Chapter 30.1

“Take care of it without Kim Yoo-hwa knowing it, and don’t let her get hurt if she finds out about it.”

“…”

“I can’t let him touch my share.”

After Woo-hyun spoke in a low voice, he stood up. At his answer, Jun-kyung squinted his eyes. Strangely, those words sounded like a lie, for some reason. Thinking it was just his feeling, Jun-kyung quickly shook off his suspicions.

“And that place?”

“It has been taken care of.”

It took less than two days to deal with one of the businesses that took out illegal loans with just an identification card. After the business was closed, all the debt documents they had were incinerated.

Only after hearing the satisfactory report did Woo-hyun raise his body.

“Go to the hospital in the morning.”

There were a little over two hours left in the morning. However, Jun-kyung bowed his head, noticing that it was Woo-hyun’s way of showing concern.

After his things had been taken away, Woo-hyun sat down at the empty desk and opened his tablet. His long fingers drew on the screen.

His eyes moved as the screen changed. Since even the curtains were removed, the cloudy sky was clearly visible through the large window. Despite the overwhelmingly massive view, Jun-kyung’s gaze turned to Woo-hyun, who was sitting with his back to the scenery. For some reason, he gazed more at Woo-hyun than at the scenery.

At first glance, Woo-hyun seemed to be focusing all his attention on the tablet. Of course, he couldn’t do that since he was more sensitive to other people’s presence than the average person.

Exiting the office, Jun-kyung let out a shallow sigh. His mind was complicated. He was busy thinking about whether he had time to waste and a schedule that allowed him to go and return from the hospital. Amid such a hectic situation, a thought pulled his nerves.

Jun-kyung’s gaze turned to the closed door.

He has been looking at Woo-hyun for a long time. Today, like usual, he was indifferent to the point of being cold.

But why?

What was the reason why that cold calmness seemed to come from effort, unlike usual?

***

On the way home, Woo-hyun was more cautious than usual. He picked two men of his own stature to ride among the four cars he used when leaving work. The cars were supposed to go around the city of Seoul.

He didn’t give them any information so that they wouldn’t know in case there was a tail from Executive Director Kim one day. Even if he found out about this, except for being angry, he wouldn’t be able to question him. Unless he was going to stupidly reveal that he had him under surveillance.

Woo-hyun’s steps stopped at the corner. At some point, his steps stopped twice. Once on the corner of the alley, once on the corner past the gate to the house. Yoo-hwa was always standing in one of them.

A cool wind blew through his hair. He wrapped the scarf he was holding around his neck. A faint scent of Yoo-hwa’s house came from the scarf.

Yoo-hwa’s feelings for him were confirmed by these little things. Carefully, but increasingly faster and more intense.

He didn’t enjoy it even though everything was going as he wanted.

Woo-hyun’s steps circled the corner. Then, Yoo-hwa was there, standing blankly where she always stood. As soon as she saw him, her lips that were frozen from the cold stretched loosely.

Smiling eyes, eyes that did not blink even in the cold wind, a gaze that looked at him for a long time like a thirsty person drinking water.

Woo-hyun looked silently at Yoo-hwa, who was standing there as he had imagined. The emotions that had been quiet just now were on edge like a thorn that was sticking out.

He embraced Kim Yoo-hwa, and the anxiousness he felt from the moment her sincerity leaned towards him was now strangling him. The things that he tried to calm down all day, Kim Yoo-hwa ruined them in an instant.

“You came earlier than yesterday.”

Yoo-hwa’s voice showed her friendliness.

Woo-hyun couldn’t even smile out of courtesy at that. The corners of his mouth didn’t move, as if something was hanging from them, and strangely, his eyes didn’t blink. Even though his eyes were cold because of the cold wind.

He regretted coming here after work. He should have gone home.

Perhaps thinking it was weird that there was no answer from Woo-hyun, Yoo-hwa stood still and looked at him. When Woo-hyun reluctantly answered with a ‘Yeah.’, Yoo-hwa asked the following question as if she had been waiting.

“It’s cold, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Was today’s work okay?”

“Yeah.”

Now, Yoo-hwa often asked him questions first. Most of the questions were simple enough to answer with a ‘Yeah.’.

Even so, Yoo-hwa did not come closer to him. She walked one step behind him when standing side by side, and stood two steps away from him when facing him.

“You must be cold. Doing this.”

“…”

“Isn’t it hard to wait for me?”

Woo-hyun asked as he looked up and down at Yoo-hwa. She was bound to be cold if she kept standing, no matter how much she covered herself.

“Ah…”

Yoo-hwa let out a short sound as if she had understood it only then. Then, a faint smile appeared on her white face.

“I’m fine. Rather, it’s a little fun.”

“…”

“Waiting for someone to come.”

“…”

“That is you.”

She said everything she had to say with an embarrassed face. The previously emotionless and sensitive Kim Yoo-hwa had disappeared to the point that she seemed like a different person. The sincerity that filled her in every moment spread without filtration.