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Episode 7
Silence filled the office.
Standing blankly, Lee Jun stared at Cha Iryeong, lost in thought.
What does she mean by a “real relationship,” exactly?
He should be analyzing the situation logically, weighing pros and cons—but his mind was strangely muddled.
One thing, however, became clear.
Her clean, delicate features were beautiful.
Beautiful? Cha Iryeong?
His head tilted slightly.
Determined to shake off the inappropriate thought, he gave his head a small shake and turned his gaze away.
That’s when his eyes landed on her slender neckline, exposed beneath her neatly coiled hair.
He suddenly wanted to touch the loose strands that had slipped out, just to see how soft they were.
You’re insane.
Jun clenched and unclenched his fists, blinking rapidly. He must be seeing things.
Ha… This is crazy. I’m not some horny animal.
He sternly warned himself to snap out of it. His instincts smothered his emotions before they could run wild.
“…May I make a quick call?”
When Iryeong nodded, he returned to his seat to check his phone.
Several missed calls had piled up—all from his mother, CEO Lee Jeong-ae.
She must be frantic. A glance at the clock showed it was past six.
He grabbed his phone and returned to her desk.
“It’s me, Mother.”
Then, deliberately in front of Iryeong, he called his mother.
—“Seo Lee Jun! Do you have any idea how many times I’ve called you?!”
The yelling began the moment the ringing stopped.
“I’ll have to ask you to cancel today’s arranged date, Mother.”
Ignoring her shouting, Jun held Iryeong’s gaze.
“I don’t want to keep lying to my girlfriend anymore.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, he smiled leisurely at her.
Iryeong couldn’t hide her shock.
She hadn’t even recovered from the surprise of the matchmaking setup, and now he’d shaken her up again.
Girlfriend?
She blinked, lips slightly parted like a fool, realizing that he must be referring to her.
“I’m hanging up now. I’ll explain when I get home.”
This situation was spiraling in a weird direction.
She had no intention of getting dragged into something involving his mother.
“My mother set me up on an unwanted blind date,” Jun explained.
Then, raising his index finger, he slowly traced along her lips.
Heat flared where he touched—hot enough to melt.
“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” she said stiffly.
“You said you wanted to date. For real,” he replied smoothly.
His finger, which had touched her lips, was now gliding along her jawline.
“Did you suggest this because you didn’t want the blind date?”
“Let’s say that’s true,” he replied casually.
He wasn’t frantic or desperate; if anything, he seemed more focused on teasing her with his fingers.
“There was a matchmaking meeting. And yes, I didn’t want to go. And yes, I really do need you for this,” he explained, almost lazily.
His dark eyes were fixed not on her face but on his hand, as it roamed wherever it pleased.
“If you’d explained your reasons from the start, this could’ve been easier for both of us,” she said, her voice weakening under the weight of his empty gaze.
“And would you have agreed so easily if I’d told you?”
“Well…”
She pouted, unable to find an answer.
That’s when his eyes sharpened—as if something about her answer displeased him.
“…Damn.”
He hadn’t meant to touch her lips.
He’d suddenly grown curious about how her pouting lips might taste.
“Director?” she called cautiously.
“It’s nothing,” he replied quickly.
For a moment, his composed face completely crumbled.
Iryeong didn’t miss it—and was curious about what had cracked his facade.
“Let’s do it. This relationship,” he suddenly declared.
Once again, he looked down at her with that detached, impassive expression of his.
To Iryeong, he was… endlessly unpredictable.
“Just now—that call was with your mother, right? Why would you say something like that without thinking?”
“It’ll work out somehow. Who knows what might happen between us right here and now,” he said with a mischievous smile.
“I don’t want a relationship like this.”
She swatted his hand away from her face.
“I don’t care what kind of relationship it is,” he replied coolly.
“Stop being so reckless,” she snapped.
She hadn’t suggested dating out of a fit of pique—unlike him.
She stood up, saying they’d talk again tomorrow.
“Iryeong. Wait.”
He was a repeat offender—especially when it came to invading her personal space.
He brought his index finger back to her lips, signaling her to be quiet.
“Yes, Mother.”
—“Seo Lee Jun! Do you really have a girlfriend? You’re not lying just to avoid the blind date, are you?!”
He remained perfectly calm despite his mother’s nagging.
“I’m on a date after work right now,” he lied boldly.
Listening to his conversation, Iryeong tried to collect her thoughts.
Is it really okay to get involved in this kind of fake, complicated relationship with him?
“Let’s date for real.”
She hadn’t grasped the weight of those careless words when she said them.
He clearly wasn’t thinking of a normal, ordinary relationship like other people.
“One of my reasons for suggesting this was to avoid my mother’s interference. Like right now,” he said in his usual low, even voice.
“I’m thirty, and I guess this is my way of rebelling against her,” he added with a wry smile.
He’d decided to change tactics—to keep her from running away again.
“If I hadn’t met you that Friday night, I wouldn’t have made this kind of proposal.”
He didn’t care much about marriage itself, but a forced arranged marriage was something he wanted to avoid.
“You’re single. I’m single. What’s the problem? You wanted to date, didn’t you? Fine. Let’s do it—just like you said.”
He’s insane.
Iryeong stared at him, unable to hide her disbelief.
“But what if this creates trouble for me?”
“What trouble could you possibly have, Ms. Cha? Do you mean the trouble of my mother finding out?”
He asked the question genuinely, like he couldn’t understand.
“Of course! She’s going to want to know who her son’s girlfriend is. She’ll find out it’s me!”
A man who wanted a fake relationship just to dodge a political marriage. She was disappointed in him.
“From today, we’ll be in a secret relationship,” he said suddenly.
“S–Secret relationship?”
His unexpected words made her face turn pale.
“We work in the same space. Unless we’re getting married, letting the team or the company know is risky. Best case, everything ends well. Worst case, it gets ugly,” he explained.
She couldn’t deny he had a point.
If their relationship became public and ended badly, she’d bear the brunt of it, not him.
“But what’s the point of dating if it’s a secret? No one will even know. You might as well just borrow my name for show—it’s more convincing that way,” she snapped.
“I mean we’ll keep it a secret only at work,” he clarified.
“What?”
She realized too late that she’d been caught in his scheme.
“I’ll do my best as your boyfriend,” he said with a straight face.
What does that even mean for a secret relationship?
She frowned in confusion.
“Play the role of my girlfriend well. I’ll do my part too,” he continued.
Was he serious about dating her, or was this just a game? She honestly couldn’t tell anymore.
“I’ll do anything you want, Iryeong,” he said suddenly, leaning closer—so close it almost felt like he might kiss her.
She held her breath, but his hand merely slid smoothly past her lips.
“…I never said you could touch me,” she hissed, slapping his hand away and leaving his nape flushed red.
“Dating you… is on hold,” she declared.
Somehow, she felt a strange urge to tame this maddening man.
“Wait,” he said quietly.
Maybe it was the fact that he wanted to use her that made her feel so defiant.
Jun offered her a ride home, but she refused and went back by herself.
To her surprise, her parents were home. Usually, weekdays were their busiest time.
Her earlier excitement plummeted to rock bottom.
“You’re home early today?” she asked coolly.
She wanted to sound kinder, but something about her parents always triggered her defenses.
“I wrapped things up early. There’s something we need to talk about,” her father, Gun-tae, said carefully.
“With me?”
“Yes. Sit down for a bit.”
Even that cautious tone from her father felt uncomfortable. She hated the awkward distance between them.
She also hated the way her stepmother, Cha Ji-hyun, watched her nervously.
“Go ahead,” Iryeong said stiffly, dragging a chair over and sitting across from them.
She stared at their tightly clasped hands.
“It’s about Jung-min. He’s a senior in high school now. Don’t you think it’s time we let him move back home?” her father said.
She hadn’t expected him to bring Jung-min up himself.
Her gaze automatically shifted to her stepmother, who hung her head like a guilty criminal.
In her, Iryeong saw Jung-min reflected clearly.
The sight of the mother and son who always made her feel like the villain made her chest burn.
“Spring is coming soon. It’s already late, so it’d be best if you made a quick decision,” her father urged.
His tone twisted her emotions strangely. He was just going through the motions of asking her.
“Why do you even need my permission?”
“Well, you’re family. Of course we should ask you,” he said.
She remembered Jung-min’s smiling face from the weekend—how he’d watched her warily yet still managed a shy grin.
“Since we’re usually busy at the shop, we were hoping you could keep an eye on him sometimes,” her father added.
His request felt foreign to her. When had he ever been warm to her?
“Why should I look after him? I work too! I’m not just sitting around doing nothing!” she burst out, bristling with anger.
“Still, wouldn’t it be nice if you helped him with his studies once in a while?”
“Why should I?!” she shouted.
Why did they always only think about that boy—and never about her?
“Honey…”
Her stepmother squeezed her father’s hand to calm him.
Their display of affection made bile rise in her throat.
“I’m tired,” she muttered.
“Go get some rest. Forget what your father said,” her stepmother said gently.
Feeling cornered, Iryeong rushed into her room and locked the door.
Overwhelmed by swirling emotions, she collapsed onto the floor.
“…This is so frustrating,” she sobbed.
Her face was soon wet with tears. Her already uncomfortable house felt unbearable tonight.
Her father’s request—where the decision had already been made—made her want to vomit.
She wanted to run away from this house where no one was on her side.
‘I’ll do anything you want, Iryeong.’
At her lowest moment, Jun’s words echoed in her head.
“Maybe I should just get married,” she whispered bitterly.
Right now, he felt like the only way out.
