She got out of Cha Hyun’s car and didn’t look back once.

Before going to work, her mind wasn’t this complicated, but now it felt like her head was about to explode.

Last night, it wasn’t that she didn’t have any hesitation before entering Cha Do Ha’s bed.

She pondered, and pondered again.

Did she really have a relationship with Cha Do Ha because Cha Hyun ordered her to?

No, absolutely not.

Yeo Eun herself desperately wanted him.

She asked herself if this feeling was love, but answered that it probably wasn’t.

How could love appear so suddenly and hastily?

What do you even know about Cha Do Ha? What part of Cha Do Ha do you love?

So it probably isn’t love.

It’s just a temporary desire that struck like a fever.

Once it hits, it’s like a fever that can’t pass without suffering through it.

That’s why she came to desperately want Cha Do Ha, and simply knelt before that desperation.

Of course, she’s well aware of the abyss that awaits at the end of that desperation.

Knowing this, she boldly walked in.

Cha Hyun’s reaction? Chairman Cha Ji Seop’s next move?

It would be a lie to say she hadn’t thought about it.

Looking back, from the beginning her purpose was to move Cha Do Ha’s heart so that he would be placed in the palm of Chairman Cha Ji Seop’s hand.

She wonders if there really was no other way to move Cha Do Ha’s heart, but her answer is that there was no other way.

No, perhaps even that isn’t the right answer.

Moving Cha Do Ha’s heart? That’s absolutely impossible.

That’s why she chose this.

At least he desires her, so let’s try to move him by fulfilling that desire.

If she could hide her impudent heart while relying on his desire, and they both got what they wanted, wouldn’t that be good for both of them?

After everything is over, she can just brush off the old desire and leave.

That’s what she thought.

And her thoughts became even more firm after meeting Cha Hyun.

To be safe from the unattainable Cha Do Ha, she too must not give her heart to him.

“You want me to take responsibility for the Director?”

Yeo Eun laughed, recalling Cha Hyun’s words.

“Yes, I’ll take responsibility. So please, Director, you must save our mother.”

Yeo Eun took out her phone from her trench coat pocket and read Cha Do Ha’s message again.

6:30.

She should go to the hotel, but it seems she can’t go right now.

Yeo Eun pressed the reply button and typed on the keypad.

Tears fell heavily onto the keypad.

After sending the reply, Yeo Eun curled up her body and sat down.

Because inexplicable tears burst forth.

Perhaps the heart that said it would take their relationship lightly was actually infinitely heavy and had become burdensome without her realizing it.

She can’t go to Cha Do Ha with a face like this.

It would be too pathetic for her.

Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, Yeo Eun stood up again on both feet and moved her steps into the crowd.

* * *

He received Yeo Eun’s message just as he arrived at the hotel.

“She can’t come now?”

Do Ha threw his phone onto the bed and took off his jacket.

“Why can’t she come.”

After removing his tie and placing it on the bed as well, he checked the time.

6:30.

He had deliberately skipped the third meeting to have dinner with Yeo Eun.

He preferred seeing Yeo Eun nagging at him in various ways to eating dinner while listening to the nutritionless talk of the Federation of Korean Industries elders.

It was fun just watching her serious face as she spoke with such a sense of mission.

This morning, when she appeared wearing the clothes he had recommended, a faint joy appeared in her clear eyes.

Who was it that seduced him first with those eyes.

“She told me not to go to Kim Hae Ri.”

Do Ha unbuttoned a couple of buttons on his shirt and cast his gaze onto the bed.

The navy suit and tie he had just taken off were sprawled on the bed.

Yeo Eun’s face from last night when she was choosing those clothes overlapped on the bed.

Her hands were quite pretty as they moved between his clothes, selecting one by one with twinkling eyes.

In the end, he had no choice but to grasp those hands and lead her back to bed.

That’s how much his body was responding to that woman.

“Damn it.”

As his thoughts reached that point, the memory of ruthlessly possessing Yeo Eun here unfolded vividly, not missing a single detail.

Recalling Yeo Eun accepting him while red heat flowers bloomed wildly on her white skin, he was again engulfed in passion.

Do Ha picked up the phone he had put down and took in the message still lit up on the screen.

“If she was hungry, she should have come. Did she think I wouldn’t feed her before taking her?”

Sitting in that damn Federation of Korean Industries meeting room, he had chosen wine and selected each menu item for Yeo Eun.

Then he passed it on to the hotel manager, telling him to bring it up to the room by 7 o’clock.

“But she can’t come?”

Do Ha frowned in irritation, picked up his jacket again, and left the hotel.

* * *

The place where she got out of Cha Hyun’s car without regard for her surroundings was near Myeongdong.

And she walked for quite a while after that.

Walking aimlessly, Yeo Eun really felt hungry and spotted a noodle shop she used to go to often with Ji Soo, so she stepped inside.

“Oh my, isn’t it Team Leader Seo? It’s been a while since you came?”

The noodle shop owner greeted her warmly, recognizing her face.

“Have you been well?”

Yeo Eun also greeted him cheerfully.

As she sat down at a 2-person table in the farthest corner of the shop, the owner brought her hot barley tea.

“Are you sick? Your eyes look sunken.”

Crying and walking, walking and crying.

She even faced the cold early evening wind of October, so it was understandable to look sunken.

“I’m just tired.”

“I should tell President Yoon to stop overworking Team Leader Seo. You’ve lost even more weight than last time. Tsk.”

The owner clicked his tongue softly and walked back to the kitchen.

Then he confirms the order.

“Half a bowl of noodles and half a plate of boiled pork, right?”

“Yes.”

Yeo Eun smiled brightly, nodded, and added one more thing.

“And some soju too.”

“No half bottle of soju.”

The owner threw out the words jokingly and disappeared into the kitchen.

This is why regular customers are good.

Every time she came here with Ji Soo, they would order one bowl of noodles, one plate of boiled pork, and one bottle of soju to share.

After coming in and out like that for years, there was one time she came alone.

The owner brought out half portions of everything as a set menu, just like today, to Yeo Eun who was struggling to decide whether to order noodles or boiled pork.

Since then, Yeo Eun would often come alone to eat noodles like this.

Yeo Eun wrapped both hands around the barley tea on the table, warming her cold hands.

This morning’s weather forecast came to mind.

The pretty weather forecaster had informed that although it’s early October, the temperature would drop quite a bit, so dress warmly when going out.

Saying it would be good to bring a scarf or something.

“I should have brought a scarf.”

She didn’t even know it was cold until just now, but since entering the restaurant, her body was shaking.

And now, facing the warmth of the barley tea, she felt chills to the point her chin was trembling.

Her hands were shaking so much that she even spilled some tea while bringing the cup to her lips.

Still, by the time she finished that one cup, the chills had subsided.

As the cold that seemed to have seeped into her bones disappeared, drowsy sleepiness poured over her.

“I should eat quickly and go home to rest a bit… then go again.”

For now, her body was too tired.

She had returned home at dawn, closed her eyes for about two hours, and then went back to the company.

She had been holding onto her physical fatigue with willpower, but even that was crumbling.

The night is long anyway, and they’ll be doing that all night long, so it’s not breaking a promise to go late.

So let’s see Cha Do Ha’s face as late as possible.

Only then will her collapsed mind be restored.

A moment later, the owner brought the food on a tray.

He put the food down on the table with a pitying face and added a few words.

“Eat and go home to sleep. Looking at your face, you look like you’re about to collapse.”

“Thank you.”

Yeo Eun smiled and thanked him, then picked up her chopsticks and was about to lift the noodles when it happened.

The restaurant door opened with a loud noise.

A cold wind blew on her back, making her shoulders shrink, and she dropped the noodles she was bringing to her lips.

The scent of cedarwood.

The subtle smell of flesh mixed in that fragrance.

“Why is this scent here…”

Just as Yeo Eun was about to turn around in puzzlement, the owner greeted the customer who had just entered the shop with a bright smile.

“Welcome.”

“How much is it?”

Yeo Eun, who was about to turn around, froze in place.

Even the voice asking how much was a voice she knew.

“Pardon?”

When the owner asked back, confused by the sudden question, the voice deepened even more.

“How much is what that woman is eating?”

“No, what do you mean…”

There was no need to even think ‘maybe’.

This scent, this voice is definitely Cha Do Ha.

Yeo Eun swallowed hard and slowly turned around.

When her eyes met the black eyes looking at her as she turned her head, another chill swept over her.

He looked at her coldly and took out a check from his wallet, throwing it down on the counter.

Then he stretched out his long legs, walked up to her, and took the chopsticks from Yeo Eun’s hand.

“Director!”

“I’m hungry too.”

He threw the chopsticks down on the table and pulled Yeo Eun up.

“I left those old men because I wanted to eat with you.”

He pulled her close to his side and growled in a lowered voice.

“So stop complaining and follow me.”

It was an angry voice.

His black eyes were also full of anger.

The veins on the back of his hand holding hers were also bulging as if in anger.

As Yeo Eun followed Cha Do Ha, who was dragging her out of the restaurant like that… she quietly smiled.

It felt like she should be angry, but she was just happy for no reason.

The intense feeling of wretchedness that had been surging also melted away like snow.

She was even grateful to Cha Do Ha for finding her even in this unfamiliar place.

Maybe she wanted him to find her.

Isn’t this enough?

A reason to enter his bed again tonight.

A sufficient pretext to desire him while relying on his desire.

Yeo Eun looked at his hand firmly grasping hers and gently applied force as well.