Chapter 10….
“Go ahead.”
At Yeon-ha’s words, Do-hyun carefully placed the work order on the table.
Looking it over, Yeon-ha gave him a puzzled glance.
“This is the style sheet I submitted a few days ago… why are you bringing it up?”
“When I double-checked before sending it for approval, I noticed the material specifications were wrong.”
“The materials?”
Only then did Yeon-ha quickly scan the input fields, and her face drained of color.
Because of a design change, the number of buttons required had been reduced from five to four, but she had failed to update it before submitting the work order.
Since it was a style planned for production in the tens of thousands, if the order had gone through as it was, it would have been a huge loss.
“Has it already been ordered?”
“I checked with Production. The order went through, but the supplier hasn’t started yet. I called immediately and requested the correction.”
“Really…?”
“Yes. I just confirmed it on my way here.”
“Ha…”
A sigh of relief escaped Yeon-ha’s lips. The color that had drained from her face slowly returned.
“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Do-hyun, this would’ve been a disaster.”
That day had been overwhelming from the start.
With the sudden warm weather, the boss ordered the shipment date moved up, and in the rush to revise the designs, she hadn’t had time to double-check.
Though she was usually known for her meticulousness, that day a mistake was inevitable.
“Buy me a drink tonight.”
“…What?”
“You just said thank you.”
Well, yes, but…
Yeon-ha bit her lower lip. She had resolved to keep her distance from him, so she didn’t want to agree too readily. Yet refusing coldly after receiving his help felt wrong too.
After hesitating for a moment, she carefully suggested:
“Instead of drinks, how about dinner?”
She wanted to express her gratitude but not give room for them to get closer again.
So she chose the safest compromise.
“What, you don’t want to drink with me?”
“It’s not that… I’m just tired today.”
Since she was terrible at lying, Yeon-ha swept her hair back, pretending to adjust it, while quietly averting her gaze.
“Then, can I choose the place?”
Since he had backed down, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse again and gave a small nod.
At that point, she wasn’t particularly worried.
After all, it was just dinner, and she’d be going straight home afterward.
When she arrived at the restaurant, however, she was briefly taken aback by the atmosphere.
The place he’d chosen specialized in spicy braised seafood. It was a restaurant where people ate meals, but it was also clearly a drinking spot.
“This place is famous for their seafood jjim.”
“How did you find it?”
Glancing at the bottles of alcohol on every round table, Yeon-ha asked.
“Manager Yoon recommended it.”
Do-hyun set chopsticks and a glass of water in front of her as he spoke, his expression completely matter-of-fact.
Thinking she had been overly suspicious about him purposely choosing a drinking place, Yeon-ha set the thought aside.
They ordered, and while waiting, she could feel his gaze. Pretending not to notice, she looked around the restaurant.
“Team Leader.”
“Yes?”
Maybe because he realized she was avoiding his eyes, or maybe he simply disliked how she kept looking elsewhere, Do-hyun called her.
“Do you… feel uncomfortable being alone with me?”
Caught off guard, Yeon-ha blurted out reflexively:
“No.”
But his deepening eyes suggested he saw right through her.
Yeon-ha bit the inside of her cheek. It wasn’t so much uncomfortable as it was troubling.
Since breaking up with the man she had once planned to marry, she hadn’t given another man a second glance in three years.
And yet, with Nam Do-hyun, she was strangely reactive.
As if their frequencies were perfectly aligned, her body responded to his presence.
No matter where they were, he was the first person she noticed, and in any group, his voice was the first she heard.
Whenever he laughed, her heart skipped.
For someone who had always been passive in relationships, these changes felt foreign and disorienting.
What frightened her most was how impulsive she became when she was with him.
The kind of love she had always sought was based more on emotional exchange than physical desire.
Many men—including her ex-fiancé—had wanted to spend the night with her, but to her, intimacy had always felt like an uncomfortable kind of “exercise.”
Naturally, she avoided it, and none of her relationships lasted more than a year.
But she hadn’t minded—until Nam Do-hyun appeared.
Finally, the seafood jjim arrived, breaking the awkward mood. Do-hyun looked at the mountain of food with a bewildered expression, as if wondering how to eat it. Having lived abroad for a long time, the dish was unfamiliar to him.
With a small smile, Yeon-ha picked up scissors and tongs, cutting the octopus into bite-sized pieces, then peeling shrimp, abalone, and crab to place on his plate.
“You look like one of those masters on TV.”
“Everyone does it this way.”
Watching her move so deftly, he looked at her with open admiration.
Yeon-ha only smiled faintly, brushing it off.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“Isn’t your job stressful?”
While she placed octopus and shrimp on her own plate, he began picking out crab meat as he asked.
“It’s not so different from my old job. I’m fine.”
“I heard your previous company was ‘Scanan Siordo.’ Is that right?”
“Yes. But how did you know?”
His eyes sparkled as he asked back, clearly pleased that she knew something about him.
“Word travels fast in the office.”
Yeon-ha didn’t bother mentioning that she’d heard it from Jin-young in the design department.
“Then… may I ask why you left such a good company to join ours?”
For a moment, the ever-smiling expression on his face stiffened.
It had only been a casual question, but the atmosphere turned oddly heavy.
“If it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer.”
After a brief silence, he took a sip of water and spoke carefully.
“There’s someone I want to find.”
The unexpected reply left her momentarily speechless.
His low, serious tone and the depth in his eyes made it clear this wasn’t something trivial.
Meeting his gaze cautiously, she spoke a beat late.
“I don’t know who it is, but… I hope you find them.”
“You’re not curious… who it is?”
“It feels like… you don’t really want to say.”
Her considerate reply brought a quiet smile to his lips.
The kind of smile that could melt Antarctic glaciers. Flustered, Yeon-ha lowered her gaze as her ears grew hot.
Rrrring. Rrrring. Rrrring.
At that moment, his phone rang.
His expression turned unusually serious as he checked the screen.
“Do you mind if I take this call?”
When Yeon-ha nodded, he stepped outside with his phone.
While he was gone, she tidied up the messy table, waiting for him to return.
Not long after, the sound of the restaurant door opening reached her.
Looking up absent-mindedly, she froze.
It was the last person she wanted to see. Quickly, she turned her head away.
Step. Step. Step.
The footsteps drew nearer. Yeon-ha prayed silently.
Please just walk past. Please don’t see me.
But once again, fate wasn’t on her side.
The footsteps stopped right in front of her.
“Well, if it isn’t her.”
At the mocking voice, Yeon-ha reluctantly lifted her head.
Her ex-boyfriend, Son Kyung-jin, stood there with a brazen look on his face. Behind him waited a group of people—probably colleagues from his company. It must have been a company dinner.
The man who once swore he’d never wear a suit because it was “too suffocating,” now stood in a perfectly tailored one.
He looked more polished than before, but his eyes on her were still as murky as ever—clouded and lifeless, like rotten fish.
“It’s been a while, Seo Yeon-ha.”
