Chapter 44

“Then what exactly is it you care about?” asked Si-Jin again in an irritated tone.

“Myself, of course!”

“……?”

“Obviously, I am only concerned about myself because I matter most. That’s why I hid it. Because I was worried it might turn out this way… that I might embarrass myself because of that person…!”

“Is that guy that much of an embarrassment to you?” grumbled Si-Jin, visibly surprised by the snobbishness of her reason. Na-Yool nodded bitterly.

“Do you know how mortified I am right now? I am so lost I don’t even know if I can go to work tomorrow. Do you know how that feels?”

“It’s not a big deal, why—”

“How am I supposed to face people at work? I am so ashamed, what could I do?”

“You can just carry on like you’ve been doing until now.” Si-Jin awkwardly patted the top of Na-Yool’s head. It was sort of a gesture of… consolation, a show of sympathy for having to go out with such an embarrassing guy, but Na-Yool shook him off with an irked look.

“…To think rumors are spreading because of him even here… I won’t let him go. Today, I really won’t let him go. That bastard.”

“It’s not that shameful anyway.”

“Go. Then, I’m leaving too.”

Na-Yool shut down Si-Jin’s words and walked towards the lobby’s front door with big steps. She tried to. Three steps, at least.

“…Mr. President, could you let go of my collar?”

“I wanted to wish you a good dinner party before you leave.”

“…By suddenly grabbing my collar?”

“Since you’re cocky enough to interrupt your superior, that much manners suffice.”

Na-Yool surrendered like a puppy grabbed by its scruff.

“……Say it. Your greetings.”

“Go have fun.”

“I am not going to have fun, Mr. President. And you know how serious it is. Also, you have to let me go for me to…”

“Find an excuse to leave the dinner and call me within 2 hours.”

“It won’t take 2 hours. Thank you for your concern, but I can go home alright.”

“Is someone driving you home?”

“…?”

“Just call me.”

Na-Yool blankly stared at his back as he coldly walked away after his forceful request. Seeing how he briefly shook hands with a man that came into the lobby just to disappear the next second into the cafe shop, he indeed seemed to have work left.

Suddenly left alone, Na-Yool felt a belated relief. In any case, Si-Jin and Sang-Hoon would not meet. Swiftly walking like a crab, she inspected every corner of the lobby.

He is not here. He is not. She would not be surprised if Sang-Hoon was secretly hiding to watch her, but she was convinced her hunch was right. Because Sang-Hoon was an airhead.

8:57 p.m… Na-Yool glanced at the clock and resolutely went out the front door, ready for the big battle. She busily looked left and right, her eyes gravely examining her surroundings.

That idiot, where is he…

Her gaze skimmed over the small square in front of the office and moved with suspicion to the back side of the building. Every time Sang-Hoon had said “Let’s meet in front” he had waited somewhere else. The reason was simple. He was an idiot who could not remember where the front door was despite it being in plain view. He was the kind of man who, if you told him you are waiting in front of the department store, would call you 20 minutes later to ask where you are when he clearly was waiting at the back door instead of the front one.

It was a weather where just a short sigh turned into a white breath. Na-Yool stroked her frozen hands together and hurried towards the back door. She would rather die than call him back herself! The rumbling noise of cars packed on the eight-lane boulevard and buses honking them depressingly engulfed her ears.

“…Na-Yool.”

And suddenly, an unnecessarily faint voice broke through.

Right behind her…

“…Oppa is here.”

What is more, using 3rd person like he was some main character of a drama.

Na-Yool was so startled her hand almost flew towards Sang-Hoon’s face. She barely grabbed it with the other one, and instead composed herself to speak.

“…Is here what you call the front of the office?” As soon as she opened her mouth, her tone indicated how pathetic of a good-for-nothing she thought he was.

“Strangely I always get confused every time I come here…”

“You probably just don’t care enough to remember.”

“Don’t say that, you’re making me sad…”

“And here I was putting it nicely… fine, let’s say it as it is, you’re dumb.”

“Na-Yool…”

“Don’t you dare touch me.”

Na-Yool slapped the hand that was reaching for her shoulder. Though she barely hit the back of his hand, Sang-Hoon grimaced dramatically as if he was broken-hearted.

“You’ve been sending me all kinds of crazy talks for the whole week, and now getting drunk and swearing like an illiterate scum.”

“That’s because you—”

“I what? When did I tell you to get drunk? Did I beg you to talk to me in that state? ‘Please harass me’ maybe?”

“I did not harass you.” Sang-Hoon’s flushed face twitched. “Come on, how could I, Na-Yool? You know how much I love you…”

“I just need to open my phone to know how much you harassed me.” [T/N: Na-Yool usually addressed him as “oppa” but 3rd person does not work well in English. From here on she switches to 너, a very casual “you” in Korean. It can also be kind of aggressive, therefore Sang-Hoon’s answer below.]

“You, did you just call me you?”

“Yeah, you. So what?”

“Okay, sure, call me whatever you want. I’m fine with anything.”

“I’m the one who isn’t fine. I don’t want to see your face, nor do I want to call you. So let go of me.”

“…If you admit that I didn’t harass you.”

“…What?”

“Admit it.”

Those damn men, sometimes it truly was impossible to understand their flow of thought. To her surprise he seemed to be determined to ‘harass’ her while rejecting the accusation. His red drunk face had the stubborn look of an elementary school boy.

Astonished, Na-Yool burst into a forced laughter and pinched his arm with her free hand. Sang-Hoon screamed, and his hand dropped down.

“Ah, fuck! Ahh…!”

“Look at you, swearing so naturally? You must have struggled to pretend to be well-behaved in front of me.”

“You surprised me…! It’s because I was surprised, I was not insulting you, just surprised, ahh…. it freaking… ah no, it really hurts…”

“Some said it tickles.”

“…Who?” The dull question, casually asked as he rolled up the sleeve of his suit, raised a red flag in Na-Yool’s mind. Na-Yool replied bluntly as if to brush him off.

“Why do you care.”

“Did you already find someone else?” asked Sang-Hoon while delicately stroking his pinched arm. His facial expression had suddenly turned threatening. When Na-Yool snorted seemingly baffled, his face twisted even more.

“You, do you have a new man or not.”

“What got into you?”

“So that’s why? Huh?! Fuck, so that’s what it was. You… fuck, I get it now.”

“For real, what the heck are you talking about?”

As Sang-Hoon started grumbling non-stop to himself like a crazy person, Na-Yool shook her head in perplexity. In an irrepressible fit of anger Sang-Hoon strongly grabbed her wrist again.

“Is that why you kept ignoring me? I begged you to please answer my calls, to meet me once, to at least give me an answer if you didn’t want to do either! To at least say something, even if it’s to swear or get mad at me! I begged you like a lunatic but you—”

“So you do know yourself you sounded like a lunatic.”

“—Because you, for fuck sake, didn’t say even one word! If you were reading my messages, you should have said it. If you didn’t want to see me, you should have said it—”

“Lee Sang-Hoon, I don’t want to see you.”

“—But because you didn’t even say it, fuck…! I’m not asking you to say it now!”

“Are you done with the swearing already? Really, why are you acting like an illiterate scum?”

“Fuck… fuck…!” Like a human turned beast deprived of his speaking ability at Na-Yool’s harsh remarks, Sang-Hoon growled a sorrowful cry filled with frustration and swearing, until the pent-up anger eventually got his eyes wet with tears. Too pricked by the boyfriend issue rather than trying to understand Na-Yool’s critics, San-Hoon turned his blurry eyes towards her, unable to shake off the dejection he felt due to her coldness.

Na-Yool instantly gave him a disgusted look, to which Sang-Hoon reacted by painfully exhaling a pathetic sigh.