BT 14

Chapter 14

The Woman I’ve Been Seeing Lately

When Eun-chae opened her eyes that morning, she stared blankly at the hospital ceiling.

She found it ridiculous that after sleeping well and waking up, the first thing she did was wonder what Kwon Do-hyeok was doing.

Why am I suddenly thinking about that man?

And first thing in the morning, too.

Maybe it was because she hadn’t expected him to struggle so much after eating the hamburger.

She shouldn’t force him to eat foods he couldn’t tolerate from now on. Otherwise, seeing the nasty man suffer might make her feel sorry for him and cause her to care about him for no reason.

That wouldn’t be good.

“If you’re awake, hurry up, wash your face, and come to your senses!”

Her father’s nagging continued even in the hospital.

Unable to dawdle any longer, Eun-chae got up, grabbed a towel, and left the hospital room.

Since she was in a hospital, she had to wash her face in the restroom.

As she trudged down the hospital hallway, a doctor rushing through the corridor bumped into her shoulder.

The doctor didn’t stop, but apologized hurriedly as he continued running.

“I’m sorry. I’m really in a hurry.”

When a doctor said he was in a hurry, people naturally assumed it had something to do with someone’s life, so it was easy to forgive them.

That was why Eun-chae asked a passing nurse with concern,

“Was there some kind of major accident?”

The nurse smiled and shook her head.

“No. The Chairman of the group is coming in for a health checkup today. So all the doctors in the hospital are on emergency standby.”

Oh, damn.

A curse immediately came to mind.

Was everyone acting like this just because some person was coming in for a health checkup, despite not even being a patient?

Kwon Do-hyeok wasn’t the only bad one for flaunting his money.

The people who automatically bowed and scraped before someone like Kwon Do-hyeok were bad enough themselves.

Grumbling as she headed toward the restroom, Eun-chae suddenly realized something and stopped.

The group associated with Sejin Hospital was Sejin Group.

And if it was the Chairman of Sejin Group, then he had to be Kwon Do-hyeok’s father.

Eun-chae turned around, approached the nurse who had answered her question, and cautiously asked,

“What time is that Chairman coming?”

He wasn’t even a celebrity, but she was incredibly curious.

Just what did the father of Kwon Do-hyeok, the man who had raised him that way, actually look like?

It was the first time Do-hyeok had accompanied his father to a health checkup, but Chairman Kwon didn’t ask him why.

Normally, if a family member suddenly did something they had never done before, you would worry that something was wrong or that they were ill.

But this father and son were accustomed to the heavy silence that came from having nothing to say to each other.

They were heading to the hospital without exchanging a word when a cheerful KakaoTalk notification sounded from Do-hyeok’s phone.

The person whose eyebrows rose at the sound was Chairman Kwon.

When Chairman Kwon looked at him, Do-hyeok immediately said to Manager Park,

“Looks like your grandson sent you another message.”

Manager Park knew perfectly well that it wasn’t his phone, but he had no choice but to take out his own phone and check the KakaoTalk messages that hadn’t even arrived.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it.

Ping. Ping. Ping.

The KakaoTalk notification continued sounding even while Manager Park was looking at his phone.

No matter how capable Manager Park was, there was no way he could reach into Do-hyeok’s pocket and put his phone on silent.

Manager Park turned around with an apologetic look.

This was clearly beyond his abilities.

Do-hyeok cursed inwardly and pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket.

Even if whoever was sending the messages was doing it without realizing the situation, he couldn’t forgive them.

Without even checking the messages, he switched his phone to vibrate and was about to put it back into his pocket as though nothing had happened.

Then his father spoke from beside him.

“Why aren’t you checking what they say?”

Do-hyeok silently looked at his father.

There was no point in making excuses. It would only make him look more pathetic.

Chairman Kwon stared at Do-hyeok with an expressionless gaze and asked in a voice that left no room for evasion.

“Who is it?”

Do-hyeok’s mouth closed even more tightly.

Why am I the one getting into trouble because of the bullet I prepared to corner my father?

He hated this situation more than anything.

And he couldn’t figure out how he was supposed to explain Eun-chae.

He should have been the one interrogating his father.

How do you know Eun-chae?

Why did you buy her album?

Instead—

“She’s the woman I’ve been seeing lately.”

At Do-hyeok’s words, Manager Park turned around in shock.

Chairman Kwon’s expression also became cold and sharp.

Only Do-hyeok spoke calmly, pretending to be at ease.

“I like the woman I choose myself. Not the woman my father chooses for me.”

It was something he had said on the spur of the moment, without any plan.

But once he said it, he realized it sounded more like his true feelings than anything else.

It was the first time he had ever been this honest in front of his father.

And his father was not someone who could be taken lightly, even by his own son.

“Do you want to die?”

Chairman Kwon wasn’t the kind of man who made jokes, so Manager Park turned around with a pale face.

He was worried that something terrible might happen to Do-hyeok.

Do-hyeok had no desire to die, so he gave the driver an order.

“Stop the car.”

The driver looked flustered, glancing back and forth between Do-hyeok, Chairman Kwon, and Manager Park.

In this situation, the driver was nothing more than a driving machine with no will of its own.

He couldn’t simply stop the car based on his own decision.

“Stop.”

At Chairman Kwon’s command, the driver finally relaxed and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

As soon as the Mercedes came to a smooth stop, Do-hyeok grabbed the door handle and opened it.

Just as Do-hyeok was about to get out, Chairman Kwon spoke to his back.

“End it within three days.”

Do-hyeok turned around and looked at his father coldly.

“No.”

Manager Park, watching from the side, felt his insides burn.

Showing Do-hyeok the album had never been intended to create this kind of conflict.

Do-hyeok got out in the middle of the road.

Chairman Kwon silently watched his son’s back as he walked away alone.

Then, in an even colder voice than before, he spoke to Manager Park.

“Did you lie to me?”

Manager Park couldn’t answer easily.

Because if he told the truth without hiding anything, then it would mean admitting that Do-hyeok had lied.

Eun-chae wasn’t the woman Do-hyeok was seeing.

In fact, their relationship was even more complicated than that.

“You should talk to the President again—”

“Are you lecturing me now?”

One thunderous sentence from Chairman Kwon froze everything.

Manager Park was flustered.

This was exactly why he had never been able to speak carelessly around Chairman Kwon.

Melting this wall of ice was impossible with a few words.

“You know this, don’t you? I have plenty of people to use besides Manager Park. So take responsibility and find out.”

Manager Park, who already knew who the woman Do-hyeok had mentioned was, looked at Chairman Kwon with complicated eyes.

The reason he had not reported anything to Chairman Kwon was partly because he had been thinking of Chairman Kwon’s best interests.

But now that Do-hyeok had deliberately provoked his father like that, there was no way to keep hiding it.

Are these two really incapable of ever having a conversation?

It was heartbreaking.

Just a few words.

A few words expressing what they truly felt would have been enough.

But because even that was impossible, the two had become like a relationship surrounded by iron towers.

According to the nurse, the Chairman was coming right away, so Eun-chae went out to the hospital entrance without even washing her face.

The hospital doctors were already lined up to receive the VVIP guest.

It was practically a state visit.

<You really looked down on me when we were talking about my father’s clippers, didn’t you? This time, it’s my turn.>

She had sent Do-hyeok a threatening message.

What she got in return was silence.

She sent several more messages as though they contained something incredibly important, then waited for the man who was supposedly Kwon Do-hyeok’s father to arrive.

But then her phone rang.

Thinking that Do-hyeok might have been scared enough to call her, she checked the phone.

It was her father calling from the hospital room.

[Where the hell are you wandering around now? Have you gotten those foolish ideas in your head again after finally settling down?]

“Dad, you’re always like this whenever you can’t see me! Try trusting your daughter for once!”

[I’ll trust you when you start acting in a way that makes me trust you! Buy me some banana milk and hurry back!]

So, in the end, he simply wanted some milk.

Then he could have just asked her to buy him milk.

Her father always had to add a lecture.

“Okay. I’ll buy you some milk and be right back.”

After hanging up, Eun-chae went back to hiding behind a pillar and waiting for the Chairman to arrive.

But suddenly, the doctors who had gathered there seemed to start whispering among themselves.

Then they began grumbling as they dispersed.

The Chairman hadn’t even arrived.

What? Is he not coming?

Damn it. I waited for nothing.

Eun-chae finally gave up and headed toward the convenience store to buy the banana milk her father wanted.

Then her phone made another KakaoTalk sound.

It was a message from Do-hyeok.

<Because of those clueless messages you sent, somehow you’ve become the woman I’m seeing, so you’d better understand that. This is what you call getting what you deserve.>

What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

She was already stunned by the shocking message when another message from Do-hyeok arrived immediately afterward.

<And are you seriously comparing your father’s clippers to my father’s hunting rifle? How laughable.>

She decided it was probably time to cut Kwon Do-hyeok out of her life.

If she waited until the contract ended, something was bound to happen.

She should borrow money if necessary, pay back Do-hyeok’s money, and end their relationship.

She couldn’t stay beside such a dangerous man for long.

Something terrible would happen.

“Dad, do you have any money?”

Her father, who had been drinking the banana milk she brought him, immediately raised his eyes.

“Why do you need money?”

She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had gotten tangled up with some dangerous chaebol man and needed to pay back several million won immediately so she could cut ties with him.

The moment she said it, she knew she’d get hit.

“Can’t you just give your daughter some money?”

“You little brat! Get over here!”

Because of his injured back, her father couldn’t move from the bed, so he ordered her to come closer.

That way, he could hit her.

So Eun-chae moved even farther away and grumbled,

“I really need it. Do you think I’d ask Dad for money if I didn’t? I wouldn’t ask you unless I really needed it.”

“I said come here!”

The other patients in the ward seemed so accustomed to the two of them fighting that nobody even bothered to stop them anymore.

Instead, they joined her father in nagging her, leaving Eun-chae as the only one exhausted.

In the end, she headed to Do-hyeok’s house without any money.

Eun-chae looked up at the towering Tower Palace with determined eyes.

She had to confront Do-hyeok, who treated her like a joke, so she needed to keep her head straight.

This time, she absolutely could not let him push her around.

No matter how little money she had, how few connections she had, or how unimpressive her job was, none of that gave anyone the right to treat her carelessly.

Kwon Do-hyeok’s attitude toward people was simply wrong.

And since it seemed nobody had ever taught him that, she would teach him properly herself.

Eun-chae pressed the doorbell firmly.

She hadn’t come to work today, so she expected Do-hyeok to open the door for her.

But there was no response.

Thinking he might deliberately be refusing to open it, she pressed the bell several more times.

Still nothing.

With no other choice, Eun-chae took out her phone and called Do-hyeok.

“You’re not home right now?”

Since it was Sunday night, she naturally assumed Do-hyeok would be home.

He wasn’t usually the type to go out much, either.

[No. I’m outside.]

“I have something to say to you! So come home right now!”

[Don’t order me around.]

“You’re the one who made me like this! Why am I the woman you’re seeing? If you go around carelessly saying things like that—”

[If you want to see me, come to Cheongdam-dong.]

Cheongdam-dong wasn’t far from Dogok-dong, so Eun-chae immediately got into a car.

When she arrived in Cheongdam-dong, she stood in front of the place where Do-hyeok was waiting and hesitated to enter.

Of all places, Do-hyeok had chosen a world-famous jewelry store.

“What kind of trick is this?”

He might genuinely have come because he had something to buy.

But because the person in question was Do-hyeok, she couldn’t bring herself to believe it was that simple.

She really didn’t want to go inside.

But she had a reason for needing to meet Do-hyeok.

So Eun-chae tightened her stomach, straightened her shoulders, and stepped into a luxury jewelry store for the first time in her life.

“Welcome.”

A well-trained employee bowed at what seemed like a perfectly precise angle and greeted the customer politely.

The employees were dressed in black.

The display cases were black too.

Only the jewels shone with dazzling, multicolored light.

Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Eun-chae felt the tension drain from her body.

“Um, I’m not here to buy anything. I’m here to meet someone.”

Her voice naturally became quieter.

She hadn’t even met Do-hyeok yet, and things were already going badly.

If this was what Do-hyeok had intended, it was a truly underhanded move.

Do-hyeok stood in front of a jewelry display, examining the pieces as though he were completely accustomed to places like this.

Eun-chae gave the employee an awkward smile before quickly approaching Do-hyeok and standing close beside him.

That way, no one else would hear her when she started cursing him.

“You don’t even have a woman to give something like this to, so why are you here?”

“How do you know whether I have such a woman or not?”

He was unbelievably shameless.

It was obvious that he didn’t have one, which was why he had simply decided to call her the woman he was seeing!

“Anyway, let’s get out of here. If I raise my voice, you’ll be embarrassed too.”

She was trying to move somewhere they could argue more comfortably when Do-hyeok suddenly held a necklace against her neck.

It was shaped like the fully spread wings of a peacock, covered entirely in gemstones.

It was the very definition of extravagant.

“You look good in something flashy. Are you simply born for the stage?”

It was so sudden.

And the necklace reflected in the mirror was so dazzlingly beautiful that Eun-chae became completely entranced.

He’s right.

It was the kind of necklace that would be incredible to wear while singing onstage.

She wouldn’t even need stage lights.

Just wearing this necklace would make her sparkle.

“Should I buy it for you?”

Those words brought her wandering mind straight back.

Eun-chae glared at Do-hyeok and warned him,

“Don’t try to hook me with things like this. It’ll only make me hate you more.”

At Eun-chae’s declaration that she still hated him, Do-hyeok gave a bitter smile.

At first, her words had merely hovered outside his skin.

But somehow, they now seemed to have burrowed all the way toward his heart.

If those words ever truly began to hurt him, then he would be in serious trouble.

“Please wrap it.”

Despite her saying she didn’t want it, Do-hyeok intended to buy the necklace.

Eun-chae became angry.

“I said I don’t need it!”

The female employee carefully placed the necklace into a box and looked at Eun-chae as though she couldn’t understand.

Why would anyone refuse when such a beautiful necklace was being bought for her?

“You saying you don’t need it doesn’t mean I can’t buy it with my own money.”

Do-hyeok pulled out his card.

Eun-chae had nothing to say to that.

He was right.

It was his money, and he was free to buy whatever he wanted.

But he had asked whether he should buy it for her and then bought it anyway, which left Eun-chae feeling strangely uncomfortable.

Even though it wasn’t hers, it somehow felt like a necklace connected to her.

She had said she didn’t need it, but Do-hyeok stubbornly bought it anyway and left the shop.

Once they got into Do-hyeok’s car together, Eun-chae glared unhappily at the jewelry box he had casually tossed down.

“Who exactly did you tell that I’m the woman you’re seeing?”

Do-hyeok started the engine and answered casually.

“My father.”

At the word father, Eun-chae’s eyes widened.

What if the reason the Chairman’s visit to the hospital was suddenly canceled was because of this?

Eun-chae felt that this was far from a simple matter.

“Don’t tell me the Chairman is going to send people to come after me?”

Eun-chae had already been taken away once because of Do-hyeok.

To her, this was a crisis staring her directly in the face.

She couldn’t imagine his father being any less frightening than his son.

“Don’t worry about unnecessary things. As long as I’m here, he can’t do that.”

“What are you, exactly?!”

Ever since I met you, nothing has gone right!

She exploded in anger at the thought, but Do-hyeok looked at her calmly.

“I take responsibility for the things I say. I’m not going to make you take responsibility for them.”

Her chest suddenly ached.

It felt as though something had come from deep inside her and stabbed her hard.

But if she let herself be swayed by words like that, then she would simply be too naive.

“If that’s how you feel, then you shouldn’t have lied in the first place!”

“Then you shouldn’t have made an album in the first place.”

“Why are you bringing my album into this?! Do you know how hard I worked to make it?”

Even Do-hyeok himself had no idea what would happen from here.

He didn’t know what his father would do.

He didn’t know how his father would react once he learned about Eun-chae.

And he didn’t know what would happen between himself and Eun-chae.

Everything was uncertain.

He didn’t even know when the necklace he had bought today would finally find its owner.

That’s why it would have been nice if she had simply accepted it when he offered to buy it for her.

Then, at least, the day might have ended on a better note.

As soon as Do-hyeok’s car stopped in front of Tower Palace, Eun-chae opened the door and got out without even saying goodbye.

Do-hyeok watched her angry back as she walked away without a farewell.

Then, irritated, he got out of his car and followed Eun-chae as she headed toward the bus stop.

With his long legs, Do-hyeok quickly closed the distance between them.

When only one step separated them, Do-hyeok reached out, grabbed Eun-chae by the arm, and spun her around.

Eun-chae stared at Do-hyeok, who had followed her, with startled eyes.

“What is it?! Do you still have something to say?”

Today, no matter what he said, she was going to get angry.

Do-hyeok stared down at her as she watched him warily.

Then he delivered a completely straightforward question.

“Let’s kiss. Just once.”

Thud.

The stone he had thrown struck her heart with perfect accuracy.