“What?”

In front of the restaurant after the company dinner, Eun Soo, who was standing next to Sun Kyung, glanced at Joo Han.

“You said you need to refuel? Where does this bastard get the nerve to drive drunk…No way! Are you out of your mind? Call a driver, you jerk.”

“Why would I call a driver when I don’t have a car? Who are you telling to get it together right now?”

Sun Kyung, who was holding Eun Soo’s arm, chuckled softly.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Manager Sun get drunk at a company dinner.”

“I know, right.”

Eun Soo always had her own lines that she never crossed, like getting dead drunk or looking disheveled in front of her employees, even though she got along with them comfortably. But today, whether it was out of embarrassment or guilt for lying, she started chugging alcohol.

Joo Han couldn’t stand watching it and sneakily drank some for her, but when the employees saw that, they teased them again, so they had to do a love shot on top of it.

“CEO, I’ll take Jae Rim home and then head out.”

So Min said, practically shouldering the heavily drunk Jae Rim. Although So Min looked much smaller than Jae Rim in both height and build, her strength was not inferior.

“Then I’ll be heading out as well.”

Sun Kyung naturally passed Eun Soo over to Joo Han. Joo Han, who was about to ask why it had to be him, carefully wrapped his arm around Eun Soo’s back to support her, realizing that he was now her boyfriend in the eyes of others.

“We’ll be going first!”

“Be careful on your way back and see you tomorrow.”

After Jae Rim, So Min, and Sun Kyung each got into a taxi and disappeared, only Joo Han and Eun Soo remained in front of the restaurant. Eun Soo unconsciously leaned on Joo Han, then stepped away and took a step forward.

“Let’s walk. It’s our neighborhood. If we cross the street over there and keep going, we’ll reach our company, and if we keep going from there, we’ll reach my place…”

Eun Soo, who was walking ahead with a stagger, suddenly sank to her knees. She collapsed so gracefully that it looked like she was bowing to the balloon sign on the street.

“Hey, you…!”

Joo Han quickly approached and lifted Eun Soo up, holding her with one arm while checking the taxi app with his other hand. The taxi he had called earlier was getting close.

In the meantime, Eun Soo shook off Joo Han’s arm and tried to walk again, only to stagger once more.

“You really… Let’s just do it once, just once.”

Joo Han managed to catch Eun Soo, who was about to respectfully pay her condolences to the balloon sign with two bows. He picked up Eun Soo’s bag that had fallen to the ground, and at the same time, the taxi arrived. Joo Han quickly pushed Eun Soo into the back seat and sat beside her.

“Oh, what is this? You called a driver? Good job, good job.”

Eun Soo suddenly raised her hand and patted Joo Han’s head.

Stunned by the small, warm hand that boldly and unexpectedly messed up his hair, Joo Han froze on the spot. Eun Soo smiled with unfocused eyes, hugged the bag that Joo Han had placed on her lap, and closed her eyes.

“I’m tired. I wish I could close my eyes and open them to find myself on my bed at home…”

Mumbling such words, Eun Soo fell asleep.

She deliberately leaned her body away from Joo Han and rested her head uncomfortably against the jolting window. Joo Han’s hand hesitantly went up and down a few times before settling limply on the seat.

The taxi driver, glancing at the backseat through the rearview mirror, casually spoke.

“Oh my, your girlfriend is quite drunk.”

Instead of answering, Joo Han let out an awkward laugh.

“Well, there are days in life when you want to get dead drunk. No matter how much you dislike drinking and getting drunk, you shouldn’t be too coldhearted about it.”

“Excuse me?”

“With shoulders that broad, is your heart not as wide, young man? Your girlfriend’s neck is going to break.”

What do you know, mister? You don’t even know how I feel…!

It’s not that I don’t want to offer my shoulder because it’s too precious. It’s because I’m afraid she might suddenly open her eyes and slap me, asking if I’m trying to make a move on my drunk ex-girlfriend!

Joo Han swallowed his sorrows along with the words he couldn’t say and carefully reached out towards Eun Soo. When he gently pulled her to rest on his shoulder, Eun Soo made a sound that could have been either annoyance or a whine, making Joo Han tense up, but she soon settled into a comfortable position.

“How lovely.”

The driver laughed heartily.

“A boyfriend should just let the girlfriend win and be understanding most of the time. In my experience, I’ve lost more by trying not to lose than by losing. I’ve also had more regrets thinking I should have just let her win than I should have won that time.”

Joo Han pondered for a moment and then replied, “Yes.” The driver seemed to like Joo Han’s gentle response and hummed a tune as he drove the rest of the way.

Joo Han became lost in thought, aware of Eun Soo leaning close to him.

It seemed like he always let her win. No, it wasn’t that he deliberately let her win, but he just went along with whatever Eun Soo wanted for most things. It was enough for him if Eun Soo laughed, was happy, and enjoyed herself. He had never even thought about winning or losing, but if he had to divide it, he was always closer to the losing side.

‘But there was one time I regretted it.’

When Eun Soo said let’s break up.

The reason Eun Soo gave for the breakup was that she liked it better when they were friends. That alone was utterly unacceptable.

He clung to her and clung again, asking why she would say such a thing when they could never go back to being just friends, but in the end, he had no choice but to do as Eun Soo wanted.

‘I should have tried to win that time.’

After a while, the driver’s voice came through.

“Where should I drop you off?”

“Please pull over right after the next signal. Thank you.”

Even after getting out of the taxi, Eun Soo was half-asleep. Joo Han hurriedly hung Eun Soo’s bag, which was about to drag on the ground, around his neck and supported Eun Soo as they entered the villa building.

“It’s 301, right? I won’t look, so enter the passcode quickly.”

Eun Soo, with one arm given to Joo Han and her head bowed deeply, pressed the door lock passcode with her other hand.

Beep beep beep.

The sound mercilessly signaled an error, and Eun Soo furrowed her brows and pressed again. It was wrong again, and wrong once more.

“Hey… Listen.”

“What, what?”

“If you enter it wrong five times, you can’t get into the house.”

“What?”

Joo Han’s complexion turned pale. Eun Soo gravely swept back her hair that kept falling.

“I still have two chances left.”

Then she pressed four numbers again.

“Why does it say it’s wrong again! It’s my house, so why won’t it let me in? It’s 0325, isn’t it!”

“Gasp…!”

It was a noise loud enough to be heard by the neighbors next door and across the hall. Joo Han, who had hurriedly covered Eun Soo’s mouth, pressed the four-digit passcode he had just heard from Eun Soo with a whatever-happens-happens mindset.

Perhaps it was the drunk person’s hand that was the problem, not the door, but fortunately, the door finally opened.

“Huh? Is this thing playing favorites? Hey, I’m the owner, I am!”

Joo Han gently pushed Eun Soo, who had started picking a fight with the door lock, into the house. Eun Soo obediently took off her shoes and went inside.

Just as Joo Han was letting his guard down, thinking this was enough since he had never seen Eun Soo open the door and run out again, Eun Soo suddenly turned to look at Joo Han.

“My bag.”

“Ah.”

He had forgotten that he was wearing Eun Soo’s crossbody bag around his neck. As Joo Han was about to take it off right away, Eun Soo suddenly grabbed the bag strap and pulled.

As a result, Joo Han was also pulled into the entrance.

“Wait, wait…! Hey, I’m giving it to you!”

Joo Han was tossed back and forth as if he had a leash around his neck because Eun Soo was pulling without warning. Even if he lowered his head, Joo Han was much taller, so no matter how much Eun Soo pulled from below, it wasn’t easy to get out.

“Ah, seriously you… Oh!”

The moment Joo Han finally managed to remove the strap from his neck, Eun Soo staggered from the recoil. Joo Han immediately reached out to catch Eun Soo, who was about to fall backward, but…

“Ah!”

He fell with her.

“Are you okay?”

Eun Soo was lying on her back with her eyes closed, and Joo Han was precariously sprawled on top of her.

His hand, wedged between the back of Eun Soo’s head and the floor, felt numb. Even though Joo Han had unconsciously supported her, there was a thud, so he thought it must hurt quite a bit and was checking on her, but Eun Soo didn’t move at all. Joo Han’s heart sank for a moment.

“Could it be a concussion…”

Joo Han, trailing off, looked down at Eun Soo, who was practically buried beneath him.

It was too close. If he loosened the strength in his arm that was propping up the floor next to Eun Soo’s face even a little, he could instantly close the remaining distance.

Joo Han gently pulled out the hand that had been cradling Eun Soo’s head. Still looking at Eun Soo, who wouldn’t open her eyes, he carefully raised his withdrawn hand.

Then his long fingers touched Eun Soo’s forehead.

Flick.

“Ouch!”

“Get up. Go sleep on the bed.”

Joo Han had flicked Eun Soo’s forehead, realizing from her trembling eyelids and uncomfortable breathing that she wasn’t hurt or asleep but simply couldn’t open her eyes.

Despite the crisp sound, it didn’t hurt that much. Eun Soo felt Joo Han’s weight and shadow moving far away from her body and only then did she groggily sit up.

“How, how did you know…”

Eun Soo went to the bed in a posture that was neither fully upright nor crawling and collapsed.

The shock of falling backward earlier had sobered her up a bit, so she had tried to pretend to be asleep out of a new sense of embarrassment, but getting caught made her even more embarrassed.

As if to hide her face as well, she pulled the familiar and fluffy blanket over herself, and drowsiness rushed in as if it had been waiting.

“I’ll just have a glass of water and go.”

There was no response from Eun Soo, who had really fallen asleep this time.

Joo Han opened the refrigerator door. He took out a small bottle of water and drank about half of it in one gulp before setting it down. He hadn’t drunk much alcohol, and even that had completely worn off from sweating while bringing the drunk Eun Soo here, but his stomach felt hot belatedly.

It was the first time he had been inside Eun Soo’s place, although he knew where it was. From Joo Han’s perspective, the inside of a house wasn’t a place he allowed just anyone, so he never even thought about it since they weren’t in a relationship where that was okay anymore.

Even though Eun Soo casually came in and out of his place.

Of course, Eun Soo’s standards were more relaxed than his, and there was no denying that living right above the workplace made the threshold feel lower.

Joo Han, who had been standing still for a while, took a broad look around the spacious studio with only the kitchen and bathroom separated.

Fitting for Eun Soo, who spent much more time at Vida, it had a minimalist atmosphere. But even the small items showed her taste in choosing them. Reflecting Eun Soo’s personality of cherishing things for a long time once she grew attached, there were many household items old enough for even Joo Han to remember.

While slowly heading towards the entrance, a shelf fixed on one side of the wall caught his eye, neatly displaying albums. They were all the albums Yoon Bin had released as a singer so far. The most recent album was displayed like a picture frame, showing the front cover.

Joo Han approached and carefully examined the autograph left on the album.

I couldn’t have made it this far without you. Thank you for always supporting me.]

Even siblings wouldn’t be this affectionate.

Even though he had countless fans around the world who called him “oppa” besides Eun Soo.

Joo Han, who had been staring intently at Yoon Bin’s picture-perfect side profile in the album jacket, turned around. The sight of Eun Soo, sleeping without a care in the world, filled his vision.

It was easier than I thought to tell the employees that I was dating you, and it was more fun than I expected.

But it also seems like a much more cruel thing to do than I imagined.

As Joo Han turned towards the entrance, a sigh more complex than a mere sigh escaped his lips.

“…We’re doing all sorts of things. You and I.”