You Were the One Who Threw Her Away

Gong Juhee hesitated for a brief moment, but her answer was the same as before.

“Yes.”

With the firm conviction that he wouldn’t actually kiss her.

“Then I suppose I can.”

What did he mean by that? As Juhee stood there quietly thinking, Yoon Jeha leaned down, bending at the waist.

His head tilted. The distance between them shrank. A hand rose slowly, fingers lifting her chin. Their noses brushed. Warm breath touched her lips. And then their mouths met.

Startled beyond words, Juhee’s eyes flew wide open and she froze on the spot. In her mind she wanted to shove his chest with both hands, but she had no right to refuse him now. She had just told him—told the only path left to her, Yoon Jeha—that she would do anything, that he could kiss her.

Swallowing a sigh laced with resignation, Juhee squeezed her eyes shut as if bracing for punishment.

Suddenly, the memory of her first and last kiss with Han Taemin resurfaced. The way he had devoured her lips, bitten them, sucked on her tongue so hard it hurt and frightened her.

Yoon Jeha will probably be the same. Juhee steeled herself.

But even after a considerable amount of time passed, Jeha didn’t move. He simply kept their lips pressed together, breathing quietly.

It felt strange to Juhee. Because he did nothing else, the sensation of his lips and breath became vividly clear.

Should I just stay still like this? Or should I do something to show willingness? While she was debating, Jeha’s lips drew back for a moment, then returned with a soft peck.

Is that the end? The instant she tried to open her eyes, the tip of his tongue traced the seam of her lips as if savoring them. Time flowed as slowly and gently as that languid, appreciative stroke.

The only sounds that reached her ears were the frantic pounding of her own heart and the quiet rhythm of Jeha’s breathing.

At that moment, Juhee’s shoulders jerked. Jeha had gently sucked on her lower lip. The feeling of her lip being drawn into his warm, moist mouth was shockingly unfamiliar. It tickled so much that her toes curled.

Is this what a kiss is supposed to be?

It somehow felt lacking to call it a kiss.

It was completely different from the one Taemin had given her. It wasn’t rough; it was gentle. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t scare her. There were no crude hands slipping under her clothes to grope her. The only things that touched her were breath and lips.

Jeha treated her lips as if they were a delicious piece of candy, sucking on them with careful, lingering devotion. After helplessly offering up her lower lip, the rigid tension in her body gradually melted away. Her mind grew hazy, her breathing uneven. Though it was only her lips being sucked, it felt as though her very soul was being drawn out.

He neither forced his way in nor crossed the line, yet that very restraint made her strangely restless. Her pounding heart felt ticklish. Still offering her lips, Juhee unconsciously rose onto her toes. At that moment their joined mouths parted, and Jeha straightened his back.

Even so, Juhee remained with her eyes closed, long lashes trembling.

“Breathe.”

Jeha’s low voice, soft as a quiet breeze, woke her. She slowly lifted her eyelids and saw him standing there, perfectly composed. Unlike Juhee, who was clearly shaken, he looked exactly as he had before the kiss.

Following his instruction, she found it difficult even to breathe properly, let alone move. For the first time, Juhee lowered her gaze, avoiding his eyes.

To be honest, she was embarrassed. It felt as though she had completely lost her mind over an awkward kiss.

Whether he truly didn’t know or was only pretending not to, Jeha asked with a strangely sharp glint in his eyes.

“You’re saying there’s nothing between you and Taemin?”

“There is nothing between us.”

Once the words left her mouth, she realized they were true. They had spoken of a future together, but that was all. They had never been lovers, never lived as lovers, and had never crossed that final line.

They had only ever stayed in place, so their relationship never progressed. In the end, it had been destined to fall apart.

“Even before?”

“As you already know, Representative, I lived with Executive Director Han like family for a long time. And after he returned from studying abroad, there was a slight shift in the air between us as man and woman. But that is all.”

“You weren’t going to get married…?”

At the sudden question, Juhee looked up. Jeha’s eyes, staring straight down at her, remained unreadable. So she tried to guess what he might be thinking.

Taemin had said that Jeha wanted to marry Joo Haena. If that was true, then Jeha wanted her to shake Taemin. Only then could he marry Joo Haena.

Even if it was to win Jeha’s favor, Juhee didn’t want to lie about her relationship with Taemin.

“…There’s no way I would have married Executive Director Han.”

During the suffocating silence that followed, Juhee waited calmly. How much time passed? Jeha swept back the hair that had fallen irritably over his forehead and spoke abruptly.

“I absolutely hate people with loose lips.”

Surely not. Juhee stared at him with round eyes, her expression stunned. But only for a moment. She quickly answered in a composed voice.

“Understood.”

“I also hate people who can’t read the room.”

“Understood.”

“And incompetent ones.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. It’s the one thing I’m most confident in.”

At the confidence Juhee openly displayed, Jeha looked dumbfounded. Then he frowned and grumbled.

“Don’t come into the bedroom.”

Swallowing a shaky breath, Juhee asked evenly.

“What if you call for me and I don’t wake up?”

“…Just don’t touch my body.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You may leave now.”

Jeha waved his hand as if annoyed and turned away indifferently, only to turn back again.

“If you come looking for me again today, you’re fired on the spot.”

“Rest well, Representative.”

Juhee bowed at a perfect ninety degrees. When she raised her eyes, the door was already closed.

Jeha cracked open a can of beer and stepped out onto the veranda. A pale white moon hung precariously in the darkening night sky.

Come to think of it, Gong Juhee was like the moon. The slender white crescent resembled her eyebrows, and the cold moonlight was like the look in her eyes. Her clear gaze was so chilly and transparent that he had often wanted to warm her.

Yet her lips had been sweet and warm. The inside of her mouth, where her trembling breath had come in soft pants, must have been even sweeter and warmer.

He had barely suppressed the urge to push his tongue into that soft mouth and lick every inch of it. If he hadn’t held back, his eyes would have rolled back and he would have gone all the way. And then he really would have become a beast who lusted after his friend’s woman.

With narrowed eyes, Jeha looked up at the cold moon and let out a short laugh. He remembered the way Gong Juhee had met his gaze and declared there was nothing between her and Han Taemin.

“You expect me to believe that?”

From what he had seen in the past, Han Taemin and Gong Juhee had definitely shared something special. Hadn’t they even talked about marriage until recently?

That was why it irritated him even more. He should have rejected the obvious ploy, but he hadn’t been able to.

To Juhee, it seemed he was an easy mark. That must be why she thought such a lie would work.

Yet the usually upright and sharp Gong Juhee had been on the verge of tears. She might not have realized it, but he had seen it clearly—the wet rims of her eyes, the trembling gaze filled with hurt.

Looking back, he had always been strangely soft toward her.

The girl in Jeha’s memories had been like a kitten with all its claws out. Small and thin, with large almond-shaped eyes that tilted up slightly at the corners. When he looked into those eyes beneath neat lashes that fanned out like a spread fan, he felt as if he might be sucked in.

No one knew it, but Jeha liked cats very much. He hated animals in general, yet cats were different. They seemed gentle but were actually haughty, appeared devoted yet remained prickly. Even now, when stressed, he would watch cat videos. He had given up on actually owning one because of his fur allergy.

Although Gong Juhee resembled a cat, he hadn’t kissed her out of any dark ulterior motive. He had meant to scare her off. Yet once again, she had endured it. Their lips had barely touched, but she had trembled violently.

Just thinking about it soured his mood further. Half of him had wanted to devour her regardless of her fear, while the other half hadn’t wanted to frighten her. In the end, the latter had won.

Gong Juhee had clearly come prepared to endure even a breakup when he said he didn’t use his friend’s woman as a secretary. The only reason she would sacrifice that much to become his secretary was for Han Taemin.

When his thoughts reached that point, Jeha smiled bitterly. Should I applaud this touching love?

They say ten years can change even mountains and rivers. The Korean soil he had stepped on after so long had changed in many ways, and so had the people. The child Gong Juhee had become a woman, and Han Taemin had become a man consumed by ambition and greed. So blinded by success that he had pushed away the woman he loved and forced them into a painful separation.

Where had the boy with the upright eyes and heavy sense of responsibility gone? It was a shame, but Taemin was no longer the friend Jeha had once known.

Jeha dialed Taemin’s number.

“How exactly am I supposed to interpret this?”

It had been Chairman Yang who assigned Gong Juhee as his secretary, but the one trying to squeeze every last drop of benefit from it was Han Taemin. He was the one who had driven her to this point, the one who had forced her to tell a lie while looking like she might cry.

“I’m asking why you sent your precious princess to me instead of keeping her by your side.”

“Even so, you should have stopped it.”

Jeha let out a short laugh.

“You’re the one who would even pretend to die if Grandfather told you to.”

“But Juhee isn’t like that. She doesn’t listen only to you, Han Taemin.”

Taemin’s silence was as good as confirmation. The lovers were both insane. Han Taemin was blinded by success, and Gong Juhee was blinded by that very Taemin.

Only then did Jeha understand why Juhee had been crying on the emergency stairs of the hotel while cursing Taemin.

You didn’t want to come to me. But you came anyway because of Han Taemin. That’s why you looked at me with those eyes.

“Take your princess back while I’m still asking nicely.”

It was the last chance Jeha was giving the lovers who had parted so poignantly, like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Yet the words that came from Taemin after a long pause were utterly absurd.

Take good care of her? My eyes are rolling back because I can’t do anything to her.

“I clearly warned you.”

That was as far as the warning and courtesy from one friend to another would go.

If he ignored it, Jeha would simply handle things his own way.

Either drive her to quit on her own, or if that didn’t work, pick her up and keep her for himself.

“And yet you were the one who threw her away.”

With those final words, Jeha abruptly ended the call.

After getting out of the taxi and arriving in her neighborhood, Gong Juhee walked on and on with a dazed expression.

She still couldn’t believe she had received permission from Jeha rather than Chairman Yang.

It felt like a dream. She was completely stunned.

If she had gained three months with a kiss, could she gain even more by doing something more? The moment the thought crossed her mind, Juhee gave a small shake of her head, startled at herself.

“Don’t try to get by with your body. Win with your ability.”

She remembered her first boss, the one who had looked down on her when she was twenty-one, a graduate of a vocational college. Despite all the disregard and contempt, she had stubbornly endured and stepped forward first in everything. She had split what little free time she had to study relentlessly. She had devoured not only foreign languages but also books on business administration.

That wasn’t all. With her quick wits, she had perfectly grasped her boss’s preferences and made him smile. While her seniors waited desperately for quitting time and the new hires knew nothing about practical work, Juhee had no choice but to stand out. There was simply no one who could replace her. That had been the fierce and barren life Gong Juhee had lived until now.

Unless the boss was an incompetent superior with no interest in company affairs, there would be no one who would turn down someone like her.

There was only one thing Juhee had to do for the next three months.

Become Yoon Jeha’s perfect shadow—so flawless that he couldn’t last a single day without her.

Habits were such gentle yet terrifying things.

Before she knew it, she had reached her house. Juhee paused for a moment and pressed her flushed cheeks with both hands.

The kiss she had shared with Jeha came to mind again. His surprisingly soft and warm lips, the sensation of him gently sucking on her lower lip, the heavy scent of his body that had seeped into her nose.

Jeha’s kiss had been soft yet slow, careful yet meticulous. It hadn’t felt dirty so much as unfamiliar, and rather than unpleasant, it had felt strangely… very, very strange.

With her ears burning hot, Juhee was just opening the front gate when—

“…!”

Slap—

A flash of lightning exploded before her eyes, and Juhee’s face snapped violently to the side.