TMBF-02

CHAPTER 2

A dark, heavy scent, as though rum had been blended with dark chocolate, almonds, and sandalwood, swept toward her.

At the same time, a large warmth settled over her shoulder.

The throbbing headache that had been bothering her stopped in an instant.

“I wasn’t told the class was being held at a hotel.”

Beom Kwon-yeol.

Her older brother’s friend, who had shared the loss of her only blood relative, the next heir to Beomho Group, and—

“…Oppa.”

The man who was still Hee-jo’s first love.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

“I had a meeting in the hotel lounge. It ended earlier than expected. I came downstairs, saw you, and came over.”

Watching the two of them talking, Kim Shin-woo swallowed hard.

‘It really is Beom Kwon-yeol.’

He had struggled to get his face into events and gatherings attended by people with enough influence in business and politics to throw their weight around, using every connection he could muster.

But with Beom Kwon-yeol, he couldn’t even make eye contact.

It was shocking to see the very people he had considered impressive wagging their tails at Beom Kwon-yeol just as he himself did to them, hoping to pick up whatever crumbs fell their way.

Even among the privileged, Beom Kwon-yeol stood on an entirely different level.

Even those who acted like royalty from the moment they were born would take a step back when faced with Kwon-yeol.

They said that even the deep-rooted honor they valued so highly could be destroyed by a single line in the blackmail ledger held by Beomho Group.

He possessed power and authority so immense that he was practically a god.

And that Beom Kwon-yeol was standing right in front of him.

“But—”

Kwon-yeol turned his gaze toward Kim Shin-woo, but he didn’t ask who he was.

He simply looked down at him with dry eyes.

Yet even that alone was enough to overwhelm the other man.

“……”

I have to answer.

How could he possibly waste an opportunity to meet Beom Kwon-yeol like this?

He had to make some kind of impression!

But Kim Shin-woo couldn’t get his mouth to move.

Cold sweat ran down his spine.

He was merely making eye contact with the man, yet the pressure was so suffocating that it felt as though a collar had been fastened around his neck.

Kwon-yeol seemed to be assessing everything one by one—the trembling of his pupils, the amount of air he inhaled, the harsh movement of his throat as he swallowed, and his heart pounding like mad.

As though deciding whether to crush him beneath his foot or let him live.

“This is Mr. Kim Shin-woo.”

It was Hee-jo who introduced him in a calm, elegant voice.

“He’s the son of Director Lee Jung-sun of Goyo Gallery, who attends the traditional knotting class.”

“Goyo Gallery.”

Now even Kim Shin-woo’s vision began to fade white.

The way Kwon-yeol repeated the name under his breath looked exactly like he was writing his family’s name into a death ledger inside his head.

His heart, which had nowhere left to fall, now felt as though it were being shattered into pieces.

“Director Lee must be deeply troubled.”

Kwon-yeol’s pitch-black pupils narrowed coldly as he looked at the dazed Kim Shin-woo.

“Since your son can’t speak.”

Ah.

Kim Shin-woo’s wide-open eyes trembled violently as though an earthquake had struck.

He instinctively sensed it.

Beom Kwon-yeol was giving him one final chance.

With beads of cold sweat gathering on his forehead, Kim Shin-woo barely managed to part his lips.

“H-Hello, sir. M-My name is Kim Shin-woo. I-It’s an honor to meet you like this, E-Executive Director Beom Kwon-yeol.”

His horribly trembling voice sounded almost like a bleating goat.

Kwon-yeol added flatly in a low voice.

“You do know how to speak. Director Lee must still be deeply troubled.”

“…Oppa.”

Hee-jo quietly called out to him as though asking him to stop, then gave Kim Shin-woo an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry. He didn’t mean it maliciously, so I’d appreciate it if you could understand, Shin-woo—”

“‘Shin-woo’—”

Standing behind Hee-jo with one arm around her shoulder, Kwon-yeol called Kim Shin-woo the same way she had and tilted his head slightly.

“Are you going to keep sitting there?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked whether you intend to keep wasting our time with that vacant expression.”

Hee-jo tightly gripped the clutch resting on her knees.

She liked the way Kwon-yeol grouped the two of them together by saying ‘our.’

She liked it far too much.

She was afraid that she might reveal those feelings without regard for time or place, without even realizing what she was doing.

The throbbing pain in her head gradually began to subside.

“Get up. Don’t waste any more time.”

“……”

“I’m not giving Hee-jo to a bastard like you.”

Ah.

Her pale hand tightened even more.

Her fingernails dug deeply into the clutch, leaving marks, but Hee-jo couldn’t bring herself to loosen her grip.

At the same time, Kim Shin-woo sprang to his feet as though launched by a spring.

“I-I’m sorry. I-I apologize for my rudeness.”

Like a man fleeing from death itself, Kim Shin-woo hurriedly left the table.

“Fast on his feet. Slow with his words.”

Watching Kim Shin-woo’s retreating back disappear without looking back, Kwon-yeol removed the hand that had been resting on Hee-jo’s shoulder and moved toward the empty seat across from her.

As naturally as though it had been his seat from the very beginning.

“……”

Hee-jo cleared her throat.

She forcibly suppressed the impulse that had almost made her grab his hand as it moved away.

She probably wouldn’t be able to use this clutch again after today.

“Yoon Hee-jo.”

Whether he knew what was going on inside her or not, Kwon-yeol called her name once again in a deep voice that resonated all the way to the depths of her heart as he sat down, undoing the buttons of his jacket.

An employee immediately approached, but he casually raised a hand to stop them from coming any closer.

Watching the man whose every simple gesture radiated an innate authority and aristocratic elegance, Hee-jo suddenly came to her senses as though someone had poured cold water over her.

Madam Jin Seo-ryeong really had nothing to worry about.

Hee-jo felt painfully aware every moment she spent with Kwon-yeol of just how enormous the gap between them was.

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

Hee-jo quickly put on a faint smile as though nothing had happened.

Hiding her emotions had become second nature to her.

“I had a meeting too.”

“With that vacant bastard?”

“What about the people you met with today, Oppa?”

At Hee-jo’s quiet counter-question, Kwon-yeol stared at her before eventually letting out a small laugh.

“You’ve grown up a lot, Yoon Hee-jo.”

He was famous for his cold temperament, yet every now and then, he smiled like that in front of her.

So wonderfully.

So breathtakingly.

He had merely softened slightly around the eyes and lifted the corners of his lips, so why did it seem so dazzling?

Hee-jo slowly drew in a breath.

She knew better than anyone that there wasn’t even a trace of the emotion she wanted in that smile.

Because the emotion farthest from love wasn’t hatred, but pity.

“So, whose idea was it?”

She hesitated, then slowly shook her head.

“…I don’t know what you mean.”

“You understood me, didn’t you?”

Tap. Tap.

Kwon-yeol intermittently tapped his index finger against the table.

It was just as Hee-jo thought that it sounded like the beating of her own heart.

“Is this your first time?”

“What… is?”

Distracted by the movement of his hand, Hee-jo answered a beat late, and Kwon-yeol narrowed his eyes.

He swallowed the filthy feeling that came over him, as though he were grinding coarse grains of sand between his teeth, and quietly uttered,

“A blind date.”

Yoon Hee-jo pressed her lips tightly together and slowly inhaled.

It was a habit she had whenever she tried to determine how much she should say and where she should begin.

Then Kwon-yeol felt as though he were chewing on sharp shards of glass hidden among the gritty sand already scraping around inside his mouth.

When she was young, she had been shy, but she had also been honest about her emotions and smiled brightly.

After Hee-jae died, Hee-jo changed.

The girl who had become a woman capable of concealing her emotions behind a gentle smile was no longer someone even he could easily read.

For a moment, a dull ache passed through his chest, but Kwon-yeol didn’t bother pursuing it since it disappeared almost immediately.

That wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Have you gone on another one of these without me knowing?”

One of these.

At Kwon-yeol’s words, Hee-jo bit down gently on the tender flesh inside her lip.

His words sounded as though he wasn’t talking about a blind date, but a display stand she had been placed on to be sold for a high price.

She knew it was because of her inferiority complex.

But knowing something and feeling it were two different matters.

She felt as though she had become an auction item.

A useless possession Beomho Group had put up for sale.

Something they couldn’t simply throw away, but couldn’t keep forever either.

“This is my first time.”

And it would probably be the beginning.

If her blind date with Kim Shin-woo didn’t go well, Madam Jin Seo-ryeong would bring another Kim Shin-woo before her.

Until the burden clinging to her eldest son finally fell away.

“First.”

“Yes, it’s my first.”

Tap. Tap.

Kwon-yeol tapped his index finger against the armrest.

First.

It was her first.

Apparently, Yoon Hee-jae’s spirit had really possessed him properly.

Considering how fucking awful he felt at the thought that some idiot like that had been Yoon Hee-jo’s first.

“Was this what you wanted?”