Chapter 24

After taking her from behind, he couldn’t see her face. He closed his eyes, recalling the child who used to smile brightly at him. It had been so long since she’d smiled in front of him.

“Why are you so thin?”

“…What?”

“Why have you lost so much weight lately?”

“Ah…”

Hee-won hurriedly wiped her tears and answered,

“It’s exam season, so I’m always at the library and skipping meals, I guess.”

When she mentioned exams and the library, he felt something distant and cute. She seemed to care a lot about her delayed graduation, but to Ryu-il, it was just endearing. When he told her to stay longer, she insisted she had to leave early for first period, which was almost ridiculous.

Listening to her talk, he realized Hee-won was a very diligent student. She’d always been that way, even as a child. He’d spent long hours watching her study on the backyard bench.

Suddenly, he was curious about her days. She said she was always at the library studying, and he imagined there must be plenty of male students watching her. Her clear, pretty face was hard to look away from. Thinking about it made him feel oddly possessive.

“I’ll eat better. Thanks for worrying… ow.”

On impulse, he bit her neck, leaving a red mark. Hee-won flinched in pain, her face scrunching up in confusion. Ryu-il whispered playfully,

“Do you know why I’m doing this?”

“…Yes…”

She rubbed her sore neck, grumbling,

“You’re trying to burst my capillaries…”

Well, it wasn’t wrong, but somehow off the mark. Ryu-il couldn’t help but chuckle. Sometimes, when Hee-won gave a weirdly correct answer in a clearly s*xual situation, he found it quite amusing.

Maybe it was because, at those times, she wasn’t putting on her clumsy fake seduction. Ryu-il impulsively asked the sulking Hee-won,

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

Hee-won blinked sleepily and answered,

“Ah… no.”

He felt himself swell pleasantly below.

“Why? Just not interested?”

“I don’t know… I guess I was just too busy.”

Her voice grew faint as she closed her eyes, mumbling on the edge of sleep and reality.

“I mean, I’m human too, so I guess I wanted to watch movies, eat, celebrate important days with a boyfriend, like my college friends do. But… it just wasn’t possible.”

In the end, Hee-won fell asleep before hearing his next question. Unable to sleep, Ryu-il watched her eyelashes and neck in the moonlight. As he wrapped her limp body in his arms, he spent the night thinking about boundaries—ones that were anything but neat or clear.

***

“A bit of a variable has come up.”

Sungjun reported, sounding troubled.

“Lee Min-hee and Albert have broken up. Apparently Albert had another woman.”

“So what?”

“Lee Min-hee, feeling hurt, is trying to make it look on SNS like she dumped Albert. So she’s already hinting online that she has a fiancé. That fiancé is probably you, Senior Executive Director.”

Ryu-il curled his lips indifferently. Neither he nor Hee-won used SNS. No matter how much fuss people made in that world, it meant nothing to them.

“A fiancé chosen by the family, one the family will kick out anyway, whatever.”

According to Sungjun, word had spread among staff planted by Ga-yeon’s side that Hee-won visited Ryu-il’s room every night. Photos probably existed of her coming to his room at night and leaving at dawn, or of the sheets marked by their s*x.

“Right…”

Sungjun nodded with a reluctant expression.

“Now that there’s enough evidence of your relationship with Hee-won, President Ryu Ga-yeon will likely act. With the upcoming shareholders’ meeting, the timing is just right.”

Ryu-il thought so too. Especially since Lee Min-hee had started hinting on SNS, it was obvious Ga-yeon would respond quickly.

The breakup was expected. No way would the Chairman of Hanju Distribution accept as a son-in-law a man who slept every night with the daughter of a household servant.

“It looks like it’s ending.”

Sungjun said calmly. Ryu-il nodded. And he wondered,

Once the breakup with Lee Min-hee was official, would Hee-won stop coming to see him?

He didn’t know if he wanted that or not. Their nights together held both heaven and hell.

So when a business trip to the provinces came up, he thought it was just as well. He needed time to think without her around. Ryu Gil-jae was already too full of her traces for him to find answers.

But even on that business trip, Hee-won appeared.

Surprisingly, when she showed up at the hotel room, he wasn’t annoyed—he was glad.

He desired her and found her cute at the same time, laughing at her sturdy backpack and sneakers as if she were on a backpacking trip.

Even knowing Ga-yeon’s people were taking photos from afar, he acted with her like a lover on purpose. They didn’t get separate rooms; they rolled around on one bed, went for drives, walked on the beach together, and ate meals.

Her clear face as she gazed at the sea was beautiful; her cheeks puffed out as she ate eagerly were adorable; her dazed eyes as she kissed him were lovely.

It was the first daytime he’d had with her in twenty years.

“Ryu-il-oppa.”

She said this as he drove her to the train station.

He looked at her quietly in the car. It was the first time she’d called him “Il oppa” in her right mind. Maybe that’s why her words sounded sincere.

“Just once… Please, just one more time.”

Those words, which had always felt insincere, felt real this time.

Ryu-il looked at her across time.

As a child, he’d wanted to take Hee-won to the sea. When she whined about seeing the ocean in a book, he’d promised to drive her there when he grew up. Like the children they once were, he held her hand.

Now, as adults, they kissed.

Was Hee-won aware of the end? Had she been told that everything would be over once she returned to Seoul? Was this clumsy, sincere-seeming seduction her last step for the loan shark debt—or was calling him “Il oppa” her true heart?

He hoped it was sincere.

Because when he held her in that car, he was sincere too.

What happened next was all according to plan. Ryu Ga-yeon sent the photos to the Chairman of Hanju Distribution, and the engagement was called off.

Won-jong, who had so wanted to hand over the home shopping business, was furious. He saw Ryu-il as his father, Han-jo.

“Your father went for the housekeeper, and now you go for the housekeeper’s daughter! How could you let a woman ruin the company!”

Won-jong even came to see Ryu-il in the provinces to yell at him. Ryu-il answered calmly.

“I didn’t ruin the company.”

“What?”

“My company is Wigang Construction, Grandfather. Not Wigang Home Shopping.”

“…You!”

With that, Won-jong understood everything. Old and frail, he paused to catch his breath, then lit a cigarette.

“So you could have just told me you didn’t want the home shopping business from the start.”

“I told you many times.”

“You should have begged, said you didn’t want it even if you died!”

“I don’t think I did anything wrong, so I didn’t see the need to beg.”

“Why did you make everything so complicated! You hurt so many people!”

Won-jong stomped his foot in irritation. Ryu-il answered without blinking.

“You can just say you didn’t know to the Chairman of Hanju Distribution. And I don’t see any reason to feel sorry for Lee Min-hee. Besides, it was aunt who started all this.”

“I scolded Ga-yeon, of course… Tsk.”

Looking at Ryu-il’s calm face, Won-jong’s anger subsided. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, thinking. Ryu-il said blandly,

“The doctor advised you to quit smoking, Grandfather.”

“Who do you think made me smoke!”

Won-jong exploded again.

“When things don’t go my way, nothing helps like this!”

He smoked a few more times, then ground out the cigarette in the ashtray. Then he had his secretary bring a plane ticket. Departure was that night.

“Go stay there for a while.”

The destination was a foreign site where Wigang Construction was involved. Ryu-il looked at the ticket, and Won-jong snorted.

“Anyway, you went against my wishes. Did you think a cranky old man like me wouldn’t make you reflect for a while? Stay there for a few months. Don’t even think about coming back to Korea.”

“…Ah.”

Ryu-il was silent for a moment. A major overseas branch assignment wasn’t exactly a punishment. Honestly, it was unexpected.