Chapter 15
Her hair, with its feminine gloss, was perfectly styled, as if not a single strand was allowed to be out of place.
A dark eyeliner sharply accentuated her gaze, and within her pupils lingered a strangely confident smile.
It was the composure possessed only by those who know they are beautiful.
She wasn’t flashy, but she had a charm that strangely drew the eye.
“What are you doing here?”
“I had some business, so I came and waited for you. Do you have a moment?”
“A moment is fine.”
Contrary to the woman’s extremely delighted reaction, Woo-kyung answered brusquely, as if annoyed, and averted his gaze.
Woo-kyung held out a car key he took from his jacket pocket to Lee Yeon, who was following behind.
“Lee Yeon, can you give this to Attorney Choe?”
Before Lee Yeon could even nod, Woo-kyung was already walking towards the woman.
The woman approached his side and their arms naturally brushed against each other.
Then she suddenly turned back and winked at Lee Yeon with a bright face.
It was a short, light greeting, but strangely, a sense of superior composure seeped from within that smile.
Lee Yeon’s fingertips tightly gripped the car key.
In the aftermath of that, a heavy sigh inadvertently flowed from between Lee Yeon’s lips.
***
When Lee Yeon entered the office, the woman was sitting on the sofa opposite Woo-kyung.
An endless smile lingered between the woman’s elegantly closed lips.
“Have you been well?”
As always, Woo-kyung’s tone was flat.
It sounded like a greeting to someone he’d known for a long time, with no trace of emotional fluctuation.
Nevertheless, Serin slowly curled up the corner of her mouth as if she found that indifference amusing.
“That indifferent tone of yours, still the same.”
Perhaps because she was paying attention to their conversation, the pages of the documents Lee Yeon was flipping through kept stopping in one place.
“I’m here for work this time. You know the issue with the side effects of the anti-cancer drug from our Mujin Healthcare. I heard consumer groups are preparing a class action lawsuit. So, from our risk management perspective, I thought I’d get some consultation.”
Woo-kyung crossed his arms and let out a cynical laugh.
“You should go to the corporate advisory team for that. Why come to me?”
“I already had a meeting with them earlier.”
Serin answered leisurely, leaning her shoulder against the back of the sofa.
“Since I was here, I thought I’d stop by to see you too.”
Woo-kyung’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Are we on such close terms for a warm greeting? You’ve said hello, now you can go. I’m busy right now.”
“You’re still as surly as ever.”
Unfazed, Serin grinned slightly and crossed her legs.
Then, Lee Yeon felt Serin’s gaze naturally shift towards her.
“But….”
Serin narrowed her eyes, filled with curiosity, and asked.
“Who is this?”
Woo-kyung answered shortly.
“Our intern.”
“Ah, an intern?”
The corner of Serin’s lips lifted leisurely.
“I see these days they hire interns based on looks. She’s very pretty.”
Not knowing how to respond, Lee Yeon’s shoulders stiffened for a moment.
“If you have no business, you should leave now.”
As if sensing that, Woo-kyung unfolded his arms and spoke even more coldly.
“Wait a second.”
Serin asked back with a sly smile.
“Which school did you go to?”
“I….”
Lee Yeon hesitated slightly before answering.
“I graduated from the same school as Attorney Cha Woo-kyung.”
“Ah, so you’re a junior?”
Serin said as if pleased and held out her hand.
“Nice to meet you, I also went to the same school as Woo-kyung.”
Lee Yeon hesitated for a moment before lightly taking Serin’s outstretched hand.
“Yes… Hello.”
Lee Yeon answered with an awkward smile.
“To think you’re a junior from the same school, it’s a small world.”
Having seen enough, Woo-kyung closed the file with a thud and spoke.
“That’s enough, right? If you’re done talking.”
“I still have more to say.”
Serin said playfully.
“You’ve changed a lot, Cha Woo-kyung.”
Lee Yeon was startled by Serin’s next words.
“Even so, isn’t this too harsh for your first love?”
Lee Yeon’s pupils wavered subtly.
She tried hard to maintain a nonchalant face, forcing strength into her eyes, but her gaze ultimately fell to the floor.
Woo-kyung let out a short scoff.
“Calling a mere one-week romance a first love.”
“Still, for someone as proud as you, a week must mean it wasn’t just an ordinary feeling.”
“That’s what you think.”
Woo-kyung retorted in a dry tone.
But Serin didn’t bat an eye at his words and responded with a smile throughout.
“Working under someone like this, you must have a hard time.”
Lee Yeon quietly bowed her head.
“It’s fine. There’s a lot to learn.”
Just then.
Someone knocked on the office door. Through the crack of the opened door, an intern colleague peeked in.
“Attorney Cha, hello.”
After greeting politely, he spoke to Lee Yeon.
“Lee Yeon, the team leader is looking for you. Can you come out for a moment?”
“Ah, yes.”
Lee Yeon hurriedly got up from her seat. Serin, who was watching Lee Yeon about to leave the office, said with a smile.
“Junior, let’s see you again next time then.”
“Yes.”
Lee Yeon gave a short greeting, picked up her documents, and quietly stepped out of the door.
Until the moment the door closed, Serin’s laughter from behind her lingered somewhere.
Walking out into the hallway, Lee Yeon slowly let out her breath.
Even though they had just talked about work, somewhere in her chest felt uncomfortably pricked.
‘First love…? He said it was just a one-week romance.’
Those words wouldn’t leave her ears.
At the end of the hallway leading to the office, Lee Yeon’s steps halted for a moment.
Through the transparent window, the side profile of Serin, still smiling inside Woo-kyung’s office, was faintly visible.
Beside her, Woo-kyung sat calmly, his expression, as always, a face devoid of any emotion.
That, oddly enough, made her more concerned.
***
As Lee Yeon left the meeting room and quietly moved her steps, she stopped when she heard the faint sounds of two people’s voices at the end of the hallway.
“By the way, is this the first time you’ve seen Attorney Cha be that friendly to a woman?”
“Right. He usually doesn’t give anyone the time of day.”
“I heard they dated briefly in college?”
“Ah, is that why?”
They were words she would have normally just let slide.
But strangely, that day, those few exchanged words lingered in her head for a long time.
Like an unfamiliar wind brushing past her ears, her breath momentarily hitched slightly.
Yeah, that could be possible.
It’s only natural, so why does it bother me so much?
Her heart beat quietly, thump, thump, a couple of times.
What suddenly crossed Lee Yeon’s mind was a memory from the past.
‘My first marriage, my first husband, my first kiss.’
He was always there in all those ‘firsts’.
But, the fact that it wasn’t the same for him dawned on her too clearly, too late.
So, I was the only one for whom it was the first.
That simple realization touched a corner of her heart with an strangely bitter sting.
Feeling a sharp pain spreading deep in her chest, Lee Yeon shook her head side to side.
She knew she shouldn’t think about it any further.
As if she had barely regained her mental balance and reached the front of the office, the door was half-open, and from inside, the loud voice of Attorney Choe could be heard.
“Who can attend the company dinner today?”
His bright tone filled the hallway beyond.
“You know our law firm’s tradition, right? We don’t do it when we win, but it’s our principle to have a dinner to share the sorrow on the days we lose a case.”
“We lost?”
When someone asked tactlessly, Attorney Choe laughed nonchalantly.
“Ah, well. It was a close call. But I still have to treat you all.”
He looked around and, spotting Lee Yeon, waved his hand.
“The interns can attend too. Lee Yeon, would you like to join us?”
The other two interns looked at each other, checking each other’s reactions. Then one of them spoke first.
“I can attend.”
“Me too.”
Lee Yeon hesitated for a moment.
Normally, she would have politely declined.
It had been a needlessly complicated day, and she felt unnecessarily tired.
But right at that moment, the door at the end of the hallway opened and Woo-kyung came out.
Neatly wearing his suit, he was holding a document bag in one hand.
His gaze, as he walked quietly, naturally turned towards Lee Yeon.
At that moment, Lee Yeon’s voice came out without her even realizing it.
“I will attend as well.”
At Lee Yeon’s quiet but clear voice, Attorney Choe’s eyes widened.
“Oh, really? Then let’s go together!”
At his brightly laughing tone, Lee Yeon cautiously bowed her head. And Attorney Choe, spotting Woo-kyung in the distance, asked.
“Attorney Cha, aren’t you coming?”
At those words, Woo-kyung quietly frowned.
Lee Yeon, without realizing it, fidgeted with her fingertips and slightly avoided his gaze.
But in that brief moment, Woo-kyung’s cold gaze swept over Lee Yeon.
