay together any longer.
But just as she reached for the doorknob, Seonghun stretched out his arm and blocked her hand.
Snap.
Static electricity crackled where their hands touched.
Jooyoung frowned unconsciously and looked up at him.
“What is it?”
Baeseonghun was suddenly right beside her.
Too close.
Just a little more than a hand’s breadth between them. Inside the office, it was just the two of them.
Maybe that was why she noticed things she hadn’t before.
Baeseonghun was big.
Even with clothes on, his frame couldn’t be concealed. It was easy to imagine what lay beneath them.
His height. His build. There was nothing about Baeseonghun that wasn’t impressive.
They even said that was big too.
“Today you’re not speaking casually like yesterday.”
His voice pulled her back just in time, before her thoughts strayed somewhere unnecessary.
He’d stopped her just to ask that?
“Yes. As long as you don’t cross the line, Baeseonghun, I won’t be speaking casually to you from now on either.”
“Why not?”
“It makes us sound close. You and I are nothing more than business partners.”
Jooyoung had no intention of getting close to him. She didn’t think they ever would—and more importantly, it would be problematic if they did.
Business had to remain business.
Take what needed to be taken. Protect what needed protecting.
“That’s how business works—take what you need, protect what you must.”
“…….”
“So, in that sense—your hand.”
She glanced pointedly at the hand still blocking hers.
“Move it.”
Seonghun snorted silently and withdrew his hand.
“You’re right. Take what you need, protect what you must. In that sense—”
Whatever he was about to say, Jooyoung had no intention of wasting more time. She immediately turned the doorknob.
But once again, the door didn’t open.
“Once business has started, we should do our dates properly too, sweetheart.”
Because Baeseonghun had just dropped a bombshell.
