Unexpected Ch 7 part 1

“Good work.”

The department head entered the office after the meeting ended and praised her. She had just finished giving her presentation on the launch of a new meat substitute product.

She talked about the effects of a meat-based diet along with the serious toll on the environment due to the pollution produced by the livestock industry. By combining these two factors, she emphasized the importance of food technology.

The product was not only meant for vegetarians. It had the texture and the rich taste of real meat that meat-eaters could enjoy without worrying about their cholesterol.

It would be better for the environment, and the consumer could eat it as much as they wanted without any worries. This was the main strategy that the marketing team had decided on.

When she saw the department head’s bright expression, it looked like the presentation had been positively received. 

Feeling that all her work had not been in vain, she massaged her stiff shoulders. She suddenly had a craving for some coffee.

She quietly got up and made her way to the break room. She inserted a capsule and waited for the coffee to brew. Suddenly, she felt someone else’s presence in the room.

“You came for some coffee?”

When she turned around, she saw SooYeon’s face.

“As you can see, I needed some caffeine.”

ChaYoung picked up her freshly-brewed coffee as she replied. SooYeon walked right up to her side and spoke up.

“Working is good, but make sure you take care of your body as you do it.”

Then she inserted a capsule and frothed some milk to make a cup of caramel macchiato. The delicious aroma tickled her nose, and her eyes kept being drawn to the cup.

“Do you want to switch drinks?”

SooYeon held out her cup as she asked. ChaYoung quickly brought her own cup to her lips and shook her head.

“I’m okay.”

“Really?”

SooYeon shrugged and slurped her coffee. Inside this awkward silence, only the fragrance of the coffee filled the break room.

The silence was uncomfortable. ChaYoung wanted to quickly drink her coffee so that she could leave the break room, but she could feel SooYeon looking at her.

“What is it? Do you have something to say?”

ChaYoung feigned ignorance and looked back at SooYeon as she asked. She could tell that she was curious to death about the mystery man she had seen.

Almost a month had passed since they began dating. The flowers and snacks that had been delivered must have fanned the flames of her curiosity. She must still be feeling it now.

She knew that everyone would be interested in learning more, but she couldn’t let her private relationship with him affect her public life.

And he definitely respected her wishes. Because of his consideration, they were able to date in privacy.

Of course, she knew that ‘love’ wasn’t a factor in their dating life. The focus of their relationship was ‘Let’s just try dating for now’.

“That is…”

SooYeon dragged out her words.

“I’m just worried.”

“Worried?”

ChaYoung narrowed her eyes as she asked back. SooYeon looked troubled as she pursed her lips.

What was she doing? She was the one who brought this up first. Finding it ridiculous, ChaYoung turned around and began to walk towards the door. Suddenly, SooYeon spoke up.

“Actually…”

SooYeon opened her mouth with much difficulty as she stared at ChaYoung.

“That day, I was at the cafe.”

Aah. That day.

If ChaYoung hadn’t known about this already, she would have been shocked. However, because she was already aware of this, ChaYoung’s expression did not change.

“So?”

SooYeon was the one who was shocked by ChaYoung’s calm demeanor.

“At the cafe… So… I saw everything.”

“So?”

SooYeon’s eyes widened at ChaYoung’s unexpected reaction. She regained her composure and continued.

“Yeah. It’s not like I don’t understand how you feel. But that doesn’t mean you should just start seeing some random guy.”

“I never started seeing some random guy.”

ChaYoung replied in a steady voice. SooYeon shook her head.

“Good looks aren’t everything.”

“……”

When ChaYoung merely stared back at her, SooYeon let out a frustrated sigh.

“Can’t you tell by just looking at him? Anyone can tell that he’s a conman.”

What about him gives off that impression?

ChaYoung raised a brow at SooYeon’s ridiculous claim. How could a person with eyes possibly think that Do KunHyung looked like a conman? She was actually a lot more curious about SooYeon’s eyesight at this point.

“From head to toe, he’s covered in knock-offs. Conmen always look sleek on the outside.”

Do KunHyung wearing knock-offs? Pfft. It was so ridiculous that ChaYoung couldn’t help but start laughing. SooYeon’s eyes grew sharp as she added.

“It’s not something to laugh about.”

SooYeon spoke with a grave expression on her face, but when ChaYoung imagined the face he’d make if he heard this, she couldn’t help but laugh. She felt all her exhaustion melt away as if she had a piece of sweet chocolate in her mouth.

“It seems that you don’t know much about luxury goods. If everything he had was real… Just his watch alone would cost tens of thousands of won.”

It seemed that she had come to the conclusion that everything he had was a knock-off. SooYeon must have been frustrated by ChaYoung’s indifference because she placed a hand on her hips and raised her voice.

“He approached you because he had an underlying goal in mind. He took advantage of the fact that you were dumped and were feeling extremely lonely.”

ChaYoung quietly took another sip of her coffee before replying.

“I’m not sure what the problem is.”

SooYeon was at a loss for words and merely blinked back. ChaYoung looked at her face and continued speaking.

“They say one forgets people with other people.”

He had appeared with ridiculous timing, and he had been a great help when it came to pulling herself back together.

He had slowly permeated into her life when she hadn’t been paying attention. These days, she was often surprised by the different sides she saw in him.

When they first met, he would often comment that she had ‘stood him up’, giving her quite a shock. However, nowadays, he was very careful and showed a lot of effort in creating a healthy dating relationship.

He was over thirty, but this dignified man’s ears would still turn red whenever they held hands. At times, she found him to be quite cute.

Whenever they went to a nice bar, he would never touch the liquor, claiming that he needed to drive her home. He would only order soft drinks or nonalcoholic cocktails.

Therefore, there were never any instances where they had gotten a bit tipsy at a hotel lounge bar and ended up booking a room. ChaYoung was actually a bit worried that his body had regressed to the way it was before they met.

“I understand that people need to depend on other people. At first, he bought expensive snacks and sent flowers to win your favor, but don’t you think he’ll be wanting a return on his investment soon? Look, he’s already stopped drowning you in gifts.”

“I think that’s something I should be worrying about, not you.”

“It looks like you’re wearing rose-tinted glasses.”

SooYeon shook her head and looked at ChaYoung with pity in her eyes.

“Alright. I bet nothing I say will get to you. You have tunnel vision, so you can’t even see the things that are right in front of you.”

She was correct about that. She hadn’t seen the man that Kim SeungHoon truly was until the very end.

“If you don’t want to be crying tears of blood later on, you should listen to what other people tell you.”

ChaYoung was thinking about something else as she nodded, but SooYeon thought that she was agreeing to what she had just said. She began to grow excited.

“Do you know what you’re like right now? There’s a piece of crap in front of you, and everyone around you is telling you it’s a piece of crap, but you’re saying you need to taste it to know for sure. How can I possibly just stand by and watch?”

Piece of crap or soybean paste¹…

ChaYoung sipped the rest of her coffee and turned her head.

“That only applies to someone who only has crap or soybean paste.”

‘Right?’ ChaYoung added as she shrugged before turning around and walking out. She seemed completely fine as if nothing happened.

What’s going on? Why does it feel like she’s the one who gave me a lecture?

She had tried to meddle by using her advice as an excuse, but things had become twisted along the way.

“She thinks she’s all that.”

SooYeon huffed and angrily walked out of the room.

* * *

The brilliant lights sparkled like flowers in the city at night. It looked completely different from the daytime. The buildings and the streets, even the lights from the cars, painted a beautiful nightscape that was one of the best in the world.

A hotel lounge bar on a Friday night. ChaYoung swirled a glass of wine and looked around. The lighting was dim, and a soothing song was playing. A refreshing nightscape unfolded outside the window. She felt as if she’d shaken off all her office work and had come on a vacation. Thanks to him, the exhaustion that had piled up during the week had eased somewhat.

Was it because wine was considered a romantic drink? Or was it because it always seemed to be present in a romantic setting? Nevertheless, she felt that wine was a drink that fit the romantic mood.

However… Romantic?

ChaYoung suddenly stopped swirling her drink. She was a bit shocked by her own thoughts.

As always, he had picked her up as soon as she’d finished work, and they made their way to this hotel to have dinner before going upstairs to enjoy the lounge bar. Up until that moment, she hadn’t imagined seeing him in such a light.

They must really be dating.

If this wasn’t dating, what could it be called… It was a bit cowardly of her, but even though she said they would date, a part of her heart had always had one foot out the door in case she needed to make an escape.

She was worried that one day, she’d end up catching feelings for him and say, ‘It just happened all of a sudden’. What if they couldn’t split up easily later? She did not want to lean on these muddled, unreliable feelings.

She wasn’t so young that she didn’t believe they could break up one day. Because this was just a lucky lottery ticket, she didn’t expect much from it. She wasn’t sure if her heart would follow along, but she needed to think of this as a dream she could wake up from at any moment.

However… She did not want to become an unfortunate Cinderella, but she did want to earnestly date him. These two feelings collided inside her head. She wasn’t sure what she wanted, so it made her even more flustered.

She let out a quiet sigh and brought the glass up to her lips. The flavor was thick as she sipped the wine. KunHyung glanced at her and spoke up. His warm, gentle voice flowed into her ears.

“Want some blue cheese?”

The waiter had left a platter of cheese, prosciutto, nuts, various fruits, and crackers in front of them. She did not enjoy the unique scent of blue cheese. That and the unpleasant thoughts in her head caused her brow to furrow.

“I’d like some pepper jack instead.”

However, her frown disappeared as he brought the pepper jack cheese up to her lips.

Those who knew Do KunHyung would probably never imagine him bringing snacks up to someone else’s lips. Even though she told him she’d feed herself, he always said he wanted to try it and ended up getting his way.

From the outside, people would probably think that they were an incredibly average couple. The more she thought of it, the more incredulous she became.

He was a person who never experienced discomfort in his life, but he always asked her for her opinion and thoughts. Not only did he always ask for her permission, he even sat next to her and fed her snacks. She was still not used to this side of him.

Whenever this happened, something hot surged in her heart. She felt like the defenses she had built were slowly melting away.

She munched on the cheese. As soon as she swallowed, he brought a ripe grape up to her lips. Like a baby bird being fed by its mother, she opened her mouth and took the grape. He flashed her a satisfied smile.

As she bit down on the grape, the juices burst inside her mouth. While chewing on the grape, SooYeon’s words began to fill her head.

“Do you know what you’re like right now? There’s a piece of crap in front of you, and everyone around you is telling you it’s a piece of crap, but you’re saying you need to taste it to know for sure. How can I possibly just stand by and watch?”

She leaned her chin against her hand as she dazedly blinked. She gazed at his face.

“I don’t think I have to eat it to know.”

She murmured to herself. She didn’t think she’d have to eat it to know what it tasted like, but she was still curious.

Was she drunk?

She thought to herself before suddenly chuckling. His eyes looked at her in confusion. Instead of answering the question in his gaze, she leaned towards him as she pulled out her tongue and licked along his jawline.

Flinch. She could feel his body growing stiff.

“What are you doing…”

His voice was full of bewilderment as it burst out of his mouth. As she watched his cheeks grow red, she felt like she was looking at a bashful young boy.

“I was curious and wanted to know what it tasted like.”

She answered him in a languid voice. He gazed at her face and let out a groaning sigh.

“I’m not sure what you mean by this…”

His voice faded away as he gripped his brow with his hand. His jaw clenched as he tried to steady his breaths.

“In case you forgot, just seeing you breathe turns me into a rutting beast. I’m using all my strength not to charge at you like a madman. I wish you’d keep that in mind.”

He said the vulgar words in such a polite tone.

She recalled how he had told her that she was the first one to turn him on. But more importantly, she recalled how he had said that he wanted them to date properly. She was absolutely certain that he was hundreds of thousands of times better than Kim SeungHoon, a man who had turned his back on her.

“I remember it. I know all of that.”

“Then… are you trying to kill me?”

His neat brow furrowed. Seeing him try so hard to refrain made him look pitiful, but it also made him look so handsome. It was quite ironic.

“I must be wearing rose-tinted glasses.”

She laughed as she murmured. A number of feelings rolled through her, making her nervous, but she still felt that he was a very good person. As she looked into his eyes that were only filled with her, she grew embarrassed of the little trust she had in him, even when he had so much trust in her.

Thinking that she was just saying random nonsense without knowing the effect she had on him, KunHyung groaned and shook his head.

“Maybe that’s why you seem…”

She drew out her voice as she stared at him.

“…so appealing to me.”

His shaking head suddenly froze. His eyes slowly looked at hers. She could see that he almost couldn’t believe what was happening.

“You… It sounds like you’re trying to seduce me.”

“Mm, I don’t want that.”

She slightly tilted her head as she answered him. She watched as his face expressed his intense disappointment and moved her lips.

“But I wouldn’t mind if you’re the one trying to seduce me, Sunbae.”

His face turned blank as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. Suddenly, as if he had just realized what she meant, his drooping shoulders straightened. He reminded her of a dog that had perked its ears.

“Do you know what the word ‘seduce’ means?”

She knew that ‘seduce’ implied sexual interactions. She also knew where this conversation was headed.

But she understood his disbelief. This was all happening a bit fast.

However… She bit down on her lips. Their feelings and the time spent together was a separate issue. Hadn’t they proven a while ago that the amount of time was not proportional to their relationship?

And she also found it funny that she was thinking these thoughts when she was the one who provoked him first. No one had forced her to say what she said with her own mouth.

But she couldn’t help the fact that she was nervous. Her lips kept running dry. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she asked.

“You don’t think I’m asking you to play patty-cakes, are you?”

She asked nonchalantly, but her heart trembled. She glanced at him and secretly drew in a deep breath. The door she had closed with such cowardice had suddenly burst open.

“I’m saying that we can head down to a room at any moment.”

She couldn’t go back now. She wanted to focus on the decision she had just made.

“I know we’re at a hotel, Sunbae.”

“Ha.”

His chest heaved as a breath burst out of his mouth. His lips turned stiff as if he were conflicted. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist.

“If you don’t want to do this, tell me now. This is your last chance to escape.”

She could feel his heat through his large hand. Like a general who was about to head to war, his eyes were solemn. He looked like a man who was about to perform a very serious ceremony. She chuckled.

“Would you like me to do that?”

“No.”

“Then don’t ask.”

Before she could finish answering him, he stood up from his seat.