After hearing Ye Rin’s words, I Hyun tapped the table with his long fingers.

Eventually, his lips slowly parted.

“I’m quite surprised that Han Ye Rin would say such a thing.”

“We’ll mostly be dating after work, and if there’s traffic, we’ll waste a lot of time on the road.”

I Hyun nodded once as if telling her to continue.

“It would be strange to just part ways with I Hyun and go home after spending all that time traveling… I don’t think I’d feel right about that.”

I Hyun tilted his head and took in Ye Rin’s face as she explained in detail her reasons for making this decision.

“I’m curious about why Han Ye Rin is suddenly being so proactive.”

Ye Rin gently pulled up the corners of her mouth, forming a smile on her face.

“Thanks to I Hyun’s consideration, I got to see my mother after a long time. I thought I might not see her again until she passed away.”

She still felt overwhelmed with emotion, as if she had received an unimaginable gift thanks to I Hyun.

“It’s all thanks to I Hyun. So I want to do my best to help in any way I can.”

Ye Rin’s face was filled with determination as she said those words.

I Hyun asked with a smile he couldn’t hide.

“Really?”

“Yes, I’ll really try hard every moment.”

I Hyun had also received an unexpected gift.

He hadn’t intentionally arranged for Chan Sook and Ye Rin to meet because he wanted something.

He just thought it didn’t make sense for a daughter to live without seeing her parents, so he let things flow as they naturally should.

Seeing how happy Ye Rin was made I Hyun feel good as well.

“Alright. I look forward to seeing how enthusiastically Han Ye Rin approaches our dates.”

As the two were discussing the terms of the contract,

A rustling sound was heard from outside.

I Hyun’s eyes flashed sharply for a moment.

When they had come home together today, Ye Rin’s puzzlement over the bathroom light being on still bothered him.

Fortunately, Ye Rin didn’t seem to have heard the sound from outside and was still chattering away with a bright smile.

I Hyun tried to suppress his growing unease as he asked Ye Rin.

“Han Ye Rin, how long is the lease on this house?”

“There’s still some time left. Why do you ask?”

“It’s quite far from the company, so I’m wondering why you chose this house.”

From I Hyun’s perspective, this house had the worst conditions in many ways.

It was quite far from the company, the neighborhood had few streetlights, and the security was poor.

He especially disliked the front door that looked like it would break if pulled hard enough.

And it wasn’t like the interior was spacious and comfortable either.

It was smaller than his own reception room, so he couldn’t just stand by and let Ye Rin stay in a place like this.

“This was the only place that fit my budget.”

After giving that answer, Ye Rin made a face as if thinking, ‘Surely not…’

Then she quickly opened her mouth.

“I Hyun, I’m very satisfied with this house.”

As if reading I Hyun’s mind, Ye Rin quickly continued speaking.

“Just meeting my mother today was all I could have hoped to gain from this contract.”

Ye Rin spoke so rapidly that I Hyun couldn’t even interject.

“So I don’t want to receive anything else from I Hyun.”

“You could breathe while talking, you know.”

“Ah, that’s all I wanted to say.”

Ye Rin belatedly gave an awkward laugh and tucked her fallen hair behind her ear.

I Hyun found her amusing and let out a short chuckle.

“I understand. I won’t offer any unsolicited kindness.”

“Really?”

When I Hyun nodded once, Ye Rin finally smiled brightly.

“I want to approach this relationship without any burden.”

After finishing the discussion of the contract terms, I Hyun stood up with a somewhat regretful expression.

“I’ll see you at the company tomorrow. You must be tired, so get some rest soon.”

I Hyun stopped Ye Rin from coming down to see him off and went out to the rooftop terrace of the attic room.

He quickly glanced around, but no one was in sight.

He might just be being overly sensitive.

As Ye Rin said, she might have forgotten to turn off the bathroom light because she was busy getting ready for work, and the sound from outside earlier could have been the wind knocking something over.

However, he couldn’t ignore the instinctive uneasiness he felt.

I Hyun went down to his parked car and started the engine.

As he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and tapped the dashboard camera a few times.

“If someone was here, it would have been recorded on this.”

I Hyun’s eyes widened noticeably as he discovered something while slowly rewinding and watching the footage recorded on the dashboard camera.

Then he immediately made a call to someone.

Though it was early morning, Jin Hun Jae was filled with cheerful laughter.

The table where Chairman Cha, Lady Yun, I Hyun, and his elder brother Su Hyun sat was laden with neatly arranged dishes.

“I’d like everyone to clear their schedules for this weekend.”

Lady Yun asked curiously in response to Chairman Cha’s words.

“Are we all going somewhere together as a family?”

“Assemblyman Kwak’s daughter is having a gayageum solo recital.”

“Oh, is that so? She must be quite skilled?”

“Well. The recital is just a pretext, I think it will probably be an opportunity to build personal connections.”

Lady Yun looked back and forth between I Hyun and Su Hyun, asking for their opinion.

“How about we all go on a date together for once? Let’s go together if you don’t have any busy schedules, sons.”

Su Hyun and I Hyun readily agreed to Lady Yun’s suggestion.

Lady Yun’s face lit up with excitement like a young girl.

“I’ll be the only one going with two such handsome sons.”

Although Su Hyun wasn’t Lady Yun’s biological son, she had raised both sons without discrimination.

Thanks to her sincerity, Su Hyun was very affectionate towards Lady Yun.

As Lady Yun was about to continue eating, she seemed to remember something and put down her spoon to ask.

“I Hyun, what will Secretary Han be doing that day?”

I Hyun slightly furrowed his brow at the sudden mention of Ye Rin, who wasn’t even present.

“Why are you suddenly asking about Secretary Han?”

“I was just wondering if we should invite her for some cultural activities together.”

Seeing Lady Yun’s innocent expression as if there was no particular meaning behind it, I Hyun let out a short sigh.

“What employee would be happy to be called in on weekends for personal matters?”

“Ah, that’s true, isn’t it? I didn’t think that through.”

“Yes. I’d prefer if you didn’t do anything to burden Secretary Han. She’s already working hard assisting me with my duties.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

Lady Yun agreed and picked up her spoon again.

I Hyun also continued eating with a cooled expression.

Though she didn’t show it, Lady Yun had to try her hardest to hold back the laughter that threatened to escape.

It was extremely rare for I Hyun to consider others’ feelings.

Especially if it was someone he was professionally involved with.

She had heard that he even had the nickname “Hedgehog Cha I Hyun” at work because he didn’t hesitate to give sharp feedback for the sake of getting things done well.

To see such an I Hyun worrying about and protecting Ye Rin…

‘They’re definitely not in an ordinary relationship.’

Until now, secretaries had always attended these breakfast meetings, unnecessarily standing by, but this time I Hyun had suggested for the first time not to do such inefficient things.

‘Secretary Han must be an amazing person. To be able to change I Hyun like that.’

Although she couldn’t know exactly how close the two were, she could at least guess that I Hyun’s heart had grown a lot.

Lady Yun couldn’t hide her happiness at seeing her son, who had always been stiff and cold like a robot, show a human side for the first time.

‘I must protect Secretary Han no matter what.’

Somehow, she had felt that Ye Rin suited her taste from the first time she saw her.

Thinking that this must be how mother and son are connected, she couldn’t help but hum a little tune.

‘I wish he would hurry up and date Secretary Han and get married. Should I step in a bit?’

Feeling like she had found something worthwhile to do after a long time, Lady Yun quickly began to make plans.

As lunchtime approached,

Lady Yun appeared in the office with her hands full of something.

Secretary Choi seemed to have known she was coming and stood up from his seat to greet her warmly.

“Madam, if you had called, I would have gone down to the first floor.”

“It’s fine. I heard you’re so busy you don’t even have time to eat lunch.”

“It is a bit of a busy period with the director focusing on many things lately. Hahaha.”

“Still, you need to eat to work.”

Lady Yun placed the neatly packed lunchboxes prepared by the Jin Hun Jae helper on the table in the middle of the secretary’s office.

Secretary Kim, Secretary Shin, and Secretary Choi excitedly took their lunchboxes and disappeared into the break room.

Ye Rin also stood up from her seat and gave a polite bow to Lady Yun.

There remained one ordinary-looking lunchbox and two slightly larger lunchboxes.

Thinking the ordinary lunchbox was obviously hers, Ye Rin reached out her hand.

“Secretary Han, that one is mine, and this is yours.”

Lady Yun held out one of the larger lunchboxes to Ye Rin.

“Really?”

“Yes. I heard that Secretary Han has been working the hardest lately because of I Hyun. So I asked them to put in lots of healthy things especially for you.”

“Ah, I’m just doing what I should be doing… Thank you, I’ll enjoy it gratefully.”

Lady Yun also smiled brightly at Ye Rin.

Then Lady Yun tilted her head as if looking for something.

“Madam, do you need anything?”