II - 50

I-ryeong was torn between confessing everything to I-jun before he heard the rumors or leaving things as they were, fearing that bringing it up might only make matters worse if he wasn’t even aware of them.

Caught in her thoughts, she could neither avoid the situation nor look away from Hyun-wook.

Just then, I-jun happened to walk into the marketing department but immediately turned around upon seeing the two of them so close together.

Passing through the hallway and exiting through the emergency exit, I-jun stopped abruptly halfway up the stairs. Bathed in the sunlight pouring through the large windows, he exhaled a deep sigh.

“…Were they always this close?”

Now that he thought about it, he had occasionally noticed the two of them together.

Baek Hyun-wook’s reputation in the team was good, and his work ethic was excellent, which was why he had been chosen as I-ryeong’s senior when she was assigned to the marketing team. I-jun had trusted him to handle things without much oversight—a decision born out of complacency.

It felt like he had shot himself in the foot.

“What business did they have being so close anyway?”

Unlike other departments, the marketing team’s desks had no partitions. This was something he had implemented after suddenly being appointed head of the department.

The marketing team had been underperforming, so he introduced the open layout to boost morale and foster camaraderie among the members. He had even removed the partition from his own desk and worked alongside them.

At the time, he thought it was a brilliant idea.

“Was I wrong?”

It felt like a crack had appeared in his otherwise flawless life.

His temples throbbed, and he pressed his fingers firmly against them. The rapid beating of his pulse reverberated through his fingertips.

“Hah, I’m losing my mind.”

He couldn’t stay by the emergency exit forever, so he forced himself to resume climbing the stairs. But even that didn’t last long—he stopped again after barely reaching halfway.

The image of I-ryeong not resisting Baek Hyun-wook’s touch lingered vividly in his mind, as though it were happening right before his eyes.

At the same time, an unbearable heat surged through his lower body.

“Damn it.”

Just thinking about it aroused him.

I-jun violently shook his head, trying to erase the lingering image of his wife and Baek Hyun-wook sitting side by side. But the more he tried, the clearer the scene became.

Bending over, he expelled the uncomfortable breath stuck in his throat onto the floor, as if vomiting it out. But the suffocation refused to fade.

“This is the office. The office.”

He spat out his rough voice along with his breath.

He knew perfectly well that it was normal for colleagues to sit and eat together at work.

And yet, here he was, seething with anger, his face burning red.

He had only glimpsed them for less than five seconds.

“Am I really going crazy?”

Even to himself, his reaction seemed absurd. It was as if he had caught them in the act of infidelity.

Running his hands through his hair in frustration, I-jun tried to clear his mind.

“I’m really losing it…”

His hand paused mid-motion, then dropped heavily onto his forehead.

The large palm covering his forehead made him feel even stranger, as if he were jealous of them.

“Damn it!”

Gritting his teeth, he quickly climbed the remaining stairs and headed toward his executive office. By now, he was too agitated to remember why he had gone to the marketing department in the first place.

The sound of his heavy footsteps echoed down the marble-floored hallway. Roughly smoothing his disheveled hair, he forcefully opened the door to his office.

Waiting alone outside was his secretary, who had just finished eating.

“Kim Secretary?”

He called out to him before entering the office.

“Yes, Vice President!”

The young secretary sprang to his feet with vigor. AE Cosmetics was his first job, and working in the Vice President’s office was his first assignment—I-jun had personally recruited him.

“Contact the general affairs department and request partitions for all the desks in the marketing team. Immediately.”

“Yes, understood!”

The secretary’s face lit up with excitement. After a month of working together, this was the first direct order he had received from I-jun.

After sending the secretary off to the general affairs department, I-jun entered his cold, monochromatic office, his expression matching its sterile atmosphere.

He should have started his afternoon tasks, but the image of the two sitting so close wouldn’t leave his mind.

Standing in front of the large window overlooking Seoul, he tapped the glass sharply with his index finger.

Why hadn’t I-ryeong pulled away from Baek Hyun-wook’s hand?

The realization that he had fled the scene without even looking at her face filled him with regret.

“Hah, seriously.”

Overwhelmed by a twisting sensation in his gut, he turned away from the window. Leaning on the stiff backrest of the sofa, he let out a long sigh, but the heaviness in his chest refused to lift.

Lost in a labyrinth of confusion, he struggled to find a way to calm his strange emotions.

Just then, his phone, which he had tossed onto the desk earlier, caught his eye.

[Come up after work.]

Without hesitation, he sent the message.

As he waited for a reply, he repeatedly slapped the phone against his palm.

[Is there something urgent? Let’s meet at home.]

Her calm response arrived as if nothing was wrong.

Her polite rejection left him feeling uneasy.

[Let’s go home together.]

His finger hovered awkwardly over the screen, sticky with uncertainty. Since giving her the car, they had been commuting separately.

[Sorry, I need to stop by my parents’ house after work. I’ll go ahead.]

But her final message hardened his wavering heart.

I-jun hesitated, wondering whether to send another message, but eventually gave up.

Time passed unnoticed, and the setting sun spilled through the window, signaling evening.

Glancing absentmindedly at his phone, which he had ignored while staring at the monitor, he noticed there were no missed messages from I-ryeong.

Disappointment flooded his face, betraying the hope he hadn’t realized he’d been harboring.

“I’m leaving.”

Leaving the office, he informed his secretary of his departure and took the elevator down to the first floor.

The lobby was bustling with employees rushing to leave, and outside the main entrance, Driver Kim was waiting.

“Did she leave already?”

I-jun climbed into the backseat and inquired about I-ryeong’s whereabouts.

“The young mistress’s car is still in the parking lot.”

“Did she leave work?”

This morning, she had driven to work in the car he gifted her.

“Yes, I was informed that she left for the day.”

“What’s her schedule like?”

The report that she had left her car behind stirred up the frustration he had been trying to suppress.

“I haven’t received any updates on her schedule after leaving work. Shall I confirm with Madam?”

“No, leave it.”

He thought she might have gone to her parents’ house as she said—but at the same time, an unsettling suspicion crept in.

What if the two of them, who had seemed so close, had left together?

I-ryeong spent the remaining hours of work drenched in cold sweat down her spine.

Just two more hours, one more hour, thirty more minutes... The moment the clock struck 6:00 PM, signaling the end of the workday, she bolted out of the office as fast as she could.

None of her teammates gave her any suspicious looks or comments. Surely they had seen the company bulletin board, yet they remained silent.

Their silence felt even more terrifying. At least if someone had asked her outright whether the rumors were true...

But then again, even if someone had asked, she probably wouldn’t have had the courage to answer and would have fled instead.

Unable to muster the courage to go to the underground parking lot, she headed straight to the lobby, exited through the main gate, and quickly walked toward a bus stop far from the headquarters.

The muggy air the team members had joked about earlier seeped deep into her lungs.

The suffocating feeling was unbearable—but somehow, it felt less oppressive than the strange, indescribable tension she had felt at the office.

The bus stop, crowded with people commuting home, buzzed with activity.

I-ryeong mingled among them, breathing heavily. The realization that these strangers had nothing to do with her brought a fleeting sense of relief.

In the distance, she spotted the bus heading toward her old neighborhood—the one she used to take frequently before getting married. A wave of nostalgia hit her, but she didn’t board it.

She had told I-jun she was going to her parents’ house, but it was a lie. When the bus heading toward Dogok-dong approached, she waved it down.

I-ryeong was the first to board. She swiped her wallet over the card reader.

“Please tap only one card at a time.”

A warning beep indicated her card hadn’t been read.

Startled, she fumbled nervously and stepped aside to let other passengers pay.

An action that had once been effortless before marriage now felt foreign.

“My apologies. Please go ahead.”

She hastily opened her wallet to check her cards.

Inside were neatly arranged cards she had never used—family cards issued to her after marriage.

“Ah, found it.”

I-ryeong pulled out her old, worn-out card and tapped it against the reader. A confirmation tone signaled the fare had been paid.

When had she started acting like this, flustered over something so trivial? Mocking herself, she forced a bitter smile and took a seat in the very back.

The ride from the office to Dogok-dong usually took about an hour, meaning today’s commute was over 30 minutes longer than usual.

“Summer has arrived.”

As the bus sped past the forest of skyscrapers, the sun still hung low in the sky. With summer approaching, the days were growing longer, and sunsets came later.

I-ryeong tried desperately to clear her mind by focusing on the scenery, but her thoughts refused to settle, leaving her tormented.

The person binding her most tightly—and cruelly—was I-jun. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he must have seen the post, given how public it was.

The bus was cool with the air conditioning on, but her lips were parched, and her clasped hands were slick with sticky sweat.

The roads were congested with cars rushing home, prolonging her journey and amplifying her anxiety.

Before she knew it, she had arrived in Dogok-dong and stepped off the bus. Checking her phone, she saw it was well past 7:00 PM.

It would take at least 30 minutes to walk from the bus stop to the mansion. She hadn’t realized how far it was when she used to travel comfortably by car.

I-ryeong didn’t hurry her steps. Instead, she moved slowly, deliberately. Despite her attempts to organize her thoughts along the way, clarity eluded her.