Chapter 18

Hae-il walked toward her without hesitation.

The firm click of his dress shoes cut through the silence of the night, and soon his shadow stood alongside hers.

How long had it been since the two of them had been this close, completely alone?

Ever since their reunion, Danbi had always been busy hiding or fleeing before he could get near her.

Then, sooner than he expected, Danbi broke the silence.

“Why did you come out?”

There was still a clear sense of distance in her question.

Hae-il hesitated, unsure what expression he should wear, before deciding to maintain his “Team Leader” mask for the moment.

“I just felt suffocated in there, so I came out.”

A heavy silence settled between them.

In the past, whenever they were alone together, Danbi would become shy and quiet. But the silence flowing between them now was unmistakably different from the fluttering excitement they had once shared.

“You worked hard today…….”

“What was hard?”

“Um……. Having to eat beside the section manager who talks your ear off? Though I don’t think he said much to you, Team Leader.”

It sounded exactly like the kind of perfunctory conversation between a superior and a subordinate.

The realization that this was all they had become filled Hae-il with unbearable irritation.

“So you noticed who I was sitting with.”

A barb crept into his voice before he could stop it.

He no longer had the energy to play along with this tiresome game of pretending.

If this continued, they might remain nothing more than a superior and subordinate forever.

He didn’t want that.

“Even so, you had someone else sitting there instead of me. The same goes for my team members, and even you, Ms. Danbi.”

Anger rose all the way to his throat.

I can’t stand the fact that you prioritized another guy over me.

I can’t stand the fact that you were so busy paying attention to him that I didn’t even exist in your eyes.

“Ah, I assumed you’d naturally sit with the other team leaders…….”

“So you didn’t even consider me.”

Was it because of the alcohol?

His reason felt as though it were being numbed by the emotions boiling inside him.

“Shouldn’t you have seated me there by default?”

Hae-il slowly moved closer until he was standing directly in front of Danbi.

He deliberately forced himself into her line of sight, even though she refused to look at him properly.

Under the faint moonlight, her face appeared unusually clear.

Her deep, black eyes were still moist.

He felt as though he could be sucked into those depths.

Standing this close, close enough to feel her breath, gave him the illusion that everything had returned to that time when they were seventeen.

Back then, she had looked only at him, as though he were her entire world, like a frightened baby rabbit.

“I’ve tried to understand it, but this time, I really can’t.”

“……What?”

“No, seriously. Does that make sense? I’m right there, and you’re so distracted by some other guy that…….”

The alcohol had risen all the way to his head, and the words that had been bottled up inside his chest spilled out without any filter.

Everything about the situation had irritated him.

He wanted her to acknowledge him.

He wanted to tear down this suffocating distance between them in one blow.

“The Lee Danbi I know likes me.”

His provocation visibly flustered her for a moment, but she soon met his gaze calmly.

“Team Leader, you’re very drunk.”

Her voice was strangely steady and firm.

It was as though she intended to dismiss everything he had said as nothing more than drunken rambling.

“Don’t speak formally to me. It makes me feel like we’re strangers.”

Hae-il snapped irritably.

Every time she called him “Team Leader,” it felt as though an invisible wall grew thicker between them.

He couldn’t stand it.

“Ha…… You really are drunk.”

Danbi let out a small sigh and muttered the words.

She had dropped the formal speech.

Only then did Hae-il close his eyes and let out a quiet laugh.

At last, it felt as though the real Lee Danbi was standing in front of him.

“You should’ve acted like that from the beginning. Damn, it took you long enough.”

“Why did you drink so much?”

“Again. You’re speaking formally again.”

“Ha, fine. Why did you drink so much?”

Just like the Danbi he remembered, she was still quick to respond to feedback.

Hae-il didn’t bother beating around the bush anymore.

“Because of you. You irritated me so much.”

“What did I do?”

“You’ve been pretending not to know me for a whole month. If I were you, I would’ve greeted you the moment I saw you on the first day. I would’ve said I was happy to see you, that I’d missed you all this time. Then I’d have eaten with you, had coffee with you, gone to the movies with you, had drinks with you…… I would’ve done everything I wanted to do.”

His voice contained genuine regret mixed with deep resentment.

“You just threw all those precious moments away.”

Danbi simply blinked at him.

Each time she did, her eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly, seemingly tempting him.

He was drunk, and the alcohol had made his heart soft and pliable.

If she sincerely repented even now, he was willing to forgive everything.

It’s okay.

It’s not too late yet.

So hurry up and apologize.

Hae-il wore a generous smile, as though everything had finally fallen into place, and waited for her atonement.

“……What exactly am I supposed to apologize for?”

But she asked the question with such an innocent expression that it seemed she truly had no idea—or perhaps as though she lived in an entirely different world.

Hae-il deliberately let out a deep sigh right in front of her.

He kindly gave her the answer, with the magnanimous attitude of someone granting her exactly one more chance.

“For pretending you didn’t know me.”

Ever since the first time we met, all the way until now.

Pretending you weren’t interested in me at all and acting so stiffly.

If you apologize now, I’ll forgive everything.

You’re kind of cute today, after all.

He waited for her next words with an expression overflowing with as much generosity as he could muster.

But Danbi merely frowned slightly and continued looking at him as though she still couldn’t understand.

“……Why should I apologize for pretending not to know you?”

Her voice came out dry, without the slightest trace of emotion.

Does she really not know why?

“Because you knew and pretended you didn’t.”

And because you made me feel like this.

Before Hae-il could continue, Danbi spoke first.

“Hmm…… I don’t really understand, but anyway, I’m sorry if it made you feel bad.”

It was a strangely worded apology.

Still, it was an apology.

Hae-il’s heart loosened just a little.

That was when Danbi continued, looking straight at him.

“But I did that because I only wanted us to remain coworkers—a superior and subordinate. I thought you’d understood what I meant and were treating me accordingly. Wasn’t that the case?”

What is she talking about?

She only wanted to have a working relationship with me?

“……Why?”

His voice came out cracked.

“Obviously because we met again as people working at the same company. I want us to continue like this.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah. Just like now, as a team leader and a team member. Oh, and this is really just me being overly cautious, but I don’t have any feelings for you anymore. So you don’t need to worry about anything like that.”

“……What?”

It felt as though he could hear his heart dropping heavily to the ground.

“I’m saying this because I thought you might be worried that I still liked you.”

Danbi hesitated, her lips moving slightly.

Then, as though she had made up her mind, she let out a short sigh and continued.

“It’s true. I used to like you. But how long ago was that? I really don’t have any feelings for you anymore. Not even the tiniest bit.”

“……Why?”

The question slipped out again, childish and foolish.

But he couldn’t bear not to ask.

“What?”

“Why don’t you have any feelings?”

How could you not?

Look at me.

I’ve become far more impressive than I was back then.

I’ve achieved more, become more successful, more masculine, and then returned to stand in front of you.

How can you possibly have no interest in me?

“Um…… Do I have to?”

“…….”

“Anyway, let’s consider this conversation finished. And let’s agree to forget everything you said today by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, we’ll just go back to being a team leader and a team member and act as though nothing happened.”

She tilted her head slightly, as though asking for his agreement.

Her soft, long hair cascaded gently over her shoulder, and she looked beautiful.

But somehow, that beauty made his stomach churn.

Because the Lee Danbi who didn’t like him had never existed in Hae-il’s world.

So then, who exactly was this woman standing before him?

And how was he supposed to treat her from now on?

Confused, Hae-il asked once more, as though he needed to confirm it.

“Really…… You really don’t have any feelings for me?”

“Yeah, I told you. So don’t feel uncomfortable around me. I liked you once, a very long time ago. It was just for a brief moment, when I was young and immature. You were the only friend I had back then.”

Danbi said it so casually, as though she were talking about some trivial mistake from a foolish childhood long ago.

Then what had Hae-il been doing?

Had he really carried that brief mistake, that fleeting impulse, engraved in his heart for all these years?

Had he come all the way here alone, endlessly replaying memories that meant almost nothing to her?

Danbi’s casual words poured a bucket of ice water over Hae-il’s boiling head.

The hot blood rushing through him instantly went cold.

A freezing sensation swept through his entire body, numbing his senses.

As his stomach twisted as though he were about to vomit, the image of the Planning Team man from the restaurant suddenly flashed through his mind.

“Earlier…… Are you close to that guy?”

“Who? Ah, Mr. Suhyeon?”

“……Suhyeon?”

“Yeah, the guy from the Planning Team. His name is Park Suhyeon. Oh, right. Wasn’t there someone named Suhyeon in our class back in high school? The one you didn’t get along with very well…….”

His name is Suhyeon too?

What an absurd, rotten coincidence.

Danbi casually continued listing the positive things she thought about Park Suhyeon, but Hae-il couldn’t properly hear a single word.

Only one fact remained painfully clear.

She was interested in another man.

And, of all names, that man’s name was Suhyeon.

The realization twisted his insides with unbearable pain.

When Hae-il remained silent, Danbi spoke as though trying to smooth over the awkward atmosphere.

“Anyway. Let’s just get along well as a superior and subordinate at work. Hmm, but I do feel a little relieved after talking so openly today. It was nice seeing you again, Hae-il.”

“…….”

“Get some more fresh air before you go back in. I’ll head inside first.”

Danbi looked astonishingly relieved, as though a long-standing burden had finally been lifted from her chest.

She even gave him a light wave before walking past him and leaving the alley.

Hae-il stood there as though nailed to the spot, staring blankly at her retreating figure.

She wasn’t stumbling away in a panic like she had before.

Her slow, composed steps carried a kind of ease he had never sensed from her in the past.

It seemed like undeniable proof that she no longer felt any intense emotion toward him.

Not even the slightest nervousness.

Hae-il pressed his forehead against the wall where Danbi had been leaning only moments ago, leaving behind her warmth.

A dull thud echoed through the alley, followed by a brief groan.

Unless he leaned against something, he felt as though the strength would drain from his legs and he would simply collapse where he stood.

An enormous sense of loss beyond anything he could put into words pressed down upon his entire body like a cold lump of lead, dragging him deeper and deeper into the darkness.