APOS 10

Chapter 10

A voice without any rise or fall in tone landed heavily on the dining table.

Seobin cleared her throat for no reason and stood up.

“F-fruit! For… dessert!”

Then she quickly ran to the refrigerator.

Kanghyun was impotent anyway, so nothing would happen, but at that moment, her heart was shaking uncontrollably. She felt like she had to escape from him, even if only for a little while.

Ignoring her rapidly beating heart, Seobin took some fruit out of the refrigerator, went to the sink, and asked without even looking back.

“O…Oppa. I’ll cut some fruit!”

Kanghyun answered, “Okay,” and watched Seobin carefully cut the fruit despite her hurried movements.

What if she hurt her hand? Should I just cut it for her?

As he looked worriedly at the woman who was much smaller than him, a vibration sounded from somewhere.

It was not his phone.

Kanghyun’s gaze naturally turned toward the cellphone sitting where Seobin had been sitting.

It was an unsaved number.

“Seobin.”

As Kanghyun called her, Seobin heard the phone vibrating, rinsed her hands with water, and hurried over.

Then she picked up the phone and muttered,

“Hm? Who is it? Oppa, just a moment, okay?”

Seobin pressed the call button and stepped toward the living room.

“Hello—”

“Hey, Assistant Manager Lee!”

Seobin stopped in her tracks.

“Where are you! Are you at the company? Or have you left work?!”

With a stiff expression, she moved the phone away from her ear, looked at the screen, and then put it back to her ear.

“…Manager Choi?”

“Yes! I heard everything from the youngest member of our team who was at the café earlier! They said the guy who spilled coffee on me is someone Assistant Manager Lee knows?!”

“…Yes?”

“Is it true? I’m asking if it’s true! Why aren’t you answering?! I’m so pissed off! Seriously!”

Seobin’s eyes slowly turned toward Kanghyun, filled with anxiety.

Kanghyun tried to keep his expression as calm as possible.

But he could not stop the pressure gathering between his brows.

The man’s voice was so loud that it could be clearly heard through the phone, so even though Kanghyun did not want to listen, every word reached his ears.

After realizing that the call was from the bastard who had said those disgusting things to Seobin earlier that day, Kanghyun could not hold himself back and stood up.

Even then, Seobin was trying to get through the situation somehow, looking troubled.

“Manager? Well, for now… Let’s talk tomorrow at the company. I’m with my family right now—”

Kanghyun took Seobin’s phone and pressed the end-call button.

Seobin looked at Kanghyun in surprise.

“Uh…? Oppa, what are you doing?”

“Was that the guy from earlier today?”

His eyes were completely different from the gentle man who had been talking to her until now.

“Yes, but you shouldn’t just hang up like that…”

“It’s fine to hang up.”

He’s going to disappear anyway.

But Seobin could not hear his inner thoughts. She bit her lower lip and looked troubled.

However, she soon relaxed her expression.

“Yeah, I guess it’s fine. Who makes work-related calls after leaving work when it’s not even about work? Besides…”

It seemed like she wanted to say that he was the person who had done something bad to her, but because Kanghyun was there, she seemed to hold back.

Normally, after going through something like that, wouldn’t someone act spoiled or at least complain about having a hard time because of a troublesome boss?

But Seobin showed none of that.

Rather, she seemed determined not to burden him with even the slightest bit of her troubles.

“Ah, never mind. I’m fine. By the way, are you okay, Oppa? The manager touched your chest earlier.”

“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry.”

“But it must have been uncomfortable. I’ll make sure that person doesn’t hurt you.”

Kanghyun changed the subject and sent Seobin back toward the sink.

“Seobin, Oppa needs to make a quick phone call.”

Then he headed toward the balcony, took his phone out of his jacket pocket, and looked at the view.

Just as Seobin had said, it was a beautiful place with a wide-open view without anything blocking it.

“Yes, sir.”

The person on the other end answered the phone. Kanghyun put his other hand into his pants pocket and turned around to look inside the living room.

“You know that bastard from earlier today. The one who bumped into me. Kim Gyeong-gu’s manager.”

“Yes, sir. I’ve already checked. His name is Choi Dong-gu, manager of Development Team 2.”

“Make sure he can’t come to work tomorrow.”

“…Pardon?”

“The inauguration ceremony is the day after tomorrow.”

“Ah, I understand what you mean. Since your inauguration ceremony is the day after tomorrow, you want us to make sure he doesn’t cross paths with Miss Seobin until tomorrow, correct?”

“Yes. Please take care of it.”

“Oh, and Vice President. Chairman has invited Assemblyman Park Chang-beom and his daughter to Seongbuk-dong this weekend.”

A shallow sigh escaped through Kanghyun’s teeth.

Even after being told about his sexual dysfunction, was his grandfather still trying to force him to marry the woman he wanted?

Anger toward his grandfather boiled inside him.

“Oppa!”

At that moment, Seobin called him from inside the living room.

“I finished cutting the fruit!”

Kanghyun immediately composed his expression, as if he had never shown that frightening look, and finished his call with Secretary Hwang.

“Understood for now. I’ll call you again.”

When he returned, the table had already been neatly cleaned, with beautifully cut fruit placed on it.

“You’re pretty quick with your hands, Seobin.”

“Of course. I might look slow because of how I look, but I’m actually really fast once I start something. I’m probably the fastest typist at the company, too.”

“You are. Come to think of it, you also leveled up Dojun’s game character for him. That game requires you to hit the keyboard hard enough to break it.”

“Oh! That’s right, Oppa.”

Seobin turned her hand so the back of it faced Kanghyun and moved her fingers skillfully.

“Look at my hands.”

Even at a moment like this, Seobin was trying to show off how good she was at housework, and Kanghyun found her cute enough to smile.

“They look really neat, right?”

Kanghyun quietly looked at her small hand, which would not even reach two-thirds of the length of his fingers.

A small, white, delicate hand.

It was such a tiny and cute hand that he felt like he wanted to slip his fingers between her slender fingers just to compare their sizes.

“…I’m crazy.”

He muttered quietly, finding himself ridiculous for wanting to touch her hand.

Fortunately, Seobin seemed not to hear him because she was picking up fruit with a fork.

Seobin handed him a neatly cut apple first.

With Seobin taking such thoughtful care of him, Kanghyun almost felt as if they were a newlywed couple.

No, wait. They had never even dated.

This was all because Seobin had skipped all the steps and suddenly proposed to him.

“Seobin.”

“Yes, Oppa.”

“Could you postpone giving me the answer you want for a little while?”

Seobin’s expression became slightly gloomy.

“But before that, if something happens to me, would you still want to marry me?”

“Oppa, is something wrong?”

Seobin looked at Kanghyun with concern.

Kanghyun wondered if it would be better to simply tell her the truth—that he was her boss and a member of Shinsung Group.

But if he suddenly revealed his identity, as Dojun had said, she might no longer feel obligated to take responsibility and might decide to pretend none of this had happened.

His situation was becoming urgent.

Even after he had told his grandfather that he could not perform as a man, his grandfather had gone ahead with the arranged marriage and even invited the other family to the main house.

At this rate, he might suddenly find himself walking down the aisle with a woman he had no feelings for.

“Don’t worry, Oppa!”

It was then.

Breaking the silence, Seobin spoke in a loud, confident voice.

“No matter what happens to you, I’ll stick to you like glue! I’ve been destined to take responsibility for you for the past four years.”

Kanghyun’s eyes narrowed.

Seobin’s eyes were brighter than ever as she spoke sincerely, as if telling him to trust her.

He felt as though he was committing a sin against her, but selfishly, he came to the conclusion that he needed Seobin if he did not want to live according to his grandfather’s wishes.

“Keep your promise.”

At his words, Seobin’s eyes widened as if she were expecting something.

But Kanghyun pretended not to notice and stood up.

“You’re… leaving already?”

“Yeah. Let’s see each other again soon.”

“When? If you disappear again after this… I get anxious, you know.”

“I’ll answer all your calls.”

Kanghyun gave her a subtle smile before leaving the house immediately.

He needed to calm down his curiosity about Seobin, which kept growing larger and larger.

An unexpected presence was flowing into his life like a wave.