As I came down the hill, I saw Secretary Kim, who was already waiting.

He got out of the driver’s seat and opened the back door.

When Jae Yi glanced at Geon Hak, a gentle smile spread across his face.

“Get in, Han Jae Yi.”

“Okay.”

After Jae Yi got in the back seat, Geon Hak also got in beside her.

Jae Yi looked around the car interior with a curious expression. Unlike a regular car interior, there was a door in front so Secretary Kim couldn’t be seen.

It felt like she was here alone with Geon Hak.

As Jae Yi looked around the car interior, she turned her head. Her eyes met Geon Hak’s as he gazed at her with his chin resting on the window.

He stared at Jae Yi intently with his straight eyes.

“Ah, thank you so much earlier, Director.”

“Which moment are you referring to? When we embraced each other? Or when we kissed?”

Seemingly surprised, she opened and closed her lips, causing Geon Hak to burst out laughing. The sight of her small lips moving was adorably cute. Enough to make him want to kiss them again.

“I’m grateful for all of it, Director.”

Geon Hak slowly nodded and met her gaze.

Jae Yi’s hands on her knees tensed, and she opened her lips again.

“Director.”

“Yes, Han Jae Yi.”

“About that man waiting in front of the house earlier, I’m telling you this in case you misunderstand… He’s not my boyfriend or anything…”

“I see.”

“Yes.”

“Then why did your face turn so pale?”

She wanted to tell the Director, if no one else, about her painful past at least once.

“You asked then, didn’t you? Who that woman I met at the department store was.”

Geon Hak nodded.

“There were people who were my family, if only for a moment.”

Geon Hak watched Jae Yi cautiously open her lips.

She began to speak slowly, very slowly, taking deep breaths.

Geon Hak waited for Jae Yi without rushing her.

“They were people I never wanted to meet again. People I didn’t want to run into even by chance… But somehow they had come near me. Even to my house.”

Jae Yi’s eyes trembled slightly.

“One of them is someone you know too, Director.”

“Someone I know?”

“Yes. Park… Tae In. He was my younger brother. A brother I loved so much as family and trusted so much, but…”

Her voice trailed off, and her face showed an expression of no longer being able to speak.

Geon Hak furrowed his brow as the image of Park Tae In with his half-crazed expression at the company overlapped with the man lingering in front of the house.

“Then, did that person hurt you deeply, Han Jae Yi?”

“…”

Jae Yi’s lips trembled and even her hands clasping her knees shook. He placed his large hand over the back of her hand.

“That’s enough. It’s sufficient. You don’t have to say any more.”

His large hand began to soothe Jae Yi, just like before.

* * *

Tae In looked at the phone screen in his hand.

Current time 11:20 PM.

As Han Jae Yi still didn’t appear no matter how long he waited, a deep sigh escaped Tae In’s lips.

“Could it be, she noticed I came here?”

He was planning to say the words he had prepared if he met her again today.

To live together.

He was going to tell her that he now had the ability to support his older sister, so they should live together without being apart.

If she refused his proposal, he was planning to beg and hold onto her.

Because now they were no longer family or anything. He intended to approach her not as a brother, but as a man.

“Hoo.”

Ring ring. Ring.

As Tae In’s phone rang, he checked the caller. Then he put the phone back inside his jacket. Yet the phone continued to ring incessantly.

Ah, really.

Tae In took out the phone from inside his jacket and quickly pressed the call button.

“What.”

Tae In’s irritated voice flowed out.

― Where are you now?

“Hang up.”

― Don’t tell me, you’re in front of Han Jae Yi’s house? You actually went to Han Jae Yi’s house? Hey. No way, right?

As Tae In pressed his lips tightly, Ga Yeon’s voice was heard.

― Are you crazy? Are you starting this again? At the most important time right now, what are you doing! You’re starting drama filming tomorrow, aren’t you? Someone like that is now, hey! Stop messing around and come home right now.

“I’ll go home. After seeing Jae Yi noona’s face. So hang up.”

― Hey, you crazy…

Click, Tae In hung up the phone and rubbed his face.

How did I even find this place.

I can’t just go back like this. Even if I leave, I had to see Han Jae Yi’s face first.

I had to see her face.

As Tae In’s phone clenched tightly in his hand rang, he checked the message.

[You know Han Jae Yi’s address, don’t you? Why are you struggling like that? Just have the housekeeper do it. That would work, right?]

Tae In’s eyes trembled as he looked at the message from Ga Yeon.

No. Not yet.

I’ll do it. I’ll find Han Jae Yi again with my own hands.

* * *

As her complexion gradually returned, Geon Hak asked.

“Are you feeling a bit better now?”

“Yes. When I’m with you, Director, it’s amazingly not scary at all.”

How is it that this woman is so unguarded with my heart?

“Don’t you hate me, Han Jae Yi?”

“No. I don’t hate you.”

“Even though I lied?”

Jae Yi blinked and looked at him.

Her face showed an expression as if wondering when Geon Hak had lied.

Geon Hak tucked her hair that had fallen over her shoulder behind her ear and said,

“You met Kim Ri Na, didn’t you?”

“Ah. Yes, I met her.”

“I heard your expression changed when Kim Ri Na said she wasn’t my girlfriend. What kind of expression did you make for Kim Ri Na to bring that up all day?”

As he asked in a gentle voice, Jae Yi opened her lips.

“I must have shown how much I liked it. I was so happy, like I had the whole world, when she said she wasn’t your girlfriend.”

Ha. This is driving me crazy.

Geon Hak looked at Han Jae Yi in front of him.

Why do I keep wanting to make such a kind woman cry?

It must be because I’m a bad person.

I wonder, would she still like me if she knew I wasn’t the good person she thinks I am?

Now I’m curious.

Would she still like me? Me.

“What do you like about me that makes you like me so endlessly like this, Han Jae Yi? You seem to trust and like me even more than the parents who gave birth to me. What if I turn out to be more of a trash than you thought?”

“It doesn’t matter. Because I like you, Director.”

“Han Jae Yi’s love is blindly devoted to an astounding degree.”

Geon Hak smiled gently at the sight of Jae Yi expressing her feelings with a completely reddened face. Then he pressed his thumb firmly against her bright red lips.

As Jae Yi’s lips parted slightly, a faint smile spread across Geon Hak’s lips. He could feel his body reacting again to having just kissed her earlier.

At this rate, I’ll pounce on her again.

He removed his hand pressing on Jae Yi’s lips and sat up straight, correcting his body that had leaned forward. As the bodies that had momentarily grown close quickly distanced again, Jae Yi’s face was filled with disappointment.

Ah, she thought I was going to kiss her and got her hopes up.

“Don’t tell me. Were you hoping for it?”

At Geon Hak’s sudden question, Jae Yi nodded and said,

“Yes. I was hoping for it a little.”

Ha. This is really frustrating.

Who said Han Jae Yi was innocent? Looking at him with such lecherous thoughts.

Shamelessly seducing him again.

Geon Hak chuckled.

“Unfortunately, it seems we’ve already arrived.”

“What?”

As Jae Yi quickly turned her head, the car was already parked in the garage. She hadn’t even realized they had arrived while talking with Geon Hak.

“It seems Secretary Kim tactfully gave us privacy. Let’s get out first. Secretary Kim needs to go home too.”

Embarrassed, Jae Yi hurriedly got out of the car and came face to face with Secretary Kim who was smoking outside.

As he was about to open his lighter, he put the cigarette in his mouth and lighter back in his pocket and bowed his head.

Geon Hak had also gotten out of the car by now and said,

“Good work, Secretary Kim. You can go now.”

“Yes. Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Director.”

As Secretary Kim slightly bowed his head and left the garage, Jae Yi looked at Geon Hak with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why did your face suddenly turn red? Someone might think we were doing something strange in the car and got caught by Secretary Kim.”

“I-I didn’t know Secretary Kim was really outside.”

“Of course he was, since I hadn’t gone in yet.”

Geon Hak straightened his wrinkled suit and pressed the button on the wall.

“Then let’s go in too.”

It was already her second visit to the Director’s home. Indeed, just like last time, the house was still magnificent.

* * *

As they entered through the middle door, Mrs. Kim’s voice was heard. Perhaps because it had been a few weeks since hearing Mrs. Kim’s voice, it even felt familiar.

“Ye Na, you need to sleep. Why are you like this today? Is it because the Director isn’t home?”

Boom!

As Ye Na was running around the living room frantically, she crashed into Geon Hak’s solid thigh just as he entered.

Jae Yi, standing behind, had a surprised look on her face at the sight of the young girl.

Huh? Who is that child?

Geon Hak bent one knee to meet the eyes of Ye Na who had collided with him. Then he looked at Ye Na’s reddened forehead.

“See, who told you to run around like that? Your forehead is all red.”

The child’s eyes looking up at Geon Hak resembled the Director’s.

A faint brown color swirled, and her round white face had large double eyelids. She looked like a living, moving doll.

The spot where she bumped must have hurt, as her small hands began to rub her forehead vigorously.

Geon Hak furrowed his brow and checked his wristwatch.

“Why aren’t you sleeping and running around? You should be in bed before midnight.”

Ye Na stared at Geon Hak without answering, then met eyes with Jae Yi standing right behind him. Jae Yi smiled awkwardly and waved her hand side to side.

The child just stared intently at Jae Yi’s greeting.

A girl she hadn’t seen before.

A child who resembled the Director so much.

As Geon Hak gently turned around, Jae Yi waving her hand slightly came into view.

Geon Hak’s thick eyebrows raised then returned to their place. Judging by her expression, she seemed to be imagining all sorts of things right now.

“Director. Who… is this child?”

Whoosh. Suddenly Ye Na wrapped her arms around Geon Hak’s neck. Ye Na was showing skinship she had never done before.

Ha, this is perfect for misunderstanding.

Geon Hak lightly held Ye Na, who had her arms around his neck, with one arm and stood up.

Ye Na kept glancing at Jae Yi in front of her. Perhaps because she was a young woman, Ye Na couldn’t take her eyes off Jae Yi.

“Do we look alike?”

“Yes. Very much.”

Jae Yi nodded vigorously. Finding her reaction amusing, a smile spread softly across Geon Hak’s lips.

Mrs. Kim, watching from behind, looked at Geon Hak with a pleased expression. How many times had the Director smiled like that?

Not wanting to interfere, Sung Kyung entered the dining room.

The two who looked so alike even upon seeing them again.

From their eyes to their hair color. And even the aura they gave off, everything was alike.

I would believe it if you said she was the Director’s daughter…

“Would you still like me even if I was a man with a child?”

Ha, Cha Geon Hak, what kind of question is that.

Thinking his own words were childish, he quickly tried to open his lips, but Jae Yi’s voice flowed out faster.

“Yes. I would still like you, Director.”

Seemingly pleased with her answer, Geon Hak burst out laughing.

“Really, Han Jae Yi never backs down.”