Chapter 31: Tonight, With You

“I heard a noise……. Didn’t you hear it?”

“No. It’s nothing worth worrying about.”

“Is that so……?”

Kangeun, still tilting her head and glancing back every few steps, was led by Siheon—who still held both her hands—to the front of the conference room table. He sat on the edge of the table.

She found it strange that Siheon, having finished their reunion, hadn’t left the room but had instead brought her back to the table. Then, Kangeun spotted the meeting materials lying next to him.

“Ah……. Siheon-ah, you said you had something to tell me.”

“What……?”

“You said you had something to discuss regarding the merchandise for the 1st store opening. I’m sorry. I was a bit excited when I saw you earlier; to be honest, I was out of my mind. I even messed up the presentation…….”

“……You were excited?”

He was sitting on the table, and she was standing straight; their eye levels were roughly the same. Kangeun met Siheon’s steady gaze, and suddenly, the conference room felt a bit warm. Even though a person’s gaze shouldn’t have an actual temperature, his felt scorching.

Furthermore, his voice as he asked if she’d been excited was strangely deep. It felt somewhat languid, and there seemed to be a hint of roughness scratching at the edges of his tone.

“Of course. I was shocked, and my mind went blank. Honestly, I almost lunged at you earlier just to see if you were really Siheon.”

“……You should have lunged.”

“How could I do that……. Anyway, about those opening commemorative goods. I really think a moka pot would be……”

“Later. All that can wait until later.”

Siheon’s eyes, as he spoke as if such things were of no consequence, couldn’t seem to leave Kangeun. Feeling awkward meeting his gaze, she looked down. She watched his hands fiddling with her own, and the corners of her mouth curled up on their own.

“Why are you smiling?”

“It reminds me of the past. You used to always rub my hands like this before you fell asleep. Oh, this is truly unbelievable. How, how could we meet like this?”

Kangeun, who considered this unbelievable coincidence a miracle, shook her head and laughed. It felt as refreshing as if all the pain of the past years—a word like ‘hard’ didn’t even cover it—had been washed away. Seeing Siheon grown into such a healthy, fine man made her feel so proud. Moreover, Siheon was welcoming her just the same.

The anxiety from earlier was nowhere to be found. Kangeun found her current emotional state unfamiliar. Such happiness hadn’t been hers for a long time. As if overwhelmed by the poignant sense of fulfillment, Kangeun let out a deep breath.

Then, suddenly, she remembered where she was and stiffened her expression. It was still work hours, and they were in a conference room. No matter how happy she was to see Siheon after all this time, she couldn’t just stay like this.

“I think we should probably head out now.”

“Noona.”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing this evening?”

Siheon asked without letting go of her hands. The gaze with which he looked up at her, tilting his head slightly, was infinitely tender. Overlaid upon it was the image of the young boy who used to always look up at her. At his smile—the child who only smiled for her, a smile that made her unable to do anything but smile back—Kangeun’s expression softened.

“In the evening……”

“Aren’t you going to eat dinner with me?”

At his long-missed pouting, Kangeun burst into a soft laugh. In the end, just as she had done in the past, she reached out one hand to stroke his neatly groomed hair. As she swept her fingertips through his soft hair, she still couldn’t believe this moment, as it felt like a dream.

“Yes? Go Kangeun, answer me.”

Kangeun glared at him playfully for the prank of calling her by her name instead of Noona, and Siheon’s smile deepened.

“Manager Go?”

“…….”

“Go Kangeun.”

“…….”

“Kangeun-ah.”

Kangeun bit her lower lip to warn him, but Siheon just grinned and wouldn’t call her by the title she wanted. No, it seemed like he had no intention of calling her Noona anymore if he could help it.

Well, since they were involved in work now, calling her Noona casually could lead to awkward situations. Thinking that, she understood his intent.

However, Kangeun liked it when he called her Noona. Sometimes he would stretch out the word—Noona-ah—and because he sounded like an affectionate younger brother, it always made her heart feel soft.

“What.”

“…….”

“Why are you calling me, Siheon-ah.”

“…….”

Siheon’s expression froze, as if her answer was unexpected. Kangeun burst into laughter, finding his reaction amusing.

Laughter that wouldn’t come no matter how much she tried to squeeze it out now came easily after meeting Siheon. She pulled firmly on the hands of Siheon—who was staring at her with a dazed expression while she laughed—intending to pull him up, but he didn’t budge, nearly causing her to bump her nose against his shoulder.

“……Are you okay?”

“Yes. You, when did you grow up so much, really.”

“……Go Kangeun.”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t answered yet. Are you not going to have dinner with me?”

Kangeun, having barely regained her balance, stared steadily at Siheon, who had braced her arms to keep her from falling. Then, she stood up straight and extended both hands toward him.

“I will.”

“…….”

“I’ll have dinner with you, Siheon-ah.”

She had so much to say. There was so much she wanted to ask and so much she wanted to hear. She wanted to fill the long void between her and Siheon. Kangeun nodded, her hands still held by Siheon, who was beaming with delight.

“Are you not leaving?”

She had only thought it was a good thing that the company-provided residence was not far from the office. But she was wrong. She hadn’t considered that, given her company’s nature where overtime was rare, she would have to leave work with her team members and travel with them the entire way home.

“Please go ahead.”

“I didn’t assign you any work, so why are you telling me to go ahead?”

Hyunwoo gripped Kangeun’s partition and looked down at her sideways, leaving Kangeun in a difficult spot.

“Is it because you weren’t feeling well during the meeting earlier? Don’t worry about it. I covered for you. I’ve never seen you like that before. Do you know how surprised I was?”

“That’s not it……. I have an appointment.”

“An appointment? With whom?”

“That is……”

Kangeun hesitated. She had forgotten in her excitement earlier, but her relationship with Siheon was tied to work. He was even the Team Leader of the New Business Team at Hyungyeong Commerce, which was partnering with Tenuto Coffee Korea. Hadn’t he also been called a “gold spoon”? Considering many things, she felt it would be better not to carelessly mention that she knew him.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t have any friends to call and meet in Korea?”

“He’s not a friend.”

“First love?”

“No. It’s not anything like that.”

Kangeun waved her hand dismissively at Hyunwoo’s questions, which felt a bit persistent. Hyunwoo was troublesome at times like this. His eyes were so unusually insistent that her face felt scorched.

“He’s a younger brother. A younger brother I was close with when I was little asked me to eat dinner together.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“A younger brother, huh……”

After parting with Siheon in the conference room earlier, Kangeun had eaten lunch with her team members. She didn’t know if it was because it had been a long time since she’d had a proper Korean meal, or if she was happy to have met Siheon again. She had regained her appetite like never before and was holding her spoon when—

She felt a strange sensation and turned her head to meet Hyunwoo’s eyes. His gaze was fixed on her. She had looked at him as if to ask if he had something to say, but he only wrinkled his brow. And all afternoon, Hyunwoo’s slightly sharper-than-usual gaze followed Kangeun around.

“A man?”

“…….”

“I’m not asking as your workplace superior, but as an Oppa who cares for you. Are you going to meet a man?”

Even as an Oppa who cared for her, it was a rude question. It wasn’t what Hyunwoo was thinking, but she couldn’t deny it either, since Siheon wasn’t a woman.

However, she felt offended by Hyunwoo, who was treating her as if she were doing something illicit. His attitude, treating her like a rebellious younger sister or a wife who was about to cheat, was wrong.

“Director, I’m not a child.”

“Yes. I know you’re not a child. That’s why I’m even more worried.”

“…….”

Reading the displeasure in Kangeun’s eyes, Hyunwoo shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.

“I was going to ask for your help with some work. And have a nice dinner together. Don’t you have small things to buy? I know I do. I even thought about going grocery shopping together.”

“…….”

“Hmm? Kangeun-ah. If it’s not an urgent appointment, go next time.”

Hyunwoo’s characteristic eye-smile mixed into his slightly softened voice. Kangeun lowered her gaze for a moment and bit her lip. After a brief pause, Kangeun looked back up at Hyunwoo with her usual smile.

“Director.”

“Let’s not use that title outside of work hours.”

“…….”

“I really don’t like that.”

Just as Kangeun, who had inadvertently furrowed her brows, was about to reply, the phone in her handbag vibrated.

It was Siheon. Kangeun was glad she had saved his number as ‘Younger Brother’ without much thought earlier. It was because she could feel Hyunwoo’s gaze following her hands the moment she pulled out her phone.

“Just a second. I’ll go outside to take this.”

Kangeun quickly hung up and grabbed her bag. She wanted to go to Siheon quickly, but she knew she had to say what needed to be said. She had thought that she needed to talk to him once, and she decided that now was the time.