I Think I've Poked a Sleeping Bear
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Do I Like You?
“It’s lunchtime. We should go eat.”
“Then why aren’t you wearing an overcoat…?”
“Why would I bundle up when I’m going to the cafeteria?”
“T-The cafeteria?”
Why on earth was he going to the cafeteria—somewhere he had never stepped foot in before—at this exact timing…?
“Aren’t you coming? If you have plans, you can eat on your own.”
“I can do tha— No, sir. I’m coming right now.”
***
…I got dumped.
Without even getting to confess.
Sob. How many nights had she spent weeping herself to sleep?
Lifting her head while working, Dan-a saw Yunseo and Ji-hoon exchanging something akin to sign language before slipping out.
Ah, so that was their secret signal.
To think I only see it now.
You jerks!
My heartache, my emotional wounds!
Her wounds hadn’t even begun to heal yet, but she still had to eat lunch with the two of them.
She had considered going out to eat alone, but seriously—of all days to have no appetite, why did today’s menu have to be braised pork back ribs?
They had such a gorgeous, glossy brown glaze.
The tender meat slid right off the bone in a single bite.
Thinking she might as well nourish her body at this point, she was happily tearing into the ribs when…
She heard someone whisper in a hushed gasp.
“It’s the President!”
Immediately followed by a flurry of hushed murmurs: “The President? For real? It’s really him! No way! What’s the President doing down in the cafeteria?”
Dan-a looked up.
Did someone turn on a spotlight?
A complexion so brilliantly radiant it dazzled the eyes, alluring eyes, and captivating lips.
A being who could make the god of beauty jealous had stepped into the cafeteria and was serving himself food.
What brought him here, though?
Not just any executive, but the President himself eating in the cafeteria? It seemed to be a first since she had joined the company.
Ah, he must have been busy. Seeing him in just a dress shirt without a jacket or tie, he appeared to have come straight down from work.
He really did look like the main character of a comic book.
Looks, physique, aura—he had it all.
His family owned Saja Group, and his title was President.
Brilliant, competent at work…
What must it be like to live a life with nothing lacking?
Someone like him probably never experienced the pain of heartbreak.
She had lived her life believing that an ordinary life was best, but just for today, she envied him.
As she watched the President with pure curiosity, like staring at a celebrity, was it just her imagination that their eyes met as he looked around?
It probably was. The table where she sat was quite far away.
However, the fact that he was walking in this direction didn’t seem to be a delusion.
Indeed, it wasn’t.
The President sat down at the table right next to Dan-a.
“…….”
Right. Anyone has the freedom to sit wherever they want.
Just as she was about to resume eating, Ji-hoon and Yunseo stared at her with eyes filled with eager excitement, as if watching a dating reality show.
“Why…?”
Yunseo and Ji-hoon kept rolling their eyes toward the adjacent table.
They even wore sly, knowing smiles.
What? What is it?
Baffled, the moment she turned her head in the direction their gazes pointed—
Her eyes locked straight with the President’s.
Good grief. He really is handsome.
Even knowing it beforehand, it’s startling.
It’s not my restaurant, but it’s still amazing how such an esteemed person came to a humble cafeteria like this…
Wait!
Suddenly, along with the feeling that she had forgotten something, an ominous premonition washed over her.
What? What is it? What’s going on?
At the strange sensation that struck her out of nowhere, Dan-a quickly averted her eyes first. Right then, Yunseo placed a hand over hers and whispered in a low voice.
“Must be nice, Dan-a.”
What’s nice?
“Getting to look at the face of the guy you like while eating lunch.”
What are you talking about?
Who do I like—
Gasp!
“Holy shit!”
Ah, right. I ‘like’ the President, don’t I?
…She barely managed to clamp a hand over her mouth before letting those words slip out.
She had completely forgotten.
Whom she had targeted, and what kind of lie she had spun.
Once she grasped the situation, heat rushed belatedly to her face.
Earlier, she had just assumed he came down because he was busy.
Could the President coming down to the cafeteria really be because hearing my confession caused a change of heart…?
“……,”
Nah. No matter how she looked at it, that was being way too self-conscious.
This company belonged to the President, not to her.
Wasn’t it the owner’s prerogative to eat wherever he pleased?
Still, as a member of the Crisis Management Team…
If by any chance—just maybe—this situation arose because of that bogus confession, how was she supposed to handle it?
‘Um, President. What I said recently wasn’t true.’
‘Who are you again?’
Haha, of course.
How on earth would the President know who she was?
He might not even have heard.
Though it wasn’t a distance where he couldn’t have heard.
Besides, hadn’t she spoken quite loudly?
Loud enough for someone behind a closed emergency staircase door to hear clear as day.
No, could his hearing be bad?
Since he was a President who was flawless in every way, couldn’t he have at least one flaw?
Piling thought upon thought, she subtly shielded her face with her hand and glanced sideways at Lee Heon.
Flinch. Feeling like their eyes had met once more, she hastily jerked her gaze away.
Dammit, should I get down on my knees right now and beg for forgiveness?
‘Um, President. In truth, I don’t actually like you.’
‘And?’
‘Pardon?’
‘So what? You think you’re the only woman who likes me?’
…Yeah. That sounded about right. He’d definitely say something like that.
He even had that haughty look that made him completely unapproachable.
“By the way, it’s my first time seeing the President this close, and he really is cool.”
Ji-hoon, sitting across from her, whispered in a barely audible voice. Yunseo, sitting right beside him, widened her eyes and chimed in.
“Even to a guy like you, Ji-hoon-ssi?”
“Yeah. He’s tall, and his skin is so good it glows. I think he’s more handsome than most actors. His proportions look straight out of a webtoon. For a company president to look like that is a total waste.”
“He’s great at his job too. Our company’s stock price has shot up like crazy lately.”
“Exactly. He’s handsome, capable… The woman who marries a guy like that won’t be ordinary eith—”
Nudge. Yunseo poked Ji-hoon while watching Dan-a’s reaction.
Realizing his slip, Ji-hoon flashed an awkward smile and looked at Dan-a.
“Dan-a. You know you’re pretty too, right?”
Really…?
Nearly swayed by Ji-hoon’s sudden compliment, she snapped back to her senses.
If you knew I was pretty, why did you date Yunseo?
In your eyes, I probably wasn’t prettier than Yunseo.
Bastard. You could have at least told me beforehand.
Yunseo, you’re just as bad.
While she was firing curses with her eyes…
Right in front of her face, Ji-hoon stealthily placed a pork rib onto Yunseo’s rice.
Yunseo covertly checked their surroundings, smiled softly, and bit into the rib.
Han Jihoon, Kim Yoonseo. Are you seriously flirting right in front of my eyes?
Come to think of it, watching the two of them was supposed to make her depressed…
Yet somehow, because she was so conscious of the President sitting nearby, she didn’t even feel heartbroken anymore.
It felt oddly like she had been caught in an invisible net.
No. It’s all in my head. Just my imagination.
Right now is the time to focus on the pain of heartbreak.
Be sad! Feel the pain!
Yet it wasn’t easy. The very person who heard her confession was right next to her.
On top of that, the confession was fake. To make matters worse, he was someone she couldn’t offer any explanation to.
Without the slightest clue what she had done because of them, Yunseo and Ji-hoon kept acting all lovey-dovey right before her eyes.
With no time to even mourn, her head was a chaotic mess.
Her current mental algorithm:
The President; fake confession to the President.
Explain to the President. What do I even say to him?
The President has no interest in me; but I have no interest in him either.
Time will probably solve it; these ribs are delicious.
Should I get some more? …was how it went.
