Embedded Files
Psst! We're moving!
“Dojun-ssi……”
He showed his emotions for the first time in front of Haejoo. So directly and honestly.
His desperation, like someone standing on the edge of a cliff, was so profound it was immeasurable, and Haejoo’s heart swelled.
She wondered if this symptom was normal.
“What happened with the director while I was gone?”
Dojun stood askew. The way he licked his lower lip made him look like he would explode at the slightest touch.
Dojun didn’t say anything.
He seemed to be suppressing his anger, so Haejoo waited quietly.
“I won’t tell you the reason. Just don’t go.”
Haejoo was also in a difficult position.
Even during their call yesterday, Jinhan had only suggested having tea separately after the meal.
But then he suddenly brought up work and told her to come to the office.
This charity fashion show and party were hosted by the L luxury brand, and the head designer would be attending.
Haejoo had also received an invitation early on and knew she had to go, so it wasn’t as if she had no work.
“Dojun-ssi.”
“What?”
“I’ll stop by the office, just check the outfits, and come back. That’s okay, right?”
“Do you really not know why Director Yoo Jinhan wants to see you separately?”
“He’s just very fond of me.”
“If he’s so fond of you, why didn’t he say anything about wanting to revise the racy scenes in the movie?”
“That part is…….”
Haejoo was an actress under GN Entertainment. As long as she was under contract, she had a responsibility to be diligent.
However, it wasn’t like Jinhan to call Haejoo to the office without saying anything beforehand.
Haejoo had been able to work with him because of his planned and mannerly way of handling work, so this was unexpected.
“Go if you want.”
Dojun turned away completely.
Seeing how clearly upset he was, Haejoo calmly persuaded him.
“Just know that I’m not just being dragged around by the company either.”
“What?”
“I mean that my relationship with Director Yoo Jinhan is nothing more or less than a business relationship.”
“…….”
“Originally, he just suggested having tea separately after the meal, so I only thought he had something to say.”
She couldn’t deceive Dojun’s eyes. Jinhan saw Haejoo as a woman, not just an actress under his agency.
“So, you’re still going?”
“Since he suddenly wants to see me for work, shouldn’t I at least pretend to go?”
Haejoo was a respectable member of society. She was involved in relationships and couldn’t just live doing only what she wanted.
Dojun didn’t want Haejoo to experience such uncomfortable daily life. He could handle such things on his own.
“Is that what you want as an actress?”
“It’s the first time I’ve felt special because of my work.”
He had waited for Haejoo all this time. Couldn’t he wait for this one thing?
Who didn’t know that all it would take was a little more suffering and loneliness?
Because he liked it.
Because he liked you, Haejoo…… liked you madly.
In the end, Dojun lost again today.
“Go on. Do your work well.”
“I’ll just pick out the outfits and come right back.”
“Nothing too revealing.”
“Something appropriate.”
“Cover your shoulders, back, and thighs completely.”
Haejoo’s sharp eyes glared at Dojun.
He was still an actor, so what was she supposed to wear if she took out all those things?
“That’s the condition for me letting you go.”
“……Okay.”
“I’ll go first.”
“How are you planning to go?”
“By walking.”
“Wait a moment! I’ll give you a ride to the office.”
Dojun reluctantly got into the passenger seat.
Haejoo, feeling somewhat relieved, got into the driver’s seat and fastened her seatbelt.
“Let’s go.”
Haejoo pulled out onto the narrow road without a sidewalk.
She drove slowly, avoiding oncoming cars and pedestrians.
Just then, there was a car speeding up behind them on the not-so-wide road. It stuck close and honked loudly and frighteningly.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Haejoo checked the car behind her in the rearview mirror. Even though it was a road with a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour, the car kept honking as if they weren’t going fast enough, hurting her ears.
Eventually, it recklessly crossed the center line and pulled up next to Haejoo’s car.
The driver rolled down his window and immediately started yelling.
“Hey, seriously! Lady, why are you blocking the road and making a fuss? If you can’t drive, just stay home and raise your kids.”
Startled by the abusive language, Haejoo hit the brakes. The moment she rolled down her window, dumbfounded, Dojun opened the car door.
“Dojun-ssi!”
“Don’t you get out.”
Dojun got out of the car.
The driver who had been pointing his finger at them turned pale when he saw Dojun with his fierce, grayish-brown eyes.
He was intimidated by Dojun’s physique and height, which were beyond what an average person could match.
“Say that again.”
“Ah, that’s not it. I was a bit busy, so my words were a bit…….”
Dojun leaned down and rested his arm on the window of the other car. The driver, who had shrunk back, could only swallow dryly.
“Give me your car keys.”
“Huh? Why, why?”
“Should I take the black box file of your abusive language just now and hand it over to the police?”
“I made a mistake. Please let it go just this once.”
The man belatedly groveled.
But that didn’t erase the abusive language he had hurled at Haejoo.
“The car keys!”
The driver tearfully handed over the car keys as if forced to eat mustard.
Dojun, after looking around at the heavily customized car, threw the keys far away into a pile of trash.
“Get lost.”
Dojun turned around and returned to Haejoo’s side. He fastened his seatbelt as if nothing had happened and loosened his tie slightly.
“Aren’t you going?”
“Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. Let’s go.”
Looking back, the driver who had used abusive language was running frantically to find his car keys. To make matters worse, he had parked his car across the center line.
He cursed under his breath, enduring the insults from the oncoming drivers.
Haejoo’s car entered the main road as if to show off.
She had something to say to Dojun but couldn’t bring herself to do it, only moving her lips.
“What do you want to say?”
“Well.”
“Say it.”
“Sometimes when I see you, Dojun-ssi, you seem a bit crazy.”
Haejoo glanced at Dojun, even after saying it.
“Not in a bad way.”
Dojun’s sharp gaze pierced Haejoo.
Just as she was about to apologize for her mistake, he spoke in a monotone voice.
“This is a lot better now.”
“Yes?”
“Pull over up ahead.”
Haejoo parked the car in front of Jino Group.
He unfastened his seatbelt and, before getting out, softened his tone and asked.
“See you at home.”
“Okay.”
Dojun went into the building.
She wondered how he had built such a large company with such a fiery temper.
A message from Jinhan asking if she was on her way came on her phone. Haejoo was about to reply but instead started the car again.
A while later, she arrived at GN Entertainment and went straight to the costume room.
“What brings you here on the weekend, sis?”
Minhee, who was working on the costumes, greeted her with surprise.
Haejoo looked around the cluttered space and gave a bright smile.
“The director called me. Where is he?”
“Director is here too? I didn’t see him.”
“I’ll go check his office.”
“Okay.”
Haejoo turned around.
She was about to go up the stairs when she asked Minhee.
“By the way, about the charity fashion show costumes in a few days. Can I see them today?”
“You can see them, but more items will be coming in. I was planning to contact you on Monday.”
“Okay.”
Haejoo’s bright expression faded. She let out a sigh that was close to a breath and went to Jinhan’s office.
“Director?”
“Why are you so late?”
“I got into a bit of an argument with another car on the way.”
“An argument? With whom?”
“It’s resolved, so don’t worry.”
He hadn’t called Haejoo in because of the costumes.
If it was just because of a power struggle with Dojun, she couldn’t just let it go.
“Were you surprised that I suddenly called you to the office?”
“A little.”
“I also called you because there’s something urgent I need to discuss separately.”
“Discuss? What…….”
Jinhan got up from his seat.
He put water in the kettle and asked Haejoo.
“Coffee or tea?”
“Something cold for me.”
He moved to the coffee machine and made an espresso.
He filled a washed glass with ice and poured the fragrant espresso into it.
“Drink this.”
“Thank you.”
“I was going to talk in a quiet place, but it ended up being the office.”
“I’m curious about what you need to tell me.”
Haejoo subtly urged him, thinking of going home.
He took a sip of his black tea and conveyed the unwelcome news.
“It seems Reporter Choi Inho is digging around the neighborhood where Haejoo-ssi used to live.”
“Really?”
“The fact that CEO Park Dojun’s father ran a small-scale financial business is common knowledge in that industry.”
“We already clarified the marriage issue.”
“We did gloss over the fact that the two lived separately throughout their marriage.”
Although it had been temporarily smoothed over, suspicions still remained.
The time that had already passed couldn’t be turned back, and Haejoo had a headache.
“So, what would you like me to do, Director?”
“Let’s preemptively say from our side that you were each other’s first love and loved each other devotedly, but your relationship as a married couple has grown distant over time.”
“Are you suggesting we admit to living separately?”
“That way, the subsequent backlash will be much less.”
“This is different from what we initially said.”
“Wouldn’t the public feel more betrayed if we suddenly announced a divorce in a year?”
“……!”
“By then, the movie will also be roughly finished.”
Loved each other but grew distant over time.
It was a ridiculous explanation.
Since it was a marriage without love from the start, there was nothing to grow distant from, and she had only just begun to know Dojun.
“So, you’re suggesting we get rid of Dojun-ssi.”
“He’s not the right person for Haejoo-ssi. It’s dangerous for you to be with him.”
“In what way?”
“His inherent background is the problem, so to speak. What’s the point of graduating from a good university?”
“If you put it that way, I’m nothing special either.”
“Haejoo-ssi, that’s not what I’m talking about…….”
Haejoo gulped down the coffee in front of her all at once. It felt stinging and painful, like a fireball had been thrown into her chest.
“I might have died by now if it weren’t for Dojun-ssi’s father.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jinhan’s face turned red with shock.
He had heard that Haejoo had cut ties with her family due to discord when they signed the contract.
Especially about her mother being the problem.
He had been greatly shocked to hear that she had moved from boarding house to boarding house to prevent her mother from finding her again, and that she hadn’t even enrolled in the national pension or health insurance.
In the meantime, Jinhan had been considerate of Haejoo, ensuring she wouldn’t be exposed when receiving payments. The process had become somewhat complicated, but he hadn’t minded.
At this unexpected mention of Dojun’s father, he nodded.
“Ironically, it was thanks to that marriage that I was able to escape from my mother.”
The light faded from Haejoo’s pale face.
Her expressionless appearance, revealing a wound she wanted to hide, even felt listless.
It was a confession Jinhan found hard to believe. It didn’t make sense that something that should have been terrible was Haejoo’s only hope.
“You want me to believe that?”
“Dojun-ssi’s father secretly gave me money. To run away from my mother. That’s how I survived.”
The lack that Dojun had mentioned about Haejoo was beyond Jinhan’s imagination. He thought he knew her better than anyone, but he was wrong.
Perhaps the bond between Dojun and Haejoo was stronger than it appeared.
Even so, Jinhan couldn’t accept this one thing.
“The past is the past.”
“Yes?”
“I wish Haejoo-ssi would be a little more selfish as the actress Lee Haejoo.”
“Director.”
“If we don’t cut off CEO Park Dojun now, it will cause problems down the line.”
It was Dojun who had saved Haejoo from almost dying on the rooftop. Also, if it hadn’t been for CEO Park, her current self wouldn’t exist.
For Haejoo, Dojun was the starting point of her destiny.
This was a truth she wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t lived with him.
Haejoo became curious about Dojun. Jinhan had no idea about her desire to get to know him better than she did initially.
“If it becomes a problem, it’s not too late to deal with it then.”
“Are you really going to see out the full year of the marriage?”
A clear smile returned to Haejoo’s lips.
Looking at her, Jinhan’s heart slowly bruised.
“I won’t disappoint you.”
“So, you’re telling me not to interfere.”
There were many rumors circulating about Dojun and Haejoo from various sources.
What worried Jinhan the most now was the fear that Haejoo might disappear because of this.
From the moment they first met, Haejoo seemed like someone who could leave at any time. So, he had tried his best to hold onto her and fill in her lacking parts.
“Let me ask you just one thing.”
“Yes.”
“Do you perhaps… like CEO Park Dojun?”
“Why are you suddenly asking such a question?”
“No, let’s move on from this.”
Jinhan, even after asking, felt embarrassed and coughed repeatedly. He took a breath, thinking he had gone too far himself.
“I’m not intentionally trying to belittle CEO Park Dojun.”
“Honestly, it sounded that way.”
“CEO Park Dojun knew you were married, didn’t he?”
“He said he only found out later.”
“Even so, he probably found out sooner than Haejoo-ssi.”
Jinhan also had a keen eye for people. The Dojun he saw was someone whose inner thoughts were unreadable.
Based on his experience, such types weren’t transparent and always stabbed you in the back.
The Haejoo Jinhan knew was fragile and had suffered great emotional wounds from people.
He had watched her endure a difficult process, having to run away from her own family, no less.
He was certain that no one knew Haejoo better than he did. So, it was only natural for him to worry.
It might be meddling, but the Dojun Jinhan saw was just a con artist coveting Haejoo.
“The police are still tracking down the person who spread the rumors about Haejoo-ssi’s marriage.”
“Is that so?”
Jinhan’s gaze, now calm, turned to Haejoo.
He revealed a suspicion he had held all along, with sincerity.
“Why do I feel like CEO Park Dojun is the one who spread those rumors?”
Google Sites
Report abuse