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chapter 21
“Team Leader.”
At the sound of my name, Yeon-ha, who had been lost in thought, met his eyes.
“Are you not going to tell me?”
“There’s no big reason. I just got a little tipsy and wanted to rest.”
Yeon-ha couldn’t bring herself to admit that she had left without a word out of jealousy toward a woman whose face he didn’t even know. So she hid behind a convenient excuse of alcohol.
“Is that really all?”
“What else could there be?”
He still didn’t look away.
Holding her gaze, he gave her no chance to escape.
After staring at her for a long time, he finally spoke in a voice laced with a sigh:
“I half… expected it.”
“Expected what?”
Then he leaned forward slightly and muttered softly.
“I wanted you to be jealous.”
“What…?”
Before Yeon-ha could recover from her shock, the elevator dinged.
As he straightened up, the doors opened.
“Team Leader, aren’t you getting off?”
“Oh.”
Yeon-ha, who had been standing dazed, finally realized she had reached her floor and hurriedly squeezed past the crowd of people waiting to enter.
Instead of heading straight to the design office, she went toward the restroom at the end of the hall.
If she went in like this, she felt she might take out her frustration on the wrong person.
She needed time to cool off.
Standing in front of the sink, Yeon-ha subconsciously checked the mirror first.
Her cheeks were flushed red, as if she had applied blush.
The thought that he had seen her like this made her squeeze her eyes shut.
Once again, she found herself caught up in his face.
‘He said he wanted me to be jealous?’
The ridiculousness of his words made her blood boil again.
She turned on the faucet, cupped water in her hands, and splashed it repeatedly over her face.
The cold water made her face sting.
She wiped her face with a hand towel and looked in the mirror again.
The flushed redness had vanished, leaving her pale.
What exactly was Nam Do-hyun’s identity?
At first, she thought he was simply a delicate and kind man.
But the more she learned, the less predictable he became.
He seemed light-hearted but wasn’t; he was kind to everyone yet didn’t let anyone get too close. He showed interest in her, but never spoke of himself.
He was a man with many mysterious corners.
Suddenly, Yeon-ha felt she shouldn’t get any closer to him here.
She didn’t like how she was being swayed by a younger man.
Until yesterday, she had thought, “Just don’t overthink it, follow my instincts.”
She wouldn’t be honest if she said she wasn’t attracted to a younger, handsome man.
But she was no longer young enough to act impulsively.
Above all, if things ever ended with Nam Do-hyun, she couldn’t face him casually.
So, before things went any deeper, she had to stop here.
“Thanks, I’ll drink this well.”
“No problem.”
Assistant Manager Kim Seong-su held up the takeout coffee.
Since Manager Jeong Seong-tae had to leave abruptly during lunch for an urgent call, Do-hyun was eating alone. When Kim Seong-su came into the restaurant and saw him alone, he plopped down across from him without a word and ordered food, thinking it worked out perfectly.
“You okay with this?”
Isn’t that a question you ask before sitting down?
Do-hyun wanted to protest, but stayed silent, knowing well that he wasn’t someone who cared about such things.
From the very first time Do-hyun met Kim Seong-su, he didn’t leave a good impression.
Kim Seong-su raised his voice if a subordinate made even a minor mistake, regardless of other departments overhearing, and treated senior partners like company heads carelessly.
Once, Do-hyun almost stepped in, but Section Chief Yoon Il-young stopped him.
“Just ignore it. Nothing good comes from messing with Kim Seong-su.”
“Why not?”
“He’s the vice president’s nephew, isn’t he?”
Only then did Do-hyun understand Kim Seong-su’s arrogant behavior.
As he tried to soothe the bitterness in his mouth with coffee, he noticed her walking out of the soba shop.
A sky-blue shirt paired with a cobalt-blue skirt with pleats.
Like the fresh colors, her face carried a bright smile.
She laughed, revealing her white teeth, at something the youngest in the design office, Jin-young, said.
His gaze couldn’t leave her.
“Give up.”
“Huh?”
Kim Seong-su, walking beside him, noticed her at the edge of his gaze and muttered. Seeing Do-hyun look at him in question, Kim Seong-su gestured toward her.
“You’re interested in Team Leader Seo, aren’t you?”
“Is that how it looks?”
He admitted it inwardly, but outwardly denied it.
He was careful, not wanting any weird rumors about her to spread through Kim Seong-su.
“No use pretending. I’ve already figured it out.”
As Do-hyun pondered how to keep his mouth shut, Kim Seong-su asked mockingly:
“Do you know Team Leader Seo’s nickname?”
Do-hyun stared ahead, puzzled by the sudden question, and Kim Seong-su added:
“Flower Giraffe.”
Do-hyun remembered reading somewhere that this plant had thorns and was poisonous.
“People get enchanted by the flowers and get pricked if they get too close.”
“Sounds like a compliment about her charm to me.”
“You know men like that. They want to conquer women like her.”
Kim Seong-su licked his lips while giving her a sticky, hungry look, as if he wanted to devour her.
Do-hyun unconsciously tightened his grip on the coffee. The lid popped off with a ‘psh’ and some coffee splashed onto the back of his hand.
It was hot, but his anger was stronger.
No matter where you go, there are always people like Kim Seong-su.
Cowards who try to ruin something just because they can’t have it themselves.
“Seems like many people confessed to Team Leader Seo and got rejected.”
“As far as I know, in our company alone… probably over five or six?”
Thinking he had to act before more competitors appeared, Do-hyun braced himself, but Kim Seong-su smirked.
“Team Leader Seo isn’t ordinary. She really knows men. Guys who think they’re something just because they have a decent face—she eats them alive.”
Do-hyun realized something had happened between them that he didn’t know about.
Kim Seong-su’s hostility toward her was obvious.
“No wonder she got called off the engagement.”
“Excuse me?”
Do-hyun raised his eyebrows at the bitter tone.
Kim Seong-su smiled, as if waiting for this moment.
“Didn’t you know? Team Leader Seo got called off.”
“When was that?”
“About three years ago, I think.”
Could it be… the man she was with at the bar?
He remembered the man who had been bitterly trying to belittle her out of jealousy.
As Do-hyun got lost in thought, Kim Seong-su, looking like he could hardly contain himself, added:
“Do you know who that person was? My cousin.”
“Your cousin?”
“My youngest aunt’s son.”
Do-hyun’s eyebrows knitted instantly.
The broken engagement was shocking enough, but the fact it was with Kim Seong-su’s cousin was even more upsetting.
Just thinking about how much sticky gossip she must have endured made him uncomfortable.
“They had the whole wedding arranged, and then suddenly called it off. The whole family was thrown into chaos.”
“Do you know why they broke it off?”
“You’ll be shocked when you hear it.”
Leaning in as if sharing a secret, Kim Seong-su lowered his voice.
“Team Leader Seo, they said, has insensitivity issues.”
Do-hyun’s gaze turned cold instantly.
“Is that true?”
He couldn’t believe it.
She was the person who had accepted him fully and honestly that night. She could never be insensitive.
“That guy came whining to me. Said he initially dated her because she was pretty, but when they… it was like hitting a wooden block. No fun at all. Just a pretty but useless thing.”
Do-hyun wanted to shut Kim Seong-su’s mouth immediately, stopping him from mocking her personal life as if it were a joke.
No one would ever speak of her that way again.
“Didn’t it ever occur to you that the cause might have been your cousin?”
