Chapter 14: The Man Who Was Waiting

“It seems I haven’t quite digested my lunch yet.”

Jiheum set her cutlery down naturally and drank some water.

A sudden thirst flared up within her.

“I should have ordered something easier on the stomach,” the man said.

“No, it’s fine.”

Jiheum’s lips curved upward as she put a small piece of meat into her mouth.

When she did, she felt a gaze darting toward her from the diagonal once again.

Her expression darkened noticeably as Ki Joyoon’s eyes continued to linger on her.

Somehow, it felt like he truly remembered her.

Her focus blurred, and she fidgeted with her cutlery, gripping and releasing it.

‘Did he really notice?’

‘No, I look completely different from that time.’

She tried to tip the scales of her thoughts toward the positive, but the man in front of her asked again.

“Is your stomach really that bad? Shall we get going?”

“Pardon?”

“You look quite troubled.”

“Ah, did I? I’m sorry.”

Jiheum picked up her water glass, avoiding the man’s persistent gaze.

Her lips kept going dry.

Not because of the man sitting in front of her, but because of the man further away—Ki Joyoon’s gaze.

“There’s no reason for you to be sorry, Ms. Jiheum. It seems I’ve been holding onto you without noticing your discomfort.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

Following the man’s gentle smile, Jiheum also let the corners of her lips rise slightly.

“But your older sister is a Managing Director at LK Construction. Why is it that you don’t work there, Ms. Jiheum?”

“I was taught not to covet what isn’t mine.”

The man nodded as if he understood the meaning immediately.

“I suppose being the second child and feeling sorrowful is the same everywhere. My family is like that, too. Everything revolves around my older brother, the eldest son.”

The man expressed sympathy as if they shared a common fate, but Jiheum’s lips twitched with a sense of loneliness.

Not all second children were the same.

“I hear LK Construction is expanding into the hotel business?”

“Is that so?”

Jiheum knew nothing about the family business.

Usually, hearing about family news through the media was faster.

“You didn’t know?”

“No. I haven’t heard anything yet.”

She felt like she might never hear about it.

There was no one who wanted her to step foot into the family business.

“It seems they’re planning to dive into the hotel business in earnest, moving beyond resorts. Once the business expands, they’ll need someone to take charge and grow the hotel in the early stages. Besides, your family only has daughters.”

The man did not bother to hide the ambition in his eyes.

It seemed he had come here with the plan of marrying her and inheriting the hotel business.

Jiheum wasn’t sure if it was better to shatter his expectations or just let it slide.

While Jiheum hesitated, her lips parting slightly, the man changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

“When would be a good time to meet next?”

“Next time?”

“It’s a request for a second date. Is it really that surprising?”

The man laughed, saying that Jiheum, who had gone blank with her eyes rounded, was cute.

“Ah… I hadn’t thought about meeting again.”

Jiheum gripped her water glass and looked away.

The man, assuming Jiheum was just being shy, chuckled and leaned forward.

“We’re meeting with marriage in mind. I think it would be good to get to know each other more.”

The man’s gaze lingered on Jiheum’s chest, visible through her blouse.

He scanned her prominent chest and moved upward, his eyes figuratively licking the back of her neck, where a few stray hairs had escaped her ponytail.

Just as he hadn’t hidden his ambition, the man didn’t hide his lust for Jiheum either.

Feeling repulsed by the gaze scanning her body, Jiheum took a sip of water and gave a light shrug, hoping to disperse his gaze.

“Um, excuse me, did you come here knowing that I am an adoptee?”

“An… adoptee?”

The man’s body, which had been leaning toward Jiheum, slowly pulled away.

Shifting his posture and looking away, the man muttered a curse under his breath.

He likely thought he was talking to himself, but it reached Jiheum’s ears with perfect clarity.

“I see you didn’t know.”

“I suppose not. I had no idea. About such an important fact.”

The man’s eyes, which had been warm until a moment ago, shifted to irritation.

Somehow, she felt as if she could see the calculator running in his head.

He seemed to have reached the conclusion that since she was a second child with the handicap of being an adoptee, there might be no inheritance at all.

“I’m sorry. It seems I’ve unintentionally wasted your time.”

“I suppose you have. Shall we leave, then?”

The man stood up abruptly, grabbing his coat.

Regardless of Jiheum’s thoughts, he looked ready to storm out of the restaurant at any second.

“Would you like to go first?”

Rather than extending the uncomfortable time in the elevator, she thought it would be better to leave ten minutes later.

The man swept away like a gust of cold wind.

Jiheum stared at the empty seat as if it were only natural, then turned her head.

She looked at the night view through the window reflecting the interior landscape.

It was just as she was thinking that the flashy night scenery looked exactly like her.

The reflection in the window showed the man two tables away standing up.

Glancing over, she saw the woman who had been sitting opposite him heading toward the restaurant entrance as if she were running away.

Did it go poorly for them, too? How unexpected.

A laugh escaped her at the thought that the man had been rejected.

As she lowered her head to smile, the man’s shiny shoes came into her peripheral vision.

Could it be…

Jiheum’s gaze rose slowly, as if passing through an eternity.

She locked eyes with Ki Joyoon, who stood with both hands in his pockets, looking like a suit model.

“Is your meeting over?”

His attitude was casual and without hesitation, as if he were an intimate acquaintance who had been waiting for her appointment to end.

“Yes.”

“Shall we talk for a bit?”

Ki Joyoon’s gaze scanned the empty plates on the table.

He looked like he had no desire to sit there because it was messy.

Since Jiheum was also about to get up, she picked up the mini-bag beside her.

“Talk about what?”

“Something important. So, let’s move somewhere else.”

Seeing Jiheum stand up, Ki Joyoon pointed toward the restaurant entrance.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jiheum nodded.

The blind date was over, and even if she returned home, only scoldings awaited her.

They say it’s better to face the punishment early, but she didn’t want to go out of her way to seek it out.

Why of all places, here?

Jiheum’s pupils wavered as she looked at the entrance of the Lounge Bar.

“Sit.”

Ki Joyoon sat on a stool at the bar.

It was that day, that very spot.

Jiheum sat on the stool, trying her best not to let it show.

Though her attire was completely different from back then, her heart pounded for no reason.

‘Could he really remember?’

Just as she was hoping he didn’t, Ki Joyoon asked.

“Whiskey?”

“No. I’m not good at drinking.”

“Is that so? You drank quite well that day.”

Jiheum’s movements stopped completely, like a robot that had been switched off.

Unlike that time, Ki Joyoon, sitting on the stool right next to her, chuckled.

“So, you only drank well on that day.”

That day?

The words ‘that day’ snagged on the net of Jiheum’s thoughts.

She stole a sideways glance at Ki Joyoon.

He was calmly ordering a cocktail from the bartender.

Seeing him, whose profile looked flawless, she felt as if she was the only one on edge and nervous.

He didn’t seem to care at all.

So, wouldn’t it be fine for her to play dumb as well?

In truth, she was afraid to be the first to ask.

If he really had recognized her… she felt dizzy at the thought.

“Was yours also a blind date, Ms. Jiheum?”

“Ah, yes. It didn’t go well.”

“And it’s not that you hoped it wouldn’t go well?”

Jiheum’s expression wavered slightly.

Somehow, she felt like she would be swept into his pace if she stayed like this, so she delayed her answer for a moment.

“Um, I’m asking because I’m curious. That question you just asked—are you just taking a jab at me? Or do you really think that and are asking?”

“It was quite obvious. That you were sitting there reluctantly.”

Ki Joyoon laughed lightly and shifted on his stool to face Jiheum.

In that instant, Ki Joyoon’s solid knee brushed against Jiheum’s thigh.

It wasn’t an intentional movement, but Jiheum’s body tensed instinctively.

The memory of his firm body from that night rushed back into her mind.

She felt like she had to say something.

Otherwise, her head would be filled with that night’s events and even her breathing would become ragged.

“What about you, Representative?”

Jiheum managed to follow up, deliberately fixing her gaze on the busy bartender.

“Me?”

“Yes.”

At her look asking if something was wrong, Ki Joyoon shrugged.

“Did your blind date also not go well, Representative?”

“As you can see. That’s why I’m here with you now, Ms. Jiheum.”

Jiheum couldn’t think of anything to say, so she simply nodded.

“That’s unexpected. You seem more like the type to do the rejecting rather than be rejected, sir.”

“Didn’t you say you’d clocked out? Yet you’re calling me ‘Representative’ again?”

Ki Joyoon gave a charming smile, reminding her of the conversation they had in the elevator.

“Aren’t you our Ms. Jiheum who likes to separate public and private life?”

“Ah…”

“We’re not at the office. Just call me comfortably by my name. I think that would be less awkward for me, too.”