The moment the door closed, Ha Yeon felt a rush of heat as if she had entered a furnace, and her breath quickened.

It wasn’t the first or second time she had been alone with him, but she couldn’t understand why it felt this way.

“Do we have something to talk about?”

Ha Yeon racked her brain trying to somehow avoid this situation. But this was the only question that came out.

“Do we have something to talk about? A lot, actually.”

Min Je gently took Ha Yeon’s wrist and led her to sit on the makeshift sofa in the studio. The spot where his hand touched felt oddly hot, causing Ha Yeon to unconsciously rub her wrist.

Min Je pulled up a chair with a scraping sound and plopped down in front of her. Now that they were sitting face to face, the atmosphere felt strange.

Ha Yeon’s eyes rolled around. It wasn’t an interrogation or a hearing, but it was truly an odd way of conversing. It was too embarrassing to make eye contact, so her gaze naturally turned to the floor.

It seemed Min Je, who had arranged this, felt the same way. He let out a dry cough and after a slight pause, asked Ha Yeon.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“……”

Ha Yeon couldn’t answer right away. In some ways, it was true that he made her uncomfortable. But feeling that she shouldn’t answer so directly, she kept her mouth shut.

“Alright, then let me change the question. Did you run away yesterday?”

Ha Yeon felt as if she could hear the words “How dare you, avoid me?” following.

She hadn’t thought of him that way, but had he come to get revenge for yesterday? Well, she had been feeling uneasy that a day had passed without incident.

“That, I just… without thinking… If I offended you, I’m sorry.”

When Ha Yeon suddenly apologized, Min Je’s eyebrows twitched.

He hadn’t asked the question to receive an apology. Suppressing his bewilderment, he unnecessarily ran his hand over his dry face.

He had asked this to know her true feelings. But she didn’t reveal her inner thoughts and apologized first.

Min Je felt like a fire was ignited in his already churning stomach. As the heat rose, he felt like the effects of the beer he had drunk earlier were just now kicking in. His mind became a jumbled mess of heat and intoxication.

“I didn’t ask for an apology. I, I just…”

Uncharacteristically stopping mid-sentence, he carefully chose his next words.

“I just want to know what you’re thinking.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, he added emphatically.

“How you think of me.”

He had used his wits to ask in a way that would prevent any other thoughts and force her to answer the question he demanded.

Faced with this unexpected question, Ha Yeon just blinked, not knowing what to do.

There are all sorts of ways to make a person flustered. She finally realized why Min Je had pulled up a chair in front of her. It was to prevent her from avoiding or running away like yesterday.

But she couldn’t bare her entire heart. She was afraid of ruining their relationship and having to leave this house. She feared being separated from Ji Hoo, whom she had grown so attached to, and not being able to meet the other people. Especially, she didn’t want to lose the ability to talk face to face like this with him.

“Uh, how do I think? I, I think well of you.”

Ha Yeon bit her lip after giving this vague answer. She knew it was a foolish response, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“You think well of me?”

Min Je muttered as if completely deflated. He had been replaying the scene of Ha Yeon running away all day today. Naturally, this led him to think that she might dislike him.

Min Je rubbed his chin once as he thought. Should he be satisfied with this, having avoided the worst-case scenario? But something still felt unresolved, tangled up. Far from being cleared up, his troubled feelings seemed to become even more complicated.

Seeing him creaking like a broken machine, Ha Yeon tilted her head. Wasn’t he trying to interrogate her about yesterday’s incident? The always confident and straight-laced Kang Min Je seemed a bit off today.

“Of course I think well of you. How could I not think well of the director?”

Caught up in Min Je’s unusual atmosphere, Ha Yeon ended up saying words that he could easily latch onto.

“You have no choice but to think well of me?”

If it’s good, it’s just good, why did she have to add such words? Min Je narrowed his eyes. But the fact that the word “good” didn’t make him happy at all made for a very strange feeling.

“Well, there’s the matter with Ji Hoo. And you help a lot of people in need, don’t you?”

Ah, so that’s what it was? Damn. Min Je realized with self-deprecation that she saw nothing in him but his good deeds.

If he hadn’t done the crazy thing of registering Ji Hoo in his family registry without even being married, would he have become a meaningful person to Ha Yeon? As that thought occurred to him, he let out a sigh involuntarily.

“Well, at least you think well of me.”

Ha Yeon agreed a beat late to Min Je’s words, which sounded like he was forcing himself to accept it.

“…Yes, that’s right.”

At first, he had boldly attempted a conversation, but somehow it felt like he was becoming more and more of a wreck as it went on.

“I hope you’ll continue to think well of me.”

It was then that she was observing Min Je, who kept acting strangely. A breeze leaked in through the slightly open window. The scent of alcohol wafted on that breeze.

“Have you been drinking?”

Ha Yeon asked, as if trying to find the reason for Min Je’s unusual behavior today.

“Yeah, a little beer.”

Seeing him admit it so readily, he didn’t seem that drunk… But not knowing what he was like when truly intoxicated, she had no basis to judge his condition.

“You should go rest now.”

“If you take me there.”

Ha Yeon gaped blankly at Min Je’s brazenness in acting as he pleased. Whether it was due to his mood or not, he had been acting like someone who had suddenly become very drunk since she asked if he had been drinking.

“Alright, I will.”

But Ha Yeon nodded obediently. If there was a chance to be close to him like this, she didn’t want to miss it.

“Okay, hold onto me and stand up.”

Ha Yeon bravely held out her hand to him. His large hand, which could envelop hers completely, soon overlapped hers.

That hot sensation made Ha Yeon feel like the back of her neck was burning, but she acted confidently now, as she clearly had the justification of helping him.

“Let’s go.”

Ha Yeon exerted strength to lift Min Je.

Even as he raised his body, pulled by her strength, Min Je blinked for a moment, unable to understand the current situation.

It was impossible for her, with her visibly small frame, to support him. Yet both she, straining and grunting with effort, and himself, entrusting his body to her as if to prove a point, were all strange.

Moreover, the moment her arms and body touched him, his heated body felt as if cold water had been poured over it, snapping him to his senses. Thinking about what he might have done in this situation if he had really been drunk, Min Je felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Crazy bastard. He muttered curses to himself as he left the studio with Ha Yeon.

The studio and his room were not far apart. He didn’t know why they were making such a fuss going to a place so close you could reach it if you fell over. To be acting like this after drinking just two cans of beer. Min Je sighed heavily, berating himself.

It seemed like they hadn’t even taken a few steps, but they were already in front of his room door. Damn, realizing he had to part from her, he cursed inwardly once again.

Ridiculously, the thought that he didn’t want to separate from her strongly dominated his mind, causing Min Je to silently stare at Ha Yeon.

Her long eyelashes fluttered on her small face. Unable to resist that momentary impulse, Min Je leaned his head on her shoulder.

A fragrant scent wafted from her, seemingly numbing his reason in an instant.

“Are you dizzy?”

Fortunately, Ha Yeon provided an excuse. Min Je nodded while muttering scathing curses at himself. Even thinking about it again, it was truly an embarrassing act.

“Thank you for helping.”

Min Je’s voice came out slightly cracked, perhaps due to feelings of guilt.

“Now go rest.”

Ha Yeon said with a smile. Min Je clenched his fist tightly to resist the urge to kiss her.

“Right, goodnight.”

Min Je, who had barely made it into the room, ruffled his hair roughly. He had never felt as foolish as he did today in his entire life.

Come to think of it, he had never been so shaken by someone of the opposite sex before.

The next day, in the late afternoon, Ha Yeon came out to the garden to water the sweet potato field. As the season had fully entered summer, the stifling heat continued day after day. It was admirable how the plants stubbornly maintained life even as the sun sizzled.

“Don’t you need help?”

Worried about Ha Yeon who was afraid of bugs, Ji Hoo followed her out to the garden and asked.

“No, it’s okay. I’m just watering.”

Ha Yeon said as she busily unrolled the long hose. Watching her intently, Ji Hoo frowned as if he didn’t find it very reassuring.

“Tell me if there’s anything I can help with.”

Unable to keep refusing his offer to help, Ha Yeon decided to give him an errand.

“Then, could you go to my room and bring me my arm covers? I probably left them out on the dressing table.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Ji Hoo ran up to the second floor in one breath. Entering Ha Yeon’s room, the arm covers were indeed laid out on the dressing table.

‘Huh? What’s this?’

As Ji Hoo picked up the arm covers, something caught his eye. Something like a photo was sticking out slightly from the gap of the small bookshelf next to the dressing table.

“Oh? It’s Dad?”

Ji Hoo unconsciously muttered as he opened the file containing the photo. That was because the file was full of articles and photos related to Min Je that had been clipped and saved.

Why would big sister have this? A smile spread across Ji Hoo’s face as he pondered.

That evening, Min Je came home early to make up for coming in late yesterday and was spending some quality time with Ji Hoo. Ha Yeon had left them alone to give the father and son some private time.

“Should we draw together after a long time?”

Seeing Min Je taking out drawing supplies, Ji Hoo shook his head.

“No, let’s look at this together.”

As Ji Hoo pulled out a thick file, Min Je tilted his head with a dubious expression.

“Hm? What’s that?”

Instead of explaining, the child turned the pages of the file one by one. Min Je’s expression, which had been smiling as he approached thinking it was Ji Hoo’s collected drawings, suddenly hardened.

“This, where did you get it?”

Min Je’s body trembled more and more as he flipped through the file. It was a file containing everything from his first magazine interview to small and trivial articles, all clipped and saved. There were even numerous articles and photos he had never seen before.

“It’s big sister’s. I brought it because it looked interesting.”

Min Je’s eyes shook unusually at Ji Hoo’s words, spoken with a bright smile.

“Is that really true?”

He couldn’t help but ask again. This level of clipping would have been impossible without considerable dedication and interest.

Facing the confused-looking Min Je, Ji Hoo said with a broad smile:

“I think big sister has liked you for a long time.”