Chapter 5: He Looked Like Trouble

“Good heavens!”

Euman-daek cried out and jerked her hand away, causing ice and water to scatter across the floor.

“Ma’am. Do you think my words are a joke?”

‘Do you think just because I’m back after a divorce, you can ignore what I say now? Is that it? Ma’am.’

Jiyoon muttered as if to herself, piercing Euman-daek with a look of utter contempt.

“……M-Miss?”

Euman-daek, who had been frozen in shock, managed to move her lips.

“I told you not to give her work, didn’t I? Why are you making her do the work you’re supposed to do?”

“No, it’s… I’m sorry. Miss.”

Euman-daek gave up on making excuses and bowed her head repeatedly.

In the end, no one in this house could win against Yoon Jiyoon’s reign.

Knowing this, Euman-daek quickly accepted reality.

A suffocating silence followed.

The sound of the ice melting on the floor brought the three frozen figures back to reality.

“If I get sick from eating food touched by the hands of a filthy illegitimate brat, are you going to take responsibility, Ma’am?”

Jiyoon’s lips curled into a cold smirk as she looked toward Jiheum.

It was a comment perfectly characteristic of Yoon Jiyoon.

The surge of emotion Jiheum had felt when she thought Jiyoon was taking her side settled back down into a calm chill.

There was a time when Jiyoon had been the kindest older sister in the world.

But after she found out they were half-sisters, she became a completely different person.

“Pardon? Oh, oh dear, I’m so sorry, Miss. We absolutely can’t let that happen.”

Euman-daek’s face brightened as if she had finally heard what Jiyoon really meant, and she began to fawningly agree.

Seeing Euman-daek change her tune so instantly, Jiyoon let out a hollow laugh.

“Ma’am, don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Yes?”

“Just stick to your duties. If I catch you giving work to Yoon Jiheum one more time, you’ll be the first one fired.”

Jiyoon pulled a small bottle of water from the refrigerator and left the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

Jiheum grabbed some paper towels and handed them to Euman-daek, lowering herself to pick up the ice from the floor.

“Go. Just go. I’ll take care of this.”

Euman-daek pushed Jiheum away with her body as she crouched down.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”

“I said it’s fine, just go.”

As Jiheum stood up and walked away, Euman-daek’s grumbling words struck her sharply from behind.

“That crazy b*tch. So it’s okay for her to bully, but not for anyone else?”

To Euman-daek, who worshipped Seonju like a god, Jiheum was a sworn enemy and a thorn in her side.

She had only treated Jiheum the way the rest of the family did, yet she had been met with a glass of ice water; she was beyond flabbergasted.

****

After finishing her parking, Jiheum turned off the ignition and glanced at the dashboard.

8:49 AM. It was still early.

Phew. She sighed softly and leaned her head back against the headrest.

With Jiyoon and Euman-daek in a foul mood since morning, she didn’t have the confidence to stay in that house all day caught between them.

If Jiyoon went out, Euman-daek would surely scheme even harder to put her to work.

If Jiyoon stayed home, Jiheum would be practically trapped in her room, unable to come out.

Neither option was appealing.

As the vision of how the day would unfold became clear, she had driven straight to Seung-ji’s studio apartment as soon as the family breakfast was over.

Seung-ji’s place was the only refuge that came to mind.

She used the convenient excuse of having things to return.

Jiheum turned her head to look at the passenger seat.

There was a small shopping bag sitting next to her handbag.

Inside were Seung-ji’s wig and high heels.

The evidence of last night.

The wig and heels could simply be returned, but there was no remedy for the dull aches that throbbed through her body every now and then.

“I’ve really lost it.”

She squeezed her eyes shut at the blunt truth that escaped her lips.

Damn it. Closing her eyes only made the images more vivid.

The heat of last night.

****

Last night. The lounge bar at D Hotel.

‘Do you have any money?’

Jiheum’s expression hardened at the voice that suddenly surfaced in her mind.

To use such a sweet, whispering voice and a gentle smile only to ask for money.

Jiheum squeezed her eyes shut and blindly tilted her glass.

The whiskey flowed down her throat as if it intended to set her esophagus on fire.

The burning sensation tempted her to set the glass down.

But she didn’t want to stop.

Jiheum gripped the glass tighter, her eyes furrowed, and swallowed the rest of the alcohol.

She had poured such a strong drink into herself, so why did her biological mother’s voice, Chae Young-chae, sound even clearer the moment her lips left the glass?

‘Hey, didn’t you hear me? I asked if you have any money.’

‘I don’t. How could I possibly have anything like that?’

The things she had spent all day trying to forget became even more distinct, stirring up a wave of displeasure.

She set her empty glass down on the bar with a sharp tap of her fingertips.

“You’ll get drunk if you keep drinking like that.”

A calm but powerful voice intervened.

Jiheum’s head turned reflexively toward the sound.

She saw a man sitting just one stool away.

She had felt the atmosphere of the lounge bar subtly stirring earlier, and it seemed this man was the cause.

He had a face that suggested he had spent his entire life being the center of attention wherever he went.

Calling him handsome wasn’t enough.

People glanced at him once for his looks, and once more for his aura.

Even sitting on the stool, his long legs stretched out, and his suit was impeccably tailored.

He had clear skin, perfectly sculpted features, and an effortless air of leisure.

The confidence that he could captivate anyone if he set his mind to it was palpable.

Even just sitting there, the sensuality he radiated seemed a little dangerous.

Somehow, he seemed like a man of a thousand faces.

Jiheum stared blankly at him for a long moment, noting the languor, curiosity, and a hint of mischief in his eyes.

He looked familiar, yet foreign.

“Is there something on my face?”

A pleasant laugh was mixed in his voice.

He didn’t add anything else, but his expression seemed to say, ‘I completely understand why you’re staring.’

Jiheum felt her cheeks starting to flush and quickly lowered her gaze to her empty glass.

Feeling exposed and embarrassed, she toyed with the glass.

After a moment of pretending to be distracted, she looked up at the bartender as if nothing had happened.

“Another one, the same.”

Another shot glass of whiskey was placed in front of Jiheum.

For Jiheum, whose maximum tolerance was three cans of beer or three shots of soju, one glass of whiskey had already pushed her into the danger zone.

Nevertheless, another glass of whiskey sat quietly waiting for her.

Now that the whiskey was actually in front of her, the memory of her throat burning was so vivid that she hesitated to reach for it.

‘You have a job, don’t you? You must have saved up some money by now.’

Young-chae’s brazen voice echoed in her head.

It seemed the woman had no memory of who had taken all that money.

“How shameless.”

Jiheum muttered to herself and picked up the glass.

The moment the glass touched her lips, she squeezed her eyes shut.

As long as Young-chae’s words weren’t replaying, a burning esophagus was bearable.

“I assume those words about being shameless weren’t directed at me.”

The man spoke to her again.

Jiheum turned her gaze back to him.

What makes you so confident? She put the question she couldn’t say out loud into her eyes.

The corners of the man’s lips, as he calmly accepted her gaze, curved up slightly.

Somehow, she felt she could see the source of his confidence.

It was an innate confidence.

She could tell instinctively that it wasn’t the kind of thing one could acquire through struggling or effort.

“Was that a monologue?”

“Yes. It was a monologue.”

The man slowly turned his body to face Jiheum.

As if he intended to study her openly, he rested his head on his hand with his arm on the bar.

With a slightly tilted gaze, he took Jiheum in, piece by piece.

Yet, she didn’t hate the attention.

In fact, she felt a tickle inside as if she were floating.

The alcohol was clearly starting to take effect.

“One more, the same, please.”

Fearing he would notice she was conscious of his gaze, she spoke to the bartender.

The man watched Jiheum in silence.

She didn’t have the courage to ask why he was looking at her like that.

She only rubbed her intertwined fingertips and waited for the next glass to arrive.

“You must have memories you want to forget.”

As soon as she finished the shot and set the empty glass down, the man asked as if talking to himself.

Jiheum’s head turned back to him.

What did he think he knew to keep talking to her like this? His constant interruptions were becoming extremely annoying.

“Why do you keep acting like you know me?”

The alcohol gave her a sudden surge of uncharacteristic courage.

The man’s pupils sparkled as he looked at Jiheum, who was glaring at him.

“I was right. About the reason.”

“You must be a one-man band.”

“A one-man band?”

“Because you’re quite excellent at performing both parts of the conversation yourself.”

The man straightened his head and laughed.

At the sight of his lips curving up so smoothly, Jiheum instinctively bit her own lip.

If she lost herself in those attractive lips, she felt she would fall for whatever he said.

“I’m not interested.”

“I wasn’t showing interest. Did it look like that to you?”

Jiheum’s cheeks turned red at his look that seemed to ask, “Why would you think that?”

Embarrassed, she straightened her head and looked forward.

“I’m hitting on you.”