A child who looks like me

Recently, there had been nothing that annoyed him this much.

Lee Jeong-oh, who had said he had something to discuss, had left without a word after saying he’d make a phone call, only to leave for the day.

Park Seung-gyu, who claimed to be his close friend, turned his back as if they’d never see each other again.

Both of these people were tormenting his mind, to the point where Jiheon couldn’t even sleep.

But still, he had to work, so he went to the office. On his way to his office, he stopped briefly and looked at Jeong-oh’s desk from a distance. It seemed like Jeong-oh hadn’t arrived yet.

He could hear the voices of Chae Eun-bi and her colleagues coming from the breakroom. Jiheon moved toward his office.

“Director, you’re here.”

“Yes.”

He answered the assistant’s greeting absentmindedly and moved inside the office.

After sitting on the sofa for a while, his head hurt so much that he laid down.

Soon after, he heard soft footsteps outside the office.

Thinking it was Chae Eun-bi, Jiheon closed his eyes. He was so irritated, he didn’t want to exchange even a word with her.

The door opened, and someone entered. If someone was lying on the sofa, it would be polite to leave immediately, assuming they were tired, but the woman stood still in front of him. Her presence irritated him, and Jiheon furrowed his brow slightly.

The approaching footsteps grew more suspicious.

He could feel a heated presence, as if she was observing him from beside his head. The faint sound of breath seemed like it was wishing for his peace.

Her breath brushing against his skin felt ticklish. He clenched his fingers around the edges of the sofa.

He felt the urge to face the person, but he resisted, fearing he would regret it if he opened his eyes.

Then, something hot and damp lightly pressed against his lips.

As the warmth seeped between his lips like a brand, Jiheon felt his body heat up. The woman seemed startled. He felt her hastily pull away.

‘What am I doing right now?’

Jiheon couldn’t hold back and opened his eyes suddenly.

And he recognized Lee Jeong-oh’s back.

He had pretended to sleep, thinking it was Chae Eun-bi and that he didn’t want to talk, but it was Jeong-oh.

“Where are you going?”

“……”

“Where are you going, after doing this?”

Jiheon swiftly grabbed her.

“Uh… I didn’t do anything…”

She responded with a flustered expression, turning her head. Her usually pale face was now flushed. Jiheon immediately stood up.

She cheekily began to back away slowly, probably trying to run away through the door at some point.

Jiheon quickly stepped forward, blocking the exit.

When the passage was blocked, her face twisted with panic.

He even found that expression attractive.

It was his taste.

It was a little humiliating to admit, but it was definitely his preference.

Even in this situation, his mind and body both wanted to touch her—this was a very clear preference.

Soon, his body would cross a certain limit. His mind sent a warning. Being with this woman was dangerous.

He could avoid situations where they were alone together, and he could have her removed from the company, but he didn’t want that.

If that’s the case, he would just have to get used to the stimuli she gave him.

He wanted her closer, by his side.

He hoped she would make a mistake. He planned to delve into that mistake.

So, he couldn’t miss this opportunity.

“I don’t want to cause a big problem, so how are you going to take responsibility?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“……”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She responded nonchalantly, pretending she didn’t know anything.

Jiheon’s lips twisted at her cheeky response.

Should I push further?

“Well, I guess I don’t know either.”

“……”

“I’ve experienced a lot of things, but this is the first time I’ve been kissed while sleeping.”

Jiheon smirked as he ran his thumb over his lips.

Jeong-oh was at a loss for words.

Is he an idiot? What does one drop of tear have to do with a kiss?

“That wasn’t a kiss…”

“Right. It wasn’t a kiss, it was just a peck.”

As Jiheon continued to press his point, Jeong-oh had no choice but to admit it.

“…It was a tear, Director.”

“……”

“Neither a kiss nor a peck, just a single tear that dropped.”

His brow furrowed, looking as though he still couldn’t believe it. Of course, it was probably just for show.

“How could you misunderstand that? You look like someone who’s never even had a peck.”

Pervert. Anyone who saw him would think he’d never even kissed before.

“Then why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why? Why did you drop a single tear in front of me?”

“That is…”

Jeong-oh squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.

I don’t know either. Let whatever happen, happen.

“It’s because… you resemble my father, who passed away!”

His expression turned even more grim than before. It looked like he was in shock.

But soon, he took two steps forward, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Are you asking me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth.”

“How much, and in what way, do I resemble him?”

Damn it.

“Do you have a picture of your father?”

He had just sold his nonexistent father to get out of a tight spot.

Jeong-oh had to come up with a new plan.

‘He said he hates being called handsome, right?’

He remembered what Miran had said on his first day at work.

“He’s just handsome, just like my dad. My dad was really handsome.”

There. I’ve made you upset, now glare at me. Go ahead, look at me like I’m a bug.

Criticize me! Throw me out!

Throw me out already!

But contrary to Jeong-oh’s expectations, he took a step back without saying a word.

As if trying to calm himself down, a long, rough exhale escaped his tightly shut lips.

Well, it seems like the improvisation worked. Jeong-oh slowly moved in a half-circle, positioning himself by the door. He made sure his body didn’t move until he could grab the doorknob.

I’m sorry for lying, but this is acceptable, right?

You’ve hidden your true self from me too.

I didn’t know for seven years who you really were, what kind of person you were.

Jeong-oh twisted the doorknob behind him.

“I’ll be going now.”

“You said you had something to say yesterday.”

He, who had been silent, spoke again, almost as though trying to stop her from leaving.

“Oh, that was…”

“……”

“It’s that you resemble my father, who passed away. Now, I’ll really be going.”

Is that good enough?

Creeeak.

He had already cracked open the door, but he stupidly added one more thing.

“I waited for 30 minutes. Yesterday.”

“You only waited 30 minutes?”

The words slipped out before he could stop them, and as soon as he said them, he felt dizzy.

But once the words left his mouth, he couldn’t take them back, so Jeong-oh quickly tried to rationalize his actions.

I’m not scared. I’m just going to walk out.

I’m someone who knows about your scandal from seven years ago!

“Of course, I was part of that scandal.”

With that final thought, Jeong-oh hurriedly made his exit.

He probably hadn’t heard anything like that before.

You must have thought that if you waited 30 minutes, I’d apologize and beg you not to do that again.

After I retorted like that, you must think I’m crazy.

But that’s how Jeong-oh truly felt in his heart.

‘I’ve waited for so long for you, and you’re complaining about just 30 minutes?’

Though he rationalized it, his heart kept racing.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Yesterday afternoon, Eun-bi noticed that the secretary was lingering near the Production Team 2’s office.

The whole team was in a meeting, so the office was empty.

“Aera, what’s going on?”

“Oh, yes, Manager. I just have a memo to leave.”

If the secretary was leaving a memo, it must have been from Ji-heon.

At first, Eun-bi thought the secretary was leaving a memo for Mi-ran. But the secretary placed the memo on Jeong-oh’s desk.

‘Why would he send a memo to Jeong-oh?’

After the secretary left, Eun-bi quickly stood up and went to Jeong-oh’s desk.

The memo was sitting in the middle of the desk.

– 5/13 18:00 Director Jeong Ji-heon’s call.

‘Why?’

Eun-bi clenched her fist around the memo, and her expression grew dark.

She crumpled the paper tightly and threw it in the trash.

The next morning, while watching Production Team 2, Eun-bi saw Jeong-oh leave Ji-heon’s office and sit back down, and immediately called him over.

“Assistant Manager Jeong-oh.”

“Yes, Manager.”

“Could you come over for a moment?”

Jeong-oh stood up and walked over to Eun-bi.

Though he wanted to snap at her to come over if she had something to say, he decided to hold back since there were people around.

“Yes, Manager. What’s going on?”

“Where did you go yesterday?”

“I had an urgent matter, so I left early.”

“It’s not just you who has urgent matters. Everyone is busy, you know that?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you directly.”

Jeong-oh forced a smile, trying not to show his displeasure.

But when he smiled, Eun-bi looked even more irritated.

“After the meeting the day before yesterday, we assigned roles for the historical ad study. Your portion, which was supposed to be handled by you, was taken over by me and the other team members, and it was a hassle.”

Eun-bi tapped her finger on the documents on her desk, subtly emphasizing each word to make it seem like everything she said was important.

“I did it, Manager.”

At this point, Jeong-oh couldn’t stay silent anymore.

“My portion was uploaded directly to the cloud right after the meeting the day before yesterday.”

Jeong-oh handed her the document she had tapped on.

Ironically, aside from the cover page, the content was exactly what Jeong-oh had written.

If you’re going to try to deceive someone, at least put in more effort.

“The document you’re looking at is mine, not the one the team members prepared. Did you properly check the contents, Manager?”

Eun-bi froze.

The night before, she had assumed Jeong-oh wasn’t at the meeting and had left early without handling his tasks, so she hadn’t thought that the documents printed by the other team members could be his.

Furthermore, Ji-heon had left a note for Jeong-oh, making her uneasy.

At this point, Jeong-oh was supposed to back down.

Eun-bi, hiding her flustered emotions, responded quickly.

“You should have sent it by email. That’s the proper way to check it.”

“We decided in the meeting the day before yesterday to upload it to the cloud for the PT preparations, Manager. You can check the meeting minutes.”

Jeong-oh found Eun-bi’s reaction amusing.

“It seems like everyone else checked it properly. Anyway, I’ll be more careful from now on to make sure there’s nothing missed that you can’t properly check, Manager.”

Eun-bi. Now, I won’t let you pull the same stunt you did when you ruined my school life.

I have a lot to do here.

I need to earn money and also make sure our Ye-na gets to meet her father.

But I don’t plan on stealing your man.

However, if you threaten me, I won’t stay quiet.

Don’t bother me. Don’t try to ruin my workplace.

Protecting myself is protecting my daughter.

I’ll defeat my enemies to protect myself.

Chae Eun-bi, you’re the same. If you slander me, you’re my enemy.

Anything that stands in my way is my enemy.