“Hello.”

As she tilted her head looking at Ha Jun who was bowing slightly in greeting, she soon remembered the guest who was supposed to come today.

“Oh my! Yes, you’re here! Goodness~ You’re so pretty~ Are you our Hyun Ju’s friend?”

“Yes.”

“I see, you must have had a hard time coming such a long way~ Come sit here.”

Hyun Ju’s maternal grandmother, Bok Seon, patted the seat next to her.

Ha Jun hesitated for a moment before gently sitting down next to Bok Seon.

The rough palm with wrinkles and protruding knuckles stroked Ha Jun’s slender arm.

“Oh my~ There’s no meat on your bones~ You need to eat a lot. Okay?”

She spoke in a tone full of concern, like a real grandmother.

“Your hands are so fair, extremely pretty. Beautiful.”

The firm and warm hand held Ha Jun’s hand tightly.

“My ears don’t work well so I couldn’t hear everything Hyun Ju said properly, but I remember this clearly. What was so hard that this small, pretty baby came all the way from Seoul, hm? Who made things so difficult? Was it very hard?”

“No. Just… a little…”

“Oh my~ Was it that hard?”

Bok Seon began to stroke Ha Jun’s shoulder with a sympathetic face. Bok Seon, whose hearing was poor, saw the infinitely sorrowful appearance reflected in her eyes instead of the lie that came from Ha Jun’s mouth.

The precarious figure, looking as if it would collapse at any moment, weighed down by the sadness filling her small body, tugged at old Bok Seon’s heart.

To Bok Seon’s concerned question asking if it was hard, Ha Jun could not bring herself to say yes or no.

“…”

However, as if she understood everything, Bok Seon just kept warmly stroking Ha Jun’s hand and back.

“There’s nothing here to make things hard for you, so relax. Okay? Are you hungry? Should grandma make you some food?”

At Bok Seon’s warm and comforting words, Ha Jun barely managed to nod. Though she could hardly see Bok Seon’s face because of the tears welling up, she kept nodding.

Bok Seon’s rough hand wiped Ha Jun’s wet eyes.

“Don’t cry, it’ll ruin your pretty face. Oh my~ No, no! Cry as much as you want. After crying your heart out, it’ll feel refreshingly clear in here, in your chest, so if tears come, just let them all out. Okay?”

Bok Seon opened her arms and hugged Ha Jun tightly. Ha Jun, who had been silently shedding tears, finally cried like a child in Bok Seon’s small bosom.

“Hic… sniff… waaah!”

“There, there… It’s okay, everything will be alright so don’t worry. Pretty baby, everything’s okay now…”

Every time her body trembled pitifully with sorrow, Bok Seon held Ha Jun like a real grandmother, whispering words of comfort and constantly patting her back.

Se Ra returned to the executive director’s office in a bad mood after being called to the chairman’s office for a trivial reason.

Ha Jun’s desk was still empty.

Se Ra’s eyes narrowed as she saw Yeon A stand up and greet her.

Her eyes were red and swollen. It seems she was crying?

It was clear that something she didn’t know about had happened in this office.

“Choi Manager, come see me.”

Se Ra called Hyun Ju in a somewhat cold tone and went into her office.

Sighing softly, Hyun Ju picked up Ha Jun’s resignation letter from her desk and knocked on the executive director’s office door.

Knock knock− As soon as the knock sounded, Se Ra’s voice saying “Come in” was heard from inside. As soon as Hyun Ju opened the door and entered, Se Ra’s cold questioning began.

“Manager Choi, where did Lee Ha Jun go? Is she absent?”

“…No.”

“Then where on earth did she go? Without even her direct superior knowing?”

After taking a breath at the sharp question, Hyun Ju took out a white envelope from her chest and gently placed it on Se Ra’s desk.

Se Ra’s eyes widened at the unexpected Chinese character written on the envelope.

“What… is this?”

“It’s… Lee Ha Jun’s resignation letter.”

“…Why? What’s the reason?”

“She said she’s going to the countryside.”

“So, there must be a reason, right? A reason significant enough for the person herself to disappear like she’s running away and deliver this through you, Manager Choi.”

“It’s a personal matter… but I don’t know the details either. I’m sorry.”

Se Ra’s eyes carefully scanned Hyun Ju in front of her.

And after a moment, her bright red lips opened.

“By any chance… is that personal matter related to Ha Jun’s stepmother who came to the company that time?”

At Se Ra’s unexpected question, Hyun Ju hesitated for a moment. Yes, perhaps this excuse might be better.

“…Yes, it seems so. I don’t know more than that. I’m sorry.”

Se Ra’s gaze, staring intently at Hyun Ju, seemed to be gauging her truthfulness.

“Alright. Since you say you don’t know either, Manager Choi, I won’t pry further. I’ll accept the resignation letter.”

“Thank you.”

Hyun Ju bowed deeply and left the executive director’s office.

A dejected sigh escaped Se Ra’s lips.

So this was the identity of the strange atmosphere hanging over the secretarial office…

The Ha Jun that Se Ra had observed so far was a diligent person. She wasn’t someone who would suddenly abandon her work and leave as if running away like this.

“Whatever it was, she could have asked me for help. Well, with that simple-mindedness, I guess I shouldn’t expect that?”

Se Ra smiled bitterly as she placed the resignation letter she had been holding onto her desk. And at that moment, as if it had been waiting, her phone rang.

Se Ra’s face lit up instantly as she checked the caller.

“Elder brother Il Jun!”

− What are you doing?

“I just got back from being summoned by father, and um… I told you before about my new secretary, right? The one whose Cinderella’s stepmother barged into the company.”

− …Yeah.

“That secretary suddenly quit. She said she’s going to the countryside? The resignation letter even came to my hand through Manager Choi. She disappeared without even showing her face to me. It seems like Cinderella’s stepmother caused some trouble… I don’t know the details but it’s probably money issues or something like that. But since she was such a diligent person and I was concerned about her, it’s bothering me a bit.”

− I see.

“But why does your voice sound like that? Did something happen?”

− What do you mean. I guess I strained my voice a bit from yelling during the meeting earlier.

Se Ra chuckled at the excuse that was undoubtedly just like him, saying she couldn’t stand it.

“Geez, I really can’t stand it. That’s why everyone can’t even look up in front of you.”

− It’s better than being looked down upon.

“True. I’ll give you that. Just melt softly like cotton candy in front of me. Got it, husband?”

A low laugh was heard through the receiver at Se Ra’s haughty aegyo-like behavior.

− Shall we have dinner together today?

“Just dinner?”

At Se Ra’s suggestive voice, another pleasant laugh was heard through the receiver.

− Of course, other things too.

An undisguisable deep smile spread across Se Ra’s lips as well.

“Okay, see you later. I love you, Kim Il Jun.”

− I love you too, Oh Se Ra.

Even after hanging up, Se Ra was still looking at her phone. Il Jun’s smiling face filled the screen, facing her.

Oh Se Ra, she was the victor who succeeded in her first love.

Il Jun’s face was quite serious after hearing unexpected news while trying to hear the voice of his beloved fiancée.

His brother’s woman quit her job and disappeared…

Il Jun pressed his fingers against his temples as if he had a headache.

Although he had stopped investigating because Yi Hyun was so upset, he knew that the woman Yi Hyun had practically set up house with was Lee Ha Jun, Se Ra’s secretary.

He also knew that Yi Hyun, who suddenly disappeared from his engagement ceremony, had stayed in his room at the Jaein Hotel with that woman for the entire weekend.

They seemed to be doing well. Did they break up? Or… did it have to end?

“I’ll know if I check.”

Il Jun immediately touched his phone screen to make a call.

“It’s me.”

− I know. What is it?

“I heard from mother that there’s talk of marriage between you and Jin Yu Ha?”

− I’m not doing it. I have another woman I’m going to marry.

“Is that by any chance the woman you hid in the officetel?”

− Yeah. That’s right, that woman.

“Ha… Yi Hyun. Do you think mother would allow that?”

− She said no. I’ve already broken up and come back. But I’m still going to do it. I won’t have a loveless marriage like you, elder brother.

Il Jun let out a hollow laugh at Yi Hyun’s firm words.

No love, huh. Stupid kid.

Anyway, such a smart guy was terribly clueless when it came to these things. However, he didn’t bother to correct his brother’s misunderstanding.

− So don’t bring up Jin Yu Ha or strategic marriage in front of me either. If I can’t marry her, I’ll stay single until I die, so know that.

The phone hung up abruptly.

“It seems he doesn’t know yet that Lee Ha Jun quit her job…”

After thinking for a moment, he pressed the intercom again.

“Check if the chairman is in his seat, and if he is, say I’ll come to see him. If not, set up a possible time.”

− Yes.

A moment later, the intercom rang.

“Yes.”

− He says to come right now.

“I’ll go alone, so stay at your post. No need to follow.”

Il Jun opened the office door and went out. He went straight to the chairman’s office and as soon as he sat on the sofa, he got to the point.

“Did mother get rid of Yi Hyun’s woman?”

In Hwa’s eyes flickered at the unexpected topic Il Jun brought up.

“I did meet her once, but I haven’t gotten rid of her yet. But why do you ask?”

“Se Ra just told me. Lee Ha Jun left only her resignation letter and disappeared today.”

In Hwa’s movement of elegantly lifting her teacup to sip tea suddenly stopped. This too was unexpected news.

She put down the teacup with a clatter and rose from her chair, slowly walking with heavy steps to sit in the main seat of the reception sofa where Il Jun was sitting.

“…That was really fast.”

“Did that woman… tell mother she was leaving?”

“Yes. She did. I smiled and pushed her back.”

“You don’t look very refreshed for having done that.”

“The child was nice, so I hesitated a bit too. But what can I do, if that child made up her mind, it’s over.”

“It seems Yi Hyun doesn’t know yet that Lee Ha Jun disappeared.”

“He’ll cause a scene when he finds out.”

“He will. He was threatening me that if it’s not that woman, he’ll stay celibate for life.”

“Yes, he already made that threat to me too. Along with threats to leave the family register and quit the company, probably?”

In Hwa smiled bitterly. Soon those threats would become reality, and it would take tremendous mental effort to calm down the raging boy.

The mother and son, not related by blood, simultaneously thought of one person. And they looked at each other with identical expressions and sighed deeply.