Chapter 12 (Part 1)

In the company break room, Assistant Manager Jeong was having coffee alone.  

In-ah, entering the break room with her coffee, approached and quietly sat at the table where she was sitting.  

“Assistant Manager Jeong, you’re here for coffee.”  

In response, Assistant Manager Jeong immediately stood up and turned away.

“Assistant Manager Jeong! If you’re not busy, could you help me?”  

As Assistant Manager Jeong hesitated, In-ah gained courage and continued speaking.

“I’m designing kitchen furniture for the Jinseong Group Chairman’s house. But the first draft got rejected without even an explanation.”

Assistant Manager Jeong stood there, not leaving or turning towards In-ah, just showing her back.

Confident that she was listening, In-ah fully revealed her concerns.

“You always said that the start and end of all custom furniture is the client.”

Assistant Manager Jeong’s shoulders seemed to twitch slightly.

With a worried expression, In-ah spoke.

“But the client’s requirement is just ‘not too young-looking and not too old-fashioned.’ I can’t grasp the direction.”

As soon as In-ah finished speaking, Assistant Manager Jeong suddenly turned around and slammed the table where In-ah was sitting.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

Startled, In-ah looked up at Assistant Manager Jeong and said.

“Because you’re a senior.”

She silently looked down at her. In-ah slowly explained her thoughts.

“And you’ve always given me good advice.”

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”

“Mocking? Why would I?”

In-ah jumped in surprise. Then, with a slightly suspicious expression, she asked.

“Honestly, you don’t know what to do either, do you? That’s why you’re acting like this, right?”

Assistant Manager Jeong looked at her incredulously, then sighed and left.

Watching her back as she left the break room, In-ah murmured.

“I think I’m right. She doesn’t know.”

Returning to the office, In-ah sat there, staring blankly into space.

Hye-yoon, who had come close enough to see what In-ah was staring at, spoke.

“What are you doing?”

In-ah snapped out of her thoughts and began tidying her desk.

“Aren’t you going to Jeju tomorrow? It’s not enough to work overtime, and you’re daydreaming? You’re braver than I thought.”

“It’s not like that.”

With a troubled expression, In-ah held her head. Watching her, Hye-yoon clicked her tongue.

“Is that the face of someone about to go on vacation? Deal with work after you come back.”

But Hye-yoon’s guess was completely off.

The reason In-ah was troubled was not because of work but because of the Jeju trip.

“Are you an idiot? You booked an extra room?”

After dinner at Haejeong’s house, Haejeong immediately scolded In-ah after hearing her story.

In-ah nodded vigorously.

Then, with a look of disbelief, Haejeong continued.

“You must have wanted to do it.”  

“Well, yeah.”  

“Then why do you look like that?”

In-ah drooped her shoulders with an endlessly gloomy expression.

“That’s what I’m saying. Why do I feel so uneasy?”

Hearing In-ah’s words, Haejeong leaned back, laughing heartily.

“Because you’re ignoring the voice of your heart! Of course, you’ll feel uneasy.”

“The voice of my heart?”

In-ah perked up her ears with a serious expression, as if listening to a fortune teller.

Haejeong looked at In-ah’s chest and spoke.

“Yes. Listen to the voice of that kid pretending to be your inner self, hiding sneakily.”

In-ah tilted her head in confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“Stop pretending, girl!”

“Oh.”

***  

Finally, the morning of the Jeju trip arrived.

When In-ah, who looked like she hadn’t slept all night, opened the front door and stepped out, she couldn’t help but glare when she saw Jinwon following her.

Why is this man flaunting his looks so early in the morning? Ugh, doesn’t he even swell up?

In-ah slapped her swollen cheeks with her palms.

Seeing this, Jinwon quickly approached and grabbed her wrists to stop her.

“Why are you hitting your face all of a sudden?”

He doesn’t even know what’s going on inside.

“I have my reasons.”

In-ah shook off Jinwon’s hands and resumed gently slapping her cheeks.

Arriving at Jeju Jinseong Hotel, In-ah and Jinwon got out of the rental car and entered the lobby.

In-ah’s head tilted back.

There was something there, just like the ceiling of the Seoul Jinseong Hotel lobby that In-ah loved!

It was the crystal sculpture that seemed to pour down like a waterfall from the ceiling.

It felt even more abundant than the one in the Seoul lobby, making it impossible to take her eyes off it.

After checking in, Jinwon, seeing In-ah engrossed in the sculpture, said.

“Do you want to stay here? I’ll go put the luggage away.”

“Okay.”

In-ah answered absentmindedly without taking her eyes off the ceiling sculpture.

Seeing this, Jinwon smiled and left with the two suitcases.

After gazing at the sculpture for a while, In-ah called over a passing hotel staff member.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Could you tell me who made that piece?”

“Oh, just a moment. I’ll check for you.”

The kind staff went to the desk and returned shortly to In-ah.

“It says it’s by Artist Lee Seong-ha.”

“Oh, thank you.”

After bowing in thanks, In-ah opened her phone to search immediately.

But searching for “Lee Seong-ha” yielded no information about art pieces.

“Shall we go?”

In-ah quickly put her phone in her pocket and clung to Jinwon’s arm as he returned.

“Yes, let’s go.”

***

At that time, Shin-hye was in the sky, specifically on a flight to Jeju.

“I’m not one to complain, but…”

The gruff voice already made one frown.

Shin-hye instinctively turned her head towards the voice. The owner of the voice was Seong-tae.

Shin-hye recognized him at once and immediately looked at him with disdain.

She had heard enough about what kind of person he was.

“Isn’t this wrong? Flight attendant, can you read this for me?”

Though he said “flight attendant,” his tone was openly dismissive.

The flight attendant looked at the letters Seong-tae pointed at and then looked at him with her mouth closed.

Then, Seong-tae urged again.

“What are you doing? I said read it.”

“Per… First… Class…”  

“That’s right! Your pronunciation is good.”

The first-class customers, including Shin-hye, looked at Seong-tae with disbelief.

Ignoring their gazes, Seong-tae continued speaking to the flight attendant.

“I’m not in economy or business, but first class! Isn’t it only natural to receive service that matches?”

“Is there something you’re uncomfortable with, Sir?”

“Your expression!”  

When Seong-tae raised his voice, not only the flight attendant but also the onlookers were startled.

“It seems the smile training for flight attendants here isn’t proper. Am I right?”

It was a question filled with malice, not expecting an answer.

Pretending not to know, Shin-hye turned her head again. Then she put on earplugs and an eye mask.

“Why am I on the same flight as that guy? Annoying.”

She didn’t forget to make a thoroughly annoyed expression.

Arriving at Jeju Jinseong Hotel, Shin-hye couldn’t help but frown again. She spotted a familiar back checking in ahead.

“Why is that guy here…!”

Shin-hye, who had unknowingly voiced her irritation, suddenly stopped speaking.

Come to think of it, it made sense for the son of Jinseong Group to stay at Jinseong Hotel. Annoying, but it couldn’t be helped.

***

Jinwon and In-ah were at a cafe with a great view right in front of the beach.

In front of the cafe was a photo spot where you could take a beautiful life shot with the sea as the background.

There, In-ah was pouting with dissatisfaction, looking at the photos Jinwon took on her phone. It was a clearly displeased expression.

“Why? What’s wrong with it?”

Jinwon quickly stood beside In-ah to look at the photos together.

Then, In-ah pouted her lips and finally spoke.

“It’s short.”

“Where? It’s not short at all.”

“It came out too short~”

“That’s…”

About to continue, Jinwon saw In-ah’s unusual expression and shut his mouth.

After a brief moment of eye-rolling, Jinwon spoke again.

“I took it wrong. Why did it come out like this? I’ll take it again.”

He managed to soothe In-ah and took several more shots.

But when In-ah checked the new photos, her face clouded over again.

Feeling a sense of crisis, Jinwon quickly checked the photos In-ah was looking at.

“Why? It came out long.”

In-ah pointed at the photo and argued.

“Is this Jeju Island?”

“Of course, it’s Jeju Island. Anyone can see it’s Jeju!”

In-ah was speechless.

The photo was so filled with In-ah’s smiling face that it was impossible to tell if the background was the sea or a stream.

“Are you joking with me?”

Jinwon shook his head vigorously, looking wronged.

“Or are you picking a fight?”

In-ah clenched her fists and took a boxing stance toward Jinwon.

“Bring it on!”  

As she shouted energetically and posed to punch, he wrapped his arms around her from behind.  

Suddenly back-hugged, In-ah froze with her fists clenched.

In Jinwon’s embrace, In-ah was so engulfed that she was almost invisible from behind.

He leaned down and whispered sweetly in her ear.  

“Why would I? Why would I pick a fight after coming all the way to Jeju?”  

“Sigh…”

Even as she made a deflated balloon sound, In-ah couldn’t hide her emerging smile.

Looking at the photo in her hand, Jinwon spoke.

“I really like this picture.”  

At his words, she looked back at the photo.  

Now that she thought about it, the photo showed her with the happiest smile in the world.  

In-ah stared at her face in the photo as if it were fascinating. Jinwon, watching her with loving eyes, immediately reached out.

“What? Why?”  

Suddenly, Jinwon took In-ah’s phone and started taking selfies while back-hugging her.

In-ah burst into giggles in Jinwon’s arms.

“How many are you taking?”  

Laughing so hard she almost couldn’t breathe, In-ah suddenly felt like she stopped breathing.

Because Jinwon’s soft and warm cheek pressed gently against hers.

The unexpected cheek kiss was captured in In-ah’s phone photos.

A moment capturing In-ah’s happiest expression and Jinwon’s radiant, peaceful face.

Everything was perfectly captured in the photo.