Sahee finished tidying the bedroom while listening to Min Yeojin's voice from outside. Since the vacuum would be too noisy, she could just sweep the floor lightly with a broom before leaving.
Holding the broom, Sahee carefully moved between rooms sweeping the floor. The madam treated Sahee as if she didn't exist, but when she approached, lifted her legs to give access to the floor.
As she bent her waist and extended her arms to sweep under there, one corner of her chest inexplicably tightened.
"Madam."
"Oh, yes. You can go. Thank you for your hard work."
The madam smiled kindly and waved her hand before adjusting her grip on her phone.
"Yes, the cleaning girl just left."
With those words, the door closed with a soft thud. Sahee gripped the doorknob once firmly before picking up the garbage bag she had set down.
The dark clouds must have cleared while she was cleaning - stepping outside, it was bright as if reaching the end of a tunnel. Frowning, Sahee stared at Taeon's back as he positioned himself on the artificial turf installed in the yard.
Sahee moistened her lips with her tongue again. She hurried her steps, planning to quickly put on her shoes and leave with a brief greeting just as she had entered.
She put on her shoes. Made brief eye contact and bowed. Followed the stone path and glimpsed the man positioning himself with a golf club. And just as she turned to leave - bang! A clear impact cut across her ears.
"...!"
Sahee turned her head, shoulders hunching in surprise at the golf ball that hit and rolled past the toe of her sneaker.
At the end of her startled breath stood the man. He was looking at her with calm eyes.
Was it a mistake? At the end of her desperate hope that it was a mistake, CEO Jeong Taeon smiled slightly. It was that smile where only his lips curved up while his eyes remained unchanged.
"Oops."
It felt intentional.
"Sorry, but could you bring that ball back?"
He didn't look sorry at all.
"...Yes, CEO."
Sahee bit the inside of her lip and set down the garbage bag she was holding.
The golf ball had rolled down below the stone path. The ground was still damp from the early morning rain. Sahee picked up the golf ball, now dirty with wet soil, with her fingertips.
His gaze followed her all the way to him. Sahee approached Taeon with lowered eyes. For a moment, the man's hand suddenly came into view below her line of sight. Though she flinched, afraid of even brushing against his sleeve, he simply held his hand out properly below hers.
It was a white hand with thick knuckles. His visible fingernails were neatly trimmed.
Sahee dropped the golf ball onto his palm with a soft thud. Still not taking his eyes off Sahee, he lightly rolled the dirty golf ball in his hand.
Deliberately. It was an action without comprehensible reason.
"Thank you."
"I'll be going."
Sahee bent down to pick up the garbage bag laid on the ground. Without making eye contact, she gave a quick bow and turned to walk back along the stone path.
The scene before her as she walked away with her back to him unfolded like déjà vu of the day she first met him. More precisely, the stinging pain from that day seemed to transfer from the soles of her feet to her thighs as she walked.
And just one step.
Bang! Along with the impact that rang out like a gunshot, the golf ball rolled in front of Sahee again.
Crazy bastard.
Sahee followed the golf ball rolling several steps away with empty eyes.
"Ms. Yeon Sahee."
"..."
He wasn't the type to dirty his white hands with fists or taint his red lips with vulgar words. Rather, he preferred to teach humiliation by leaving stains on others' hands and faces.
Sahee slowly closed and opened her eyes. When she turned around briefly, CEO Jeong Taeon didn't even maintain a perfunctory smile. Wrapped in arrogance and rudeness, he quietly waited for her to move, as if training a dog.
Sahee walked toward the golf ball. Instead of crouching down like a dog, she bent at the waist to pick up the golf ball. When she returned along the path she had already walked once, he didn't even pretend to ask for it back, just quietly looked at her.
"Did you enjoy the rice cakes?"
Sahee glanced briefly at the space where Min Yeojin was staying. Reading her trajectory, Taeon smirked. He seemed to know exactly what she was worried about. Her fingertips turned white and her heartbeat quickened.
"...Yes."
"I enjoyed mine too."
"..."
"The taffy."
Somehow the bag had been opened. She clearly remembered it was taffy that Mr. Kim had given her out of concern for Mrs. Cheon, but it wasn't in the bag. She had looked everywhere, wondering if the bag had burst when she fell or if it had rolled away somewhere - but it had ended up in this man's mouth.
"I never gave it to you."
"I'm in your debt then."
His feigned regretful voice was languid and dismissive. His attitude suggesting he could easily repay such a small debt was chilling.
"...I've already received more than enough in return."
He smirked at her response that didn't hide her feelings. Meeting his gaze made her feel dizzy. Her grip on the golf ball tightened as her head spun.
Should she have crawled like a dog, like a tongue in his mouth, as if she could slither between his legs as he wanted? But this wasn't even as sharp as a thumbtack - just weak resistance like a loose thread.
Just as Sahee impulsively reached out to return the golf ball to him, unable to bear the silence-
"Ms. Yeon Sahee."
"CEO!"
Two voices intertwined.
Taeon, suddenly cold, looked down at Sahee's hand once, then her closed lips, before looking behind her. Secretary Kim was running over.
"Team Leader Bang Jeongseok from the Housing Management Team has arrived at work."
"Where was he drinking last night to arrive only now?"
"...Should I tell him to call you right away?"
"I'll do it."
Taeon put the golf club he was holding back in the bag. He brushed past Sahee while putting on his suit jacket that had been carelessly placed on the golf bag.
The golf ball she had been gripping so tightly was left behind meaninglessly, only having dirtied her palm.
"Oh? Hello!"
At that moment, Secretary Kim greeted Sahee with a bright smile.
Taeon, who had been heading inside, paused briefly to look back at the two of them.
Sahee awkwardly met Secretary Kim's eyes. Though she had only done a trivial errand, she felt needlessly anxious, like a child caught doing something wrong.
"...Yes, hello."
"What nice weather!"
"Yes. I'll be going now."
"Oh, you're leaving? Take care!"
Sahee nodded in greeting and set down the golf ball she was holding anywhere. Though she felt his gaze following her profile, she hurried her steps pretending not to notice.
Her hands were dirty from the soil that had somehow gotten on them.
* * *
Taeon stood watching as Sahee left the annex.
Her back was straight despite her limping gait. She looked as if she had completely forgotten her trembling eyes and the scratches that had crossed them.
He had seen her distorted face, but rather than finding it amusing, he strangely felt unpleasant. He had essentially spoken to provoke antipathy, yet had he wanted to play with the woman while smiling?
Taeon briefly observed this unripe, boyish emotion as if it belonged to someone else.
"Secretary Kim."
Taeon called out. Secretary Kim, who had been absently following his boss's gaze, quickly followed behind him.
"Yes, CEO."
"Don't try to be cute."
"What?"
A quiet warning fell for just a simple greeting. Secretary Kim's mouth fell open.
Taeon turned around while taking out his phone from his jacket's inner pocket. Secretary Kim, who had stuck close behind, protested in an aggrieved voice.
"It's not like that! How could I at work - absolutely not!"
"Just get me a book."
Taeon indifferently changed the subject. Though Secretary Kim groaned, he couldn't add anything more.
"Yes, please tell me the title. I heard there's a downtown nearby - if I can't find it there, I'll ask the secretarial office to send it down by evening."
Taeon, who had already stepped onto the wooden porch, walked silently while mulling over the book title.
"Cotton Dust?"
Even as he pronounced it, a laugh escaped at how unexpectedly embarrassing it was. So his curiosity was piqued. It was amusing - those soft, fleshy parts deep inside the woman who guarded herself so stiffly.
Secretary Kim also seemed to find something odd, hesitantly asking:
"Um... is this a book you need for work?"
"How could it be?"
Taeon laughed as if it were absurd.
* * *
Returning to the small guest house like she was fleeing, Sahee washed her hands over and over.
Like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, she compulsively soaped her hands and rinsed off the bubbles with cold water.
Lying on her bed, Sahee traced her damp shirt sleeve with her fingertips. The water tickled the tender flesh inside her wrist. Even through that unpleasant feeling, a man came to mind.
The man who had deliberately maintained pointless conversations.
The plastic bag placed on the wooden porch.
The large hand extended to her.
His low voice calling "Ms. Yeon Sahee."
Such things were just the man's simple interest, nothing more.
Sahee curled up on her side, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. Curling up like this made her feel protected. This was how Sahee had gotten through her childhood, and she believed she could also prevent this suspicious heat from spreading through her whole body.
It was simple. The feeling from that moment of bowing her head and bending her waist under Min Yeojin's legs, at one call from CEO Jeong Taeon. She just had to not forget that. It wasn't difficult at all.
Sahee closed her eyes while exhaling an anxious breath.
"3. Should We Sleep Together?":
Sahee woke from a familiar nightmare.
The dream that repeated to the point of tedium always began with the same scene. As she looked down at the strong force pulling her arm, young Chae Hyeonji was crying with round eyes.
Chae Hyeonji.
Sahee's half-sister, born after her mother Im Misuk's remarriage.
"Unni, my Mimi..."
Until then, Sahee and Hyeonji's relationship hadn't been bad. Though they weren't as close as real sisters or prone to squabbling, there hadn't been any notable conflicts either.
But a family joined through remarriage couldn't become a real family overnight. Still, considering the overt hatred her mother Misuk sometimes showed toward Sahee, she thought their relationship was decent enough.
At least until that day, she thought so.
It was a day with rain in the forecast. While thin raindrops were already hitting the eaves, Hyeonji came to Sahee with a crying face. She sobbed that she had lost her doll, the one she carried everywhere.
Let's look for it when the rain stops.
Standing up to say this wasn't purely out of kindness. Though Sahee was also confused by the new family her mother had brought, she couldn't help but have expectations.
When her mother's new husband, Chae Yunbok, was fatherly and kind to Sahee, when Hyeonji would hesitantly but readily approach her calling "unni"...
"Let's go look."
She had foolishly hoped that maybe they could become a real family.
The place where Hyeonji led Sahee, saying she had lost her doll, was the valley below the mountain. By the time they had looked around once, the light drizzle had grown heavy, soaking through their sneakers.
"It's dangerous, let's go back. I'll help you look again tomorrow."
At that moment, the child's face twisted with anxiety. Whether this memory was truth or distortion, she could no longer tell.