Chapter 3.4

Clenching her eyes shut, she gritted her teeth and forced strength once more into her trembling legs. Then, as she took a determined step forward, something hard suddenly bumped against her forehead. 

“Ah!” 

Hae-soo immediately clutched her forehead. When she instinctively opened the frown from her eyelids, In-wook’s back was right in front of her. 

“What the—! Why did you stop so suddenly? That hurt. Geez.” 

Hae-soo looked up at In-wook with a tearful face. Right then, his face, squinting as if something was displeasing, came into view. 

“……” 

“……” 

He said nothing. It was impossible to know what exactly displeased him so much, but he just kept shooting her an uncomfortable gaze. 

In that moment, a wave of frustration surged in Hae-soo’s chest. She had barely managed to hold it in, but now, facing his dissatisfied expression up close, she simply couldn’t suppress it any longer. 

She was doing her best in her own way. Wasn’t this her very first day, just starting an exercise she’d never even approached her whole life? 

It might have looked pitiful to In-wook, but for her, she was giving her all to help him. 

Yet, despite all that effort, all she received was that kind of look. Tears welled up, stinging with resentment. 

Heat gathered at the corners of her eyes, and tears were just about to drop. 

Hae-soo quickly turned her head away. She didn’t want to show such a foolish side. 

She wanted to finish, even if awkwardly. 

But it seemed like she would have to give up on jogging for her first day. If she stayed any longer, she’d just end up showing herself crying like a fool. 

“Sorry, but I’m really not feeling well. I’ll stop here for today and head home first.” 

Hae-soo delivered her words clearly, as if nothing was wrong. She even forced a smile, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. 

Only then did she hurriedly turn her body. 

With just one step away from In-wook, the forced smile and the mask of composure she’d barely managed to keep up instantly crumbled. 

Then, just as she was about to take another step and her suppressed tears threatened to spill over— 

“Where do you think you’re going, looking like that.” 

In-wook’s low, subdued voice roughly pierced her ears. Then, she heard the sound of his footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. 

Startled, Hae-soo tried to turn around. Or rather, she meant to—but before she could, she found herself pulled into someone’s embrace from behind. 

“W-what is this…!” 

“Of all the things, you had to pick that outfit.” 

“Huh…?” 

Her confused voice questioned the sudden reason for the back hug, but the answer did nothing to clear up her confusion. 

Instead, his hands, busy at her waist, provided a wordless explanation. 

“……” 

“……” 

With a dazed face, Hae-soo looked down at In-wook’s hands. He was busily tying something, working only by feel. 

What he was holding was… 

“This is the training suit you gave. What are you doing all of a sudden?” 

Hae-soo’s voice trembled as she asked. How could it not? After sending her nothing but dissatisfied looks, now this man had suddenly taken off his jacket and was tying it around her waist, even going so far as to hug her from behind. 

“It was just too much to ignore.” 

He muttered, still full of complaint. But this time, instead of feeling sad, Hae-soo’s heart began pounding wildly. 

After tightly tying the sleeves twice, In-wook finally grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. 

“What kind of training suit is this short?” 

“…This, you’re the one who gave it to me, you know?” 

“I know. And I didn’t say anything all the way here. But it’s too short, don’t you think? Who are you trying to seduce, dressed like that in the morning?” 

In-wook replied bluntly, but awkwardly averted his gaze. Hae-soo felt just as embarrassed. 

She dropped her head for no reason. In her lowered gaze, she saw the neatly tied knot of In-wook’s training suit. 

His clothes, much larger than her own frame, easily covered her pale legs that had been fully exposed. 

As she stared at it, she wondered why her heart was pounding so hard. 

Growing even more flustered, Hae-soo blurted out whatever came to mind. 

“Ever since I was born, everyone’s always said I got my mom’s long, pretty legs! Are you acting like you’re the only one who didn’t know?” 

“Who said anything?” 

“You’re the one who gave me the short stuff, and now you’re accusing me—who’s seducing who…!” 

“I’ve been wondering all along what my secretary was thinking, picking out the one training suit that shows off arms and legs out of all the options. The more I thought about it, the more it annoyed me, so I just quit thinking about it a moment ago. But now, you’re pouring oil on a fire that was just starting to die down.”

In-wook’s replies came without hesitation, but there was a certain sharpness to them. It was enough to make one worry about Chief Kim’s well-being, even though Chief Kim wasn’t present. 

In the end, Hae-soo had no choice but to tightly close her mouth. She awkwardly rolled her eyes, and with a brief chuckle, he soon stood beside her. 

“Seems like we’ve rested enough. Since we’re already out, let’s do one more lap together before heading in.” 

His voice, having returned to its usual tone before she even noticed, encouraged her gently. 

“Try running lightly, thinking of drawing an arch from your heel.” 

In-wook gently placed his hand on Hae-soo’s shoulder, then pushed her forward with just the right amount of force. 

Her small feet, stubbornly glued to the spot, reluctantly moved forward. Following that movement, he too slowly began to walk. 

“Don’t overdo it. Just run lightly at a pace you can maintain. I’ll match my speed to yours.” 

In-wook carefully watched not only Hae-soo’s expression but also her movements. At first, she looked up at him with an uncertain face, but soon she maintained a steady pace. 

Only then could In-wook focus on jogging with a slightly lighter heart. Compared to his usual intensity, this was an extremely low level, but it didn’t matter. 

If there was a problem, it was that the reason for this early morning exercise—one he had even asked Hae-soo to join—was growing more distant. 

“……” 

In-wook glanced diagonally, trying not to make it obvious. Henry’s house, which was practically the destination, appeared small in his field of vision. 

If things had gone according to plan, they should have been getting closer to that house. Instead, the distance was only growing. 

It was inevitable. The path he was now taking with this young woman, who had only just found her rhythm, was a course even he had never passed before. 

As a jogging route for making contact with Henry, it was completely useless. 

With this, his plan for the morning was now utterly pointless. His goal had been to at least exchange a greeting near Henry’s house. 

Still, it wasn’t all bad. The plan was completely off track, but sharing a morning with someone else felt strangely pleasant. 

Watching his own jacket flutter near those famously long legs—said to have been beautiful since birth by someone else’s words—and running side by side with her, all of it felt right. 

He couldn’t stop smiling, not even for a moment. 

* * * 

Unlike early morning in Hallstatt, it was nearly midnight in Korea. In-ah, lying in bed, had been tossing and turning for over thirty minutes. 

It had been a strange day. She couldn’t shake the hazy, odd feeling, as if she had fallen into another world. 

If she had to define the strange sensation that covered her, it would be discomfort. 

Even when she woke up in the morning and enjoyed tea on the terrace as usual, even when she ate her favorite braised short ribs from the housekeeper, even when she enjoyed refreshments after work with her father—who adored his daughter—In-ah couldn’t escape the unpleasant feeling weighing her down. 

“Ha, why did I have to dream something like that.” 

In-ah frowned and roughly brushed her face with her hand. The dream she had just before waking up that morning was truly bizarre. 

“In-ah, I’m sorry. I’ve been worrying about how to tell you…” 

Suddenly, Hae-soo and In-wook appeared in her dream. As she blinked, the two appeared side by side at the table where she’d been sitting alone and began to say things she couldn’t understand. 

“The truth is, we’re in love.” 

What followed was something In-ah simply couldn’t believe: the sight of a man and woman’s hands intertwined. Anyone could see how tightly they were holding on. 

Upon seeing that crazy scene, the first thing that popped into In-ah’s mind was the date for April Fool’s Day. 

April 1st was the one day of the year when everyone in the world could be the kindest. A day when you could deliberately trick someone and just laugh it off. 

So, if today had been April 1st, In-ah could have laughed off even the outrageous prank of Yoon Hae-soo and Baek In-wook with generosity. 

But the problem was, April Fool’s had long since passed. 

“What nonsense. April Fool’s is long over—how could you tell such an unbelievable lie?” 

In-ah twisted her lips and let out a hollow laugh.