Chapter 42
42. I'm Sorry2021.09.22.
Pretending to be friends. If that was all that was allowed, he could pretend as much as she wanted. Ji-heon was a person who had no aversion to false relationships. He had always lived that way. He couldn't suffocate her first between the superior and subordinate, so if she proposed a relationship, he welcomed it. To him, the title of friend was just a means. Ji-heon looked at Jeong-o with affectionate eyes. Jeong-o hid the back of her hand, where Ji-heon had just kissed, behind her back and glared at him. Even that was a pleasure for Ji-heon.
"But if I'm friends with you, is there that much of an age difference that I feel younger?"
"Of course. It's not just one or two years, but three years."
"You even know my age."
As Ji-heon pointed out sharply, the eyes that had been meeting his subtly turned elsewhere before returning.
"Yes. My team leader told me."
"Looking at it, your team leader seems very interested in me too."
"Yes. Everyone on our team is very interested in you, Director."
"But if we're going to be friends, are you going to call me Director?"
"Then what should I do?"
"You can just call me by my name."
"……."
"……You can call me Oppa, too."
At his subtly hopeful words, Jeong-o curled her lips and swallowed her laughter. She remembered the man who smiled whenever she called him Oppa seven years ago. Ah, don't fall into sentimentality, Lee Jung-o. Don't forget your mission! Jeong-o bowed instead of answering. She couldn't stand with him for long in her neighborhood.
"Then, then I'll be going now. Thank you for the ride."
She quickly bowed and ran away. She didn't even look back. Ji-heon didn't chase after her and just watched her go. After a while, she turned and entered the alley. As soon as she disappeared from sight, a hot sigh escaped from Ji-heon's lips. It felt like he had taken his first step. He had told Seung-gyu that it wasn't romantic feelings, but somehow a similar tingling sensation had arisen. He was still tormented by lust like appetite, but he didn't hate the time he spent getting to know her. As he quietly smiled, his phone vibrated. It was his friend Seung-gyu.
"Hello."
[Hey, where are you?]
Seung-gyu's voice sounded unusually small. There was a hint of caution in his tone.
"I went to work and now I'm about to go home."
[Oh. Really? Should I buy you dinner?]
"Isn't it the weekend? Shouldn't you be spending time with your family?"
[No, I have something to tell you.]
"What is it?"
[……You'll come to my house on Monday, right?]
Ah. Ji-heon, recalling the promise he made a few days ago, chuckled. Seung-gyu had come to him a few days ago and asked him for that favor, and he seemed worried because he hadn't given him a definite answer.
"I'll go, so don't worry."
Ji-heon readily agreed.
[Oh, really? Really?]
"Yeah."
[Wow. What's gotten into you. Thank you so, so much! I'll be good to you from now on! My friend. I really like you.]
An overwhelmed Seung-gyu expressed his gratitude with an exaggerated declaration of love. Ji-heon thought Seung-gyu was a really good father. And of course, a good friend too. Jeong-o ran home quickly. Her heart was pounding.
'It's going well. It's going well.'
It was a bit unsettling that he kissed her hand. But anyway, he readily accepted the friend proposal. He didn't seem to have any suspicious eyes. Get closer to him little by little. Be careful not to provoke Chae Eun-bi. As she neared her house, Jeong-o slowed down. Convinced that Ji-heon wasn't following her, Jeong-o slowly composed herself.
"Looks like you're coming home."
"Ah!"
In the meantime, someone spoke to her from behind. Kwon Bae-il, the police officer, deftly grabbed Jeong-o, who was startled by the sound and almost fell backward.
"Officer."
"Hello."
Jeong-o straightened herself with Bae-il's help. She felt embarrassed for no reason.
"The reason I was so surprised is not because I was doing anything bad."
"Yes. I know. I startled you."
"It's okay. I'm coming home from work, are you coming from somewhere too, Officer?"
"Yes. I was playing soccer……."
"Ah, soccer."
"There's a soccer club at the station."
"You're running around catching criminals every day, how do you even play soccer on the weekends?"
"You can't kick criminals with your feet, you know."
Ah. Jeong-o couldn't help but laugh at the thought of him catching criminals with that beautiful face and a fierce expression. Seeing Jeong-o laugh, Bae-il also gave a gentle smile. But, beneath that smile, Jeong-o caught a scene she couldn't laugh at anymore.
"Oh! Officer! Mosquito! Mosquito!"
Wasn't there a mosquito sitting on Bae-il's exposed forearm! Thwack! Bae-il, who had been smiling blankly, belatedly hit his forearm, but the mosquito nimbly flew away.
"Ah, I got bitten."
Bae-il said slowly, looking down at his forearm. Jeong-o could see that the skin on his forearm was swollen. He can catch criminals but not mosquitoes. I thought he looked too naive to be a police officer, but he does have a bit of a simpleton side. I bet it's itchy…….
"Officer, just a moment."
Jeong-o took out a transparent tape from her bag. It had become a habit to carry tape in her bag to stick A4 paper on the wall when preparing for Competitive Presentations. Jeong-o cut a small piece of tape and stuck it on Bae-il's forearm.
"This will make it less itchy."
"Oh. That's a life hack. Thank you."
Bae-il nodded as if it was a brilliant tip.
* Sunday lunch. Eun-bi went out to meet Ms. Jang Young-mi as promised. All the way there, Eun-bi was anxious and nervous. She was so afraid that Ji-heon would have revealed everything to Ms. Jang first. Eun-bi sat in the seat she was guided to in the fancy restaurant, waiting for Ms. Jang with a trembling heart. Ms. Jang appeared 10 minutes late.
"Mother!"
Eun-bi tried to hide her nervousness and stood up with a bright smile.
"Yes. Eun-bi. I'm late. The traffic was bad."
"It's okay, Mother."
Eun-bi's face relaxed at Ms. Jang's expression, which was welcoming without any other signs.
"Do you like French food, Eun-bi? I made the reservation as I pleased, I don't know if it will suit your taste."
"Mother, I eat everything well. I eat what you buy me even better."
"Yes. That's why you're so pretty."
Eun-bi felt good at Ms. Jang's compliment. Soon, the course meals were served one by one. Eun-bi's heart ached at the feeling of receiving treatment she had never received from Ji-heon.
"Is work not hard?"
Ms. Jang asked in the middle of the meal. Eun-bi sighed shallowly and answered.
"Work is okay, but there's a problem with people."
"A problem with people?"
"There's a friend I have some trouble with."
"You have trouble, Eun-bi?"
Ms. Jang smiled as if she found Eun-bi cute.
"Actually, my high school classmate recently transferred and came in as a copywriter. But she hates me a lot."
"Why? Our pretty Eun-bi."
"That friend is a Deputy Manager, but I'm a Manager, is that why? I don't know."
Eun-bi smiled with a tired expression and continued.
"In high school, that friend's family situation wasn't good. I felt sorry for her and tried to take care of her a lot, but I think she still has those memories of inferiority."
"Oh dear. All that gratitude from back then has turned into inferiority! Well, you're a Manager and she's a Deputy Manager, how envious she must be of you."
"And actually, that friend is from a single-parent family. Even if they try to hide it, single-parent families tend to show it. It can't be helped. Even if problems arise, there's no proper adult to tell them that it's wrong."
“That’s right. I also told our Ji-heon from a young age to be careful of children from single-parent families. Oh my, I really connect well with Eun-bi!”
Eun-bi felt proud as Ms. Jang chimed in. In fact, she knew very well that Ms. Jang disliked single-parent families, having heard it from her Oppa, Eun-yeop. Eun-bi internally fueled her determination. She would not break up with Jeong Ji-heon. She would especially not allow Lee Jung-o to take her place.
The next day. After endless meetings, it was already evening. Jeong-o took down all the papers that had been stuck to the wall. Chae Eun-bi, who hadn't shown her face all weekend, suddenly took a day off today. It felt bitter as if she was shirking responsibility, but thanks to that, the Competitive Presentation preparation seemed to be going smoothly, so she didn't feel too bad. Today, they were going to finalize the production direction. Once the direction was finalized, the work of creating the advertisement drafts based on it would proceed.
“Let’s start the meeting at 7. Someone go tell the Director that the meeting will start at 7.”
Who's going to bell the cat? At Mi-ran's instruction, everyone lowered their heads.
“I’ll go.”
Left with no choice, Jeong-o stepped forward.
For Ji-heon, it was a busy Monday. After attending the Max Planning executive meeting, going to two external meetings, and plowing through a mountain of approval documents, it was evening. Ji-heon, having tidied up his desk, got up and put on his suit jacket. He was supposed to meet Seung-gyu in the parking lot in 10 minutes. It was the day he was going to meet the children. It was the first time he was making time for ‘the children’ personally, not for work. Just as he was about to leave his office, there was a knock on the door and it opened. It was Lee Jung-o, whom he hadn't seen all day. Even amidst moving according to his schedule, his heart was glad, and his eyes shone. Her voice was very businesslike.
“Director, the meeting is ready. Is 7 o’clock okay for you?”
The other day, she said she would be his friend. Anyway, he didn't forget his duty as a director and asked her.
“What meeting?”
“You said we were going to decide on the production direction for the Competitive Presentation today.”
Ah…….
“Are you leaving work now, Director?”
Ji-heon closed his eyes tightly and quietly sighed. He belatedly remembered what he had told the production team last week. When he received a report from the planning team leader in the morning, he had hastily concluded that the production meeting would also be postponed because the related research data would arrive tomorrow.
“Let’s postpone it to tomorrow morning.”
Jeong-o looked troubled at Ji-heon's decision.
"I heard you didn’t have any schedule today, so we arranged it for today.”
“Something suddenly came up. Let’s do it tomorrow morning. The planning side also said the research data isn’t ready, so I’ll check that together tomorrow.”
Jeong-o's gaze sharpened at Ji-heon's answer. Aha, I’ve caught you. Jeong-o, who had once worked late like cramming for Yena's birthday, couldn't miss this opportunity now. Jeong-o raised her chin high and retorted.
“If the decision is delayed, it could disrupt other schedules, Director.”
You have your own work to do, but you're trying to run away. You suffer too.
“What is it, Director?”
“Personal matter.”
“What personal matter?”
“……”
“I hope you’ll go after work. It’s something that you’re essential for, Director.”
Jeong-o pouted her plump lips with a sulky expression and snapped. Ji-heon's eyes narrowed as he noticed Jeong-o's intention.
“Are you taking revenge?”
“No. I’m saying let’s think from each other’s perspective.”
“I said I was sorry back then.”
“Honestly, it was just lip service, wasn’t it?”
Ji-heon couldn't move at Jeong-o's remark. He was someone who couldn't empathize well with other people's emotions. Not only the exit of emotions, but somewhere the entrance was also completely blocked. He had no choice but to admit this fact.
“I lack empathy.”
“……”
“This is also because of the accident 7 years ago, but anyway, I’ve never tried to understand someone, so it’s my fault.”
Her stubbornness, as if she was demanding to go into the meeting, was cute, but he couldn't grant her request this time either. He wanted to keep that small promise from 3 weeks ago. The little child who said let's definitely meet again next, next, next Monday. He didn't want to make that child cry. If that child didn't resemble you, I wouldn't be so concerned. So please understand. He took half a step closer and said politely.
“I’m sorry. I was really sorry back then.”
Half a step.
“I’m sorry.”
Another half a step.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“Sorry.”
Jeong-o shrugged her shoulders. Her heart fluttered.
“Sorry.”
The closer he got, the shorter the words of apology became. The friendly tone, as if he was really talking to a friend, was heard tickling her eyelashes in front of her face at the very end. She couldn't help but look at him with trembling eyes. It was a gaze that she couldn't tell whether he was apologizing or seducing her. He tilted his head to the side and smiled.
“Are we good?”
Oh, this man! She was mesmerized and dazed, then she suddenly came to her senses and widened her eyes in embarrassment. He, convinced that he had received permission, took a step back and bowed.
“See you tomorrow.”
The door opened, and he left first. Jeong Ji-heon, you bastard! It felt like she had been toyed with by her superior's coquetry. Jeong-o was so angry that she couldn't tell anyone about this.
