A Handful of Defiance
She knew perfectly well there was no reason to be prickly with Taekyung.
But… her insides were boiling as if she had swallowed a fireball. If she did not spit something out right that instant, she felt she might burst. What was she supposed to do?
Did you suggest a kiss because you thought I’d be easy to use and obedient?
Because I’m from an orphanage, so it would be convenient to toy with me lightly whenever the mood struck?
Of course she would never confront him with those questions. It was simply… ridiculous how upset and angry she felt toward him in a moment like this, when they were not even anything to each other.
“It was nonsense. I’m sorry.”
With a sharp shove she pushed his hand away and fled from him at once.
He was the kind of man who would never try to catch her a second time. Taekyung would not follow.
After Dajeong left.
“This is seriously pissing me off.”
Taekyung irritably rubbed his stiff neck as he strode into the hospital.
He had been away on a business trip for a few days, and now she was suddenly bristling and charging at him like a puppy sulking and giving its owner the cold shoulder. What was the reason for that?
Yu Dajeong’s lingering presence—walking that precarious line between insolence and freshness—had left quite an impression.
Even as he left the elevator and headed for the conference room, the woman who had so coldly pushed him away kept circling through his mind.
She had no idea how much attention he was paying her.
For someone like Taekyung, a doctor working under him was someone he could summon and take as much as he wanted, whenever he felt like it.
He could keep her under him and torment her all night until she said she was sorry and would never do it again.
There had even been moments during the business trip when Yu Dajeong had suddenly risen in his thoughts several times.
Still, he had tried to suppress and bury it. The place he needed to focus on right now was the throne of Hanju Group, that lofty height.
With a long road still ahead, he had meant to set aside and forget one small, bothersome woman for the time being.
“This is troublesome.”
Why did she keep stirring up his competitive spirit like that?
A quiet snort of laughter escaped him. Whether it was merely his imagination or not, the usually impassive man had been letting out soft chuckles more often these days.
At this point it was clear that pure lust had already been left behind.
The urge to conquer, or possessiveness—something along those lines, perhaps.
“You’ve arrived, CEO.”
When Taekyung entered the conference room, the dozen or so people who had been waiting for him even at this late hour rose in a rush and bowed their heads.
It was a sight that had been natural to him since the day he was born.
“Let’s begin right away.”
The respectful greetings. The highest seat reserved solely for him. People who laughed and wept at a single glance or gesture from him.
On the path Jang Taekyung walked, not even the slightest speck of dust was tolerated.
If anything grated on him even a little, he would somehow break it or claim it as his own—whether it was a person or an organization.
And yet.
Yu Dajeong, who would not even fill a single handful if he closed his fist, kept popping up with a soft tok and gently needling him. She kept sending out those tiny, tingling sparks of provocation.
…If she was going to act that proud and prim, he wanted to break her even faster.
His anticipation swelled further—for the Yu Dajeong who would eventually break and weep beneath him.
Thanks to that, throughout the entire meeting Taekyung’s mouth curved up at a slant.
The people, having no idea why he looked so satisfied, were simply busy delivering their reports.
In the rarely quiet residents’ lounge, Dajeong was searching her phone for things like “national scholarship” and “study-abroad loans” when she let out a small sigh.
Her hands and eyes kept moving, but the worries filling her head were something else entirely.
In fact, just a short while earlier she had come from being thoroughly scolded by the newly appointed head of pediatrics.
What? You’re quitting as chief? I didn’t take you for the type, Dr. Yu—you’ve got no sense of responsibility!
I specially arranged another professor for you because your paper looked so urgent. And now you’re just snatching that benefit and refusing to do the work?
When she said she wanted to step down as chief so she could focus on preparing for the specialist exam, that had been the department head’s first reaction.
It was unfair—she had personally run around recruiting the other professor for the paper herself—but she offered no explanation.
“I’m just going to live looking out for my own interests from now on.”
Whether the pediatrics department got kicked out to the refugee support center or the entire hospital collapsed…
She hated everything. It was day one of her vow not to be obedient to anyone anymore, and not to show anyone kindness either.
She was mindlessly flipping through her phone screen when bzzzt—a vibration buzzed.
“Huh?”
Color returned to her face the moment she saw the welcome name. Dajeong quickly pressed the call button.
“Director!”
In the courtyard where cicadas hummed, a middle-aged woman in casual clothes sat on a bench beneath a tree and beamed a wide smile as she watched Dajeong run toward her.
She was the orphanage director who had given a name to the baby Dajeong abandoned at the doorstep.
“My girl. I brought side dishes.”
Dajeong clapped her hands at the sight of the five-tier food container resting under the bench.
“Is there jangjorim? And lotus-root jorim too?”
“Of course I put them in. I adjusted everything to elementary-school tastes.”
Dajeong giggled and held out the canned coffee she had bought. Pop—they cracked open the cans and drank the cool liquid as the two of them chatted away.
It had been several months since they had seen each other’s welcome faces.
They traded stories of how busily they had lived during the time they could not meet.
“But, Dajeong.”
As she brushed up the hair scattered by the wind, the director playfully drew out the words.
“There’s a solid young man at our church. Want to meet him?”
The lips that had been chattering nonstop hesitated.
“No. I’m fine.”
Her head was complicated enough as it was.
Dajeong lowered her gaze and rubbed the surface of the canned coffee.
Ever since Dajeong’s path had been set as a doctor, the director’s next goal had become “making a family for Yu Dajeong.”
Whenever she had the chance, the director would dish out warm nagging about getting a boyfriend.
Of course, knowing this too was love and concern, she was grateful. Dajeong vaguely felt that this must be what it was like for a mother to look after her daughter.
“What’s the fun if you just go back and forth between the hospital and home every day like that?”
“I’m comfortable and happy with that.”
“Date a little. Did you even go flower-viewing this spring?”
“There are lots of cherry trees here.”
The director gave Dajeong—who was waving around at the courtyard—a look that was not truly annoyed.
“Meet a good person and see the flowers in spring. Now that it’s summer, go to the ocean too. Live like other people, Dajeong.”
Dajeong firmly shook her head. As always, she tried to quietly slip away with the excuse of being busy and tired.
But this time, as if she had come with her mind firmly set, the director did not back down either.
“The guy is really decent—that’s why. He’s an accountant and even has an apartment in Gangnam!”
“Ah, right! I forgot I’m assisting in the OR today.”
Dajeong sprang up, not forgetting to tightly hug the five-tier food container. The director, who played along with the clumsy act, let out an incredulous laugh.
“Just meet him once, I’m telling you. No matter how busy you are, you have time for a cup of coffee. Text me when you have time. Got it?”
“I’ll enjoy the side dishes. Love you!”
Dodging with an odd answer, Dajeong quickly disappeared into the building.
“Dating, my ass.”
It really was not the time right now. Specialist exam, looking into overseas training—how much work was there?
But… at the part about dating a little, why did that man suddenly come to mind?
Her steps toward the residents’ lounge quickened. Strength clenched tightly into the hand holding the lunchbox.
Trying hard to erase the suddenly rising handsome face, Dajeong walked looking only ahead.
The next day.
After finishing a full seven-hour surgery, there was a message from the director.
Dajeong tilted her head.
She had never come looking for the containers in such a hurry before. Did she have some business near the hospital?
“I’m tired though.”
But she had washed the containers carefully anyway. It would only take a moment.
Sprawled on the changing-room sofa, Dajeong replied and got up. She combed and retied her messy hair, changed clothes, and was heading to the lounge when another message arrived in succession.
“Of course.”
Dajeong snorted a quiet laugh and took two canned coffees from the fridge. It was the usual side-dish payment she always prepared.
Tap, tap. Walking slowly to the courtyard bench at the promised time—
“…Ah.”
The person sitting there was not the director, but a neatly dressed man.
She thought she knew who it was. Probably the “solid church young man” the director had mentioned.
She had been thoroughly fooled. Dajeong swallowed a sigh.
“So we were both fooled by the director, then.”
“Seems so.”
The man who was an accountant was four years older than Dajeong. He had a good-mannered, calm impression.
“You’re not offended, are you?”
Seeing Dajeong hurriedly shake her head, the man smiled softly.
“Hmm, I actually like it. A sudden meeting like this feels like destiny too.”
A person with naturally warm and pleasant energy.
That was the impression she got from chatting briefly.
“If you’ve finished your coffee, shall we get up? I hear residents are so busy they can’t even sleep. I won’t take any more of your time.”
In addition to the gentle impression and soft personality, the man even had sense. Seeing how the conversation flowed naturally without getting stuck, maybe their tastes were similar too.
She thought she understood why the director had forced the meeting.
He was exactly Dajeong’s ideal type.