Shortly after, the elevator arrived and the two people stepped in side by side.

As the elevator was going up, Lee Daeri recalled Juwon’s gaze from yesterday when he was looking at her.

The gaze he had while placing his hand on Seo Daeri’s shoulder…

It was like the eyes of a beast instinctively guarding against another male of the same species.

He said they were old friends…

Just thinking about that gaze, she was convinced that man definitely doesn’t think of Seo Daeri as just a friend.

Well, how could anyone see a cute and pretty girl like Seo Daeri as only a friend.

But… what about that other man?

That tall, model-like stature and the face that looked like a work of art.

Recalling the face that instantly turned her into a squid, she felt like she was sinking to the depths of the abyss.

As Lee Daeri sighed unknowingly while lost in gloomy thoughts, Ina raised her head and looked at her.

Lee Daeri gave an awkward smile as the elevator stopped on the 6th floor.

Ina, who got off with Lee Daeri, said goodbye to her in front of the HR team.

“Well then, good work today, Lee Daeri.”

“Yes. You too, Seo Daeri.”

Lee Daeri bowed and walked towards the sales team.

Ina sat down at her desk, turned on the computer and sighed.

Although she gave Juwon Park Jeonghun’s personal information yesterday, she was worried whether Park Jeonghun would cleanly back off.

She was also anxious that some messy situation might arise again until it was completely over.

‘Surely it won’t get any messier than this…’

Ina shook her head and got up with her mug.

Trying to shake off the anxious thoughts, she worked frantically all day, and before she knew it, it was well past 6 o’clock.

As she was about to get ready to leave work, her cell phone suddenly rang.

Looking at the screen, it was an unknown number.

She ignored it and continued getting ready, but the phone rang again.

Ina stared at the phone screen, felt something strange, and went out to the emergency stairs to answer the phone.

“Hello?”

-Ina. It’s me.

It was Jeonghun’s voice.

As she closed her eyes tightly and tried to hang up, Jeonghun’s urgent voice came through.

-Ina. Please don’t hang up. I called because I really need to tell you something. Please listen to me for a moment. Okay?

At Jeonghun’s pleading voice, Ina answered in an angry tone.

“Now you’re even calling from someone else’s number? Why? Wasn’t causing that scene yesterday enough for you? Do you have more outrageous things left to do? Huh?”

-That’s not it… Ina! I won’t appear in front of you again! I mean it!

Jeonghun spoke quickly as if shouting, for fear that Ina would hang up the phone.

“What?”

-I won’t appear in front of you again and I absolutely won’t contact you either. This is the last time I’ll talk to you too. I’ll be careful, very careful, so that we never run into each other even by chance. Okay? So please forgive me. Okay? Please. I’m begging you.

Jeonghun pleaded in a voice that sounded like he would kneel down and beg if he were in front of her.

Ina furrowed her brows and was lost in thought for a moment at Jeonghun’s sudden change in attitude.

What… how did this happen?

That prideful Park Jeonghun would never come out like this… Ah!

Suddenly, she remembered what Juwon said yesterday about his cousin being a competent lawyer.

Did he already take action?

But it’s having an effect this quickly? What on earth did he do and how?

At this level… he’s not a lawyer, but an “Aladdin’s Genie” level, right?

-Ina. Are you listening to me? Please give me one more chance. Please. Okay?

Jeonghun spoke again in an urgent voice, as if he thought Ina would hang up the phone.

Ina let out a long sigh and opened her mouth.

“How can I believe that?”

-Huh?

“How can I believe you’ll do that? How do I know what else a person who came to the company and caused a scene will do?”

-No. Absolutely not. I definitely won’t appear in front of you. I told you this is the last contact, right? If you want, I’ll even write a pledge. Okay?

“A pledge? Are you telling me to see your face again to get a pledge. Right now?”

-No. If you don’t like that, I’ll write a pledge and submit it to the lawyer. Okay? So please forgive me. Please don’t sue me. Okay?

Ah… I see. In the end, he called to tell me not to sue him.

Jeonghun, who works at a rather successful financial company, has sky-high pride in himself and boasts that he has lived a life without a single flaw.

For Park Jeonghun, the very idea of a “lawsuit” would feel like a blemish and humiliation on his life.

Ina took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“Forget it, I’ll just start recording now, so think of it as writing a pledge and say it verbally.”

-Huh?

Ina pressed the record function and brought the phone to her ear.

“Last Friday evening, you took me to meet your college friends, right? And in front of those friends, you asked me how many guys I’ve slept with, right?”

-Uh?

“Answer me.”

-Yeah… that’s right.

“And when I heard that and left, you chased after me and tried to drag me away, right?”

-No… that’s…

“And at that time, you know my lip was cut from being hit by your elbow, right?”

-No, that’s… I was trying to hit that crazy guy and accidentally did that…

Ina closed her eyes tightly and opened them.

“What? Crazy guy? Who’s the real crazy one, should we find the CCTV from that day and submit it to the police station? Should we hear what the police have to say?”

-Huh? No! No! I’m the crazy one. Yes! You’re right!

Jeonghun answered in a flustered voice.

Ina continued speaking with a deep sigh.

“And after that, on Monday morning, you came to my house, right? Even though I told you to never show up again, you showed up again in the evening and caused a scene, right?”

-That, that’s…

“Answer me.”

-That’s… because you and that guy…

“Hey!”

As Ina yelled loudly, the sound of Jeonghun being startled could be heard.

“I told you, right? I met that person again that day because of you. You don’t believe that either? Then should I find evidence and show it to you? If it turns out I’m not two-timing, what will you do? Huh? How will you take responsibility for my image that was tarnished because of you coming to the company yesterday and screaming at the top of your lungs calling me a dirty bitch! Huh?”

-Ee… Ina.

Jeonghun called Ina’s name in a perplexed voice.

“During the time you were dating me, there are plenty of people who can testify how obsessive and suffocating you were to me, and there’s also objective data like call history and chat contents overflowing. And there’s plenty of CCTV footage of you coming to the company and causing a scene yesterday.”

The sound of Jeonghun gulping could be heard over the phone.

-Ee… Ina. Please believe me just this once. I really won’t appear in front of you again and I absolutely won’t contact you.

So please forgive me just once. Okay?

Ina let out a deep sigh pulled up from her gut before opening her mouth.

“If you break even one word of what you just said, not only will I sue you, but there will be absolutely no settlement. And I will use everything I can to twist that life you feel is so perfect right now. Got it?”

-Yes… I got it.

“Don’t contact me again after this.”

Ina hung up the phone mercilessly.

As soon as she hung up, her heart was pounding and racing.

Is it really… over like this? Will there be no more entanglements with Park Jeonghun?

Clutching her throbbing heart and taking a deep breath, Ina went back into the office.

“Seo Daeri, aren’t you going home?”

Eun Jeong, who was just leaving the office, asked Ina.

Ina looked at the clock and it was already past 6:40.

“Oh? I should go. You go ahead. I’ll leave in a bit.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah.”

As Ina went to her desk, turned off the computer, and was organizing her surroundings, a message came.

It was from Juwon.

-I think I’ll be about 10 minutes late today. Come out slowly.

-Okay. Got it.

Ina finished organizing, sat for a while, and left the office 10 minutes later.

* * *

In the distance, Juwon’s car could be seen parked.

The tall Juwon, neatly dressed in a navy suit today, waved his hand.

As Ina walked slowly with a faint smile, Juwon opened the passenger door.

“Thanks.”

As Ina got in the passenger seat and was putting on her seatbelt, Juwon asked.

“Nothing happened today? Did that guy contact you by any chance.”

“…He did call. From an unknown number.”

Juwon’s eyebrows wriggled.

“Really?”

“…Yeah.”

“What did that guy say?”

Ina hesitated for a moment before slowly opening her mouth.

“I don’t know what your cousin did… but I recorded Park Jeonghun saying he won’t appear in front of me again and won’t contact me.”

Juwon was silent for a moment, then asked Ina.

“You recorded it?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you let me hear it?”

“Sure. One sec.”

Ina took out her cell phone, found the recording file, and handed it to Juwon.

[Last Friday evening, you took me to meet your college friends, right? And in front of those friends, you asked me how many guys I’ve slept with, right?]

As soon as Ina’s voice came out as he pressed play, Juwon immediately hit the stop button.

Juwon, frowning deeply, spat out a deep anger welling up from his gut.

“This bastard… he’s really trash, isn’t he? He asked you something like that?”

As Ina bit her lip firmly and nodded, Juwon let out a long sigh.

“Ha. Really… where did a piece of trash like this crawl out from…”

Juwon glared ahead as if Park Jeonghun was right in front of his eyes, then played the rest of the content.

After listening quietly to the end, Juwon exhaled deeply and returned the phone to Ina.

Ina took the phone without a word.

Juwon glared ahead with a face still filled with anger, then sighed.

“You did well recording it. But still, you need to be careful for the time being. This bastard might suddenly get drunk and come find you again.”

“Oh? No. I don’t think he will. It sounded like a voice that would kneel down and beg if he was in front of me. I heard Park Jeonghun sound like that for the first time. I really don’t think he’ll contact me again.”

Juwon ran his fingers through his bangs and let out a deep sigh.

“A jerk who cowers at just one phone call from a lawyer… How could a guy with only that level of backbone treat you so recklessly, it makes me so angry…”

Juwon bit his lip and clenched his fists tightly.

Ina stared silently at Juwon’s clenched fists for a moment, then gently placed her hand on top of his.

“…Now that I won’t see that guy anymore, don’t worry too much.”

Juwon looked at Ina’s hand placed on the back of his own hand, then raised his head and gazed at Ina.

As their eyes met, Ina gave a gentle smile.

That smile seemed to slowly quell the volcano-like rage boiling up inside him.

“…Right.”

Juwon answered as he quietly held Ina’s hand that was resting on his.

Ina silently looked down at that hand.

As she stared at Juwon’s large hand emanating a warm heat, her heart suddenly started pounding.

‘…Why does my heart keep racing like this?’

Questioning her own heart, Ina slowly turned her head away.