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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: You Look Familiar
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“You look familiar.”
His low, calm voice made her eyes close involuntarily.
“Yes.”
“Did you meet your friend?”
“Yes, I’m with her right now.”
“You’re near the company?”
Do Hyun’s urgent voice came through the phone.
“Near the company, yes, but what’s wrong?”
Do Hyun, who knew Yi Yeon had gone out, first tried to pinpoint her location.
“There’s a USB plugged into the company computer and a navy document envelope on the desk. Could you bring those for me? I’m too far away to go back to the company.”
Do Hyun never made mistakes like this, so it must be something serious. His urgent tone suggested there were no backup files either.
The distance from the company to Do Hyun’s meeting spot was about forty minutes.
If Yi Yeon swung by the company to grab the documents and headed straight to the meeting, she could deliver them within an hour.
“Yes…….”
But that wasn’t the important thing right now…… No, the documents were important, but there was a bigger problem.
Yi Yeon looked down at her own appearance.
She had forgotten what she looked like because of the urgency coming through the phone.
She agonized over what to do.
“Hello?”
“Ah, yes, yes! I’ll go!”
Yi Yeon stared at her reflection in the shop window, her face scrunched up sadly.
There wasn’t nearly enough time to go home and change. She racked her brain for other options, but nothing worked. Do Hyun’s urgent voice lingered in her ears.
Whatever. She would think of something on the way since it was an emergency.
“Ha Yul, sorry, but something came up suddenly and I have to go.”
To be precise, it was something that had come up for Do Hyun.
Yi Yeon gave Ha Yul a brief rundown of what happened.
“No helping it. We got the photo, so we cleared one mission at least. But you’re going like that?”
“Yeah, no time, so I’ll figure it out on the way. Get home safe, and I’ll call you!”
Yi Yeon waved and hurried off toward the company.
Ha Yul waved back as she watched Yi Yeon’s wavy hair swaying while she walked away.
* * *
“Phew, barely made it.”
Resealing the documents had taken more time than expected.
Yi Yeon checked the subway schedule and sprinted like mad to board just in time.
Even in autumn, running left beads of sweat on her skin.
She figured the subway would be faster than a taxi with all the traffic jams.
Phew.
Catching her breath as she sat, Yi Yeon didn’t notice the sidelong glances from across the car.
“Hey, is that sister across from us a celebrity? She’s insanely pretty.”
“The one in the white cardigan? Wow.”
Two women who looked like college students were whispering about Yi Yeon. It felt like she was the only one in the subway car, with all the eyes drawn her way.
Another woman even pinched her boyfriend’s arm hard for glancing at Yi Yeon. Oblivious that she was the topic, Yi Yeon looked down at the documents in her hand.
She was agonizing over how to explain her current look.
Should she just say this was the real her? She shook her head.
That would be too abrupt.
Truthfully, she still lacked the confidence to ask him to like her like this. She was afraid Do Hyun’s gaze would change when he looked at her.
With no conclusion in sight, the anxious Yi Yeon kept checking the stations.
She had bolted here, but no good ideas were coming.
While Yi Yeon agonized, the subway neared its destination.
No helping it. There was only the method she had thought of at first.
Yi Yeon pulled out her phone and typed a message to Do Hyun.
[I had something come up, so I passed the documents to a friend. For security, I put the docs and USB in a large envelope and resealed it with tape, so don’t worry.]
Right, a friend was all it could be.
She had been introduced as Ha Yul’s friend at the event, so she figured she could say she was Yi Yeon’s friend too.
She would just hand over the documents and leave—probably just an exchange of greetings, nothing more.
Yi Yeon hit send. It was the only excuse she could come up with, so she had resealed the documents once more before leaving the company, just in case.
It wouldn’t be professional to hand important documents to a friend.
Yi Yeon arrived at the meeting location from the address in Do Hyun’s message and sent another text saying a friend would be waiting on the first floor.
Did he read it? Why no reply? Her heart fluttered nervously.
She hadn’t expected to run into Do Hyun like this, in her current state, as the sun reached its peak. Yi Yeon felt both excited and worried for no reason.
Just then, Do Hyun strode out toward the lobby. He was checking something on his phone as he walked—it looked like her message.
Yi Yeon walked toward Do Hyun.
“Hello. You’re Vice President An Do Hyun, right? I’m here to deliver the documents on Yi Yeon’s request.”
She hesitated for a moment about saying she was Yi Yeon’s friend Yeon-hee, but since Do Hyun might not remember this version of her anyway, she skipped it.
Do Hyun stared at Yi Yeon piercingly. His gaze moved warily from her toes to the top of her head.
“I’m An Do Hyun. Thank you for coming all this way. I appreciate it.”
“Yes, I’ll be going now.”
After handing over the documents, Yi Yeon tried to leave the place quickly.
But then.
“You look familiar.”
Yi Yeon looked up at him with surprised eyes.
He recognized her—even acting like he knew her!
“We.”
Her heart did a bungee jump.
Her plan to just greet and bolt was going awry.
A danger warning blared in her ears: avoid his obsessive gaze.
“You’re right. I’ll be going now.”
She had to go. She just had to leave.
“Wait a moment.”
Do Hyun grabbed Yi Yeon as she tried to hurry off.
Yi Yeon looked at him as if to ask what was wrong.
“Do you have an urgent appointment?”
“No, I don’t have any plans.”
Ah, she should have said yes—her honest words slipped out.
Anxiety flooded her as she met Do Hyun’s eyes, which were fixed on her steadily.
“Then, could I ask one more favor?”
She realized she had made the wrong call in that instant.
“Ah…… No!”
But when Do Hyun asked someone else for a favor, it really was urgent.
Knowing that, she wrestled with serious inner conflict for a few seconds, but the answer was already set.
“Sit and rest for now, then I’ll tell you.”
She answered with a voice like an ant crawling—yes—and sat down in a chair.
“What on earth am I doing sitting here?”
Yi Yeon couldn’t refuse Do Hyun’s request.
Gurgle.
Her stomach was rumbling, demanding food.
On top of that, her heart was trembling too—it was enough to drive her mad.
She thought it would just be a short wait, but Do Hyun didn’t come out for nearly twenty minutes.
She couldn’t just leave now. Yi Yeon felt like she was dying of thirst.
Just then, as if he had heard her silent curses, Do Hyun came out and handed her a card.
“My meeting ran late because of me, so I want to get some snacks for the people waiting. Sorry, but could you? Total of eight people.”
Yi Yeon’s mouth twitched as if to speak, but Do Hyun quickly finished and went back into the meeting room.
This kind of thing was Yu Secretary’s specialty, after all.
Yi Yeon headed to the nearest cafe.
She bought Americanos—perfect with cookies—knocked on the meeting room door, and went in.
She placed a coffee on the left and a snack on the right for each person, for easy access.
When Do Hyun gave her a grateful look, she bowed her head slightly and left the room.
‘Now I can go, right? Oh, I forgot to give this back?’
The card Do Hyun had given her was in Yi Yeon’s hand.
She couldn’t just leave it at the reception desk.
It would be better to return it properly and go, so Yi Yeon sat back down in the chair.
She ended up dozing off in the chair, and before she knew it, she had waited over thirty minutes.
Just then, people came rushing out.
Do Hyun finished greeting them and walked toward the seated Yi Yeon.
“Vice President, I was waiting to give you back the card.”
Yi Yeon pulled Do Hyun’s card from her bag and handed it over.
“I figured you hadn’t left yet.”
Do Hyun took the card from her with a grin.
You figured I hadn’t left—what did that mean?
“You helped me out, so I have to return the favor.”
Yi Yeon, who had been searching for the meaning in Do Hyun’s words, froze at the sound of his voice.
Right then, her stomach let out a wail. Yi Yeon inwardly begged her own stomach to be quiet.
“Shall I buy you dinner as thanks?”
“No! Absolutely not.”
Flustered by Do Hyun’s words, Yi Yeon waved her hands in refusal. In the process, she dropped the bag she was holding.
Before Do Hyun could help, she hurriedly picked up the spilled items and shoved them back in, then stood up quickly.
What was that ‘absolutely not’ supposed to mean? Nothing was going the way she wanted.
She felt like Do Hyun was holding onto her for some reason.
Do Hyun chuckled as if her words were funny.
“You refuse so firmly, so let me at least drive you to wherever you’re going. That much is okay, right?”
What was this? Why was he being so nice? Maybe even Do Hyun couldn’t help himself with a pretty girl.
Unable to refuse to the end, Yi Yeon ended up in the passenger seat next to him.
“Nice car.”
Yi Yeon tossed out a comment to Do Hyun to ease the awkwardness.
Her short skirt had been bothering her the whole time. The small bag wasn’t enough to cover it.
Thud.
Something landed on Yi Yeon’s lap.
“It’s bothering you, so cover up.”
It was the jacket Do Hyun was wearing.
The casually tossed jacket carried the scent of his cologne. His fragrance enveloped her from her knees to her whole body.
“Thank you.”
Yi Yeon smoothed out the jacket and wrapped it around her knees.
“Our houses are super close.”
Yi Yeon vaguely named an apartment near her place.
She had to beat Do Hyun home the moment they arrived.
After Do Hyun’s last words, the two arrived at the destination in silence.
“Thank you for the ride.”
Yi Yeon gave a crisp greeting, as if they would never cross paths again, unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out.
