ENED 08

Chapter 08

“Good afternoon, Executive Director.”

“……”

“Oh, Assistant Manager Kim. I suppose you’re here because of something for the Strategic Planning Division.”

Sahyeon shifted her gaze from Hajoon to Manager Koo from the Domestic Sales Team. Glancing at the box in her arms, he spoke to her casually, and Sahyeon forced the corners of her lips upward.

“Yes. Good afternoon, Manager Koo.”

“Yeah, all right.”

Unlike Manager Koo, who returned her greeting with a casual wave and an easy tone, Hajoon merely glanced at Sahyeon once before turning his attention back to Manager Koo’s voice.

“……”

Trying not to be conscious of him, Sahyeon put some distance between them while holding the box.

Three people got on at the next floor. The feet of Sahyeon, Hajoon, and Manager Koo, who had already been inside, were naturally pushed farther back. The box wasn’t particularly heavy, but its large size restricted her movements.

The elevator was cramped.

From the corner of her eye, Sahyeon could see Hajoon standing beside her. Just as she stepped aside, not wanting to inconvenience him, something happened.

“……”

“So, Executive Director, regarding this project, I think…”

She had managed to create some distance, but her glasses suddenly slid down her nose.

Sahyeon scrunched up her nose as she tried to push them back into place, causing her body to wobble.

And then…

Her eyes froze.

Hajoon’s hand was supporting the corner of the box she was holding.

Sahyeon slowly followed his arm with her gaze.

His sleeves had been rolled up because the weather had warmed, revealing the prominent veins and muscles in his forearm.

The box that she had to hold with all her strength was being supported by him as effortlessly as if it weighed nothing.

Thump. Thump.

Her heart began racing.

Her toes curled tightly with tension. It felt as though an electric current was traveling through the box between them.

Sahyeon clenched her molars and looked away.

She was afraid someone might notice.

Even the fact that a superior so far above her in rank was helping a subordinate carry something would attract attention. But if that superior was Yoo Hajoon…

She could already feel the sharp gazes of the other employees.

Perhaps because Hajoon’s broad frame blocked the view, or because the box itself obscured their hands, Manager Koo didn’t seem to notice that Hajoon was holding onto Sahyeon’s box.

He was too busy promoting himself to the Executive Director.

Just as Sahyeon was wondering what she should do, the elevator doors opened and more people stepped inside, making the already cramped space even tighter.

Their arms, both gripping the box, nearly brushed against each other.

Warmth from Hajoon’s body traveled up Sahyeon’s arm.

Her insides suddenly felt hot, and her mouth went inexplicably dry.

She remembered the sensation of his hand cupping her cheek and gently tilting her chin down.

The feeling of his endlessly soft skin.

“I’ll make one mistake, too.”

“Let’s make a few more mistakes. Then we’ll find out what this feeling I’m having actually is.”

It was as though that pleasant, low voice was whispering into her ear again.

Remembering the moment when he had completely consumed her with his kiss made her body feel almost weightless.

She saw his impassive expression as he looked toward Manager Koo.

At the same time, the elevator chimed to announce their arrival, and his touch naturally disappeared.

They say a thief who learns late is the most frightening kind.

Sahyeon felt as though her mind and body were moving separately.

What would it feel like if I touched even a part of Executive Director Yoo again?

If we kissed… just one more time.

The thought suddenly flashed through her mind, startling her.

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“Which one of the five looks the best?”

Pointing at the photographs of five women neatly spread out before him, Yoo Jaemyung asked.

“What do you think, Father?”

“Hm?”

“Which one suits your taste the best?”

“Well, the second daughter of Dongil Pharmaceuticals and the only daughter of H Mobis look the best appearance-wise. Their qualifications are decent, too.”

“What does Mother say?”

“Your mother says there still isn’t a girl who’s caught her eye.”

“She is awfully particular when it comes to you.”

Jaemyung shrugged as he added the remark.

Hajoon’s gaze remained on the photographs.

The women before him were candidates for his next blind dates.

As daughters of some of the country’s most prominent companies, their looks and credentials were impeccable.

“Then, Father, Mother. Discuss it between yourselves and pick the two you think are the best. I’ll meet them.”

“It’s your marriage. You should at least like the person.”

Hajoon met his father’s eyes as Jaemyung spoke gently, as though trying to reason with him.

Ever since the executive meeting, when his father had been staring at him like a dog desperate to relieve itself, Hajoon had sensed something was wrong when he’d been summoned to the president’s office.

Now that he saw the list of candidates for an arranged marriage spread before him, he was dumbfounded.

Hajoon spoke quietly.

“An arranged marriage is a business arrangement anyway. She should be someone the family approves of. You two can choose.”

Ever since the subject of marriage had first come up the previous year, Hajoon had responded with nothing more than lukewarm indifference.

He repeatedly avoided gatherings under the excuse of a busy schedule, or showed up just long enough to exchange formal greetings before leaving.

Even when a meeting actually took place, it had never progressed to a second one.

Haa…

Remembering all those meetings that had fizzled out one after another, Jaemyung clicked his tongue anxiously.

“Your grandfather seems to want your marriage settled this year.”

“…Marriage?”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to put it off much longer, even without him pressuring you.”

Today’s farce had begun with the issue of Hajoon’s marriage being brought up during the ancestral rites.

Hajoon’s grandfather—and Jaemyung’s father—Chairman Yoo Incheol had two sons and one daughter, and they in turn had children who were all of marriageable age.

Under the chairman’s wishes, they had diligently arranged marriages for them through last year.

Now, only Hajoon and one cousin who had returned to being single two years ago remained.

Faced with Hajoon’s uncooperative attitude, Jaemyung gathered up the photographs on the table and sighed.

“So don’t be difficult. Pick an appropriate match and go meet her. You managed to hold them off until last year, but I don’t think you’ll get away with it this year.”

From the corner of his eye, all the women in the photographs looked alike.

Family, education, appearance, background—everything about them was flawless.

Suitable.

That very suitability felt suffocating.

Simply because he had been born into this family, he was expected to choose the “proper” and “appropriate” options for everything—his education, his career, his relationships, and even his marriage.

Arranged marriages were simply part of the natural order in the Daehong Group family.

Yoo Hajoon was no exception.

Suppressing the bitterness rising inside him, Hajoon stood.

“Leaving already?”

“I have an external meeting scheduled.”

“All right. I’ll email you the files on these five.”

“Understood.”

Hajoon turned away, his voice deliberately devoid of emotion, as though concealing the irritation welling inside him.

The elevator carrying Hajoon descended rapidly.

The image of Sahyeon from several hours earlier overlapped with the blinking floor numbers.

Kim Sahyeon, with her makeup-free face and faint scent of soap.

Where on earth does she buy those glasses?

It’s not as if her salary is that low, but she always wears almost the same things.

She was wearing those thick glasses again.

The unfashionable, heavy-rimmed frames looked particularly cumbersome, perhaps because of the weight of the lenses.

They didn’t sit properly on the bridge of her low nose and kept slipping slightly down.

The sight reminded him of a grandmother knitting, and he had almost laughed.

But then—

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Good afternoon, Executive Director.”

“Good afternoon, Manager Koo.”

Look at that.

If someone had asked him to describe exactly how he felt at that moment, those words would have been enough.

Sahyeon’s formal, stiff way of speaking was the same when she addressed both him and Manager Koo.

But the difference in her intonation, the warmth in her voice, and especially her expression were striking.

When speaking to him, she’d wiped every emotion from her face and offered a purely formal greeting.

But when she greeted Manager Koo, she had even smiled faintly.

That set something inside Hajoon on fire.

His pride simply couldn’t accept it.

The moment the elevator lurched into motion, that was why he’d deliberately reached out and taken hold of the box.

He hadn’t forgotten to calculate the distance so that he would lightly brush against Kim Sahyeon.

And then—

She’d visibly flustered from nothing more than their arms brushing.

He could feel the tremor traveling through her blouse.

The trembling against his arm had told him exactly what state she was in.

Her expression had been even more telling.

Both cheeks had heated up like rosy apples, and Sahyeon had looked completely at a loss.

It had seemed less like embarrassment and more like shyness.

And yet you say you don’t like me?

Now he was curious about how she’d react next time.

Hajoon decided to settle on a simple explanation for why he became so prickly whenever he was around Sahyeon.

Apparently, his monotonous daily life had become unbearably boring.

Apparently, he wanted to have a little fun with Kim Sahyeon.

To be honest, he was curious how far this reaction could go.

The corners of Hajoon’s lips curved smoothly upward.