YAIMF 30 🍒

Chapter — 30
The Woman President Han Loved from Afar

Only then did Jiwon realize how cramped a karaoke room really was. Even the slightest movement made him brush against Saena. Even though they used the same body wash, a scent that teased his heart drifted from her. His heart pounded hard. Every nerve that should have been focused on that damn President Cheon was instead fixed on Saena. He had to be out of his mind for this to be happening. A bitter curse slipped out of his mouth, and Saena quickly covered his lips with her hand and whispered,

“Be quiet.”

The moment her soft palm touched his mouth, Jiwon used what little reason he had left to force himself to suppress his heart. The pain of holding it back was so intense that a groan escaped him without him realizing it.

“Sorry.”

She must have misunderstood, thinking she had covered his mouth too tightly. Saena flinched and quickly pulled her hand away. As soon as her hand left him, his feelings became painfully clear.

I like this woman.

Even though this should have been a heart-fluttering moment, Jiwon was seized by a crushing sense of despair, as if his heart had dropped to the floor. All he could see was Saena’s face as she watched what was happening outside. Her round forehead, her smooth nose bridge flowing down like a sock’s curve, and her red lips releasing uneven breaths. Just looking at her, he had to desperately hold himself together.

You crazy bastard.

He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d been this out of control. His feelings for her were completely beyond restraint.

“Crazy…”

The words slipped out loud, scolding himself.

“Yeah, seriously. How can someone be like that?”

Saena misunderstood again and continued speaking while peeking outside.

“No matter what, how can you even think about hurting someone like that?”

Even her low whisper tightened its grip on his heart.

“What on earth is he—!”

The moment Saena turned toward Jiwon in frustration, trying to make sense of the situation, he suddenly cupped her face and kissed her.

It happened in an instant. His soft lips pressed against hers, biting lightly as he kissed her. She should have pushed him away, demanded what he thought he was doing—but strangely, she couldn’t. All she could do was clutch his shoulder and accept his lips.

If it hadn’t been for Yongsik’s phone call, what would have happened? In that narrow, moldy-smelling karaoke room, he had kissed her.

—That bastard. I’m going to kill him.

Jiwon had been on his way back from an outside job when he saw a police car parked in front of the building and felt something was off. When he saw Junsik being helped out by the police, barely recognizable, he knew something serious had happened. Though Yongsik usually spoke roughly, he adored his only brother. He swore he wouldn’t let President Cheon get away with this.

—By the way, where are you right now?

Only then did Jiwon glance at Saena, who was quietly following him while holding his hand.

Ha… you insane bastard.

He cursed himself, calling himself worse than an animal. He couldn’t understand why he kept forgetting the reason she was by his side in the first place. At this point, he seriously wondered if he needed a psychiatric evaluation.

—Anyway, if I run into President Cheon, I won’t let him live.

“The police are involved now. He’ll probably keep his head down for a while.”

—Seriously, the way he acts is pure thug behavior. Turns out it wasn’t just Junsik. The bakery owner’s family got hit too.

Now that he thought about it, the bakery had been closed for a while.

—And that’s not all. People in the market alley say they’ve been targeted by him too. I don’t know what kind of business he’s running, but lending money like a loan shark over pocket change? Doesn’t that seem suspicious?

President Cheon hadn’t always been like this. He had his pride and avoided doing things that would get him pointed at in this line of work—but at some point, he’d crossed the line.

—Shouldn’t we do something?

“Hm. Dig into his background. Something will turn up.”

With his grudge-holding personality, Cheon wouldn’t back off easily. A strange sense of unease crept in. The money Jiwon had lent Junsik was only five million won. The interest was one and a half million.

Did he really do all this just because I told him to only take the principal, not the interest?

No matter how much of a thug he was, it didn’t make sense to harbor this much resentment over such a small amount. Looked at another way, it meant he needed that interest money for something else. And the fact that he even brought people with him suggested there was another reason altogether.

Then something flashed through Jiwon’s mind.

The ledger.

He didn’t know why it came to him, but it felt like Cheon had come to the office because of the ledger. His grandmother, being old-fashioned, always recorded loan details in a ledger and kept the original IOUs together with it. Daum Company did the same.

This bastard… he’s hiding something.

“Let’s hang up for now.”

He could hear Yongsik saying something on the other end, but Jiwon hurriedly ended the call and tightly grasped Saena’s hand.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

She looked up at him with worried eyes. As Jiwon looked at her, his heart felt unbearably heavy and tangled. His feelings for her were now clear—but he had no idea what to do next. Without answering her question, he quickly raised his hand and flagged down a passing taxi. He put her inside and gave the driver his family home address. Thankfully, it was a driver he knew.

“What’s going on?”

Saena couldn’t hide her confusion at Jiwon’s sudden behavior. Jiwon couldn’t bring himself to look at her properly.

“Go home. We’ll talk later.”

With that, he closed the taxi door. Saena looked like she wanted to say something, but seeing how serious his face was, she pressed her lips shut. The taxi slowly drove off. Jiwon watched it until it disappeared into the distance.

Inside the awkwardly silent taxi, Saena kept turning around to look back. Jiwon was still standing there until the car moved far away. What on earth was going on? Why had those people acted like that earlier, and why had Jiwon suddenly become so serious? Half of her heart was filled with worry, and the other half fluttered strangely because of the kiss they’d shared.

Kiss.

She didn’t remember it, but she must have shared countless kisses with him in the past. Yet strangely, it felt like the first time. Even in such a tense situation, she didn’t understand why they’d acted so irrationally—but she had accepted his kiss.

…It was warm.

As if it really had been her first kiss, Saena touched her lips with her fingers. She didn’t remember, but didn’t the body remember? Still, that kiss felt oddly unfamiliar. The unfamiliarity wasn’t unpleasant—if anything, it was a刺激 she’d never felt before.

Honestly, what’s wrong with me…

They had even lived together. Was it really something to make such a fuss over, just a kiss? Feeling embarrassed, she scolded herself, telling herself that now wasn’t the time for indecent thoughts—she should be thinking about what was happening to Jiwon.

But seriously, why were his lips so soft?

The memory of his lips lightly biting her lower lip suddenly resurfaced. She shook her head, calling herself crazy. Then his gaze came to mind—the way he’d looked at her, full of desire. The coldness he usually had was nowhere to be found. His eyes had been burning hot. On top of that, he’d even looked a bit handsome.

“Ah, I’ve lost my mind!”

Saena cried out at her own thoughts. The taxi driver flinched and looked back.

“Is everything okay?”

Only then did she feel embarrassed enough to want to crawl into a hole. Smiling awkwardly, she waved her hand as if to say it was nothing. Of all times—why a kiss now? Was he sane, or was he crazy? She blamed Jiwon for no reason.

“So, what’s your relationship with President Han?”

The taxi driver had greeted Jiwon warmly earlier too. Saena hesitated, unsure how to answer, when the driver grinned slyly.

“Oh, you’re the woman President Han likes.”

“Well, that is—”

“You should know how lucky you are, miss.”

“Pardon?”

“President Han may have taken over the chairman’s business now, but he’s good-looking, tall, and he was the best student in our neighborhood. Graduated from a top university too.”

“Oh, really?”

So he was pretty smart too, she thought.

Growing more animated, the driver continued.

“And you’re the only woman President Han ever had a crush on. Right?”

A crush—wasn’t that going a bit far? Feeling shy for no reason, she smiled awkwardly.

“Ha, looks like I’m right. But how did you meet? I heard you went to the U.S. ten years ago?”