However, Na Young, suspecting something about their relationship, decided to leave them alone.

Given Dohan’s sharp reaction when Sarang was hurt yesterday, he seemed unlikely to misbehave even if drunk.

Besides, Sarang insisting on taking care of him indicated that she might trust him.

“Okay, then. Call me if anything happens.”

“Sure, see you at the office tomorrow. Take care.”

After bidding farewell to Na Young, Sarang looked towards Dohan, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Who took him?”

In the rush of team members leaving, she hadn’t noticed him.

Feeling awkward for being so vigilant, Sarang worried if he got home safely.

She felt guilty for not fulfilling her duty as a mentor.

With a heavy heart, Sarang left the restaurant.

She texted Jiwoo that the dinner had just ended. Jiwoo replied that she was already on her way with Yunjae.

Planning initially to take a taxi due to the cold, she was informed that Jiwoo and Yunjae had already started heading her way after their call.

Resigned, Sarang turned back into the restaurant, only to be startled.
The original Korean paragraph consists of 50 lines. I will translate it verbatim into English, maintaining the same number of lines in the translation.

Sarang found Dohan sitting on a bench reserved for waiting customers, thinking he had already left for home.

Looking around, there was no one else.

Leaving a drunk person alone like this seemed harsh.

Sarang felt resentful about it.

She slowly approached Dohan.

He was about to light a cigarette he had put in his mouth but stopped and looked up upon sensing her presence.

Surprised to see her, he soon lowered the hand holding the cigarette.

“What are you doing here instead of going home?”

Sarang was equally surprised.

She didn’t know he smoked.

It was an unfamiliar sight, making him seem like a different person.

“You might not even realize you’re cold because you’re drunk. Let’s go inside.”

Listening quietly to her, Dohan let out a faint laugh.

It was the same thing he said to Sarang five years ago in front of the freshmen orientation dormitory: ‘You might not even realize you’re cold because you’re drunk. Go inside before you catch a cold in such a tacky way.’

As if vividly recalling that cold day, his eyes moistened with a distant look.

“Wait for me, Assistant Manager. Why haven’t you left yet?”

Sarang found it absurd that he was casually speaking informally just because they were outside the office, but she didn’t argue, feeling it useless to scold a drunk person.

“I’m waiting for my boyfriend. He’s coming to pick me up.”

Was lying becoming easier for her?

Sarang was surprised at how naturally she mentioned having a boyfriend.

When Jiwoo first told Dohan that Yunjae was her boyfriend, her heart raced with guilt, but now she felt no remorse.

Feeling somewhat proud of her composed response, Dohan smiled lightly.

“Did Jiwoo say she was coming?”

“Why would Jiwoo be my boyfriend? I told you my boyfriend’s name, someone from our school…”

As Sarang began to explain, thinking Dohan wouldn’t remember Yunjae, he interrupted her.

“Jeong Yunjae is not your boyfriend.”

Sarang was taken aback but pretended otherwise.

“Why do you think he’s not? Yunjae and I have been dating for a long time.”

“Ah, really?”

Dohan stood up from the bench and took a step closer to Sarang, narrowing the distance between them.

Sarang involuntarily stepped back as he approached.

Despite drinking three bottles of soju, Dohan showed no signs of being affected.

Who would think this man was drunk?

Sarang felt her face flush as if she were the one intoxicated.

“Jeong Yunjae said he would write you letters while he was in the army. Have you been dating since then?”

He remembered everything.

Sarang barely managed to suppress a gasp.

“No, we started dating after he was discharged. Yunjae said he didn’t want to date while in the army because it would be lonely for his girlfriend left at school.”

“Jiwoo said you’ve been dating Yunjae for four years.”

“…What?”

“That doesn’t add up, even if he went to the army after finishing freshman year.”

How could he do such calculations even after drinking?

Caught off guard, Sarang quickly responded.

“Jiwoo was mistaken. Whether it’s four years or three, it’s almost the same.”

“You don’t have a couple ring.”

As Dohan looked at her left hand, Sarang hid it behind her back.

Her hand felt hot from his gaze alone, even though he hadn’t touched it.
The original Korean paragraph consists of 50 lines. I will translate it verbatim into English, maintaining the same number of lines in the translation.

It felt like the warmth she felt when their hands touched, making her heart race.

“I don’t really like that kind of thing.”

“That can’t be true.”

If I say so, then it’s so. What makes him so sure about me?

Sarang couldn’t hide her baffled expression. Suddenly, Dohan pulled something out of his pocket and held out his clenched fist.

“What’s that?”

With no clear answer from him, Sarang cautiously placed her hand beneath his fist.