Chapter 23…..
The night after visiting her family.
Seung-ah tossed and turned in bed all night before finally making a difficult decision.
“I should sell the things I got from Han Yu-jin.”
There were items Yu-jin had bought for her when he took her to a party—designer dresses, shoes, jewelry, and a bag.
It wouldn’t completely cover her debt, but it would help a lot.
Her debt was about 300 million won. With the money from selling the restaurant building and these items… the debt could drop to a few tens of millions.
As she left the house and headed to a secondhand store, Yu-jin’s face flashed through her mind, but she let it pass.
“This is the biggest source of money I can manage.”
So she went to the store.
But as luck would have it, she ran into Tae-jun.
Seung-ah fought back the urge to vomit and chased him away.
“Stop with the unnecessary talk. Can you just leave now?”
“I’m going into the office too. Let’s go together after work.”
What an infuriating man!
Once Tae-jun disappeared from sight, Seung-ah let out a sigh.
“Why did I have to run into Kim Tae-jun here of all places?”
His condescending attitude was unbearably rude.
He looked like he couldn’t believe she owned luxury items and even pried into where they came from.
Does he still think she’s the old Choi Seung-ah who would spill everything with just a word?
Ridiculous.
Why does he care about someone else’s possessions?
Did he want to sneer at her, thinking, “Of course, it’s you”?
When Tae-jun was gone, Seung-ah stood up with her shopping bags.
She couldn’t sell the items right now anyway. Tae-jun would probably come back once he finished shopping upstairs.
He wasn’t the type to let things go. Whether by questioning or following, he would find out one way or another.
When she dated Tae-jun, she even mistook his obsessive behavior for love.
Once, when a close female coworker gave him a scarf as a gift, Tae-jun had interrogated her about it.
“Kim Chae-yeon gave it to me.”
When she answered that, he had even gone to verify it directly with her.
If she had tried to tell him he was over the line…
“I’m just like this because I like you. I love you.”
His sweet lies had clouded her judgment.
She let out a hollow laugh at the memory.
It was a relief that they had broken up now.
After leaving the luxury store and returning to the office, Seung-ah had to catch up on the flood of work waiting for her.
It was the aftereffect of taking a day off yesterday and a half-day today.
“At least I avoided overtime!”
When leaving work, she gripped the shopping bags tightly.
She considered putting them in her locker but felt uneasy because they were so expensive.
She had to carry them out of the office…
What bothered her was seeing Tae-jun all day trying to get her attention.
He had sent countless messages on the company messenger and even come up to her floor. If she left now, he would surely be waiting.
As she stepped into the corridor, there he was, blocking the way to the elevator. She had to pass him to go down to the first floor.
“Then I’ll take the stairs.”
She often used the stairs for exercise anyway. She was fairly fit and thought it would be no trouble, heading for the emergency staircase at the far end of the corridor.
Clunk!
The door made a loud noise as she opened it, and Tae-jun instantly turned toward her.
Startled, Seung-ah hurried into the emergency staircase, but Tae-jun called from above.
“Seung-ah! Talk to me!”
What’s so sticky about luxury items?!
She ignored him and dashed forward.
But Tae-jun quickly caught up.
“It’ll only take a moment. Why are you avoiding me?”
“Then why are you acting like this over something so unimportant?”
Without a word, Tae-jun reached for her arm—the one holding the shopping bags.
She moved to dodge him, and suddenly her body tilted.
“Whoa…!”
She was about to fall!
At that moment, she noticed a man coming down the stairs landing. He quickly reached out and caught her.
“Ah!”
She ended up pressed against the man’s broad chest.
She was safe, but the luxury items were not. The shopping bag slipped from her fingers.
It flew open, spilling everything inside.
Thud!
Shoes hit the ground, and everything stopped.
“Are you okay?”
“Choi Seung-ah!”
Both men spoke at the same time.
Seung-ah ignored Tae-jun and replied to her savior.
“Ah, yes… th-thank you…”
Before she could finish speaking, she felt a sense of familiarity.
She lifted her head and met Yu-jin’s gaze.
“Director!”
“You’re moving around dangerously,” he said.
Yu-jin helped her stand properly, supporting her with his strong arms.
Though flustered and heart racing, Seung-ah held his muscular arm and stood straight.
He checked her over.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Lots of things fell.”
Hearing that, Seung-ah and Tae-jun glanced around.
Oh no…
Her belongings were scattered everywhere.
The hem of a dress draped across the stairs, jewelry boxes bounced into a corner, and shoes rolled near the emergency exit.
She had never wanted both men—the one who could see her as a fool and the one who had bought the items—to see this.
Inside a completely open jewelry box, a necklace sparkled. The necklace Yu-jin had personally placed on her before the party.
He surely recognized the dress and necklace he had bought.
“Oh no… this must be a dream!”
Yu-jin was holding a phone, probably in the middle of a call.
Hearing “Hello? Hello?” he answered,
“Hello. I had a little matter. Sorry, I’ll call you back.”
While he ended the call, Seung-ah picked up the dress scattered on the floor and put it back into the shopping bag.
Looking for her missing clutch bag, she spotted Tae-jun at the edge of her vision.
He was holding the clutch bag that had flown away, looking around.
Seung-ah snatched it and turned.
“Here, take this.”
Yu-jin handed her the necklace.
Seung-ah had to put it in the box while he watched.
He was probably wondering why she had brought all these things to the office.
And since he knew she took a half-day today, it wouldn’t take much for him to figure it out.
Her ears burned.
She hadn’t intended to tell Yu-jin she planned to sell everything.
Of course, if he asked later, she would tell the truth.
As everything went back into the bag, Tae-jun spoke.
“Finished packing? Let’s go.”
He sounded as if it were a given that she would follow.
Seung-ah frowned. Seeing this, Tae-jun looked slightly uneasy and said again,
“We’re going to the gathering together, right? I’ll give you a ride.”
He acted as if they already had plans.
Though he came to ask about the luxury items, he was using it as an excuse to take her along.
“What…”
Before Seung-ah could reply, Tae-jun greeted Yu-jin.
“Director, you should go home.”
He was telling Yu-jin to leave quickly.
Tae-jun thought he could manipulate Seung-ah. He assumed she’d get caught up if he pushed.
As if she would always remain the same person.
Seung-ah had no intention of following quietly.
She might have been obedient in the past, but not anymore.
When Tae-jun looked back as if to say, “You’ll go, right?”, Seung-ah firmly said,
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Huh?”
“There’s no gathering or anything. Stop talking nonsense and go home.”
Her words made Tae-jun’s face instantly flush. He turned his head like a broken machine, glancing at Yu-jin.
Yu-jin shrugged playfully, which made Seung-ah smile a little.
Leaving Tae-jun with his mouth clamped shut, Seung-ah opened the emergency exit and stepped out.
She pressed the elevator button and sneaked a glance at the luxury items she had hastily packed.
“I hope nothing’s scratched. I need to get a fair price when selling them…”
She would check at home.
As the elevator doors closed, someone pressed the button from outside.
Yu-jin entered the elevator.
Seung-ah warily looked outside, expecting Tae-jun to follow, but Yu-jin said,
“Manager Kim Tae-jun isn’t coming.”
“Excuse me?”
“He’s standing dazedly in the stairs.”
Then he closed the elevator doors.
