Chapter 20

The air inside the car sank instantly.  

No sound reached her ears, and it was utterly silent.  

With a bewildered expression, Leeyeon looked at Dokyeom, and even the usually unflappable Dokyeom seemed slightly flustered, raising his eyebrows as he stared back at her.  

Though she knew in her head that she had to remove her hand quickly, it was as if it had been glued in place—she couldn’t move it.  

It was so firm that she started to doubt whether what she was pressing on was really a thigh.  

‘Just how much exercise does he do…….’  

Time seemed to stop with Leeyeon’s hand resting on Dokyeom’s thigh.  

The silence was broken by Cha Heeyoung’s voice coming from outside.  

“Where could Dokyeom have gone, leaving the car parked like this? Should I call him?”  

Startled by the sound, Leeyeon jerked back in a flash.  

Soon, the sound of a vibrating phone came from inside Dokyeom’s jacket pocket.  

It seemed Cha Heeyoung had approached the car after spotting it but, not seeing anyone inside, decided to call.  

“What should we do?”  

Leeyeon looked at Dokyeom with a troubled expression.  

Dokyeom, too, seemed somewhat flustered, as if he hadn’t anticipated meeting Cha Heeyoung here.  

He turned off the phone and placed it inside the console box.  

Leeyeon’s eyes grew even rounder.  

“You should answer the call.”  

It was only then that Leeyeon realized, belatedly, that if Cha Heeyoung asked why he hadn’t answered the phone while sitting in the car, they wouldn’t have a good excuse.  

“That’s strange. Where could he have gone, leaving the car here like this?”  

Cha Heeyoung’s faint voice from outside kept them on edge.  

She peered into the car, but since she couldn’t see inside properly, her curiosity seemed to grow.  

“Could he possibly be with Secretary Han?”  

Not long after that remark, the vibrating sound came again from Dokyeom’s jacket.  

“Oh! That’s my phone, Director.”  

Earlier, Junho had thrown it on the emergency stairs, cracking the screen, and Dokyeom had taken it, so it was now in his jacket.  

“Please give it to me. I need to answer it.”  

Cha Heeyoung always instructed that calls should be answered before the phone vibrated three times.  

The buzzing sound had already rung twice, and Leeyeon’s face grew even paler.  

Dokyeom leaned toward Leeyeon and, in a close distance like before, asked quietly,  

“If we were a real couple.”  

The look in Dokyeom’s eyes as he said those words became even deeper.  

He stretched out his arm and adjusted Leeyeon’s seat, and in an instant, the chair reclined backward.  

Before she knew it, Leeyeon found herself lying beneath Dokyeom, and her eyelashes trembled faintly.  

“We’ll make very good use of our lunch break.”  

“W-What are you trying to do?”  

The tinting was so dark that the interior couldn’t be seen, but did we really need to be this close?  

And we’re not even a real couple.  

As she thought this, Dokyeom leaned in even closer.  

His handsome face was so near that their breaths could almost touch, and Leeyeon, startled, reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.  

A faint laugh scattered over her face.  

Soon, the sound of the passenger-side window being lowered was heard.  

‘Why is he lowering the window?’  

Since she had planned to get out of the car only after Cha Heeyoung returned inside the gallery, Leeyeon was simply bewildered by the situation.  

Because she was almost pressed up against Dokyeom, the warmth radiating from his body made her cheeks flush hotly.  

Meanwhile, through the lowered window, Cha Heeyoung’s voice came through.  

“Son! Were you in the car?”  

Through the slightly open window crack, only Dokyeom’s face could be seen.  

“I called, but your phone was turned off. And I don’t see Secretary Han either.”  

She was asking if they were together.  

“Director Cha. Don’t you think you’re a little too interested in the private life of your grown son?”  

His voice sank low, as though displeased.  

“No, I was just happy to see your car here, that’s all……. By the way, where’s Secretary Han?”  

“Lunch breaks, which are designated as rest time, are periods that employees can use freely according to the Labor Standards Act.”  

The meaning behind those words was clear.  

It wasn’t yet the end of the lunch break, so don’t look for Leeyeon.  

“Please return to the gallery first. Before we end up in an awkward situation.”  

It seemed like a suggestion, but the power in his voice was overwhelming.  

“I just came to say hello. Lunch break is almost over, so don’t keep Secretary Han for too long. There’s a lot on the schedule this afternoon.”  

Seeing that Dokyeom was trying to send her back first, it was clear that Leeyeon was in the car with him. Cha Heeyoung’s expression hardened even more.  

She wanted to fling the door open and drag her out, but as Dokyeom had said, she couldn’t be sure what kind of compromising position the two might be in inside the car.  

“Oh, how passionate.”  

Cha Heeyoung’s muttering voice, full of displeasure, grew distant, and only then did Leeyeon finally open her eyes.  

Since Cha Heeyoung had left, Dokyeom should also return to the driver’s seat, but he was still above Leeyeon.  

“Um, Director…….”  

Her heart had been beating irregularly for a while now.  

She was startled, but she also worried that Dokyeom might hear the sound, and her mouth went dry.  

“Speak.”  

“I really think I need to go back now. Could you move aside?”  

Though her face still showed surprise, Leeyeon spoke as calmly as she could.  

Dokyeom moved back just a little.  

“We made the right decision to date, didn’t we?”  

At his blunt remark, a faint ripple spread through Leeyeon’s chest.  

It was surprising because it meant that Dokyeom’s thoughts had solidified in such a short time today.  

“If we weren’t dating, it would’ve been much harder to explain why you and I were secretly meeting in a car during lunch, Han Leeyeon.”  

“Yes, that’s true.”  

Dokyeom was right.  

It was better to look like a couple who used their lunch break for some passionate time together.  

As Dokyeom slowly moved away, Leeyeon also straightened her seat.  

She smoothed out her wrinkled blouse, her face still looking uneasy.  

“What about the report I couldn’t deliver today?”  

Since Dokyeom had another appointment scheduled, there wasn’t any more time to spare.  

“Come to my office at 10 p.m. after work. I’ll have your phone fixed by then.”  

“Okay, I will.”  

Leeyeon hurriedly got out of Dokyeom’s car and rushed back to the gallery.  

The spring breeze was blowing in full force, but her flushed cheeks showed no sign of cooling down.  

“Haa.”  

The firm sensation of Dokyeom’s thigh, which she had accidentally brushed against, still lingered in her hand.  

Even after showing her face to Cha Heeyoung and heading to the restroom to wash her hands for a while, the sensation didn’t fade; instead, it became even more vivid.  

Dokyeom, whom she had faced up close, was more dangerous than she had thought.  

She needed to stay even more alert.  

***

While focusing on his work, Dokyeom raised his head to check the time.  

It was still 9 p.m.  

When he had checked the time just moments ago, it had been 8:55 p.m., so only 5 minutes had passed.  

Five minutes that felt like five hours.  

Even though there was a mountain of work to handle, he kept checking the time.  

It was so unlike his usual self, who, once focused, wouldn’t even notice Secretary Choi knocking on his office door.  

Placing the fountain pen he had been holding onto the desk, Dokyeom leaned his head back and closed his eyes.  

Compared to his usual habit of finishing work and leaving around midnight, today he intended to wrap up early.  

Since he hadn’t been briefed on Cha Heeyoung earlier in the day, he needed to spend time on that.  

But then, the image of the woman who had been so close to him earlier in the day, tangled together like a lingering afterimage, made Dokyeom smirk.  

He could have received the report during lunch.  

If there had been something he missed, he could have asked about it again later.  

The reason he hadn’t listened to it then was because he wanted to focus more.  

Not on the contents of the report, but on Han Leeyeon, who was delivering it.  

“What a ridiculous thought.”  

A faint laugh escaped Dokyeom’s lips.  

He wanted to hear the report for a little longer and pay more attention to her elegant voice at his leisure.  

When Leeyeon had unintentionally placed her hand on his thigh in the car, he had bitten hard on the inside of his cheek.  

If Cha Heeyoung hadn’t knocked on the car window once more at that moment…  

As his thoughts reached that point, even more improper ideas began to tangle messily in his mind.  

“This is driving me crazy.”  

The situation was becoming quite troublesome.