CWFH 12

Chapter 12

Jian lifted his gaze and looked at Dayeon.

“You said a man and a woman can’t be friends.”

Jian pulled out a tissue, wiped his mouth, and stared at Dayeon.

“I consider you my high school friend, but I guess you don’t consider me a friend.”

Slurp.

Dayeon spoke in a casual tone before loudly sucking up another mouthful of jjajangmyeon.

“People use the terms ‘male friend’ and ‘female friend’ a lot these days.”

Jian’s expression became quite serious as he spoke.

“I don’t want to be your male friend, Secretary Han.”

Dayeon’s hand, which had been reaching for a piece of pickled radish while she chewed her jjajangmyeon, suddenly stopped.

Whoa. That pisses me off.

Is he saying I shouldn’t act like we’re friends just because he’s my boss?

Dayeon was annoyed, but she deliberately didn’t show it. She put the pickled radish into her mouth and crunched it.

“I don’t want to be a female friend, without the ‘friend’ part…”

He was about to say that he wanted to be her girlfriend rather than her female friend.

Rrrrrrr.

Just then, the company direct line rang.

“Ugh! Who’s calling during lunch? How inconsiderate!”

Dayeon dropped her chopsticks onto the table as if throwing them down, stood up, and answered the phone.

“This is Han Dayeon from the Strategic Development Department. Yes! President. Yes, Chief is here. One moment, please.”

Seeing Dayeon hold out the receiver toward him, Jian stood up with a short sigh.

Why did the phone have to ring at such an important moment?

When it was time to leave work, Dayeon shut down her computer and tidied up her desk.

“Then I’ll be heading home. See you tomorrow.”

As she gave Jian a slight bow, he asked,

“What are you taking home?”

“The subway.”

“Wait. I’ll take you home.”

Jian stood up as well and grabbed his outerwear.

They weren’t heading in the same direction, and Jian didn’t even need to leave work at the same time as her, so Dayeon was puzzled when he offered to take her home.

“Huh? Why?”

“I happen to have something to take care of in that neighborhood.”

“Oh, I’m fine.”

When Dayeon refused, Jian awkwardly came up with a work-related excuse.

“Get in. I also have something to discuss about the data classification issue.”

“If you have something work-related to discuss, just tell me now.”

“No. Let’s talk about it on the way.”

Dayeon pouted as she followed Jian, who was already walking ahead.

At the parking lot, Dayeon looked at Jian’s car and asked,

“Do I have to drive again today?”

Hadn’t he made her drive yesterday too, saying driving was part of a secretary’s duties?

Jian gave a small laugh as he walked toward the driver’s seat.

“You’re off work, so I’ll drive.”

As soon as work was over, his speech had also changed to informal language.

Hmph. He says he doesn’t want to be friends with me, so why does he talk casually to me?

Pouting, Dayeon sat in the passenger seat.

Jian started the car, and Dayeon simply looked out the passenger-side window.

“You said earlier that you had something to discuss about work…”

“Ah, hmm…”

Jian pretended to think while driving, but nothing particularly came to mind.

That was because the work discussion had only been an excuse. He had offered to drive her home simply because he wanted to spend even a little more time with her.

“I forgot.”

Dayeon stared at him in disbelief, and Jian explained,

“I had a lot to say earlier, but suddenly I can’t remember any of it.”

“Hah! Yesterday you called me a goldfish, but you’re no better.”

Dayeon pouted, and Jian chuckled.

“So you got in the car because I said we’d talk about work.”

“It’s better to sit comfortably than take the complicated subway, isn’t it? I heard there are a lot of sexual predators these days too.”

“Did you offer to take me home because you were worried about me?”

Jian hesitated for a moment with his hands on the steering wheel before answering.

“Of course I was worried.”

“What?”

It was an unexpected answer, so Dayeon turned her head and stared at Jian.

“As your direct supervisor, of course I should care about my employee getting home safely. That way, there won’t be any problems with work the next day.”

An employee getting home safely means work goes smoothly the next day.

Right. Of course.

Dayeon turned her head back toward the window and pouted.

“You said you had something to do. You didn’t have to come all the way here. You can drop me off at the intersection.”

“I still have time.”

Jian, who had supposedly had business to take care of in the neighborhood, drove all the way to the entrance of Dayeon’s apartment building and stopped the car.

“Anyway, I got home comfortably. Thanks.”

Dayeon got out of the car and was waving goodbye to Jian when—

“Just a moment! Freeze!”

The person approaching her and telling her to stop was Hyuna.

Hyuna had been watching ever since the expensive foreign car, worth more than 100 million won, entered the apartment complex.

Oh, that car is insane. What kind of person drives something like that?

She had slowly walked over to see who would get out of the car.

But the person getting out was Dayeon.

“Huh? Han Dayeon? Got you!”

Hyuna hurried over, bent down, and looked at the man in the driver’s seat.

Her eyes widened when she recognized him.

“Lee Jian?”

Jian also recognized Hyuna’s face and remembered her from high school.

“Is that really Lee Jian?”

Jian got out of the car and approached her.

“Seeing your face reminds me. It’s been a long time.”

When Jian held out his hand, Hyuna grabbed it and smiled brightly.

“Wow, it really is Lee Jian. You got even more handsome! I could totally fall for you.”

Hyuna was normally straightforward and easygoing, and she showered Jian with compliments the moment she saw him.

“Your shoulders got even broader too. Ooh, you’ve got a total macho vibe.”

Jian gave a light laugh, as if he were used to hearing things like that.

“I heard you started working with Dayeon. How did all three of us end up meeting like this? It’s amazing. I’m really glad to see you.”

“I heard you live with Dayeon.”

Hyuna’s face was full of happiness as she grabbed Jian’s arm.

“You came all the way here, so come to our place and have a drink with us.”

“Uh, no. He said he had somewhere to go. You said you had somewhere to go, right? Don’t you need to leave?”

Dayeon tried to stop Hyuna and asked Jian.

Hyuna looked disappointed.

“You have somewhere to go? Do you really have to go right now? Don’t you have time for just one beer?”

Jian, who had never actually had anywhere to go in the first place, glanced at Dayeon before answering.

“I don’t necessarily have to go right now.”

“See? Then come upstairs for a bit. Seojun said he was going to buy chicken and beer. Let’s have a drink together.”

Seojun is coming with chicken and beer? So the three of them are going to have another chicken-and-beer party at home?

There was no way Jian could leave Dayeon alone in a place with alcohol and that guy.

At the mention of Seojun coming, Jian started walking toward Hyuna.

“Should I?”

Seeing Jian follow Hyuna into the apartment building, Dayeon followed behind with an incredulous expression.

“You said you had somewhere to go.”

“I’ll take care of it later.”

Dayeon was dumbfounded by Jian’s calm response.

Since Jian’s original business had simply been taking Dayeon home, technically, his business was already finished.

“Come in. It’s nothing fancy.”

Jian entered the home where Hyuna and Dayeon lived together and looked around.

It was a small apartment with two bedrooms and a living room combined with the kitchen.

Since it was a home shared by two women, it was decorated in a cute and cozy way.

There was also a clothes-drying rack in one corner of the living room, with various colorful women’s underwear hanging from it.

Oh no! My underwear!

Dayeon hurried over and quickly gathered all the underwear.

Her hands moved so quickly that Jian chuckled and pretended not to notice anything.

“Sit down, Jian. Hopefully, Seojun gets here soon.”

Hyuna spread a table out in the living room and busily brought out plates and other things.

Beep beep beep—beep beep.

Just then, the sound of the door lock being released could be heard, and Seojun opened the door.

“Chicken’s here.”

Hyuna greeted him happily, but Seojun grumbled.

“Hey, can’t you see me? You only see the chicken? A person walks in and you say, ‘The chicken’s here’?”

Seojun was joking as he took off his shoes at the entrance, but then he suddenly stopped.

He had spotted an unfamiliar pair of men’s dress shoes.

When he raised his gaze, the guy he had seen yesterday—the one who was supposedly Dayeon’s boss—was looking back at him.

“Seojun! Come on in.”

The bright expression on Seojun’s face gradually hardened.

“Seojun, say hello. This is…”

“I know. We met yesterday.”

“Huh? You met?”

Hyuna’s eyes widened in surprise.

“After the company dinner yesterday, Jian drove me home. We met outside.”

At Dayeon’s explanation, Hyuna nodded.

“Hello. We meet again.”

“Indeed.”

Jian’s greeting was emotionless, and Seojun gave an equally brief reply before sitting down.

Seojun sat beside Hyuna and opened the bag of chicken he had brought.

Jian was extremely irritated by the fact that Seojun was close enough to even know the password to their front door.

“Okay, okay, let’s eat.”

The four of them sat around the table on the floor and each opened a can of beer.

The four beer cans came together in the middle and clinked.

“Nice to see you!”

After the toast and a sip of beer, Hyuna happily reminisced about their school days.

“Do you know how popular Jian was in school? I bet most of the girls at our school liked him. Even as a guy, you have to admit he was handsome, right?”

Seojun looked displeased as he watched Hyuna praise Jian.

“Actually, I kind of liked you too.”

Hyuna held up her fingers to indicate a tiny amount.

“Unfortunately, I have a boyfriend now. If we break up, I’ll let you know.”

Jian chuckled at Hyuna’s joke.

“But can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“You had a girl you had a crush on in high school, right? What happened with her?”

Hyuna asked Jian cautiously.

Jian brought his beer can to his lips and asked,

“Where did you hear about that?”

“It was all over school. Who was she, anyway? Was she the girl who saved the country? She wasn’t a student at our school, was she?”

Jian gave a faint smile at Hyuna’s words and secretly glanced at Dayeon.

Just imagining the expression Hyuna would make if she found out that the girl who had “saved the country” was actually her roommate, Dayeon, amused him.

“What happened with that girl? Did you meet her again afterward?”

Jian slowly nodded.

“I did.”

“Gasp! Really?”

Hyuna looked shocked, as if she were hearing some epic romance.

“So? What happened?”

Dayeon was also curious about what happened next and stared intently at Jian.

Jian gave a small smile before answering.

“I think I’m still the only one with a crush on her.”

“Ooh.”

Hyuna reacted like an audience member watching a romantic drama.

“You’ve been crushing on her for twelve years? That’s incredible, Lee Jian.”

Hyuna’s eyes became moist, as though she had been hit by a tidal wave of emotion.

“You’re such a devoted romantic.”