“Miss Jin So Yi?”

So Yi quickly raised her head. A woman with her hair neatly tied up stood before her.

“I’m Cha Si Yeon. Cha Si Heon’s elder sister.”

“Oh, hello!”

Somehow, she thought she looked similar to Si Heon. So Yi quickly bowed her head in greeting.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you, but I didn’t expect to see you here.”

The sharp edge in her words felt like it cut into her chest. Si Yeon continued speaking while giving So Yi a sideways glance.

“Miss Jin So Yi. Do you know the saying ‘Possessing jade brings guilt’?”

So Yi blinked her eyes rapidly.

“It means that just having jade can be a crime. It means having something beyond your station can be a crime. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

As expected, the dreaded situation had occurred. It wasn’t like being slapped or doused with water, but it felt like being stabbed with a blade coated in vicious poison.

Something beyond your station. So Yi understood Si Yeon’s words immediately.

The grandson of the founding chairman of Chahan Group, a renowned company in Korea, the son of Chahan Life’s chairman, and the son of H Telecom’s president.

She’s asking me now if I’m qualified to date such a man.

So Yi swallowed dryly.

What should she say? Should she say it’s difficult now because she hasn’t fulfilled the agreed-upon period yet, or should she ask for a little more time?

The fact that these two options were all she could think of in response to the woman’s demand to break up made her throat ache.

“Surely you’re not hesitating because you’re going to say you can’t break up?”

“Right now… I can’t break up.”

“What did you say?”

“I’m sorry. This is the only answer I can give you.”

So Yi calmly collected her breath. She couldn’t insist on seeing Si Heon more, nor could she answer that she would break up right away, but she didn’t want to receive this kind of treatment from Si Yeon any longer.

“Young lady. You seem to not understand, so let me tell you. You’re being used right now.”

At Si Yeon’s words about being used, So Yi pretended to be surprised and questioned back.

“…Pardon?”

“Our Si Heon. He’s not dating you because he really likes you, but he’s using you. He wants to pretend to date you to provoke someone.”

Yes, I know. I even signed a contract to be used voluntarily.

While muttering inwardly, she maintained an expression of surprise.

“Surely, young lady. You’re not dating our Si Heon thinking you could even marry him, are you? As you know, for people like us, even our children’s marriages involve business deals worth hundreds of millions or billions.”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that.”

“Then why can’t you break up now? Do you think if you hold on, you might be able to marry Si Heon?”

“No, it’s not like that, but…”

“I didn’t want to say this, but. Do you know how much impact the fact that he’s meeting you has on our Si Heon’s level?”

So Yi clenched her fingertips as Si Yeon’s venom intensified.

“What do you mean by level…”

“Just the record of meeting someone of your level could be a fatal minus for Si Heon.”

Si Yeon’s sharp voice felt like it was piercing her chest.

Why on earth do I have to listen to such words? Even if she’s the vice president of the head office, thinking that there would absolutely be no chance of encountering her at work, So Yi put strength into her eyes.

“Vice President.”

So Yi straightened her back, putting strength into her chin. The thought that she would never see this person again encouraged her courage. So Yi spoke to Si Yeon in the most polite voice possible.

“I know that people like the president must have made painstaking efforts to achieve and maintain such high positions. It’s not just the wealth inherited from parents, after all. So I also know that you receive such treatment accordingly.”

As Si Yeon tilted her head as if asking what she was trying to say, So Yi continued calmly and steadily.

“However, I don’t think that gives you the right to look down on those below you.”

Looking at Si Yeon with unwavering eyes, So Yi continued, putting strength into her gaze again.

“You mentioned ‘Possessing jade brings guilt’, right? Just as the president is a precious and valuable son in your household, I too am a precious and valuable daughter in mine. Everyone is as precious as jade in their own home. So I believe that a person’s preciousness cannot be divided by any level.”

As soon as So Yi finished speaking, Si Yeon snorted and said.

“Miss Jin So Yi… You don’t have parents, do you?”

“…?”

“That’s where the level is different from the start.”

So Yi doubted her ears for a moment. It was one thing to have investigated her background, but to divide levels based on whether one’s parents are alive or not.

“Young lady. If we don’t set levels when people meet people. Who would live diligently? It’s fair that I meet people of my level according to how hard I’ve lived. Don’t you think?”

So Yi’s clenched fists tightened. Her thick eyelashes trembled finely.

“If you put it that way.”

Just as Si Yeon seemed to have finished speaking and was about to turn away, So Yi answered.

“Wouldn’t I be at the same level as you, President?”

“What? Ha, how dare you, with our Si Heon…”

“I’m the level you chose, President.”

So Yi’s voice, which had become increasingly calm, was chillingly sharp and cold. In contrast, Si Yeon’s once smooth forehead was now greatly distorted.

“And if I were to break up with the president first, you might end up at a lower level than me. Because you’d be a man rejected by a woman without parents.”

“Miss Jin So Yi!”

At Si Yeon’s sudden outburst, the gazes of people enjoying the party in the distance started to gather one by one.

“I don’t mind if the president is seeing me to provoke someone. If we’re not meant to be, we’ll break up eventually. It could be as soon as a month from now.”

Si Yeon could only let out a hollow laugh, seemingly dumbfounded by So Yi’s composure as she spoke calmly without even blinking until the end.

“Don’t think too hard about it. It’s just young people dating. It might be a briefer encounter than you think.”

She thought it would be okay to say this much, since Si Heon’s purpose was likely to win back his ex-girlfriend’s heart.

Was she trying to say that the relationship with her might not be as deep as expected, so don’t worry? Or was she trying to say that she knows everything, so please don’t hurt her anymore?

Yes, this is for my sake. I know everything too, so please don’t attack me anymore.

So Yi’s deeply inhaled breath trembled finely. She put strength in her neck again and spat out the rest of her words.

“When it’s time to break up, we’ll do so naturally. So…”

“Jin So Yi!”

But those words couldn’t be finished. Si Heon, who had appeared at some point with his eyebrows fiercely furrowed, was striding towards the two of them.

“President…”

Whatever had made him so angry, there was a chill in his eyes.

“I’ve said my greetings. I have something to do, so I’ll go first.”

Si Heon grabbed So Yi’s wrist with a thoroughly distorted expression. Leaving behind Si Yeon, who was watching with surprised eyes, So Yi followed him out of the banquet hall.

Even after leaving the banquet hall, Si Heon walked down the corridor without saying a word.

So Yi glanced at Si Heon’s face. His expression was quite dark, as if he was in a bad mood.

“President…”

Only when they had almost reached the end of the corridor did So Yi muster the courage to call him. Si Heon finally slowed down and turned So Yi’s body to face him.

“What’s your position right now, Miss Jin So Yi?”

“Pardon?”

“Miss Jin So Yi. Do you remember that you’re attending here as my girlfriend?”

So Yi nodded slowly with a bewildered expression. Si Heon asked in a low voice, taking a deep breath calmly.

“Then how can such words come out? Saying you’ll break up naturally when the time comes?”

“That’s…”

“Even when you saw the woman who’s my ex-girlfriend. How could you smile so brightly when my ex approached with a bright smile?”

“…”

“How could you not show any sign of discomfort when the woman who’s my ex-girlfriend specifically mentioned that I was the guy she almost married?”

Her head rang. She remembered that she had just smiled brightly in front of that woman earlier, even though she had come to act as his girlfriend.

Afraid that my feelings might be discovered… Afraid that it might be revealed that I have a one-sided love for the president.

The president must have brought me to provoke that woman. So that’s why he was so angry. Because I couldn’t provoke her at all…

So Yi’s mind turned blank. So Yi, who remained silent and just bit her lips, blinked her eyes rapidly.

She remembered Si Heon’s words that this contract was very important and that she had to do well. A feeling of apology rose to the tip of her throat.

“Shouldn’t you at least feel upset, or sad, or even jealous?”

Si Heon’s voice deepened even more. So Yi slowly lowered her head.

Seeing So Yi with her head bowed low, Si Heon took a deep breath.

He had let it slide that Yu Kyung had invited Ri Na. But he felt anger surge when Ri Na boldly declared they had almost married, clearly seeing Jin So Yi standing beside him.

What was even more baffling was So Yi’s bright smile after hearing those words.

How could she smile when someone who almost married me was right in front of her?

If it were me.

If someone appeared in front of Jin So Yi and said they had almost married, I would have been so angry and furious I couldn’t even imagine it, but So Yi just smiled as if nothing was wrong.

That alone made his insides boil unbearably, but he finally couldn’t hold back after overhearing her conversation with Si Yeon on his way back from the waiting room.

‘It might be a briefer encounter than you think.’

‘When it’s time to break up, we’ll do so naturally.’

It was definitely not anger that arose from fear that his plan to provoke his family might go awry.

His heart sank at her words that they could break up. Emotions he couldn’t understand at all tangled up on their own.