Chapter 29: Familiar, Yet Far

“…….”

She locked eyes with the one person who captured all her attention. Her breath hitched, and her lips parted slowly.

As she blinked repeatedly, wondering if she was seeing things, her heart—having recognized him—began to pound, its rhythm quickening until it shook her entire body.

“Manager Go?”

She only came back to her senses when Hyunwoo tapped her shoulder, his expression asking why she wasn’t greeting them.

When she opened her mouth in a daze, the smile on the man looking at her from across the table deepened.

“Hello…… Hello. I am Go Kangeun, the Lead Manager of the General Support Team at Tenuto Coffee Korea.”

She had only bowed her head for a moment, but by the time she looked up, the man had strode forward and extended his hand toward her.

“Nice to meet you.”

“…….”

“I’m Cha Siheon, Team Leader of the New Business Team at Hyungyeong Commerce.”

“Ah…….”

She didn’t even register that she had reached out her hand toward his. When his large hand firmly gripped hers, she was so startled by the unexpected heat and the subtle, encompassing strength that she went blank like a fool once again.

“Looks like you’ve fallen for our Team Leader Cha? Well…… it’s a common occurrence. Although, our Lead Manager from Tenuto Coffee Korea is quite the beauty herself. No other meaning intended. It’s just that when the two of you stand there facing each other like that, you’re practically glowing.”

The air in the conference room lightened at the Hyungyeong Commerce Sales Director’s jocular remark. But Kangeun remained frozen, unable to tear her eyes away from the man who was still holding her hand and smiling.

“And this here is Chief Choi from our New Business Team. Manager Kim, let’s greet them together.”

She naturally exchanged greetings with the other team members and let go of his hand, following the Sales Director’s introductions. Yet, the tingling sensation left behind on the hand he had held would not fade.

“Now, let’s begin the meeting.”

Soon, they were seated. The lights went out, and the bright light of the projector illuminated the screen. Only then did Kangeun let go of some of her tension and assess her situation.

No matter how she looked at it, he was the Siheon she knew. In the dim conference room, Kangeun squeezed her eyes shut, feeling his gaze on her even without having to look up.

How could we meet like this? It’s him. It’s Siheon. It’s really Siheon.

Certainty hit her, turning into a tremble. She felt as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

She wanted to run across the table right then and there to confirm if it was truly him. She wanted to check if he was hurting anywhere, if he was truly all right.

“Manager Go?”

Kangeun hadn’t even heard people calling her name.

She only came to her senses after Jihwan, who was sitting next to her, tapped the table near where her gaze had been fixed.

Realizing belatedly what she had been doing, her gaze shifted to the meeting materials.

She understood by context that it was her turn to explain her section, but her mind was completely blank.

“Ah…….”

“Manager Go……?”

However, her wandering eyes and her hands, which didn’t know what to do, clearly showed that Kangeun was in a different state than usual.

Furthermore, as she repeatedly swallowed and exhaled uneven breaths with a pale face, anyone could see that something was wrong.

“Kangeun-ah, are you not feeling well?”

It was a side of Kangeun that Hyunwoo and the rest of the team had never seen before. Gone was the Lead Manager Go Kangeun who had encouraged the staff with a smile before the meeting started.

“I, I’m sorry, but for just a moment…….”

After Kangeun barely managed to speak, having squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, Hyunwoo made a gesture as if asking for understanding.

Without even waiting for a confirmation, Kangeun hurried out of the conference room.

She ran to the restroom, and while washing her hands, she even patted her cheeks with cold water, forgetting she was wearing makeup.

Only then did she realize that her hands were trembling violently and that her labored breathing was quite ragged.

“Ah…….”

The moment she let out a breath while pressing down on her aching heart, a laugh bubbled up along with the tears that burst forth.

“It’s Siheon. It’s…… not a dream.”

Kangeun bit her lip, welcoming the pain in her hands, which had turned red from the cold water. She hadn’t seen wrong.

Cha Siheon, Team Leader of the New Business Team at Hyungyeong Commerce.

He was the one person Kangeun had waited for so desperately.

She had been a mess from the moment she locked eyes with Siheon.

Unlike her—who had stood blankly with her mouth open like a fool, unable to speak—Siheon had smiled.

He hadn’t taken his eyes off Kangeun for a single second, smiling exquisitely while biting his lip.

Even when Hyunwoo and the Hyungyeong Commerce Director were introducing the staff and exchanging greetings, Kangeun had been flustered.

She couldn’t focus even after sitting down. As the moment of reunion she had longed for so much finally arrived, her mind had literally gone blank.

“I’m glad. I’m so glad…….”

The emotion that welled up the moment she realized that meeting Siheon again was reality, not a dream, was one of overwhelming emotion and relief.

Tears streamed from her large eyes down her cheeks, dropping onto the sink.

Siheon, at twenty-seven, didn’t look sick at all. He looked healthier than anyone, and he looked relaxed.

She was so grateful for that fact that Kangeun couldn’t think of anything else, clutching her trembling hands.

Whenever she thought of Siheon, she had always tried to pretend that the anxiety buried at the bottom of her heart didn’t exist.

It was because she couldn’t forget the voice of the man who had shouted at Siheon when he appeared looking gaunt.

[You know your surgical site will burst if you use your strength right now, don’t you?]

She had been plagued by nightmares because she couldn’t erase that shout. In her dreams, Siheon was lying in a hospital room, looking haggard.

There was no one beside him as he gasped, enduring the pain.

She had wanted to approach him, but her voice and her desperate heart couldn’t pass through the transparent wall.

It was a terrible dream where she could do nothing but suffer along with Siheon while watching him in pain.

It’s okay. He’s not sick.

Just confirming that Siheon was okay allowed her to breathe again. And only then did the joy and excitement of meeting Siheon again pour out like a broken dam.

Kangeun remembered that she had heard the voice of the adult Siheon exactly once while she was in Italy.

Sean, the Team Leader of the New Business Team at Hyungyeong Commerce, had called Hyunwoo while he was driving.

She had heard his voice beside Hyunwoo, who had connected the call via Bluetooth and was speaking in English.

At the time, Kangeun had thought that Sean’s fluent British English pronunciation was quite charming and that his deep, resonant voice was wonderful.

Sean, the name written on the CC line of her emails.

Because it was a fairly common English name, she had never imagined that Sean could be Siheon.

Furthermore, because their emails were always in English, she had assumed he was a foreigner. But to think that it was Siheon. That it was my Siheon.

“…….”

It was only for a moment that worry seeped into the flood of surging emotions.

Could he feel uncomfortable meeting me? He looks so healthy, so is there a reason he hasn’t looked for me all this time? Shouldn’t I pretend I don’t know him until he acknowledges me first?

……Because I am a person who brings misfortune.

What remained where the excitement had swept through was, once again, anxiety. Kangeun’s fingertips, as she stroked her reddened cheeks, were still cold, but there was no time for this. She had to go back to her seat.

“I’m sorry.”

“Manager Go, are you sick? You’re pale. Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

When she returned to the conference room, Hyunwoo, who had been presenting Kangeun’s part in her stead, paused the meeting to ask for understanding.

Just as Kangeun barely managed to lift her lips to let them know she was fine,

“Are you all right?”

A pleasant, resonant voice carefully inquired about her condition. It was Team Leader Cha Siheon.

“……Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry for causing you concern. Please, continue with the meeting.”

Kangeun couldn’t focus throughout the meeting.

Even when she caught Hyunwoo’s eye to thank him for finishing the presentation in her place, all her attention was focused on Team Leader Cha Siheon, who sat across from her.

She knew there was a gaze obsessively watching her—the woman who bit her lips to soothe her agitation, the woman who clenched and opened her hands, and the woman who repeatedly toyed with her necklace.

But she couldn’t bring herself to meet that gaze even once, and thus, the meeting concluded.

She was disappointed in herself for not being able to focus, as it was a meeting she had prepared for so long, but for Kangeun, it was inevitable.

Because she had finally met Siheon again, the one she had missed so much.

****

“I will discuss that part with Lead Manager Go Kangeun separately. Manager, can you spare a moment?”

The first meeting for the Korean launch of <Tenuto Coffee>, a coffee brand that had swept the world, was over. After a long, arduous process, no one doubted the words of Cha Siheon, the Team Leader of the New Business Team at Hyungyeong Commerce, who had snatched the Korean business rights to <Tenuto Coffee>.

While the people on both sides, including the Hyungyeong Commerce Sales Director and the Tenuto Coffee Korea Branch Director, were leaving the conference room with bright faces, Siheon turned back to organize the meeting materials.

Every time he moved, his shirt pulled taut across his broad back.

In truth, there was nothing to organize. Siheon was currently waiting for the voice that would call out to him.