WAK 10

Chapter 10

Hana entered the hotel’s Korean restaurant and gave Jeonghan’s name.

The staff guided her to a private room.

When she took off her shoes and entered, she saw Jeonghan sitting neatly and working.

When he saw Hana, he put down the tablet he was holding.

She placed her bag on the table opposite him and sat down.

A knock sounded, and the meal was brought in.

> “I ordered in advance.”

Hana nodded at his words.

Seeing the neatly prepared food, she suddenly felt hungry—different from when she ate just a sandwich.

> “You changed clothes?”

He drank a sip of water and asked her.

Hana looked down at her outfit unconsciously.

> “Can you tell the difference?”

The outfit Jua had brought from Hana’s house was a suit, similar in design to what she had worn yesterday.

> “I can tell it’s different.”

> “Anyway, that’s not important.”

> “Right. It’s not important between us.”

Hana glared at him.

> “Could you stop saying ‘between us’?”

She lowered her voice, trying not to flare up.

He laughed softly and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

> “What’s wrong with saying ‘between us’? We even spent the night together…”

> “Senior, please stop.”

She warned him sharply, but her face was burning with embarrassment from her own past.

Seeing that, he had to force himself to hold back a laugh.

> “Why did you suddenly change law firms?”

> “It’s not because of Kang Hana.”

> “Of course not.”

Hana thought, “It’s probably not because of me,” but still blushed and nodded nervously.

Jeonghan suddenly looked serious and furrowed his brows at Hana.

> “Can I ask you one thing?”

> “What’s on your mind?”

> “If you can’t drink, why did you say you’d buy alcohol?”

“Ah…” Hana avoided his gaze, feeling awkward.

> “Was it just empty words?”

> “Well…”

To be exact, it was just a greeting, like “When shall we have a meal together?”

> “So I took it too seriously, huh?”

> “No, that’s not it.”

Jeonghan gave a dry laugh, as if surprised that a lawyer could lie so easily.

> “Not really. You tried to eat my photo, though.”

> “The photo… I didn’t expect it at all.”

Hana felt unfair.

Jeonghan narrowed his eyes and stared at her.

> “I mean it.”

He held out his hand, palm visible.

> “…What?”

> “Give the photo back.”

The photo was leaning against the calendar on her desk.

> “We drank champagne yesterday. That was really expensive, you know?”

Hana protested, and he laughed as if it were ridiculous.

> “So you won’t give it back?”

> “It’s mine now.”

Jeonghan looked at her in disbelief.

> “Isn’t it strange to risk so much for someone else’s photo?”

She had no answer.

> “…It is strange.”

But it was a pretty photo—what could she do?

> “You didn’t take it like you collect cute puppy pictures, right?”

Hana exaggeratedly shook her hands.

> “No way.”

Jeonghan’s eyes narrowed further.

Her guilty-looking gesture annoyed him.

> “Yesterday, I was deceived…”

> “Deceived? No, that’s not right.”

She cut him off and defended herself.

> “And I caused a lot of trouble too.”

She closed her lips, unable to argue further.

For a moment, the conversation paused, and he focused only on his meal.

Hana kept stealing glances at him.

Jeonghan checked the time several times while eating. He must have been busy.

> “I’m done.”

She put down her spoon.

Both of them had eaten only about half their meal.

He also put down his spoon and drank water.

He wanted to spend more time with her, but his afternoon schedule was tight.

> “I’ll pay for the meal.”

Jeonghan stood and looked down at Hana.

> “The meal?”

She stood up as well.

> “Of course I should. Should I pay for this?”

If she could repay yesterday’s incident with just one meal, it was a small price.

But he was not so easy to deal with.

> “I’ll pay. Next time, it’s on you.”

> “I could just pay this…”

> “Three times.”

He cut off her words.

Hana looked down at the expensive table setting he had just eaten.

> “You don’t always eat this fancy, right?”

> “No.”

She replied reluctantly.

Just buying three meals to clear the old debt seemed clean and simple.

> “Good. Then that’s settled. Shall we go?”

Hana realized she hadn’t heard a word about him signing with the Jeonghae Law Firm.

She hurriedly called out to follow him.

> “Senior!”

But in that short time, Jeonghan was on a business call.

He gestured for her to wait. She had no choice but to remain silent.

> “…Okay. …Then please prepare it that way. …Let’s go now.”

After finishing the call, he looked at her.

> “I’m busy. That’s all.”

> “Wait. I still have something to say…”

> “We can talk next time.”

His phone vibrated again.

He gestured that he would call her back and disappeared like the wind, answering the call.

Hana was dumbfounded.

She wasn’t usually so easily influenced, but with Ryu Jeonghan, she couldn’t help feeling manipulated.

She left the hotel and hailed a taxi.

On her way back to the law firm, her phone vibrated.

> “Hello?”

[Lawyer, where are you now?]

> “Entering the law firm.”

[We received urgent contact from Seo Jeongmi.]

Seo Jeongmi was one of Hana’s clients.

Her unfaithful husband was refusing to pay alimony, claiming there was no evidence.

> “Did you catch evidence?”

[Yes, Lawyer. We finally got proof of the affair.]

> “He deleted everything thoroughly. How did you find it?”

[They recovered the SD card from the GPS navigation through digital forensics. It had everything.]

> “I’ll go right now. Wait—can you send the files by email?”

[Of course. Sending now.]

Hana finished the call and waited for Hye‑won’s email.

Finally, her phone vibrated.

*Brrrrrr.*

She looked at the screen, her heart racing.

> ‘…What is this?’

It wasn’t Hye‑won’s email—it was a message from Jeonghan.

She muttered to herself and opened the message with an attached photo. Another photo of Jeonghan appeared.

It was him in a kindergarten uniform, standing at attention and smiling widely.

Hana couldn’t help but chuckle.

> ‘What… he’s someone you can smile at.’

He smiled, but she had never seen him grin fully, showing his teeth like in the photo.

It made Jeonghan look unfamiliar yet strangely charming.

> *“Enjoy being cute as much as you want.”*

The next message that arrived blew her mind.

Hana rolled her eyes at her phone and replied.

> *“So moving, thank, yes! Very. Extremely. Really.”*