He came back.

Kwon Jeho, her man, stood before her eyes, looking a bit thinner.

But there was something different about his atmosphere compared to before. Dry eyes devoid of emotion were directed towards her. Even if they couldn’t show affection due to their secret relationship, there was an inexplicably cold aura.

After briefly making eye contact, Jeho soon turned his head and gradually moved away while conversing with Kim Sojang, who asked if he had come straight from the airport.

Yuri watched Jeho’s retreating back with a bitter smile. He could have at least sent a text that he was back. Realizing she didn’t even know he had returned to the country made her feel sick. As she returned to her seat, she heard Kim Sojang’s excited voice from behind.

“Anyone free, how about a company dinner today? Our Jeho says he’ll treat us to Two-horned Korean beef.”

Not just ‘Korean beef’, but ‘Two-horned Korean beef’ – all the employees unanimously agreed. Yuri turned her gaze back to Jeho. Even though he must have known she was looking, he kept his eyes fixed on Kim Sojang.

When one of the employees came over with a blueprint, he turned towards them. In fact, Jeho’s attitude was no different from usual. He rarely approached her during work hours anyway.

Returning to her desk, Yuri took out her phone from her bag. Apart from the unidentified call from earlier, there were no messages or calls.

If she wanted to talk to him, she’d have to wait until they were alone later. There was no need to be impatient, but feeling inexplicably anxious, Yuri bit her lower lip firmly.

An hour later, after moving to the dinner venue, Yuri deliberately sat far away from Jeho. He might not, but she didn’t have the confidence to face him pretending nothing was wrong.

“Yuri, eat a lot.”

Seonyoung, sitting next to her, had been continuously placing grilled meat on Yuri’s plate.

“You seem to have lost too much weight lately.”

Seonyoung’s words weren’t just casual. She had noticeably lost weight due to various emotional struggles. With those words, everyone’s attention turned to Yuri.

“Really, Yuri, your cheeks have become all hollow.”

“She barely ate lunch earlier too.”

Yuri awkwardly smiled and brought the meat Seonyoung had placed to her mouth. At that moment, her eyes met Jeho’s, who had turned his head towards her from afar.

For a moment, her heart sank and her body trembled slightly. Jeho’s brow furrowed slightly. Unlike before, he kept his gaze fixed on her, not turning away.

In reality, it was only a few seconds, but to Yuri, it felt like an eternity.

At that moment, Kim Sojang spoke to Jeho, and he soon withdrew his attention from Yuri. But Yuri couldn’t do the same.

Just from exchanging glances, she began to recall the passionate moments they had shared. The moist breath settling, the gentle caresses that sometimes turned rough – she could feel it all. It felt like she was burning hot from head to toe.

She must be going crazy. To react like this just from a single eye contact.

Forcibly swallowing the meat in her mouth, Yuri drained the beer glass in front of her. But the cold beer only made her feel hotter. Feeling her cheeks burning, Yuri stood up.

“I’m going to get some fresh air for a moment.”

Whispering only to Seonyoung, she hurriedly left the barbecue restaurant. She planned to walk a bit to cool down and gather her thoughts.

How long had she walked? Realizing she had come quite far from the dinner venue, she started to retrace her steps. Just then, her phone rang in her bag. It was the unfamiliar number from earlier. Thinking it might be Minwoo, she didn’t answer again.

When the phone quieted down, Yuri put it back in her bag. That’s when she heard a familiar voice from somewhere.

“Is this payback for me not answering your call?”

Turning her head, she saw Jeho walking towards her with a phone in his hand. Coming right up to her, he held out the phone. The screen showed the recent call log with Yuri’s number.

“I called earlier too…”

Only then did Yuri realize that the unfamiliar number that had just called belonged to Jeho.

“I didn’t know.”

“I guess you don’t answer unknown numbers.”

“Yes, please leave a message next time.”

For a conversation after two weeks apart, it was remarkably dry. Yuri stood still, silently looking at Jeho.

Honestly, she didn’t know how to act. Because it was a secret relationship, they couldn’t show any signs in public. Moreover, they weren’t far from the dinner venue. Perhaps someone passing by might recognize her or Jeho.

Even so, she wanted to hug him right away. She wanted to complain that she had missed him, ask why he hadn’t contacted her no matter how busy he was.

But those were all just wishful thinking, and Yuri just stood there biting her lip.

“The dinner’s almost over, and I came out because I couldn’t see Yuri.”

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me.”

Jeho put his hands in his pockets and turned his gaze to the passersby. He too seemed to be acting as if there was nothing between them, but it was too natural. His eyes looking at her showed no affection, as if regarding a mere colleague.

Yuri recalled the affectionate gaze Jeho had when looking at his ex-girlfriend in Minwoo’s phone. Was her name Claire? While not quite jealousy, she felt envious of her.

Jeho slowly opened his mouth.

“Actually, I should be the one apologizing. To Chae Yuri.”

It was a voice that conveyed sincerity, not sarcasm.

What does he mean? Yuri furrowed her brow at the incomprehensible words. Just then, the phone in Jeho’s hand started ringing.

Ding-. Ding-. Ding-.

It was the ringtone set for a specific contact, the same one she had heard at the villa. Jeho immediately answered the phone, turning his back to her.

“Yes. …I can talk now. …Yes.”

Jeho quickly walked away from her, showing his back. Yuri stood in place until Jeho was out of sight. Not once did he look back until he completely disappeared from view. She felt an inexplicable distance.

When she returned to the dinner venue, they were about to move to a second round.

“Alright, who’s going for round two? We can pay with this.”

Seonyoung waved the corporate card Jeho had left behind, smiling brightly.

“Where are we going?”

“We’ve filled our food bellies, now it’s time to fill our drink bellies.”

“Then let’s go to that new bar that just opened nearby. We’ll go to a wine bar for the third round.”

As Yuri was about to say she would leave first, Seonyoung came over, linked arms with her, and said:

“You’re coming too, right Yuri?”

“…Ah, well.”

“Let’s go together. Tomorrow’s the weekend anyway.”

Instead of answering, Yuri fiddled with her phone. Should she ask Jeho where he was? Did he intend to meet her separately today? Since he said he had just come from the airport, maybe he was planning to go home after dinner.

After pondering alone for a while, Yuri decided it would be better to spend the evening separately unless he contacted her first.

“Alright, Seonyoung.”

Yuri smiled softly at Seonyoung.

“Please contact me right away if anything happens. Yes, Mother.”

Jeho hung up and let out a sigh of relief. Since Madam Yoon rarely called unless it was important, he had tensed up when he heard the ringtone, wondering if his father’s condition had worsened again.

Jeho only boarded the flight to Seoul after receiving confirmation from the attending physician that Chairman Kwon’s condition was stable.

Absorbed in the call, he had walked quite far from where he met Yuri. She had probably returned to the dinner venue by now. Jeho stared at his phone, lost in thought.

Since he had left the corporate card with Seonyoung, there was no need for him to return to the dinner venue. Everyone would feel uncomfortable if he showed up…

But parting with Yuri like this felt inadequate after missing her so much over the past two weeks.

Yuri was quick-witted. When he showed no signs, she didn’t either. She could have approached and secretly asked what was going on, but she didn’t.

She just watched without approaching first. Perhaps, as Assemblyman Chae said, if he wanted to continue his relationship with Yuri, he might need to approach and cling to her first.

If he made a decision here and now, if he stopped approaching her, their relationship would naturally end.

Deciding to stay apart at least for today, Jeho drove straight home. He planned to drink some whiskey and go straight to sleep.

After arriving home and suppressing the rising heat under a cold shower for a while, he walked out of the bathroom toweling his wet hair when his phone chimed with a card usage alert.

They must have finished the second round and moved to the third, as a text about card approval at a bar was followed by one about a card payment at a wine bar. The wine bar for the third round was close to his home.

“Hey, are you still going to see Yuri even in this situation?”

“Stay away from Yuri for a while. At least until we figure out exactly who’s behind this. Okay?”

Woo Gyeol’s advice still rang vividly in his ears. Rationally speaking, Woo Gyeol was right. It wasn’t too late even now. Of course, Yuri would be hurt, but it would be nothing compared to the pain that was to come.

But emotion had long since swallowed up the reason that would make the right judgment.

“Ha, I’m crazy.”

By the time he came to his senses, he was already heading to the wine bar. He drove aimlessly, not even knowing if Yuri was there or not.

If she was still there, he could just look at her face from afar. The wine bar was on the 10th floor of a high-rise building. Jeho couldn’t go in right away and lingered outside the building for a while.

Finally, thinking ‘I’ll just look at her face,’ he entered the building. As the elevator stopped on the 10th floor and he was about to get off, he came face to face with Yuri standing in front of the door. Jeho’s expression hardened, not expecting to bump into her like this.

As they just stared at each other for a moment, Jeho quickly stepped out of the elevator as the door was about to close, while Yuri simultaneously stepped in.

“Are you going home?”

“Yes, just me. Everyone else is still inside.”

Yuri answered briefly and pressed the close button. The door slid shut and the elevator light started moving downwards.

He had seen her like this, so he could just go into the wine bar, exchange a few words with the employees, and leave. But his body, beyond the control of reason, started moving on its own. Like iron drawn to a magnet, he ran down the stairs to the lower floor.

Opening the door and stepping outside the building, he saw Yuri walking in the distance. At first, he just intended to watch from afar. But her shoulders were trembling slightly as if she was crying.

No, she really was crying.

The sight of her hugging herself with both arms, trying to hold back tears, overlapped with what he had seen in Geoje. The way she kept brushing her hair back, the way she tilted her head back to look at the sky trying to hold back tears – it was all familiar.

When he saw her wiping her cheeks with her palms, he couldn’t stand still any longer.

Before he knew it, he was running towards her.

“Haah.”

Yuri crossed her arms and hugged herself, trying to calm her trembling body.

She had been the one to talk about a relationship with no future, so she couldn’t complain. He might have gone back to America and met an old lover, changing his heart, or his feelings might have changed for no reason.

Still, recalling Jeho’s visibly hardened expression upon seeing her, tears welled up. Even to herself, it seemed pathetic, but she couldn’t stop the tears.

There was no need to look at her with such cold eyes. It’s not like anyone was clinging to him.

That’s when it happened.

“Damn it.”

From behind, along with a short curse, her body was turned around by a strong hand. And just like that, she was pulled into a broad embrace.

The sweet and cool citrus scent she had longed for suddenly invaded her nostrils.

“Ha, this is crazy.”

A husky voice and rough breathing were heard.

A moment later, hot lips covered hers as if devouring them.