55. Hospital Visit

“Here is today’s schedule.”

The listless secretarial staff reported their tasks as usual, making it an ordinary morning like any other.

Soohyun, receiving the reports from his secretaries, was unlike his usual self, unable to concentrate at all.

Haein’s voice and face kept overlapping with the faces and voices of his secretaries.

‘Thank you for saying thank you.’

The face that greeted him, looking at him, wouldn’t leave his mind. No matter where he looked, her lingering image was imprinted in his vision.

That moment when a single word of thanks brought a tear trickling down her cheek. Her gaze, her face.

Quite some time had passed since then, but whenever he thought of Haein, her expression from that day naturally came to mind.

“...That’s all.”

Even after all the reports were finally finished, Soohyun stood like a stone statue, offering no particular response.

The secretaries, who had been standing in a row before Soohyun, waited for a long time before exchanging glances and looking at their superior, trying to gauge his mood.

“Director?”

Chief Choi, unable to wait any longer, stepped forward and called Soohyun.

“Ah.”

Only then did the focus return to his somewhat hazy eyes.

“Proceed with the schedule as planned. And what about the Hannam-dong schedule for today?”

The Hannam-dong schedule was his way of asking about Haein’s schedule. Chief Choi replied as if he had been waiting for the question.

“She will be going to the hospital again this morning.”

These days, Haein was going to the hospital almost every day. It was a routine that didn’t require separate inquiries, but Soohyun still confirmed it once more.

“And?”

“Her return schedule is yet to be determined.”

Soohyun’s gaze, while receiving the secretary’s report, reached Seyoung, who was standing at the very end. Im Seyoung had been keeping a very low profile lately, quiet as a mouse.

She came to the director’s office every morning with the other secretaries to give the work report, but she rarely encountered Soohyun otherwise.

The faint smile that usually graced her face turned icy the moment Soohyun’s gaze fell on her. Seyoung, whose eyes met Soohyun’s, quickly lowered her gaze, and Soohyun also turned away.

“Lunch?”

“She still takes her meals at the hospital cafeteria.”

Soohyun dismissed the rest of the secretaries with a gesture while talking to Chief Choi. Seyoung, who was the last to leave the director’s office, however, stood by the door, listening to the conversation flowing from inside.

“Could you send some lunch over again today? I wonder which lunch box would be good.”

“How about the place you went to for the TKT buyer meeting last time?”

“Ah, that place would be good. Please take care of it.”

“Understood.”

Soon after, Seyoung quickly returned to her seat at the sound of Chief Choi’s footsteps.

“Chief, what should we do about the documents you asked me to bring to you directly today, as you mentioned yesterday?”

Seyoung approached Chief Choi, reminding him about delivering important documents, which was unfinished business from the previous day. It was something that could have been sent by quick service without her going in person, but she added a little lie.

The company in question was not far from Taeseong Medical Center.

“Really? Is there no one else besides Ms. Seyoung?”

Chief Choi looked around at the other secretaries and asked.

There had been a big commotion in the director’s office due to Seyoung visiting Soohyun’s house without permission before. From Chief Choi’s perspective, it was bound to be uncomfortable for Seyoung to interfere in Soohyun’s personal affairs again.

“Secretary Park is scheduled to go to the head office for lunch... ha.”

Chief Choi sighed, looking around at the secretaries for an alternative. A different secretary was sent for lunch delivery each time, but there was no one available today.

Seyoung, who knew him, waited for Chief Choi’s next words with a pounding heart.

“Then, Ms. Seyoung, would you mind taking care of lunch? As it happens, that company is close to Taeseong Medical Center.”

A sinister smile spread across Seyoung’s face at the answer she had been waiting for.

“Yes.”

“But please, don’t cause any trouble. Understood?”

“Of course.”

Seyoung nodded repeatedly and smiled at Chief Choi’s words.

***

Following Chief Choi’s instructions, Seyoung left the company right before lunch and headed to the hospital after stopping by a restaurant.

The lunch box that Chief Choi ordered under Soohyun’s name was specially prepared by the restaurant and came in a heavy traditional tiffin carrier. It was quite heavy, and sweat broke out on her forehead as she carried it and walked.

‘Now I can’t even go to his house. What a predicament I’m in.’

Her arm ached as if it would fall off while she stood waiting for the elevator.

‘Still, I have to see him and say at least one thing.’

Seyoung had been severely reprimanded for visiting Soohyun’s house with documents last time. Soohyun had yelled at her so loudly when he called her to his office that her ears had almost burst.

Fortunately, she hadn’t been fired, but she had received a warning never to visit his house without permission again. He had also said it was the last time.

The problem was that Woosik had told Seyoung to somehow drive a wedge between Haein and Soohyun.

‘But how on earth?’

She couldn’t go to his house, and she couldn’t even accompany him directly because she hadn’t gained Soohyun’s trust, so meeting Haein seemed impossible.

‘Use your head, you blockhead.’

She had complained to Woosik several times about what to do, but all she got in return were curses, so she hadn’t brought it up since.

“What business do you have here?”

When she went up to the floor with VIP patient rooms, the security guards blocking the entrance stopped Seyoung with an overbearing attitude as soon as the elevator doors opened.

“I’m here to deliver a lunch box to the madam on Director Jung Soohyun’s errand.”

Seyoung said, shaking the paper bag she was holding, and the security guards checked her employee ID before letting her through.

Madam.

The word “madam” that came out of her own mouth felt prickly and unpleasant. It was something that should have been hers.

Yes, it was a word that rightfully should have been hers.

Seyoung, passing leisurely through the retreating security guards, glanced at them slightly.

Of course, it wasn’t that she particularly loved Soohyun or desired him as a person. Whether it was Jung Daeho or Jung Soohyun, it was enough for her to keep any man from the Taeseong family between her legs.

However.

Yoon Haein herself wasn’t from a particularly distinguished family, and wasn’t she more like a puppet doll that Chairman Park had carefully chosen to play with as she pleased?

But when Seyoung thought that this woman, who wasn’t even as privileged as she was, having grown up alongside the children of the Taeseong family, was in a better position, the lunch box in her hand suddenly felt heavier. She felt annoyed.

After all, Seyoung was nothing more and nothing less than Jung Daeho’s mistress.

Knock, knock.

She knocked on the hospital room door and stepped inside.

The interior of the hospital room, which she was visiting for the first time, was as well-furnished as a decent hotel suite. Thanks to the luxurious-looking interior, it hardly felt like a hospital room.

“The director sent this lunch box for you.”

Seyoung said somewhat curtly, placing the lunch box on a table near the door.

“The director?”

Haein, who had been sitting with her back to the door, stood up and turned around at Seyoung’s words. And recognizing that the person who spoke to her was Seyoung, she frowned.

“You’re here again.”

“It’s not like I came to a place I shouldn’t have. And it’s not like I wanted to come.”

She did want to come, but the coldness of Haein’s attitude made her feel even angrier. Who does this little nobody think she is? The thought surged up from within.

“Then please leave.”

Haein glanced at the lunch box on the table and said coldly.

But Seyoung couldn’t just leave like that. Since she had come, she had to say something and go. Something that would make Haein misunderstand Soohyun, just as Woosik had said.

“Do you know what?”

At Seyoung’s words, Haein, who had been about to turn away, stopped. And she stared at Seyoung, waiting for her next words.

“Actually, the Chairman put me in as his secretary so I could get along well with Senior Soohyun.”

However, Haein’s face showed no reaction to Seyoung’s words. Her pale forehead wrinkled slightly, but it wasn’t the reaction Seyoung had expected.

“Right now, you’re sitting here as his wife, but you never know what might happen, do you?”

Since Haein’s reaction wasn’t satisfactory at all, Seyoung started rambling. But even so, she didn’t deviate much from what she had said last time. She felt a sense of impatience, as if she hadn’t taken the lead.

Haein, who should have been provoked, remained calm, and it was Seyoung who was getting increasingly agitated.

“Senior Soohyun doesn’t really have a choice either. My grandfather has a special relationship with the Chairman.”

As she kept talking, her anxiety grew. The atmosphere was flowing in the same direction as the day she had come to find Haein with the documents.

If she caused another scene, she would really get fired this time.

Having blurted out too much, she began to worry about the aftermath. This wasn’t what she had intended.

She should have used her head, said only the things that would sow discord, and then turned around, but it didn’t work out as she had planned. Moreover, Yoon Haein was just looking at Seyoung with a calm face even after hearing these words.

Seyoung, who had been fidgeting and babbling, bit her lip and closed her mouth, and then Haein, who had been listening, opened her mouth.

“Are you finished?”

“......?”

Seyoung’s bewildered eyes turned towards Haein.

“I was just thinking about why I have to listen to such rude words from Ms. Im Seyoung.”

“Rude words? No, I just meant to tell you to face reality a bit...”

“No.”

Haein cut off Seyoung’s words and continued.

“I felt it when you came before too, but it seems like Ms. Im Seyoung wants to plant something in my heart.”

“Plant what?”

“Disbelief in my husband, maybe?”

Caught off guard, Seyoung could only blink, unable to say anything for a moment. She felt as if she had been struck by a sudden blow from the woman she thought was docile.

“Ms. Seyoung. Even if my husband and I get divorced, that’s my business, and if you think that my husband would then take a woman who sleeps around with his cousin as his wife, you’re greatly mistaken.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Haein had roughly figured it out during their last meeting, but when directly pointed out, Im Seyoung couldn’t even counterattack. She just raised her voice and insisted it wasn’t true.

“What am I talking about? I know all about the inappropriate relationship you’re having.”

“Don’t lie! What nonsense are you talking about!”

“I saw it with my own eyes. You know better than anyone whether it’s a lie or not.”

“What?”

As Seyoung’s voice grew louder and louder, loud enough to leak out of the door, the security guard who had been outside came in.

“Madam. Is everything alright?”

“Please escort this person out. This is a place where patients need to rest, and it’s noisy.”

“Wait, just a moment!”

It was Seyoung who became frantic as the security guard approached.