The rabbit that fell for her trick remained silent. If there were any passersby, she would try to change the atmosphere somehow, but nothing was going according to her wishes.

Hae Jin, stay calm. Don’t get involved. Reassuring herself, Hae Jin put on an awkward smile and opened her mouth.

“What was that?”

Since there was nowhere to run, her strategy was to play dumb. She saw the corner of Tae Hong’s mouth rise diagonally into a crooked smile, but she gave him a bright, innocent smile as if nothing was wrong.

If she showed even the slightest hint that she knew what it was, she felt he would really pounce on her.

“Do you know, Team Leader?”

At the question turned back on him, Tae Hong’s hand rubbed the wrinkles on his forehead. Was he backing off since she asked directly? She inwardly rejoiced.

With no answer, she naturally thought the conversation would end there. Feeling quite triumphant, she was about to bow and enter her room, but she was no match for Tae Hong’s grip strength.

Reluctantly, she turned her head back to Tae Hong, which she had barely managed to avoid earlier.

“Let’s save that for later and have a drink instead.”

This time, she read his thoughts that he absolutely wouldn’t let it go easily. Right now, she didn’t have confidence in having proper thoughts about anything she faced with him. Though she had barely avoided it with her feigned ignorance strategy, how long could she keep avoiding it?

After all, he was her superior whom she had to be with throughout the business trip, and even after returning to Seoul.

Hae Jin had no choice but to nod. Only then did the corner of his mouth rise strangely.

“Will 30 minutes be enough?”

Tae Hong asked, looking at the watch on his wrist.

“Change into comfortable clothes, and let’s meet again.”

Finally understanding, Hae Jin said okay and entered her room without looking back. Returning to her room, Hae Jin stood still with her back against the door. She still couldn’t hear the sound of the door closing in front of her room.

In other words, Tae Hong was still standing in front of the door. She had wanted to get out of his sight quickly, but thinking that only a door separated them made her heart pound all the same.

Should I touch up my makeup, what clothes should I wear for a ‘casual but not too casual’ look, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.

“If I were drunk on a day like this, it would be a lifelong black history. Jung Hae Jin.”

Hae Jin’s words, filled with strong determination, were quite combative. Exactly 30 minutes later, Hae Jin opened her room door and came out. Tae Hong was already waiting in front of the room.

“Did you wait long?”

“I just came out.”

As he finished speaking, Tae Hong took out his phone from his pocket. Whether he was checking a message, his gaze was on his phone.

After only seeing him in perfectly fitted suits, the casual knit and slacks outfit was unfamiliar to Hae Jin. Indeed, he had a body worth dressing up. A contented smile hung on Hae Jin’s lips as she looked him up and down.

“If you’re done appreciating, shall we go?”

Since he had been looking at his phone, she naturally thought he wouldn’t have noticed her gaze. Her face reddened as she followed behind him.

The place they arrived at was the hotel lounge bar. The low ambient lighting made the atmosphere calm. Tae Hong naturally took a seat, and Hae Jin sat down next to him.

“Business trips are tough, aren’t they?”

His first words gave her unexpected comfort. It was tough. Waking up at 6 AM and trying not to give the impression of being a substitute in her work.

“It’s alright. It’s manageable.”

But the words that it was alright were sincere. There was Tae Hong who waited for Hae Jin to get accustomed, even if for a short time. Just for that, Hae Jin really found it manageable.

“That’s good.”

The sound of ice cubes clinking in the glasses filled the silence.

“Jung Hae Jin.”

A voice as low as the dim lighting called her name. When her name was called, awkwardness washed over her again. The name he occasionally called as if by mistake strangely stuck in her ear.

“Let’s talk comfortably. Before being a parachute hire, you’re a chaebol’s daughter.”

Parachute hire and chaebol’s daughter, labels that would follow her like a tail. Hae Jin looked down at her glass with a sense of resignation.

“This question might not be appropriate, but.”

Don’t ask then, she swallowed the words that rose to the tip of her tongue. Sometimes the words Tae Hong casually dropped kept bothering her.

“I feel like I won’t have another chance to ask if not now.”

Isn’t saying there’s no chance a hint not to ask, this thought also didn’t make it past her lips.

“May I ask?”

When he asked so carefully, unlike his usual self, it made her even more curious. Ridiculously, she felt thankful that they were sitting facing the same direction now. If they had been face to face, he would have seen her rapidly changing expressions.

Not feeling his gaze made it much easier to answer.

“Yes, go ahead.”

She thought it would surely be an awkward and difficult question to answer. That’s why he was asking so carefully, lowering himself.

“What happened to your parents?”

Ah, I shouldn’t have told him to ask. He was someone who knew that Sion had gone bankrupt. So he could be curious. But why did this question feel burdensome to me?

“I don’t really know either.”

“You don’t know.”

As if the answer was completely different from what he expected, he held back his words. Hae Jin emptied her remaining glass.

“As you know, Sion went bankrupt and failed.”

Thinking it was a weakness, her tone kept getting sharper. She put up thorns all over her body like a defense mechanism.

“They left me just this one officetel I’m living in now, and cut off contact.”

His movements stopped. Only the steady sound of ice rolling in the glass could be heard. Was he thinking that the question itself was a mistake? Hae Jin lightly averted her gaze from his actions.

“So I don’t know at all where they are now, what they’re doing, or if they’re even alive.”

“Aren’t you an only child?”

“That’s right.”

Right, they only have one child, not several. How can they not contact me? Hae Jin had thought about it too. But what could she do? They must have their unavoidable circumstances.

“Shall I find them for you?”

Hae Jin’s hand, which was putting down her glass, stopped awkwardly in an ambiguous position. Like someone who had come and gone in her mind, Tae Hong picked out the word that had settled at the end of Hae Jin’s thoughts.

“If you want, I can find them for you.”

Finding her parents. Should she really look for them? But does she have to find them?

What was her last memory? Didn’t they just send the officetel address in a text message? Did they really have to do that?

At the end of her train of thought, the answer was already set.

“It’s alright.”

They must have had their reasons, she didn’t want to receive help even from Tae Hong for her family matters. Especially, she didn’t want to show her weakness to him.

“Thank you just for offering.”

She was polite, but drew a clear line. She also felt that she didn’t want him to care anymore. Although they were entangled as a chaebol’s daughter, she hoped it wouldn’t be more or less than that.

“If you ever need it, just tell me.”

The form full of lingering feelings was condensed as it was. As if signaling that he wouldn’t ask anymore either, his long, thick fingers caressed the glass. Her gaze, tilted slightly downward, fell on his fingers.

Such impure fingers, those fingers had touched her lips, hadn’t they? The momentary thought circuit took Hae Jin back to the hotel room at dawn.

When those fingers caressed her nape, goosebumps had risen all over, right? To be honest, she didn’t remember clearly because she was focused on his lips, but it seemed that way.

While droplets of water that couldn’t overcome the coldness were flowing on the surface of the glass, would his hand be as hot as it was then?

Get a grip, Jung Hae Jin. When were you feeling indignant thinking about your parents, and what are you doing now?

As a self-deprecating laugh escaped as a sound, Tae Hong’s head reflexively moved.

Following his thick Adam’s apple up to his sharp jawline, his straight nose, and finally, her gaze fixed on his eyes looking at her.

She liked his eyes that were looking only at her. At this moment, she wanted to put down uncomfortable feelings and weaknesses she didn’t want to show.

The man who is arrogant to everyone is wearing an apologetic expression. He’s only looking at insignificant me. An unknown courage welled up.

“Team Leader. I’m curious about something too, can I ask?”

She wanted to provoke him again. She liked his face changing interestingly. She wanted to capture that expression focusing only on her. Just like when they kissed.

“Go ahead.”

The lips that had devoured her moved with restraint. She instinctively felt it. That the generous lion was showing kindness to the lowest prey in front of him.

Hae Jin exhaled deeply. As he said, it felt like if not now, there wouldn’t be a chance to ask. As time passes, situations become ambiguous and emotions fade. So now was the right time.

“How was it?”

Tae Hong’s eyes instantly deepened. His clear eyes gazed at her even more deeply. She felt him asking for the point of the question again. Though she knew, she wanted to ask again.

“How was it with me?”

The deeper the question, the more skillful his answer would be.

She waited for his answer. His lips, having emptied the remaining glass, were moist. His upper body leaned towards Hae Jin. Their shoulders were almost touching. The string pulling each other was taut like their almost touching shoulders.

Just as his moist lips were about to move.

“Oh my, aren’t you Jung Hae Jin?”

Clang, they hurriedly separated their touching shoulders. The heated atmosphere disappeared and the taut string between them snapped.

The abnormally shrill voice came from behind the two. Tae Hong also seemed to feel something had burst, as he turned around with a deeply furrowed brow.

The woman who had called Hae Jin approached, her gaze fixed not on Hae Jin but on Tae Hong sitting next to her.

“It is Hae Jin, right? Sion Jung Hae Jin.”

She had been proud of the Sion name attached to her name at any gathering, but when in front of him, she kept feeling small.

“Oh, long time no see.”

Hae Jin lightly got off her chair and stood in front of the woman. The woman’s gaze was still on Tae Hong behind Hae Jin’s shoulder. Despite the blatant stare, Tae Hong’s expression remained indifferent.

“It’s so nice to see you here.”

Nice to see you, Jo Se Young. The woman who appeared before the two was the epitome of pretense. She was once the leader of a social circle they hung out in. Now, Hae Jin wouldn’t want to go even if pushed.

While claiming to pursue natural meetings, the stage was always clubs and drinking parties. Even her father, saying she was his precious youngest daughter, indulged her in everything.

In the end, she had thrown away all her manners and was full of conceit, arrogance, and coquetry. She was number one in classifying people according to their rank.

“Who is that person?”

Isn’t that girl now looking at Tae Hong like prey?