Chapter 6

“What are you doing?”

Ever since her bus ride…no, even before getting on the bus, and then after she got off the bus for work, she had constantly reminded herself that she was never going to meet Taemoo,,and that there was no reason to worry. And then…

Taemoo was standing in front of her. Out of all the places that they could have met, it was in front of the elevator. She felt her heart drop and start to race. After all this time of never stumbling upon each other, it had to be the day after the proposal.

What if he followed me after recognizing me? What if he checked my background because I dumped him? Then what’s going to happen to me? What if he fires me for lying?

Hari turned pale and started losing her breath. Taemoo, who was watching her the whole time, raised his eyebrows.

“Are you…”

Am I? Am I what? Is he noticing me? Is he able to recognize me now because of my face? He really can recognize me? What am I going to do? Am I fired, now?

“…not going to get on?”

“Sorry?”

Taemoo’s eyebrows twitched. It seemed as if he were saying, “Are you going to make me speak again?” No, he did say it. He stared at Hari with pity.

“Are you not going to get on?”

“I…I am.”

Hari hurried on the elevator.

You stupid. You should have said no.

It was too late to regret anything. The only thing she should do now was stand in the corner, as distant from Taemoo as possible, covering her face as best as she could. Taemoo pressed the button for the 12th floor and stood straight, facing the door. As the door closed, Hari snuck a glimpse at Taemoo.

She had only seen him sitting down on the blind date, but seeing his figure from the back made him appear more like a gentleman. He had broad shoulders, was tall, and had a small face. His hair was perfectly kept. He was better-looking than some famous models.

How could someone that perfect propose to me?

It was the proposal of her dreams, if only he wasn’t such a perverted psychopath. Taemoo seemed too nonchalant for a guy who had been dumped. He was nothing like Hari, who had lost all her sleep and was feeling depressed.

Hari looked at the reflections of herself and Taemoo in the elevator door, and closed her eyes. Out of all the places, why did it have to be the elevator? And it was just the two of them. Hari felt like she was suffocating.

He won’t be able to recognize me. Calm down. Calm down.

As Hari let out an unconscious sigh, Taemoo turned around and looked at her. As soon as they made eye contact, Hari flinched in shock.

“Its…It’s beautiful out today!”

Hari fought back tears of humiliation after realizing how awkward she sounded. She still tried to keep her smile. Taemoo turned around to ignore her, but turned back around and squinted his eyes at her.

“What do you want to tell me?” he said.

“What?” Hari’s heart stopped once again.

Tell what? Did he realize it’s me? That I’m the crazy girl from the date?

“It seems like you are also going to the 12th floor, which is my office.”

He pointed at the buttons. The 12th floor was the CEO and his secretary’s office, along with the conference room. No other floor buttons were pressed.

Taemoo looked at his watch. “Just say it, here. I’m a bit busy.”

“No, I don’t have anything to say. It’s nothing.”

Hari quickly pressed the 8th floor. Taemoo looked back and forth between Hari and the pressed 8th floor, and turned around as if he was uninterested.

As the doors opened on the 8th floor, Hari hurriedly got off the elevator and rushed into her office, pacing with uneasy feelings for a while, plenty enough time for Taemoo to get off the elevator and get to his office.

This is a mere coincidence. You saw. He didn’t recognize you.

Everything was over now. It was over. She turned him down on his proposal, and he didn’t even recognize her. It was again time for peace. As long as Hari didn’t make a mistake, she was back to her old self, who would never be fired because of a blind date.

So she thought.

Hari’s world was at peace, but on the 12th floor…

“No please, you are a busy person. There’s no need. I’m not going to marry! I’m actually into women. I have no interest in men. I’m serious! I love women! Goodbye!”

The proposal over the phone ended just like that. Taemoo was not the type to waste his energy on useless things. His biggest pet peeve was wasting time, so he never dedicated any of time to things that were not going to benefit him. But his biggest ego trip was that he needed to accomplish what he said he was going to do. He became very competitive when it came to that.

The number you have dialed is unavailable…

This was his fourth time calling her. Taemoo had called someone four times in a row. Everyone in his life had picked up the phone after a couple of rings, so it was hard for Taemoo to understand at first. But he understood now. She had blocked his number.

Block my number?

Even though he had come to a conclusion, he was dumbfounded. He had never been this dumbfounded before, so when Sunghoon came into his office and saw his expression, he just stood there blinking.

“Is something wrong, sir?”

“No.”

Taemoo gave Sunghoon a look and shook his head in disbelief. Sunghoon pointed at Taemoo’s phone, which was clenched in his hand.

“Did the business with Japan not go as planned?”

None of his issues up to now had been about his personal life, so Sunghoon asked questions about work. Taemoo slowly let go of his phone, withholding the bothered expression on his face.

“Is it something bad, sir?”

“No…”

It wasn’t that big of a deal. He had proposed to her over the phone and was quickly turned down and got his number blocked. The thirsty girl into women just wasn’t his type.

Then why did you come out to the blind date?

Taemoo raised one eyebrow in annoyance. He knew why she went out on the date. It was probably her parents. That also meant, however, that she was going to have to marry one of the guys on her blind dates. Her family was going to want her to marry a guy from a good and wealthy background.

Then it can just be me. I’m going to be too busy with work anyway that I won’t care about who she goes out with. Who’s a better match than me for a girl who loves to go out?

Taemoo realized he didn’t emphasize this enough on the date. He thought that he should have told her that she could do whatever she wanted to do even if they were to get married. This meant that he had to meet her again.

Even though she had blocked his number, there were many ways to reach her. He could figure out where she worked, or even call her with a different number. It was, however, a standing rule of his to never call someone unrelated to work at his office more than four times. He didn’t want to waste any more time. He was going to make her call him. It was simple.

“Sunghoon.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Call Chairman Kang.”

“What for?”

“What do you think?”

He opened his eyes wide and scratched his forehead. This was one of the benefits of going on blind dates arranged by parents.

“For him to get a date for the wedding.”

* * *

As the storm passed, Hari felt sad again. She was thinking about how Minwoo introduced his girlfriend to her.

Hari met Minwoo freshman year of college. He was tall and handsome, which made him very popular at school. It wasn’t just about his looks, though; she found that he had an amazing personality, too, when they were in the same group for a group project.

The problem was that it wasn’t only Hari who knew about it. Everyone knew Minwoo had both the looks and personality, and every girl in the same major crushed on him. Hari became one of those typical girls.

Hari was somewhat popular too, with her bright and cheerful personality, but she was shy and found it difficult to approach her crushes.

It was Minwoo who approached her for the group project. Hari misunderstood his kindness as interest and grew her feelings for him, as he was her first love. When she found out that he was dating another popular girl, she was devastated. It was still not easy for her to cut off her feelings for him.

Hari was ultimately unable to cut Minwoo out of her life because of his kindness. She had no choice but to become friends with him and hide her feelings. It was already their seventh year of being friends.

I went to class for your attendance, waited for you to finish your service in the military, gave you advice on the industry, but you bring me your girlfriend?

Hari looked like she was full of sorrow, but she was actually full off of ramen.

They say you get the most emotional when eating, and ever since encountering Taemoo in the elevator, Hari was so out of her mind that it made her lose her focus at work. She had to hurry up with a quick meal at the convenience store, and she was making a scene by cry-eating.

What does Hyeji have that I don’t?

Hari pictured Hyeji in her head. She was five years younger and had a small face and an adorable voice. Hari was losing to her already, so she tried not to think about Hyejj’s impeccable complexion and god-like curves.

I’ve been proposed to by my boss, you know!

Hari knew Minwoo was nothing compared to her sexy, handsome, and perfect boss, Taemoo Kang. She had been proposed to by him.

Have some confidence! Confidence! I can’t! There’s no way that perverted psychopath proposed because of my looks. So, why did he? He’s a perverted psychopath.

She wanted to ask him, but she knew she’d never get a chance. She could only cringe over the crazy and unthinkable things she had said.

Don’t think about it anymore. The conversation is over.

Hari stretched her hands, then grabbed her ramen.

I’m going to go on a diet starting from tomorrow.

Hari was going to make Minwoo regret not realizing her charm and confess his love to her starting tomorrow.

So she thought, and slurped her ramen. She had also finished two rice balls and two hot dogs. She stepped back to her office with a full stomach. Was that what distracted her? As she stood in front of the elevator with no particular thought in mind, she felt something eerie. Turning her head, she saw a tall guy in a suit standing next to her.

Is this really going to happen again?

She nervously gave another look. It wasn’t Taemoo.

There are a lot of good-looking fellas here at work.

As Hari felt relief staring at Sunghoon, she got the chills as another voice came from behind.

“Are you not getting on?”