II - 3

I-ryeong didn’t move from her room all weekend. She only sighed, recalling the stormy events of last weekend.

Although she had been lying still in bed for two whole days, the shame didn’t subside.

“Disgrace. Disgrace. Utter disgrace!”

Even shouting at the top of her lungs at the ceiling didn’t make her feel any better.

‘Never forget that this kind of look only stimulates men more.’

Frankly, she had been more than halfway swayed by the Executive Director. She had thought he was deliberately trying to seduce her.

‘Did you really think I would actually kiss you?’

His lingering voice echoed in her mind.

“Chae I-ryeong! You’ve gone crazy! You’re insane!”

She felt like she would go crazy from embarrassment.

So, she decided to think about Dong-ha instead. That guy, she couldn’t even chew him out enough to feel satisfied.

She tried to erase the Executive Director from her mind by also thinking about Ari, who had now become her arch-enemy from being a colleague.

“You bad guy... and you even got her pregnant?”

The two of them, looking at each other affectionately.

There was no one to blame. She was the most foolish for not realizing her boyfriend was cheating.

“Haa...”

A sigh escaped from her lips, which had been muttering curses about Dong-ha.

They had gone from friends to lovers, and then she was unilaterally dumped.

“You bad bastard.”

Eventually, her throat tightened, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“I should have dumped him first. I should have first...”

Empty cries filled the room.

Three months since she transferred to AE Cosmetics. She had been incredibly busy since she started as a non-regular employee.

Using work as an excuse, she reduced the number of times she met Dong-ha. She had thought he understood her circumstances, but she was mistaken.

He had ended up sleeping with her friend.

“Ha, let’s stop. We’re over anyway...”

They had become irrevocably separated. The fact that they were even having a child took away her will to argue.

I-ryeong sat up, leaning against the headboard of her bed.

Before she knew it, the darkness of a winter night was thickly clinging to the window.

“...This won’t do.”

She got out of bed and picked up the phone she had thrown aside. After glaring at the phone, which had been turned off since Friday night, she finally turned it on after some hesitation.

[You were cheating on me behind my back, weren’t you?]

[Who is that guy?]

[Did you bring that guy on purpose?]

[I thought you were quiet, but you’re quite loose, aren’t you?]

No matter how many times she reread them, the sender was Dong-ha.

Thinking that his harsh words that had poured down on her that day were not just said in a fit of anger but were his true feelings sent chills down her spine.

“...Crazy bastard.”

Like attracts like. A curse came out of her mouth naturally at the absurdity.

Overcome with rising annoyance, she deleted all the messages he had sent. Even all the previous messages.

After that, I-ryeong finalized the breakup by blocking his phone number.

“Don’t ever think about him again. If I think about such a jerk again….”

She resolved to herself that she would become just as crazy and sat on the edge of her bed.

And she fell into silence, just blankly staring out the window.

When did winter arrive like this? She had been so busy learning her new job and going on business trips that winter was almost over.

“I’m doing well. I just need to hang in there….”

Her calm voice filled the room before soon becoming quiet.

She closed her eyes and fell into silence. She could feel the quiet atmosphere of the house.

Her parents, who ran a snack bar nearby, went out early in the morning and came back after midnight, regardless of whether it was the weekend or not.

The quietness felt even greater today, making her feel deeply lonely.

“Let’s get moving.”

She couldn’t just indulge in sentimentality and laze around forever.

She gathered her long hair and tied it up in a bun. A few strands of baby hair escaped from her slender, fair neckline.

“I should eat something first.”

Hunger belatedly washed over her.

“Spicy chicken feet? Spicy pasta also looks good.”

She was engrossed in choosing a menu after turning on the delivery app.

Knock knock- She shifted her gaze to the door at the knock. She knew who the visitor was without having to ask.

“Yes. Come in.”

As soon as I-ryeong gave her permission, the door carefully opened.

It was her younger brother, Jung-min, who would soon be taking his college entrance exams.

“Noona. I brought some tteokbokki from the store. Would you like some?”

Jung-min shook the tteokbokki he had brought from their parents’ store.

“I’m okay, so don’t worry about me and eat it.”

“There’s a lot for me to eat alone. I’ll put some aside for you. Please have some too, Noona.”

Jung-min was being cautious as always.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten all weekend….”

Jung-min, who was her stepmother’s son, came home every weekend. It had been 10 years already, but he always kept his eyes downcast and avoided eye contact.

“Then, put some aside and eat. I’ll eat it later if I feel like it.”

She gave Jung-min, who was always so cautious, a smile for the first time today.

“Then, Noona! Mom gave me some kimbap separately. Please have this at least.”

At I-ryeong’s smile, her younger brother also smiled with his eyes and shook the black bag again.

She couldn’t refuse even that. She felt sorry for Jung-min, who had been living apart from his mother for 10 years, always being mindful of his stepfather and his stepsister.

“Then, I’ll just eat this. Thank you for bringing it.”

Actually, kimbap wasn’t on the snack bar’s menu. But she knew that her mother had made it separately for her son who came on weekends and her daughter with whom she had been awkward for 10 years.

“Would you like some water or cola? You’ll get thirsty if you only eat kimbap.”

Jung-min looked excited at a glance. Even though he had only received one roll of kimbap.

“I’ll drink water, Noona. Could I ask you for that?”

“Yes! I’ll bring it right away.”

Jung-min, who was easily over 180 centimeters tall with long legs, strode into the kitchen.

‘When did that kid grow up so much?’

I-ryeong’s mind was complicated as she looked at Jung-min.

The year she became a senior in high school, her father hastily remarried. She had vented her entrance exam stress on her father, asking why it had to be now of all times.

As a result, the two of them tied the knot, leaving Jung-min, who was only eight years old, behind.

It was the result of her raising a fuss, saying that he could remarry, but he absolutely shouldn’t bring Jung-min, her stepmother’s child.

“Noona, here you go. Drink whatever you want.”

Jung-min fussed over I-ryeong just like her former stepmother used to.

“Why did you bring three cups? Since you gave them to me, I’ll drink them all this time.”

He had brought three cups of water: cold, warm, and lukewarm.

Where could there be greater consideration than this?

“Thank you. Tell your mother I enjoyed it.”

“Yes. I will.”

Seeing Jung-min smiling brightly made her heart even more complicated.

If they were going to live together like this, why had she been so stubborn back then?

She had lost her mother at birth. There had been severe bleeding during childbirth, and her mother had left this world, leaving only a newborn.

Not having a mother from birth was a different problem from living apart from a mother who existed.

She felt a great sense of guilt towards Jung-min, who turned around after closing the door.

“He’s not even my real brother… This is how it should be.”

There was no way to lessen her guilt. However, she felt uncomfortable suddenly bridging the 10-year gap.

Alone in her room, she unwrapped the kimbap.

“Why did she remember this again?”

It was tuna kimbap, which she had mentioned in passing sometime.

Forcing back the tears that were welling up, she stuffed the kimbap into her mouth. When her throat became dry, she drank the water Jung-min had given her and finished it all.

After filling her stomach like that, she leaned back against the headboard of her bed. Now that she was full, many stray thoughts came to mind again.

“Why did the Executive Director come to the restaurant?”

Without realizing it, she thought of Executive Director Seo I-jun. And she remembered the fragrance he had exuded.

‘If I were to kiss you right now, would I become the worst jerk to you?’

She pressed her lips together, recalling what I-jun had said. Her lips, which felt warm, were soft.

“Did he go on a blind date?”

As befitting an executive director of a beauty company, he smelled nice when he came close.

“He’s thirty, so he could have.”

She touched her lips, growing more curious about I-jun.

He was popular with the employees.

He was highly trusted by the male employees for his exceptional drive, and he was exceptionally popular with the female employees, like a unicorn.

“Because he’s also the successor.”

Lee Jung-ae, the CEO of AE Cosmetics, was his mother. It was the prevailing opinion that he, the second son, would become the CEO after his mother, surpassing his incompetent older brother.

The tint that he had participated in developing and directly planned the marketing for became a huge hit, making a big impact and establishing himself without relying on his mother’s influence.

There were no surprises in his rise to the position of executive director.

“I, I think I’ve gone crazy.”

I-ryeong was surprised at herself. She didn’t know she would remember I-jun’s personal details, which she had only heard in passing, in such detail.

‘Do you want to kiss me?’

His handsome face shone even in the darkness.

The situation where she had taken his words seriously, not realizing it was a joke, played out in her mind.

The hand that had been caressing her lips stopped.

“I’m really crazy.”

Her earlobes and the back of her neck burned.

‘I had no intention of kissing Ms. Chae I-ryeong. What were you thinking?’

Her face flushed at the thought of going to work tomorrow.

Although they were on the same team, they didn’t actually interact much. During her three-month probationary period, the business trip last Friday was the first time she had worked with him.

“Aah! How am I supposed to go to work!”

She kicked the blanket with her feet and punched the air wildly.

She could just go to work in the morning and then go on a business trip. Even so, the thought of having to be in the same space as I-jun for that short amount of time made her feel like she was going crazy.

“Why did I close my eyes!”

Thinking about how she had closed her eyes and offered her lips made her want to hide in a mouse hole.

“This is all the Executive Director’s fault. Why did he….”

Why did he approach her as if he was going to kiss her, making her confused?

Why did he breathe so closely, making her expect something and putting her in a difficult position?

‘It seems it’s not a good idea to tease you here.’

Then, she remembered his gentle touch. Even the way her heart had melted at his careful touch.

Eventually, I-ryeong tightly closed her eyes in the empty space.

She couldn’t understand how she had become so hot, as if she had a fever. It had only been two days since she had gone through the breakup.

She found it difficult to understand why she was overwhelmed with heat just by thinking about the Executive Director, with whom she had had no prior contact.