Chapter 13 (Part 3)

“Why are there no customers today?”  

Jeong-ho, pacing around the empty bar, suddenly brightened.  

Someone had opened the door and stepped inside.  

“Welcome!”  

The person who entered was In-kyung, hesitantly standing at the entrance.  

“Are you alone…?”  

Jeong-ho, who had been about to greet her as a customer, stopped mid-sentence.  

It took him a moment to recognize her.  

In-kyung glanced at Jeong-ho and held out a shopping bag.  

“Um, this…”  

“What is it?”  

With a sullen expression, Jeong-ho didn’t take the bag and instead asked.  

In response, In-kyung pulled out an apron from the bag and began explaining earnestly.  

“It seems I accidentally took this bar’s apron while I was drunk. I’m really sorry.”  

Bowing deeply, In-kyung once again held out the shopping bag to Jeong-ho.  

Still, Jeong-ho didn’t take it, staring at her with an incredulous expression.  

“Do you even remember?”  

“What? Oh, no, I don’t.”  

As soon as In-kyung answered, Jeong-ho snatched the shopping bag from her.  

“Fine. You can leave now.”  

As Jeong-ho turned away, In-kyung’s sharp voice stopped him in his tracks.  

“Excuse me. It’s true that taking the apron was my fault, but what’s with your attitude and expression?”  

When Jeong-ho turned back to glance at her, In-kyung raised her voice even more.  

“It’s insulting to hear!”  

“Ha! Insulting? Did you just say insulting? And who’s the one really insulted here?”  

As the large-framed Jeong-ho took a step toward her, In-kyung instinctively stepped back.  

Realizing she had been at fault, In-kyung decided to back down.  

“F-fine. As a cultured person, I’ll let this go.”  

Muttering quickly, she turned and hurried out of the bar.  

Left behind, Jeong-ho let out a disbelieving snort.  

When Jeong-ho opened the shopping bag and unfolded the apron, something fell to the floor with a soft thud.  

Picking it up, he found three adorably wrapped candies and a rather long note.  

[Dear Sir, I’m so sorry. Just thinking about how worried you must have been when this apron went missing makes my heart race. Still, I’m so relieved that your precious bar’s logo was written on the apron…]  

Reading the long-winded note—more like a letter—Jeong-ho couldn’t help but chuckle.

***

Lying in bed, In-ah had been tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.  

Perhaps because she was worried about Jinwon being called in by the audit department, the Sandman seemed to have decided not to visit her tonight.  

Finally giving up, In-ah got out of bed.  

Standing by the window, she stared blankly outside.  

“Where’s the moon? And not even a single star? What’s going on?”  

Grumbling at the night sky for no reason, In-ah turned her gaze and suddenly froze.  

“What?”

Jinwon was visible through the window, leaving the officetel.  

In-ah turned her head to check the wall clock. It was past 2 a.m.  

She quickly turned back and followed Jinwon’s movements through the window.  

Where could he possibly be going at this hour?  

Jinwon, walking briskly out of the officetel, got into a taxi waiting in front and disappeared somewhere.  

Without taking his car, at this late hour, in a taxi?  

Worry and unease flooded In-ah all at once.  

***

In-ah stayed up all night by the window.  

Throughout the night, she kept calling Jinwon, but his phone remained turned off.  

Morning came. Since it was the weekend, there was no need to go to the office, making it even harder to get any updates about Jinwon.  

She tried cleaning and even turned on the TV, but her thoughts were entirely consumed by her phone.  

She spent the entire day anxiously waiting for Jinwon’s call, and before she knew it, the sun had set.  

When night came again, In-ah, as if refusing to give up, pressed the call button on her phone.  

Finally! The call connected!  

Jinwon answered in his usual calm voice.  

“Where are you?”  

At In-ah’s urgent question, Jinwon replied in his composed tone.  

“Oh, I’m at my mom’s house. She wasn’t feeling well.”  

So that’s why he had left so suddenly, like a man possessed, in the middle of the night.  

Hearing Jinwon’s answer, In-ah took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.  

“Oh, I see. But why was your phone unreachable?”  

“You called? I didn’t realize my battery had died.”  

“Ah, I see.”  

So that’s what happened. In-ah scolded herself for imagining all sorts of worst-case scenarios all day.  

“Take good care of your mom.”  

“Sure. I’ll call you later.”  

After hanging up, In-ah’s thoughts became heavy.  

Of course, she understood that Jinwon didn’t want to worry her.  

But the fact that, in moments like these, she wasn’t the first person he thought of—in fact, she seemed to be completely erased—made her feel inexplicably sad.  

***

In-ah stared blankly at Jinwon’s empty Team Leader office.  

Next to her, Hye-yoon chattered while also looking at the office.  

“Not coming to work at a time like this? That’s bold, really bold.”  

“What do you mean?”  

Without even glancing at Hye-yoon, In-ah asked.  

“Well, you know. After being called to the audit department for bribery, not showing up to work just makes him look more suspicious, don’t you think?”  

In-ah shot a sharp glare at Hye-yoon without saying a word.  

Noticing In-ah’s piercing gaze, Hye-yoon quickly began to make excuses.  

“No, I mean, think about it. Why would an innocent person suddenly run away? Isn’t that suspicious?”  

“Did you see Team Leader running away, Hye-yoon?”  

“What?”  

Hye-yoon looked at In-ah with a baffled expression.  

With a firm tone and determined expression, In-ah spoke clearly.  

“Nothing has been revealed yet, and nothing is certain. You know that. So why are you so sure?”  

“I wasn’t sure.”  

Hye-yoon frantically waved her hands in denial, then pouted as she glanced at In-ah.  

“But you’re really scary right now. The way you’re glaring, it’s like you’re one of those female warriors from martial arts novels. You’re not hiding a long sword somewhere, are you?”  

In-ah let out a short sigh of disbelief and turned away.  

She left the office and headed toward the furniture storage room.  

The deadline for submitting the revised draft was approaching, but she couldn’t focus at all.  

However, as she approached the storage room, she ran into an unexpected person.  

She bumped into Go Sang-wook, who had just finished a phone call and was stepping out of the room.  

“What brings you here?”  

“What about you, Sang-wook? Why are you here?”  

It was rare—almost unheard of—for someone from the marketing department to visit the furniture storage room.  

“In-ah, don’t you usually follow the proper order?”  

Confused, In-ah looked at Sang-wook with a puzzled expression.  

Her confusion was immediately cleared by his next words.  

“I asked first, so you should answer first, right?”  

In-ah couldn’t close her slightly open mouth.  

Was he seriously picking a fight over the order of answering a simple question?  

She thought to herself that perhaps the Sang-wook she knew wasn’t the person standing in front of her right now.  

Deciding to play along, In-ah answered first.  

“I came to check on the furniture in storage.”  

“Ah, I see. Our In-ah is always so diligent. That’s why I liked you.”  

Sang-wook flashed a grin at her. Then, without answering her question, he left the room.  

What was that? Why did it feel so unsettling?  

In-ah stared in disbelief at Sang-wook’s retreating figure.  

***

On her way home after work, In-ah froze in the hallway outside her apartment.  

She had spotted Jeong Shin-hye leaving Jinwon’s apartment.  

Shin-hye, noticing the stunned In-ah, casually walked over to her with confident steps.  

“Just getting off work?”  

Glancing at her watch, Shin-hye added,  

“Your work hours are shorter than I thought.”  

It took a moment for In-ah, who had been frozen in shock, to regain her composure.  

“Why were you in there?”  

As if she had been expecting the question, Shin-hye smiled and replied,  

“Do I have to answer that?”  

“Yes. A woman who enters another woman’s man’s house without permission owes an explanation to that man’s woman.”  

With an amused smirk, Shin-hye leaned in closer to In-ah.  

“No, I don’t feel like it. Besides, who says he’s your man? And who says you’re his woman?”  

“What?”  

Straightening her posture, Shin-hye crossed her arms and looked down at In-ah.  

“Don’t delude yourself.”  

Her gaze briefly fell on the couple’s ring on In-ah’s finger.  

“Just because you’re wearing matching rings, don’t fool yourself into thinking he’s yours.”  

In-ah’s face became expressionless, as if she were staring at someone she didn’t want to acknowledge.  

Seeing this, Shin-hye burst into laughter.  

“Is that really it? You’re more naive than I thought.”  

Ignoring Shin-hye’s mocking laughter, In-ah muttered,  

“Forget it. Don’t bother answering.”  

She pulled out her phone and tried calling Jinwon.  

Just then, Shin-hye’s handbag began to ring.  

The ringtone was all too familiar to In-ah.  

With a smug expression, Shin-hye opened her bag and pulled out Jinwon’s phone.  

“Stop calling and texting. It’s annoying.”  

In-ah was speechless.  

“Why do you have his phone…?”  

“Was it seven years ago? Or eight? That’s when you and Jinwon ended, wasn’t it?”  

In-ah bit her lip and struggled to maintain a neutral expression.  

Shin-hye, clearly enjoying herself, continued,  

“Accept it already. It’s over. Got it?”  

After putting Jinwon’s phone back into her bag, Shin-hye added condescendingly,  

“You seem a little slow on the uptake. But then again, you do look the type.”  

In-ah couldn’t hear anything anymore. Her eyes were fixed on Shin-hye’s bag, where Jinwon’s phone had disappeared.  

Noticing this, Shin-hye snapped her fingers in front of In-ah’s face.  

“Hey, snap out of it! Looks like you’re pretty shaken up.”  

With a laugh, Shin-hye walked away, leaving In-ah standing dazed in the hallway.