“How does it look?”

“It must have looked good like that. Our Yu Ra is truly impressive when she works. But there’s no affection there, I can say for sure.”

“Heh.”

Still, Yu Geon’s words, who prided himself on knowing him well as an old friend, were amusing.

Even Lee Hyun couldn’t exactly define his feelings for Jin Yu Ra.

It wasn’t the kind of emotion that could be called liking or loving. He just noticed her as a friend’s sister, and unintentionally got to know her because of the peculiar Yu Geon. That was certainly how it started.

It was true that he paid more attention to her because she had a similar disposition to himself, and so he had watched her closely and showed appropriate favor while maintaining their relationship.

The change in that relationship came when he witnessed Jin Yu Ra starting to date a man named Oh Se Jin.

As his thoughts about Yu Ra deepened, Yu Geon asked with curiosity:

“But what were you really thinking when you decided to get married?”

Lee Hyun’s answer to Yu Geon, who was seeking a definition for this marriage, was limited.

He kept noticing aspects of Jin Yu Ra that were different from what he had known. Though uninterested in marriage, he thought that if he ever had to do it, Jin Yu Ra wouldn’t be a bad choice as a spouse.

Then Oh Se Jin’s appearance became the trigger, and he needed a suitable excuse to continue this not-so-bad relationship. So he chose a very light contract.

Though it might seem very light on the surface, even Lee Hyun hadn’t yet determined if the end would be just as light. So the only answer he could give Yu Geon was simple.

“I have to get married too, after all.”

“Are you using Yu Ra?”

Lee Hyun wanted to applaud Yu Geon’s improvement, who had always lacked perceptiveness. He had been so dull about his sister’s matters, but now his intuition was finally working properly after a long time.

For it to be called ‘using’, both parties must have clear objectives. The person with a clear purpose in this contract was probably Jin Yu Ra.

She needed to get rid of Oh Se Jin, and if she wanted to avoid Jin Kang Su’s pressure to marry, Yu Ra must have thought marriage was reasonable and proposed it.

“If anyone’s using someone, it would be Jin Yu Ra.”

“That’s true.”

Yu Geon was completely in the dark about Baek Lee Hyun’s true intentions. He wasn’t particularly in a hurry to get married, and hadn’t even thought about it. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lee Hyun was sacrificing himself for Yu Ra’s purposes. That left him feeling uneasy.

Baek Lee Hyun was definitely not the type to sacrifice himself for anyone.

There must be a clear reason why this marriage needed to happen, but not knowing what it was was frustrating. Of course, whatever the purpose was, if Yu Ra was happy, he could turn a blind eye to it.

And having observed Baek Lee Hyun for a long time, he decided to overlook that unknown purpose, knowing that Lee Hyun wasn’t the type to harm others for his own benefit. However, if it led to Yu Ra’s unhappiness, that would be a different story.

“Baek Lee Hyun.”

“What?”

“I think you’re a good guy, even if you’re a bit cold and unaffectionate. It might be better for her to be with you than with some random guy. But still, if…”

Compared to Kang Su’s favored eldest son of Dongho Industries, Baek Lee Hyun might actually be more humane, so Yu Geon thought he might be the better choice.

“If you make Jin Yu Ra cry, I’ll kill you myself.”

Yu Geon couldn’t stand anyone making Yu Ra unhappy.

If she had only received her parents’ love and support properly, the beautiful and smart Yu Ra would have been even better at leading Jin Group than himself. But because of parents who only looked at their son, she had lived her whole life being oppressed.

In that environment, all he could do was stand by his sister’s side to protect her and appropriately shield her from their parents’ criticism. So he hoped that in her life outside this house, she would be happier than anyone else.

“As if I would.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Is Jin Yu Ra the type of woman to cry because of someone else?”

Yu Geon couldn’t easily answer Lee Hyun’s words.

Just because someone doesn’t cry easily doesn’t mean they don’t get hurt. Because they don’t show their wounds, they might be festering even more inside. He just believed in Yu Ra’s strong mindset that wouldn’t easily be scarred by any wound.

“…No.”

So perhaps Jin Yu Ra wouldn’t cry because of others.

Yu Ra, who had been immersed in work since arriving at the office, found her concentration wavering a little while ago. The wedding preparations were all finished at lightning speed. And with the wedding right around the corner, Yu Ra judged that she could no longer postpone it.

She had heard from Lee Hyun that the wedding would be held strictly unofficially and that her name or photo wouldn’t appear in news articles.

So for now, there shouldn’t be any rumors about her spreading in the company. Separately from that, she needed to clearly inform her team members about her absence as she had to go on a honeymoon after the wedding.

The planning team’s work wouldn’t be paralyzed just because she’d be away for a few days. Yu Ra had been handling all matters in an open manner with her team members so that work could proceed smoothly even if one person was absent.

If anyone had to be absent due to personal circumstances, a colleague could fill that position without any problems. However, it was unavoidable that individual workloads would increase due to one person’s absence.

So when Yu Ra is away on her honeymoon, other employees will have to review and take care of more work, and stay alert for any contingencies.

Yu Ra kept this in mind and decided to officially announce it before it was too late.

As lunchtime approached, Yu Ra came out of her office and cleared her throat as she looked around at the busy employees. Their gazes turned to Yu Ra in unison.

“Everyone’s been very busy lately, right?”

“When have we not been busy?”

Manager Jung smiled, saying it was nothing new. Yu Ra took a small deep breath and carefully began to speak.

“I think our team members should know, even if no one else does.”

Seeing Yu Ra’s unusually flushed expression, Sung Hoon spoke up worriedly, followed by others chiming in.

“Did something go wrong with the performance?”

“Did someone back out?”

“Don’t tell me we have to make a new plan?”

Yu Ra smiled awkwardly at her team members’ worried probing.

“Well, the thing is, I’m getting married soon.”

“Oh, you scared me. Marriage… What?”

Manager Jung’s voice, which had been exhaling in relief that it wasn’t related to the performance, jumped high as if hitting a wrong note. In an instant, the team members’ eyes widened in shock.

“Team leader… you’re getting married?”

“Wait, you were dating? When? How on earth?”

Yu Ra scratched her head embarrassedly as she watched her team members who seemed more surprised about when she had been dating rather than her marriage.

She understood their bewilderment, having been called a workaholic. But she didn’t want to explain that there was no dating involved in this marriage.

She didn’t want to reveal such trivial personal details as who she dated and when. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say she couldn’t reveal it.

That felt like exposing everything, including the plan to divorce two years after getting married now. It was that private and personal.

She didn’t want to lie to her team members who trusted and followed her, but she also had no intention of discussing her personal affairs.

She chose to only discuss the factual matters related to her absence due to the marriage and remain silent about the rest.

“Haha, that’s how it turned out. The wedding…”

“Everyone, please come and congratulate us. Oh, and we’re not accepting monetary gifts, so don’t worry about that.”

Just as Yu Ra was about to mention the wedding with an awkward smile, the planning room door opened and a familiar voice cut off Yu Ra’s words, blurting out a shocking truth. No, his very presence was shocking.

“Vi-Vice President!”

The team members jumped up in surprise, turning pale at Lee Hyun’s appearance. Yu Ra frowned as she watched Lee Hyun walking leisurely towards her.

This was neither an agreed-upon entrance nor statement. Yu Ra was quite displeased that he had arbitrarily announced her personal matter like this. She had no intention of revealing her marriage partner or which family she came from to her team members.

Lee Hyun naturally approached and familiarly took the seat next to her, gently placing his hand on Yu Ra’s shoulder. Yu Ra narrowed her eyes as she glanced at his fingertips.

“Please, stop doing things as you please.”

“But they’re colleagues you’ve worked with for a long time, they should congratulate you.”

Yu Ra bowed slightly to her dumbfounded team members.

“Excuse us for a moment.”

Even after Yu Ra hurriedly pulled Lee Hyun away and disappeared into the team leader’s office, silence lingered in the planning team for a while. A moment later, starting with Eun Young’s exclamation, team members gathered in small groups.

“Wow, wow, this is huge.”

“That’s the first time I’ve seen Vice President Baek Lee Hyun in person. I’ve only seen him in the media before. Wow, this is insane.”

“Right? What about that face? Oh my, my heart is racing.”

As Eun Young and Ji Hye praised Lee Hyun’s appearance excitedly, Sung Hoon chimed in.

“More than his face, his charisma is no joke.”

“Of course, not just anyone can be the Vice President of CH.”

“Our team leader must be from an incredible family.”

With Baek Lee Hyun’s appearance confirming Yu Ra’s marriage partner, her identity suddenly became clear.

“It seems so. Surely CH wouldn’t let just anyone marry into the family.”

“Oh, then is it a political marriage?”

“Probably. But looking at Vice President Baek Lee Hyun’s face, it doesn’t seem to be purely political.”

Manager Jung expressed doubt at Eun Young’s words leaning towards a political marriage. The team members’ gazes focused on Manager Jung.

“I saw him a few times when I went to CH about the performance issue last time, and his gaze was so cold it could take your breath away. I heard that people around him say they’ve never seen him smile, he’s always so sharp.”

“Really? Wow, why would he use that face like that.”

“But did you see how he looked at our team leader earlier?”

“I saw it, I saw. It was totally dripping with honey.”

“Exactly.”

The team members briefly turned their heads to glance at the team leader’s office. Although nothing could be seen through the thick gray blinds, it was as if they could clearly see the two people inside.

“Our team leader didn’t give off that kind of vibe at all, I wonder when they dated?”

“They must have dated in secret. Since Songlim is a CH affiliate, there would have been talk if other people knew.”

“So that’s why our team leader wasn’t intimidated by the CEO.”

“That’s right.”

The team members nodded as if they had just realized the reason for Yu Ra’s confidence in dealing with the CEO all this time.