Chapter 20

“Team Leader…… Are you okay? Open your eyes. Ha…… This is driving me crazy.”

Danbi shook Hae-il, who was clinging to her wrist as though it were a lifeline, and whispered softly. His mouth still occasionally let out unintelligible, drunken mumblings.

“I…… told you I’d take you hoooome…….”

He kept repeating that he would take her home, but anyone could see that he was in no condition to take anyone anywhere. Maybe he was actually trying to say that he wanted her to take him home. Every time he exhaled like a sigh, the acrid smell of alcohol wafted toward her.

She had already suspected he was dangerously drunk when he grabbed her in the alley earlier and childishly demanded, “Why don’t you like me?” But she had never imagined he would be this incapable of controlling his body. She couldn’t even begin to guess how much he had drunk.

The Han Hae-il Danbi remembered from their childhood had never been foolish enough to drink beyond his limits. He was a person who demanded perfection in everything he did and was brutally strict with himself.

Had adulthood changed him that much?

Or did this particular moment have some special meaning to him?

“Ah, Team Leader is really drunk. What do we do?”

“No, I noticed earlier that he just kept drinking without stopping. He must’ve nearly finished three bottles by himself.”

“We’re probably going to have to get a motel nearby. Ah, yes, yes, we’ll take good care of him. You guys go on ahead~”

“Yes, have a good night.”

The team members quickly took control of the situation and sent the other employees home first.

In the end, the responsibility for this mess fell on his own teammates.

“Ugh, he’s heavy. He’s so tall.”

“Does he work out? His body feels like a fucking rock…….”

The team members struggled to get Hae-il upright. Even with two sturdy male employees supporting him from either side, it looked difficult to bear the weight of his large, completely limp body.

“Hey, you guys go on home. Gihyeon and I will…….”

Two relatively sober male employees volunteered to take responsibility for getting him home, but Hae-il still refused to release Danbi’s wrist.

“I’ll take you hooome…… Let’s go hoooome…….”

His mumbling continued, and the grip around her wrist showed no sign of loosening.

It was that stubborn determination peculiar to Han Hae-il—the kind of stubbornness that meant he would somehow obtain whatever he wanted.

In the end, Danbi had no choice but to step forward and offer to take him home herself.

“Ha…… I’ll just take him home. We only need to lay him down at a nearby motel.”

Perhaps he understood what she was saying, because Hae-il began staggering forward unsteadily.

Seeing him look as though he could collapse at any moment, Danbi instinctively reached out to support him.

At that, as though he had been waiting for her to do so, he immediately shifted his weight onto Danbi’s shoulder and pulled her into his arms.

Because of the enormous difference in their physiques, Danbi’s face instantly ended up buried against his firm chest.

It was unmistakably the posture of an embrace.

The rush of heat radiating from him and his familiar scent made her heart plummet with a heavy thud.

The team members who witnessed the scene were momentarily flustered and glanced around at the people nearby.

Fortunately, the company employees who had been making such a racket only moments ago had already dispersed like the receding tide.

“Ah, seriously. Someone’s going to misunderstand if they see this.”

“We should probably have one more person go with them. If someone sees a man and woman entering a motel together, imagine what kind of rumors would spread around the company.”

“That’s not even the main problem. How is she supposed to handle Team Leader by herself? Just look at the difference in their builds.”

Just then, Suhyeon, who had been quietly observing the situation the entire time, grabbed Hae-il’s other arm and draped it over his own shoulder.

“I’ll go with Danbi. My house is nearby too, so I think we can get Team Leader home safely and then take a taxi back together.”

Given the circumstances, Danbi readily accepted his straightforward kindness.

“Ah, thank you so much, Suhyeon.”

Thanks to his help, the other team members were able to head home with considerably lighter hearts.

They had been prepared to lay Hae-il down at a nearby motel if he became completely incoherent, but strangely enough, when they asked for his home address, Hae-il answered clearly and precisely.

There was no choice.

Danbi and Suhyeon ended up taking Hae-il all the way home.

Following the address he had given them, they arrived at a luxurious officetel whose imposing exterior gleamed almost intimidatingly.

Standing in front of the building, radiating such cold brilliance, Danbi became convinced that at least when it came to his address, Hae-il had managed to speak correctly despite being drunk.

Hae-il had remained as quiet as though he were asleep the entire time, but when they shook him several times in front of the door lock to wake him, he once again entered the password with astonishing accuracy.

“There are so many rooms.”

“I think this is probably the bedroom?”

The two of them somehow managed to find the bedroom in the dark, cavernous apartment.

Then they practically threw him onto the bed.

The spacious home was strangely empty.

It looked almost like a model home that hadn’t been completely furnished yet.

Maybe he hasn’t been living here for very long…….

Feeling that it would be rude to look around someone else’s private space, Danbi deliberately averted her eyes.

Suhyeon carefully removed Hae-il’s shoes and socks and wiped the floor with wet tissues.

Danbi moved toward his head and struggled to take off his coat.

As she turned his body this way and that to remove it, her gaze happened to fall upon the nightstand.

Aside from an elegant stand lamp and a charger, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly noteworthy.

But then something casually placed beside them inevitably caught her eye.

A box of condoms.

And not one of those tiny packages containing one or two.

It was a large box.

What kind of person buys condoms by the box like that?

Is he seeing someone?

Well, there was no way a handsome and capable man like him would be alone.

He had been incredibly popular even in high school. Why would things be any different now?

Perhaps after spending all those years in America, he had been living freely, changing partners every night.

His private life was completely different from hers—glamorous, perhaps even a little promiscuous.

For some reason, imagining it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Lee Danbi…….”

Whether he was sleep-talking or simply drunkenly babbling, he kept calling for Danbi.

“I…… came to get you…….”

His words had changed slightly.

Earlier, he had clearly said he would take her home.

Then he had told her to go to his house.

And now that they had actually arrived at his home, he was saying that he had come to pick her up.

It was true that drunk people’s words rarely contained any consistency or context, but seeing his story change from moment to moment made a small laugh escape her before she could stop it.

“Danbi’s Team Leader has been muttering to himself this whole time. Do you happen to understand what he’s saying?”

Suhyeon asked while rubbing his stiff shoulder.

Danbi simply shrugged and gave him a short answer.

“No. Not at all.”

What meaning could there possibly be in the ramblings of a drunk man?

✶ ✶ ✶

The day after the company dinner, Danbi dragged herself to work with the fatigue of the previous night still lingering in her body.

Taking advantage of the flexible working-hours system, she arrived at the company building at 10 a.m., a little later than usual.

She desperately needed caffeine to wake up her brain.

She stopped by the company café to order coffee, but someone lightly tapped her shoulder.

“Danbi, are you just getting to work now?”

When she turned around, Suhyeon was standing there with a bright smile.

He looked neat and energetic, as though he hadn’t suffered any aftereffects from the company dinner whatsoever.

“Oh, Suhyeon. Did you get home safely yesterday?”

“Yes. Did you get home safely too……? No, did you get any sleep?”

“Hmm…… A little.”

The two comrades who had shared the ordeal of taking care of their drunken superior looked each other in the eyes and let out a quiet laugh.

It was the kind of self-deprecating understanding that only people who had suffered together could share.

“You came to get coffee, right? I’ll buy it since you helped me yesterday.”

“No, it’s fine. That’s only natural…….”

Suhyeon waved his hands away with a friendly smile, but Danbi was already busily tapping away at the kiosk screen.

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t something you had to do. You’re not even on our team, but you helped us that much. What do you want?”

“Ah…… Then I’ll have an Americano, please.”

“Iced?”

“Yes, iced.”

“Then, two iced Americanos…….”

That was when it happened.

A hand suddenly slipped between Danbi and the kiosk screen.

With an utterly decisive movement, it added another iced Americano to the order.

Before she could even turn around to see who it was, the expensive watch gleaming around the wrist gave away his identity.

Danbi slowly turned her head, like a wind-up doll whose spring was gradually unwinding.

As expected, it was Hae-il.

He was looking down at her with a coldness in his eyes.

A faint shiver traveled up her spine, and she felt the back of her neck stiffen.

“Ah, Team Leader. Hello. Are you feeling okay? I was worried because you drank quite a lot yesterday…….”

Suhyeon greeted him first, politely yet warmly.

But Hae-il didn’t even properly look at him.

His gaze remained fixed solely on Danbi’s face.

Under that icy pressure, Danbi swallowed nervously.

Only then did his gaze shift toward Suhyeon.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll pay for the coffee. From what I’ve heard, it seems I owe the two of you quite a lot for last night.”

He naturally took out his card and paid.

His voice was a tone lower than usual.

It was calm, but there was something sharp and cold about it, like a freshly honed blade.

Under that pressure, Danbi felt inexplicably short of breath.

She hadn’t even done anything wrong, so why did she feel as though she couldn’t breathe?

“But the two of you should be a little more careful from now on.”

“Huh?”

After Suhyeon’s puzzled response, the sharp sound of the receipt printing—zzzip—cut through the air.

The moment Hae-il took the receipt, he deliberately stuffed it into his hand and crushed it tightly.

Crunch.

For some reason, the sound grated especially harshly against Danbi’s ears.

“When a man and woman who aren’t even on the same team are standing this close together first thing in the morning at the company, other people are bound to misunderstand.”

After finishing his remark to Suhyeon, he slowly turned his head.

His gaze returned to Danbi.

The corners of his mouth were smiling.

But his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“Ah, unless…… this isn’t a misunderstanding?”