Chapter 21

What on earth was he doing with someone he worked with?  

Even though Leeyeon wasn’t in this office, it felt as if he could smell the floral scent that lingered around her.  

Recently, Leeyeon had been popping into Dokyeom’s mind unexpectedly.  

As if someone had intentionally planted memories of her in his head.  

Until now, Dokyeom had never taken even the slightest interest in others.  

What mattered in life was building the virtues befitting Jicheol Group and inheriting the successor’s position without any issues.  

Naturally, this led him to focus more deeply on himself rather than on the people around him.  

What he excelled at and what he lacked.  

After that, he would obsess over ways to elevate Jicheol Group even higher.  

He was convinced that he would live such a life until the day he died.  

But recently, cracks had started to form in that ordinary routine.  

For some strange reason, all of his senses reacted sharply when it came to Leeyeon.  

Dokyeom had grown up accustomed to receiving attention from others.  

It was something he had always taken for granted.  

But to think that someone could frequently steal his gaze and his thoughts like this.  

It was truly absurd.  

It couldn’t simply be because of the time a few months ago, at the party, when he fell into the pool and Leeyeon had helped him.  

If that were the case, it didn’t make sense.  

He should have tracked her down afterward and offered compensation.  

Even if he hadn’t done it then, he should have brought it up when he hired her as his personal secretary.  

If he had repaid her kindness back then, everything would have been neatly resolved, and he could now focus solely on the business he needed to conduct with Leeyeon.  

If he told Leeyeon that the two of them had a prior connection, she would probably widen her already-round eyes in surprise.  

‘What an interesting coincidence.’  

She would have said something so clichéd and brushed it off as no big deal.  

If that had happened, perhaps he wouldn’t have been so preoccupied with thoughts of Leeyeon for so long.  

Dokyeom hadn’t brought up the events of that day first because it hurt his pride a little that Leeyeon, who had definitely seen his face, didn’t seem to recognize him.  

What a truly strange feeling.  

For some reason, he had a hunch that if he met the woman again tonight, it would bother him immensely, but that didn’t mean he wanted to avoid her.  

He wasn’t the type to avoid things that bothered him; instead, he faced them head-on. That’s why he called her to his office.  

Even more so to make himself realize that this feeling was truly nothing at all.  

Finally, at the exact moment the clock’s hands pointed to ten, a knock sounded.  

“Hello, Director.”  

It was already the second time he was meeting Leeyeon today.  

Leeyeon sat first at the table in the center of the office, and Dokyeom slowly approached her.  

“How was your day?”  

“Director Cha finished the afternoon meeting and left work early. She said she was having dinner with her husband, Vice President Ji Jungcheol.”  

“If Director Cha left work early, what did you do while waiting to come here, Han Leeyeon?”  

“Pardon?”  

Leeyeon’s brown eyes wavered slightly.  

“Uh… I…”  

What had I been doing while waiting for Dokyeom?  

Leeyeon briefly searched her thoughts.  

She kept losing her words under the intense gaze of his dark eyes staring straight at her.  

A bit flustered, Leeyeon stammered before continuing her words.  

“I reviewed Director Cha Heeyoung’s schedule for tomorrow again at the gallery. Oh, Director Cha Heeyoung particularly dislikes when her schedule gets tangled.”  

In truth, organizing Cha Heeyoung’s schedule didn’t take long.  

Afterward, she had a brief phone call with her mother, Soon-ok, and then spent some time in the art studio set up separately at the gallery.  

Since many gallery staff enjoyed painting as a hobby, Cha Heeyoung had told them to feel free to use the studio.  

However, most people wanted to leave quickly after work, so the studio was usually Leeyeon’s domain.  

Although she couldn’t spend a lot of time there and her paintings always seemed to stay the same, the moments she held a brush still filled her with excitement.  

Leeyeon didn’t want to talk to Dokyeom about such detailed circumstances.  

There was no obligation to do so.  

Dokyeom had clearly asked what Leeyeon had been doing while waiting, but she didn’t think it was a question he had asked out of genuine curiosity.  

Even his question about Leeyeon’s free time eventually circled back to a report related to Cha Heeyoung.  

“Director Cha Heeyoung today…”  

“Ms. Han Leeyeon, did you originally want to become a secretary?”  

“Pardon?”  

Wasn’t the interview-like conversation we had last time enough?  

“I was just wondering if you didn’t have any other dreams.”  

Dreams, huh.  

It was a word she had lived so long without remembering.  

She couldn’t understand why Dokyeom was curious about this, but at the same time, a precious hope from her life suddenly stirred in her mind.  

In truth, before her family business failed, Leeyeon’s family had been considered quite wealthy.  

The company that her now-deceased father had run produced consumable parts for construction equipment.  

The factory was quite large, and its sales increased year after year, so they lived without any shortages.  

As a young girl interested in art, she naturally thought she would study abroad, learn a lot, return, and be able to create her own works.  

But reality was harsh.  

As she recalled those long-gone days, a fleeting bitterness crossed Leeyeon’s face.  

“When I was a child and didn’t know anything, there was a time when I liked drawing.”  

“Then why didn’t you major in it?”  

Dokyeom’s sharp gaze pierced through Leeyeon’s face.  

Before Leeyeon even entered middle school, her father’s business collapsed due to someone’s scheme, leaving them saddled with enormous debt.  

Her father, who couldn’t tolerate any shortcomings as the head of the family, endured a long battle with illness before ultimately choosing to end his own life.  

The massive debt left behind became Leeyeon’s burden.  

And as an adult, she learned that behind it all was Cha Heeyoung.  

That was when it started.  

A new goal was born.  

For Leeyeon, who had struggled to survive each day, she now had one more reason to grit her teeth and keep going.  

She couldn’t turn everything back to how it used to be, but at the very least, she was determined to drag Cha Heeyoung down from her position—because it was Cha Heeyoung who had caused things to reach this point.  

She endured and endured, clinging to that thought alone.  

‘There’s no way he’s asking these questions knowing all of this…’  

If that were the case, the question wouldn’t have been focused on Leeyeon’s dreams.  

After all, beating around the bush wasn’t Dokyeom’s style.  

Since it was something she herself had learned with difficulty, she knew there was no way Dokyeom could know such detailed information, yet her heart kept racing.  

Leeyeon continued speaking, pretending to remain calm.  

“It felt like chasing after clouds.”  

“Drawing?”  

“Yes. My family’s circumstances suddenly worsened, and my mother’s health declined as well, so I naturally became more interested in practical work.”  

“I see.”  

Was this the end of the questions about me?  

However, Dokyeom still seemed to have many questions.  

“I heard that your mother is ill and in the hospital, but I haven’t heard much about your father.”  

“……”  

At the mention of her father, her heart dropped with a thud.  

‘Does he… know something? Is that why he keeps asking these questions?’  

Hiding her unsettled feelings, Leeyeon swallowed hard.  

In that brief moment, countless thoughts raced through her mind.  

Should I tell the truth about my biological father?  

Or should I talk about the stepfather I gained when Mom remarried?  

‘I need to figure out whether Director Ji Dokyeom knows something and is asking intentionally, or if he’s just trying to thoroughly understand his business partner.’  

So, Leeyeon decided to take a big risk.  

She decided to talk about her stepfather, not her biological father, who was no longer in this world.  

If he already knew everything about the relationship between her biological father and Cha Heeyoung, he would realize it was a lie and press her further.  

Steadying her trembling fingertips, Leeyeon opened her lips to speak.