He was exasperated, but underneath it all, his concern for Hari was all there was.

“Stop wasting energy on random thoughts and try to sleep for a bit on the way.”

“Okay.”

The tension had already been easing out of her, leaving her drowsy, and Hari settled back against the seat and asked lightly.

“Where are we going, anyway?”

“The company.”

“What for?”

“They’re assigning you a dedicated bodyguard. Quite the fitting treatment for our top star Yoo Hari.”

“Oh. A bodyguard.”

Is that so. Hari didn’t give it much thought.

She had no way of knowing, not then, that she was about to be reunited with the owner of that handkerchief.

* * *

While Hari dozed lightly, fingers still curled around the handkerchief, the car pulled into a high-rise building on prime real estate along Gangnam-daero. It was the headquarters of 「Chacha Entertainment」, the largest entertainment company in the country.

“Let’s at least be grateful this happened after we moved to this company. They have a dedicated PR team just for handling the press and a separate legal team to help with criminal complaints, so they can respond quickly on all fronts.”

Jungwook put on an extra show of optimism, insisting they had to stay positive especially now.

The company Hari had been with before, Bless You Entertainment, had been acquired and merged into Chacha, which meant she naturally came along with it. By a strange coincidence, that had happened only a week ago.

It was true that the larger the company, the better it handled crises like this, so Jungwook’s forced cheerfulness wasn’t entirely without basis.

They took the VIP elevator up to the twentieth floor and followed the VIP corridor down the hallway. Watching the office workers moving busily beyond the windows gave Hari a fresh sense of just how large this company really was.

“Oppa, what’s the CEO of this company like?”

“You know Chayoung Group? Apparently he’s the youngest son of the chairman. He owns this building too.”

“Really.”

“Hyunseo said he’s incredibly handsome. Tall, great body, great voice. She said he’s the kind of man who has everything, almost unfairly so.”

“Really? If she said that, now I’m actually curious.”

What must it feel like to be born to wealthy parents and inherit a building this grand? For Hari, who had lost her mother and grown up in an orphanage, it was so far beyond her world that she couldn’t even begin to picture it.

They walked to the room at the end of the corridor, one of several meeting rooms, and stepped inside to find a reception lounge so spacious and luxurious it could have passed for a hotel suite.

So this is what a chaebol’s son’s company looks like. Hari took it in with quiet admiration and sank into the plush sofa. She closed her eyes for a moment against the headache that still hadn’t lifted, and before long a man came bustling into the room.

“Goodness, I’m swamped. Absolutely swamped!”

The man, whose shirt sleeves strained against impressively muscled arms, was Kim Minsu, the CEO’s chief of staff. They’d met briefly the week before when he’d brought the management contract paperwork, so they weren’t strangers.

“The whole city is buzzing about the threat against our actress, it’s been absolute chaos. Ms. Yoo Hari. And Manager Jungwook. Good morning. Have you eaten?”

Jungwook, the steadfast manager whose every waking thought was Yoo Hari’s wellbeing, cut straight to the point.

“What’s happening? Is our Hari going to be alright?”

“Well. I checked with the police, and for now it seems they’re treating it as a minor offense, something along the lines of property damage.”

“Property damage? This is clearly a threat and stalking!”

“They said there’s a possibility it ends as an isolated incident, so they need to wait and see.”

“And if something happens to our Hari while they’re waiting around? Are they going to take responsibility?”

“That’s exactly what I said. It’s deeply frustrating.”

“Honestly.”

Jungwook ground his teeth in fury, and Minsu patted him on the shoulder to calm him down.

“The legal team is preparing a comprehensive criminal complaint, so let’s wait and see how that goes.”

“What about the bodyguard? When does that start?”

“He should be here shortly.”

“Wow. That quickly? You work fast.”

“Yes. Our CEO personally arranged this hire himself.”

Hari was aware that having a private bodyguard wasn’t a perk extended to just any top star. The situation was particularly serious given the death threat, but it still felt like too much, and she couldn’t quite shake the discomfort.

Before she could say anything about it, a crisp, deliberate knock came at the door.

“That must be him.”

Minsu hurried over and opened the door, and the silhouette of a large man stepped inside.

Hari stared at him, forgetting to breathe.

The man walked in slowly, each step accompanied by the heavy sound of dress shoes against the floor, and to Hari it looked like slow motion.

Neatly swept-back pomade hair. A sharp, intense face that reminded her of a black panther.

Tall, with long limbs, and even fully clothed in a perfectly fitted suit that left nothing to the imagination, it was clear his entire body was covered in solid muscle.

“How do you do. I’m Cha Jisang.”

Even his voice, low and resonant, sounded almost intoxicating, and Hari’s heart lurched.

‘That’s him……’

The voice she had always longed to hear again. The name she could never forget no matter how many years passed.

The soldier she had dreamed of appeared before her now like something out of a dream. Her heart leapt so wildly that she had the strange sensation of her persistent headache vanishing all at once.

“Wow! You’re really a bodyguard? You’re far too good-looking for that!”

Even Jungwook’s outburst didn’t so much as flicker across Jisang’s composed expression. Jungwook, suddenly self-conscious, nudged Hari and looked to her for agreement.

“He’s handsome, right?”

“……Yeah. He is.”

Hari laughed awkwardly and watched Jisang for any reaction. He didn’t even stir at the sound of her voice.

‘Could it be that he doesn’t remember me?’

That couldn’t be right. He had said he would watch over her.

Hari stared at him, barely containing the anxious hope that he would recognize her.

Minsu broke through the awkward silence by suddenly clapping his hands together.

“Oh goodness. I had a script to give you while you were here, and I left it in my office in all the commotion. I’ll be right back. Please wait just a moment.”

He hurried out of the room, and Hari seized the chance to get a moment alone with Jisang.

“Oppa, can you get me some water?”

“Hm? Sure, yeah.”

With a plausible enough excuse, she sent Jungwook out too, and a quiet stillness settled between the two of them.

Unable to help herself, Hari let out a small laugh. It annoyed her that he still hadn’t so much as glanced her way. So she got up from her seat and walked toward him. She stopped right in front of him and rose onto her toes, bringing her face level with his.

“Sir. You know me.”

Her bold move finally made him move, just his eyes, turning to look at her.

“You know me. I know you very well.”

The reason Yoo Hari was called ‘Human Forsythia’ was that her smile was as bright and clear as forsythia in bloom. When a woman like that turned the full force of that smile on you, even someone like him had no defense against it.

“You kept your promise.”

He let the tension ease from his face and allowed himself a small smile, and Hari relaxed and smiled back freely.

“Of course. I never forgot. Not once.”

Not when you’re someone so precious to me.

He was the first good adult she had ever met.

Perhaps because of that, her feelings for him had only grown more tender with time. Every time life became especially hard, she would recall the warm words that soldier had offered her that day. She had leaned on a man she’d only crossed paths with briefly as though he were her own older brother.

She had wished so desperately to see him again someday, and that wish must have been fervent enough to keep the thread of fate between them intact.

“How can we meet like this? I missed you so much.”

“……Can this really be a coincidence.”

“It is a coincidence!”

Her excitement didn’t move him in the slightest. He was exactly the same as before. Though compared to the prickly impression he’d given back then, the years had added a certain gravitas to him. Maybe it was the crisp, sharp-lined suit instead of a uniform, but his whole presence had become considerably more striking.

“But Sir……”

When did you get discharged, how did you end up as a bodyguard, doesn’t this reunion mean we’re fated to meet. She had so many things she wanted to ask, but Minsu and Jungwook came back far too quickly.

“Goodness. This office really is unreasonably large.”

“Hari! Here, water!”

At their return, Jisang hardened his expression again and returned to his role. Hari held her ground and extended her hand toward him.

“I look forward to working with you. Bodyguard.”

“Yes.”

Jisang gave a brief answer and took her hand. He gripped it with more force than a handshake warranted, and Hari felt every bit of that strength.

A tingling sensation ran across her palm. She looked down at her own hand and opened and closed her fingers. The warmth he had left behind still seemed to pool there, flushed and lingering.