The Woman Who Stole My Flower
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
#4.
Having suffered from polio, Yeon-seo’s father could barely walk. With a walker, he could manage to move around the house and handle daily tasks to some degree, but standing for long periods to wash dishes was out of the question, so he used a wheelchair in the shop as well. For serving, he asked customers for their understanding and had them pick up their own dishes.
For her disabled father, traveling all the way to England was no easy feat, both financially and, of course, physically. Even so, dreaming of the day that would eventually come, he had been putting away a small amount into savings every month for years. Until he saved enough for a trip to England for the two of them.
“Do you want to watch it with me? The chicken fried up nicely.”
Her father asked as he took golden-brown pieces of fried chicken out of the deep fryer one by one and set them on the strainer.
“Oh, no thanks. I’m a bit tired, so I think I’ll just rest, Dad.”
The chicken was tempting, but Yeon-seo shook her head. She had never been particularly interested in Kang Joo-heon’s matches before, but now she really couldn’t bring herself to watch.
“It’d be nice if you took an interest in overseas soccer too. Why the K League, and why on earth the third division instead of the first or second?”
Her father muttered regretfully. He always found it a pity that despite his daughter liking soccer, she showed zero interest in international leagues.
“I’ll head in first, then.”
“Sure, get some good rest.”
Heading into the living quarters attached behind the snack bar, Yeon-seo thought to herself. Her dad was such a huge fan—shouldn’t she have at least gotten Kang Joo-heon’s autograph?
Then she let out a dry laugh. Handing a piece of paper to a one-night stand saying, ‘My dad’s a huge fan of yours,’ would make even Shim Cheong weep.
After a quick wash, she lay down in bed, but sleep wouldn’t come easily. The sound of the soccer broadcast her father was watching in the living room kept leaking in, ringing Kang Joo-heon’s name repeatedly in her ears.
Just how on earth did I end up spending the night with that man?
No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t remember a thing from that night. Exhausted, Yeon-seo pulled the blanket over her head.
It wasn’t like they’d ever cross paths again anyway. Best to just forget about it.
*
They say gossip rarely lasts more than three days. The hickey scandal—which, with only a slight exaggeration, had sent the entire nation into a frenzy—was no exception. The player hadn’t made any official statement, and the reporters hadn’t uncovered anything. With no further fuel for the fire, the rumors gradually died down.
After a few days, the mark on Yeon-seo’s neck had faded considerably. It was faint enough to be hidden with a touch of foundation, mercifully freeing her from the suffocating scarf.
With her neck unburdened, her mood lightened along with it.
“Good morning!”
Yeon-seo arrived at work, greeting everyone with a brightness she hadn’t felt in a while.
“Good morning, Manager Jung Yeon-seo.”
Yeon-seo was an employee in the Public Relations Office’s CSR (*Corporate Social Responsibility) Team. Currently, she was working on a social contribution campaign called ‘Run Together,’ which handled initiatives like supporting underprivileged children to play sports, sponsoring lower-tier K League teams, and hosting charity marathons and sporting events.
While Bellator was a bona fide global enterprise, the Korean branch—even including staff at directly managed stores—only had around a thousand employees, making it mid-sized. Consequently, the CSR Team consisted of a mere three people, including the Team Leader. Among them, Yeon-seo, who was in her second year at the company, was the youngest.
They held a short team meeting that morning.
“What about the Gyeonggi Bukbu FC matter? How’s the uniform progress going?”
At the Team Leader’s question, Yeon-seo’s senior, Eun-jin, replied.
“They said it should be ready sometime next week. They’ll send it over via courier service as soon as it’s ready.”
“Then how should we deliver it to the team?”
This time, Yeon-seo answered.
“Gyeonggi Bukbu FC happens to have a match next weekend. I’m going to watch it in person, so I’ll deliver it directly then.”
Bellator Korea had recently signed an agreement with the K League third-division team, Gyeonggi Bukbu FC, agreeing to provide equipment such as uniforms and soccer cleats worth 300 million won over two years starting this year. Even though it was only an equipment sponsorship, it was extremely rare for a globally renowned brand like Bellator to sponsor a third-division team.
Yeon-seo happened to be a devoted fan of Gyeonggi Bukbu FC. The partnership had succeeded largely because she had bridged the gap between the two. When management gave instructions to find a lower-league team worthy of Bellator’s social contribution support, Yeon-seo had stayed up all night for a week to produce a proposal on ‘Why It Must Be Gyeonggi Bukbu FC.’ That report had moved the higher-ups to finalize the deal, and Yeon-seo was assigned to be in charge of it.
After wrapping up the brief meeting and gathering the papers on the desk, the Team Leader suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise.
“Wait, why is this still here?”
Looking to see what it was, Yeon-seo saw him holding a manila envelope.
“Manager Jung Yeon-seo, did you not deliver the materials that day?”
“Pardon? To whom?”
“Who else? Player Kang Joo-heon’s agency!”
The Team Leader raised his voice in exasperation.
“Check the company messenger. I sent you the address that day and told you to deliver it since it was urgent!”
Her heart dropping, Yeon-seo frantically opened the company messenger. There, in the chat logs she hadn’t checked for days because nothing had come up, was a conversation she had zero memory of.
Manager Jung, sorry to bother you, but where are you right now?
I’m nearr the offiice.
That’s great. I left the materials on my desk. It’s for our ‘Run Together’ program. I’ll send you the address, so please drop it off. It’s close by, so taking a taxi won’t take long.
Yess
The reason for the typos scattered across the messages was obvious.
‘I was already drunk back then.’
Yeon-seo tried to calm her pounding heart as she pieced together the events of that forgotten night.
That night, she had received a work assignment while completely hammered. Because the Team Leader told her to go, she must have headed to the pinned address without understanding what was going on—completely forgetting to grab the documents in the first place.
And after arriving at Kang Joo-heon’s agency, she must have run right into the man himself.
Running into him at his agency was plausible enough. But no matter how much she stretched her imagination, she couldn’t fathom how on earth he had ended up taking her to his house and spending the night with her.
‘Did Kang Joo-heon fall for me at first sight or something?’
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Yeon-seo shook her head.
‘Ridiculous.’
Yeon-seo wasn’t unaware that she was pretty. Back in college, she had had more men asking her out than she could handle. But celebrities were on an entirely different level of beauty. Kang Joo-heon must see top celebrities all the time. Would someone like him really fall for her at first sight—to the point of giving up his vow of premarital chastity?
‘Aliens appearing at Seoul Station would be more plausible.’
Either way, even if she couldn’t know everything that occurred that night, at least half the mystery was solved. As for the other half, part of her wanted to know, while another part didn’t. She was curious, yet scared to find out. Then again, unless she ran into Kang Joo-heon again, there was no way of knowing anyway.
“I’m sorry, Team Leader. To be honest, I was out drinking at the time, so I must have forgotten because I was drunk.”
Yeon-seo apologized candidly. Since it had been an impromptu work order sent after hours, the Team Leader seemed to find it difficult to blame her any further.
“Never mind. I sent it by email too, so it should be fine. That’s probably why they didn’t say anything.”
Her senior, Eun-jin, chimed in to ask.
“If you already emailed it, why did they need a physical copy?”
The Team Leader put on an annoyed expression himself.
“To cater to our ultimate VIP, obviously. The PR Director told us to deliver a hard copy, so what choice do we have?”
The head of the Public Relations Office was the PR Director. No wonder—it seemed strange because the Team Leader wasn’t the type to give orders like that.
“By the way, why are we sending our program materials to Player Kang Joo-heon’s agency?”
This time Yeon-seo asked. It was an innocent question, but what returned was a bolt from the blue.
“Didn’t I mention it?”
The Team Leader made a face as if just remembering.
“Player Kang Joo-heon is coming in to work at our office tomorrow. Clean up your desks neatly ahead of time.”
“Pardon? Who’s coming to work?”
Yeon-seo doubted her own ears and asked back.
“I said Player Kang Joo-heon. He’s our company’s Honorary Director, isn’t he?”
While Yeon-seo stood frozen, her senior Eun-jin asked in shock as well.
“Wait, what on earth is he going to do at the office?”
“He’s coming to film a video for our company’s official Metube channel. As Bellator’s ambassador and Honorary Director, the concept is that he actually works in the PR Office for a day.”
