TPUC 5

CHAPTER 5

She sat across from Choi Je-hyuk in his office.

His characteristic slow, heavy gaze stared directly at Ha-rin. It was difficult to meet his eyes, but she swallowed her breath and straightened her back.

Je-hyuk narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly to one side.

“It’s been a while.”

“I don’t believe it has. If I remember correctly, I saw you yesterday.”

“So that’s how you’re going to play it. Fine, then.”

He seemed to understand her intention: bury the embarrassing past and treat him solely as the team leader of their collaborative task force. It was a relief, at least.

“If there’s anything you need to instruct me on, please tell me.”

“Were you always this impatient?”

“I’m listening. Please go ahead.”

“Wait.”

Raising one eyebrow, he got to his feet and opened the blinds. In an instant, sunlight poured in like a spotlight, illuminating his sharply defined features.

The shadows cast by the light were breathtaking. His face, bathed in sunlight, was beautiful enough to look like a perfectly sculpted work of art.

For one absurd moment, Ha-rin wondered whether she was really allowed to look at something this beautiful for free.

Then came the irritating words.

“Would you like something to drink? Or maybe some ice cream?”

“What? An Americano, please.”

Seriously. This man.

Apparently, treating her like a child all her life hadn’t been enough.

Of course, Ha-rin actually preferred affogato, with plenty of ice cream drowning in coffee, but there was absolutely no way she was going to have that today.

Je-hyuk brewed her coffee and handed it over before lazily leaning back against the sofa. With his long legs crossed, he gazed silently at Ha-rin.

His dark, deep eyes slowly swept over her.

Ha-rin both loved and hated those emotionless eyes, eyes that seemed capable of seeing straight through to the depths of a person’s soul. The gaze of a man who could never be hers lingered on her for a moment before abruptly moving away.

Just like now.

This was practically PTSD.

As she bit the tender flesh inside her mouth, his voice reached her.

“Drink it. It’s going to be pretty bitter. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

There he went, treating her like a child again.

Instead of answering, Ha-rin tried to gulp down the Americano in one go, only to recoil in shock when the heat burned her tongue.

“Ah! It’s hot.”

Coffee spilled down her hand in an embarrassingly messy stream.

Startled, Je-hyuk grabbed her wrist with one hand.

“Are you okay? Did you get burned?”

“Yes… I’m fine.”

“Did you burn your hand? Let me see.”

She was absolutely not fine.

To think she had met him like this after all these years.

She had wanted to show him that she had changed, that she was no longer the young Kang Ha-rin he remembered. If they were going to meet again, she wanted to face him proudly as a fellow team member.

The Americano she had drunk in an attempt to act like an adult had been unbearably hot and terribly bitter.

Desperate not to make an even more pathetic spectacle of herself, she forced herself to steady her breathing.

Ha-rin straightened her back and looked directly at Je-hyuk.

“I’m really fine. Is there anything else you need to instruct me on?”

“Fine? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Professor.”

“Does a paramedic not know how to administer first aid?”

Apparently angry, Je-hyuk fetched a bottle of cold water and poured it over the back of her hand. As she watched the water run down onto the floor, Ha-rin felt something tighten painfully inside her.

And then she remembered.

She wished he had simply been an unpleasant, mean-tempered man.

But Choi Je-hyuk was sometimes unnecessarily kind like this, and that was what had always tormented Ha-rin.

It had made her dare to hope.

And because of that, she had spent a long time hurting.

“Please let go.”

“Kang Ha-rin.”

Her heart ached far more painfully than the swollen back of her hand. Ha-rin pulled her hand free and rose from her seat.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

“Ha-rin.”

Ha-rin.

Those three syllables, the way he called her name, scattered through the air.

For a moment, it sounded like the voice of the man from her childhood memories.

And yet it didn’t.

But what did it matter?

It didn’t matter anymore.

Ha-rin closed the door without looking back.

It was the first day of the task force she had joined with him.

“So, let me get this straight. You’ve been pounding soju since early evening?”

After work, Ha-rin had called Jeong-in to a convenience store near her apartment. Jeong-in stared at her with pity as Ha-rin sucked on the straw stuck into a bottle of soju.

“I met my first love for the first time in years, spilled coffee all over myself in front of him, and—oh, yeah—I even sprayed coffee everywhere when I got that phone call.”

“I really hate myself.”

“Good grief.”

“I should’ve just eaten ice cream.”

If he was going to treat her like a child, she should have simply accepted it.

After all, Je-hyuk was eight years older than her, and he was her older brother Ha-jun’s friend.

So technically, I am a child to him.

Ha-rin tugged at her hair in self-reproach before taking another long drink of soju.

From a distance, another friend, Kim Tae-min, was walking toward them. Unlike Jeong-in, who had been her friend since childhood, Tae-min had joined their circle during their university years and had become one of her closest friends.

Tae-min worked at Kang Young-seo and was Ha-rin’s only close male friend.

He was also the object of Jeong-in’s unrequited love.

His biggest problem was that he was a shameless womanizer.

Thump.

Tae-min dropped into a plastic chair and shook his head as he looked at Ha-rin.

“You’ve already finished a bottle? I told you to wait.”

“You should’ve come faster.”

“You’re giving me grief after I even cut my kissing session with my girlfriend short to come here?”

At the word kissing, Ha-rin discreetly glanced at Jeong-in.

Jeong-in, however, merely opened her beer can with an expressionless face.

Right.

That was what unrequited love was like.

A feeling you couldn’t show, something you had to endure all by yourself.

God, men were such jerks.

Ha-rin shot Tae-min an irritated glare for no reason.

“Watch your mouth. Jeong-in, who did this girl get slapped by that she’s taking it out on me?”

“There was a bit of an incident.”

“You look like you haven’t eaten. Don’t drink too much. Here, have some of this.”

At least he was a friend. Tae-min made sure to get some food for her.

Chewing on some dried squid, Ha-rin grumbled.

“Are all men like that?”

“Huh? Like what?”

“You know… being kind and acting all nice to someone when they don’t even have feelings for them. Isn’t that wrong?”

“Exactly! You shouldn’t do that kind of crap!”

Jeong-in chimed in while drinking her beer, making Tae-min stare at her incredulously.

“You two don’t even have men, yet you’re talking like you do. Anyone listening would think you actually had boyfriends.”

“Anyway, isn’t it just bad manners to string someone along like that?”

“Are you sure you’re actually being strung along?”

“Hey!”

After getting smacked on the back by both women, Tae-min immediately raised both hands.

“I surrender! Stop hitting me. Geez, why are women’s hands so damn painful?”

“I barely hit you.”

“Okay, listen carefully. I’m going to explain male psychology to you.”

He lowered his voice as though he were about to reveal some top-secret information.

Without realizing it, the two women leaned closer and listened intently.

“Men are naturally inclined to be interested in multiple women. It’s instinct.”

“Instinct?”

“You could call it the law of nature. Just look at the animal kingdom.”

Tae-min even picked up a pair of wooden chopsticks to help explain.

“What about females? If they want to reproduce, they need to mate with the best male, right? That’s why they look for an alpha male.”

“Hm. That makes sense.”

“In the end, the strongest males monopolize the females. So what about the males left over? If they get the chance, they’ll have to reproduce somehow, right?”

“So that’s why you go around looking for new females everywhere? Just like you?”

At Jeong-in’s disgruntled remark, Tae-min readily agreed.

“Exactly. The best thing to do is take your chances whenever they come.”

“Good grief.”

“Didn’t you know? The prettiest girl is always the one you meet for the first time that day.”

“You idiot.”

It took another round of smacks to his back before Tae-min finally stopped talking nonsense.

Even as they jokingly beat him, Ha-rin couldn’t help noticing the bitter expression on Jeong-in’s face.

Let’s just drink.

But then Ha-rin and Jeong-in’s eyes simultaneously widened as they sipped their drinks.

A familiar face was approaching them.

His long coat fluttered around his legs as he strode toward them with long, purposeful steps before opening the convenience store door and walking inside.

Startled, Jeong-in even began to stammer.

“Isn’t that Choi Je—”

“Shh.”

Ha-rin barely managed to silence her before taking a deep breath.

A moment later, Je-hyuk, holding a can of beer, dropped into the seat at the table beside theirs.

Both Ha-rin and Jeong-in’s expressions stiffened simultaneously.

“What? Why are you two acting like that?”

“Nothing.”

“Kang Ha-rin, your face is bright red.”

Tae-min reached out worriedly and pressed the back of his hand against Ha-rin’s forehead.

She could feel the heat spreading across her face as the alcohol began to take effect.

Je-hyuk tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.

Then, with one hand, he casually cracked open his beer can.

Could he really be planning to sit here for long?

Let’s leave.

The situation was uncomfortable enough, but now she felt anxious, too. She had a bad feeling about this.

“Kang Ha-rin, are you already drunk?”

“I am not.”

Completely unaware of the situation, Tae-min ruffled Ha-rin’s bangs.

At that exact moment—

Clack.

The sound of Je-hyuk roughly setting his beer can down on the table rang out.

Had he followed her here?

They had parted ways after that, and he hadn’t even come to the task force meeting. Could it be that he really had something he wanted to tell her personally?

Even if it was embarrassing, maybe she should have stayed and listened to whatever instructions he had for her.

Her thoughts became tangled.

Ha-rin began hurriedly gathering the things on the table and stood up.

“Why don’t we move somewhere else?”

“Huh? I just got here.”

Tae-min looked at her in confusion, his voice bright and innocent.

“Then we can go to Ha-rin’s place for round two?”

“Home. I said home.”

Then a cold voice cut through the air.

The large shadow of the man who had risen to his feet fell over Ha-rin.

“Nice to see you again, Agent Kang Ha-rin.”

The face she had absolutely no desire to see again belonged to Choi Je-hyuk.