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Chapter: 11
His already irritated voice rose sharply at the end.
His nose twitched in annoyance, and a deep frown formed between his brows.
As if searching through his memories, Muyeon answered slowly.
“Last time… when we were talking, was it Kim Tae-jun?… I think you said there was some guy. I heard they broke up. Are they dating again?”
Because of the strange eraser, Muyeon never realized that Haeru’s connection to Kim Tae-jun had been erased. He still remembered everything she had said before, unaware that the bond itself had disappeared.
“Ha…”
Muhyeok lowered his head and let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to sink into the ground.
“Ah, but that can’t be it. There’s no way she’d be dating some guy I don’t know.”
Muyeon waved one hand dismissively and shook his head.
Muhyeok sighed again and bit down hard on his lower lip. After a long silence, Muyeon spoke first.
“But if Haeru’s moving out, why are you sighing like that?”
His face was already filled with worry.
Muhyeok had no intention of answering the question. Instead, in an unusually low voice, he simply said,
“…I’m hanging up.”
“Hey!”
Cutting the call off in the middle of the conversation, he irritably tossed his phone onto the oval table in front of him. Then he stood, placed both hands on his waist, and paced back and forth restlessly.
“Ha…”
An anxious sigh escaped him.
Just imagining her standing beside another man made the fire inside him burn so fiercely that it felt ready to burst from his mouth.
Unable to contain the frustration swelling inside him, Muhyeok looked up at the ceiling and shouted.
“Argh!!”
Ever since she was young, she had always been terrible at judging men.
Despite her decisive personality, whenever a man claimed to like her, she would let him stay by her side without even knowing whether he was a good person or a bad one.
Yet when it came to Muhyeok, she always pushed him away with the excuse that he was her friend’s younger brother.
It had taken him years just to earn a place beside her—not even her side, just somewhere near her. Even now, she continued to push him away.
The thought that some random guy had easily taken the place beside her made him grind his teeth.
After arriving at the house parking lot, Haeru climbed the stairs without much energy.
The sharp clicking of her heels echoed loudly against the stone steps.
At the top of the stairs, she walked along the stone path winding through the garden illuminated by warm yellow lights.
She had only walked a short distance when she passed beneath a large tree.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist from behind.
Startled, she spun around.
“Oh!”
“…Did you find a place to live?”
Standing there with a face full of dissatisfaction was Muhyeok.
He had been sitting on a bench beneath the shade of the tree, so she hadn’t noticed him.
She quickly shook off his hand and stepped back.
“Not yet.”
To her, Cha Muhyeok was still her boss.
Even after coming home, she carefully maintained her distance from him.
Deep wrinkles formed across Muhyeok’s forehead.
“So you’re still at the office, even here?”
“I think this is best. It prevents rumors, and it’s better for both of us.”
“Ha… there you go again with the rumors.”
“If gossip starts spreading around the company, it’ll become troublesome.”
Her words stung him.
Rumors wouldn’t cause him any trouble.
The real problem was that she wasn’t by his side.
He had spent years trying to get close to her.
Yet the moment they met again, she drew a line between them, and every time he tried to cross it, she recoiled in surprise and pushed him away.
The disappointment washed over him.
“You’re really too cruel to me.”
“What do you mean?”
For some reason, his eyes looked sad.
“Do you really… always have to be my secretary?”
“I believe I’ve answered that before, but if you need confirmation… yes, I do.”
Hearing her firm reply, Muhyeok seemed to think for a moment before nodding.
“Fine. If that’s what you want, then I’ll be your boss. In that case, let’s talk. Follow me.”
Although she had been so formal at work, he had thought that once they were home they could speak comfortably like before.
Apparently, he had been mistaken.
Clenching his teeth, he answered her as her employer.
If that was what she wanted, then he’d give her exactly that.
He walked ahead.
The two entered Muhyeok’s detached guest house.
The living room was so quiet and immaculate that it almost felt oppressive.
As he stepped into the living room, he turned to face her.
She stopped walking.
When Muhyeok simply stared at her without speaking, Haeru spoke first.
“Did you need me to do something?”
Her formal tone, always maintaining her distance, made his expression grow even colder.
Swallowing his irritation, he calmly asked,
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
That was the reason he had waited for her.
He wanted to know why she had decided to move out, but earlier his temper had gotten the better of him and the conversation had gone off track.
She frowned at his rude question.
“Why are you asking? That’s my private life. It has nothing to do with you, Boss.”
He clenched his jaw.
Then he stepped closer and grabbed the back of her neck as she instinctively tried to retreat.
As his face drew near, her eyes trembled.
“Does it still have nothing to do with me?”
She swallowed hard.
The fact that she was feeling flustered by the younger brother of her friend—someone three years younger than herself—was difficult to accept.
Afraid that her feelings might show, she clenched her fists tightly.
“It doesn’t.”
Their faces were so close that her breath brushed against his cheek.
The sensation made him wince ever so slightly.
As if suppressing his desires, he bit the inside of his lip before speaking in a deep voice.
“It matters to me.”
She frowned and pressed her lips together.
The next instant, he leaned in even closer.
Frozen by his sudden approach, she heard him whisper softly beside her ear.
“I want my secretary to focus only on me.”
A wave of heat instantly spread across her face.
After erasing her connection with Kim Tae-jun, something strange had happened to the relationships from her past.
It felt as though a new line had been drawn between her and Muhyeok.
Was that why?
Her heart suddenly began pounding.
The trembling that started in her chest spread all the way to her fingertips, forcing her to clench her fists even tighter.
If she stayed still any longer, she feared he would hear the frantic beating of her heart.
Pulling herself together, she placed both hands against his chest and shoved him back before taking a step away.
“Uh… um… I…! My private life is separate from work. I always do my job properly.”
She hurriedly made excuses to him as he stood a short distance away, quietly watching her.
Seeing her adorable attempt to explain herself made Muhyeok desperately want to pinch her cheeks.
There probably weren’t many people who ever got to witness this side of her.
His heart pounded at how cute she was.
Letting out a deep sigh, he leaned casually against the back of the sofa behind him and said,
“I’m not convinced.”
“Then… what would convince you?”
“Don’t move out.”
That was the one thing he had wanted to say all night.
There was only one thing he wanted now—
For her to stay in this house.
He wanted to keep her somewhere close enough to always see her.
They had already spent countless days far apart.
He didn’t want to be separated from her even a little anymore.
Hearing his words, she sighed deeply.
“…What are you talking about?”
Her brows knitted together.
“If you want to do your job well as my secretary, then you need to focus entirely on me. So I think the best option is for you not to leave this house.”
“I’ll decide that for myself.”
“Don’t. That’s an order.”
“What kind of order is that? Besides, I can’t live in this house forever. I’ll have to leave someday anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to move out sooner rather than later?”
Her argument was perfectly reasonable.
No matter how large her friend’s house was, that friend would eventually get married.
And even if they never married, there was a limit to how long she could keep living there as a guest.
As she calmly listed one reasonable point after another, he silenced her with a single sentence.
“Then stay here for the rest of your life.”
He answered without hesitation and looked directly at her.
Left speechless by his absurd response, she closed her mouth, exhaled sharply through her nose, raised both palms toward the ceiling, and gestured up and down in exasperation.
“How am I supposed to live here forever? We’re not even family.”
Thinking he was making a joke, Haeru asked indignantly.
He lowered his head and stared at the floor.
After a moment, he looked back up.
Meeting her dissatisfied gaze, he stared into her eyes before speaking meaningfully.
“Then… we’ll become family.”
“What do you…?”
She couldn’t finish her sentence.
Her eyebrows lifted in confusion.
She simply couldn’t understand what he meant.
But Muhyeok looked completely relaxed.
“You’re smart. Think about what I mean.”
The longer he watched her, the deeper the smile on his lips became.
She rolled her eyes upward as she thought.
‘A way to become family… Even if Muyeon’s parents really like me, there’s no way they’d adopt me at this age… Right? Then… what other way could we become family?’
A single thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
She jerked her head up, her eyes widening instantly.
Still leaning against the sofa moments ago, Muhyeok straightened and slowly rose to his feet.
Then he walked toward her.
With his long legs, the distance between them disappeared almost instantly.
Maintaining eye contact with him, she slowly stepped backward.
Even as she continued retreating, he never stopped walking.
Eventually, her back reached the nearby wall.
Just as she was about to hit it, his hand quickly reached behind her.
Thanks to Muhyeok’s hand, her back never struck the wall.
Instead, his hand was trapped between her back and the wall, bringing the two of them uncomfortably close.
He frowned slightly.
A moment later, his expression softened.
He leaned forward.
Looking directly into her eyes, he raised his free hand and braced it against the wall.
She was now completely enclosed within his arms.
Tension flooded through her.
Unable to say a word, she pressed her lips tightly together.
Finally, he gave her a hint.
“How about… using me?”
