I Think I've Poked a Sleeping Bear
Chapter 8
Is It a Coincidence, and Not Fate?
……Does the President not have any work to do these days?
“Good afternoon, Mr. President!”
“We meet again, Lee Dan-a-ssi.”
Now we’re even running into each other in the elevator?
Well, I suppose that can happen. The elevator belongs to everyone working in this company, after all.
“Heading back from a meeting?”
“Yes, sir. What brings you…….”
Oops. Seeing him so often almost made me casually pry into the President’s business. What an insolent employee.
“The weather is lovely today, Mr. President.”
“It’s raining.”
“I—I love the rain. Heavy downpours, hail, commuting in the rain is just the best…….”
Dan-a had never realized she was this type of person.
Had she always been someone who flattered her superiors like this?
Could she really stoop to being this servile…?
Just then, his long arm suddenly reached toward her, almost like a wall-slam.
Wait, is this really happening……!
Thump, thump. Her heart pounded recklessly. But then.
“Which floor?”
“Pardon? Just the third floor…….”
He pressed the button for her and stepped back.
Ah. I was so flustered I hadn’t even pushed the button.
“Keep up the good work.”
“Ah, yes, sir. Thank you…….”
The doors opened, and the President stepped out of the elevator first.
Seriously. Phew. The sheer tension is going to shave years off my life, honestly.
She finally let out a breath of relief. His subtle scent still seemed to linger in the elevator.
This is too hard on me, Mr. President. Please, let’s never run into each other again!
……Or so she wished.
Even after that, from observing meetings to the rooftop garden, the archives, and more! The coincidental encounters kept happening.
Every single time, she bowed and scraped endlessly.
Slumped like a wet rag in her office chair, she suddenly found herself bewildered.
What is this? Where is this exhaustion coming from?
It feels like I run into the President every single day lately.
Why on earth is this happening?
No matter how much I think about it, there’s no reason for a low-ranking employee to bump into the President this often.
……Could it be.
“That confession?”
Dan-a peeked outside from inside the restroom.
He’s not there, right? Definitely not?
There’s no way we’d cross paths all the way in the restroom, but still.
And with the President, no less.
Yet they didn’t have the saying “the unthinkable always happens” for nothing.
“What are you doing, Lee Dan-a?”
“Ack, you startled me!”
Dan-a flinched at Yunseo whispering from right behind her.
“Why aren’t you heading to the conference room?”
“I’m going, I’m going.”
Even as she said that, she didn’t take a single step forward, her eyes darting every which way.
She poked her nose out and took a sniff; for now, there didn’t seem to be any trace of the President’s scent nearby.
By now, she could tell how close he was just by his scent, and there was still no sign of him.
“Lee Dan-a, aren’t you coming? I’m in charge of the meeting materials today, so I have to hurry.”
Dan-a grabbed Yunseo as she moved to leave the restroom.
“Hey, listen. I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself, so could you pour some cold water on me to wake me up?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Yunseo turned on the sink faucet. Dan-a hastily stopped her.
“No, with your words! Pour it with words!”
“What is it now?”
“……It’s about the President. I feel like I’ve been running into him around me a lot lately.”
“Really? The President? But so what? Are you saying that because you’re happy about it?”
“I was just wondering if it might be because of my confession…….”
“What does your confession have to do with seeing the President often?”
“Well, the President heard me confess, right? What if that confession is bothering him, so he keeps lingering around me…….”
Pfft.
Bursting into laughter, Yunseo quickly covered her mouth. Dan-a shot her a glare.
“I know, okay? I know how absurd of a thought it is! But no matter how much I think about it, it’s just strange. Why do I keep running into the President after that confession when I’d never once bumped into him before……?”
“So what you’re saying is, the President heard your confession, got so utterly hung up on you that he’s hovering around you? Even though he doesn’t like you, didn’t hear the confession directly from you, and just happened to overhear it—he’s coming out of his way to see you?”
Hearing it put that way, it really did sound completely ridiculous.
Why would that busy man—no, that exalted king of a man—bother hovering around to see a lowly peasant like me?
“I’m imagining things, right?”
“Yeah. Totally. Besides, the President is getting married soon.”
“Huh? Married?”
“He has a fiancée. Baek Seorin from Dongyeon Group. They say she’s prettier than a celebrity in person, you know? The rumor’s everywhere that the wedding date is set. You didn’t know?”
“I’m swamped with work as it is, where would I find the time to care about the President’s wedding date?”
“What are you talking about? The man you like is getting married, and you don’t care? When you’re supposed to be head over heels for him?”
“Uh? Oh, r-right. I like the President. I only have eyes for him, of course…….”
At this rate, maybe I really should start liking him for real.
I keep forgetting.
Just as she was debating whether to stick a yellow sticky note on her desk to remind herself.
“……I’m sorry.”
Yunseo suddenly spoke with an expression full of deep pity.
“I know you like the President, so I’m sorry I couldn’t say something more encouraging.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like I didn’t know he was engaged. If they’re engaged, of course they’d get married. But when is the date?”
“In two or three months, I heard.”
It was definitely a baseless worry. And a total delusion.
Of course.
There was no way the President would come to the cafeteria, the lounge, or conduct departmental inspections just to run into me under the guise of coincidence.
Who was I to warrant that?
She felt ashamed of herself for briefly worrying that the President might have been unsettled after overhearing that confession.
Besides, when she searched for photos of Dongyeon Group’s Baek Seorin on the internet, it became glaringly obvious how absurd the idea had been.
To think that a man about to marry a woman like this would be hovering around me?
When the President himself possessed an insanely handsome face, no less?
And I thought a man like that came to see me?
“Haha. Lee Dan-a, you really are something.”
Let’s not indulge in ridiculous delusions in front of a man about to be married.
What a picture-perfect couple. I wish them every blessing.
Dan-a clapped quietly to herself.
And yet.
What were the odds of an ordinary employee running into the President on her way home from work?
“What a coincidence, Lee Dan-a-ssi.”
……Is it really? We live in completely different areas and take different routes home, don’t we?
At this point, isn’t it closer to fate than a coincidence?
When things like this keep happening over and over, how am I not supposed to get the wrong idea?
“…….”
No, of course I won’t get the wrong idea. He’s getting married in three months.
A heavenly woman and a heavenly man.
“Good evening, Mr. President!”
She greeted him cheerfully.
“You still have plenty of energy even at the end of the day. Get in. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Pardon? Oh, no, it’s quite all right. It would be a hassle for you, so I’m fine.”
“What if it isn’t a hassle? It’s fine, so get in. I’m not the one driving anyway.”
He personally opened the car door for her.
“Uh…….”
Her gaze naturally drifted toward his car.
Sleek, black, and gleaming….
A Mercedes-Maybach S-Class!
Priced around 320 to 400 million won.
The pinnacle of luxury as the supreme flagship of the S-Class line.
Equipped with a V8 4.0-liter twin-turbo engine or a V12 6.0-liter engine. Going from zero to a hundred in four to five seconds—a large sedan boasting sports-car-level acceleration.
And what about the interior?
Wood trim paired with top-tier Nappa leather and massage seats.
A stable ride quality described as ‘floating on a cloud.’
Soundproofing so quiet you could hear the silence.
The odds of riding in a car like this in one’s lifetime were lower than the odds of the President chasing after me!
“Then I would be extremely grateful if you could drop me off along the way.”
She swiftly hopped into the car.
Stepping into such a precious vehicle made her humble body instinctively adopt a polite posture.
Silence fell.
Perhaps because the car was so exceptional, it truly didn’t feel like being inside a vehicle at all.
It was extraordinarily quiet. Almost to an embarrassing degree.
Would sitting here silently make me seem insolent? Should I say something?
“Do you have someone to eat dinner with, Lee Dan-a-ssi?”
Too late. I let the President initiate small talk first.
Is this how you’re going to handle corporate life, Lee Dan-a?
“No, sir. The company is far from my parents’ house, so I live on my own.”
“Same as me.”
“Ah, so you live alone too, Mr. President.”
It wasn’t technically wrong, but why did the phrase ‘living alone’ sound so completely mismatched with him?
He must have felt the same way, as a faint chuckle slipped from his lips.
Haha. She offered an awkward smile in return.
“Lee Dan-a-ssi.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Would you like to have dinner with me before you go?”
“Ah, yes, yes, sir!”
Wait, what?
Office worker Lee Dan-a had instinctively answered before her brain could even register the question.
