It was clearly impulsive. Sahee snatched the phone and immediately pressed the answer button. It was even somewhat intentional, remembering how the man had become strangely generous when she explained she wasn't involved with Juhwan.
"Yeah."
- Yeon Sahee. What are you doing? Where are you?
Juhwan's voice rang out amid the intense standoff as they watched each other.
"...I'm at home."
- Did you look at the documents I gave you?
"I did."
- What do you think?
"I'm going to think about it. Thanks."
- What's there to thank for. Yeon Sahee, you're seriously considering it, right? That's a really good opportunity, you know?
"Yeah, I know."
- Right? There's no one else like your oppa, right? Huh? Huh?
"What do you mean oppa..."
Sahee unconsciously let out an exasperated laugh at Juhwan's playfulness.
At that moment, Taeon narrowed his brows and brought the beer can to his lips. His gaze was captivating. His prominent Adam's apple was particularly noticeable as he swallowed.
- There isn't, right? Talking to you at night like this reminds me of the old days. It was nice when our whole class would gather and work late.
"You still share a studio with Minjae."
- Don't even mention it. That guy fights with his girlfriend more than a dozen times a day. Every time he cries while chain-smoking, I get hit with reality wondering why I'm sharing a studio with this guy.
"Park Minjae is still like that?"
- He's crazy in love. He keeps telling me to date too. Suddenly saying he'll set me up with someone. Even though I told him there's already a woman I like...
"...Really?"
All her attention was focused on the man in front of her, making her responses consistently delayed. She was essentially getting through the call with guesswork while forcing out responses.
"Yeah, uh... ah, it's hot."
Sahee lightly bit the inside of her lip.
"Anyway! Why don't you come to Seoul? Everyone says they miss you. If it's hard, I can come pick you up. Let's have dinner together, it's been a while."
Taeon let out a sneer and downed the rest of his beer. He set the crushed empty can upright on the porch and stood up.
His eyes were dark.
"Hang up."
"What do you think?"
CEO Jeong Taeon's voice and Juhwan's overlapped in the air. The man who had suddenly come close was intimidating despite his smile.
"...Is someone there with you?"
Sahee gripped her phone tighter. She needed to answer Juhwan but couldn't get the words out.
"Yeon Sahee?"
Just as she was about to part her lips to respond with "yes," Taeon snatched the phone from her hand.
"Hey, Sahee..."
The call ended before Juhwan could finish his last words.
Soon the phone started vibrating again in his hand, but Taeon paid no attention. He tilted his head and immediately rejected Juhwan's call, then slowly raised his gaze.
"...Give it back."
Sahee quickly lowered her eyes and reached for the phone in Taeon's hand. In that instant, his fingers spread like a trap and grabbed her hand as if to devour it.
"Ms. Yeon Sahee."
"..."
"Shall we sleep together?"
Because I want you, let's have sex.
Should she be grateful that he was at least honest and wouldn't torment her for long? After briefly freezing, Sahee soon gave a defeated smile.
As he said, she had known. Men's desires were so simple they were impossible not to understand. In fact, it would be harder for a late-night visitor to not have impure intentions.
"No. I don't want to."
Despite her repeated refusal, Taeon instead tightened his grip on her hand. With one hand holding hers and the other in his suit pants pocket, he tilted his head askew.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to."
"What exactly?"
"You."
Sahee gritted her teeth.
While this might be easy for him, it wasn't for her. Min Yeojin had already introduced five potential marriage partners to Park Jisoon. She knew the man before her would soon marry one of them.
For a man like Jeong Taeon, marriage was probably just an assigned duty. His proposal revealed exactly how he thought of her.
A woman like a passing station. Something disposable and light to use once and throw away.
How easy did he think she was? She'd rather grab a rotten rope than hang herself with bonds that would unravel without hesitation when needed. If she were to die strangled by love, it might be the romance of the century, but this was just cheap sex.
"Should I have sugar-coated it?"
Taeon asked with a light smile, as if reading her thoughts. Sahee barely held back a bitter laugh. Instead, she mimicked a similar smile.
"Maybe so. If you had, I might have slept with you."
Sahee shook off Taeon's hand with all her might. She silently bent down and bowed her head to pick up the phone that had fallen from the recoil.
"If you have nothing more to say, I'll be going in now."
Sahee abruptly turned her back on Taeon.
* * *
She had a slight fever.
Along with muscle aches as if she'd been beaten. Sahee had to spend the entire early morning curled up in her mounting troubles.
Searching through the medicine cabinet only revealed empty packages she'd already used up. She didn't have the energy to go to the main hall, nor could she ask the busy people for medicine so early in the morning.
Whether it was a cold or body aches.
She felt like she was burning where CEO Jeong Taeon had clawed at her, but not knowing how to define it, she just denied it and suffered.
It's not like this was her first time. What was he anyway? Compared to the vulgar harassment she'd experienced before, this was nothing. There was no reason to feel especially hurt.
Sahee gritted her teeth.
* * *
By the time she felt well enough to wash up, it was already close to lunchtime.
After showering and putting on a thick light blue cardigan, Sahee crossed through the side door leading to the main hall.
"I-I'm not here to see you!"
To make matters worse, Lee Hyun-gu was lingering in the yard holding roses that were different in color from last time. She thought she might be hallucinating from being sick, but seeing his reddened face full of anger confirmed she wasn't.
Even dealing with him was tiring. Above all, seeing Hyun-gu reminded her of another man. She remembered with brutal clarity the warmth of the man who had lifted her up when her knees gave out in this yard.
"I didn't ask."
"Ha! You really...!"
Sahee briefly glanced at him before speaking curtly. As she coldly passed by, Hyun-gu put his hands on his hips and scowled intensely.
"Oppa Hyun-gu!"
At that moment, Hyun-gu turned his head toward the spring-like melodious call. His contorted face loosened into a silly grin.
Cha Hyun-ji, wearing a blouse with a large ribbon and a pink tweed two-piece suit, exuded a flowery fragrance. Sahee smiled a little at her bouncing curly light brown hair and the blush applied so heavily it formed little mounds when she smiled.
"Hyun-ji."
Hyun-gu lowered his voice dramatically before clearing his throat. However, Hyun-ji only primly looked back and forth between Sahee and Hyun-gu. It was a familiar wariness. She had been the same when Hyun-gu brought his potential marriage partner to Younghwadang last time.
"Why didn't you tell me you had such a pretty sister, honey! I thought you were an only child."
Those words led to such a fierce fight between Hyun-ji and the man that dawn, followed by such animal-like sex that even Mrs. Cheon had clicked her tongue in disapproval.
But Sahee knew this was merely a trivial defense mechanism. If anything, it only made it clearer that Hyun-ji also remembered that day vividly. That she too was slowly breaking apart, unable to forget.
Perhaps that's why. The reason she returned to this insufferable Younghwadang after graduating college. Maybe she wanted to remind Hyun-ji once a year, limping in front of her.
Isn't it unfair that while I remain consistently broken, the one who broke me soars beautifully, having forgotten everything?
"What's this... Do you two know each other?"
"Oh? Yeah, we're old classmates. Sahee and I went to the same high school."
"I see... You and Oppa must be close. You even call her Sahee without formality."
Nothing makes better gossip than a troubled family in a rural town. Sahee's family story had been chewed and gnawed by everyone in town until there was nothing left to pick at, like a bare bone.
While people had said it was fortunate the sisters got along well right after the accident, no one could call them family after seeing the three who left Sahee alone at Younghwadang and departed for Seoul. Even if they had eagerly gossiped about how "you can't raise someone else's child" and "I knew this would happen..."
Hyun-gu clearly knew this too, as he turned pale and busied himself watching Hyun-ji's reaction.
"Just... just because we're classmates."
"We're not close."
Sahee spat out the words and passed by the two with a frown. Hyun-ji glanced at Sahee, her lips quivering before she quickly pressed herself against Hyun-gu.
"What's this? Why flowers?"
"I just bought them thinking of you on my way here."
"Ah, what? Oppa, why are you acting like a boyfriend already?"
"It's not like that..."
"Why are you nervous? Hyun-ji means she likes it."
How cunning.
Sahee walked briskly, letting the conversation following her pass through one ear and out the other.
That's when she heard footsteps running from afar. What day was it? Mrs. Cheon's face was pale as she ran.
"Sahee! Yeon Sahee!"
Sahee grabbed Mrs. Cheon's arm as she caught her breath. She smelled of grilled fish.
Mrs. Cheon looked at Hyun-gu and Hyun-ji behind Sahee, then shook her head as if that wasn't important.
"You, come here quickly."
"What..."
"Just hurry!"
Mrs. Cheon gripped her hand tightly and led Sahee away.
It was time to prepare lunch. She was the one who proudly claimed all the flavors of Younghwadang came from her fingertips.
Even when she was sick, she was more upset about not being able to serve the madam and CEO for a month than about being ill. What could have made her abandon that pride and run out like this? It was an unsettling sense of foreboding.
Dragged to Mrs. Cheon's room in one breath, Sahee looked strangely at her back as she locked the door. She even scanned the surroundings while entering.
When Mrs. Cheon stepped quickly in front of Sahee, Sahee leaned her upper body back slightly.
"You, Sahee, what exactly happened while I was bedridden?"
"...What do you mean?"
Sahee questioned with completely puzzled eyes.
Mrs. Cheon's lips were trembling. When Sahee took her dangling hand, even her fingertips were cold.
"Did something happen?"
"..."
"You said it was urgent, why are you hesitating? Is lunch preparation finished?"
Sahee shook Mrs. Cheon's hand lightly in frustration. Mrs. Cheon's face contorted as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
After hesitating several times like this, what Mrs. Cheon finally brought up was news from the guest house.
"CEO Jeong says he'll have his meal at the guest house."
"He often eats alone at the guest house."
What's the big deal? It had happened several times in just a week.
He was a busy man. His consistent attitude that regular meals were bothersome had led Uncle Bang to deliver his meals to the guest house multiple times.
It didn't make sense that she would be trembling over something so trivial. As Sahee tilted her head in confusion, Mrs. Cheon gripped her hand tightly.
"No, Sahee, he..."
"..."
"He asked me to prepare your meal too and bring you to the guest house."
"..."
"The CEO says he owes you something, but how can I believe that..."