“I like you, elder sister.”

Eun Seo closed her eyes. She truly did not want to hear these words.

“I’m serious. I…”

Eun Seo cut off Seung Joo’s words midway.

“Stop right there. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“How can you pretend not to hear words you’ve already heard?”

“How can I live with you after hearing such words?”

As Eun Seo raised her voice, Seung Joo looked pained.

“That day, on the train back from Yangju, you said it yourself. That you wanted to date like other people. Why not me?”

Eun Seo was momentarily speechless. Not because there was no reason, but because there were too many. It was difficult to give even one.

“You’re eighteen years old.”

“No, I’m thirty-three years old.”

Seung Joo interrupted and asked:

“Let’s say you lost your memories of the past year. Does that suddenly make you twenty-six years old?”

Eun Seo hesitated. That wouldn’t make her twenty-six, but rather a twenty-seven-year-old who lost a year’s worth of memories.

“So I’m just thirty-three years old. I’ve simply lost my memories from after I was eighteen.”

It sounded like wordplay, but it definitely felt different. If he was simply a thirty-three-year-old who lost his memories, it would be hard to see him as eighteen…

“Do I really seem that immature to you, like an eighteen-year-old?”

Seung Joo asked again.

Once again, Eun Seo couldn’t answer. Seung Joo always seemed too mature, it hurt to look at him. But what if it wasn’t simply that he matured early, but that his mind was still thirty-three, just with lost memories?

“What if I had said I was twenty at first, not eighteen? What if I said I was twenty-five? Would you still not have believed me?”

She would have. Seung Joo was mature enough to be believable at any age.

“So my current age is just a matter of perspective, isn’t it? You don’t have to be so fixated on age.”

She was gradually being drawn in by his persuasive argument. Eun Seo gritted her teeth.

“Even if we assume you’re thirty-three, you and I still aren’t a suitable match.”

“Who decides that?”

“You’re the CEO of our company, and I’m someone who receives a salary from you. You’re the landlord, and I’m renting a room in your house. Do I need to explain further?”

“That’s not a reason not to like someone.”

“What will you think of me when your memories return?”

“I’ll think I want to love you!”

Seung Joo exclaimed.

“I’m sure I liked you even before I lost my memories. Don’t you see that from how I was hit by a car instead of you?”

“I’ve told you many times, that’s not true!”

Seung Joo doesn’t know. How much she wanted to die as she was leaving, chased away after hearing cold words when she went to plead with him.

She could almost see his cold expression, hear his sneering voice.

‘Did you take advantage of my memory loss and childlike state to seduce me?’

She’d rather die than hear such words from Kwon Seung Joo.

“I told you. I begged you, but you just laughed at me. You even tried to kick me out ostentatiously!”

When Eun Seo raised her voice accusingly, Seung Joo flinched.

“Who treats someone they like so badly?”

“…”

“Anyway, even if you like me, I don’t. I didn’t before, and I certainly don’t now.”

Looking straight at his sculpture-like face gradually turning pale, Eun Seo pronounced her sentence:

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said, so don’t ever do this again.”

*

Originally, Seung Joo woke up even earlier than Eun Seo who was going to work. The main purpose was to feed Eun Seo who disliked eating breakfast, but it seemed he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he saw her off at the front gate with a “Have a good day.”

However, the morning after his confession was rejected, Seung Joo didn’t come out of his room.

Standing in front of the tightly closed door, Eun Seo sighed deeply.

‘Was I too harsh….’

Why would Eun Seo have no thoughts about it?

After saying that yesterday, she actually lay awake thinking about various things.

Because it was a lie.

Ever since first seeing him two years ago, that unknown man kept coming to mind. It got worse after getting a job at the company where he was the CEO. Whenever his name was mentioned by others, her face would heat up for no reason.

Was it easy for Eun Seo to reject a confession while looking at that very face she could barely look at directly because her heart was racing?

Even with her eyes closed, those sincere eyes kept coming to mind, making it hard to calm down. The thought of just closing her eyes and following her heart… it wasn’t that she didn’t have such thoughts.

But people can’t live doing everything they want. Fortunately, Eun Seo was used to enduring and holding back things all her life, and this time was no exception. What’s not meant to be is not meant to be.

‘Have a good day, elder sister!’

Without hearing the kind greeting she always heard, Eun Seo left the house dejectedly and started her commute.

The sky was overcast, and a raindrop fell on her forehead with a plop as she headed towards the bus stop. As if hitting a crying child’s cheek, it felt like adding insult to injury when she was already feeling down.

It seemed too much trouble to go back home to get an umbrella, so Eun Seo quickened her pace. It was just falling in small drops for now, so it seemed better to hurry and take the bus to work.

High school girls on their way to school were walking from the opposite direction, chatting.

“But why did that oppa quit?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he got scouted by some agency?”

“Damn, if I knew he’d quit so soon, I should’ve gotten his number.”

It’s obvious who they’re talking about. He only worked for 2 weeks but made quite an impact.

The raindrops grew heavier faster than expected. Regretting not going back for an umbrella earlier, she quickened her pace even more, but got caught at a traffic light midway.

The cold winter rain mercilessly hit her head and shoulders. As she was stamping her feet in front of the crosswalk, suddenly the rain stopped.

Sighing with relief, she heard screams from across the street.

“Kyaah!”

“Oh no!”

The high school girls standing on the other side of the crosswalk were suddenly stomping their feet and covering their mouths, each letting out strange cries.

‘What’s wrong with them?’

As she turned around reflexively, Eun Seo was startled. A man’s broad chest was too close.

Only then did Eun Seo realize that the rain hadn’t stopped. An umbrella had been placed over her head.

And the person holding the umbrella behind her back was…

“…”

To Eun Seo who was frozen in surprise, Seung Joo silently handed over the umbrella. As she took it with a blank mind, he unfolded the coat that was hanging on his other arm. It was the very coat that Eun Seo had angrily told him to return.

While Eun Seo couldn’t move because she was holding the umbrella, Seung Joo directly put the coat over her thin autumn jacket.

“I’m not giving up on you, elder sister.”

Seung Joo smiled.

“Have a good day at work, elder sister.”

Another round of screams erupted from across the street.

*

She was exhausted from the morning’s events on her way to work. As she dragged her heavy legs out of the elevator, she unexpectedly heard her name.

“What, Yoon Eun Seo?”

Eun Seo stopped in her tracks, surprised by the voice coming from around the corridor corner. I shouldn’t be the subject of gossip?

“Who’s Yoon Eun Seo?”

“The one in charge of training Kwon Seung Hyun! The girl who just entered her second year. Kwon Seung Hyun kept persistently asking if she was free for dinner tonight, or tomorrow night, or the day after.”

Eun Seo sighed. So that’s what it was.

“So what did this Yoon Eun Seo say?”

“She cut him off firmly. Said her dog would be waiting all day at home or something.”

“Oh my, she rejected Kwon Seung Hyun because of a dog? What a funny girl.”

“She’s just playing hard to get, asking for more.”

“She’s a fox, a fox.”

Eun Seo felt wronged. In this jungle-like company life, she prided herself on having lived quietly and uneventfully without standing out anywhere. But unexpectedly, because of that Kwon Seung Hyun, she was being called a fox…!

Carrying this indignation, she headed to the office where Seung Hyun, who had arrived earlier, greeted her with a smile.

“Good morning, senior.”

“Yes.”

She sat down without even looking at him, and he showed interest in the coat she was wearing.

“Wow, is that a new outfit? It really suits you, senior.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

If you knew who bought this, you’d probably faint, she inwardly sneered, when a question came like a ghost.

“Did your boyfriend buy it for you?”

Trying not to show the sinking feeling in her chest on her face, Eun Seo replied.

“I don’t have anything like that.”

“You’re lying.”

Eun Seo turned her head to look at Seung Hyun for the first time. He had an amused look in his eyes.

“I saw you secretly sending messages on your phone.”

Cold sweat ran down her spine. Trying hard to hide her flustered state, Eun Seo hardened her expression.

“That’s my personal life. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take an interest.”

“Do you dislike me being interested in you, senior?”

A wry smile came at his gaze, which seemed to openly declare, “I’m interested in you.” Brother at home, younger at work, is it?

When she rejected him yesterday, it was quite difficult because half of it wasn’t sincere, but this time she could answer with a comfortable heart.

With utmost sincerity, Eun Seo said:

“Yes, I dislike it.”

Fortunately, it seems her sincerity got through.

The handsome face before her gradually distorted with humiliation.