Chapter 11. A Woman Whose Crying Face Is Beautiful 

“That’s correct.”

“So.”

So, what?  

Yerin almost asked that aloud.  

Instead, she forced a clumsy smile.

“Director, you’ve never been in a relationship, so you’re saying that’s why you’re lacking right now?”

“You could say that.”

Is this even a skill that can improve with practice?  

That thought only lingered briefly.  

Yerin tilted her head slightly.  

The Lee Hyun she saw that night had been anything but lacking.  

From his tone of voice that could make anyone’s heart flutter to even the smallest gestures—everything had been so sweet it was like honey dripping.  

But she couldn’t bring that up and ask why he was lying about it now.  

If she did, it would be the same as admitting that she was the woman from that night.  

No matter how she looked at it, there didn’t seem to be any way out of this situation.  

Yerin had been caught helplessly in the trap that Lee Hyun had set.  

Lee Hyun looked at her with a very serious expression.

“I’m not going to ask you to submit a report or anything.”

Lee Hyun leaned forward, placing both arms on the table.  

The distance between them narrowed noticeably as a result.

“But I’d like you to tell me what you feel while spending time with me, and what I need to improve on.”

Looking at Lee Hyun’s serious face, Yerin wondered if maybe she was overthinking things.  

‘Maybe the Director really does need practice for dating.’  

As Yerin hesitated, Lee Hyun delivered a decisive blow.

“I’m willing to give you whatever you want, Secretary Han.”

“Whatever I want?”

“Should I give you a building?”

“No!”

She had never wanted anything like that, not even once.  

Yerin waved her hands frantically.

“Oh, is one building not enough?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“If you need cash instead of a building, that’s possible too. Just say the word.”

Lee Hyun shrugged lightly and then left the restaurant room first.  

Yerin, snapping out of her daze, quickly grabbed her belongings and followed him.

“Director, I really don’t think…”

As soon as she stepped out of the room, Yerin stopped mid-sentence.  

Standing right in front of her was a man she didn’t want to see.

“Yerin?”

And next to that man stood a woman she absolutely didn’t want to see.

“Oh my, fancy seeing you here.”

It was Heejun, her ex-boyfriend, and Seoyoon, the woman who had stolen him from her.  

Yerin clenched her bag tightly, her expression hardening.

“What’s with you? We haven’t seen each other in so long, and you can’t even say hello?”

Seoyoon, looking far too pleased, slipped her arm through Heejun’s.  

Heejun awkwardly pushed her arm away and scratched the back of his neck with one hand, looking uncomfortable.

“Anyway, what brings you here?”

It was the first time she’d seen Heejun since he had unilaterally broken up with her.  

His breakup message had been as abrupt as it was inconsiderate, showing not an ounce of respect for their relationship.  

Yerin straightened her back and replied curtly.

“Dinner.”

“With who?”

Heejun seemed overly curious about Yerin’s personal life.  

Just then, Lee Hyun, who had gone to settle the bill, walked over and stood beside her.  

He immediately picked up on the tense atmosphere between Yerin and the unfamiliar man and woman.

“Who are they?”

He asked Yerin.  

While she hesitated, unsure how to introduce Heejun and Seoyoon, Lee Hyun asked again.

“Are they acquaintances?”

“They were.”

Yerin’s short reply seemed to be all Lee Hyun needed to assess the situation.  

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, and without warning, he interlocked his fingers with Yerin’s.  

Everyone present was shocked.

“We’re busy, so we’ll be going now.”

Lee Hyun shot a cold, piercing look at Heejun before pulling Yerin along.  

Caught off guard by the sudden hand-holding, Yerin looked bewildered as she stumbled to keep up with him.  

As they walked away, Lee Hyun leaned down and whispered into her ear.

“They’re still watching us.”

“….”

“If you act this awkward, won’t it look suspicious?”

Her legs felt so shaky that she could barely walk properly.  

Lee Hyun glanced at her and spoke in his deep, pleasant voice.

“Secretary Han, excuse me for a moment.”

Then, a warm hand settled on her waist.  

When she slowly turned her head, she saw Lee Hyun smiling brightly at her.  

“If you stay this stiff, it’ll defeat the purpose of me putting my arm around your waist.”

“Oh, yes…”

“Lean on me as you walk.”

Lee Hyun, apparently not trusting her, whispered again.

“If you really can’t walk, should I carry you out?”

“No, I’m fine.”

The thought of being carried snapped Yerin back to her senses.  

Lee Hyun kept his arm around her waist all the way out of the restaurant—and even until they got into the car.

***

Heejun stared at the door Yerin had disappeared through.

“Oppa, what are you staring at like that?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Heejun forced himself to move his feet, which felt like they were glued to the floor.  

Even after sitting back at the table, he couldn’t stop thinking about Yerin and the man he’d seen with her.

“By the way, Oppa, doesn’t that guy’s face look really familiar?”

“I don’t know.”

Seoyoon fiddled with her phone for a moment, then let out a short scream as if she’d found something.

“Crazy.”

“Why are you being so loud again?”

“Oppa, the man who left with Han Yerin earlier— it is him.”

Heejun took the phone Seoyoon handed to him.

On the screen was a picture of Lee Hyun, who was being mentioned as a candidate for the next successor of Jiseok Electronics.

“Cha Lee Hyun?”

“Yes. Why are the two of them together?”

Seoyoon bit her well-manicured nails as she muttered to herself.

“There’s no connection between them… Oh.”

Then, as if she had figured something out, she smiled brightly.

“Looks like the boss Yerin serves now is Director Cha Lee Hyun.”

Heejun still had a troubled expression on his face.

“Well, if it’s not a work-related connection, how could someone like Han Yerin meet a man of Lee Hyun’s level?”

Seoyoon’s lips, painted red, curled into a wide smirk.

“Oppa, so tomorrow we…”

But Heejun’s face was still blank.

He couldn’t get the image of the two people whispering affectionately to each other as they left the restaurant out of his mind, and it was putting him in a foul mood.

Seoyoon’s voice, muttering something right next to him, didn’t even register in his ears.

‘She’s gotten prettier.’

Why did she shine so much brighter standing next to that man than she ever did when she was by my side?

He didn’t like it one bit.

***

Yerin let out a deep breath after getting into Lee Hyun’s car.

Meeting Heejun and Seoyoon unexpectedly had been shocking enough, but Lee Hyun’s actions had left her even more flustered.

“I acted because it seemed like you needed help. If you found it unpleasant, I apologize.”

“No, not at all.”

Yerin slowly lifted her head.

The dim light from the streetlamps seeped through the dark car, softly illuminating Lee Hyun’s profile.

“Director, thank you.”

She didn’t even want to imagine what might have happened if Lee Hyun hadn’t shown up.

Just thinking about it made her shudder.

She would have stood there like a fool, unable to say a single word, caught between the two of them.

Lee Hyun started the car slowly.

Since she had received his help, Yerin thought it was only right to explain the situation they had just encountered.

“That man earlier… he’s someone I used to date.”

At those words, Lee Hyun’s eyebrows shot up sharply.

“And the woman next to him? She stole my boyfriend.”

Her voice was calm, as if she were talking about someone else’s story.

Just then, the traffic light changed, and Lee Hyun slowed the car down.

He turned his head to look at Yerin.

“That must have been tough”

“It wasn’t so tough as… I just thought, ‘It happened again!’ That’s probably what I felt.”

“This wasn’t the first time?”

“No. I guess I’m just stupid.”

She didn’t know why she was spilling this story to Lee Hyun, but she wanted to.

Maybe she was longing for someone’s comfort.

Lee Hyun spoke in a low voice.

“That man has terrible taste.”

“That’s not true.”

Even on the surface, Seoyoon had far more to offer than she did.

Her father, a three-term congressman, and her family background were worlds apart from hers.

Lee Hyun spoke firmly.

“Anyone can see that you are far more beautiful than that woman, Secretary Han.”

“What?”

“Not just outwardly, but inwardly as well, I’d imagine.”

“…”

“From what you’re saying, that woman has taken your boyfriend more than once.”

Yerin gripped her seatbelt tightly and slowly turned her head.

“I’ve never seen a person who covets what belongs to others turn out to be a decent human being. And this isn’t your fault.”

Hearing Lee Hyun’s soothing voice, Yerin suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes.

Her vision blurred, and soon tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

“Ah…”

Startled by the tears she hadn’t realized she was shedding, Yerin quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m like this.”

Embarrassingly, the tears that started rolling down her cheeks only grew stronger.

No matter how much she wiped them with the back of her hand, her vision kept blurring.

Yerin pulled a handkerchief out of her bag.

Just then, they arrived in front of her house, and Lee Hyun parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.

He reached out and cupped her cheek.

With his thumb, he gently wiped away the tears rolling down her face.

Before she could refuse his touch, Yerin froze in place.

For some reason, at that moment, she remembered the words Lee Hyun had said that night.

‘How can even your crying face be this beautiful?’

And now, similar words came out of Lee Hyun’s mouth again.

“Did you know?”

“…”

“Secretary Han, even your crying face is truly beautiful.”

Yerin dropped the handkerchief she was holding.

Lee Hyun picked it up.

But instead of using the handkerchief, he continued to wipe her tears away with his own hand.

The places his hand touched felt so warm that Yerin could only bite her lip.

“There’s only one other woman I’ve seen whose crying face was as beautiful as yours.”

“…”

Thinking he might be referring to that night, Yerin tensed up.

And, as expected, her guess was right.

“The woman I’m dying to see right now… she was like that too.”