Chapter – 07
For some reason, even though he had already refused her, he kept thinking about her.
His throat felt strangely itchy. Si-heon cleared his throat a few times for no particular reason.
“…Anyway. Don’t buy things like this for me anymore. Use the money for yourself. Buy food or clothes.”
As Si-heon carefully folded the tie and put it back into the box, Da-yeon suddenly clapped her hands once, as though she had just remembered something.
“That’s right, Teacher! Could you give me your wallet for a second?”
“Why do you need my wallet?”
Even as he asked, he obediently took his wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to her.
Da-yeon accepted it and slipped a small piece of paper into one of the card slots.
“What’s that?”
“A good-luck charm.”
“A good-luck charm?”
“A charm that will make you think of me every time you pay for something from now on.”
Wondering what on earth she had put inside, Si-heon took the wallet back and checked it.
Inside was Da-yeon’s ID photo.
In the small photograph, Da-yeon was smiling brightly.
Si-heon looked at her as if silently asking, Why did you put this in my wallet?
“I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I came up with the wrong strategy.”
Watching her as though trying to figure out what she was talking about, Si-heon folded his arms firmly.
“Yes. I confessed out of nowhere and asked you to marry me, so you must have been really surprised, Teacher. I spent two whole years thinking about you, but you obviously weren’t thinking about me the same way.”
Da-yeon spoke calmly before lifting her head and looking directly at Si-heon.
“And I also realized that asking you to marry me just because I’m the daughter of the person who once helped you would be unfair to you.”
“So? How are you changing your strategy?”
“I’m going to take things slowly from now on.”
Da-yeon smiled sweetly.
“Like the word sinabro—little by little, without you even realizing it, I’m going to slowly seep into your heart.”
“…”
“Just wait and see, Teacher. Before long, you’ll find yourself wanting to marry me.”
The relaxed smile that had been on Si-heon’s face had long since disappeared.
What on earth gives this little thing the confidence to act so boldly?
“In the end, Teacher, you’re going to fall completely in love with me.”
His heart stirred again as he looked straight into those eyes staring fearlessly at him.
His throat grew dry once more.
Why do I keep feeling like this?
Even Si-heon himself had no idea why.
After sending Da-yeon home, Si-heon returned to his office carrying the shopping bag.
He was walking toward his desk as usual when he suddenly stopped in front of the mirror hanging on the wall.
He stared at his reflection for a moment, then loosened the tie neatly wrapped around his neck.
He took out the tie Da-yeon had given him from the shopping bag and put it around his neck.
Swish, swish.
The silk fabric brushed against his fingers as he worked.
After a few movements, he made a neat knot. He stroked the tie and let out a small laugh.
It felt somewhat rougher than the ties he usually wore, but the design and color were quite to his taste.
As he examined the tie, his eyes caught sight of the initials “CSH” embroidered discreetly on the inside of the fabric, along with a tiny four-leaf clover.
The uneven size and somewhat rough stitching made it obvious that Da-yeon had embroidered it herself after buying the tie.
Thinking about Da-yeon carefully choosing the tie and then painstakingly embroidering it herself, a faint smile crept onto his lips.
“Peanut. When did you grow up enough to start giving your teacher gifts?”
He couldn’t help feeling proud of her.
She probably barely had enough money for herself.
As Si-heon looked at the tie in the mirror with satisfaction, a troubled expression gradually appeared in his eyes.
“Is she really planning to see this through to the very end?”
He thought he had already rejected her clearly enough.
But judging from what she had said while putting her photograph into his wallet, she had no intention of giving up at all.
I can’t hurt a young girl even more.
What should he do?
Si-heon was still contemplating the tie in the mirror when there was a knock, and Manager Myung entered the office.
His gaze moved between the tie and Si-heon, and he asked with some surprise,
“Your tie changed already.”
“Ah. Well… it’s nothing.”
Si-heon fumbled for an excuse and moved the tie lying on the sofa aside with his hand.
“It suits you very well, Director.”
Manager Myung casually glanced at the tie once more.
Even at a glance, its finish and material were clearly different from the ties Si-heon normally wore. But Manager Myung wasn’t rude enough to point that out aloud.
“I suppose whoever gave it to you has quite good taste.”
Did he turn around in front of the building and receive it then?
As he briefly wondered about it, Manager Myung’s eyes shifted toward the shopping bag on the floor.
And what on earth is that? That jar looks like it should have a poisonous snake inside it.
Noticing Manager Myung’s gaze, Si-heon frowned and pushed the shopping bag farther aside.
“Have you never seen paper cranes before?”
“What? Oh, no, sir.”
Quickly regaining his composure, Manager Myung continued with his schedule report.
“There is a board meeting in the afternoon, and in the evening there’s a company dinner with the heads of the planning team.”
“All right.”
“Everyone is wondering whether you’ll be attending, Director.”
Manager Myung asked cautiously.
Si-heon rarely attended drinking gatherings, but they always asked him to check with the director at least once.
“I have something personal to take care of today, so I don’t think I can make it.”
Si-heon took his wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket.
“Tell them to use this to pay for everything.”
As he reached for his card, his hand suddenly stopped in midair.
Da-yeon’s face appeared in the ID photograph peeking out alongside the card.
“Ha. At this rate, I really am going to fall for Jung Da-yeon’s strategy.”
“Why? Is something wrong, Director?”
“Nothing.”
He shook his head, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
The Da-yeon in the photograph dangling from his fingertips was smiling beautifully, just as she always did.
“Oh, right. I heard Jung Da-yeon has picked up more part-time jobs.”
Remembering what Da-yeon had told him, Si-heon asked,
“Is that so? The last time I checked, she was only looking for tutoring work.”
“…”
Instead of answering, Si-heon simply stared at Manager Myung.
His gaze was calm, but Manager Myung wasn’t oblivious enough to miss the reprimand contained within it.
“I’m… sorry.”
Manager Myung bowed his head deeply.
“I’ll make sure the same mistake doesn’t happen again.”
“You can go.”
Manager Myung bowed once more and left the office, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
Even though it had only been a brief moment, cold sweat had already formed on his forehead.
What did I miss?
Determined to figure out what had happened, Manager Myung hurried down the hallway.
Da-yeon arrived at the bakery early that morning and was in an unusually good mood.
The mild weather, despite it being the end of winter, certainly helped.
But what made her even happier was that Teacher had finally replied to her message.
Not a single day had gone by without her sending Si-heon a message.
She had kept sending them like cries into the silence, never receiving anything in return.
That morning, as usual, she had sent him a message wishing him a wonderful day because the weather was so nice.
And finally, she had received a reply.
[Yeah.]
It was only two words, a short response, but Da-yeon felt as though she could fly into the sky just from receiving it.
“Da-yeon, come over here and do this for me.”
“Yes! I’ll be right there.”
Humming happily to herself as she wiped down a table with a rag, Da-yeon hurried over when the owner called for her.
On the preparation counter were cream cakes waiting to be decorated and a container filled with strawberries.
“Just make them look pretty by decorating the tops.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Da-yeon put on a pair of latex gloves.
She had done this job before.
She began placing strawberries one by one on the cakes lined up in a row.
Suddenly, a baker came out from the back and bumped Da-yeon’s hand.
“Ah!”
With Da-yeon’s startled cry, the strawberry sitting on top of the cream cake slid to one side.
The taste wouldn’t have been affected, but the decoration was ruined, making the cake impossible to sell to a customer.
“What… am I going to do?”
Seeing Da-yeon’s distressed expression, the baker quickly tried to shift the blame.
“That’s why you shouldn’t be working in a corner like that.”
“What? But the owner told me to work here…”
“I don’t know anything about it, so you take responsibility.”
With that, the baker quickly disappeared back inside.
“What should I do?”
Da-yeon stared sadly at the ruined cake.
Just then, the owner came out after going inside to get some bread.
“Da-yeon? What happened?”
“Well…”
The owner came closer after seeing Da-yeon’s expression. When he spotted the ruined cake, he dropped the bread tray down with a thud.
“Oh, what are we going to do about this? You’ve completely ruined an entire batch of cakes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I hired you because you seemed hardworking. Honestly…”
There was certainly an unfair side to what had happened, but regardless, it had happened while the cake was in her hands.
Da-yeon lowered her head and spoke in a small voice.
“I’ll… take responsibility for it.”
“Then I’ll only charge you for the cost of the ingredients, so keep that in mind.”
The owner clicked his tongue and was just about to move the cake away when—
“I’ll buy it.”
A familiar, low voice came from behind her.
Startled, Da-yeon turned around.
Without her noticing when he had entered, Si-heon was standing at the counter.
