Episode 21
Ha-yoon frowned and quickly followed behind Tae-jun again.
When a sudden meeting with a client was scheduled, she thought he definitely wouldn’t take her with him. So when
Tae-jun said, “Jung Ha-yoon, you’re coming,” she blinked in surprise.
What’s with him all of a sudden?
Of course, no one in the team thought it was strange for a newbie employee to go to a meeting with the team leader.
In fact, the others looked relieved that it wasn’t them. Everyone knew that going to meetings with Tae-jun often
meant lots of annoying work.
After barely catching up, Ha-yoon got into Tae-jun’s car, trying to catch her breath.
“Put your seatbelt on.”
Can I breathe first? He’s not even giving me a second to rest. Why’s he in such a hurry?
“You didn’t have to say that. I was going to do it anyway. I’m not a child…”
“You are a child. You’re younger than me. By a lot.”
“It’s just six years! That’s nothing. We’re basically the same age.”
“So what? Are you saying we’re equals now?”
“I never said that… you always twist my words…”
Grumbling, Ha-yoon buckled her seatbelt. It annoyed her how he always treated her like a kid. Sure, she was
younger, but she was old enough to understand things too.
After making sure she had her seatbelt on, Tae-jun started driving smoothly.
Ha-yoon thought he might say something more, but after the seatbelt comment, he stayed completely silent. The
silence was so heavy it felt suffocating.
Trying to ignore it, Ha-yoon looked down at the meeting documents on her lap.
I’ve already read these several times… but just in case…
As the silence dragged on, the car finally stopped. She could feel Tae-jun looking at her. She tried to ignore it and kept
reading, but his stare wouldn’t go away.
Eventually, Ha-yoon slowly turned to face him.
“What?”
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”
Something to say? To him? What would I even say?
She couldn’t think of anything… except maybe “I like you.” But that wasn’t something she could say now.
She looked at him, wondering if he was joking, but his expression was more serious than ever.
Her mind raced. Did I do something wrong? And then it hit her.
“Wait… is this about that?”
“Yeah. Say it.”
“Um… I didn’t mean to hide it from you. I didn’t want to, but…”
“Then why didn’t you just tell me first?”
“Because I thought you wouldn’t like it. I know you hate stuff like that…”
Tae-jun raised an eyebrow. Wait… was that not it?
“You’re upset because the team went to lunch without you? Come on, sometimes coworkers eat together without the
boss. Why are you being so sensitive? Fine, next time I’ll ask them to invite you too—”
“Oh. So Team 1 went without me, huh? I guess you all had fun talking about me behind my back?”
Uh-oh… that wasn’t it.
Ha-yoon’s lips twitched nervously. Something felt off. Like a red alarm going off in her head.
When the light turned green and the car moved again, she cleared her throat with an awkward smile.
“That… wasn’t it, huh?”
“Nope.”
“Then what exactly did I do to upset you…?”
“You really can’t think of anything?”
“I don’t think I did anything wrong… I submitted the report you asked for, I prepared the meeting documents… what
else could it be?”
“It’s not about work.”
“What?”
Ha-yoon tilted her head, confused. A big question mark might as well have popped up over her head.
“You met my grandfather.”
“Oh.”
Now she understood why he asked.
She’d been trying to keep it a secret, but somehow he already knew she’d met with Chairman Bong-su. Even when
she tried to play it off, his serious face told her he was sure of it.
There was no point lying, so Ha-yoon nervously fidgeted with her fingers.
“I didn’t mean to hide it. I just thought… if you found out, you’d be uncomfortable. You’ve already got so much on
your plate, I didn’t want to give you more to worry about because of me.”
“That’s different. You should’ve told me. Why did you go see him and let him say who knows what to you?”
“He didn’t say anything bad. He actually treated me to a nice meal. He was kind. And he really cares about you.”
“That old man? Cares about me? That’s a joke.”
“Don’t say that. He really does care about you.”
Tae-jun let out a deep sigh. His voice turned cold, and Ha-yoon sat up straighter.
“Jung Ha-yoon.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t ever go to a place like that again. If he calls you, just ignore it.”
“But… how can I ignore an elder’s invitation…”
“I said don’t go.”
He turned his head, giving her a cold stare. Ha-yoon quickly nodded. She didn’t dare argue more—it felt like even one
more word would get her scolded hard. Not that being scolded by him was the worst thing…
“…But how did you even know I went? No one told you.”
“That old man did. Said he met you and wanted me to come by the house to talk about it.”
“The chairman said that? Did he say anything bad about me?”
Remembering how she’d acted in front of Bong-su, Ha-yoon’s shoulders sank.
“Why? Did you curse at him or something?”
“No! Of course not!”
“You should’ve. Might’ve felt good.”
“I’m not that kind of person, okay?”
Tae-jun let out a small, dry laugh.
“He said you made him laugh. Said you were fun to talk to and called you a good person.”
Really? That didn’t sound right. Why would he laugh while talking about me?
Ha-yoon frowned a little. But still, she was relieved he didn’t say anything bad. Phew.
“If anything like this happens again, tell me first. Don’t even think about going alone.”
“…Okay. I will.”
For some reason, she suddenly felt like Tae-jun was protecting her. That thought made her smile softly.
On the top floor of the KJ Group headquarters was Chairman Bong-su’s office. It was so big and fancy that even if a
dozen people came in, it wouldn’t feel crowded.
Right as you entered, there were two black leather sofas and a wide table. Behind that sat Bong-su’s desk. One wall
was completely covered with windows, offering a full view of Seoul.
The office smelled sweet with tea. Bong-su and Seol-hee were sitting across from each other, sipping their drinks on
the leather sofas in the center.
But because of what she saw earlier, the tea tasted bitter to Seol-hee, even though it was sweet black tea. It felt like
trying to swallow bitter medicine.
“Hmmm.”
Bong-su looked quietly at Seol-hee over his teacup. Even though she had shown up unannounced, he had no plans to
turn her away. He didn’t want to create bad feelings by saying something harsh.
Still, something felt different. For some reason, he didn’t feel as attached to her as before. That was strange.
