The Hidden Woman - Chapter 27

She was naive.

Baha, who had momentarily wondered if there was a misunderstanding upon seeing Hira apologetically apologize, was naive, too naive. Even though she noticed that her relationship with Tae Un was still a secret, when she sensed that Hira would be the winner this time with that deliberately visible slyness, irritation rose to Baha’s head.

“What did you say? Senior! Are you… getting married?”

It wasn’t over until it was over.

Surprised by Hira’s words, Doo Na asked Baha loudly. As Hira looked at her with wide eyes and shrugging shoulders, Baha chewed the combat rations she had stuffed in her mouth while smiling at Hira with equally narrowed eyes.

“That’s right. I’m getting married.”

It was quiet.

With Doo Na’s loud question as she stood up abruptly, the staff’s gazes turned to Baha. Only Doo Na’s surprised breathing and the sizzling sound from the grill echoed around.

“Senior, how could you not say anything?”

“Ah, sit down.”

Baha tried to hide her surprised feelings at Doo Na’s intense reaction. Baha pulled Doo Na’s hand with one hand while smiling broadly at the annoying Cha Hi Ra, putting as much strength as possible into the corners of her mouth.

“Oh my…! Did I make a mistake? Is that it? I’m sorry! Ms. Baha.”

“No way. What do you mean by mistake?”

It’s not a mistake.

Hira trailed off, blinking her eyes wide like Puss in Boots. Baha glared at Hira with clenched teeth, incredulous at her words and expression as if it hadn’t been intentional.

“Ha… That’s right. I’m getting married!”

Thinking it would be better to just say it rather than have it revealed by that foxy girl’s mouth, Baha admitted to the marriage once again with a reddened face under the focused gazes.

Tae Un, while feeling sorry for Baha who was shouting with her eyes tightly shut, tried hard to suppress the twitching of his mouth at the fact that the marriage she was talking about was with him.

“Senior! Did you have a boyfriend? I’m really upset. Wait a minute! How did Cha Hi…”

Doo Na, who had been watching from the side, started firing questions as if she had a trigger on her mouth.

“Shh! S-stop! Someone might think I’ve been cheating on you, Doo Na.”

She felt dizzy.

Baha hurriedly intercepted Doo Na’s fundamental question. The moment the question was tossed to Hira here, it was obvious that Hira would babble with that annoying expression saying, ‘I don’t know anything, I just said it.’

“I messed up, right? Elder sister, I’m sorry. Ah, can I call you elder sister?”

“Of course. Should I invite Hi Ra too?”

“…Absolutely!”

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Since she picked the fight first, there was no reason to avoid it, nor did she want to. Towards Hi Ra, who smiled calling her ‘elder sister’ again while wrapped in rudeness, Baha flipped her insides using informal speech.

“I’ll send the invitation to the company as soon as it’s out. Ah! You’re coming alone, right? Don’t bring a boyfriend because I’m planning to be too pretty that day. I don’t know who your boyfriend will be then, but we can’t have him falling for me, can we?”

“…”

Baha struck first, seeing Hi Ra trying to trip up Tae Un. Looking at Lee Han, who said nothing even after seeing Cha Hi Ra’s behavior, Baha spoke.

Lee Han looked at her with wavering eyes at Baha’s words, but all he got in return was Baha’s cold gaze. Meeting her eyes, Lee Han’s face hardened once again at the mention of marriage.

Watching this from the side, Hi Ra changed from the adorably cute Puss in Boots to a trembling Angry Bird.

“Han team leader! Did you have a boyfriend? And I was going to set you up with my brother! I’m a step too late!”

With the director’s joke from afar, the surroundings were filled again with laughter and congratulatory words, focusing attention back on Baha. Although it was a fake marriage, Baha, not knowing how to handle being the center of attention and receiving congratulations for the first time, fled to the bathroom.

“Ha… That Cha Hi Ra, really. She must be crazy. She must be drunk. Really!”

The fight seemed to end in a draw with uppercuts exchanged one for one, but as the main character of the dinner suddenly changed to herself, Baha muttered curses about Cha Hi Ra while looking in the mirror inside the bathroom, trying to suppress her fluttering heart that was pounding.

Her flushed face gradually turned pale white, and as her pounding heart returned to its original rhythm, Baha let out a deep sigh and left the bathroom.

“…”

As soon as she came out, Lee Han was there guarding the front. She didn’t want to see him yet. As she tried to pass by pretending not to see him, Lee Han grabbed her wrist again.

“Baha…”

“Ha… Everyone’s grabbing me left and right today. Right?”

She was tired.

As she pulled her hand out of Lee Han’s grasp and turned her back, Baha hesitated at the small touch she felt from behind.

“Are… you really getting married?”

Lee Han spoke while gently grasping the back of Baha’s knit. Hearing his trembling voice, somehow wet-sounding, Baha’s heart ached, feeling like she knew what Lee Han looked like behind her without even looking.

“You heard earlier.”

Baha, also choked up at his wet voice, composed her voice that was about to become wet and answered more coldly.

“I regret it.”

Only his voice was heard in the empty hallway. Baha tried hard to hold back the tears that were about to flow again at his voice that sounded desperate.

She didn’t want to cry because of him anymore.

“I realized that day. That there really could be someone else by your side. That I was a fool…”

Lee Han mumbled while holding onto the back of her clothes.

If I could hold you back like this, I would say it hundreds of times.

I could have grabbed the back of your clothes hundreds of times.

“It was all my fault! I’m sor-”

“Elder brother, you realized that there could be someone by my side? You left that space empty.”

“…”

“Elder brother, you stood still this time too. So don’t apologize. Don’t cry either. I want to hate you.”

“Ah, earlier I… I didn’t want to make things difficult for you. I, I won’t do that next time. Okay?”

“Elder brother, where is there a next time for us?”

She couldn’t trust him anymore. Him, who was trying to hold on now, who only said he loved her. Him, who took no action. She couldn’t trust him.

“There is no next time.”

No, she didn’t want to trust him anymore.

“Let’s stop, elder brother. I don’t want to get hurt anymore. The wounds you give me are too painful. It’s too hard.”

It hurt.

The wounds he gave felt like they were piercing her heart. That’s why she deliberately didn’t look for him. She deliberately didn’t look at him, who would appear with just a few taps on her phone.

The wounds she received from him hadn’t even healed yet, but facing him again felt like it was tearing open and digging into those wounds, doubling the pain.

“Wait. I’ll fix everything. I just made the wrong choice. That’s all it is. I can’t end it like this. You’re the only one I love.”

“…I’m going.”

She said goodbye once again. She said goodbye once again to him, who had been Baha’s world for a long time.

She didn’t know when the day would come when she could say a complete goodbye, but that’s how Baha was taking one step away from him today, saying goodbye to him.

“Han team leader! Where have you been! Come quickly. Quickly.”

As soon as Baha returned after parting with Lee Han, she saw a hand waving enthusiastically towards her. Of all people, she had to catch the eye of that drunk director.

“I went to the bathroom! The bathroom! Director, aren’t you looking for me too much?”

What made her feel somewhat relieved while looking at that drunk was perhaps because of Tae Un next to him. When their eyes met, she smiled slightly and naturally took a seat next to him, using the director as an excuse.

“Han team leader matches well with me. What can I do when drinking with Han team leader is the most comfortable?”

“Ha… Alright! Shall we start then?”

Baha drank one glass, two glasses while exchanging drinks with the director. As she tried to keep up with the drunk director, her eyes gradually became unfocused, and her body started to lose strength.

Alcohol was starting to take control of her body.

“But, Han team leader, are you really getting married?”

“Mar…riage? I am! I told you I was, didn’t I?”

Baha, who was gradually becoming one with the table, answered with a broad smile even with her increasingly slurring tongue. Tae Un, watching her like this, was only thinking about how to get her out as soon as possible. To avoid being scolded by Baha tomorrow, he needed to take her out as inconspicuously as possible.

“Who is it? You’ve been rejecting introductions from here and there all this time. Who is it? The man who snatched Han team leader first?”

The director, curious about the partner of Baha who had suddenly decided to get married after ignoring all the men who approached her like a block of wood, kept pouring drinks into her empty glass while quietly asking her.

Not knowing that the reason she had acted like a block of wood was drinking in the back, and that the marriage partner of the woman who had acted like a block of wood was sitting right next to her.

“Kya… That man?”