Chapter : 11
“How… did you know to come here?”
Juhye’s voice trembled thinly. Of course it did. He was someone who should not have been here.
He had left for Taean at dawn for a golf appointment, and it would still be some time before he was due back. A man who valued appointments with business partners as if his life depended on them would never return this early.
At least, that was what Juhye had thought—until she met her husband’s icy gaze head-on.
“If that’s the first question you ask, I’m disappointed.”
His tone was mocking, but there was no trace of a smile on his face. Instead, a flicker of impatience shimmered in his eyes.
“Don’t tell me… you had someone follow me?”
How else could he have come all the way here?
Juhye stared at him in disbelief, then her expression quickly hardened.
She hadn’t even told Secretary Jeong her destination before leaving, so there should have been no way for Daehyun to know this place.
“Do you think I wanted to do this?”
“What did you say?”
“If you don’t want things to turn ugly, get up right now. Honestly, I’m already at my limit.”
Daehyun snapped in a flat voice, throwing a glance toward the table.
Seeing the neatly emptied plates seemed to sour his mood even more; his brow creased deeply.
“Move. I’ll walk out on my own.”
She was flustered, but she didn’t want to make a scene in front of Junhwi.
Juhye sprang to her feet, stood in front of him, and spoke coldly. Daehyun shot back without backing down.
“That’s good. Saves me the trouble of grabbing you and dragging you out.”
Even the faint composure he’d kept while pretending to be gentle was gone; his voice was chilled to the bone.
The tension in the air was stretched tight, like a balloon that could burst at any moment.
“Sunbae.”
Junhwi, who had been watching the two from the side, stepped into the conversation.
Sensing how serious the situation was, his expression was stiff as well.
“What’s going on right now?”
“No, Junhwi.”
As Junhwi tried to approach, Juhye hurriedly raised her right hand to stop him.
Seeing that, Daehyun’s expression hardened even further.
“I’m sorry. You should go ahead first.”
“But—”
“Junhwi, you’re busy too, right? I was going to leave anyway…”
Junhwi frowned, clearly displeased.
“Junhwi?”
Daehyun reacted much the same way. As he muttered sarcastically, Junhwi immediately spoke up.
“What? Is it wrong for a senior to call a junior by his name?”
“Junhwi!”
The moment Junhwi answered curtly, Juhye stepped in front of him, her face drained of color.
She believed Daehyun wasn’t that kind of person—but in a situation like this, she had no idea how things might spiral.
There was no guarantee he wouldn’t take out his bad mood on Junhwi, and if Junhwi were to suffer for her sake, it would be unforgivable.
“Go on! I’m fine.”
“Sunbae, but—”
“The arboretum opens soon, remember?”
Junhwi planted his feet and tried to hold his ground, but against Juhye’s firm push on his back, there was nothing he could do.
In the end, he shot Daehyun a glare, then whispered quietly as he passed Juhye.
“If anything happens, call me right away.”
Only after Juhye nodded did Junhwi slowly leave.
Once she confirmed that he had exited the snack shop first, Juhye adjusted her bag.
“Satisfied now? Let’s go.”
“To have the leisure to call another man’s name so affectionately in front of your husband—what an impressive friendship.”
The jab flew at her the moment they stepped outside, carried on the hot air.
Under the blazing sunlight, Juhye narrowed her eyes.
“Another man… Junhwi is just my closest junior from college. Don’t misunderstand it like that.”
“Do college juniors not have a gender?”
Daehyun replied irritably, raking a hand through his hair. Juhye ignored him and walked on.
As they exited the narrow alley and reached the main road, Daehyun’s black sedan came into view.
Her own car, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s my car?”
“Director Jeong moved it for you. We’ll take mine.”
The words hit her like a bolt from the blue. Her head spun.
“Call Director Jeong and have my car put back where it was.”
“If I don’t—”
“Then I’ll call Junhwi and ask him to come pick me up.”
She meant it. She wanted to get away from him, one way or another, right now.
“Ah!”
But just before she could take out her phone, her bag was snatched away.
Daehyun grabbed it easily and let out a dry laugh as he looked at her.
“There’s a limit to how much you can provoke someone, Juhye.”
His voice was cold, each word crushed out deliberately.
It seemed he had decided that simply coaxing or placating her with a façade was no longer enough.
“Or are you doing it on purpose? Curious how far I’ll go, and what I’ll do?”
“You’re the one who moved my car without my permission!”
She didn’t want to raise her voice, but the anger bubbling inside her was hard to contain.
If there hadn’t been passersby, she might have shouted outright.
As Juhye hurriedly covered her mouth to avoid making a scene, Daehyun snapped as if he’d been waiting for it.
“You’re not going to the arboretum today anyway.”
She grabbed at her bag, demanding it back, but Daehyun yanked it harder.
When she braced herself and tried to resist, his indifferent question followed.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to give Father any more surprises?”
At the word “Father,” Juhye’s shoulders jolted.
He might deny it, but whenever he said things like that, it felt like a threat, leaving her uneasy.
“There are too many eyes around. It’d be better for you to come quietly.”
“You… really—why are you doing this to me?”
“That’s what I want to ask you.”
Suddenly, he acted like someone overcome with irritation.
“You’re the one—why all of a sudden—”
His voice trailed off, his eyes wavering aimlessly.
Unable to neatly organize whatever he wanted to say, he soon shook his head, his expression uncomfortable.
“For now, let’s go home.”
They were already outside the shop, and there was no way for her to shake him off and go to the arboretum.
Without hesitation, Juhye opened the passenger door herself and tossed her bag inside.
While Daehyun walked around to the driver’s seat, she stubbornly stared out the window.
“The round went well. There were no particular issues with the clients, nothing out of the ordinary…”
“……”
“So there’s no need to question Director Jeong about why he was monitoring you. I just happened to come back early.”
After offering explanations no one had asked for, he started the car again.
Juhye closed her eyes completely. Even sharing the same space with him felt uncomfortable right now.
She hated herself for still being so attuned to her husband’s every action—for still craving his attention.
Despite saying they were going home, Daehyun took her straight to the office.
From the elevator of the high-rise building, the heart of Gangnam spread out below them. The sunlight streaming through the glass windows was dazzling.
Juhye followed him out of the elevator in silence and spotted Director Jeong standing in the hallway, looking like a guilty man.
“Welcome, Madam.”
Guilt filled the face of the middle-aged man as he greeted her earnestly.
Just meeting his expression for a moment was enough for Juhye to forgive him instantly. Honestly, a subordinate like him was not at fault.
If anyone was to blame, it was her husband who had ordered him to move her car.
“When did you start contacting him?”
The moment they entered the office, Seo Daehyun’s eyes were sharp as he barked the question like an interrogation.
Was it really that infuriating to him that his wife had met another man alone?
As Juhye followed him in, a faint, bitter smile tugged at her lips.
“Contacting him?”
“Kang Junhwi. Since when have you two been in touch?”
His reaction—remembering Junhwi’s name from a passing mention—felt unfamiliar.
He hadn’t cared at all before… Juhye asked back, puzzled.
“You know Junhwi?”
“You explained it yourself earlier. That he’s your college junior.”
For someone who had only heard it briefly, the way he said the name carried a strange certainty.
As if he’d known about Junhwi’s existence for a long time already…
“He’s not a junior from my department. We just took a few general education classes together.”
The moment she finished explaining, still feeling uneasy, a flat question came back.
“You weren’t in a special relationship?”
“A special… relationship?”
“I’m just wondering if you were really just senior and junior.”
Juhye’s face stiffened.
She couldn’t understand why Daehyun was suspecting her like this now.
He hadn’t shown even a hint of it before—yet ever since talk of divorce came up…
“Are you asking if we were… dating?”
“If some petty scandal were to spread, how upset do you think Father would be? As your husband, I’m worried.”
“You…!”
“There’s only one way to ease Father’s worries right now.”
Daehyun cut her off firmly as she tried to protest.
“You know it too, don’t you?”
“……”
“The fact that we haven’t been able to have a child… that was Father’s biggest concern.”
Before Chairman Jin Sucheol collapsed, the thing he worried about most—
was that no child had been born between Juhye and Daehyun.
