20. The First Meeting Is Too Difficult
Photos were scattered across the table.
The protagonists in all of them were Ihun and Dana.
They unmistakably looked like a couple on a date.
“……So there was a woman.”
Seorin stared down at the photos with a pale face.
“You wanted to break off the engagement because of this woman…….”
With an expression devoid of any trace of laughter, Seorin slowly began sorting through the photos.
Her long, pale hand picked up a photo of the two walking in front of a green tree.
It was the photo in which Dana and Ihun were smiling the most brightly.
“I want to see her. What kind of woman is the one you broke off your engagement with me to date? In person.”
***
Did I go too far this weekend?
I wasn’t running on my own two feet, but I really did go all out.
Seoul-Jeju-Seoul.
I went back and forth like this within half a day and even went on another date.
On top of that, because the Boss paid for the clothes Dana picked out, she had to pay for all the dating expenses.
Of course, the Boss said he would pay for everything himself, but he also had to bear the cancellation fee for the suite.
My conscience wouldn’t allow me to make him pay for everything.
Thanks to that, my monthly living expenses suddenly became terrifyingly high.
Phew, if I had paid for the clothes too…… I’d be bro, broke!
Still, I had fun for the first time in a while.
Because the Boss willingly went along with everything I wanted, I was in such a good mood that I ended up doing something I shouldn’t have at the very end.
Chalna Four Cuts.
Haa. I shouldn’t have taken pictures like that.
(I took four of them, no less.)
We’re supposed to put everything back the way it was, so what business did I have taking Chalna Four Cuts?
But even while saying that, I couldn’t help but stick them to my vanity and desk.
Because the Boss looked so handsome in them.
Ha, if the Boss were actually my boyfriend, we’d be the perfect couple by now.
The way we seemed to fit together perfectly, hand in hand, felt like we had an extraordinary compatibility.
“Haa…….”
“Why do you keep sighing when the weather is so nice?”
Yoonseo handed coffee to Dana, who was sprawled out on a park bench.
“Thanks.”
“What did you do over the weekend to make you so tired?”
“Don’t even ask. I rode a helicopter and a yacht…….”
“Hm? A helicopter? A yacht? Did you play a game?”
“Yeah, something like that…….”
I guess it’s similar.
“Oh, come on. I told you to go on a blind date. The weather was so nice this weekend, and you were playing games at home? What’s that about?”
Don’t worry.
I had a date more spectacular than anyone else’s.
“Yoonseo, are you doing well with the wedding preparations?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“What kind of answer is that? Did you fight with Jihoon?”
“They say everyone fights while preparing for their wedding, but I thought we wouldn’t. But I guess it can’t be helped. I keep saying, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do that,’ but he only says, ‘Sure, do whatever you want.’ It bothers me, you know? It makes it seem like I’m the only one who wants to get married.”
“Jihoon has always had that ‘whatever is good is good’ kind of personality.”
“Exactly. And that’s what I don’t like right now.”
As though this were her opportunity, Yoonseo began venting her complaints about Jihoon.
“Ugh, Han Jihoon. He likes me so much that I have no choice but to let him off the hook.”
“What? You told me not to give you advice about your love life, and you were serious? Are you bragging in the end?”
Until just recently, she couldn’t even have imagined having conversations like this.
It felt like a dream to be able to talk so comfortably like this.
And the fact that she felt absolutely nothing whether Jihoon liked Yoonseo a lot or was madly in love with her.
It was all thanks to the Boss.
“Hehe. Was I bragging too much to someone who doesn’t even have a boyfriend? If you’re jealous, hurry up and get a boyfriend too.”
Yoonseo brought up the blind-date topic again.
Suddenly, she remembered the moment when the Boss looked into her eyes and told her she was pretty.
‘You’re pretty.’
I’m crazy…….
Who is calling whom pretty?
He’s the prettier one.
Tsk.
There’s no way I could be jealous when that person is my boyfriend.
Wow, seriously, if only it weren’t for the Boss.
If only he hadn’t gotten engaged over an engagement worth trillions of won.
If only I could just, really, just, yeah.
“Haa.”
A sigh escaped her naturally.
“What is it? You’ve been sighing the whole time. What are you worried about?”
“No. What could I possibly be worried about?”
Something infinite is so enormous that it feels the same as having nothing at all.
“By the way, Lee Dana, haven’t you gotten way prettier lately? I’m supposed to be the bride-to-be.”
“Me?”
‘You’re pretty.’
Ah, it keeps popping into my head at the slightest thing.
“What’s with your face? Why is it all flushed? Are you dating someone?”
“Huh? Well…….”
It’s not exactly that I am, but it’s not exactly that I’m not, either.
Yoonseo’s eyes widened.
“What? Is it true? Who is it? So that’s why you said you wouldn’t go on a blind date? But until the day before yesterday, you said you liked the Boss? That he was your first love? Who is it? There’s no way you’re seeing the Boss.”
Pfft.
Dana sprayed out her coffee at Yoonseo’s firm conviction.
I can never tell her that I’m dating the Boss.
“Isn’t that Jihoon over there?”
“Where? Oh my. What? Han Jihoooon. You couldn’t even wait that long before coming.”
He actually came.
I just pointed somewhere randomly to change the subject.
Yoonseo was already running toward Jihoon and holding his hands while doing a Ganggangsullae dance.
So much for keeping it a secret.
She’s practically dying of happiness.
“You two have fun. I’m going home first!”
After waving broadly at Yoonseo, Dana headed toward the recycling center in a corner of the park to throw away her empty coffee cup.
At that moment, someone slipped in front of her.
As Dana turned around after throwing away the trash, she failed to see the person and ended up bumping shoulders with her.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
“How can you be fine when you fell?”
Dana grabbed the hand of the woman who had collapsed in front of her and helped her up.
“Are you all right? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you? We should go to the hospital……”
Their eyes met.
Hm?
Where have I seen her before?
The woman quickly covered her face.
Is she a celebrity?
I’ve seen her somewhere……
“T-thank you.”
The woman who had gotten to her feet bowed while covering her face with her long hair.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Excuse me.”
Dana stopped the woman.
“W-why are you…….”
“Do you perhaps not know me?”
When Dana narrowed her eyes, the woman avoided her gaze.
“What? No, I don’t know you. I really don’t know you. I truly don’t know you!”
Then she hurriedly ran away.
“Hey! Excuse me!”
What the……. Why is she running away like that…….
After tilting her head for a moment, Dana’s eyes widened.
Could she be a pickpocket?
She rummaged through her pockets.
Gasp.
My phone.
My phone!
……It’s in my hand.
“She didn’t even take anything, so why did she run away like a pickpocket?”
She couldn’t even run away that quickly, so she was still near the same place as before.
But that face, I’ve definitely seen it somewhere.
Did I see her on TV?
She does look like a celebrity.
Is she a model?
I feel like I saw her in some magazine or something……
Gasp.
“Baek Seorin?”
***
Seorin was panting as she leaned against a bench in a corner of the park.
She normally wouldn’t be this exhausted, but perhaps because she had been so nervous today, she felt a little dizzy.
It was because she had approached too closely to see her face and her steps had become tangled.
“Does she know my face?”
She had suddenly recognized her, so Seorin had run away.
Since Dana might know of her existence as the woman he was dating, perhaps it would have been polite to exchange greetings.
But it wouldn’t make sense to give her the photos without even saying hello, would it?
Seorin took out the photos of Ihun and Dana from her bag.
The photos of the two of them blending into the scenery had turned out so beautifully that she had really wanted to give them to her.
But her original intention had been to investigate why Ihun wanted to break off the engagement, so from their perspective, it would certainly be unpleasant.
It was a foolish thought.
What a shame.
There were so many beautiful photos.
Could I give them to her if we become close someday?
“There’s no way…… How awkward would I be to her…….”
As she was putting the photos back, someone grabbed her wrist forcefully.
“Who are you!”
Seorin’s body was lifted by the force with which she was grabbed.
Crash.
The photos fell to the ground.
Seorin’s startled heart sank, and her face turned pale.
“I’m asking who you are! Why can’t you answer me! Why have you been hanging around our sister-in-law all day!”
Sister-in-law?
Who is his sister-in-law…….
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
The moment their eyes met, the two recognized each other.
Rai Ion.
Baek Seorin.
“Mr. Rai Heon’s younger brother……”
“Dongyeon Group? Our brother’s fiancée? Why are you here…….”
As Ion looked at Seorin, he noticed the photos scattered on the ground.
What am I looking at right now?
With his brows deeply furrowed, Ion picked up the photos.
Photos of Ihun and Dana on their date.
Ion’s eyes widened.
“Whoa, what the hell is this?”
“Uh, that…….”
“Were you investigating our brother?”
“N-no, it’s not that.”
“This really won’t do. Where did you learn to do something so nasty?”
“That’s not it, so please give them back.”
As she tried to snatch the photos away, Ion grabbed her wrist first.
“What, you’ve lost your senses because the engagement was broken? Did you learn that being a chaebol means you can do things like this?”
“W-what did you say?”
“If you have something to say, go to my brother and say it. Why did you come looking for your sister-in-law? What, were you planning to threaten her? Force her to break up with him?”
“That…….”
“You’re coming wi
th me. You were clearly raised spoiled rotten, weren’t you? Come with me.”
Ion dragged Seorin along.
“L-let go of me! Let go!”
“Are you crazy? Why would I let a caught-in-the-act offender go? Come with me. We’re going to my brother and……”
“W-wait, ah…….”
The world spun around her.
“W-what is it? What’s happening?”
Seorin collapsed straight into Ion’s arms.
