DTL Ch 13 part 1

PR by neji

The exhibition opened at 10 AM, but YeonJung was up since 5 AM and was busily preparing for the event.

She finished the final piece in Hyejin’s workspace early in the morning. She also sent the centerpiece to the exhibition location in a delivery truck that SeonJae had rented for today. After sending the partition decorations and the dried flower bundles that would be offered to the guests, she returned to her apartment, took a shower, and readied herself to go out again. She paid careful attention to her makeup for the first time in a while and slightly curled her shoulder-length hair with a straightener.

‘What should I wear?’

She hadn’t asked herself this question in a while. She usually wore her jeans, but she didn’t think it would be formal enough when greeting the brides-to-be. 

She pulled out a monotone two-piece outfit hanging in a corner of her closet and put it on. While she did look well put together, she did seem a bit stern. She took the clothes off and changed into a soft, cashmere dress she found instead. The lavender-colored dress looked a bit big on her, but she felt that it was better than wearing something that stuck to her curves. She was enveloped in a warm feeling. The beginning had finally come.

[YeonJung-ssi, fighting! Sending good vibes!!]

[We’ll stop by if we have time. I’d also like to see the company that scouted the trendiest florist in Seoul.]

After reading the messages of encouragement from Hyejin and DongHoon, she took out a new pair of heels from her closet and put them on.

Weddings were her favorite type of work. The clean flowers used at weddings were so beautiful, and the blushing bride walking down the aisle covered in roses was such a lovable sight to see. With a boutonniere pinned to his chest pocket, the groom would look on with nervous excitement. She’d never get tired of seeing it.

For the past two months that she had worked with SeonJae, it felt like Christmas had returned. She had begun working in earnest for the first time in a while. She realized just how much she had missed this kind of work.

‘I want to try my best.’

Before the event began, they placed the centerpiece at their booth. The tree was very noticeable and was enough to catch everyone’s eye. The employees were smiling brightly.

“Wow, YeonJung-ssi. I think our booth will be a great success.”

The wooden column that had been splintered into two gave off a rugged, desolate aura. The long, slender branches looked like dried fingers as they stretched out. Large flowers and blooms were placed on top of the branches, making them look like they were on fire.

SeonJae silently stood in front of the completed work for a long time. Eventually, he turned around and looked at YeonJung and gave her a faint smile.

“…You make dead things come back to life.”

Boom. The reason why her heart thumped in her chest wasn’t just because of his smile. Although there were employees bustling around beside her, she felt as if she were the only one who heard his words. YeonJung stared at him from behind the table.

At some point, she noticed it. The man would often silently move his lips to her. And because there was no sound, the only one who could ‘hear’ him was her. Whenever this happened, she felt as if she were immersed into a world where only the two of them existed.

“Okay! The doors will open in a minute! Let’s do this! Fighting!”

The cheeky Team Leader Ahn began to hand out energy drinks, and the exhibition finally began. Thanks to all of her great efforts, the two-day wedding exhibition was a success. Over the past two days, they had signed a total of seventeen contracts for weddings and various parties. The company’s schedule was packed for the first half of the year.

“Good work, everyone.”

Sitting inside a covered street stall amongst five men at the wrap-up party, YeonJung awkwardly raised her soju glass. After they had dinner at a barbeque restaurant, she tried to quietly take her leave, but Team Leader Ahn had caught on and quickly grabbed her to join them for the second round. 

“The main star of the exhibition can’t leave! Please come with us and help us raise the energy around here. I’m absolutely certain the president will only start talking about work if you’re not there. If YeonJung-ssi is there, at least he won’t be cursing at us.”

Although he glanced at SeonJae who was standing right next to them, Team Leader Ahn didn’t hesitate to poke fun at him. YeonJung laughed silently. She never would have imagined that this was possible back then. 

Various kinds of bar snacks came out without end. She had fun as she listened to the various stories of the employees as they recalled the work they had to do without getting a wink of sleep in order to pull off the exhibition booth. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was excited about the success of the exhibition. For the past two years, she had been craving this kind of work.

“Cheers!”

As time wore on, the number of empty liquor bottles grew. For the past two months before the exhibition, YeonJung and SeonJae had attended the most meetings. She had met with Team Leader Ahn and the web designer separately to discuss the portfolio that would go into the pamphlet, but this was the first time she was seeing SeonJae with all the other employees.

The four men seemed to treat SeonJae politely like a superior, but they also didn’t. Sitting next to him, she watched with fascination as the employees joked with him.

“We’re going all the way to the end today. If you’re going to run away in the middle of it, don’t forget to leave your credit card with us, sir. Ah, Auntie, you don’t take credit cards here, right? Cash. Sir, hurry up and give us cash.”

“Who’s running away?”

SeonJae gave them a look and tipped the soju bottle for another glass. While he had looked magnificent in his elegant suit as he held a martini glass in his hands, seeing him in casual clothing as he poured himself some soju was also a cute look. At this thought, YeonJung came to her senses.

‘Did I just think that this man was cute?’

She slightly shook her head from side to side and focused on what Team Leader Ahn was saying. Team Leader Ahn always loved to talk, but now that he was excited, he spoke rapidly as if he were retelling a heroic tale.

“Just give us your wallet, why don’t you? Remember that time when you didn’t come back after you were stabbed while apprehending that mugger? Or what about that incredibly cold day when we were all enjoying a work dinner, and you went outside to take a call? You never came back after that either. Just thinking about how flustered we all were…… You only sent me a single text message saying something urgent came up and didn’t even come to work for three days after that. We couldn’t get in any contact with you as if you went missing or something. We were all wondering if you vanished because the bill at the barbecue restaurant came out to be over two hundred dollars. Do you know how worried SeungHo was because he ate the most that day?”

The other employees laughed as they agreed with him. The only one who couldn’t laugh was her. The time that SeonJae had gone missing was definitely the time she had been in her sickbed due to her cold. He barely left her side as he watched over her twenty-four-seven. The plastic cover of the street stall flapped in the wind.

SeonJae reached behind him and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. He tossed it onto the table and began to slurp his steaming udon noodles.

“Okay, enough. Just take whatever you want.”

YeonJung blinked as she stared at him. If she were correct, SeonJae was very embarrassed right now. The slightly red ears were proof of that.

“Wow, look at that. Team Leader-nim, it’s a good thing you brought YeonJung-ssi. Good job. After you finally got her to join us, we all received a bonus for the first time. YeonJung-ssi is totally our secret weapon.”

“We’ll be in your care from now on. As thanks, let me pour you another glass!”

The friendly Team Leader Ahn burst up and bowed down. He used both hands to fill up her glass. Surprised, YeonJung also stood up and gave him a slight bow as she received the soju. Everyone at the table began to clap. Their group was the focus of everyone’s eyes. YeonJung’s face reddened.

“Wow, I still remember being surprised when I saw your works for the very first time, YeonJung-ssi. My girlfriend likes flower arrangements so much, so I’ve heard rumors about you before… Ah, I don’t mean the weird rumors, so don’t worry.”

The youngest employee of the group whose name was SeungHo lowered his hand and stopped speaking, completely flustered. If one was interested, even a little bit, about the business world, there was no way they wouldn’t have heard the rumors surrounding her. YeonJung gave him a faint smile and gestured with her hands to let him know not to worry about it.

“Iss’okay…”

“Ah, I’m sorr-… Huh?”

He stopped in the middle of apologizing and stared at SeonJae who was sitting next to her. YeonJung turned her head and looked at SeonJae.

“Tell me what the weird rumors are, Choi SeungHo.”

At his apathetic request, SeungHo’s face turned red. He awkwardly scratched his forehead. Everyone could tell that he was incredibly bewildered.

“Sir, if I cared about what other people said, I wouldn’t have come to work for you. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know. So don’t worry about it and tell me.”

YeonJung tugged on the hem of his clothes to get him to drop it. Instead, he merely placed a slice of sushi onto her plate. Whether he understood what she was trying to say or not, she couldn’t tell because his expression remained the same.

“Those rumors are all false.”

After a while, SeonJae spoke as he opened a new bottle of soju.

“The woman didn’t plan to seduce the third-generation son of a conglomerate family.”

As he poured the clear soju into his glass, the rest of the men at the table cautiously held up their own glass. YeonJung couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

“The woman told the man that he wasn’t her type from the very start. But the man stubbornly clung onto her anyway.”

YeonJung silently bit her cheek. Her heart was racing.

“So if you ever hear anything strange, you tell them, SeungHo.”

SeonJae threw back the glass of soju in one go and placed the empty glass on the table. Then he looked at her with a heart-chillingly gorgeous smile. His eyes gleamed.

“That I liked her first.”

“……”

“The one who fell in love first was definitely me.”

YeonJung’s face turned as red as a carrot. She hoped he said those words silently so that no one else heard, but she didn’t think that was the case.

“Whoa… our president is truly a man’s man!”

Team Leader Ahn clapped. For some reason the rest of them began to excitedly chant her name.

“Lee YeonJung! Lee YeonJung!”

As Team Leader Ahn clapped and chanted her name, SeungHo grinned as he joined in. The cold atmosphere seemed to have thawed instantly, and everything seemed to have reversed. The men began to slam their hands on the table, causing the soju to slosh from side to side.

YeonJung felt as if she had lost her mind. The man sitting next to her merely smiled at her before throwing back another glass of soju. When she tugged on his clothes, his eyes met hers. She begged him with her eyes to do something about them, but it didn’t seem like her telepathy had reached him. She sighed and turned her head away when she suddenly felt SeonJae’s hand grasp hers under the table.

“……”

His fingers interlaced with hers. Surprised, she turned her head back to him, but he looked completely calm. Her heart raced inside her chest and her hand grew damp with sweat. As the men continued to chant her name, the ahjumma owner of the street stall slapped one of the men on the back as she complained that they were being too loud. The table burst into laughter. This time, she couldn’t help but laugh with them. The man’s hand that was clasped with her own tightened its grip and didn’t seem to want to let go.

* * *

‘Did I drink too much?’

Her wristwatch told her it was currently 12 AM. The street stall was open until 2 AM, but the majority of customers had already left. After she went to the bathroom in the building right across from the street stall, her legs staggered as she made her way back. Two or three men were standing in front of the street stall as they smoked their cigarettes. They were the men in suits who had been sitting near the entrance of the stall. She tried to be careful as she walked in the heels she hadn’t worn for a long time, but someone suddenly blocked her. Startled, she raised her head.

“Hey, are you ignoring me? I called out to you.”

Judging from his suit, it seemed that the man was an office worker. He threw his cigarette onto the ground as he frowned down at her.

“I asked you if you guys are the owners here… We came to have a drink because we didn’t feel too good, so I asked you if your table could keep it down. Are you deaf? Why are you ignoring me? Making me feel like shit…”

This wasn’t good. But it was a situation she had experienced many times before. If someone called out to her from behind, she wouldn’t be able to hear them. Feeling ignored, these people would curse at her. And when they realized the truth, they’d pity her.

YeonJung quickly lowered her head. This man was drunk. The best thing to do would be to apologize quickly and return to her seat.

“Soh…rry.”

She did her best to pronounce her words correctly. The men’s expressions turned strange. They were clearly shocked and looking at her with condescension. She should have turned her head away, but she couldn’t.

“Huh? What the hell. She’s seriously deaf? No, are you just a mute? Quite a pity for such a pretty face. But your voice gives me goosebumps. Seriously…”

No matter how many times she found herself in this situation, it never failed to pierce her chest. The men who were smoking next to them began to look at her with interest as they approached her.

“Is she seriously a retard? The men who were with her inside… Just what kind of guys are they? Hey, lady, are you here on a ‘business trip¹’? Do you wanna play with us instead? Ah, fuck, you can’t hear, right?”

The men began to snicker. YeonJung lowered her head once again. She didn’t want to start an argument. She merely wanted to get out of this situation as fast as possible.

“I’m… so…rry…”

She thought she saw something flash by her. When she raised her head, the man who was standing in front of her was now on the ground, and she saw a familiar man sitting on top of him as his fists began to repeatedly pound down on him. 

Aah.

She saw SeonJae hitting the man without mercy and the man’s feet squirming underneath him. She felt her body go limp. The employees ran out of the stall when they heard the ruckus and tried to pull SeonJae off of the man, but they couldn’t overpower his manic strength.

“Say that again, you bastard. Say that… Say that one more time!”

He grabbed the man by the neck and continued to pummel him as he shouted. One of the men was already on the ground as they rolled around, grasping their stomach.

 “Who do you… Who do you… How dare you… You son of a bitch!”

He pulled the man up from the ground and punched him one more time. Blood burst out of the man’s mouth as he grabbed his nose. SeonJae grabbed the man by the nape of his neck and didn’t let go. His jaw was trembling in anger, and his brow was twisted into a scowl.

“Apologize… Apologize! Get on your knees and apologize to this woman!”

He got back on top of the man and began to shake him. YeonJung watched as Team Leader Ahn ran over to SeonJae and barely managed to pull him off. She closed her eyes.

Her whole body was shaking. Even though her eyes were closed, his face would not erase from her mind. SeonJae’s intense anger was written all over his face as he screamed.

‘Who’s a retard…? You son of a bitch… Who do you think you’re… How dare you! Say it one more time. Say it one more time in front of me, you bastard. I’ll kill you!”

* * *

When they got out of the police station, it was already 3 AM. The men were fuming, claiming that they wanted SeonJae charged for assault, but when they were told that they could be charged for sexual harassment, they went silent and quickly settled. This was all thanks to the stall owner who had gone out to throw out the trash. She had overheard everything and came forward as a witness. The other employees, who were shocked by SeonJae’s outburst, all sighed in relief when everything had settled down.

“I won’t joke around with you ever again, sir.”

“I know, right? We knew he exercised a lot, but we never knew you practiced martial arts.”

Although the employees tried to uplift this awkward atmosphere, SeonJae’s stiff expression did not relax.

“You should all head home. Don’t be late to work tomorrow.”

“Yes, we understand. Have a good rest, sir.”

“YeonJung-ssi, we’ll leave the president in your care.”

After sending the employee who lived the farthest away in a taxi, SeonJae grasped YeonJung’s hand and walked her to his car. A driver was waiting inside, and SeonJae helped her into the backseat before following in after her. The car arrived at her apartment within forty minutes.

He had been tightly holding onto her hand in silence the whole ride, but he finally let go once they had arrived. Their hands were damp, but she couldn’t tell whether it was her sweat or his. YeonJung didn’t get out and stayed still for a while before she turned to him.

“…Let’s goh inside… ah-nd rest.”

The driver was in the middle of inputting SeonJae’s address into the GPS. Instead of opening the car door, she slowly spoke.

“Goh up…stairs.”

His sunken eyes widened as he stared back at her. YeonJung repeated her words once again.

“You’re hurt. Let’s goh upstairs… Put on some med…dicine bee-fore yoo leave.”