“Gi Tae, it’s been so long! I heard you returned to Korea, but it’s so hard to see your face even once.”

“It has been a while, Cha Hye Su.”

“Tsk… I’m really disappointed.”

The woman, displaying a joyful expression all over her face, touched his shoulder once while letting out a pleasant voice and smiled. He also looked at her and gave a deliberately polite smile in return.

The way she honestly expressed her feelings was impressive.

The woman, who gave off a strong impression of being easygoing and confident, didn’t come across as unpleasant even when she complained.

Ga Eul looked at the woman he called ‘Hye Su’ once more.

Unlike her lovely and cute behavior, she was the epitome of glamour with wavy, luxurious hair draped over her shoulders.

Although Ga Eul didn’t know much about luxury goods, even to her it was clear that Hye Su was only wearing expensive items. As she swept her long hair behind her ears, the long drop earrings swayed and sparkled under the lighting.

From her external appearance to her inner self, she gave off the strong impression of someone who had grown up receiving lots of love, which drew even more attention to her.

The woman flaunted her familiarity with him.

“I really didn’t expect to run into you here.”

She thought she would start by looking around first.

Faced with his acquaintance so suddenly, Ga Eul stayed in place without a word. He also had no choice but to pause for a moment in the middle of the hall to answer Hye Su.

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been busy. I joined my father’s company recently.”

As the conversation dragged on, Ga Eul felt a bit awkward just standing there.

‘The conversation seems like it will take a while, should I go look around and come back…?’

It seemed better to just step aside and give them space.

Thinking of looking around instead, Ga Eul was about to take a step when, as soon as she lifted her foot, he suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Ga Eul turned her head to look at him, startled by the sudden grip on her wrist.

She thought he had completely forgotten about her presence.

Furrowing his brows, he opened his mouth.

“Yoon Ga Eul, where are you going?”

“I was thinking of going to look at some paintings…”

“Stay by my side. Don’t make me have to look for you again in this wide space.”

“…Yes.”

As he spoke to Ga Eul, the woman also turned to look at her. Meeting her gaze so suddenly, Ga Eul smiled awkwardly.

She asked Gi Tae,

“Who is this?”

The woman’s eyes, after asking the question, turned back to Ga Eul. She blatantly stared at Ga Eul. Feeling embarrassed, Ga Eul bit her lower lip.

“She belongs to my company.”

“You mean TS Gallery? Ah, so you came to the art fair today because you had business here.”

Hye Su chattered on, seemingly misunderstanding his words.

“Then this person is a gallery employee….”

It was Gi Tae who cut her off and corrected her.

“She’s a painter.”

“Oh… is that so…?”

After staring at Ga Eul’s face for a moment as if she found it curious, she gave the same smile she had shown him and suddenly extended her hand first.

“So you were a painter! Nice to meet you. I’m Cha Hye Su.”

“Yes, I’m Yoon Ga Eul.”

As she greeted her first, Ga Eul also shook Hye Su’s hand and exchanged greetings.

After the introductions, she moved to stand by his side again. As a result, Hye Su ended up on his left and Ga Eul on his right.

Ga Eul glanced at the woman standing next to him. She was constantly smiling as she spoke to him about something.

‘Huh? Are they together…?’

Due to Hye Su naturally joining them, the three ended up walking side by side inside Hall A.

Since people connected through business had met, it was natural for them to discuss business matters, but because of that, Ga Eul once again had nothing to say.

‘I wanted to talk about paintings with the CEO… Well, it can’t be helped.’

But since there were things to see while walking around, Ga Eul didn’t mind too much. Before she knew it, her eyes sparkled with the same liveliness as when she first entered the exhibition.

With all the galleries in Seoul gathered in one place, there was a wide variety of things to see. From afar, some looked like a sea, but up close they were detailed pointillist paintings made up entirely of dots. There were also large sculptures scattered here and there.

There were also paintings with strong oriental characteristics, allowing Ga Eul to see works different from what she usually painted.

Although all the paintings were different, the distinct characteristics of each gallery where they were exhibited could also be clearly seen.

As Ga Eul was looking around like that for a while, just moving her eyes, her gaze suddenly stopped at one gallery booth. She became curious because there was an unusually large crowd.

Carefully making her way through the crowd, Ga Eul stood on her tiptoes and managed to take in the work with her eyes.

‘Wow… it’s great.’

Ga Eul took in the painting as if entranced. Then, she was startled.

‘Ah, right! Where is the CEO…?’

Ga Eul’s eyes rolled around busily as she scanned her surroundings. Then, she was surprised to see the man standing right next to her.

She thought she had fallen behind because she was so focused on the painting. She expected him to be talking with that woman.

When their eyes met, he let out a small laugh and shifted his gaze to the painting, just like Ga Eul had done earlier.

As Ga Eul was blankly staring at Gi Tae, he opened his mouth first while taking in the painting for a while.

“This painting is quite good.”

Ga Eul nodded.

“Yes. It’s my first time seeing this artist’s work… they paint really well.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“…?”

As Ga Eul tilted her head and looked at him, puzzled, he spoke again.

“This artist is quite well-known in Korea these days.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yeah, you’ve never heard of them?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen their work today.”

“Don’t just stay in your studio all the time, come out sometimes. Seeing a variety of paintings helps a lot in improving your skills too.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

After that, they continued to look at paintings together while visiting various booths. Ga Eul secretly smiled a little at the conversation that was all about artwork.

As they were walking around like that for a while, he suddenly grabbed Ga Eul’s wrist again as she was about to take another step.

As Ga Eul widened her eyes and looked up at him, Gi Tae pointed to a booth with a nod of his head.

“We should stop by our gallery’s booth too. That’s the purpose, after all.”

“Ah, right.”

“No wonder you were wandering around everywhere on your own.”

When he reprimanded her, saying he thought she had completely forgotten, Ga Eul bit her lip in embarrassment.

Following him, she saw a familiar name displayed at a booth located in a prime spot where many people were likely to pass by.

TS Gallery.

As Ga Eul was about to enter the booth following Gi Tae, the voice she had heard earlier stopped them in their tracks.

“Gi Tae, you were here?”

It was Hye Su.

Ga Eul turned her head to look up at Gi Tae.

Didn’t they finish talking and part ways…?

Before Ga Eul could assess the situation, Hye Su, who had approached closely, suddenly struck up a conversation with Ga Eul instead of him.

“Ga Eul, you were here together too. How could you disappear leaving me alone in just a short while? I searched for a long time.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. Actually, I got separated while looking at paintings. I ran into the CEO nearby.”

“I see. Not knowing that, I really broke out in a cold sweat.”

Hye Su complained with cute aegyo again, seemingly satisfied that the misunderstanding was resolved.

Ga Eul also gave a small smile to her who approached her in a friendly manner, but inwardly she became puzzled.

She didn’t know they would keep going around together.

At that moment, feeling a tap on her hand, Ga Eul turned her head. The man who had been standing next to her brought his cell phone to his ear and said,

“Yoon Ga Eul. I’m going to take a call. Wait here for a bit.”

“Yes, CEO. Go ahead.”

It seemed to be an urgent call, as he quickly left the booth.

“…”

“…”

Left alone with Hye Su, Ga Eul felt a bit awkward and just gave an awkward smile. On the other hand, Hye Su didn’t seem awkward at all as she approached Ga Eul without hesitation and struck up a conversation.

“What’s your relationship with the CEO?”

“Pardon? What do you mean by relationship…?”

Ga Eul widened her eyes in surprise as she suddenly asked with a serious face.

Since she had been smiling the whole time, the serious look felt even more unfamiliar.

She whispered in a much lower voice so only Ga Eul could hear.

“Since you were going around with the CEO. He’s not usually someone who takes gallery people around with him.”

“Is that so?”

“So, what’s your relationship?”

She asked, her eyes shining.

What should she say?

She said he wasn’t someone who took gallery painters around with him, but that was exactly what she was.

Ga Eul answered frankly and honestly.

“We don’t have any special relationship. I’m just a painter belonging to the gallery.”

“…Really?”

Ga Eul nodded again at the still doubtful gaze.

“Yes. There are still many things I don’t know well, so he brought me along to learn. Just to study.”

“Hmm, so you’re saying there’s no relationship?”

Ga Eul couldn’t help but notice the persistent questioning.

She was referring to a romantic relationship between a man and a woman.

Ga Eul nodded.

She had felt a bit of excitement looking at him before, and her heart raced from time to time these days… but it wasn’t a relationship that had progressed that far.

He was different from her.

Ga Eul nodded once more.

At that, she stepped back, looking satisfied.

“Hye Su.”

This time, Ga Eul called out to her.

“Yes. What is it?”

It was an impulsive question she wouldn’t have asked normally.

“Why are you asking about that…?”

At that, Hye Su raised the corners of her mouth.

“Actually, I have my eye on Gi Tae. It would be good for both families to be connected through business as well, and since we’re compatible, I really want to take it to marriage.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Please keep what I just said a secret.”

She was very honest with her feelings. That seemed to make her shine even more.

Having nothing more to say, Ga Eul just nodded.

Unlike Ga Eul, she burst into a beautiful and confident smile as if she felt much more refreshed.

“It’s just that when there’s an unfamiliar woman next to the man you want to marry, it makes you concerned. That’s the only reason I asked.”

“…Gi Tae! You’re back?”

He seemed to have finished his call as he was seen entering the booth again.

Strangely, there was a bitter taste in her mouth.

As Ga Eul unknowingly had her head down, Gi Tae approached her side.

“…?”

Ga Eul lifted her head to look up at him as he suddenly stood in front of her. Then, he tapped the top of her head and asked,

“Did I make you wait too long? Is that why?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“Why does your expression look like that?”

When he asked if she had gotten tired in the meantime, Ga Eul nodded her head, trying her best to indicate that seemed to be the case.

“I see.”

After quietly looking down at her for a moment, he also turned his body without saying anything more.

Then, he gave a brief goodbye to Hye Su.

“See you next time.”

As he turned to leave like that, Hye Su called out to stop him.

“…Um, Gi Tae!”

At the gaze that silently looked at her as if asking what the matter was, Hye Su smiled brightly and said,

“When you have time, it would be nice to have a meal together. With the chairman too, if that’s alright.”

“Sure.”

Answering curtly, Gi Tae disappeared outside the booth together with Ga Eul.

Hye Su, who had watched them leave together until the end from where she stood, hardened her expression and irritably picked up her cell phone.

After a few rings, she smiled as if nothing had happened and spoke in a soft voice.

“Chairman, have you been well? I’m calling because I just ran into Gi Tae and thought of you. How about having a meal together with my father sometime?”