16. Lee Dana Project ‘Dating and Breaking Up’ – Mission #1. Dating
In the dimly lit room.
Only the light from the desk lamp brightly illuminated the desk.
And there, Danmi, now a high school senior, was studying hard.
No, she wanted to study hard, but she couldn’t.
Hahaha. Sob, sob…….
Because her older sister kept alternating between laughing and crying behind her.
Even though she lived on her own, whenever something upset her, she would casually return to the family home and, of all places, wrap herself in a blanket and lie down in my room like that.
“Unnie? Could you please get out of my room?”
“Can’t you see your sister is upset?”
“Can’t you see I’m studying?”
“Hey, Lee Danmi. You’re not normally like this. Even if you are a high school senior who can’t afford to care about things like manners, shouldn’t you at least ask whether your sister is sick or why she’s in a bad mood?”
What do I care?
I desperately wanted to kick her out right away, but I figured it would be faster to listen to her and send her out afterward.
Danmi somehow summoned a benevolent heart from the farthest reaches of the universe and barely managed to ask.
“What happened?”
“Little sister, my pretty little sister. Will you listen to what your big sister has to say?”
Dana pressed herself right up against Danmi.
“Could you tell me while sitting a little farther away…….”
“You know, there’s a boss at my company…….”
And like a playback tape running at high speed, Dana poured out everything that had happened without stopping.
When she finished her story, Dana was panting.
Danmi forgot even to close her eyes as she wondered what on earth she had just heard, then began blinking rapidly.
I thought she was just so heartbroken after being rejected by someone that she’d lost her mind, but what kind of plot twist is this?
“So…… you made a fake confession to your friends that you liked your boss, but your boss happened to hear it, and on top of calling off his engagement, he proposed to you, and while trying to smooth all that over, you ended up dating your boss?”
“Uh, exactly! That’s precisely it. No need to worry about your Korean CSAT grade anymore, my little sister. But the important part here is that I begged him to date me while trying to get him to cancel the proposal.”
“…….”
“Now he’s obviously going to think I really like him. Of course, he already thinks I genuinely like him, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to clear up that misunderstanding, but what about my pride? I didn’t really like him, and I didn’t even want to date him, yet your big sister ended up dating him because I begged him. And I begged him three times, too! What am I supposed to do? There’s no way around it. Today is officially Day One. What should I do?”
“……Fuck.”
“What did you say?”
“This damn world. Some people stay up all night studying and can barely even make it into a university in Seoul! And some people make a fake confession to their boss and get married while riding a Ferlri? You expect me to study in this unfair, fucked-up world? What’s the point of studying hard! What’s the point of anything in this unequal world! I quit! I’m done with everything!”
“W-w-wait, Danmi? Th-that’s not it. Your sister is asking for advice…….”
Her corrupted younger sister’s eyes had gone completely off the rails in an unexpected direction.
Dana grabbed Danmi by the shoulders.
“L-listen. Your sister is a special case. Everyone studies hard, you know. Uh, your sister also studied hard to get into her company. I-if you work hard, you’ll have good days too…….”
“Get out right now! Get lost! I said get lost!”
Dana quickly fled.
“Haa, what a terrifying high school senior. Let’s talk after the CSAT.”
Today’s lesson: Never ask a high school senior for life advice.
Anyway, what am I supposed to do now?
Whether my feelings were real or fake, the fact remained that I was dating the Boss.
And then there were those words.
‘I was raised from a young age for the sake of SaJa Group. As though I had been born solely for this purpose. ……I learned about human emotions thanks to you, Ms. Lee Dana. That something of mine can make another person happy, and that I can feel happy because of someone else’s happiness.’
What could I possibly say in front of someone like that…….
I had already deceived him, but I didn’t want to deceive him any further.
Since things had come this far, I would just faithfully date the Boss for now.
After all, isn’t it common for men and women to date and break up?
If we kept dating, we would eventually break up someday, and in the end, all I had to do was make sure we didn’t get married.
Right, since we have to break up, let’s start by dating.
“…….”
I had never really dated before, so I didn’t know where to start.
And on top of that, my partner was the Boss.
How do you even date your boss?
‘Boss, this is the theater. For this movie, I prepared a survival romance about a woman who accidentally goes on a blind date at the request of a friend, meets the president of her company, and struggles to survive.’
‘Next is the aquarium. This aquarium, the largest in the country, is characterized by having n sharks and n dolphins.’
‘Next…….’
No matter how much I imagined it, all I could picture was myself bowing respectfully beside the Boss and reporting to him.
“Haa…….”
“Daughter. Did you get dumped again?”
Dongsu suddenly appeared behind Dana.
“Dad. Again? It’s not ‘again.’”
“You’re good at work, good at studying, and pretty. Everything’s great, so why are you always hopeless when it comes to dating?”
“Hopeless? What do you mean hopeless? I’m not hopeless. Absolutely not.”
Wouldn’t it be better if I were hopeless?
Why was I always hopeless until now, only to win this time?
I didn’t even buy a lottery ticket!
As Dana suffered an internal fit, Dongsu put an arm around her shoulders.
“Don’t be too sad, daughter. Don’t you know the saying, ‘sweetness follows bitterness’? The ground hardens after the rain. He’ll come walking straight toward our daughter.”
“Who?”
“A lonely wolf?”
Even after saying it, Dongsu clicked his tongue as though dissatisfied.
“No. I can’t give my daughter to a wolf. A…… bear? Ah, that feels too dull. How about a tiger? Ah, what about a lion?”
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
Then I think he’s already here.
“Daughter, you look like you’re in a gloomy mood. Shall we go here?”
Dongsu suddenly held out his phone.
What Dongsu showed her was an Instagram feed.
The photo showed a beautifully decorated strawberry cream frappe in vivid colors and some mouthwatering bread.
Dongsu had various hobbies after retiring, and one of them was visiting atmospheric cafés and bakeries.
“Pretty, right? Pretty, right? Pretty, right? They say this is a famous date spot. You like places like this too.”
But since reality was what it was, even the glamorous and bright Instagram hotspot looked black and white to her eyes.
Dana replied without a soul.
“Yeah, it’s very pretty.”
“Right? Want to go with Dad?”
“You said it’s a date course. Go with Mom.”
“That’s true, but you don’t have a man to go to places like this with anyway. Dad will go with you so you can get a change of mood.”
“Are you really my dad? Why do you have to hit me where it hurts…….”
Wait a minute? A date course?
I do have a man to go somewhere like this with…… don’t I?
That’s right, I have a boyfriend, don’t I?
A boyfriend I have to break up with before we get married after dating him properly.
A boyfriend I urgently need to break up with, but whom I have to date first in order to do that!
“Where is that, Dad?”
Starting today, I’m going to start dating.
***
“Have you arrived?”
Dohyun bowed politely.
Ion entered the café and took a seat in front of Dohyun without bothering to hide his annoyance.
“What is it? You wanted to see me?”
“I have something to tell you regarding President Rai’s situation.”
Ion’s eyebrows twitched in puzzlement.
“Did the reporting system change? Did Mom tell me to report to her?”
“No. I have something I wanted to discuss with you.”
“I’m not going to betray my brother.”
Ion stared at Dohyun before giving a faint laugh.
“If you’re thinking of provoking me by using my brother somehow, don’t even dream about it.”
“That’s why I came to the Executive Director rather than Director Yoon.”
At Dohyun’s serious gaze, Ion straightened his posture.
“What is it?”
Dohyun glanced around and lowered his voice.
“President Rai met Ms. Baek Seorin of Dongyeon Group and canceled the marriage.”
“……What?”
“He says he won’t be getting married.”
“…….”
Ion rolled his eyes as though he couldn’t understand.
“My brother would never do that.”
“I thought so too. He isn’t the kind of person who would suddenly cancel a marriage worth trillions of won without any warning. But I heard it directly from the Boss.”
After thinking for a moment, Ion looked at Dohyun.
“Why?”
“Yes?”
“Why is he canceling the marriage? As you said, there must be a reason for suddenly canceling a marriage between companies worth trillions of won. Did he get another woman?”
“That…….”
Seeing Dohyun hesitate, Ion’s eyes widened.
“Did he really get another woman?”
A woman…….
After hearing Lee Dana’s confession, Ihun’s attitude had noticeably changed.
Dohyun spoke resolutely.
“I don’t think that’s the case.”
Of course. It’s worth trillions of won. Surely he wouldn’t do it because of a woman who didn’t even confess to him…….
