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Around lunchtime, when her fever had finally subsided and she was eating the hospital-provided meal, Minhee, the stylist, stopped by to see Haejoo.
“Unnie, how are you feeling?”
“I’m better. Sit down.”
“No, I just wanted to drop this off.”
Minhee handed her a tablet PC with the GN Entertainment logo sticker on it.
“What’s this for?”
“There are quite a few things unnie needs to decide on by today. I’m sorry you’re not feeling well.”
“It’s okay. It’s about the fashion show, right?”
“Yes. It’ll be better to look at the outfit photos on this.”
“Minhee-ssi, you’re working so hard.”
“It’s nothing. I have another schedule, so I’ll be going now.”
Without even having a proper conversation, Minhee left the hospital.
A few hours later, a flood of image photos arrived in the email logged into the tablet PC.
There were various accessories, shoes, and hairstyles to match the outfits.
“I think I need to try them on to know for sure.”
It wasn’t Haejoo’s preferred style. She felt uncomfortable with the violet cocktail dresses.
She hesitated to answer Minhee’s question about what she thought.
Just then, Dojun came into the hospital room and saw the photos on the tablet PC and the chat messages exchanged with Minhee.
His gaze sharpened in an instant.
“There’s a fly trying to get between us these days.”
“A fly, you say?”
Haejoo thought the fly trying to get between her and Dojun was Reporter Choi Inho.
She remembered the talk about Choi Inho digging around her old neighborhood.
But Dojun mentioned an unexpected person.
“I’m talking about Director Yoo Jinhan.”
“Dojun-ssi, I know you’re uncomfortable with the director, but calling him a fly is a bit…….”
“You really don’t get it?”
“Get what?”
“Forget it if you don’t know.”
“No, tell me.”
Dojun took off his suit jacket and hung it on the bed frame. He pulled up a chair and sat down, rereading the chat messages Minhee had sent.
An awkward silence filled the hospital room.
Haejoo waited for his reply and picked up the water bottle with a straw.
Just as she was about to take a sip, Dojun spoke.
“While we’re married, no one should interfere.”
“Well…… that’s obvious.”
“Obvious?”
“Of course. Why even say it?”
Dojun’s piercing gaze strongly enveloped Haejoo.
Feeling the pressure slowly tightening around her, she unknowingly swallowed hard.
“Even if the one trying to interfere is Director Yoo Jinhan?”
“Director?”
Haejoo let out a hollow laugh.
She had never thought of him as anything more than an agency executive, so it felt out of the blue.
“Don’t you think you’re being too sensitive, Dojun-ssi?”
“I’m being sensitive?”
“The director isn’t someone who would cross the line like that.”
Dojun took the water cup from Haejoo’s hand. Then, he removed the straw, opened the lid, and gulped down the water in one go.
“You don’t know men.”
“We only meet for work anyway, so what’s the difference between a man and a woman?”
“How did you meet Director Yoo Jinhan?”
“Two years ago, he came to the store where I worked and gave me his business card.”
While working at the department store, Haejoo had received many contacts and advances from men. Sometimes, they were so bothersome that it interfered with her work.
However, the store manager didn’t stop them. It was because Haejoo brought in more sales than other competing stores.
At first, Haejoo believed Jinhan was one of those types.
She had received agency business cards more than once, so she had ignored him.
But he was persistent, didn’t interfere with her work, and was kind.
“He would come every day, bring me coffee, and ask how I was doing. We became acquaintances.”
“That’s all?”
“I trusted him, so I signed a contract with the agency. He also provided accommodation.”
“Anything else?”
“What exactly is it that Dojun-ssi wants to hear?”
“Keep talking.”
Haejoo didn’t feel good about being interrogated.
Leaning against the raised bed, she spoke calmly.
“Since I went there as a trainee at first, I had to earn my own living expenses.”
“Really?”
“Since it was the agency’s accommodation, the director also knew the front door password.”
Dojun’s gaze narrowed coldly.
Haejoo, who hadn’t noticed this yet, recalled old memories for the first time in a while.
“I liked living in the accommodation. The fridge was never empty.”
“……”
“I thought I’d be living with other trainees, but I used that apartment alone until recently.”
The accommodation Haejoo mentioned was an apartment that had recently come up. It was in Gangnam, and even though it wasn’t newly built, the price was enormous.
“The director told me not to feel burdened and to live comfortably.”
At the time, Haejoo was just an aspiring actress who hadn’t even debuted.
Jinhan had explained that he was investing in her potential.
“I found out later that the singers and other trainees lived together in groups of three or four…….”
A brief pain flashed through Haejoo’s head.
Looking back now, Jinhan’s favor was excessive.
Why hadn’t she realized this before?
She hadn’t noticed her clothes getting wet in the drizzling rain until it was too late.
“What about apartment management fees and such?”
“I remember the director saying the company would handle it…….”
During their conversation, Secretary Song approached. Haejoo, who had stopped talking, took a deep breath.
“Upon checking, that apartment was under Director Yoo Jinhan’s personal name. It seems he bought it and did the interior design around the time he signed the contract with Madam.”
A belated aftermath swept in fiercely.
Haejoo had naturally assumed the accommodation she lived in was company-owned, but it wasn’t.
“You really didn’t know?”
“I didn’t know.”
Haejoo only intended to succeed as an actress and repay Jinhan. That’s why she had largely accepted his opinions when she took on the role of Sohee.
“Why do you think Yoo Jinhan did that?”
“I…….”
Haejoo’s heart pounded rapidly.
It wasn’t a good feeling.
The past days, when she had only looked ahead with dreams and had been naive about Jinhan’s actions, piled up layer by layer.
“Even with all this, Yoo Jinhan is just an agency director to you?”
“Dojun-ssi!”
“Face reality. No guy shows such excessive favor to a woman he has no interest in.”
“……!”
“Director Yoo Jinhan approached you with a purpose.”
“A purpose, you say?”
“To possess you, probably. To satisfy his personal desires.”
An awkward smile and a hardened expression quickly alternated on Haejoo’s face.
Then, the headache that had subsided returned.
“My head suddenly hurts. Let’s talk later.”
Secretary Song called the medical staff. Haejoo, who had received an injection of pain reliever, fell asleep, exhausted.
When she opened her eyes again, it was a dark night.
Dojun, who had been sitting with his legs crossed on the chair next to the bed, stood up and checked on Haejoo.
“How’s your head?”
“It’s numb.”
“Eat something.”
She forced herself to sit up and pick up the spoon, but couldn’t eat properly.
Dojun, who had stayed by Haejoo’s side without going home, let out a sigh.
“I drove a sick person into a corner.”
“No, it’s because I was surprised. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“If you’re uncomfortable, let’s cancel Friday’s schedule.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I should get going now.”
If it hadn’t been for the scandal, Jinhan would have been by Haejoo’s side. He might think that Dojun had taken his place because of him.
Haejoo was just confused about how things had gotten this way.
“Goodbye.”
Dojun maintained a certain distance from Haejoo even while living in the same house.
But when a crucial moment arrived, he would disregard all the rules and do as he pleased.
Filling the necessary voids so that Haejoo couldn’t refuse.
Dojun’s and Jinhan’s favors were similar yet different.
Unlike Jinhan, who wanted growth like homework once a step was crossed, Dojun……
“Lee Haejoo, don’t try too hard every time. You’re already doing well enough without doing that. Rest.”
She had always endured the pressure of survival, believing she had to do well to survive, so it felt natural.
But no one had ever offered her comfort like Dojun’s, rooted in normalcy.
The difference between Dojun and Jinhan wasn’t significant.
It was the difference between Haejoo’s heart racing and not racing when accepting it.
Just like right now.
“Just a moment, Dojun-ssi!”
“Hmm?”
“I think I’ll just get discharged.”
“It’s still too early.”
“I can get a prescription and take the medicine at home, and see an outpatient tomorrow.”
“You have a caregiver too.”
The caregiver wasn’t Dojun.
Who in the world could replace Dojun?
It was impossible.
“I don’t like it here, it’s boring.”
“You’re saying the same thing as my father.”
Haejoo pleaded.
Of course, it wasn’t the same as comparing her to his father with dementia, but Dojun was in a difficult position.
What if she got sick again?
He hesitated because she had gotten sick because of the champagne he had suggested drinking.
“I’m going crazy.”
“Hurry!”
“I have no choice. Secretary Song!”
Haejoo stubbornly went through the discharge process. She was adamant despite the doctor’s warning that she might be sick for another day or two.
“Are you really going to be okay?”
Even after getting in the car, Dojun still looked uneasy.
In response, Haejoo offered a compromise.
“Like last time, Dojun-ssi can come to my room and watch over me.”
She knew Dojun would give in to this much stubbornness.
After just one day in the hospital, she already missed the small everyday moments she had shared with him.
Driving through the night roads, Haejoo returned home.
After showering and going to her room, she saw that Dojun had already laid out bedding on the floor and was lying down.
“Wake me up if you feel sick in the middle of the night.”
This was it. This was what Haejoo wanted.
The past, where being alone was natural, felt incredibly distant these past few days.
Just the fact that someone was by her side made the corners of Haejoo’s lips soften.
“I will.”
Unlike in the hospital, where she didn’t feel like she had slept well even when she did, she fell into a deep sleep at home.
Thanks to resting and visiting the hospital for the next two days, she had fully recovered her strength by Wednesday evening.
“I wonder if Dojun-ssi left okay.”
This morning, Dojun had urgently gone on a business trip to Hong Kong.
It was an unscheduled trip, so he had packed his bags in the middle of work and left for the airport with Secretary Song.
She hadn’t heard from him much yet.
Feeling bored, Haejoo installed a stock trading app created by Dojun’s company.
After creating an account, she opened the app and then immediately closed it.
“I don’t understand any of it.”
While spending her boring time, her phone rang.
It was Dojun’s call, and she quickly pressed the call button.
“Dojun-ssi?”
-It’s me. I was busy, so I couldn’t call right away.
“It’s good that you arrived safely.”
-If my schedule here finishes quickly, Friday will come soon.
“So you can’t come to the fashion show?”
-I can’t promise.
“You don’t have to push yourself.”
-It might be difficult to call too.
“Okay.”
A seemingly insignificant call felt unusually awkward and ticklish.
Dojun, as if it were natural, explained his situation in detail and reassured Haejoo.
It really felt like they had become a married couple.
“Is there anything else you wanted to say?”
Haejoo asked back curtly.
Just as she was looking at the air with an awkward expression, a sharp remark characteristic of Dojun flew in.
-Be careful of Yoo Jinhan.
“Is that all?”
-No.
For some reason, he paused unusually, unlike himself.
Haejoo’s nerves stood on end, wondering what he was going to say.
-Can you wait for me?
“……Pardon?”
-Friday night, I mean. Could you wait for me even if I’m late?
It meant she shouldn’t go to the fashion show with Jinhan.
Haejoo took a breath and then answered honestly before hanging up.
She was blankly looking at the trees in the garden when her phone rang again.
Haejoo stared intently at the name that appeared on the screen.
It was a different feeling than before…… She didn’t readily reach for it but answered.
“Yes, Director.”
-How’s your body?
“I think I’ve almost fully recovered now.”
-That’s a relief then…….
“You called about the fashion show, didn’t you?”
-Yeah. I heard you still haven’t decided on an outfit, so I was worried you were still very sick.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
-If you can’t go to the event, you need to notify them at least the day before.
“I’ll go.”
-Are you really going to be able to go?
Jinhan’s voice brightened.
“Yes. It’s late now, so I’ll stop by the office early tomorrow morning.”
-Okay. See you tomorrow.
The next day, Haejoo left the house without makeup, looking fresh-faced. When she went to Jinhan’s office, Minhee and Hyun-sung were already there with racks full of clothes.
“Haejoo-ssi!”
“How have you been?”
After exchanging greetings, they immediately discussed the fashion show. As it was a large event, the invitees were also prominent figures.
“Minhee told you, right? I’m also planning to match my dress code with Haejoo-ssi.”
“Ah, yes.”
“You don’t like violet? It’s very trendy these days.”
“Well, that’s……”
“Hmm?”
Haejoo’s reaction was different from what Jinhan had expected.
She was polite, but there was a sense of distance, making the atmosphere chilly.
“It seems the organizers contacted me and Dojun-ssi, asking us to attend as a married couple.”
Jinhan’s eyes instantly froze over.
Yet, Haejoo revealed the determination she had been holding in her heart.
“I will go with Dojun-ssi.”
It was an answer no one had expected.
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