CHAPTER 9 – Sehyun (Part 2)

The first floor of the Hanseong Hotel consisted of a lounge café, a deli, and a luxury jewelry shop. Despite the space seeming filled with glamorous chandeliers and elegant ornaments and gold moldings, the remaining area was actually a spacious hall with comfortable sofas scattered around.

Seo-yeon sat on one of the sofas near the hotel’s entrance. Sehyun, who promised to come by 7 o’clock, still hadn’t arrived even after 15 minutes had passed. The reservation at the Italian restaurant on the second floor was set for 7:30. There was still plenty of time.

As she waited for Sehyun, Seo-yeon lost herself in thought. It had been a sleepless month due to Sehyun and Haewon’s affair. It was a month spent pondering and suppressing, but last weekend, she had completely forgotten about it.

Admittedly, the weekend was all about Hwang Dojun.

Seo-yeon let out a self-pity sigh. Sehyun and Haewon didn’t even have a chance to interrupt. She tried to keep herself busy cooking, doing laundry, and cleaning, trying not to think about it, but she couldn’t help but recall scenes popping up in her mind.

In the middle of watching TV, in the middle of sautéing onions, in the middle of shaking out laundry, Dojun would pop up. Sometimes it was the piercing gaze of his eyes, sometimes it was his resonating low voice echoing through the body. Sometimes it was a sidelong gaze, sometimes it was the heat of his body.

And now it was Hwang Dojun again.

Seo-yeon shook her head to consciously shake off her thoughts. Then, after glancing at her wristwatch, she looked towards the revolving entrance.

Cars were coming and going, people were entering and leaving. The large revolving door was spinning round and round. She wondered if people’s minds were like that.

Instead of wrestling with her thoughts, Dojun had tidied them up for her. Since the weekend, the feelings of resentment and injustice had vanished in an instant. Instead, everything seemed pathetic and insignificant.

She felt sorry for Sehyun, who didn’t know how to be polite to people he met. She felt sorry for Haewon, who gave her heart away despite being her sister’s boyfriend, and most of all, she felt sorry for herself, who let the two of them consume her by dwelling on them.

It was so easy to sort things out like this. Should I even be thankful to President Dojun?

Just as she was thinking that, a familiar car drove up to the entrance and screeched to a halt. She turned to see Sehyun rushing in, tossing his keys to the valet.

“Ah, Seo-yeon.”

Sehyun spotted Seo-yeon sitting on one side of the couch and casually raised his right hand as if greeting a dear friend, sporting a wide smile on his lips. Even his manner of addressing her without formality added to the impression of a greeting between affectionate lovers.

“You must have waited a lot, huh? I left early, but there was an accident, so I got stuck. You must be hungry. What do you feel like eating?”

Sehyun smiled as he spoke. There was no trace of any lingering feelings from their last meeting. 

Was there no sense of guilt or remorse? Or perhaps he was intentionally acting this way out of apology.

 Seo-yeon silently observed Sehyun’s relaxed demeanor.

“Although we’re a bit late, shall we go to ‘Carmen’? You liked their Fettuccine Alfredo, didn’t you?”

Would simply responding with a smile and saying, “Sure, let’s eat there,” make everything seem normal again? Would Haewon just fade into non-existence, carry on as if nothing had happened?

It felt so trivial.

Originally, she intended to do such things. Even though Sehyun had become someone insignificant to her, she had tried to hold onto him. She had been reluctant to let go, fearing seeing Sehyun in pain or Haewon getting hurt.

But she didn’t want to care about those two anymore. She felt it was pointless to continue the meaningless relationship. She’d be lying if she didn’t say she hadn’t been hurt but she didn’t see how holding on to the promise of revenge would bring her any comfort when it would only increase her self-loathing.

“I don’t want to go far, so I’ve booked Florence on the second floor, so let’s go there.”

Seo-yeon said as she got up.

“Florence? Isn’t Carmen better? The view is better, the food is better. Let’s just go to Carmen.”

How meticulous of him to pick on the view and quality of the food when he came to talk about the subject of his affair. 

Seo-yeon almost laughed out loud.

“No, let’s just eat here.”

Seo-yeon turned away first and walked. There was no longer any concession or consideration for Sehyun. When she’d said yes to meeting today, she’d meant it to put a period on things. She headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Yeah, okay. It’s also nice to eat something classic after a long time.”

Sehyun responded with an unwilling voice. Regardless of Sehyun’s response, Seo-yeon continued walking. The spiral staircase leading to the second floor was grand and splendid, typical of the Hanseong Hotel.

Luxurious lights emanated from the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and smooth marble stairs were covered with wine-colored carpets.

When Seo-yeon was about five steps up, she heard people descending from the top of the spiral staircase. Absent-mindedly climbing the stairs, Seo-yeon reflexively looked up. Her gaze locked with the person coming down the stairs.

It was Hwang Dojun.

“The work of Mr. Kang Jin-bae that I told you about last time can be found at…….”

Dojun’s secretary was talking to him. He listened to the conversation as he descended the stairs. His hands were tucked into his pockets, and his gaze was fixed on Seo-yeon.

“Seo-yeon, what’s the rush? Let’s go together.”

Sehyun, who was following belatedly, said. Instead of answering, Seo-yeon stopped and bowed her head towards Dojun. It was only then that Sehyun, seeing Dojun accompanied by his assistant, stiffened.

Please go by quickly.

Intentionally avoiding Dojun’s gaze, Seo-yeon lowered her eyes. And she waited for Dojun’s entourage to pass. Shortly afterward, Dojun and his entourage swept past her. When Seo-yeon raised her head again to climb the stairs.

“Miss Yoon Seo-yeon.”

Dojun, who had already made his way down and across the hall, stopped abruptly as he called her name. Seo-yeon stopped too. She turned around and saw Dojun striding toward her, leaving the secretary behind.

Hotel staff would bow and greet Dojun as he passed, but it wasn’t a greeting to be returned. The same was true for Seo-yeon. Giving appropriate greetings from a reasonable distance was just a courtesy sent to the hotel CEO.

So, calling her name and turning back was so unusual and odd. While Seo-yeon was standing still, Sehyun greeted Dojun first.

“Hello, I’m from Hanseong Department Store…….”

“Manager Lee Sehyun. I know.”

Dojun cut off Sehyun’s greeting and stood in front of Seo-yeon. Even though he was one step below, Dojun was still taller than Seo-yeon, so she had to look up at him.

“Manager Yoon Seo-yeon.”

Dojun called Seo-yeon’s name. Her name echoed in the silent space.

“I look forward to working with you in the future.”

Dojun reached out his hand to Seo-yeon, inviting a handshake. He even had a faint smile on his lips. The eyes of everyone in the hotel lounge, including Dojun’s secretary and Sehyun, were glued to Seo-yeon.

Is he trying to impress everyone here? What a character. 

Seo-yeon thought to herself and smiled softly.

“I look forward to working with you as well.”

Seo-yeon said as she lightly shook Dojun’s hand. The man’s large hand firmly grasped Seo-yeon’s hand.

“I’ll be counting on your insight, Manager Yoon. We start tomorrow, right?”

Dojun said, still holding her hand Seo-yeon watched Dojun’s eyes flicker briefly to Sehyun before shifting away.

Does he lack judgment when it comes to men?  

If so, that’s a fitting comment. Without wiping her smile, Seo-yeon replied to Dojun.

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dojun nodded as if that was all and turned away. Despite the brief encounter, it felt like all the energy was sucked out of her. Seo-yeon sighed lightly and turned away.

“What does ‘counting on you’ mean?”

Sehyun asked, hurrying after her.

“What does ‘see you tomorrow’ mean?”

She wished he’d thought about whether or not he had the right to ask that, but Sehyun, who was ignored by Dojun, seemed to have no such thoughts.

“I’ve been assigned to temporarily be in charge of CEO Hwang Dojun’s wardrobes.”

“You? Even though you’re from a different company, why are you doing that job? What, can he just use whoever he wants because it’s his hotel?”

“The task was suggested by our company, and it’s up to the branch manager to decide who’s in charge.”

After explaining to Sehyun, Seo-yeon spoke to the staff waiting at the entrance.

“Yoon Seo-yeon, I have a reservation for 7:30.”

After being seated, Seo-yeon handed the menu to Sehyun.

“I’ll treat you today. Choose what you want to eat, Sehyun.”

“Arrogant brat. Just because he is the chairman’s grandson?”

Sehyun pushed the menu away resentfully. It seemed that Dojun ignoring the greeting was very upsetting to him. Sehyun might be even more upset if he knew that a few days ago, Seo-yeon had kissed him. But Seo-yeon gently took the menu back and said.

“Then I’ll order on my own.”

“He’s ignoring me, neglecting my greeting, and acting all high and mighty. Born with a silver spoon in your mouth, living life comfortably.”

Sehyun, and perhaps Yoon Seo-yeon, had lived their lives comfortably too. Since Seo-yeon wasn’t someone who cared about anyone’s greetings originally, maybe there was no need to console him.

“Do you know Hwang Dojun’s coming to the department store?”

“No, I don’t.”

She did, but pretended not to. Seo-yeon had no interest or concern about where Hwang Dojun was coming from or going. She didn’t want to get involved, nor should she. Seo-yeon flipped open the menu and ordered from the waiter who approached her.

“One Margherita pizza, mushroom cream pasta, shrimp rose pasta. And… two glasses of house wine and a Caesar salad, please.”

“Why so much food? Is it the Last Supper?”

Seo-yeon nodded slightly at Sehyun’s joke. Even though she wasn’t going to eat it, it was technically a last supper. After this day, she would never sit face to face with Lee Sehyun again.

“I invited one more person for the last supper. Perfect timing. Haewon, over here.”

Seo-yeon looked towards the entrance and raised her hand.