Chapter 43

Was it that maybe Si-Jin wanted to join in the next time Sang-Hoon harasses her? It was expected from his bad nature, that tendency to bully her so efficiently by stabbing her shameful spots rather than the painful ones when the right occasion came up.

“Your answer.”

“I also did not… want to ride it together.” muttered Na-Yool rolling her eyes, her cheeks still squeezed by his hand. Her face was so comical that even Si-Jin, expressionless, burst into a low laugh.

“How cutely cheeky. Is it that you want to get your lips suckled on in the lobby?”

A casual smirk suddenly appeared on Si-Jin’s face. Na-Yool could not believe the filthy words she just heard, as undeniably mismatched it was with the public place they were in, his plain voice and his proper attire. It felt like a dream.

Of course, it did not ‘feel like a dream’ because she liked it. Na-Yool had lived her whole life fully believing she was a person of honorable common sense, until she got entangled with him in such strange ways.

“I would rather die!” she retorted, brushing off his hand.

“Think about it carefully. A little embarrassment would probably be better than dying.”

“I am just emphasizing how strongly I do not want to. It is a figure of speech, don’t—”

“You told me to always take your words at face value.”

“You do not even listen to me anyway, Mr. President.”

“Of course.”

Quite the polite yet shameless answer. Na-Yool looked up at the number panel as she felt no point answering. Finally, almost the 1st floor.

“Then, if you would excuse me, Mr. President.”

She greeted him very politely, then quickly got off as soon as the door opened and strided away. With a sense of deja-vu, she heard steps pacing right behind following her but treated it as her imagination playing tricks.

“…..”

However, it did not feel like it was her imagination. She turned back, and expectedly there he was.

“…Mr. President.”

She called him while gritting her teeth and Si-Jin shrugged his shoulders, as if brazenly asking what the matter was.

What if Sang-Hoon was somewhere in that spacious lobby, what if he was waiting behind the entrance doors to make a scandal…

“I’m on my way out too.”

“…Mr. President, what about your car?”

“I’ll leave it underground.”

“…Is that so. Then please go, first.”

“But why do you keep sending me out first?”

“I told you already. I do not want to be with you!” Na-Yool unwillingly screamed in anguish. Why were the men in her life all so hopeless!?!

“Then you should go first, Ms. Na-Yool.”

“I know you will follow me. Like a pervy stalker.”

Why act this way now, and not the times when she had slightly hoped he would call to ask her out?!

…No, I never did. I never wished for something like that. Na-Yool quickly rewrote her memory. Si-jin smirked as if he could clearly see what was going on inside her head.

“Your idiotic pitapatting is so cute I almost want to answer your expectations by chasing after you but…”

…But?

Just when he was about to continue his fingertips quietly moved down the middle of her back, following the curve of her spine. Na-Yool’s face immediately turned red.

“But I’m not going home yet, you see.”

Na-Yool stood unfazed and dignified, showing there was no need to whisper such words in a small voice. She hurriedly shook his hand off though some time had passed for it to be called ‘hurriedly’.

“I told you several times already not to touch me in the offi…!“

“I, also, told you to please be quiet in the office.”

Now she was hearing his mysterious text message live. With a slightly irritated tone to it.

Dumbfounded by the warning that suddenly dropped, Na-Yool frowned with a dubious look.

“…I have always behaved at work though…?”

“Always?”

“I do not idle talk, I do not speak loudly, I dress neatly…”

The more of them she enumerated, the more Si-Jin leaned his head to the side, not convinced at all. Na-Yool stealthily avoided his gaze.

“… if it was not for you.”

“I like the sound of it.”

Taking it as a compliment, Si-Jin grinned at her acknowledgement of him being the only stain on her record.

“You should reconsider that ‘do not idle talk’ part more objectively. You should find a more fitting reply…”

“I really do not chitchat, Mr. President.”

Even though he was a pervert he was also her superior, so she could not forget to show a diligent attitude. There was no need to go over his insinuating statement and its “Don’t you sometimes slack off as well?” underlying meaning just to look sincere.

“If you say so.”

Despite his choice of words, his tone had a faint sting, as if pressing her to rethink her answer. The same sting as the bed of thorns she was on every time she could not figure out what she did wrong with her proposal drafts…

“If you really think there is nothing to fix about yourself, I will gladly concede” is what Si-Jin’s words seemed to mean, but his disapproving expression said otherwise, leaving Na-Yool with a heavy conscience just as he was ending the conversation…

His insinuating statement was not random. He was talking of a specific moment. A moment which had particularly bothered him. Na-Yool racked her brain in search of a moment where she might have looked noisy and talkative.

… Ahh, with such a broadly specific criterion there are just too many.

Still, was that moment worth troubling the mind of his subordinate? Anyway, none of it was important right now. Things that did not make sense or unsettled matters could be dealt with later. Na-Yool focused back her anxiousness towards Sang-Hoon, who might be wandering somewhere outside the lobby.

“…Once I arrive at home, I will contemplate, reflect on and discipline myself.”

“It’s so pointlessly pompous, it sounds like you’re being sarcastic.”

“Then, I will think about it objectively. So now, please excuse myself Mr. President, I do not want to take away your precious time any longer…”

“Why would you go this far for it?” Si-Jin abruptly interrupted her farewell speech with a disgruntled groan.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you intend to hide it at all costs?”

Hide? What? It could not be that he also knew about the human being loitering outside?! Na-Yool’s pupils shook violently. Si-Jin then looked down at her with a look of disappointment and said: “I tried to pretend not to know because your unnecessarily persistent will to meet him secretly was kind of cute but…”

“……”

“The more I look at it, the less I can tell whether you are so desperately hiding for this person’s sake, or because of me.”

Two words came to Na-Yool’s mind. No way……

Did he really know about it all? Just how?!

“… Do you know everything?”

“Wouldn’t it be weird that I didn’t?”

“No. It is much weirder that you do.”

To the point it gave her chills…

“Do you know how many people in the office are gossiping about it, Ms. Na-Yool.” snorted Si-Jin, inexpressive. But Na-Yool was too devastated to feel offended.

“…In the office? About him? How is that possible?”

“How? I’m surprised you ask, after you let rumors run wide.”

“Whether I did or not, I would have to know about these rumors in the first place…!”

At the horrifying thought that rumors about Lee Sang-Hoon were spreading like fire in the company, Na-Yool tragically concluded that detailed stories about their relationship ‒ which she never really bragged about ‒ might also reach people’s ears. In one word, an insufferable future.

Had she been a little less anxious and restless, a little bit more rational, she might have realized soon enough that the flow of the conversation had some incoherence.

However, Na-Yool’s mind which was until now solely stuck on how to get rid of Sang-Hoon was now filled with murderous thoughts towards him.

“Sure, if you want to play innocent like this…”

Again, an empty concession. A sting without being a real one.

“I didn’t mean to meet this person without anyone knowing… though I did want to hide it.” confessed Na-Yool with a heavy heart.

“… this person?” Si-Jin asked right in her face in an annoyed voice. Kind of depressed, Na-Yool ignored it.

“To be honest, it is not out of concern for anyone. Why would I feel concerned about you? And neither does he.” It was not an attempt to save face but a genuine and sincere statement. Plainly said, Si-Jin had little value in this matter.

Si-Jin faintly narrowed his eyes, but Na-Yool was too busy muttering her distraught feelings to notice the subtle changes in his expression.

“What do you think you are to me… Why would you matter…”

“……”

“I did not care about you at all while I was hiding it.” She was down spirited, but her tone was firm.