“Why are you suddenly curious about that?”

“That day, your eyes seemed unusual, and you also got upset at Jang Ha Young’s words.”

“That’s because Jang Ha Young was talking nonsense.”

The ice in the glass made a clear tinkling sound.

Swirling the whiskey in his glass, Ji Wook opened his mouth.

“I heard you even got an apology from Director Choi Tae Sik?”

“Did you plant a spy in our company or something?”

“I’m a shareholder too, don’t ignore my small stake.”

Si Heon chuckled softly at Ji Wook’s playful response. Come to think of it, he did get upset at the talk dismissing Jin So Yi.

The question about what his parents did was unpleasant. It wasn’t simply out of curiosity about their occupation. It was even more so when he tried to bring up Yeon Ri Na.

Fortunately, Ji Wook had stopped Ha Young from saying anything more.

Si Heon lifted his glass and downed the whiskey. The smooth, rich aroma of malt whiskey tickled his nose.

“Anyway, so Jin So Yi doesn’t have feelings for you either, right?”

The mood became strange. The conversation was flowing in an odd direction.

“After meeting her in person, Jin So Yi is my type.”

The dreaded question finally spilled from Ji Wook’s lips.

Si Heon hesitated to answer. He could just say there was no sincerity, that they were just fake lovers bound by a contract.

“Are you sure Jin So Yi doesn’t have feelings for you?”

Ji Wook’s follow-up words made his heart shake. Si Heon’s cheeks were slowly stiffening.

Returning to his room, Si Heon roughly loosened his tie. His mind kept getting hazy.

‘After meeting her in person, Jin So Yi is my type.’

Ji Wook’s words kept echoing in his ears. Even though he wasn’t one to miss Si Heon’s subtly distorted expression, Ji Wook had been persistent.

‘Are you sure Jin So Yi doesn’t have feelings for you?’

At his subsequent words, Si Heon gave up on managing his expression. In the end, he excused himself saying he wasn’t feeling well.

The nagging feeling that had bothered him all morning bristled again. It was maddening. So Yi’s words from last Friday came back, poking at something inside him.

‘You really don’t need to worry about that. As I said before, my ideal type is someone like actor Choi Ji Wook.’

Si Heon rubbed his mouth and took a calm deep breath.

Why was his chest aching over this? Yet Jin So Yi’s bright smile was so beautiful.

It was the same earlier at the department store.

She looked pretty in everything.

Every time she changed clothes and pulled back the curtain, she looked beautiful in a different way.

In the mint dress, she was refreshingly pretty, and in the light pink tweed suit, she was elegantly beautiful.

The burgundy mermaid skirt and white blouse exuded sophistication, and in the light beige silk dress, she was graceful.

Not knowing which to choose, he ended up buying them all.

He briefly felt elated thinking how pretty she’d look wearing them on their dates for the remaining time, but Ji Wook’s words made him plummet. His pulse raced erratically and his blood boiled.

Come to think of it, he felt this way recently too.

When he saw her handing something to a strange man in front of the company. When he saw her putting a keychain on his car keys at the restaurant they happened to meet at. When he saw her sitting next to him, smiling brightly.

His heartbeat lost its rhythm and he kept biting his lips.

This unfamiliar sensation made him feel lost. As if dropped alone in a strange place with no information, his whole body was on edge.

Si Heon closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

He calmly gathered the sensations that wouldn’t settle no matter how hard he tried.

He recalled all the feelings he had avoided acknowledging, even though he had suspicions.

After a while, the sensitively alert cells began to gather calmly. As if trying to tell him the answer that had been determined from the start, they became a compass pointing to one place.

Clear eyes and smiling pupils, red plump lips, a straight slender neck.

Snow-white skin and a faintly sweet scent.

Jin So Yi.

It had been like this from the beginning.

The way she blushed and became flustered at the slightest glance.

How she stood beside him, stealing glances, her cheeks turning red.

Her alluring freshness, neither too sensual nor not sensual enough, kept drawing his gaze.

He nearly lost his mind at the soft sound of her breathing as she slept soundly on the way home, and the brief touch of her soft skin when he put the necklace on her.

That sensation tingled at his fingertips again.

The heat from his fingertips spread throughout his body again. His precarious heart finally thumped loudly and vibrated intensely.

Si Heon was dumbfounded by this heat that had now reached his earlobes. An incredulous laugh escaped through his clenched teeth without him realizing.

Like a sudden downpour from a clear cloudless sky, it came crashing down in an instant.

An unfamiliar emotion that couldn’t be avoided or refused poured down like a heavy rain. His whole body was soaked before he could do anything.

As if finally admitting that it was useless to desperately cover with both hands, Si Heon slowly opened his eyes.

“No way……”

Do I like her…? Jin So Yi?

So Yi laid out the dresses she had received from Si Heon on the bed one by one.

Attending as his pretend girlfriend at the family banquet in the luxury hall of Cha Han Hotel was nerve-wracking no matter how she thought about it, but she was happy nonetheless.

She was foolishly excited even though she was just being used as a tool to provoke his ex-girlfriend.

Was there such a foolish one-sided love?

“Still, I shouldn’t show it.”

This contract, which was already nearing two weeks, had to end as a secret one-sided love.

If Si Heon found out about her feelings, he might distance himself, so she had to hide her heart to be able to talk and laugh with him for the remaining time.

So Yi’s brow furrowed as she tapped her lips with her fingertips.

“Taking me there tomorrow probably means his ex-girlfriend will be there too, right?”

I must look my absolute prettiest so the CEO doesn’t lose face at all.

Jang Woo was having dinner with Yu Kyung at an upscale tuna restaurant in Cheongdam.

“Are you having any difficulties?”

Yu Kyung asked in an elegant and upright posture.

“What difficulties? It’s much more manageable than when I was in the headquarters’ secretarial team.”

“I see. I thought Secretary Heo would do well anywhere. That’s why I trust you even more.”

Jang Woo, who had formed a connection with Yu Kyung at the HS Scholarship Foundation, had completed his studies with the support of the HS Scholarship Foundation during his college years.

He applied to join the secretarial team at H Telecom headquarters, saying he would work hard to repay that kindness.

With excellent academic performance and a bright and gentle personality unlike Si Heon, Yu Kyung particularly liked Jang Woo.

So she would occasionally call him out for dinner and subtly ask about Si Heon.

“You’re too kind, Director.”

“Not at all.”

Yu Kyung poured alcohol into Jang Woo’s glass with a soft smile.

“Si Heon, is he still seeing that girl?”

After not mentioning So Yi at all throughout the meal, it finally came out.

She must have mulled over this one question dozens of times in her mind, yet Yu Kyung asked with a noble posture without a trace of impatience.

Jang Woo received the drink with both hands respectfully and answered.

“Yes. These days, I wonder if he’s really the Si Heon I know.”

“Is that so?”

Like a small ripple on a perfectly calm lake, Yu Kyung’s expression, which had remained composed throughout, wavered slightly.

Jang Woo, who didn’t see Yu Kyung’s expression as he turned his head to drink, continued speaking.

“He openly calls her pretty. He even casually uses words like ‘my girlfriend’ and such.”

In fact, it was the first time he had seen such behavior from Si Heon in over ten years of knowing him.

It was quite surprising for Jang Woo too, as Si Heon had never shown any affection, let alone possessiveness or attachment, with any woman he had dated before.

“My goodness. Our Si Heon says such things?”

“The other day, he was so angry saying he wouldn’t feel better unless he got an apology from Director Choi.”

Yu Kyung had already been briefed about the incident with Director Choi.

She heard that Si Heon had stormed out after getting upset at a few casual words Director Choi had said about Jin So Yi.

It was strange, considering he must have heard such lewd jokes from Director Choi occasionally at various events before, yet he had never reacted like this.

But in the end, he actually got an apology from Director Choi’s mouth.

“He said he thought about it all weekend but still couldn’t get over his anger. He was furious that someone dared to speak that way about his girlfriend. So he ended up getting an apology.”

Yu Kyung’s forehead, which never even twitched for fear of wrinkles, flinched slightly. Jang Woo, not noticing Yu Kyung’s reaction, continued speaking.

“And the fact that he’s bringing Jin So Yi to Chairman HS Capital’s birthday tomorrow says it all.”

“Tomorrow…, he’s bringing that girl?”

“Ah, we only notified the hotel, so you must not have been informed yet. We added Jin So Yi to the guest list.”

Yu Kyung clenched her teeth inwardly, trying not to show it. She also calmly exhaled the breath that had instantly risen to the tip of her chin. She kept a faint smile on her lips as she nodded.

“Is that so?”

Tomorrow, he’s bringing that girl to Uncle’s birthday?