He dropped the cigarette he had been holding and crushed it underfoot as he looked at her.

“The dinner ended while you were away.”

She immediately bowed to him.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

Just as Yeonsu gave a brief greeting and was about to pull the garage door, the pungent scent of tobacco permeated her nostrils.

And a large hand extended from behind, pressing against the door. The half-open door was pushed back and closed again.

And then……

“Are you serious?”

A deep voice echoed in her earlobe.

Silence flowed between the two after his question asking if she was serious.

It was an utterly unkind question that omitted all context, but she seemed to understand its meaning.

Yeonsu’s complexion darkened instantly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And could you please let go of me?”

She gestured toward the large hand blocking her way with a nod.

But Seonjae’s hand gripping the garage door didn’t budge. Nor did what blocked her from behind.

He was probably asking about the arranged date discussed at dinner.

After all, Seonjae had been unable to hide his discomfort throughout the meal after she agreed to the arranged date.

Yeonsu had initially agreed partly out of spite.

The first reunion had been coincidental.

But with each subsequent second and third meeting, Yeonsu became convinced these encounters weren’t coincidental.

The more she met him, the more she felt like she was being played in his hands.

Today was no different. Despite clearly expressing her unwillingness to come, she had been invited.

And when she thought this invitation was this man’s intention, her displeasure wouldn’t subside.

She knew this man was Moon Seonjae, not Lee Seungjae from five years ago.

She also knew he was someone too high for her to dare desire.

Knowing all this, she just wanted it to end now.

“I’d appreciate it if you could tell me exactly what you’re asking.”

Yeonsu turned around, half giving up.

“I’m asking if you’re really going on that arranged date.”

Their gazes locked intensely.

His stiff lips fully revealed his low spirits.

“Yes, I intend to meet him.”

Yeonsu answered without the slightest hesitation.

Seonjae’s expression distorted miserably, but she didn’t care at all.

“If that answers your question, may I go now?”

Yeonsu escaped from within his arms. And just as she was about to open the garage door again—

“Min Jeongho from Daejeong Distribution. Thirty-nine. He’s been married before, a remarriage.”

Yeonsu turned toward Seonjae, who was listing information that might be found on a profile in a monotone voice.

“The fact that he got divorced over women’s issues is known to everyone who should know. Shall I tell you more about what a bastard he is?”

Seonjae’s voice became agitated at Yeonsu’s indifferent gaze.

To think that the great Moon Seonjae would be so disturbed by Seo Yeonsu’s arranged date match.

Yeonsu finally understood how to deal with this man.

He was her child’s father. Instead of clinging to the possibility of a lingering attachment, she should have pushed him away long ago.

If she had, at least she wouldn’t have faced this man here today.

“CEO Moon Seonjae, are you interested in me?”

Yeonsu’s soft voice spread through the air in the quiet stillness.

Seonjae’s right eyebrow twitched.

Yeonsu read the discomfort mixed with embarrassment in his pupils.

And when she saw his lips move—

“To be honest, your interest is burdensome, sir.”

Yeonsu spoke first.

“I don’t know how much of a bastard Min Jeongho is, but I’ll judge that after meeting him myself.”

Then she pushed away Seonjae’s hand that was blocking the door.

Perhaps because he hadn’t yet recovered from the considerable shock, he retreated easily.

“There are people who deliberately deceive while dating, but at least someone who wants to meet with everything out in the open is honest.”

To Yeonsu, there was little difference between a matchmaking candidate divorced for infidelity and Moon Seonjae who had met her under a false name.

Both were just bastards.

But she suppressed her emotions, unable to openly curse at someone who was the CEO of a group.

This was the limit of Yeonsu’s patience.

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll be going now.”

With those words, Yeonsu smiled at him and opened the door.

Then she immediately approached her car and sat in the driver’s seat.

After the weekend passed, she planned to tell Sehee when she returned to work.

That she didn’t want to be included in family events anymore. She never wanted to face Seonjae again.

Why had she hesitated so much over this? Making this decision felt like a weight lifted from her chest.

Yeonsu started the car.

When she turned her gaze toward the door, she saw Seonjae.

He remained motionless until Yeonsu left the garage.

※※※

In the silent garage, Seonjae’s laughter cut through the stillness.

His lips, which had been frozen for a while, twisted as a hollow laugh escaped.

“Deliberately deceived……”

Her final remark was clearly an accusation directed at him.

About how in the past, he had deceived her as Lee Seungjae rather than Moon Seonjae.

“So I’m a bastard too, is that it?”

Seonjae nervously ran his hand through the side of his hair as he mulled over Yeonsu’s words.

While smoking, when Yeonsu appeared, he approached her as if entranced and struck up a conversation.

Originally, he hadn’t intended to say so much about her matchmaking partner.

A light warning would have sufficed.

Why should he care who that woman meets? She was just an ex-lover.

But Yeonsu’s response had ensnared him.

If social climbing was her goal, there were much better candidates. Yet she had accepted this ridiculous matchmaking arrangement that Sukgyeong had pushed on her.

And she had done it as if to show him.

That’s where he got pulled in.

A choice that Seo Yeonsu wouldn’t normally make had shaken him throughout dinner.

He couldn’t remember what he ate or what conversations took place.

He only saw Seo Yeonsu’s smiling face as she occasionally talked with Sukgyeong.

Even her smile seemed to mock him, grating on his nerves.

Feeling suffocated, Seonjae took out a cigarette.

Finding the pack empty, he crushed it mercilessly and threw it away.

The cigarette pack hit a wall somewhere in the garage with a thud and stopped.

“Seo Yeonsu……”

His utterance of her name was tinged with deep resentment.

His eyes shone fiercely through half-closed eyelids.

Yeonsu, after meeting Seonjae again, was like a hedgehog with all its quills raised.

The way she tried to protect herself, even with those quills.

Some might find that pitiful, but Seonjae couldn’t.

“If we’re talking about who’s worse, you’re no different.”

She was the woman who had cut off Seungjae in an instant, dissatisfied with his status as a poor international student.

Yeonsu, for whom he wouldn’t have hesitated to give himself as Moon Seonjae rather than Lee Seungjae.

On the day they promised to see the aurora together when he returned to Korea, Seonjae had decided to tell her everything.

But Yeonsu never came back.

It was a unilateral breakup notice without any explanation.

The woman who abandoned Lee Seungjae and chose marriage.

If social climbing had been her dream and goal, would that matchmaking partner be worthy of Seo Yeonsu?

And if she truly wanted to escape her miserable reality, Yeonsu should have held onto Seonjae.

Not some matchmaking candidate from Daejeong Distribution, but him—the CEO of Taeseo Group.

〈CEO Moon Seonjae, are you interested in me?〉

Yeonsu’s soft voice asking the question.

Among those words, the term “interest” particularly lingered in his ears.

Interest?

His lips twisted miserably. It felt like that interest had truly developed.

Whether it was curiosity or lingering attachment to that woman, he couldn’t be sure.

But one thing was certain—he needed to know now.

Why Yeonsu had left him five years ago.

Just then, footsteps approached, and a familiar figure appeared.

It was his secretary.

“The car is ready outside. Shall we go now?”

Seonjae followed him but then stopped.

“About The Closet. Tell Managing Director Park from PR that I’ll be a regular cast member.”

“Yes?”

His secretary’s eyes widened at the sudden decision to become a regular.

“Weren’t you planning to decline?”

The interview appearance was supposed to be a one-time thing.

He had only done it because he heard Team Leader Seo Yeonsu would appear, but now a regular appearance?

“Are you sure? This would be your first exposure to the mass media.”

Though his secretary asked with concern, Seonjae didn’t mind.

“It’s fine, proceed with it. Starting from the next appearance.”

With those words, Seonjae disappeared into the car.

※※※

The weekend passed quickly, and Monday arrived.

Yeonsu recalled Sukgyeong’s phone call on her way to work.

〈This Saturday, 6 PM at L Hotel restaurant. It’s reserved under the other party’s name.〉

She had wondered what was happening first thing Monday morning, but it was about the arranged date.

〈I hear he’s a good person, so meet him with an open mind. He is remarrying, but is that really a flaw in today’s world?〉