CHAPTER 24 – Grilled Eel (Part 2)

On the 2nd floor, a beige-carpeted corridor stretched out. The doors, which used to be guest rooms, now had signs for the marketing team, customer support team, and the like. At the very end, Assistant Ko stopped in front of a door and knocked.

“CEO, Heritage  Manager Yoon is here.”

“Come in.”

Dojun’s voice called out, and Assistant Secretary Ko opened the door. Dojun, sitting at his desk in front of the window, looked up.

“I’ll leave you to it then.”

Assistant Ko bowed politely and stepped back. The sound of the door clicking shut echoed behind Seoyeon.

The CEO’s office was a converted corner suite. The window wrapped around the corner, offering a picturesque view of the forest. In the summer, the lush greenery would be a sight to behold.

While Seoyeon was captivated by the view outside the window, Dojun stood up from his chair and started undoing the cufflinks on his sleeve. As Seoyeon belatedly turned her head, she saw a large brown stain on the pristine white shirt.

Dojun placed the cufflinks one by one on the desk and glanced at Seoyeon.

“The shirts?”

“Ah, yes.”

Seoyeon placed the shirts wrapped in non-woven fabric on the sofa. She unzipped the fabric and hung each shirt on the back of the sofa.

“You must have spilled quite a bit of coffee. Wasn’t it hot?”

At Seoyeon’s words, Dojun chuckled as he pulled down the knot of his tie.

“Fortunately, it was cold coffee. Now, hand me a shirt.”

Seoyeon brought one of the shirts to Dojun. As Dojun unbuttoned the shirt, he paused and looked at Seoyeon.

“Since you’re here, you might as well help.”

Saying that, he leaned his arm on the desk. With a relaxed posture, he gave Seoyeon a slight smile.

“That’s a bit…”

Seoyeon responded with an awkward expression. It was obvious that it would be an embarrassing situation if someone were to knock and come in, in a non-private space.

Sensing her glance towards the door, Dojun pulled Seoyeon’s waist.

“Just unbutton it. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Hesitating, Seoyeon looked up at Dojun, who raised his eyebrows questioningly and muttered, almost to himself.

“Someone spilled coffee on themselves; the least you could do is help with the buttons.”

Could it be?

As Seoyeon looked up, Dojun smiled, his crinkled eyes revealing a mischievous gleam. The cold expression on his face was now tinged with playful amusement.

Staring at him in disbelief, Seoyeon suddenly felt Dojun’s head lowering. She quickly turned her head and pushed against his chest.

“We’re at work. My lipstick will smudge.”

Though she pushed, it didn’t have much of an effect because his grip on her waist held her in place. Hearing Seoyeon’s words, Dojun lowered his head further down the lips, to her neck, and towards the V-neckline of her blouse.

“Then there shouldn’t be anything to smudge.”

Dojun popped open the first button of Seoyeon’s light peach blouse. Seoyeon put a hand on his shoulder.

“That’s not what I meant.”

At the sound of the next button being undone, Dojun pressed his lips against the exposed skin. Feeling the heat of his lips, Seoyeon let out a soft sound and shuddered. His lips moved to the side, tracing the line of her bra with his tongue before pulling down the delicate lace with his fingers.

“Ah, wait. Aah, ah…….”

As Dojun sucked on the protruding peak, Seoyeon gripped his shoulders tightly.

“People might… Ah!”

“No one’s coming.”

Dojun released the peak, its light pink hue now a rosy flush. Tapping the center of her other br*ast with his hand, he said,

“I’ll get to this one later.”

Then he fastened the unbuttoned blouse, saying,

“Wait for me. I’ll finish up quickly and then we can go.”

Her chest ached with longing. Seoyeon could only nod, her flushed face unable to form any other response.

***

After informing him that she would be leaving early, Seoyeon headed to Dojun’s house at 5 pm, an hour earlier than the 6 pm quitting time. Thinking the housekeeper might be there, she was about to ring the bell when the door opened from the inside.

“Oh, you’re a little late today.”

The housekeeper, whom Seoyeon had seen a few times before, said to her. She was on her way home from work, so she was dressed in casual clothes, not her work uniform, and carrying a bag.

“Yes, I had some work to do, so I was a bit late.”

“I’m usually off at 5 pm, but the CEO asked me to take care of something extra today, so I’m leaving a little late. Go on in.”

“Okay, have a good evening.”

Seoyeon greeted her and took off her shoes. As the housekeeper left, the front door closed behind her. Walking through the hallway into the house, Seoyeon noticed a tray placed on the island. It had small packaged nutritional rice cakes, Korean traditional sweets, and yokan.

Next to them were macarons, cake, and muffins.

A sticky note was attached to the cake box.

[The fruit is in the fridge].

Seoyeon recalled Dojun’s remark about her blood sugar dropping. 

Was this what the housekeeper had been asked to prepare? 

Her ears heat up as she realizes it’s obviously a snack for a long night.

Pressing her flushed face with her hands, Seoyeon went further inside. First, she wanted to pick out the outfit before Dojun arrived.

Let’s see…

Seoyeon scanned the neatly hung suits, recalling Dojun’s schedule that she had checked before leaving. 

Sunday’s concert, the opening of the B&B Mapo on Wednesday, and the Lunar New Year holiday starting on Friday.

Thinking about the holiday, she realized she should prepare outfits for two weeks. Seoyeon double-checked her phone for the schedule. There was a three-day business trip to Busan after the Lunar New Year holiday.

The phone rang just as she finished the preparations. Holding the phone, Seoyeon saw Dojun’s name displayed.

“Yes.”

• Come down to the parking lot. Let’s have dinner first.

Hearing his voice, neither too low nor too high, Seoyeon suddenly realized something. It had been a long time since her tinnitus had rung. It hadn’t rung since she’d gotten rid of Sehyun and clarified her relationship with Dojun. Perhaps it was because her mind was at ease.

“I’m coming down.”

Seoyeon turned off the backlight in the dressing room. She thought she should get something good for dinner.