ITLW 10

Chapter 10

The CEO Was My First Love………………

Was.

……………It was.

He heard me.

“It’s the CEO! The person I like!”

He didn’t just hear me say that I liked him.

“If I ever really got married, I’d want to marry the CEO! I like him so much!”

He heard the whole thing.

Every last bit of that enormous lie.

Aaaah!

Even now, just thinking about him hearing me say all that made my face burn.

I couldn’t even raise my head, but when I secretly glanced at the CEO, his expression was utterly serious.

“I was curious. You’d never even seen the real me, yet you liked me that much. I wondered what exactly you’d seen in me.”

“I never imagined it would be my scent.”

“Uh……………”

How did that answer lead to this……………?

“Uh………………. CEO, I……………”

“Ah, I should apologize first. If I was rude by suddenly bringing this up, I’m sorry. I wasn’t deliberately hiding and listening to your confession, so please don’t feel uncomfortable about it.

I just happened to be passing by.”

Well, technically, I’d practically shouted it for the entire world to hear.

It would’ve been stranger if he hadn’t heard me.

But wait.

Does that mean he really had been hanging around me after hearing me say I liked him?

Why?

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t come up with an answer.

Why had he gone that far?

“Are you all right?”

“You like me, don’t you?”

“You want to marry me.”

Ah.

So that’s what it was.

He knew that I liked him, and because he was getting married, he wanted to apologize to me.

Her heart clenched.

The CEO really was a good person……………….

From his perspective, how passionate must that confession have sounded?

She had practically screamed that she liked him with her hair flying everywhere.

He must have felt more guilty than he had ever felt over any confession he’d received before.

So, worried that an employee who liked him would get hurt, he had tried to create opportunities to gently turn her down.

How could someone who looked like that also have such a good personality?

While driving a Maybach?

This is crazy.

He really has everything.

“Ms. Lee Dan-ah, I……………”

“Y-you don’t have to worry about it!”

How could she tell such a good person that it had all been a lie?

Especially when she was standing before the most difficult person in the world to lie to.

The moment she tried to say that her confession hadn’t been sincere, her head spun.

But she couldn’t avoid this forever.

Clenching both fists tightly, she squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.

“The truth is, that confession was, w-was a lie.”

“………………What did you say?”

“I-I mean. It, actually…………… it wasn’t true.”

“It wasn’t true? You don’t like me?”

“Yes. I, I don’t, li-like you, CEO.

So you really, really don’t have to worry about what I said! I’m, I’m really okay!”

After forcing the words out, another fact finally occurred to her.

They were still in this restaurant.

And they hadn’t paid yet.

Confessing the truth before paying at a fine-dining restaurant………………

Her hands began to tremble.

Was there no more sensible way she could have handled this?

She hated herself for worrying about something like this in the middle of everything else, but what could she do?

She was just an ordinary person.

What if the CEO got angry and simply walked out without paying?

You made a fool of me?

You’re supposed to be working at the company, yet you have time to tell ridiculous lies like that?

CEO, please at least pay half of the bill………………

The atmosphere felt so tense that it seemed like such a conversation might actually happen.

Dan-ah cautiously rolled her eyes toward the CEO.

He was silently staring at her.

His expression was impossible to read, which made him all the more frightening.

“C-CEO…………”

“I understand.”

And yet he remained there for a moment without moving.

If she had actually liked the CEO, she probably wouldn’t have felt this guilty.

But she had somehow become a sinner without ever committing a crime.

Dan-ah fidgeted restlessly like a dog that desperately needed to go outside.

How much time passed like that?

Eventually, Leeheon stood up.

“Shall we go?”

“Ah, yes.”

That was the last time she saw the CEO.

(Thankfully, he paid the bill. He really was such a kind person.)

For an entire week, she didn’t see the CEO anywhere.

Had he been shocked?

It wasn’t as though he would actually be heartbroken just because the employee’s crush on him turned out to be a lie.

Still, perhaps it had bothered him a little.

He had gone out of his way to buy her a meal and comfort her, only to discover that she didn’t actually like him.

She couldn’t deny that the thought made her feel slightly guilty.

But she couldn’t hide how relieved she was.

If the CEO had really been neglecting his work and coming to see her because of her confession, what could have been more burdensome than that?

Especially when the confession had been fake.

This was why people shouldn’t go around committing sins.

“If I ever do something like that again, I’ll really end up marrying the CEO.”

After somehow resolving the unexpected crisis, Dan-ah went about her daily life with a wonderfully light heart.

It was a little strange not seeing the CEO around anymore, since she’d grown so accustomed to spotting him everywhere.

But she felt so relieved that she quickly forgot about it.

“Want to go on a blind date?”

Yoonseo asked in a serious voice as they walked down the hallway toward lunch.

Dan-ah stopped.

“A blind date? Why all of a sudden?”

“You’ve been having a hard time lately.”

“Huh? I’m fine.”

Thanks to the CEO, she’d gotten over her heartbreak over Jihoon, whom she’d thought she liked, and the fake confession incident had also been wrapped up nicely.

For the time being, she had decided she wasn’t going to touch romance, flirting, or unrequited love with a ten-foot pole.

“I don’t want to go on a blind date, so don’t worry about me.”

“How can I not worry? You look terrible. You haven’t looked right ever since I told you the CEO had set a wedding date.”

That’s because I’d just confessed that I’d lied to the CEO.

I was worried something might happen.

“Let’s go on a blind date, Dan-ah. I’ll find you a man who’ll help you forget the CEO. Of course, the CEO’s face isn’t exactly easy to forget, but just think of it like you’ve been a fan of a celebrity and now you’re trying to move on. Like you’re quitting the fandom. I’ll make an effort, and you make an effort too. Okay?”

“Why? Do you think I can’t do it? Do you think it’ll be hard for me to forget the CEO?”

“Why do I have to make an effort to forget the CEO?”

She’d never even thought about the CEO enough to need to forget him.

“Dan-ah, you………………”

Yoonseo suddenly grabbed her hand with a pitying expression.

“Do you love the CEO so much that you don’t even want to forget him?”

Huh?

How did that even follow?

“You really did like the CEO, didn’t you? It wasn’t a joke at all?”

“Uh, well, I mean………………”

Damn it.

She hadn’t expected that she would be able to settle things with the CEO yet somehow fail to settle the matter with her own friend.

And she couldn’t exactly tell Yoonseo the truth and say the confession had been fake.

Then Yoonseo would ask who she had actually liked, and Dan-ah wouldn’t have an answer.

So, forced into a corner, Dan-ah reluctantly spoke.

“Th-that’s right. If I loved him, why would I have to force myself to forget him? That’s just what love is, isn’t it? If the person you love is happy, then you’re happy too. Wishing for that person’s happiness and watching them live well can be a kind of love, too. If I loved someone that much, why would I need to force myself to forget it and deny what I felt? That’s all part of love, too.”

What am I even saying?

Stop.

Stop talking.

“Then you’re saying that even after the CEO gets married, you won’t forget him and you’ll continue loving him?”

“Of course……? You know what they say. You never forget your first love. I probably won’t remember him forever, but as time passes, it’ll gradually………………”

“Your first love?”

Yoonseo’s eyes widened.

“Is the CEO even your first love? That CEO, Leeheon?”

“Uh, I guess, yes? CEO Leeheon is my first love………………”

As if!

Han Jihoon wasn’t even my first love.

How could the CEO possibly be my first love?

My first love was a little boy I met at a playground when I was young.

I don’t even remember his face anymore.

I don’t even know his name.

“This won’t do. Then we definitely have to do it. The blind date!”

“As your friend, I can’t just leave you like this. Wait here. I’m going to make a few calls and see what I can find.”

“No, I just want to keep the CEO in my heart………………”

Dan-ah reached out toward Yoonseo as she walked away, but she missed her.

She watched Yoonseo’s figure grow smaller in the distance and let out a quiet sigh.

Then a fresh, pleasant scent brushed against the tip of her nose.

Deep musk.

And a subtle vanilla scent.

This scent……………?

She slowly turned around.

Something large and solid, like a baobab tree, stood directly in front of her.

Why is there a pillar in the middle of the company?

Long legs beneath rolled-up shirt sleeves.

A silhouette that looked handsome enough that even its shadow would probably be attractive.

Ah.

It’s the CEO………………?

But wait.

What did I just say?

“You know what they say. You never forget your first love.”

“I guess, yes? CEO Leeheon is my first love.”

No way.

Did he hear my confession again?

And this time, another fake confession?

What do you call something like this………………

“………………Busted.”

“Ms. Lee Dan-ah.”

“Yes, CEO!”

“Could we talk for a moment?”

Oh my God.

Dan-ah grabbed her head.