“Grandmother!”

Ga Eul approached her grandmother who was surprised to see her.

“What are you doing? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Her grandmother sat down on the floor. Ga Eul quickly got out of the pool.

“I’m sorry, Grandmother. I just wanted to cool off.”

“Why did you go in with your clothes on? I really thought my heart was going to stop.”

Grandmother clutched her chest.

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. I went in with clothes on because I was worried about people seeing me.”

“What’s going on?”

Ki Dae Un came running breathlessly. He was on his way to check on her after Se Hyun told him Ga Eul’s expression seemed off. Then he heard Grandmother’s scream and ran thinking something had happened.

Dae Un saw Ga Eul looking like unwrung laundry and Grandmother sitting on the floor.

“Did you fall into the pool?”

“It’s nothing. I just went for a swim.”

Ga Eul didn’t even look at Dae Un. Her voice was frosty.

“Grandmother, let’s go inside.”

When Dae Un felt that Ga Eul’s attitude was a bit strange, she was already supporting Grandmother and heading to her room.

What on earth happened! Ki Dae Un grumbled as he returned to his room. When he opened the front door and entered, Se Hyun was sitting on the living room sofa.

Dae Un flopped down next to him.

“Did you see Ga Eul? What happened?”

“I don’t know either. She came out of the pool and went inside without even glancing at me. It’s tough. I can’t figure her out. Last night her eyes were dripping with honey when she looked at me, but this morning it’s like a Siberian cold front blew in.”

Se Hyun chuckled at Dae Un’s lament.

“Ki Dae Un, you’ve really got it bad. Ga Eul was your natural enemy. By the way, where did you go earlier?”

At Se Hyun’s casually thrown question, Dae Un sighed deeply and then smirked.

“The police station, hospital.”

“What? What happened? Did you fight with someone?”

“Not me, Seo Woo Jin.”

Dae Un sighed again.

“That guy didn’t go back to Seoul after meeting Ga Eul yesterday. Seems he’s been drinking alone since then. He drank until he was totally wasted, so the bar owner must have tried to stop him out of concern. But this drunken idiot thought the owner was picking a fight and attacked him.”

“So you went to clean up after him? Why you?”

“There was a fight, so the place must have been a mess. The police who responded to the call took Seo Woo Jin to the station, but in the meantime, he lost his wallet. Fortunately, he still had his phone on him. The police searched the call history on that phone and called Gyeo Ul, who he had talked to most recently.”

“To Gyeo Ul? He told you? Even though his sister and grandmother are here?”

“Gyeo Ul adores his sister and grandmother. He probably asked me because he didn’t want his sister to worry. He begged me to keep it a secret from his sister. Said he’s a minor so he couldn’t help.”

Jung Se Hyun who was listening let out a wry laugh. It was the contrast between the mature Gyeo Ul and the immature Woo Jin.

“Was Seo Woo Jin badly hurt? Enough to take him to the hospital?”

“He wasn’t badly hurt, but it seems he’s not used to alcohol and suddenly drank a lot. He wasn’t in good shape. I thought he might go into shock if we weren’t careful. So I quickly took him to the emergency room. I’m on my way back after handing him over to his parents.”

“His parents came down? Then you must have met Director Sun Jae Ho.”

Dae Un just nodded at Se Hyun’s question. He didn’t seem to want to comment on that.

“But why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to go sea fishing with your uncle?”

“I came back at dawn because I felt uneasy. It seemed like my uncle was plotting something. The way his eyes changed when he saw Ga Eul yesterday, suddenly suggesting we go sea fishing, telling me to stay at his villa saying he’d wake me up – it’s all suspicious, right? So I said I got an urgent call from New York and rushed back.”

“You came back like that and met Ga Eul?”

“That’s what I’m saying. She was walking alone like a crazy person. Seems like something happened overnight?”

Just then, Dae Un’s phone rang.

“It’s Han Ga Eul. How did she know we were talking about her?”

Dae Un answered the phone.

– Boss, could you come out for a moment?

Ga Eul’s cheerful voice, as if nothing had happened, flowed from the phone.

Dae Un, who had been worried anyway, quickly went outside when Ga Eul asked to see him. He couldn’t forget the sight of Ga Eul coming out of the pool fully clothed.

It was the moment Dae Un opened the front door and stepped outside.

“You jerk!”

With that shout, splash, cold water slapped his cheek. Dae Un stood still for a moment, regaining his senses after being hit with water. Water dripped from his body.

After wiping the water from his face, he saw Han Ga Eul standing there panting with a bucket in her hands.

He was dumbfounded. He didn’t know whether to get angry or laugh.

Dae Un picked up Ga Eul in his arms. Then he went into the lodging building.

“Put me down, I said put me down, you jerk!”

Ga Eul shouted and struggled, but Dae Un didn’t stop walking. Se Hyun, who was in the living room, came running out to watch.

Dae Un, carrying Ga Eul while dripping water, couldn’t help but be an interesting sight to his eyes.

“Get inside! Are you here for a show?”

Dae Un shouted at Se Hyun as he passed him and entered the bathroom.

“First a fire show, then a fight show, now a water show.”

Se Hyun followed, snickering. But Dae Un kicked the bathroom door shut with a bang. The door closed right in front of Se Hyun’s nose.

“The most interesting among fight shows is a lovers’ quarrel.”

Se Hyun muttered regretfully as he turned away.

Inside the bathroom, Dae Un put Ga Eul down under the shower. As soon as her feet touched the floor, cold water poured over her head.

“Cool off!”

“You jerk!”

Ga Eul shouted again, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Tell me after you’ve cooled down. Why am I a jerk?”

Ga Eul wiped the water falling on her face with her hands.

“Are you crying?”

Seeing this, Dae Un turned off the shower. Then he wiped Ga Eul’s face with a towel. Even after wiping away the water, drops were still falling from Ga Eul’s eyes.

“Your behavior yesterday and today doesn’t seem normal. In the morning you acted like you had a special relationship with Se Hyun in front of people, then you met Woo Jin during the day, after meeting Woo Jin you ran around in the heat, then you told me you liked me. And this morning you pour water on me. Is this the behavior of a sane person?”

Hearing her actions described by Dae Un, it really did seem abnormal. Only then did Ga Eul realize how her behavior must have looked in the boss’s eyes.

She felt she should explain why she had poured the water. But her words didn’t come out nicely.

“You slept with Ko Ye Rim!”

Ga Eul glared at Dae Un with her reddened eyes.

“What? I slept with who?”

Hearing words he never imagined come out of Ga Eul’s mouth, Dae Un was at a loss for words. Then he thought that getting doused with water wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

Is there a clearer confession than this! Pouring water on him and crying until her eyes turned red because she thought he had slept with another woman – doesn’t that show that Ga Eul’s feelings for him are not light?

As if to support Dae Un’s thoughts, Ga Eul shouted while crying.

“Yesterday when I said I liked you, why did you give me hope? You should have said then that you had a woman you liked. I thought, I thought if I just tried a little harder, you would accept my feelings!”

Dae Un tried to hide his emerging smile by flipping a towel over Ga Eul’s head and starting to dry her hair. Ga Eul’s confession of liking him was not a light one!

He felt like he had gone from hell to heaven overnight.

When Ga Eul said she liked him after meeting Woo Jin, he thought she was clinging to him to steady her shaken feelings because of Woo Jin. Though it left a bitter taste, he still held out hope that Ga Eul had chosen him.

He was fine with a Ga Eul who couldn’t let go of Woo Jin in her heart. He thought that since Ga Eul was pure, she wouldn’t be able to easily let go of someone she had liked.

Still, he believed that once Ga Eul chose him, she would move straight towards him steadfastly. Ga Eul had always moved straight towards wherever she set her sights.

So he decided to confess. He didn’t want to lose Ga Eul.

Even when he found Ga Eul distancing herself from him after returning from India, though it was disheartening, he didn’t give up. He just wanted to kick himself for his stupidity in not confessing when Ga Eul jumped into his arms.

But now Ga Eul was crying and confessing to him.

“I didn’t sleep with Ko Ye Rim.”

He still didn’t understand why he had been doused with water, but he couldn’t just watch Ga Eul suffer.

“Don’t lie. I saw it with my own eyes.”

What nonsense is this now. She saw it with her own eyes? But pleased by Ga Eul’s confession, Dae Un spoke soothingly.

“I’m telling you, I didn’t. I hate Ko Ye Rim!”

Dae Un’s hands drying Ga Eul’s hair became even gentler. Ga Eul felt it too. Still, Ga Eul shouted without loosening the tension in her neck.

“Then who was the woman who came out of this building at dawn today if not Ko Ye Rim? Was it a virgin ghost?”

“Ko Ye Rim came out of here?”

Dae Un stopped drying Ga Eul’s hair and met her eyes.

“I saw it with my own eyes. Do you want to deny that too now?”

“Tell me in detail. But let me tell you first, I wasn’t here last night. I had something to do so I went out last night and was just coming back when I saw you earlier.”

When Dae Un looked into her eyes and spoke seriously, Ga Eul had an ‘oh no’ moment. She suddenly worried if she had been too hasty.

Dae Un brought a new towel and wrapped it around Ga Eul’s body, then had her sit on the edge of the bathtub.

“Now, tell me. What did you see?”

Dae Un was serious. Whatever Ga Eul saw, it wasn’t a coincidence. How could she coincidentally see Ko Ye Rim coming out of this building?

Ga Eul began telling her story from when she received Jung Mi O’s phone call. After finishing her story, Ga Eul studied Dae Un’s expression.

Dae Un was furious. A steely light flashed in his eyes. Seeing that, Ga Eul realized that Dae Un had told the truth.

“Why did Ko Ye Rim come out of the empty house?”

She thought it was quite a foolish question even as she asked it. She had jumped to the conclusion that the boss had slept with Ko Ye Rim just from seeing her come out of here at dawn. It doesn’t make sense to say she doesn’t know why Ko Ye Rim came out of the empty house.

Still, Dae Un answered kindly.

“To make you think that Ko Ye Rim and I had slept together, I guess.”

Ga Eul felt sheepish. She had asked a pointless question and gotten a sarcastic answer. But she was in no position to say anything.

Right now, she was a sinner who had doubted the innocent boss and poured water on him.

But fortunately, the boss didn’t seem to think of treating her like a sinner. He ruffled her hair with his hand and then shouted towards the door.

“Jung Se Hyun! Call Jung Mi O! Right now!”