And even if the truth was revealed belatedly, given the scandal that had occurred, Ji Han wouldn’t be able to easily break up with her.

Having finished her thoughts, Seo Rin continued speaking.

“Isn’t it strange, honestly? One day, Chairman Seo Jae Ha suddenly appeared and teamed up with Sister Yeo Jin. The two of them, appearing as if they’ve known each other well, seemed to get along just fine.”

“…….”

“Really, they might have been such a relationship from the beginning. It seemed like we would be the only ones to be overturned if we stayed still, so if we could make even a small flaw on their side, I would be satisfied with that.”

Ji Han listened to Seo Rin’s story, put forth meticulously, and touched his forehead.

“Speaking without a strategy. What are you going to do if they present evidence refuting your claims?”

“……Refute?”

“Yes. Do you not know how villainous the person you’re dealing with is?”

Ji Han’s gaze, filled with contempt, met mine.

Seo Rin tightly gripped the hem of her skirt under the sharp glare of his eyes.

“There’s a reason why I told you not to do it. I’m asking how you’re going to clean up the aftermath.”

As Ji Han’s voice, deeper than before, slowly tightened around Seo Rin, it was then.

“Chairman.”

The sound of faltering footsteps approached, and Manager Kim who had come up knocked on the window where Ji Han was seated.

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation. I have something urgent to report.”

Ji Han moved his gaze from Seo Rin and lowered the window with a cold look.

“What’s the matter?”

“The lady has returned home. I’ve received a call to pick her up from Incheon airport now.”

“My mother has come?”

Surprise flickered across Ji Han’s face, which had seldom shown any expression.

It was due to Jin Hee’s sudden arrival without any prior notice of her return.

As soon as she heard the word ‘mother’ from his mouth, Seo Rin naturally thought of a certain person.

Ji Han’s biological mother and the lady of the Hojin Group, Lady Oh Jin Hee.

Almost nothing about Lady Oh was known publicly.

But instinctively, Seo Rin felt it.

The fact that Ji Han was so flustered by the mere fact that Lady Oh had returned home was not ordinary.

In this suffocating situation, Lady Oh felt like the only escape route.

‘I have to make the lady my ally.’

It was also the only way for her, who was not born into the family like Yeo Jin, to be accepted into the Hojin family.

With a surprised face, Seo Rin spoke to Manager Kim.

“Oh my, Manager Kim. Has the lady arrived?”

Manager Kim hesitated to answer Seo Rin’s question, watching Ji Han’s reaction.

“It’s too late even if we leave now. Let’s head straight to the airport.”

To break the icy atmosphere, Seo Rin wrapped her arms around Ji Han’s arm.

She pressed her body close to his and spoke to Manager Kim, who was standing beyond the car window.

“She’s come a long way. We must go and meet her personally, right, Manager Kim?”

Seo Rin turned her gaze from Manager Kim, who did not budge at her words, to Ji Han.

“We will arrange a greeting for another time.”

“Are you going alone? The lady is here. Can’t we go together?”

‘Go back just like this?’

Seo Rin grabbed Ji Han’s clothes as if she couldn’t.

Perhaps it would be better to meet separately as he said.

But the distance that had grown between Ji Han and her recently had not narrowed at all.

Seo Rin was anxious, unsure whether Ji Han was pushing her away due to the situation, or if a psychological distance had grown between them.

That’s why, even though she knew she had to go back, she couldn’t easily give up.

“Our child also wants to see grandmother. And on the way, let’s finish the conversation we were having and clear any misunderstandings, okay?”

Seo Rin gently stroked the edge of her stomach with her other hand.

Ji Han was particularly weak to their child, so she thought he would give in to her at this point.

“Misunderstanding? Ha, today is not the day. Let’s go back.”

However, without a moment of hesitation, Ji Han pulled his hand away from Seo Rin’s grip.

“Chairman, I will escort you to the airport.”

As the situation was fully resolved, Ji Han raised his hand toward Manager Kim who was about to head to the driver’s seat.

“No. I will drive myself, please take this person home.”

Ji Han gestured to Seo Rin with his eyes.

At his words, Manager Kim immediately turned his steps and approached Seo Rin. The car door flung open without her consent.

“Let’s go. I will take you home.”

Seo Rin clenched her lips as she stared at the wideopen car door.

She turned her head sharply after watching Ji Han, who was looking at his tablet.

Seo Rin gritted her teeth.

Their marriage was imminent, but from some point, their relationship with Ji Han had become shaky.

‘I can’t give up this marriage, no matter what.’

She couldn’t go back without gaining anything after coming this far.

Seo Rin walked towards the black sedan waiting for her, then stopped. And she asked the following Manager Kim.

“Manager Kim. May I ask you a favor?”

“Please, speak.”

Beyond his glasses, Manager Kim’s sharp gaze met Seo Rin’s.

“The shop where you matched wedding rings with the Chairman. Please find the employee who took the order then.”

She woke up to the noisy sounds of Jae Ha preparing to leave for work early in the morning.

She wondered whether she should go out and see him off, or pretend not to know and stay in the room as is.

“I shouldn’t have watched the interview video.”

Or rather, she shouldn’t have said they were living together.

Every time she faced him, Jae Ha, who had casually said in the interview that he had someone he liked, overlapped.

‘Who is the person he likes?’

The reason he rejected marriage with me was because there was someone else. She hadn’t even imagined such a reason.

Even though she had known him for quite a long time, she was surprised by the fact she hadn’t thought of, and she didn’t know how many times she had replayed that scene.

‘Then what about the words he said to me that day? He said he was worried when he couldn’t see me.’

Even after a few days had passed, every time she recalled the memory of that day, she felt suffocated as if she were choked.

Moreover, after watching the interview video, it became uncomfortable to face Jae Ha.

She was tossing and turning in bed in the morning, contemplating all this.

She involuntarily closed her eyes at the sound of a short knock and the opening door.

‘Why did I close my eyes?’

“Are you sleeping? You must be asleep.”

At Jae Ha’s voice coming from the door, her eyelashes trembled slightly.

Even with her eyes closed, she felt his gaze as if he were watching her from afar.

Pretending to be asleep to avoid conversation with Jae Ha, she forgot to breathe due to the tension.

She was anxious that she might be caught in that short span of time.

“I am going to work now. Have a good day.”

With that, Jae Ha, who had been silent for a while, closed the door again.

Only then did she let out the breath she had been holding.

‘Ah, why do I keep avoiding him?’

Today was the day of the disciplinary committee for me and Seo Rin.

She remembered Jae Ha saying he would burst a counterarticle in time for the committee meeting.

Unable to shake off an uncomfortable feeling somewhere, she opened her eyes.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt a sense of selfreproach creeping in, so she shook her head and got out of bed.

“No, this is not the time to think about this. Let’s think about it later.”

She decided to put aside her thoughts about Jae Ha for a while.

And the moment she got up from her seat to leave, a message arrived from Mr. Hyun Ik.

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