II - 12

What kind of Siberian tundra-like situation was this? 

A chilling atmosphere radiated from him, enough to freeze everyone around. 

Startled, I-ryeong blinked her wide eyes and nervously licked her dry lips. 

“Baek Hyun-wook, Team Leader?” 

His gaze was sharp, his voice cutting—like that of a jealous man. 

“When did you return from your business trip?” 

This was a completely different version of I-jun compared to when he was alone with her—180 degrees different. 

“Just now. Since it was lunchtime, I came straight to the cafeteria.” 

Hyun-wook remained calm, responding gently without any sign of panic. 

The only person visibly flustered by the situation was I-ryeong herself. 

“Did you come here for lunch too, Senior Managing Director?” 

“I have to eat to live, don’t I?” 

I-jun fixed his piercing gaze on the two of them sitting close together and took his seat. 

He had arrived late for lunch, only to witness something he wished he hadn’t. 

From afar, seeing the two of them sitting side by side made his insides twist in knots. In a rush, he hastily grabbed some food and hurried over to their table. 

“You two, go ahead and eat.” 

After urging them to continue their meal, I-jun picked up his chopsticks. But as he glanced at his nearly empty tray with just a pile of plain white rice, he began to regret his earlier behavior. 

“No, Senior Managing Director. Your tray is empty.” 

“So what?” 

He snapped unnecessarily at Hyun-wook’s observation. 

“This is enough for me. You two finish your meals.” 

With that, he focused his attention on his tray, picking at the rice absentmindedly. 

I-ryeong couldn’t help but feel uneasy about I-jun. 

She wanted to ask him if he had heard the rumors and what he thought about them. Could they really reveal their relationship and announce their marriage in front of others? 

But his icy expression stopped her from asking anything, leaving her to silently ruminate on her thoughts. 

“Miss Chae I-ryeong, aren’t you eating?” 

“…Huh? Oh, I’m full, so I’ll stop here.” 

By now, she realized he was glaring at her—his arms crossed, his face filled with dissatisfaction. 

“Team Leader Baek.” 

I-ryeong turned her head to look directly at Hyun-wook. 

“You asked if I had a boyfriend, right?” 

Her tone was deliberate, as if ensuring someone specific could hear her clearly. 

“I don’t.” 

It was the truth, so there was nothing to hide. 

There were no messy lies to tack on, leaving her response simple and straightforward. 

“No? Really?” 

Hyun-wook’s face lit up instantly, as if he had been waiting for this answer. 

“Yes, I don’t have a boyfriend.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, I-ryeong couldn’t help but glance at I-jun.

She couldn’t help but check the reaction of the man she was most interested in at that moment—it was unavoidable. 

“Then, I-ryeong, please seriously consider my confession. I’m really good to my woman.” 

Hyun-wook’s excited words barely registered in her ears. 

I-ryeong avoided his gaze and stuffed a large bite of the pile of meat on her plate into her mouth. 

She felt an inexplicable fear toward I-jun, who remained completely expressionless. 

At the same time, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his face. 

Does he even realize how handsome he is? 

She found herself entranced, staring at him despite—or perhaps because of—his cold, indifferent expression. 

I guess I’m the type who falls for looks. 

I-ryeong could feel herself helplessly drawn to him—whether it was his background, his face, or even the fact that he was undeniably great in bed. The more she thought about it, the more suspicious she became: why had this man proposed marriage to her? 

“How about it, I-ryeong? Would you like to give us a try?” 

Startled out of her thoughts by Hyun-wook’s eager voice, I-ryeong parted her lips slightly. 

“I’m sorry, Team Leader. But… I don’t think dating would work for me.” 

“But you said you don’t have a boyfriend. So why is it not possible?” 

I-ryeong, having made up her mind, tightly shut her eyes and took a deep breath. 

“I-I may not have a boyfriend, but I do have a husband!” 

She blurted it out as if she’d gone mad, then fled the scene in fear of the impending backlash. 

“Me… a husband?” 

Rejected after hitting on a married woman, Hyun-wook was utterly dumbfounded by the unexpected revelation. 

“Did you hear that, Senior Managing Director?” 

He looked at I-jun, who remained eerily calm despite the absurdity of the situation they had just witnessed together. 

But I-jun’s eyes began to sparkle with increasing intensity—brighter than the shimmering sand on a summer beach. 

“You mean the part about her having a husband? Oh, I heard it loud and clear.” 

His voice was cheerful, almost buoyant. 

“Do you really believe her? It seems like she’s lying because she doesn’t like me, right? That’s what it looks like to you too, isn’t it?” 

Hyun-wook looked utterly dejected, and I-jun couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for him. 

He hadn’t expected things to unfold this way. If he had, he wouldn’t have wasted his earlier anger. 

“That’s not it.” 

“Not it? So… does that mean what I-ryeong said is true?” 

Hyun-wook bit his lip, unwilling to accept this reality. 

“I happen to know that so-called husband of hers very well.” 

“W-What? You mean… you already knew about this, Senior Managing Director?” 

I-jun no longer saw Hyun-wook’s flustered state—he was lost in thought, gazing intently in the direction where I-ryeong had fled. 

“Miss Chae I-ryeong… she has her cute moments when you get to know her.” 

A faint, dry smile escaped his lips as he stared off into the distance. 

“Huh? C-Cute?” 

Hyun-wook couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A married woman being described as “cute”? And to top it off, seeing the rare smile on the usually stoic Senior Managing Director only reinforced his belief that today’s events were cursed. 

I-ryeong left work on time, stopped by the department store, and headed home. Her cheeks and ears were red from the cold wind, but she didn’t care.

“Hoo…” 

Only after exhaling deeply, releasing the cold air that had seeped deep into her lungs, did I-ryeong survey the empty house. 

The silence of the uncomfortable home weighed heavily on her—it had never once offered her comfort. 

She sank onto the couch, still holding the shopping bag, and focused on the ticking sound of the wall clock’s second hand. 

Tick-tock, tick-tock. The steady rhythm grated on her nerves more than usual today. 

“…” 

Her lips pressed tightly together as she inhaled deeply. A dull ache throbbed in her chest, where a suffocating feeling refused to lift. 

Today was supposed to be the day she announced the monumental news of her upcoming marriage to her parents. 

But with the strained relationship she’d had with them since their last conversation, her mind was tangled in knots. 

Will they be happy? Yes, they’ll definitely be happy. 

If she left home through marriage, her younger brother, Jung-min, could finally move back in. Her stepmother would have no reason to hold back her affection for him, showering him with love without restraint. Surely, they’d be thrilled about this development. 

“Ha…” 

The headache brought on by her self-imposed conclusion forced her to close her eyes and tilt her head back against the couch. 

The incessant ticking of the clock only heightened her sensitivity, making her even more irritable. 

I-ryeong fidgeted with the handle of the shopping bag, trying to distract herself. But the more she tried, the more chaotic her thoughts became, and long-buried emotions began bubbling to the surface. 

“…At the head table, my stepmother will sit, won’t she?” 

Inevitably, her worries turned toward the wedding, and her mind conjured up images of her stepmother. 

“If Mom were still alive, none of this marriage nonsense would even exist.” 

If her biological mother were still around, home wouldn’t feel so unbearable. And if that were the case, she wouldn’t have impulsively accepted I-jun’s proposal either. 

“It’ll be better than this place… surely…” 

Leaving this house to live with I-jun—whether it would be heaven or hell—remained uncertain. 

“He said I’d live with his family. It’ll be different… it has to be.” 

There was no expectation or excitement about the marriage itself. I-jun’s offer was nothing more than an escape route, after all. 

Yet, her chest felt tight, as though something heavy was lodged there. 

Clutching the shopping bag handle tightly, she tried to shake off these troubling thoughts, but even that proved difficult. 

It seemed like the oppressive stillness of this cursed house was to blame for everything. 

“There’s nothing new about any of this.” 

In truth, she had no memories of her biological mother. How could she? Her mother had passed away before I-ryeong could even turn over as a baby. 

During the time when she needed parental affection the most, even her father’s presence had been scarce. 

As an adult, she understood her father’s circumstances and had come to terms with the past. But whenever she thought about her younger self, she couldn’t help but feel a deep sorrow for that lonely child. 

At kindergarten recitals or elementary school entrance ceremonies, she had always been alone. Her father, a single man raising a young daughter, couldn’t attend weekday events. 

She had pretended to be strong, but secretly envied the bouquets her friends received. Before her father came home late at night, she would often cry silently into her pillowcase. 

Back then, she had thought it was normal. Even now, remembering those days made her heart ache with guilt for her younger self. 

“What’s really the problem here?” 

She had already decided to step aside for her father, stepmother, and their only son, Jung-min. 

So why did her heart feel so unsettled? 

‘Jung-min is a senior in high school now. Wouldn’t it be nice to bring him back home?’ 

Her father’s request from a while ago suddenly resurfaced in her mind. She realized how much that request had been tormenting her all along.

Perhaps she had effectively rejected her father’s request—one he had likely agonized over for a long time—all because of petty jealousy toward a mere nineteen-year-old. 

“It’s just that we spend so much time at the store, so I thought you could look after Jung-min from time to time.” 

She had grown up alone, so why did Jung-min deserve special protection? Her mind understood, but her heart refused to accept it. 

“Am I really such a terrible daughter?” 

In the end, she bit down hard on her trembling lips. 

The only thing she had ever opposed her father on was his remarriage. 

Why did he have to rush into remarriage over Jung-min’s elementary school enrollment right when she was struggling with college entrance exams? Resentment bubbled within her. 

He had never cared whether she had entered or graduated school—why now, and why for Jung-min? 

“…Anyone would think I’m someone else’s child.” 

The kindness her father never showed her was lavished on Jung-min, fueling her twisted anger even more. 

“I’m so irritated. So irritated I feel like I’m going crazy.” 

With these conflicted emotions swirling inside her, she felt no real conviction about pushing through with the marriage. But the reasons to leave this house were piling up faster than she could count. 

A deep desire to escape to I-jun—to someone who knew nothing of her past—began to take root. She craved the chance to breathe freely, to hope again. 

“Senior Managing Director Seo I-jun. Seo I-jun, Seo I-jun. Mr. I-jun.” 

She cautiously called out his name, though she expected it to feel uncomfortable. 

He had promised to be someone she could lean on, someone she could depend on—and just calling his name already made her feel stronger. 

“Oppa. Calling me ‘oppa’ works too.” 

A man who said she could call him whatever she wanted, as long as it felt comfortable. 

A small, selfish part of her wanted to lean on I-jun, to set down—at least a little—the heavy burden she had been carrying all this time.