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“Let’s go up.”
“I’ll just give you the watch and leave. Please take better care of it in the morning.”
“Sorry. Let’s go up and have some coffee.”
“Shall we?”
Joo-eun smiled at Seok-kyung.
“Nice meeting you. Though it would have been better if we hadn’t met.”
Without even listening to Eun-chae’s reply, Joo-eun linked arms with Seok-kyung and disappeared.
Eun-chae stood there blankly, taking a moment to catch her breath.
She knew she couldn’t stay at this company with Seok-kyung any longer. She needed to pay him back the money somehow and move out of that apartment.
Besides, what did that mean?
“I’ll just give you the watch and leave. Please take better care of it in the morning.”
Does that mean they were in Joo-eun’s hotel room all night? What were they doing, even taking off his watch...?
Eun-chae closed her eyes tightly, trying to push away the disturbing images in her head.
Her body trembled, and she felt so weak that she almost dropped the equipment.
“Are you alright?”
At the familiar voice, she looked up and saw Hyun-woo’s face.
“Section Chief Kang...”
“I heard you went to pick up heavy equipment by yourself. What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
Hyun-woo asked worriedly, seeing Eun-chae’s pale face.
She slowly shook her head.
“Give it to me. I’ll carry it.”
“No, I can handle it...”
“Give it to me.”
Hyun-woo took all the equipment from Eun-chae’s hands and carried it.
Her body felt lighter without the load, but her heart was heavy and uneasy.
She was solely focused on making sure Seok-kyung didn’t reveal their relationship to Joo-eun.
________________________________________
The rhythm of the fingers tapping the armrest of the chair grew faster and faster.
With a blank face, Seok-kyung kept moving his hand aimlessly.
He followed Joo-eun’s movements with a dazed gaze as she slowly looked around the CEO’s office instead of sitting on the sofa.
Even if she looked around, she wouldn’t find any evidence of his relationship with Eun-chae, but he had to prevent Joo-eun from harming Eun-chae in any way.
“About Lee Eun-chae.”
Joo-eun, who had been quietly staring at a painting on the office wall, finally spoke.
“I heard she quit playing the piano because of an accident. Is that why she works at this company?”
“I don’t know.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Even if her nerves were damaged in the accident, she only lost her skills as a pianist; she could still play the piano. Why didn’t Eun-chae continue playing?
She didn’t seem to be playing the piano in the apartment, judging from the lack of mention of it.
That didn’t make sense, considering she hadn’t even finished looking around the house.
“That’s what happens when a family goes bankrupt.”
Joo-eun expressed her thoughts in an indifferent tone.
“Still, it doesn’t feel good to see the princess living like that.”
“Princess?”
“Oh, that was Lee Eun-chae’s nickname in high school. Her family was very wealthy, and she was driven to and from school by a chauffeur every day. She was probably from the wealthiest family in our school.”
“I see.”
“To see someone like that carrying luggage here... you never know what life will bring, right?”
Her gaze, which had been on the painting, suddenly shifted to Seok-kyung.
Seok-kyung swallowed and nodded, pretending to be nonchalant.
“She’s pitiful.”
Pitiful...?
For some reason, that word bothered Seok-kyung.
Of course, Eun-chae’s current situation was unfortunate, but she didn’t deserve to be pitied so lightly.
“Did Seok-kyung get her this job?”
“......What?”
“This company. Did you get her a job here?”
As expected, Joo-eun was no ordinary person.
She was asking several things with this simple question.
When did Eun-chae start working at this company, when did Seok-kyung find out, and what was their relationship?
“Of course not. I only found out after I was appointed to this company.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Seok-kyung cleverly avoided Joo-eun’s gaze as he answered.
“What were you like before?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m curious what kind of couple you and Lee Eun-chae were.”
What kind of question was this?
Seok-kyung frowned slightly. He needed to know her intentions to answer. No, he didn’t really need to answer this question.
“We barely saw each other for a total of two weeks in a year. We didn’t have a relationship that could be called a marriage.”
“Then what about now?”
Joo-eun placed her hand on Seok-kyung’s desk and stared at him intently.
Don’t avoid my gaze. Tell me straight.
Her eyes seemed to say so.
“We have no relationship.”
Seok-kyung answered firmly, looking at Joo-eun.
Just like he told Eun-chae, they had no relationship, and they shouldn’t.
Fortunately, Joo-eun seemed to believe him, as her stiff face relaxed into a bright smile.
“Be nice to her. She’s still your ex-wife.”
Of course, he didn’t reply to her additional words. He wasn’t that foolish.
“Oh, here, your watch.”
Joo-eun took a watch out of the clutch in her hand and placed it on the desk.
Seok-kyung picked up the watch and hesitated for a moment. It was definitely his favorite brand, but the model was different. A men’s watch that wasn’t his was in Joo-eun’s hotel room. Why?
“......Thank you.”
Suddenly, a suspicion flashed through his mind, and Seok-kyung accepted the watch.
More than that, Joo-eun’s words in front of Eun-chae earlier came to mind.
She deliberately mentioned not taking it in the morning. She emphasized that they were in the room together all night.
Lee Eun-chae, she’s probably misunderstanding again.
“I’m leaving.”
“Want some tea...”
“You’re busy. I’ve finished my business.”
With that, Joo-eun turned and left the CEO’s office.
Fortunately, she didn’t provide any information that could lead her to misunderstand Eun-chae. He couldn’t bear to see Eun-chae being harmed by Joo-eun because of him.
So he does know what’s wrong, Baek Seok-kyung.
Is it time to end his relationship with Eun-chae...?
To marry a woman he doesn’t love...?
Seok-kyung frowned. Everything was a mess.
________________________________________
After coming out and being seen off by Secretary Won, Joo-eun wiped the smile off her face as soon as the elevator doors closed.
They said the office was a mess because of the management meeting, but the CEO’s office was very clean and tidy.
Spotless, without a speck of dust.
That worried look of his, and it’s obvious it wasn’t worry for me. If that’s the case...
There’s definitely something between Seok-kyung and Eun-chae.
It’s unsettling.
As Joo-eun walked across the lobby after getting off the elevator, she called Madam Cha.
-Yes.
“It’s Joo-eun, Madam.”
-It’s been a while?
“I called because I have something to ask.”
-What is it?
Madam Cha asked brightly.
“I heard Lee Eun-chae is working at Seok-kyung’s company. Did you know about that, Madam?”
-......Who?
Judging by the way her tone dropped, she didn’t know?
“Lee Eun-chae. Seok-kyung’s ex-wife... I guess you didn’t know?”
-There’s nothing to worry about.
“You’re sure I don’t have to worry, right?”
-Yes, don’t worry.
Madam Cha answered firmly.
Joo-eun decided to be satisfied with that answer. She could use Madam Cha to separate Eun-chae without getting her own hands dirty.
“Okay, Madam. Let’s have a meal together sometime.”
-Alright, I’ll contact you.
“Yes. Take care.”
After hanging up, Joo-eun put on a pretty smile again and made another call.
“Honey, it’s me. Do you have time now?... I’m in a really bad mood right now, I want to cheer up with you.”
The man on the phone smiled and told her where to meet.
Joo-eun took a taxi, told the driver her destination, and scoffed, thinking about Seok-kyung.
She thought he was a man who saw women as stones, but he was no different from her.
He wanted to keep his marriage and his lover, Baek Seok-kyung?
But Seok-kyung was mistaken.
Joo-eun had no intention of being caught with another man.
She was confident she could show the image of a wife completely devoted to her husband and family.
And while she could do that, she was someone who absolutely couldn’t stand seeing her man with another woman. That was Joo-eun.
“It’s humiliating.”
How dare he turn his eyes to such a woman, leaving Ha Joo-eun?
She was so stressed that she felt like she needed to spend a secret and passionate night with “honey” today.
________________________________________
“Secretary Lee!”
As soon as she hung up, Madam Cha called her personal secretary loudly.
At her call, Secretary Lee was startled and ran across the living room.
“You called, Madam?”
“What happened to what I told you to look into?”
“Yes?”
“Lee Eun-chae.”
“Oh, I’ll prepare a report and bring it to you right away.”
“Bring it now.”
“Yes, Madam!”
Seeing Secretary Lee hurriedly leave, Madam Cha frowned.
Lee Eun-chae, that sly little thing. There’s definitely something more than just her working at Seok-kyung’s company.
She was so stressed out by the prediction that Eun-chae wouldn’t be able to play the piano anymore due to an accident, and that her family would go bankrupt.
She had placed the most beautiful flower next to Seok-kyung, but that flower had withered in an instant.
More than anyone else, her son Seok-kyung had to be surrounded by flowers at all times.
She couldn’t bear to see his career or reputation tarnished.
She coaxed and persuaded Eun-chae to leave Seok-kyung first. She didn’t know if it would work, but she used the excuse that she could save her father’s company.
Anyway, thanks to that stupid girl giving the excuse that she had a man, Seok-kyung didn’t hold onto Eun-chae.
It was such a relief.
When Seok-kyung asked if it was true, she vaguely said there were witnesses.
She even thought that maybe Eun-chae was having an affair. It was possible, as she was alone and lonely with her husband abroad.
Thinking like that made her resentful, and the thought of putting such a woman next to Seok-kyung was too awful, so she forgot about the promise she had made with Eun-chae.
She deliberately let her fail even more, without offering any help.
And now, after three years, she was back in Seok-kyung’s life.
That damned woman. Why now, at such an important time!
Madam Cha gritted her teeth.
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