“Where did you go?”

It was a short, blunt question.

Si Heon stared down at So Yi sternly, waiting for an answer.

“……”

“Why did you turn off your phone?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

The way he spoke through gritted teeth was just like an angry lion.

He growled as if he was furious to the point of madness, wanting to catch his prey but unable to do so.

“What are you trying to do?”

“I just went out to get some fresh air.”

“To get some fresh air…… With Baek Do Hun and your phone turned off?”

Si Heon’s voice echoed heavily in the alley.

Though it was a voice filled with fury suppressed to the very limit, it remained calm and steady without the slightest tremor.

So Yi quietly looked at Si Heon with a cool, sunken gaze.

“Why?”

“……”

“Is it because of the article about me meeting Yeon Ri Na? Or is it because of that post saying you and I are not in a relationship?”

Tears that had been held back until now finally welled up in her eyes. Words she wanted to say kept hitting the back of her throat.

That’s right. Why did you meet that woman? You said you wouldn’t see her. You said you never forgot about me.

You told me you were meeting your mother, but what were you doing at the hotel? Why were you captured in such an intimate photo standing in front of the elevator?

Nevertheless, So Yi knew she couldn’t utter those words in the end.

Anyway, whatever came out of his mouth would not be the truth.

Afraid of falling for him again by believing his sweet lies, So Yi spoke different words instead.

“No. Your meeting with Ms. Yeon Ri Na must be your own business, what does it have to do with me? And the SNS post is correct in a way. We started as fake lovers with a contract from the beginning. I just went out for some fresh air due to my personal reasons.”

Something must have irritated him, as the anger he had been suppressing finally exploded.

“Then what is it! Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

Thick veins bulged on Si Heon’s neck.

“I told you, it’s for personal reasons.”

“Why did you meet Baek Do Hun?”

“Do I have to explain that too?”

“Jin So Yi!”

Si Heon shouted loudly.

Clearly, just a moment ago it had been worry.

For two days, not being able to contact you, not knowing where to find you, it was suffocating to the point of death, but worry came first.

Your phone was turned off, and last night, So Yi didn’t come home.

All sorts of worries filled his mind, wondering if something had happened to you, if you were heartbroken or saddened because of that article.

In the end, Si Heon waited endlessly in front of So Yi’s house without sleeping a wink.

But the moment he saw So Yi getting out of Do Hun’s car, Si Heon had to barely hold onto his precarious sanity that felt like it would snap.

He couldn’t control himself. His heart had already dropped to the floor with a thud, and he could barely breathe from the heat rising to his head.

The fact that she had turned off her phone and was with Baek Do Hun was choking him to madness.

Could it be that they were together since yesterday? Where, why, what were they doing together?

In that brief moment, his mind was filled with terrible imaginations, on the verge of going insane.

“I told you not to meet Baek Do Hun.”

No. Perhaps he had already gone insane.

“Why should I do that?”

Otherwise, to your question asked with wide-open eyes.

“Our contract isn’t over yet.”

He wouldn’t have spouted such nonsense.

So Yi’s large, round eyes began to turn red.

The space between her tightly bitten lips turned pale white.

Before he could recall what words he had just uttered, her cold gaze, now chilled, pierced sharply into the edge of his heart.

“I understand.”

An icy voice flowed from between her pale lips.

“I won’t meet him. During the contract period.”

Her eyes, now devoid of light, stabbed his heart once more.

“Then take care, sir.”

Before he could grab her, So Yi turned around.

The sound of her heels clicking unhurriedly faded away slowly.

This wasn’t what he came to say.

Emotions he had never experienced before washed over him like waves.

My meeting with Yeon Ri Na is my own business so it doesn’t matter?

You just went out for some fresh air due to personal reasons?

Then why did you have to go with Baek Do Hun!

The frustration rising to his throat, unable to be voiced, was enough to make his head throb.

Belatedly turning around, So Yi had already disappeared.

Anger surged again.

Had there ever been anything that didn’t go his way like this?

Until now, he had been quick to learn and adapt to anything related to work. Even for things he had never experienced before, nothing was difficult for him.

But this emotion alone is unfamiliar and unbearable.

It’s infuriating to the point of madness that she keeps meeting Baek Do Hun no matter how many times he tells her not to.

He laughed bitterly, remembering how he couldn’t sleep properly, excited by that one confession that she liked him, as if he were possessed.

How did I endure that night when my whole body felt like it was about to burst with boiling blood?

Then what the hell was that confession back then!

Si Heon ran his hand through his hair nervously and exhaled a rough breath.

In the darkness that had settled as heavily as his troubled heart, he could only sigh.

Today, I was particularly lucky.

Despite leaving at my usual time, there was an empty seat on the bus. As I got off the bus and was about to cross the street, the green light turned on at once.

As I entered the building, the elevator opened on the first floor as if it had been waiting.

It was a perfect morning, except for my mood.

It’s nothing special.

I used to start my mornings with the joy these little things brought.

But my heart still felt stuffy and suffocating, like a sky full of dark clouds.

Because I started liking someone I shouldn’t have liked.

Because I belatedly realized what kind of person I had already fallen for.

The punishment for momentarily forgetting what kind of relationship we had was too cruel.

Fake lovers bound by contract.

Right.

That was the relationship between the CEO and me.

Even though I had drawn an appropriate line from the beginning, saying I couldn’t cross this much.

I crossed it.

What’s the use of blaming him for not stopping me when he saw me crossing the line?

He drew the line from the start, and I was the one who violated it.

It feels like a heavy stone is placed on my chest. It remains the same no matter how many times I sigh.

“Jin representative. What’s going on?”

As expected, as soon as I entered the company, employees flocked around.

Team Leader Kwak leaned over the partition with his arms crossed and spoke.

“Honey, weren’t you dating our CEO?”

Her neatly combed bob hair swayed at the tips of Team Leader Kwak’s ears.

At that moment, Hye Na, who was sitting next to her, answered instead.

“They are dating. I saw it myself. Not long ago, when Jin So Yi got drunk while drinking with me, the CEO came with a very worried face and took So Yi away.”

“Oh, really?”

As Team Leader Kwak asked again, So Yi nodded and smiled ambiguously.

“But, our CEO and Yeon Ri Na. I heard they had a matchmaking meeting that day?”

In an instant, the air sank coldly. So Yi momentarily held her breath at the chilly feeling that filled her lungs.

“That day, my friend was also at Ashre, and she overheard Yeon Ri Na talking on the phone in the bathroom.”

“Oh my! What did she say?”

Asked an employee standing nearby listening.

“The other person must have asked what she was doing, and she answered that she was at a hotel having tea with Si Heon oppa for a matchmaking meeting. So I asked what she meant when our team member was dating him, and that’s when rumors started circulating that Jin representative was the CEO’s partner.”

The words Team Leader Kwak uttered felt like they were penetrating her ears one by one, scattering like petals.

The scattered words dispersed here and there, leaving only one character.

Line.

“Jin representative, is it really true?”

“……Pardon?”

So Yi looked up at Team Leader Kwak, refocusing her drifting gaze.

“Is it really true that you’re dating our CEO?”

At that moment, Si Heon’s voice was heard from behind.

“Ms. Jin So Yi.”

Si Heon stood at the office entrance, hands in his pockets, looking at So Yi.

“CEO!”

The employees greeted him with surprised eyes.

Si Heon forced a smile over his darkly settled expression and approached So Yi’s side.

He lowered his gaze towards So Yi, who was blinking her eyes blankly, and spoke softly.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

Straight shoulders, a crisp suit without a single wrinkle. Even his neatly groomed hair.

It was still true today that he was a man whose gaze was hard to turn away from even with just a brief glance.

This man had kissed me and finally obtained the woman he wanted as a reward.

He must have gotten everything he wanted.

What more does he need to come looking for me again?

So Yi silently rose from her seat and followed Si Heon to the CEO’s office.

“Why did you come in person when you could have messaged me?”

So Yi stopped at the door of the CEO’s office and said.

“You wouldn’t have come if I had.”

She didn’t answer. Perhaps that was true.

“Is it because of Yeon Ri Na?”

She bit her lip tightly. She tried not to react, but her lips moved on their own.

Si Heon took a step forward.

“I couldn’t sleep at all yesterday thinking. Why you suddenly changed overnight. No matter how much I thought about it, this is the only thing. Is it because I met Yeon Ri Na?”

His voice, softer than yesterday, revealed how much he had tossed and turned last night.

But So Yi only bit her lip harder.