Chapter 8 (Part 5)

Seo-hye sent a text to Do-jin, asking him to call when he arrived at the parking lot, but he came all the way to the hospital room to pick her up.

Whispering to Hyo-young that she would have dinner and return, Seo-hye spoke as she stepped into the hallway.

“I told you to call when you arrive. Why did you come all the way here?”

“I wanted to show your mother who’s taking you to dinner.”

How could he say such things so casually?

Seo-hye stomped her feet unnecessarily, worried that the sound of her pounding heart might be heard outside.

In the parking lot, after seating Seo-hye in the passenger seat, he walked around the hood to the driver’s seat.

As he watched Seo-hye fasten her seatbelt, he asked,

“So, have you thought about what to eat?”

Seo-hye responded to his tease with another tease.

“Wasn’t it already decided?”

Silence followed.

Realizing something was wrong, Seo-hye quickly turned her head and said,

“I was joking-”

“I’ll head home.”

“What? No, no!”

Seo-hye waved her hands, her face turning red.

As he started the car, he replied in a flat tone.

“Why? You said you wanted to eat me. I’ll give you everything.”

“You must be crazy… What do you mean give everything…”

Seo-hye muttered, covering her eyes as if embarrassed.

Do-jin glanced at her, his eyes subtly curving. A peculiar silence filled the car afterward.

The destination they reached was a Korean restaurant not far from the hospital.

Looking out the window and confirming it was in front of the restaurant, Seo-hye quickly unbuckled her seatbelt.

“I wanted Korean food, this is perfect.”

As Seo-hye spoke nonchalantly and tried to get out, Do-jin laughed, saying Seo-hye was quite shameless.

“Why don’t you at least pretend to be disappointed that we didn’t go home?”

“Is this place a famous restaurant?”

However, seeing Seo-hye completely ignore Do-jin’s words and respond irrelevantly, Do-jin unconsciously reached out his hand.

And he gently tapped her cheek.

“Did you redo the dressing?”

Seo-hye, touching the spot he had tapped, answered to the sudden change of topic.

“Oh. Yes… If I didn’t, I thought you would bother the secretary again.”

Do-jin looked at Seo-hye with a playful expression.

“Why don’t you think of me like that?”

“Mr. Won Do-jin, you don’t know, but I think about you excessively.”

Seo-hye quickly got out of the car.

Do-jin, pondering over what he had just heard from Seo-hye, couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Her tone was sharp, but the meaning inside was very sweet.

Having consumed only bitter coffee all day, it felt like he had just tasted a sweet dessert, warming him inside.

***

After dinner, Do-jin took Seo-hye back to the hospital.

Before entering the hallway where her mother’s room was, Seo-hye stopped and bid farewell to Do-jin.

She felt that if they didn’t part ways here, it would become very difficult to send him off.

“Ahem, you didn’t sleep well yesterday.”

When Seo-hye spoke, Do-jin replied in a dry tone.

“That’s right. Because I was watching over someone.”

“……So, since you must be tired, go home and sleep early.”

“I will.”

Do-jin agreed readily but continued to follow Seo-hye.

“I told you to go?”

“I changed my mind. I plan to sleep here too.”

“No, why would you do that when you have a nice home? And two grown adults can’t… sleep in the same room… and my mom is also here…”

At that moment,

“Young Master?”

A stranger’s voice was heard.

Approaching from the opposite VIP room was a middle-aged man Seo-hye had never seen before.

“Mr. Cha.”

Do-jin called him softly.

“I was just about to contact you, and we meet here.”

Do-jin gently nudged Seo-hye towards Hyo-young’s room.

“Go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“…What?”

Wasn’t he supposed to be sleeping in my mom’s room?

The man called Mr. Cha looked at Seo-hye with curious eyes.

Even though Do-jin urged her to leave, Seo-hye felt it would be impolite to leave without greeting the elder, so she stopped and greeted him.

“Hello.”

Mr. Cha bowed his head as much as Seo-hye did.

“Go and sleep well. Don’t forget to text me every 10 minutes.”

Do-jin bid farewell to Seo-hye and started walking towards the opposite room.

Startled, Seo-hye reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

Do-jin stopped and looked at her.

“Wh-where are you going? Do you have someone you know… in the hospital?”

“If you’re curious, come here at 8 tomorrow.”

With a puzzled look, Seo-hye slowly released his sleeve.

Do-jin mouthed “sleep well” and then turned to head back to the opposite room.

Seo-hye also slowly turned around and entered Hyo-young’s room.

She lay awake for quite a while, wondering who that middle-aged man was and where Do-jin was sleeping in the hospital.

***

The next morning, Seo-hye left the room even before 8 o’clock.

And when she spotted a familiar figure in the hallway, her heart raced and her body warmed.

It was Do-jin, who had come out even earlier than she had. 

He turned completely in the direction where Seo-hye was when he spotted her.

Seo-hye, feeling unnecessarily tense, closed the distance between them.

He was dressed in the same suit as yesterday.

He must have slept at the hospital, yet he appeared even more pristine and radiant than she did.

As she got closer, his scent, which made her heart flutter, became more intense.

He was truly a man who, even while existing in reality, seemed unreal.

“Did you sleep well?”

He approached her and greeted her in the morning.

“You look like you didn’t sleep well because you were thinking about me.”

His tone was so calm that Seo-hye nodded in agreement and then froze.

His laughter snapped her back to attention.

“If that was the case, you should have contacted me for a secret meeting in the hospital.”

“…I just couldn’t sleep because I was curious about what you would be doing at the hospital.”

“That just means you’re very interested in me.”

Seo-hye didn’t bother to correct him since her feelings were obvious and couldn’t be hidden.

“So, is there someone you know here…?”

In the VIP room, no less.

Assuming the person taking care of the patient in the room was Mr. Cha because he was dressed in comfortable casual clothes yesterday.

It was probably a sign that he had become quite accustomed to life in the hospital room.

Could it be that a member of Do-jin’s family was hospitalized?

“My father is here. There was an accident in the past. He became paralyzed and can’t move well.”

Seo-hye couldn’t respond.

Come to think of it, she never really wondered about Do-jin’s family.

Moreover, hearing about his father from him wasn’t a pleasant story, which made her expression harden even more.

She felt sorry for him.

As much as he showed interest and offered help, she should have taken an interest in him as well. He also had a sick parent, yet she only whined about worrying for her own mother.

Seeing Seo-hye’s gloomy expression, Do-jin suddenly lifted her hand.

“The deep wound has healed quite well.”

Do-jin looked down at the back of her right hand, injured by Hae-mi’s shoe heel, and said.

“That’s a relief.”

Seo-hye felt no discomfort now when he casually held her hand as if they were lovers. It felt familiar and natural.

“When will you be able to start drawing again?”

Seo-hye paused for a moment and looked into his eyes.

“Is there something you need me to draw?”

Having been accustomed to being exploited by Lee Hwa-woong, she instinctively assumed Do-jin wanted something from her.

However, Do-jin replied casually.

“No, I just want to see you draw.”

Seo-hye felt a lump in her throat and couldn’t respond immediately. Just as Do-jin stopped in front of the hospital room door, about to open it, she spoke.

“I’ll show you once my hand is fully healed.”

Do-jin paused and looked down at her at an angle.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

He flashed a charming smile and opened the door. Inside was Mr. Cha, whom she had met yesterday, greeting Seo-hye warmly.

“You’re here. Last night, the Young Master didn’t introduce us properly, so we couldn’t exchange greetings.”

Mr. Cha, who had been arranging flowers, stopped what he was doing and walked up to Seo-hye.

“I heard from the Young Master last night that you’re the second granddaughter of Artist Lee.”

He was a man with a pleasant demeanor.

When Seo-hye nodded shyly, he continued with his introduction.

“I am the chief secretary of the president of Seonghan Hotel, who is the father of the Young Master. Please feel free to call me Mr. Cha.”

When Mr. Cha extended his hand for a handshake, Seo-hye responded by introducing herself.

“I’m Lee Seo-hye.”

“Welcome. When I told the president that I saw the Young Master’s girlfriend yesterday, he was very curious.”

“…”

…Girlfriend?

Girlfriend?!

Suddenly, she found herself in a relationship with Do-jin, but there was no way to correct it. She couldn’t throw cold water on the situation here.

“Mr. Cha. My neck is getting long.”

At that moment, a calm and weighty voice came from behind Mr. Cha. It seemed Mr. Cha had been blocking the view of the hospital bed.

Mr. Cha smiled and stepped aside.

Only then did Seo-hye see Do-jin’s father lying on the bed.