In response to his comment, implying it wasn’t Yun Dae-ho’s painting, Gaeul couldn’t hold back her laughter. His face, looking at her with an expression that seemed to question herself, felt quite ridiculous and surprisingly amusing.

After laughing for a while, Gaeul, trying to control her laughter, turned back to the tree and filled her eyes with it. Then, slowly, she spoke.

“I drew that.”

“What?”

“I drew it. That tree.”

“…….”

Surprised, a response didn’t immediately follow. After carefully placing the painting on the table, Gaeul turned around. Then, sitting next to him, she placed her arm around his waist.

As her hand passed over his waist and settled, Kitae’s body trembled slightly.

However, due to Gaeul, who was earnestly talking, the attention shifted back to Gaeul’s talking face.
“CEO, thank you. I wanted to express my gratitude properly, even if it’s a bit late. This is the first painting my father and I created together. I drew it when I was very young. The background is my father’s, and the trees are all mine.”

As Gaeul spoke, Kitae’s gaze briefly turned to the painting.

Gaeul couldn’t know what he was thinking, but even with no response, she continued speaking to him alone.

“I don’t know how I could forget about this painting. It’s the most precious one to me.”

“…”

“I like this painting more than . It holds memories with my father. And, it’s even better because you gave it to me.”

She poured out all the words she had wanted to say for a long time.

After receiving the painting, there were words she couldn’t properly convey at that confusing moment when her feelings suddenly grew.

Then, Gaeul briefly thought of Shin Yeon-woo, whom she had met today.

He still hadn’t said anything about her father’s painting. It seemed to take quite a long time. Meeting another one of her father’s paintings was quite a challenging task.

Thinking of , the forest path came to mind again, and she wanted to take it out after a long time.

Gaeul, nestled in Kitae’s embrace, let out a small laugh. Kitae finally opened his mouth as usual.

“Yoon Gaeul. Is that all the thanks for something so precious?”

“Tsk…”

Kitae asked, tapping Gaeul’s nose with his finger.

As the question seemed to already have a predetermined answer, Gaeul raised her knee, holding his face with both hands. Then, she placed her lips on him, gently and repeatedly.

Kitae expressed dissatisfaction.

“Is this all for something like this?”

“…Is it not enough?”

“It’s far from enough.”

Kitae wrapped his arms around Gaeul’s waist and laid her on the sofa. Climbing up over her, he scattered small kisses on Gaeul’s face.

Sweeping away the disheveled hair on the sofa, he soon sealed her lips.

When Gaeul circled her arms around Kitae’s neck, the kiss deepened.

As their lips separated, Gaeul gasped for breath.

Kitae, using his thumb to trace the trembling lips, said with a lifted corner of his mouth.

“Looking at it again, well… It’s not bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“That tree.”

The painting drawn by young Yoon Gaeul…

Kitae’s gaze briefly shifted from Gaeul, who was beneath him, to the . Gaeul, not understanding what he meant, looked up as if she couldn’t comprehend. Kitae, chuckling, looked down at Gaeul again and said.

“A kid has some talent in her hands. It’s commendable if she drew this much.”

Gaeul burst into laughter at Kitae’s cheekiness.

Laughing so much that tears gathered in her eyes, she wiped them away with her sleeve and replied.

“CEO, you change the subject too easily, don’t you?”

Gaeul, trapped in Kitae’s embrace, continued to laugh. In Kitae’s eyes, looking down at her, a warm light lingered as he gazed at such Gaeul.

“That’s when you didn’t know about the circumstances of an artist.”
“The CEO was a person who understood such circumstances…….”

As Gaeul, who became happy in Kitae’s embrace, began to speak more, Kitae pressed Gaeul’s lips with his index finger.

“Shh. Gaeul, the rest later.”

At that moment, Gaeul’s phone rang loudly.

Rrrr……. Rrrr…….

Gaeul, who hesitated for a moment, smiled brightly and said.

“Oh, it’s from Mom. I didn’t tell her I was staying out today.”

“…”

“I didn’t know if I could meet the CEO today either.”

Kitae sighed deeply, messed up his hair, and stood up.

“Let’s go. I’ll take you.”

Clang!

Verdi Hotel located in Jamsil.

On one side of the beautiful lounge on the 79th floor, a broken teacup rolled around. Hyesu, not paying any attention to the thrown teacup, continued to argue spiritedly.

“No, is it reasonable not to see each other even once like this?”

Minji, who was sitting opposite, tried to stop her, conscious of the gazes of the employees.

“Hyesu, calm down….”

She glared at Minji.

“Well, right. I might get angry….”

Minji quickly shut her mouth.

Hyesu swung her high heels down with a loud, snapping sound.

“Ugh, really annoying!”

‘A request to schedule, so I tried to schedule it, and what…?’

A few days ago, Hyesu directly called Kitae’s department store office.

The secretary who answered the call asked about the matter and, after whispering for a while, said that she would have to wait for more than a month. Then, it seemed pointless to make the call.

‘Do they not know who I am?’

Hyesu thought that Kitae’s secretaries were doing a lousy job. So she told them her name.

Even if they were busy, she thought that if they heard her name and knew who she was, it couldn’t be helped. However, the secretary only mechanically replied that they would process it in order.

What irritated Hyesu so much was none other than his face that she couldn’t see since that day.

After that day, if she had seen his face even once, she wouldn’t have become so sensitive.

But seeing his face became as difficult as picking stars from the sky.

Unable to contain her anger, Hyesu made a call somewhere.

Hello?

As soon as she heard the gentle voice of a man, Hyesu shot her complaint.

“Dad. Is Kitae really busy? What secretary tells me to wait for more than a month?”

The voice of the dad, calming his angry illegitimate daughter, came through the receiver.

I asked my dad for a favor, and he didn’t check it properly, right? When I asked the chairman, he said that these days, he’s so busy with both the department store and gallery businesses that he can’t even blink.

“Really…?”

Yes! He’s really busy.

“Okay. I understand for now.”

Hyesu hung up the phone with a snap and stood up from her seat. Then, she extended her card to the employee, smiling sweetly.

“I accidentally dropped a teacup. I’ll pay for it together.”

“Yes, ma’am.”
Ignoring the employee who received the card, Hyesu made another call to someone.

After several dial tones, the other party answered the phone. However, there was no response. So, Hyesu greeted first.

“Nice to meet you, Reporter Oh Byunghoon. Have you been well?”

… Oh, yes. Miss Cha Hyesu.

The other person replied vaguely. At that moment, an employee approached Hyesu.

“Ma’am, your payment has been completed.”

Pausing the conversation briefly at the call of the employee, Hyesu took the card, turned around, and continued the call with a slight smile.

“Let’s exchange news and see each other’s faces after a long time.”

I’m busy these days. I don’t have anything special to tell.

Even with the man’s refusal, Hyesu, not losing her smile, pressed on as if threatening him.

“You’ll accept everything, won’t you? You shouldn’t wash your mouth after receiving.”

…

“I don’t plan to hold you for long. As Reporter Oh knows, I’m a busy person too.”

…

“I’ll leave my address, so come there.”

The sighed man soon agreed.

Yes, I understand for now.