During the summer and fall, Seo Ha completely forgot about Lee Ji Soo. She had no occasion to run into her and was too busy preparing for the brand launch.

“It’s freezing. It was still a bit warm yesterday.”

Seo Ha tightly wrapped her coat around herself against the suddenly cold weather overnight as she got in the car. It seemed like just yesterday she saw the news about the college entrance exam, but it was already early winter.

“Your clothes are too thin.”

Seung Oh clicked his tongue after touching the hem of Seo Ha’s coat.

“There’s a muffler in the back seat, wear it. It’ll be cold at lunchtime.”

“Thanks.”

As she reclined the seat back slightly to grab the muffler, something caught her eye under the back seat.

“…?”

When she managed to pull it out, it was a macaron. A pink macaron with a bite taken out of it that someone had dropped.

“What’s this macaron doing here? Honey, you don’t like these things.”

Seung Oh glanced at the macaron and replied nonchalantly.

“One of our employees used my car yesterday. They must have dropped it while eating.”

It was an unsatisfactory answer. Moreover, upon closer inspection, there was a clear red lipstick mark near the bite.

“You lent your car to a female employee?”

“She was coming back from a field visit and picked up another female employee on the way.”

Something felt off. It was an uneasy feeling that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but it stuck to a corner of her mind like chewed gum.

What was it? Why was half a dropped macaron bothering her so much?

As Seo Ha fell quiet in thought, Seung Oh spoke up again.

“You know we changed fabric factories, right? They sent samples, so check them when you get to work.”

“Okay. But why did we change? The factory we were dealing with before wasn’t bad.”

“The new factory is bigger, and I like it better in many ways.”

She’d have to feel the samples to know exactly what aspects he liked. Seo Ha put aside thoughts of the macaron for now and organized today’s tasks in her head.

“Good morning, everyone!”

As Seo Ha entered the design room with an energetic greeting, employees responded from here and there.

“Good morning, Team Leader.”

“Good morning, Team Leader!”

Whether she was the CEO’s daughter or not, when Seo Ha first entered this design room, she was just a junior designer handling miscellaneous tasks.

But as designs Seo Ha produced became successive hits, she naturally became the senior designer, and after years of experience, she received the title of team leader.

Nevertheless, there were always people whispering about nepotism or being born with a silver spoon. For example, Secretary Ryu Kyung Jun, who would greet her coldly with disdainful eyes whenever they crossed paths.

She hadn’t directly seen or heard him gossiping. But Seo Ha was certain he would do so if given the chance.

“Good morning, Ara. Have the samples from the new factory arrived?”

“I put them on your desk, Team Leader. I also set up the resumes and portfolios of junior designer applicants in the conference room.”

“Thank you. I’ll check the samples and we’ll have a meeting in 30 minutes.”

Seo Ha went to her glass-partitioned desk and opened the fabric book. After touching, pulling, and cutting the neatly arranged samples on each page to check them in various ways, her conclusion was:

“… There’s not much difference?”

It was slightly better, but not enough to justify the hassle of changing. Anyway, since it was a fact that it was just a tiny bit better, and the existing factory had been inconvenient due to its small size, she decided to approve it.

“Alright, let’s have the meeting now. Everyone gather in the conference room!”

As she clapped her hands after going out to the office, employees flocked to the conference room. Seo Ha carefully examined the resume and portfolio on top and asked for her team members’ opinions.

“Kim Ye Rim. She has a good sense. What do you all think?”

“She definitely has a sense for it.”

“It’s unique, but isn’t it too much for our target audience to handle?”

For each resume, debates unfolded about whether they were good or not, too old or too young, their experience and so on. As they went through them one by one, Seo Ha frowned as soon as she saw the last resume.

“Lee Ji Soo?”

Why is she showing up here?

“Do you know her?”

Yoon Jung asked, seeing Seo Ha’s expression.

Know her? Even after checking the name and photo two or three times, it was Lee Ji Soo. The daughter of the new housekeeper, the Lee Ji Soo who brought bindaetteok.

Come to think of it, didn’t she say she was majoring in design? Of all places, she submitted her resume to our company.

She didn’t feel particularly good about it, but when you think about it, she hadn’t done anything wrong. Seo Ha lightly shook her head.

“No. Give me your opinions.”

“This applicant lacks too much experience, Team Leader.”

Someone immediately rebutted.

“But she has a good foundation. It’s just right for the public.”

“I think so too. If she comes in as a junior and learns, I think she’ll grow quickly.”

The Lee Ji Soo in the photo looked much neater and brighter than Seo Ha remembered.

The dress she couldn’t bring herself to throw away, the bindaetteok Seung Oh ate saying it was delicious, and Lee Ji Soo’s reddened face as she knelt on the floor overlapped with the neat photo.

Seo Ha pushed the resume aside and flipped through the portfolio page by page. As someone had said, it was full of popular, or negatively put, unoriginal designs. Aside from her unpleasant personal experience, she didn’t particularly like the portfolio itself either.

“Okay. Lee Ji Soo is rejected.”

With a flip of the resume, the meeting for hiring new designers ended.

It was fortunate that the portfolio wasn’t good. If Lee Ji Soo had shown outstandingly impressive designs, Seo Ha would have put this application on the pass list without hesitation.

For Kang Yoon Company, which her mom and dad had created by taking one character each from their surnames and nurtured from the ground up.

[This is the timeline separator] [I have a meeting, so I have to go out. I won’t be able to leave work with you today.]

It was a message from Seung Oh near the end of the workday. Thanks to that, she won the battle of catching a taxi on the way home.

The winter sun is so hasty. By the time Seo Ha came out of the company, the sky was already dark, and red brake lights were crawling along the congested road.

Of course, no matter how much she tiptoed and looked around like a meerkat, there was no taxi with its light on in sight.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

The knife-like wind of the concrete jungle mercilessly cut her cheeks. To make matters worse, sleet began to fall from the heavily overcast sky.

“Snow always comes at times like this.”

Seo Ha tightened Seung Oh’s muffler more securely. Judging that there was no point in waiting an hour for a taxi that probably wouldn’t come, it seemed better to walk a bit and take the hellish subway.

I should have worn a padded coat and fur boots today.

She couldn’t help but resent the thin coat and beige long boots that had looked pretty in the morning.

As she walked with regret as her companion, the sleet that had been bearable to shake off turned into cold rain. When she finally arrived at the subway station entrance, running as fast as she could, there was a construction sign posted.

Really, nothing was going right today.

Seo Ha ran to the bus stop right next to it to escape the increasingly heavy rain. The small roof of the bus stop, about one pyeong in size, was already packed with people waiting for buses and others like Seo Ha who had run in to escape the rain.

“Excuse me. Just a moment!”

Even with her shoulders hunched as much as possible, there was no avoiding bumping into strangers. The glossy cashmere coat and soft leather boots were now just burdensome possessions.

Will it keep raining? Should I call mom?

As Seo Ha was looking at the rain, her gaze suddenly fixed on the other side of the road.

“…?”

At first, she thought it was a car of the same color. Then she thought it was even the same model, and only after narrowing her eyes to check the license plate did that thought crumble.

“Lee Seung Oh?”

He said he had a meeting. Is the appointment place around here? Despite her defensive thoughts, her heart was racing uncontrollably. Thump thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump thump. It seemed that bad feelings reacted in the heart before the head.

Seung Oh’s car was parked in front of that crowded subway station with its hazard lights on. He seemed oblivious to the other cars honking impatiently behind him.

Soon, a woman came running and got into the car as if it were the most natural thing. In the passenger seat next to Seung Oh where Seo Ha had sat this morning.

Macaron.

The pink macaron with one bite taken out hit Seo Ha on the back of her head like a huge block of ice.

Seo Ha took out her phone with trembling fingers. The screen still showed Seung Oh’s message that she had checked earlier but hadn’t closed.

[I have a meeting, so I have to go out. I won’t be able to leave work with you today.]

She pressed the call button right away and the dial tone started. Listening to that tone with her ears and watching Seung Oh’s car drive away with her eyes, Seo Ha moistened her pale lips with her tongue.

[Hello?]

“Hi, honey.”

I hope my voice isn’t shaking too much.

“Where are you? It suddenly started raining. Can you come pick me up? I can’t catch a taxi…”

Please say ‘I’ll come get you right away. Wait inside and don’t come out.’

[I can’t come now.]

Seung Oh replied in a tone no different from usual.

[I’m in Gyeonggi-do now. I told you I had a meeting.]

I see. So that’s how it is.

The top of her head felt cold. The unpleasant pounding of her heart became uncontrollably fast.

“… I understand.”

Strangely, her voice didn’t shake.

The call disconnected before she could even press the end button. Without even a perfunctory question like how she would get home, or at least if she had an umbrella.

Seo Ha stepped out into the rain that had grown even heavier than before. She no longer cared about the cashmere coat or leather boots that absolutely shouldn’t get wet. She just wanted to walk and walk until she disappeared somewhere.

How long had she walked, her whole body drenched in the winter rain colder than snow, with no destination in mind?

The pouring rain suddenly stopped. Seo Ha stopped walking and looked back with blurred eyes.

“Why are you wandering around so pitifully? You, the privileged golden spoon.”

Good heavens. It really was a terribly unlucky day. To run into this person at a time like this.

He was wearing a black long coat that came down below his knees. Perhaps because it was dark all around, his skin looked even paler today and his insolent-looking lips even redder.

His hair was neatly combed back, and on the hand holding the large, annoying umbrella was a leather glove.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business, Secretary Ryu.”

Seo Ha raised her head straight and retorted coldly. The implication was clear: mind your own business and go on your way.