DH ✦ Ch 37

✦ Chapter 37 ✦

Could it be that he likes me?

Hyun-jae’s words were difficult to understand. Perhaps they were simply straightforward, but Ga-young couldn’t interpret them.

The words her mind refused to accept lodged in the center of her chest like a heavy stone. Feeling that she had come here for no reason, Ga-young rose from her seat.

“I should be going now…”

A long arm wrapped around Ga-young’s waist and pulled her back. In an instant, her seat changed to the man’s thigh.

Hyun-jae casually looked down at Ga-young’s flustered face.

“You came because you wanted to be with me. Where do you think you’re going?”

“I—I only brought the sherbet…”

Because you bought it, I felt bad eating it alone, so I brought it to you.

She should have been able to say that. It wasn’t even a lie, yet the words stopped in her throat.

Ga-young’s bewildered eyes wandered through empty space.

His eyes, shaded by thick lashes, gazed languidly at her. Then, as though telling her not to worry, he gently stroked the back of her head with his palm.

“Is it difficult to say you want to stay with me?”

“……”

“You can just say it. I’m always happy to have you around.”

“……”

Something hot surged up from inside her chest. Ga-young clenched her teeth, trying to suppress the mysterious emotion.

He was wrong.

I don’t like being with you.

In Korea, Yoon Ga-young was someone who was supposed to “keep her head pressed to the ground.” But to look at Shin Hyun-jae, she had to hold her head high. She had to raise her eyes even higher.

And when she looked at Hyun-jae like that, sunlight and flowers in full bloom entered her view along with him.

It was a blessing that should never have entered Yoon Ga-young’s life.

If she carelessly let it in, everything would become foully contaminated by the curses of the people of the world.

So she wished Hyun-jae wouldn’t act like this.

She wished he wouldn’t shake her with sweet words or melt her with warm eyes.

It would have been better if he simply treated her roughly with nothing but raw desire.

“Why are you taking it so seriously?”

Hyun-jae gave a small laugh.

“Executive Director.”

She protested with a sidelong glare, and Hyun-jae cupped her pale cheek.

“I’ll give up on hearing things that make me feel good. I’ll just have to take care of myself.”

Ga-young timidly pushed against his arm, but it wasn’t enough to remove his hand.

Whenever she was caught by Hyun-jae’s enormous hand, large enough to cover her entire face, she instinctively became like a docile puppy. He gently teased and stimulated her flushed cheeks, ears, and the back of her neck.

“Actually, you don’t intend to leave, do you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You don’t.”

“I do.”

While their childish exchange continued, the man’s fingertips slipped downward until they reached her rounded breast.

“Do you really want to leave?”

“……Yes.”

Hyun-jae wrapped one arm around the waist that twisted as she tried to retreat, while his fingertips traced circles over her breast.

“You don’t.”

“……N-no.”

Caught in a strange, sensual confusion, Ga-young’s eyelids gradually lost their strength.

His hand tightened around her breast through her clothes, making it ache. His fingers pinched her nipple firmly.

Ga-young’s pupils became unfocused, her breathing deepened, and her neck swayed like a reed. She didn’t realize that the expression on her face was arousing to the man.

The corners of Hyun-jae’s curved lips slowly hardened.

“I was planning to skip it tonight…”

He pulled her slender waist tightly against his abdomen.

“But I don’t think I can.”

Because of the pressure crushing her chest, her lips parted with a breathy gasp, only to be covered by Hyun-jae’s.

Ga-young surrendered willingly.

She helplessly gave herself over to him, from her lips to her entire body.

Perhaps she had known this would happen from the moment she voluntarily carried the sherbet upstairs.

She had willingly stepped into dangerous territory.

Like a child tasting chocolate for the first time, Yoon Ga-young had become a shameless woman addicted to the taste of a man.

The realization was painful, but she had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Her self-reproach—Is this really okay?—was pushed aside by another, greater conviction.

Since she couldn’t give him her heart, perhaps it was only right to give him her body.

That way, she could rid herself of her sense of indebtedness and eventually part with him.

By the time summer ended, Hyun-jae would grow tired of their relationship too.

The hotter the flames burned, the more easily they could be extinguished.

They needed to burn fiercely so that they could be put out all at once.

Once she set aside her worries, Ga-young genuinely enjoyed being intimate with Hyun-jae.

After nights spent trembling and moaning beneath overwhelming heat, a sweet afterglow remained.

So much so that the scenery outside the window in the morning seemed more beautiful than it had the day before.

Those days continued until the flowers in the vases decorating every corner of the annex began to wither.

It had been a day of meetings one after another.

Naturally, reviewing departmental approval requests and project proposals had been pushed until after dinner.

In other words, once again, there was no telling when he would be able to leave work.

Hyun-jae gave up on dinner and wrestled with documents inside his office.

For two hours, he had repeated the process of taking approval documents from the tower piled up on the right side of his desk, signing them, and stacking them into another tower on the left.

When Hyun-jae saw that the tower of approval files had barely shrunk by half, he gave a bitter little laugh.

When am I ever going home?

A beautiful woman and sweet moments were waiting for him there.

It wasn’t as though he had been struggling under an excessive workload for only a day or two. It had been ten years.

It was ridiculous to suddenly complain about it now.

At least he could console himself with the fact that his recent schedule had avoided any overseas business trips.

Just as he was about to concentrate on the documents again, a knock sounded, followed by Byung-soo entering the room.

“Executive Director, I brought you something to eat.”

A shopping bag from a sandwich shop swung from Byung-soo’s hand.

The man who had left saying he would buy something to eat on his way back from dinner had only returned two hours later.

While his boss had been starving, apparently the secretary had enjoyed a royal feast.

“Put it there.”

Hyun-jae ignored him and continued looking at the approval documents.

Byung-soo approached cautiously.

“Please eat the sandwich before you continue.”

“I’ll take care of it myself.”

“I’ll feel at ease only after I see you eat until you’re full, Executive Director.”

“Bullshit.”

Perhaps he had a masochistic streak, because whenever Hyun-jae cursed at him, Byung-soo’s expression actually became more relaxed.

Grinning cheerfully, Byung-soo perched on the corner of the desk and leaned his face toward him.

“You’re sulking because I came too late.”

“That’s not it, so go home.”

“How can I go home when my heaven-like boss is still working?”

“You’re only getting in the way, so disappear already.”

“I want to, too, but I still have something to report.”

“What?”

A small argument went back and forth for a while.

“I’ll report it after you eat.”

Byung-soo opened the sandwich packaging himself and offered it to Hyun-jae, while Hyun-jae kept refusing, saying he would eat later.

In the end, they compromised: Hyun-jae would eat the sandwich while listening to Byung-soo’s report.

“First, the materials and draft script for the ESG Management Forum being held in a few days are ready.”

The ESG Management Forum was essentially a kind of alumni gathering hosted by the Young Global Leaders Club, which included Hyun-jae.

Every year, the World Economic Forum selected around 120 global leaders under the age of forty from around the world. The Korean group formed by the leaders included in that selection was called the Young Global Leaders Club.

Two years ago, Hyun-jae had been selected as a Young Global Leader in the economic field after winning an environmentally friendly construction contract that had attracted attention in Europe.

It was an honor that had simply fallen into his lap by chance, and he found the title more burdensome than useful.

“Was that this week?”

“Yeah, this Friday.”

Seeing his indifferent expression, Byung-soo widened his eyes behind his glasses.

“You forgot?”

The Young Global Leaders Club included a large number of influential figures who led politics, business, academia, and other fields.

For executives leading a chaebol group, these people were essentially a golden network of connections.

As the heir who would one day lead GB Group, Hyun-jae was supposed to willingly participate in such social events.

“How could you forget something that important? You even agreed to give the presentation.”

This year’s event consisted of two parts: the first was the ESG Management Forum, followed by a dinner.

Hyun-jae was scheduled to give a presentation during the first part.

It was the result of him accepting the event organizer’s suggestion.

I shouldn’t have agreed to do it.

He regretted it inwardly, and his mouth tasted bitter.

Hyun-jae lowered the sandwich in his hand without even taking a bite and opened his email inbox on the computer.

“Right. You sent it by email, didn’t you?”

As he opened the email and checked the draft Byung-soo had sent him, he sighed.

More work.

If he was going to present this at the event, he would have to personally supplement and improve the material.

That would undoubtedly cost him several nights of sleep.

While he skimmed through the draft, a vibration sounded from Byung-soo’s pocket.

Byung-soo took out his phone, checked the caller, then slipped it back into his pocket.

“The next report is…”

Bzzzzzz.

The vibration stopped for a moment, then began again.

Hyun-jae sent the documents to the printer and spoke.

“Answer it. It’s not working hours anymore.”

“Hmm.”

Byung-soo answered the phone.

The reason for his sigh became obvious from the very first words.

“I’m busy, little sis.”

Huh! Was it Se-jung?

A quiet laugh escaped Hyun-jae’s lips.

Se-jung had not returned to Italy and was staying at a hotel in Korea.

Hyun-jae had allowed her to stay after making her promise to behave herself for exactly one month, and now Byung-soo was suffering the consequences.

“You said you’re still working.”

Byung-soo continued the call with an awkward expression.

“I don’t know when I’ll get off work. I don’t have time to meet you.”

Se-jung’s longtime crush on her older brother’s friend, Gil Byung-soo, had begun when she was in elementary school and was still going strong.

As far as Hyun-jae knew, Byung-soo had never once accepted Se-jung’s feelings.

Byung-soo wasn’t some herbivorous man who merely obsessed over girl groups. He was actually quite practical about his private life.

He had had a fair number of romantic relationships as well.

Se-jung, on the other hand, had never dated anyone throughout all those years, continuing to look only at Byung-soo.

That rude bastard had a devotion like that in him?

Hyun-jae waited for the call to end with a crooked smile on his lips.

“I’m next to the Executive Director. You want to talk to him?”

Hyun-jae waved his hands emphatically, signaling that he absolutely did not.

Byung-soo covered the phone with his hand and whispered.

“Hey, get her off my back.”

Hyun-jae groaned and reluctantly took the phone.

“Shin Se-jung, are you going to keep bothering my friend?”

He began with the obvious scolding.

But after a brief pause, the voice that came through wasn’t Se-jung’s.

—Oppa.

It was his former fiancée, Gong Cha-hee.