The man who roughly brushed up his bangs that were obstructing his vision let out a deep sigh mixed with regret.

The man who had been nervously pressing his lips with his long fingers soon opened his mouth.

“I’m telling you that you don’t need to listen to such words, be it Kim Sun Young or whoever. You don’t have to endure it.”

“……”

“You should have ignored it and run to me. You should have told me to resolve it immediately. Even if you just raised your voice a little, there’s someone who would hear and come running-.”

Ki Yeon closed his mouth, unable to continue, perhaps suppressing the anger that was faintly rising.

His eyebrows were so clearly furrowed that it made him look even sharper. However, knowing well that it was not directed at her, Yoo In felt something strange and stared at him intently.

His stubbornly closed lips, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he suppressed his excitement, seemed to speak of a fear whose reason was unknown.

“Director.”

Yoo In, who had risen from her seat, gently grasped his hand. His temperature, which had been cool to begin with, was even colder.

“It was nothing. I’m not as affected as you think, and I wasn’t just quietly listening either.”

“…I know. But I still don’t like it.”

“What don’t you like?”

While encountering Kim Sun Young was quite unexpected, it was true that there was no impact as it was a nature she had heard about before.

To be more honest, if she hadn’t known anything, she might have ignored it and moved on as Ki Yeon said, but seeing that face immediately caused emotions to surge and ultimately led to a rash action.

Judging from the hospital gown she was wearing, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that she was the one who had interfered with yesterday’s date that they had been waiting for, which made it even more so.

“I don’t like the fact that you were there in the first place. Even though I want you to come deeper into my world. Situations like this, really.”

“Really?”

Ki Yeon, who had been looking down at the clear face that gently asked back with a complicated expression, pulled Yoo In into his arms.

Burying his lips in her silky hair, he said in a voice as calm as it was quiet.

“I can’t bear it.”

Unlike the calmly uttered rhythm, the arm enveloping Yoo In grew stronger. Showing a stubbornness that didn’t want to lose her to anyone or show to anyone.

Yoo In, before he could sink deeper, deliberately affected a light tone.

“For someone who says he can’t touch… you’re already touching quite deeply, aren’t you?”

“I only give you unlimited love. Not that. I want to eliminate all chances of creating any excuse that could hurt you.”

Among the words he pronounced, one word that particularly troubled her ear lingered, but Yoo In tried to remain calm. Despite her best efforts, her fingertips clutching his shirt hem trembled slightly.

However, now was not the appropriate time to feel moved.

“Director. I’m really okay. The words I heard earlier were things I’ve heard and experienced many times, to the point of being ticklish. Even things that seemed like the bottom of human nature.”

“The fact that such words come out of your mouth so casually… it upsets me too.”

“They’re things that have long passed.”

Her voice, rather comforting, was calm. Her hand gently stroked his back, where well-knit muscles were tightly woven.

As she did so, she briefly recalled the conversations she had with Jin Seok. The words that Ki Yeon would not welcome secrets.

She had intended to tell him someday, but would this timing be right? Or the opposite?

While she hesitated, Ki Yeon, who had detached Yoo In, discovered her contemplative face and narrowed his eyes.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, you can tell me.”

The man with eyes full of suspicion was waiting for Yoo In’s answer.

From experience, Ki Yeon seems to have a lot of patience, but it’s not as long as one might think. Especially if it’s related to her.

Yoo In moved her lips that she had been biting and made a sound.

“I heard from my elder sister that Kim Sun Young has been causing a lot of trouble lately. Because of that, your car was… totaled.”

“……”

“So I was very worried. Because you didn’t tell me anything. I thought maybe you didn’t want to tell me about company matters. I wasn’t saying anything either. I thought it might be troublesome for you.”

“And now.”

“Pardon?”

“What’s the reason for this change of heart that made you open up?”

Yoo In was considerably flustered by the man who questioned something entirely different from the point.

While Yoo In was choosing her next words, the perceptive man had already seemed to catch something from Yoo In, as he wore an enigmatic smile on his lips.

“The Nam Yoo In I know would keep suffering alone until the end unless I asked, right?”

Unable to deny this point, she simply closed her mouth. Then Ki Yeon slightly furrowed his brow and continued.

“I forgot that Nam Yoo Jin is more talkative than I thought. The timing when that topic was conveyed was probably the day your elder sister went home.”

“…That’s right.”

“But Nam Yoo Jin doesn’t know about our relationship, so she wouldn’t have given any advice.”

“……”

“In the end, someone who knows about our relationship changed Yoo In’s mind. Among them, who is it that our Yoo In can’t talk about…?”

Yoo In silently rolled her eyes. Then, Ki Yeon, with a confident sneer, wiped his mouth with a rather irritated gesture.

“I didn’t know my secretary was this meddlesome. I’ve learned it very well this time.”

“Well, I asked first. If you were okay.”

“Are you siding with this secretary now?”

“Huh? Rather than siding, it’s closer to… conveying the facts.”

Ki Yeon, who was looking straight at Yoo In, seemed to be pouring out an unsatisfactory aura, as if the unsatisfactory opinion didn’t sit well with him.

The man who evades all predictions has never once followed as thought. This appearance was no exception. He was sulking, reacting to an unexpected switch.

Yoo In added while smoothing out the shirt hem that had been crumpled from leaning on him.

“Anyway, what I want to say is, I was worried about you and curious. That’s what’s important. So, do you not want to tell me?”

She was deliberately staring intently at the area near his collarbone where wrinkles had formed. Then she glanced up at him who wasn’t responding.

When their eyes met, waves of affection that he couldn’t hide rippled in his thoughtful black pupils.

Soon after, a leisurely bass voice filled with warmth was heard.

“It’s not like that.”

At the end of the brief sentence, Ki Yeon sat Yoo In on the sofa and took the seat next to her.

The man, sitting slightly reclined, fiddled with his neat white fingers, let out a shallow sigh, and then opened his mouth.

“Nam Yoo In said she hated it, remember? She hated the work, and the industry. Strangely, that kept bothering me. I thought maybe if you heard unnecessarily complicated and unpleasant news, you might feel even more averse.”

“Well… back then, I didn’t know that you and I would end up like this.”

“Is it any different now? Has Nam Yoo In’s perception changed a bit thanks to me?”

“That’s……”

She couldn’t readily say yes. Because that would be a lie. Although the old hatred had faded, it hadn’t completely disappeared. Hadn’t she felt unfamiliar and strained just entering the first floor of this building?

Why was this so regrettable? Why couldn’t she easily accept everything he was part of? It was disappointing and regrettable.

Her eyelids, with clear ripples finely rising, looked at Ki Yeon. Then the man, smiling enough to show his faint dimples, gently brushed back the stray hair that had come over her ear.

“If I carelessly pass everything on to Nam Yoo In without knowing anything, and one day suddenly you get scared and say you hate it and leave, what am I supposed to do? It’s completely my loss. So I have no choice but to be careful.”

Although he pronounced it roughly, Ki Yeon was a person who showed more through actions than words. The fingertips sweetly wrapping around her earlobe, the deep and intense gaze that met hers, she now knew that it was comfort saying it was okay.

“Still, tell me everything from now on. Being the only one who doesn’t know, it’s more depressing than I thought.”

“I shouldn’t make my lover depressed. Hmm……”

Ki Yeon, who had never made a decision against Yoo In’s will, showed signs of consideration for the first time.

His reaction made her wonder if there was something else besides the reason he had explained to her.

She felt a little hurt, but had no intention of troubling him because of this, so just as she was about to withdraw, Ki Yeon, who had been staring into space, spoke first.

“Little by little. Let’s try it gradually, then.”

Ki Yeon rubbed his cheek once with his large hand as if hiding that it had become a little stiff. However, before Yoo In could ask why he was doing that, he had returned to an indifferent poker face, so she just nodded slowly.

Ki Yeon, who had been quietly watching her response, interlaced his fingers and asked in a low voice.

“You know that I care for you a lot, right?”

“…Yes.”

“And the promise I made to protect you. You remember that too?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“Good. That’s enough then.”

The lips that had obtained the desired affirmation lightly descended on Yoo In’s forehead, drawing a smooth arc.

A moment later, the graceful eye corners that met her gaze, as if drawn with a brush, curved gently and smiled. However, a different kind of sparkle seemed to have seeped in compared to earlier.

As expected.

“Now that Kim Sun Young knows about our relationship, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches Nam Yoo Jin’s ears. Those two are quite close, aren’t they?”

“Ah, right.”

An unexpected variable struck her unawares. Leaving aside the fact that he was talking about their problem as if it were someone else’s, the assertion that followed was so absurd that she couldn’t help but ask back.

“Close, you say? The two of them?”

“Usually when they meet, Nam Yoo Jin unilaterally tramples on her, but isn’t that close enough?”

“…Director. You don’t have friends, do you?”

At this, Ki Yeon looked at Yoo In blankly, as if dumbfounded.

“Why has the target become me? What does their closeness have to do with my social relationships?”

Although she doesn’t have friends either, this man really. How can he not have a single ordinary aspect?

Yoo In let out a helpless laugh.

“No, it’s not that. To tell you the truth, they’re not close at all. Their relationship is completely bad. They’re probably the worst possible match for each other.”

“Is that so? Well, putting that aside. When is our dear lover planning to confess to her elder sister?”

Yoo In, who had leaned back on the soft sofa cushion and tilted her head back, let out a single syllable. “Ah.”

She couldn’t remember anymore when her quiet daily life had become so noisy every other day.

While her mind was busy figuring out when, how, and what to say to explain to Yoo Jin, suddenly another promise Ki Yeon had made to her penetrated her thoughts.

Yoo In quickly sat up and faced Ki Yeon.

“Wait a moment. Director.”

“Yes?”

“You said you’d take care of my elder sister too, remember?”

Ki Yeon’s lips slowly curved upwards as he looked at Yoo In, who was asking with round eyes as if protesting.

“You didn’t forget that either. My precious and smart lover.”

With a glib answer, Ki Yeon grinned and bumped his forehead against Yoo In’s.