Chapter 4
“Chairman Jung would like you to come with Managing Director Jung Ichaan. He says he’d like to have dinner together.”
“Ah… yes.”
When Yoon Gyeom spoke, Hyun-ah’s heart thudded loudly in her chest. Swallowing her flustered expression, she answered quietly.
“Let’s do that.”
Afraid her eyes might meet Yoon Gyeom’s again, Hyun-ah lowered her head and clutched her handkerchief tightly. She could vividly feel his gaze on her, making her want to hide somewhere.
“Seok-ah. Call Managing Director Jung.”
“He’s not answering.”
No matter how many times they called, the ringtone didn’t change.
The reason Yoon Gyeom had come in Ichaan’s place today was because Ichaan had ignored Chairman Jung Young-woong’s secretary’s calls all morning. Being told to bring Ichaan along likely carried that same meaning.
Yoon Gyeom frowned slightly, as if troubled.
The car stopped at the entrance of Hwamyeong City Hotel. On the top floor penthouse of this hotel lived Hyun-ah’s fiancé, Jung Ichaan.
It had been a gift from Chairman Jung Young-woong for Ichaan’s twentieth birthday.
“Director Jung Yoon Gyeom, are you coming up with me as well?”
“If you’d rather spend some time alone with your fiancé after so long, I can get off.”
Inside the elevator, Yoon Gyeom reached toward the open button.
“Oh! No.”
Hyun-ah quickly pressed the close button before he could step out.
She wrapped her fingers around her hand as if replaying the fleeting sensation of her fingertips brushing his.
As if nothing had happened, Yoon Gyeom entered the password for direct access to the penthouse.
“And… the engagement…”
Hyun-ah began in a barely audible voice. Yoon Gyeom frowned slightly and stepped closer. The heavy woody scent from his handkerchief seeped into her, sending a sharp tremor to the edge of her heart.
“The engagement ceremony hasn’t happened yet.”
Though Yoon Gyeom worked directly under Chairman Jung and couldn’t possibly be unaware of her relationship with Ichaan, she wanted to deny it.
“And… I still don’t know who I’ll marry.”
Nothing had been decided yet. At least, she didn’t want him to call her Jung Ichaan’s fiancée.
“Baek Hyun-ah.”
<Yu Hyun-ah.>
He called her name in the same voice as eight years ago. As if the dream she’d had on the plane was still continuing.
Hyun-ah felt as though she were still stuck on that day eight years ago.
“Is there someone you have feelings for?”
Yoon Gyeom tilted her chin up slightly and glanced down at her. Even without seeing his expression, she felt her chest tighten under what seemed like a hint of reproach.
“There’s no one like that…”
Afraid he might notice she’d looked at him, she quickly turned her eyes to the elevator display.
“There isn’t.”
“Can you persuade the Chairman?”
He was telling her not to provoke Chairman Jung.
“…I have my own will, you know.”
If it were her father, Baek Woo-sik, he would surely let her do what she wanted.
<It’s true the Chairman is my benefactor, but that doesn’t mean you have to marry Ichaan because of it. I…>
When she had returned to Korea last summer, Chairman Jung had tried to push forward with her engagement to Ichaan. Even against the Chairman’s orders, Woo-sik had said he would respect Hyun-ah’s wishes.
Defying Chairman Jung would affect her father as well. Refusal meant falling out of the Chairman’s favor. In the end, Hyun-ah had used her remaining studies as an excuse to postpone the engagement until after graduation. While expressing willingness to marry, she also wanted time to decide her own life.
“Does something like that matter in a strategic marriage?”
“…But marriage should at least be with someone you like…”
“Do you really think that?”
Even without looking, Hyun-ah could tell.
He was laughing at her.
It might sound like the naïve complaint of a girl who knew nothing of the world, but to Hyun-ah it was desperate. The engagement—and even breaking it.
“Is that so wrong?”
“It’s not for me to decide.”
She knew it wasn’t his concern, yet his answer unsettled her.
“You’re part of Hwamyeong too. Managing Director Jung Ichaan’s marriage must be important to you.”
She knew she was being foolish trying to drag him into it, yet she couldn’t stop herself.
“It’s unexpected that Ms. Baek Hyun-ah would choose the harder road over the easier one.”
He knew better than anyone how advantageous this marriage would be for her. If only the other party weren’t Jung Ichaan…
“Wouldn’t it be the wisest choice to try loving Jung Ichaan?”
Hyun-ah knew marrying Ichaan was the only way to save her entire family in this situation, especially with her father having collapsed.
But it bothered her that Yoon Gyeom told her to love Ichaan.
To him, she was nothing… The years she had cherished alone felt unfair, and she wanted to vent somehow.
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t?”
In the eight years she’d known Jung Ichaan, she had never once felt this way. After meeting Yoon Gyeom again, memories of her forgotten first love stirred her into confusion.
She knew it in her head, but her heart wouldn’t follow. Would this man understand?
“Getting married without even dating…”
She used dating as an excuse, wondering if that sounded better than a woman who threw away a comfortable future just to stand on her own.
Either way, she knew it was all futile fantasy.
“And I can’t imagine ever loving Ichaan oppa.”
“If you want to remain a good daughter, don’t say things like that in front of the Chairman.”
His patronizing tone made her lips pout unconsciously. She strode ahead, leaving him behind.
She didn’t want to see his mocking expression any longer. No—she wanted to keep looking at his face.
She couldn’t understand these feelings. Words she would normally brush off scraped at her nerves.
Just because he was Lee Yoon Gyeom—the one who had forgotten her.
When they stepped out of the elevator, two separate entrances came into view: one exclusively for Jung Ichaan and another for the staff.
Yoon Gyeom rang the bell, but there was no answer. Eventually, he entered the passcode and opened the door.
As Hyun-ah moved forward, Yoon Gyeom’s arm blocked her.
“…It’ll be messy inside.”
She appreciated the thoughtfulness, but she wasn’t ignorant about Ichaan.
“It’s okay.”
She walked in bravely, but the reality was more blatant than she had imagined.
Shoes and liquor bottles lay scattered around. A woman’s stockings stretched out like shed snakeskin, along with a blouse, a skirt, and a thin scrap of fabric that was clearly underwear.
Hyun-ah grabbed Yoon Gyeom’s arm, not wanting his eyes to fall on another woman’s lingerie.
“…Let’s go back. I’ll explain Ichaan oppa’s situation myself.”
The marriage she was supposed to enter meant embracing even this side of Ichaan.
<If you really don’t want to marry, settle down there. I’ll persuade the Chairman somehow.>
Her father, Baek Woo-sik, had also disapproved of Ichaan’s behavior and subtly expressed his opposition.
‘If I have to marry someone anyway…’
Seeing her father, who defied even the Chairman for her happiness, made it harder for her to refuse. As repayment for the love he had shown over the past eight years after finding his lost daughter, she had agreed to the marriage. She had had no expectations for marriage then. If it eased her father’s burden, that was enough.
But Ichaan had not changed at all. And the fact that Yoon Gyeom was witnessing this made her feel even more ashamed.
“Huh? The party’s over, but we’ve got more guests.”
A woman, almost naked and wearing only a man’s shirt, came out of Ichaan’s room rubbing her swollen eyes.
Embarrassed by the blotchy marks trailing from the woman’s neck down to her chest, Hyun-ah turned her head away.
“Oppa. Want to play with me? Hmm?”
Like a cobra spotting prey, the woman approached Yoon Gyeom with her arms outstretched.
“No!”
Hyun-ah threw herself between them with all her strength. Her body moved before her mind did, emotion overpowering reason.
She knew this wasn’t like her at all, yet she couldn’t let her guard down.
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
The woman’s unfocused eyes sharpened as her hand rose high.
I’m scared!
Hyun-ah squeezed her eyes shut and shrank back. Since the kidnapping incident, she had grown especially sensitive to violence.
As the woman’s hand cut through the air, Hyun-ah felt a strong arm pull her into a warm embrace.
Smack!
The sharp sound of skin being struck echoed.
“Yoon Gyeom!”
Hyun-ah lifted her head in shock.
The woman’s long nails had raked across Yoon Gyeom’s cheek, leaving a long red mark.
Just like eight years ago, he was hurt protecting her.
Though she wasn’t the one injured, her own face stung as if in pain. Without thinking, she cupped his cheek.
“What should we do… Does it hurt a lot?”
He pulled her wrist gently away from his face and coldly pushed the woman aside.
“Baek Hyun-ah.”
All her senses focused on the fingers sliding down over the back of her hand.
“I’m fine.”
He even gave her a gentle smile, as if he truly were fine.
