Sponsorship Stigma
Chapter 12
Chapter 12
- A Crazy Woman
“Jeong Yeonjae.”
At his pressing tone, Yeonjae pressed a hand to her forehead. Her lips trembled.
A deep sigh escaped her slowly parting lips.
“Really… why are you doing this?”
Her voice shook as she asked him.
“You’re not someone with time to waste, CEO Gu Jeheon.”
He was a man who had always been too busy to catch his breath, someone she could only ever see at the Residence.
“It might seem like nothing to you, but this is my workplace. Why are you putting me in such a difficult position?”
“I’ve never done that.”
She was about to ask what else he would call this if not putting her in a difficult position.
“I never thought it was nothing, either.”
With a resolute gaze, Jeheon stepped closer to Yeonjae.
“And for the record, I’m in a pretty difficult position myself.”
The closer he got, the deeper his voice resonated in her ears.
“Because I don’t even know why I had to come all the way down here.”
“……”
“Just like you said, buying coffee beans I don’t even drink—wondering if I really have to go this far.”
Striding forward with brisk, confident steps, Jeheon came to a halt right in front of her.
In an instant, her path was completely blocked.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
Meeting Jeheon’s direct gaze, every nerve in her body flared to life.
His piercing, relentless stare seemed to demand an answer from her on the spot.
He acted completely shameless, as if she were somehow obligated to take his calls.
“I did answer. I sent a text making my refusal crystal clear.”
Because she had undeniably sent a text instead of taking his call.
And wondering if a reply would come, she had spent all morning fidgeting with her phone.
“Didn’t you see the message? I definitely sent it. Look, right here…”
Yeonjae unlocked the screen of the phone in her hand, trying to show him the chat window.
“I didn’t look.”
“Pardon?”
Wondering if she had misheard, she looked up and met his dark, unwavering eyes.
“Isn’t that a bit too cold between you and me?”
Yeonjae’s lips parted, trembling slightly. That wasn’t something she ever expected to hear from Jeheon’s mouth.
She stared up at him in sheer disbelief.
With uncharacteristic courtesy, Jeheon opened the passenger door of the car parked beside them.
“You said this is your workplace. If you’re fine having this conversation here, by all means, go ahead.”
With that, he gestured behind her.
Turning around, she saw the manager and the remaining customers in the cafe all staring at the two of them.
Inside the car, it was beyond quiet—it was completely desolate.
The only sounds were the white noise from outside and the guidance voice from the navigation system.
Yeonjae glanced at the navigation screen.
She had thought he only had her get in the car to talk.
Seeing that the destination address was in Daejeon, it seemed they were heading somewhere nearby.
He was probably taking her somewhere to talk about the Foundation contract.
No matter how much Yeonjae refused, once Jeheon made up his mind, there was no avoiding the conversation.
Just like how she had ended up leaving the cafe early.
Feeling inexplicably subdued, Yeonjae looked down to check her phone.
Twenty minutes had already passed.
Even though she had finished early at the cafe, she had academy classes later and couldn’t afford to go far.
“I can’t go far. I have to go to work somewhere else. There’s a large cafe nearby. Let’s just go there.”
Yeonjae reached out to change the destination on the screen.
“Don’t. We’re going to eat.”
Jeheon pushed away Yeonjae’s hand from the navigation screen.
Even though his touch was light and fleeting, Yeonjae flinched—visibly enough for him to notice.
Yeonjae hastily pulled her hand back, holding it close to her chest.
“Besides, you still have time before your academy classes.”
The fact that Jeheon knew her upcoming schedule didn’t even register in her mind.
“What’s wrong?”
Sensing her silence, Jeheon glanced over at Yeonjae from the road ahead.
He seemed to notice her frozen in that awkward posture.
Feeling an odd rush of emotion belatedly wash over her, Yeonjae quickly lowered her hand.
“I don’t need a meal.”
“I’ve already made a reservation.”
“If you go straight, there’s a big cafe. Please go there instead.”
Yeonjae refused firmly.
The mere thought of sitting across from him over a meal made her feel suffocated.
“…I’m afraid I’ll get indigestion.”
People often talked about dieting after giving birth.
But Yeonjae had shed weight drastically, ending up lighter than she had been before pregnancy.
Between raising a child alone and doing exhausting physical labor, there was never any chance to gain weight.
Her stomach, shrunken from those days, hadn’t recovered even after five years.
She couldn’t eat much anyway, and knowing Jeheon, he had undoubtedly reserved an expensive restaurant.
Leaving food behind would only make things uncomfortably awkward.
That was why she gave that reason, wanting to avoid such an uncomfortable situation.
Dissatisfied with Yeonjae’s stubborn stance, Jeheon remained silent for a long while.
After a protracted pause, his lips finally parted.
“Jeong Yeonjae, do you hate me?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Yeonjae froze.
“Yes.”
After only a momentary hesitation, Yeonjae answered without needing to think twice.
“For someone who hates me, you seemed to know my coffee preferences pretty well.”
At the faint scoff coming from beside her, Yeonjae’s head whipped around automatically.
“What?”
“……”
“If you hate someone, shouldn’t you forget things like that?”
At his calm question, a dry, bitter taste filled her mouth.
There were things she couldn’t forget, no matter how desperately she wanted to.
Even the memories of Myeonghee, who had tormented her, remained vivid—so how could she possibly forget the memories of Jeheon, whom she had loved?
The years she had loved him were far longer than the time she had spent away from Seoul.
Part of her wanted to just lay it all out honestly.
That she had only learned his coffee preferences back when they were dating, and that having been abandoned by him, it was only natural she resented him now.
But she knew full well that saying such things would only get her treated like a crazy woman.
Yeonjae’s trembling lips slowly parted.
“You know the reason.”
Did things end well between you and me? She swallowed the words that surged to the tip of her tongue.
Yeonjae had been honest until the very end.
She had told him they were lovers, that it was all a misunderstanding, but it was Jeheon who had refused to believe her.
As the car stopped at a red light, Jeheon, who had been looking straight ahead, turned his gaze toward Yeonjae.
The man’s eyes, staring at her steadily, were opaque.
He gazed at her with eyes clouded with indecipherable thoughts.
“Because of what happened five years ago?”
He asked in a calm, flat tone.
Though asked so nonchalantly, the question sent massive shockwaves through Yeonjae.
She had never imagined he would be the one to bring up what happened five years ago.
When he was the one desperate for the contract, bringing up that day was nothing short of scratching at her raw wounds.
Yeonjae lifted her head, which had been cast down.
He couldn’t possibly be talking about that.
Their eyes locked steadily.
As if it hadn’t been a slip of the tongue, Jeheon’s eyes were deadly serious.
“Are you still holding on to that? It’s been five years.”
“……”
“Ah, is that why you were so opposed to the Foundation’s contract? Because of that?”
As his careless speculations mounted, Yeonjae’s body stiffened rigidly.
She didn’t want to hear another word dismissing the event that had tormented her all these years as mere “past history.”
“I don’t want to talk about that anymore.”
“Don’t we have to talk about it to resolve it? If it’s about conditions, I came prepared to match whatever you want.”
At his callous reply, Yeonjae’s eyes snapped wide and sharp.
“I’m getting out. Pull the car over.”
Saying this, Yeonjae reached for the door handle.
She was ready to jump out the moment he stopped the car. Glancing over at her, Jeheon’s expression contorted violently.
“Are you crazy?”
In a flash, his right hand shot out and seized Yeonjae’s wrist.
At the heat radiating from her wrist, Yeonjae flinched.
“We’re in the middle of driving.”
While he demanded an explanation, her eyes remained fixed on his grip around her hand. Her heart hammered erratically.
It was different from when their hands had merely brushed earlier.
As if dormant sensations forgotten for years were roaring back to life, every nerve in her body focused on her arm.
Yeonjae tried to wrench her wrist free. But the more she struggled, the tighter his grip became.
She snapped her head up.
“Cut it out. Can’t you see the car is moving?”
“……”
“Why have you changed like this? Why are you being so reckless?”
Looking up, she was met with Jeheon’s fiercely twisted expression.
While just recalling that incident shook Yeonjae to her core, Jeheon was completely unaffected.
To him, the only annoyance was Yeonjae acting obstinate right now.
She had only intended to get out once the car came to a complete stop. No matter how shaken she was, she still had that much sanity left.
But looking at the man before her, she saw no reason to bother explaining herself.
“Yes. I’ve completely lost my mind. So pull over.”
The same went for the contract.
When she first got into his car, she had intended to give him a proper refusal.
She had thought that refusing via text instead of a call might indeed have lacked courtesy.
But now, there was no longer any reason to be courteous.
“I’m just a crazy woman, then and now. Does a lunatic ever need a reason for what she does?”
Catching the sarcasm in her tone, Jeheon wrinkled the sleek bridge of his nose.
It was a habit of his whenever something displeased him.
It was laughable that she was even thinking about such a detail in this situation.
“I’m getting out, so let go of this—”
Before she could even finish saying hand.
The car decelerated abruptly and came to a full stop on the shoulder of the road.
Jeheon stepped out of the car before Yeonjae could.
In an instant, he strode over to the passenger side and yanked the door open.
“Just as you said, you clearly aren’t in your right mind, so get out.”
Jeheon raised his hand, hailing a taxi that pulled over immediately.
He then ushered Yeonjae, who had stepped out of his car, into the taxi.
“Remember this. You’re the one who refused to listen this time, Jeong Yeonjae.”
And leaving her with those low, warning words, he slammed the door shut.
