Chapter 12

That damn dad joke. Was it some kind of trend now. There wasn’t a single guy who didn’t do it. It was turning into a nasty J Electronics tradition my brother had spread.

Jae-oh didn’t want to play along. Yet he caught himself trying to guess the answer anyway and frowned.

“The longest food in the world? What is it. A stick of yeot?”

The deputy manager sitting next to him jumped in to humor Cha Gye-oh.

Cha Gye-oh then looked at Chae-eun like he wanted her to try. Chae-eun flinched and pretended to think.

“Um…”

“The answer is sesame oiiil. Sesame loooong. Sesame oil.”

Stretching out the word oil, Cha Gye-oh lifted the dipping oil in front of him and grinned proudly.

It clearly came to him when he saw the sesame oil. Jae-oh felt irritated. There wasn’t a hint of humor in it and he decided it was better to pretend he hadn’t heard, turning his head away completely.

“So how was it. What’d you think of that one.”

Cha Gye-oh excitedly asked Chae-eun. She even clapped and laughed brightly.

“Do you have some kind of joke encyclopedia. How do you know so many of these.”

“I’ve always been good at memorizing things. I never forget anything I see or hear.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Is your father doing okay.”

Chae-eun smiled lightly and nodded.

“Yes. He’ll need a wheelchair for a while though.”

“But Chae-eun, I think you’ve had a bit to drink. Your face is red. That won’t do.”

“What. I’m fine.”

Cha Gye-oh picked up the glass of alcohol that had been poured for her and downed it himself.

“Oh.”

“From now on, if someone hands you a drink, pass it to me. I’ll secretly drink it all.”

Secretly my ass.

Watching his brother drink openly, Jae-oh let out a small sigh. Chae-eun’s expression was oddly ambiguous.

She looked touched but also kind of stunned that her precious drink had been stolen.

His brother’s clinginess didn’t stop there. If anything touched her lips, he handed her a napkin. The moment she finished her water, he refilled it.

After thanking him several times, Chae-eun finally stood up awkwardly.

“Um, I’ll go to the restroom.”

Watching her slip away, Jae-oh moved without thinking.

“Where are you going.”

“To get some air.”

He answered coldly to Cha Gye-oh, who looked ready to follow, then headed out after Chae-eun. The restroom was down the hallway outside the restaurant, which made him worry for no real reason.

* * *

The moment the eyes on her disappeared, the body she’d been forcing to act normal wobbled.

“Wow.”

She felt like she was suffocating.

“Left pervert, right old guy.”

She felt like she was going insane. The aggressive flirting from men in casts had nearly short circuited her brain. She’d been watching everyone else’s reactions too and more than anything, having her drink stolen pissed her off.

“Why steal someone else’s drink.”

Even with her head throbbing from drinking too much, she was upset she couldn’t drink more. She’d finally been doing this whole socializing thing decently for once.

Honestly, she just wanted to grab fried chicken and beer alone with Song Jihyun.

“Get it together.”

Chae-eun went into the restroom and stood in front of the sink, looking at herself in the mirror.

Her cheeks were flushed. She did look a bit tipsy so she could understand Cha Gye-oh’s concern.

She took out her cushion and tapped it over her red cheeks. After seeing some color return, she took a deep breath.

Before the cast guys showed up, she’d genuinely been enjoying the dinner.

Now she was almost scared to go back. She didn’t know what kind of stupid joke would come flying next and keeping up a bright smile instead of a rotten expression would take fast reflexes.

With alcohol in her system, there was no way she could be that sharp.

As if making up her mind, Chae-eun loosened her slightly messy hair, combed it with her fingers, then tied it back neatly.

She opened the restroom door to head out and nearly ran into a large man standing there. She tried to step aside, then caught herself meeting his gaze.

“Executive Director Cha Jae-oh.”

Leaning against the wall with one shoulder, his pitch black eyes were so deep it felt like she could get sucked into them.

Seeing him just stare without answering, left pervert Jae-oh, made her heart pound like it was broken.

“Did you follow me.”

“As if. This is a public restroom.”

“Oh.”

“Do you have some kind of axe syndrome. Thinking every guy is into you.”

The way he sneered made her eyes sharpen.

“I didn’t think every guy was into me. Guess it looked that way to you.”

“I’ve heard that being a drinking executive is a chronic part of Korean corporate culture, but seeing it in person is kind of fascinating.”

“…What executive.”

Chae-eun tilted her head, wondering if she’d misheard.

“Why pretend you didn’t hear. Lobbying with alcohol and your body. That’s your specialty.”

“Hah.”

Just hearing alcohol lobbying was enough to sour her mood. The word body made her stomach flip.

Fine. Half of it was true.

She’d heard that Executive Director Cha Gye-oh, who was supposed to attend the meeting, said yes to anything once he drank. So she had used alcohol.

But not her body. That part was a fatal mistake she couldn’t control. It wasn’t something she did with just anyone. It only happened because the man was Cha Jae-oh. An accident born of impulse.

Still, she didn’t want to explain it. She didn’t want to admit that her body had reacted to him even briefly.

“I heard you were only recently transferred back to Korea. You seem to be adapting perfectly to the entertainment culture you call a chronic disease.”

It worked. Jae-oh’s eyebrow twitched.

Seeing a crack in the calm face he’d worn all night felt oddly satisfying.

“Then I’ll head back in.”

She tried to return to the restaurant but a long arm blocked her path. Jae-oh braced one hand on the wall, trapping her, and sighed quietly.

“I looked into VOUME Planning a bit. Every major project planner was you, Director Kang Chae-eun. Did you get them all the same way. There were more than one. Does your body even survive that.”

His words scraped at her nerves. Chae-eun crossed her arms tightly and glared at him.

“I heard you graduated from Harvard. Was there some admissions fraud involved.”

“What kind of nonsense is that.”

If he scratched her, she’d scratch back harder.

“You forgot that our chairman was supposed to attend the meeting himself before the accident. Is your memory that bad.”

It was a refined insult asking how someone like him got into that school.

After saying it, she felt a bit better.

Jae-oh’s expression turned unreadable.

“So you don’t usually attend meetings like that.”

“My job isn’t sales. It’s planning.”

Since his arm was blocking her, she turned the other way. He switched arms and blocked that side too.

“Seriously, what’s your problem. I need to go back in.”

“Why. Got a disease where you die if you don’t drink what men pour you.”

“Yes. I do. I’m socializing right now. I need to look good to those people. It could affect the quality of the results.”

Every attempt to escape failed. As they argued, they ended up so close their lips almost touched. Realizing how close he was, Chae-eun tried to turn her head away.

Too late.

Their mingled breath dragged up memories she shouldn’t be thinking about.

That night when neither of them hesitated to claim the other’s lips. The sweet whiskey taste on his mouth.

“You tied your hair again. It looked prettier before.”

If she backed down now, it’d feel like losing. So she forced herself to look straight at him instead.

He did the same. The air between them felt thick enough that kissing wouldn’t have been strange. Tension built and she swallowed hard.

Then a loud voice boomed from the end of the hallway.

“What are you two doing there. I’ve been waiting forever.”

At Cha Gye-oh’s appearance, Jae-oh’s stubborn arm dropped back to his side.

Chae-eun tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ear and forced a smile.

“Ah, my face was a mess so I was fixing my makeup. I ran into the executive director on the way.”

“Your face can be a mess too. Let me see.”

Cha Gye-oh stepped closer and wedged himself between them, inspecting her face closely.

“Do you not know what mess means. That word’s for faces like his. Features all stuck on randomly.”