“I drove her to the hotel on my way home from work last night.”

Should I honestly express this unpleasant feeling? How much? To what extent?

Since nothing worrisome happened between them, should I not get angry?

But if I hadn’t found the lipstick, Do Hyun would never have told me.

Why didn’t he say anything? It wouldn’t have been difficult to mention that he met Ji Eun on the way and drove her to the hotel.

“So that’s why you were late last night.”

“The hotel was near home, so it didn’t take that long.”

“Why did senior Ji Eun ask you to drive her?”

“She said she had no money on her, and it happened to be near our company.”

“…I see.”

The response trailed off weakly.

Seeing Do Hyun so indifferent about having Ji Eun in his car, even the rising anger faded away.

The reason for not pressing further was because today was the first date with Do Hyun.

I didn’t want to create a fight so soon after finally fixing the misaligned buttons.

“The lipstick… Are you going to return it to senior Ji Eun?”

“If she really needs it, she’ll contact me. Let’s go up.”

As Do Hyun got out of the car, Joo tried to hide her gloomy face as she exited the passenger seat.

The lipstick remained where it was on the passenger seat.

***

The progress on the Yeosu Resort advertisement increased rapidly with the ongoing meetings with JIN.

Team Leader Cho was full of praise for the results brought by JIN.

“The previous copy was good, but the revised copy is excellent. I’ll have to report to the CEO, but I think he’ll be pleased with it.”

After some minor revision suggestions, the employees cleared their seats and left.

As Joo was turning off the laptop connected to the projector, Jin Won approached her.

“Have you been well?”

“Ah, yes. I’ve been doing well, thanks to you.”

“Since I couldn’t come to the last meeting, we haven’t seen each other since Yeosu.”

Joo hesitated and glanced at Jin Won.

“Yes. It’s too late, but did you get back to Seoul safely that day?”

“I didn’t get back well, but I did get back lonely. The person who went to Yeosu with me disappeared.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you and came back separately.”

Due to Do Hyun’s confession, Joo couldn’t properly explain the situation to Jin Won.

Even if there had been time, she probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the truth anyway.

“What I said earlier was just a joke. It’s okay.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Things are a bit different with CEO Nam Do Hyun now, right?”

Jin Won seemed to understand the situation without hearing all the details.

He felt that Joo’s mood, which had always been monotonous whenever Do Hyun’s name came up, had changed to be more flexible.

Something must have happened between them in Yeosu. And that event seemed to have changed their relationship as well.

“…Yes. Thank you for listening to my stories all this time.”

“If you have any more concerns, you can always talk to me. I’ll keep it confidential.”

“Thank you for caring all this time. Mr. Seo, you’re a very kind person.”

Joo wondered how she could repay this gratitude to Jin Won, who always showed goodwill.

“I just want to see Joo smile a lot. So if you need me, I want to be of help.”

Shin Joo was a person who looked really good with a pure white smile.

When she smiled brightly without a speck of dust, Jin Won felt his mood lifting along with her.

Maybe that’s why. He wanted to get involved in Joo’s situation, even though there was nothing to gain from it.

Now he couldn’t, and shouldn’t, but still.

As their conversation was coming to an end, someone opened the conference room door.

“It seems you’re not finished talking yet.”

“No, please go ahead and talk.”

At the appearance of Do Hyun, who always showed up when they were talking about him, Jin Won made way.

Joo glanced at Do Hyun standing in front of the conference room door and went back to organizing her laptop.

For some reason, seeing Do Hyun had become awkward since last night.

“You’re a bit late. The meeting just ended.”

“I didn’t come for the meeting, I came to see you.”

The sound of Do Hyun’s footsteps approached from behind, and his strong arm wrapped around Joo’s slim waist.

Joo quickly straightened her bent waist and turned to face Do Hyun.

“Senior. This is the company.”

“Yes. This is my company.”

Nam Do Hyun was still holding Joo, with a face that seemed to ask what the problem was.

Joo pushed Do Hyun’s chest away with a stiff face.

Do Hyun’s entangled arm fell away, and Joo picked up the notebook on the desk.

“CEO, you should separate work and personal matters.”

“You’re being a bit cold to me. Are you upset?”

Do Hyun sat on the edge of the table and tilted his head to the side to examine Joo’s expression.

Joo raised her lips slightly and took a step back.

“It’s the company. I have a lot of work, so I’ll go to the office first.”

“Stay a little longer.”

“I’m busy. I’ll see you at home.”

Joo turned around and left the conference room before Do Hyun could catch her.

He had come to the conference room especially to see Joo for a moment, but ended up alone.

“This is strange.”

The atmosphere was clearly different from yesterday.

What should he say? She seemed to be in a bad mood.

Even the forced smile she showed looked displeased.

‘Did I do something wrong?’

It doesn’t seem like it.

Do Hyun’s brow furrowed slightly as he pondered deeply.

It’s difficult. Was dating always this difficult? Do Hyun belatedly straightened up and left the conference room.

***

“You’re here?”

As soon as Do Hyun entered the house, as Joo had said, she tried to quickly go into the room without looking at him.

Without even looking at his face.

Without a doubt, this was one hundred percent. Joo was avoiding him right now.

Do Hyun was a little faster in catching Joo than she was in opening the door and entering.

Although it wasn’t something impossible to catch, Joo was startled and looked up at Do Hyun.

“What’s wrong today? Did something happen? Or did I make a mistake?”

See this.

Shin Joo’s eyes are rolling.

Unable to make proper eye contact, Joo said something completely different from her actions.

“I don’t know what you’re suddenly talking about. How could you have made a mistake?”

“Was there a problem with our date yesterday? I enjoyed it. I liked it. Was I the only one who misunderstood?”

“…No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it? Your attitude towards me has suddenly changed.”

Joo groaned as if something was very painful.

“Look even now. You’re not looking me in the eye.”

Joo’s eyes moved back and forth diligently as if they were ping pong balls.

As she kept avoiding eye contact until the end, Do Hyun grabbed Joo’s face with one hand.

As her white cheeks were pressed like rice cakes, Joo’s pouty lips protruded.

“Tell me honestly, what’s the problem? We need to solve it, right?”

Finally raising her eyelids, Joo stared at Do Hyun.

“I’m going to say something very petty now, so promise not to laugh.”

“I promise. I won’t laugh.”

As Do Hyun released his hand that was cupping her face, Joo expressed what had been bothering her.

“I didn’t like that you were with senior Ji Eun late at night. Even though there were circumstances, I didn’t like that you personally drove senior Ji Eun, and I liked even less that you didn’t tell me about it.”

“Were you jealous?”

“Of course. You and senior Ji Eun weren’t just ordinary acquaintances.”

Do Hyun nodded slightly as if he understood to some extent.

“Since we’ve known each other since we were young, I can see why you might be concerned.”

“No. More than that.”

Joo paused for a moment.

This was something she didn’t want to say with her own mouth, but it was the timing where she had to bring it up unavoidably. Clenching her hands inward, Joo spoke with force.

“You two dated, didn’t you?”

“Who dated who?”

“I know everything. That you and senior Ji Eun were in a relationship during university.”

She finally said it all with her own mouth.

That Do Hyun and Ji Eun had been in a relationship.

After spitting it out clearly, it felt like the indigestion that had been pent up was going down smoothly.

Now it was time to hear the answer, but silence filled that place instead. For a long time, they just looked at each other.

‘Did he think I wouldn’t know?’

Why does he look so surprised?

As Joo raised her chin as if telling him to respond, Do Hyun suddenly burst into laughter.

“Ah. Haha.”

“Why… are you laughing? What’s funny? I don’t find this funny at all. I’m being serious right now.”

In front of the dumbfounded Joo, Do Hyun laughed while even placing his hand on his stomach.

Joo looked at Do Hyun with a bewildered face, as if he might roll on the floor at any moment.

After a while, Do Hyun pressed his mouth firmly with one hand as his raised lips started to hurt.

“Why would I date Bae Ji Eun?”

“…What? People used to say that when you were students. That you were dating senior Ji Eun.”

“I didn’t date her. Bae Ji Eun was and is just a younger sister I know.”

What is this? They weren’t in a relationship?

If it was a false rumor, she should be glad, but having misunderstood for 7 years, bewilderment came first.

“W-wait a moment. Is it true? You weren’t in a relationship with senior Ji Eun?”

“I didn’t have anyone I was dating separately in university.”

“Everyone said you were dating, so I thought you were with senior Ji Eun. That’s why I was anxious whenever you were with senior Ji Eun, worried that you might develop other feelings.”

“Did I not give you enough assurance?”

What assurance…

Before she could ask back, Do Hyun overlapped his lips with hers.

Zing, at the thrill resonating on her lips, Joo’s calm eyes began to flutter.

Do Hyun’s nicely raised lips gently enveloped Joo’s lower lip.

Tilting his head back, Do Hyun grabbed Joo’s waist and pulled her into his arms.

Wrapped in a temperature that felt scorching, Joo stammered.

“S-senior. What is this suddenly?”

“I’m giving it to you now. Assurance.”

The rising corners of his lips seemed to be knocking on Joo’s heart.

Do Hyun placed his palm on Joo’s cheek, which was tinged with a lovely color, and said.

“I don’t do this with other women. I’ll only do it with you.”

This is trouble. All day long you’ve been running around in my head, making it impossible to focus on work, but I just liked it.

It felt like I might die locked up in Joo, but even that didn’t feel bad.

“Right now, I just like you to death, Shin Joo.”

If she didn’t know, he had to let her know.

That he was half crazy about her right now.