Chapter 7.3

It was Friday, but it still felt like Thursday, Min-kyung checked the Saturday schedule one more time. When she saw the work that Lee Seop added to the afternoon, she started feeling hot and angry inside.

Min-kyung was still anxious about the fight surrounding the herbal medicine and the previous encounters, so this time after the medicine she had already peeled the peppermint candy. She would hand it to him in a small flower-shaped bowl. As soon as he finished taking the medicine, she handed him the small bowl, but instead of taking it, Lee Seop furrowed his eyebrows.

His mother had told her to switch out what sweet she gave him. 'Shoot, today was cookie day, not peppermint candy. Are kindergarteners even this picky?'

While Min-kyung was thinking, Lee Seop reached out and took a drink from the cold tea sitting on the desk. But his eyebrows remained furrowed.

"If you don't like peppermint candy, I also have cookies. Would you like that?"

"Fine, then." His tone was harsh in his response. Min-kyung quickly left and brought back two chocolate chip cookies. Lee Seop picked one up, twirled it in his hand, then dropped it back onto the plate. "I don't feel like this."

"I have other flavors, too."

"Then… please." Lee Seop smiled sweetly, it was the smile he did when trying to rile up Min-kyung. 

Frustrated, she brought one cookie of each type on a long tray. Lee Seop gestured to Min-kyung as she walked in to come beside him instead of placing the tray on the front of his desk.

Pistachio cookies covered in powdered sugar, almond florentines sparkling with hardened sugar on top, crunchy and rich salted caramel cookies, simple butter snaps, and matcha bars…. He couldn't choose, so Lee Seop looked at each cookie individually and memorized the kinds before him. Min-kyung waited for a response but looked up, perplexed, when one didn't come.

When her head raised, Lee Seop's lips tilted at an angle, smirking at her. "Deputy Director Kang," he coldly called to her while he leaned awkwardly back into his chair, legs crossed, and turned the chair slightly from side to side.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You prepared so many options; strangely, I find it even more obnoxious."

"I will be more careful next time."

"Stop being ridiculous." He spoke so swiftly on reflex that it sounded like a harsh criticism. "Aren't you pissed off?"

Min-kyung was about to answer in a tongue-in-cheek manner but stopped her tongue, "No…" She looked at him again and was greeted with a light chuckle from Lee Seop.

"Ha… Do you remember what I said before?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Lee Seop smiled and tapped his lips with his index finger. 'Damn, does he know how sexy it is when he looks at me like that?' was the only thought in her head as she blankly looked at his finger on his red lips.

"Your lips…" He hesitated before quickly finishing, "I'm talking about Deputy Director Kang's chapped lips."

Min-kyung's mouth fell agape with the words' your lips' as if she had just eaten something spicy. 'This man really, just leave me alone!' Instead of sneering and grinding her teeth in anger at him, Min-kyung stuck out her tongue. Looking straight at Lee Seop, emotionless, she licked her lips with her long tongue. She then smacked her lips together as if blotting lipstick and pinched her lips back together. "How could I be upset when there's nothing wrong?"

She had hoped he would have been surprised and looked at her wide-eyed, opening his mouth and making an astonished "haa" sound like he had before. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and burst out laughing, "That look… that was kinda cute." He covered his mouth while trying to get his composure back.

'Cute?! What craziness?' Min-kyung wanted to wash her ears out not believing what she heard.

While she flipped between embarrassment and shame, Lee Seop returned the mask of the polite boss to his face. "Oh. I have dinner plans with M&P on Saturday."

Of course, she knew this. His original schedule was to play golf together, but he had no time to golf if he had to talk with the law firm's CEO and son. After months of playing to his heart's content, Lee Seop now had a lot of people to meet with. Min-kyung cleverly scheduled meetings where he couldn't avoid them, which meant he couldn't take them golfing. Either way the small amount of golf he played was the entertainment he desired, and the law firm was happy with any type of meeting.

Although the business people who got to meet with Lee Seop even during lunch, were happy about the meetings and they were beneficial for the company, the schedule was unpleasant for him. Lee Seop had complained that he had low energy, so Min-kyung scheduled early morning workouts as if she had been waiting to. The price of it all was severe; workouts plus back-to-back meetings and tasks were beginning to be too much.

"The CEO will probably just exchange greetings and then spend most of the time talking to his son. I heard the lawyer in charge may also come. Even though this isn't a public meeting, it's private, we will probably talk about work, so could you please prepare some materials for it? Focus on the construction litigation and the fashion group. If we were only playing golf, I'd be able to change the subject by saying, "Nice Shot, CEO!" but we can't just eat in silence. So we will probably discuss this in more detail. So, Director Kang, please pay a little more attention when preparing."

Lee Seop then added in a patronizing tone, "I don't know about the restructuring of the C&T industry, so it would be good if Deputy Director Kang also organizes the notes."

"Yes, Sir" Min-kyung smiled prettily in response.

Of course, the work he gave her was thought to be impossible to finish in an afternoon. The good news was when they worked in the Strategic Planning department, Lee Seop behaved poorly and didn't attend many meetings, so Min-kyung could organize the notes on the restructuring and litigations related to the C&T in detail. She could stop at the office around lunch tomorrow, finish everything, and get off work relatively early for the first time in a while.