Not long after, I left the director’s office with Jae Ha.

Unlike me, who was flustered by the sudden meal with him, Jae Ha, who was driving, was calm.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Jae Ha gave no information about our destination while heading somewhere.

I was just looking out of the window, guessing, when his car gradually came to a halt.

“We’re eating here?”

I looked up at him with a puzzled face and asked.

Naturally, I thought we would be going to a restaurant,

But where Jae Ha’s car had stopped was a highend apartment complex I had never been to before.

“Yes. Let’s get off.”

“Where is this?”

He showed an unconcerned expression.

Jae Ha, who looked more relaxed than me, unbuckled his seat belt and added to me.

“It’s my home.”

‘Jae Ha’s home?’

There were plenty of restaurants, regular diners, even franchise burger joints, but home?

Not knowing how to react to his words, I just stood still holding the car door.

As I was looking at him, he got out of the car and opened the passenger’s side door.

“When did you move?”

Wasn’t he living in a hotel just a while ago?

I couldn’t believe he had moved in such a short time.

“Move? It’s been about a week.”

“……”

“It seemed like my return to the States would be delayed longer than expected. And I was getting tired of the hotel.”

Saying that, he extended his hand to me as if to invite me to get out.

Eventually, I entered his home.

Jae Ha’s home, which I visited for the first time, felt warm with brighter wooden furniture than I had expected.

“It feels like a livedin house despite being new, doesn’t it…?”

I remembered the sight of even the remote control I saw at the hotel being neatly organized.

How could the atmosphere inside the house be so different?

He seemed to understand the meaning of my words and let out a small laugh.

“It’s more homely than where Yeo Jin lives. You can even smell the food cooking, right?”

“Well… That’s true.”

The image of his newlywed home, no different from his hotel, came to mind, and I was momentarily taken aback.

A quick look around the house revealed that it was excessively spacious for a single person.

“Isn’t it a bit big for living alone?”

As I was looking around the living room, I spoke while sitting on a chair placed in the kitchen.

He glanced at me at my words and wore a strange expression.

“It might not be a place for living alone. You never know with people.”

After throwing out those meaningful words, he lowered his head again.

My gaze followed Jae Ha, who had been busy preparing something.

Looking at the chopping board and dishes prepared before I came in, it seemed like he usually cooked for himself.

‘How fascinating.’

Aside from family or my aunt, Jae Ha was the first person to cook for me.

The sight I had been watching without much thought now seemed very unfamiliar.

Beneath the cuffs of his rolledup white shirt, his muscular forearms were visible.

Every time he chopped vegetables, the veins in his arm hidden by the shirt became prominent.

Seeing his muscles, honed from exercise, naturally brought back vivid memories of that day.

‘What is he thinking?’

As I shook my head from side to side, my gaze gradually moved to the collar of his shirt, where a button had been undone.

Why had he undone the tie that was perfectly fine until we entered the house?

As I was watching, our eyes met the moment he raised his head from the chopping board.

Like he’d been caught doing something bad, he flinched and turned his head.

“Is this your first time seeing someone cook?”

A soft voice came to me.

“No… No. I just find it fascinating.”

I felt embarrassed knowing he had noticed my gaze.

I tried to act as natural as possible and took a sip from the glass of water in front of me, but my mouth was drying up.

‘It’s all because of that incident.’

I felt a peculiar sense of defeat, as if I was the only one conscious of it while the actual person involved acted as if nothing had happened.

He looked at me, gave a small smile, and lowered his gaze.

“What are you making?”

“Bulgogi Doenjang Jjigae.”

“Wow. You know how to do that? I thought you’d naturally eat out.”

I couldn’t help but admire.

I had some suspicions when he brought me to a house instead of a restaurant.

I knew he was good at his job, but I didn’t know he was also skilled at cooking.

“Eating out is nice too.”

As I looked at him with surprised eyes, our gazes gently met with his natural smile.

Then, Jae Ha continued the sentence he had interrupted earlier.

“I figured it’s been a while since Yeo Jin had homecooked food.”

He put the zucchini he was holding into the pot.

I wondered if the empty refrigerator had been bothering him.

I hadn’t even imagined that this sudden dinner would be for such a reason.

‘Crossing the line again…’

He kept crossing the line that existed between us.

What was this feeling…? I was enveloped in an emotion I couldn’t describe with words.

“Hmm. It’s a bit bland. Do you like bland food?”

He put down the spoon he’d used to taste the soup and turned to me.