TW 28

Chapter 28

The last message Hae-il sent that night was, in effect, a declaration of war.

After that, Han Hae-il became a completely different person.

Having thrown off the mask of a superior, he approached her openly as a man.

It became commonplace for his shoulder to subtly brush against hers whenever they passed in the hallway. Whenever a startled Danbi turned around, he would simply flash her an innocent smile as though nothing had happened.

Once, during a meeting with the entire team, their eyes happened to meet while someone else was presenting. Hae-il calmly winked at her.

Oh my God, he’s insane…

It felt as though her heart dropped straight through the floor.

Danbi barely managed to suppress a scream and immediately lowered her head.

While Danbi anxiously wondered whether anyone had seen them, he merely smiled as though her reaction were amusing.

The biggest change came during lunch.

Hae-il, who had always skipped lunch, began joining the team for meals every day, and without fail, he took the seat beside Danbi as though it were his designated spot.

The team members had initially felt suffocatingly uncomfortable whenever their Team Leader suddenly joined them, but within just a week, they had adapted to the situation completely.

Today was no different.

Hae-il had a burger set in front of him and naturally claimed the seat beside Danbi.

“Oh, Suhyeon’s profile picture changed back to his girlfriend again.”

Dongjun spoke while looking at his phone across the table.

“Oh, really? They got back together. I was disappointed because they suited each other so well.”

Gihyeon chimed in while chewing on a French fry.

“Nine years together doesn’t just disappear. It’s hard to end something like that.”

Apparently, Suhyeon had found love again.

If this had been the old Danbi, she would have joined the conversation and happily shared in the team’s excitement over the good news.

But right now, she had enough problems of her own and had no room to worry about other people’s affairs.

“But didn’t Suhyeon seem a little interested in Senior Danbi?”

“Ah, you’re right. It did kind of seem that way, didn’t it?”

Danbi desperately ignored Hae-il’s gaze from beside her and stuffed hamburger into her mouth.

But before long, she felt the attention directed toward her and had no choice but to raise her head.

“Why, I, wha…?”

Her cheeks puffed out with food as she asked.

Yunseok grinned mischievously.

“Did something happen between you and Suhyeon? During that period when he broke up with his girlfriend. He kept buying you drinks, and whenever you said you were going somewhere, he’d escort you and stuff.”

The team members had always teased her with knowing looks whenever she was with Suhyeon.

Danbi chewed and swallowed all the food in her mouth before finally answering.

“Ah, that was just because Suhyeon is a nice person! Why are all of you so desperate to pair me up with someone? Seriously!”

Even as she snapped irritably, Danbi noticed a faint smile at the corner of Hae-il’s mouth.

For some reason, a sense of foreboding sent a chill down her spine.

Dongjun quickly finished one hamburger and peeled open another package.

“But don’t you date anyone? You seem to have quite a few guys interested in you, but nothing ever actually works out.”

“What do you mean, guys interested in me? I don’t have anyone.”

“No, I’m serious. Guys keep asking you out, offering to buy you meals, bringing you food. What else could that be if not them showing interest?”

Several faces flashed through Danbi’s mind.

Since the team members had all witnessed those things themselves, she couldn’t exactly deny it.

When Danbi fell silent, Hae-il, who had remained quiet until then, placed his interlocked hands on the table and lazily spoke.

“Oh… Is Danbi that popular?”

At his question, Yeji, his junior and a romance-drama addict, excitedly chimed in.

“Senior is really popular! Every time she works with someone, they end up contacting her privately afterward!”

“Oh… Really?”

His tone sounded interested, but hidden beneath it was something as cold and sharp as a blade.

His gaze, fixed intensely on her profile, felt scorching.

“Yes! Senior is obviously the type guys like at first glance. Innocent-looking but glamorous, and she’s easygoing and down-to-earth…”

Unable to listen any longer, Danbi stuffed one of her French fries into Yeji’s mouth.

She hated conversations like this.

“Stop it… Okay?”

At Danbi’s plea, Yeji merely smiled with her eyes.

She didn’t actually promise to stop.

Before the French fry could completely disappear into her mouth, another team member spoke up.

“Who was it again? That tall, handsome guy from the design team who worked with us last year. Didn’t something really happen between you two?”

She blocked one leak, and another immediately burst open.

Having already swallowed her French fry, Yeji joined in again.

“Oh, right! I remember. He waited outside the company until late at night because Senior was working overtime, and then he took her home. Didn’t something really happen between you two?”

“That was definitely at least a thing. How did it end?”

It had happened back when she was under constant pressure to date.

Whenever she admitted she had never dated anyone, questions would come from every direction, so she’d once thought about simply dating someone and getting everyone off her back.

He had been a good person.

But perhaps because they had met at work.

Or perhaps because it was her first relationship.

Whenever Danbi was with him, she felt as though she were standing on a stage, forced to perform.

He said he liked her cheerful side, and strangely enough, that became a burden to her.

Whenever they were together, she felt as though she always had to smile positively and keep her energy up.

Just like when she had been young and endlessly forced herself to prove her worth in order to live up to her parents’ expectations.

Danbi didn’t want to live that kind of life anymore.

She didn’t want some glamorous romance that everyone would envy.

She wanted a comfortable relationship where she didn’t have to constantly try so hard.

A relationship where she could simply be herself.

It wasn’t the other person’s fault.

Nor was it Danbi’s.

She had simply decided that he was a person who didn’t fit her, like a piece of clothing in the wrong size.

Since they had genuinely liked each other for a while, she couldn’t deny that it had been a thing between them.

The gaze boring into the side of her face had gone beyond simple warmth.

It had become heat intense enough to burn her skin.

She had done nothing wrong, yet sweat trickled down her back.

Just as she sat frozen, barely able to breathe, Dongjun came to her rescue by changing the subject.

“But what about you, Team Leader? Do you have a girlfriend? It’d be stranger if you didn’t.”

At those words, everyone’s attention turned toward Hae-il.

An elite who had come from America.

The son of a major conglomerate.

A face like a celebrity’s.

They looked at him with the obvious assumption that he must naturally have a girlfriend whose appearance was just as dazzling as his own.

“I don’t. Unfortunately.”

“Wow, Team Leader, you’re one of us! That’s just how it is with the Development Team. Either you’ve been dating someone for ages, or you don’t date at all.”

Everyone looked back and forth between their Team Leader and Dongjun, who were as different as night and day, and shook their heads.

The conversation about dating seemed as though it might end on a lighthearted note.

Then Hae-il’s next words changed everything.

“But there is someone I like.”

Everyone’s attention immediately snapped back to him.

Danbi had just taken a bite of her hamburger and froze completely.

“I’m trying pretty hard to win her over, but she doesn’t seem to be falling for me.”

His statement instantly heated up the atmosphere around the table.

“No way! There’s actually a woman who won’t fall for Team Leader?”

“She must have eyes located somewhere in outer space.”

Danbi wanted no rumors about him spreading throughout the company.

Please.

Please, just let this pass.

She mechanically chewed and swallowed her hamburger, desperately praying for this uncomfortable moment to end.

That was when it happened.

A large hand suddenly appeared in her field of vision and gently wiped the corner of her mouth.

“Sauce.”

Hae-il’s low voice echoed through the quiet.

He withdrew his finger with perfect composure.

Only then did he seem to notice Danbi’s startled expression.

“Ah.”

Everyone at the table froze.

A boss wiping the corner of his team member’s mouth?

Anyone could see that it was strange.

And just like that, Hae-il had effortlessly destroyed all of Danbi’s efforts.

The very moment Danbi’s eyes filled with resentment toward him, Hae-il reached across toward Dongjun.

Then he wiped the ketchup from the corner of Dongjun’s mouth in exactly the same way.

“You too, Dongjun.”

His voice was soft and sweet, even gentler than before.

Dongjun clutched his chest and made a huge fuss.

“Damn, my heart! This is straight out of a drama. Is this that sweetness I’ve only ever heard about? Is everyone in America like this?”

Apparently, he had decided that this kind of casual friendliness was simply an American mannerism.

The team members, who had been frozen only moments ago, seemed convinced by his explanation and went back to eating their burgers.

“Lee Danbi, you were freaking surprised too, right?”

At Dongjun’s question, Danbi quickly nodded.

“Yeah. I guess their culture really is different…”

She let out a sigh of relief.

But at the same time, a chill ran down her spine.

He had just planted a bomb right in front of everyone.

And then he had casually dismantled it himself.

It was an unspoken demonstration that only he had the power to create a situation like this—and to cover it up.

He hadn’t hidden her.

He had controlled the situation.

A faint, knowing smile lingered on his profile as he wiped the sauce from his finger with a napkin.