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Chapter: 27
Panting for breath, he demanded,
“Hey! It’s the weekend! Even if Haeru is your secretary, you can’t just summon her whenever you want. Besides, Haeru is meeting Kanghoon right now.”
“Where is Yoon Haeru?!”
Muhyeok shouted, his eyes blazing with fury.
Startled by the outburst, Muyeon’s eyes widened. He jumped to his feet and slammed both hands on the desk.
“Why are you yelling like that?!”
“Tell me nicely while I’m still asking nicely.”
“I don’t know!”
“How could you not know?”
“I only know where they were supposed to meet.”
“Then tell me where that is.”
“You’re going there?!”
“Ha… Hurry up and tell me before I shut this place down.”
“Hey!”
Muhyeok was the kind of lunatic who always followed through on his threats. Seeing the deep crease forming on his forehead, Muyeon let out a long sigh and reluctantly answered.
“Jerun Restaurant. But even if you go there, they won’t be—”
Before Muyeon could finish, Muhyeok had already turned around and rushed out of the director’s office.
Once outside, he sprinted down the stairs again.
He didn’t even have time to wait for the elevator. Other than while exercising, he couldn’t remember the last time he had run like this. If someone asked him to recall it, he honestly wouldn’t have been able to.
“Damn it.”
The curse escaped his lips.
As he hurried down from the fifth floor, he suddenly stopped.
Looking up, he realized he was already on the second floor.
A familiar voice drifted through the wide-open hallway.
Because it echoed through the quiet gallery, he heard it clearly.
“So this really is Mr. Lee Kanghoon?”
It was Yoon Haeru’s voice.
There was no way Muhyeok could mistake that voice.
A cold expression settled over his face.
“Ha.”
Speechless, he walked into the gallery through the second-floor corridor.
The two of them were standing in front of a torn painting.
They were smiling as they talked about the childhood memory of Haeru holding an umbrella over Kanghoon.
They looked happy.
Then, in that very moment, Muhyeok grabbed her slender wrist.
Still smiling, she jumped in surprise, her eyes widening.
“President?”
“You’re smiling at a time like this?”
“What are you doing here…?”
Haeru had been admiring Lee Kanghoon’s painting, whose carefully restored tear running through the center made it a uniquely remarkable exhibition piece.
The watercolor depicted the backs of a boy and a girl sharing a yellow umbrella.
She completely turned away from the painting.
Waiting for her was Muhyeok’s deeply twisted expression.
His face looked so crumpled that it seemed impossible it would ever smooth out again.
Seeing him like that, she froze.
Watching her stare blankly at him, Muhyeok twitched an eyebrow and spoke with dissatisfaction.
“I’m someone who has zero interest in paintings. Why do you think I came all the way here?”
“Did something happen?”
Her round eyes grew even wider as she leaned her head back slightly.
Since childhood, both Muyeon and Muhyeok had learned many things.
Painting had been one of them.
But every single time Muhyeok went to art lessons, he caused trouble.
Embarrassed by his younger brother’s antics, Muyeon would often stop by Haeru’s house on the way home just to complain.
Whenever the teacher prepared a proper place for everyone to paint, Muhyeok would push two chairs together, lie across them, and paint while lying down, leaving the teacher completely flustered.
On another occasion, he had simply run away from the boring art class and spent the entire time sitting in an arcade.
Haeru had heard all of these stories countless times from Muyeon.
So she was certain he must have come here for some other reason.
Meeting his burning gaze with her clear eyes, she quietly waited.
It was rather unfortunate that the very person responsible had no idea why he was angry.
Unable to believe it, Muhyeok let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha… Yeah. Something big did happen. Something very big.”
“Really? What happened?”
Her eyes, which seemed incapable of widening any further, somehow revealed even more white as they grew larger.
“It’s about company business, Secretary Yoon Haeru.”
Enunciating every word, he deliberately addressed her by her title, reminding her that she was his secretary.
His tone instantly became cold and professional.
“Is it something you can’t discuss here?”
“That’s right.”
“Did something go wrong with a contract?”
“Just come with me first.”
He clenched his teeth as though forcing himself to suppress his anger.
Still burning with rage, Muhyeok simply wanted to take her somewhere Lee Kanghoon couldn’t see them.
Since he said it was company business, Haeru didn’t protest any further.
Allowing him to hold her slender wrist, she followed him of her own accord.
However, after only a few steps, she was forced to stop.
Without saying a word until then, Lee Kanghoon suddenly reached out and urgently grabbed her other wrist.
Because she had come to an abrupt stop, as though caught in a tug-of-war, Muhyeok frowned deeply in irritation and turned around.
But what he saw was even worse.
His expression instantly became much fiercer.
Seeing Lee Kanghoon holding her wrist made flames erupt inside him.
Kanghoon was the first to speak.
Unlike Muhyeok, he remained completely composed.
Perhaps it was because he was three years older.
A gentle smile rested on Kanghoon’s lips as he lightly scolded Muhyeok, whose face had turned bright red with anger.
“I know you’re busy, but at least say hello. It’s been a while, Muhyeok.”
Because Muhyeok had spent so many years studying abroad, they hadn’t seen each other often.
Still, they knew each other well enough to exchange greetings.
After all, Lee Kanghoon had been Muyeon’s friend for many years.
Muhyeok, however, showed no sign of welcoming him.
After briefly looking Kanghoon up and down, he sneered.
“You’re still as clueless as ever. Do I look like I’m in the mood for that?”
“Sounds like something serious happened.”
Muhyeok narrowed his eyes.
His eyebrows twitched as he answered firmly,
“Yeah. I really hate it when someone steals what’s mine.”
“What was stolen?”
“You don’t need to know.”
His hostility was overwhelming.
He had never looked this openly antagonistic—not even toward the CEO of a rival company or an employee who had made a major mistake.
Just from his attitude alone, anyone could tell how much Lee Kanghoon bothered him.
Embarrassed by Muhyeok’s sarcastic behavior, Haeru frowned.
She lightly nudged him in the side with her elbow and shot him a warning glance.
Lee Kanghoon didn’t seem like a bad person to her at all.
Feeling even more embarrassed herself, she bowed her head and apologized instead.
“I’m sorry. I think the president is just especially sensitive because something urgent came up. Then… I’ll contact you another time.”
If things continued like this, it felt as though a fight would break out.
“Alright. Go ahead. I know what Muhyeok is like, so don’t worry about it.”
Always calm and dignified, Kanghoon smiled as he released her hand.
Watching the two exchange warm smiles made Muhyeok feel like he was going insane.
His entire body burned as rage surged inside him.
Clenching his teeth so hard they hurt, despite Kanghoon having done nothing wrong, Muhyeok roughly seized Haeru’s wrist and dragged her out of Seongju Gallery.
The moment they got into the car, he stepped on the accelerator without even saying where they were going.
At first, she assumed they were heading to the office and remained silent.
But when she realized they were going in a completely different direction, she looked out at the passing buildings before asking,
“Where are we going? And what was that company business you were talking about?”
Filled with questions, she raised her voice.
Normally, Muhyeok drove with one hand on the steering wheel.
Today, however, both hands gripped it tightly.
Every muscle in his body was tense as he stared straight ahead.
It was obvious he was struggling to hold back his anger.
No matter how long she waited, he refused to answer.
Growing frustrated, she looked outside once more before turning back toward him and shouting,
“I asked where we’re going!”
“You deserve to be punished.”
Finally, after keeping his lips tightly sealed, he answered.
But what he said made no sense.
“Punished?”
“Yeah. If you’ve done something that deserves punishment, then you should be punished.”
“What did I do wrong?”
Having no idea what he meant, she asked with wide, innocent eyes.
As if remembering the sight of her happily smiling while looking at the painting with Kanghoon earlier, he let out a deep sigh before speaking slowly.
“You actually had the nerve to meet Lee Kanghoon?”
“So what if I did?”
Annoyed by her confident attitude, he cast her a sidelong glance and murmured in a low, heavy voice,
“Do you really want to drive someone crazy?”
Only then did she realize that he hadn’t come looking for her because of work.
A deep frown quickly formed between her brows.
She had simply been meeting someone.
To suddenly show up, drag her away by force, and do all of this when they weren’t even in that kind of relationship—
No matter how she thought about it, it was completely wrong.
Haeru realized that this situation had happened because she had failed to establish clear boundaries.
She decided she needed to make them unmistakably clear.
“I told you before. We are nothing more and nothing less than a president and his secretary.”
Turning his head slightly toward the window, he let out a sharp breath through his nose.
“Ha… I see. So you’re just going to keep meeting Lee Kanghoon whenever you feel like it?”
Despite his mocking tone, she turned to face him directly, straightened her posture, and answered firmly,
“Yes. So I hope something like this never happens again.”
In truth, she had no intention of meeting Lee Kanghoon again.
She was only lying in the hope that Muhyeok would finally give up.
Muhyeok’s face darkened even further.
Grinding his teeth, he said,
“Fine. Then do whatever you want.”
Nodding with heavy sarcasm, he bit down on his lip so hard that it left marks.
