The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
33.
“Don’t just take the blame when you’re innocent—just tell the truth. Who gave it to you?”
Hye-eun asked with a look of concern.
“Is there some reason you can’t talk about it?”
If Yeon-seo told the truth, it would harm Kang Joo-heon. And of course, Yeon-seo herself as well.
She could feel the entire office holding its breath, eyes fixed on them. If she named Kang Joo-heon here, no matter how tightly the company tried to keep it under wraps, it would leak out one hundred percent.
Back during the hickey incident, Yeon-seo had suffered nightmares for days on end. Dreams where her name, personal details, and photos were splashed all over the internet, with the entire nation tearing her apart and gossiping viciously. How relieved she had been each morning upon opening her eyes to realize it was just a dream. Now, that nightmare was on the verge of becoming reality.
Would that truly be better than being framed as a thief?
“……”
In the end, Yeon-seo couldn’t utter a word.
When Yeon-seo kept her mouth firmly shut to the end, Hye-eun stepped forward again.
“Head of Department.”
This time, she was addressing the Head of the PR Office.
“It seems Manager Jeong Yeon-seo has some circumstances she can’t talk about, and cornering someone like this without clear evidence doesn’t seem right. Since the item is already lost, I’ll speak to my own department head to handle it properly, so why don’t we quietly wrap this up instead of making unnecessary noise?”
“If Manager Seong would do that, I’d be most grateful!”
The Head of the PR Office looked relieved. Naturally, since the person singled out as the culprit was an employee of the PR Office, the department head wanted nothing more than to sweep it under the rug.
Of course, letting it pass quietly merely meant that the company wouldn’t launch a formal investigation or call the police; it did not mean the matter would be forgotten in silence.
Everyone who had just witnessed and heard this believed that Yeon-seo had stolen it. If this had been someone else’s affair, Yeon-seo would have thought the exact same thing. Claiming she had received it as a gift and therefore couldn’t provide proof of purchase, yet unable to even say who gave it to her—to anyone watching, wasn’t that the pathetic excuse of a thief?
Now, before lunchtime even arrived, the rumor would spread throughout the entire company.
That Jeong Yeon-seo of the PR Office’s CSR Team was a thief!
Feeling stares coming from every direction, Yeon-seo couldn’t bear to sit in the office any longer.
“I’m sorry, Team Leader. Please handle today as me taking an annual leave day.”
Leaving those words behind, Yeon-seo fled from the office.
*
Having gone up to the rooftop, Hye-eun burst into the laughter she had barely managed to hold back.
“Ahahaha!”
To think things would turn out so bizarrely well!
The problematic Apple Phone had been taken by Hye-eun. Of course, from the start, she had intended to pin it on Jeong Yeon-seo.
Yet since there was no evidence, she had thought casting suspicion on her would be enough, but the situation had taken an unexpected turn and led straight to a confirmed guilty verdict. It was an unforeseen jackpot.
Even after laughing for a long time, the smile did not leave Hye-eun’s face.
‘Why did she have to go and change her phone right at this exact moment? How generous of her.’
What’s more, by some miracle, Yeon-seo couldn’t even reveal where she had gotten the phone. Earlier, Hye-eun had caught onto that hesitation and stepped in to fan the flames.
[Manager Jeong Yeon-seo isn’t that kind of person. Don’t just take the blame for something you didn’t do when you’re innocent—just tell the truth. Who gave it to you?]
Now, the phone had truly become something Jeong Yeon-seo stole. In the entire world, the only two people who knew Jeong Yeon-seo was innocent were Hye-eun and Yeon-seo herself. Naturally, Hye-eun had no intention of revealing the truth, and no one would believe Yeon-seo’s word, leaving her with no way to ever prove her innocence.
Just like that, a lie was disguised as the truth.
‘Did she actually steal it from somewhere? Seeing how she couldn’t speak up.’
Hye-eun thought delightfully. She didn’t feel a single shred of guilt toward Yeon-seo, who had suddenly been framed as a thief. Because Jeong Yeon-seo deserved to be punished.
‘You should have known your place.’
You shouldn’t have challenged me at every turn—someone on an entirely different level from you. You shouldn’t have looked me straight in the eye and talked back so brazenly. You shouldn’t have dared to wag your tail at a man far out of your league.
Naturally, Hye-eun believed that Yeon-seo must have seduced Joo-heon during that time, which was why Joo-heon was protecting her like that. In the first place, wasn’t it Jeong Yeon-seo who pounced on Kang Joo-heon?
‘For the daughter of a gimbap shop owner, her dreams are far too big.’
If that was her goal, she should have snapped up Kang Joo-heon’s marriage proposal right away. Why did she put on airs, saying she couldn’t marry him and offering to find his first love instead? Thinking about it now, even that seemed like part of Jeong Yeon-seo’s scheme. Playing hard to get just to make him crave her even more.
At any rate, out of sight, out of mind. Right now, Kang Joo-heon was putting up an iron wall against her, but once Jeong Yeon-seo disappeared from the company, who knew what might happen?
‘The secretary position will be vacant soon, so should I try going for it again?’
The rumor must have already spread wide across the company. No matter how thick-skinned Jeong Yeon-seo might be, how much longer could she endure working here while being pointed at behind her back as a thief?
‘If she lasts a week, I’ll give her a round of applause.’
Whatever happened with Kang Joo-heon in the future, getting rid of Jeong Yeon-seo for now left her feeling light as air.
“Now then, shall I get back to work?”
Stretching languidly, Hye-eun cheerfully headed back to the office.
*
While waiting for the bus at the stop, Yeon-seo gritted her teeth and held back her tears. She felt miserable that even at a time like this, she couldn’t take a taxi because she was terrified of the fare.
Ever since she was young, Yeon-seo had never possessed the things she wanted. A poor household, a mother who ran away. Being sharp enough to read the room from an early age, she had never once spoken up to say she wanted something or wanted to eat something. Even when she wept in secret out of envy over a friend’s doll, even when she dreamed of eating pizza in her sleep because she desperately wanted a single slice that other children ordered so casually, she had still never once thought of stealing someone else’s things.
It was unfair, so agonizingly unfair. And yet, she still had no intention of revealing the truth. She didn’t want to cause trouble for a man she had already burdened, and rumors spreading nationwide branding her as Kang Joo-heon’s woman terrified her far more than the false accusation of being a thief. If it were actually true, that would be one thing, but it wasn’t.
‘I didn’t steal this, right? It’s true, isn’t it?’
She wanted to contact Kang Joo-heon, if only to hear those words. Because he knew this phone wasn’t stolen. Because he was the only one who knew she was innocent.
Yet in reality, she didn’t even know his phone number. With nowhere to voice her grievances, her chest felt as if it would burst.
Throughout the bus ride, Yeon-seo kept fighting back her tears. She intended to act as if nothing were wrong once she arrived home. If she cried, Dad would worry. If he found out what she had suffered, he would be even more heartbroken than she was.
So, she couldn’t cry.
Yet the moment she saw her father’s face, the tears she had held back the entire time came bursting out all at once.
“Dad……!”
Seeing Yeon-seo suddenly return home in the middle of her workday, her father appeared deeply startled.
“What’s wrong? Hm? Did something happen, my daughter?”
Yeon-seo collapsed to the floor and buried her face into the lap of her father sitting in his wheelchair.
“It’s so unfair, it’s just so unfair……!”
*
Yeon-seo locked herself in her room just like that. To her father, she only said that something bad had happened at work and asked him not to press for details. Even though she knew her blameless father was pacing restlessly outside in distress, there was nothing she could do.
The next day, she couldn’t summon the courage to go to work at all, so Yeon-seo called the company.
“I’m sorry, Team Leader. Please let me stay home for just one more day to sort out my thoughts.”
— Sure, take a few days to rest thoroughly and calm your heart. I’ll take care of the leave, so don’t worry about a thing.
The kindhearted Team Leader comforted Yeon-seo. At those warm words, tears welled up and spilled over once more.
“It really wasn’t me, Team Leader. I can’t explain in detail, but I truly didn’t steal that phone.”
— How could I not know that? Of course we believe Manager Jeong Yeon-seo, but the situation is just…….
“We” meant the Team Leader herself and her senior teammate, Eun-jin. Hearing that someone believed in her made it difficult for Yeon-seo to hold back her sobs.
“It’s so unfair, Team Leader……!”
Fearing her father outside might overhear, Yeon-seo stifled her voice, weeping in hitched, trembling gasps.
*
“It’s so unfair, Team Leader……!”
Yeon-seo’s father, Hyeong-sik, gritted his teeth outside Yeon-seo’s door.
His daughter had been a resilient child ever since she was little. With no mother and him, her father, physically disabled, he had never once been able to attend her open classroom visits or sports days when she was in school. When it suddenly rained, he couldn’t even bring her an umbrella. What must Yeon-seo have thought every time she looked at the other children’s parents? Yet his daughter had never once complained.