The Matchmaker's Defeat
Because of the overall management of the Bucheon redevelopment project, I am at my wit's end these days. Construction is said to be difficult these days, but our bookings are actually increasing.
Kang Ji-yoon said this with a proud lilt. The hours spent on makeup and styling, the sparkle of her nails, all contradicted her words.
Woo-jin said nothing. He lowered his gaze to his wristwatch.
Fifteen minutes.
That was the time that had passed since he dropped Shin Yu-won off in the car.
“Is it alright if I contact you later this evening?”
He had mistaken the hesitant woman’s voice for an invitation to a date.
He had never imagined she would push him into a place arranged for meeting someone’s bed.
Shin Yu-won’s face when he rejected her was so disappointing that he had wanted to laugh.
“I’ll wait in the car.”
Only her stiff lips and trembling eyes had stopped him from pulling her into dinner.
At this hour he had already grown soft for her.
He had never realized he could possess such weak spots.
Now, what thoughts was Shin Yu-won having inside that car?
Perhaps she was regretting having shoved him into this spot, growing anxious, wondering if he would burst in and ruin the matchmaking.
Even though he knew she would never do anything so reckless, that thought brought him unexpected pleasure.
“Actually, I’ve heard a lot about Mr. Woo-jin.”
Kang Ji-yoon crossed her legs and leaned forward slightly.
“I’d been wanting to meet you, and then this opportunity came along.”
Woo-jin looked at the woman while lifting his water glass. The minutes crawled.
He had pursued the Shin Yu-won who had surrendered to him last night, leaving his marks everywhere, and the restless desire had quieted when he saw her tear-streaked, disheveled face.
But the moment her phone rang with its insistent morning alarm, desire snapped back into place with a vengeance.
“It’s a call from home. I’ll take it later.”
Obviously she was talking to that bastard. Her pale face said enough.
His hand tightened on the glass. Heat gathered in his eyes.
“……?”
His nerves snapped. The woman’s sharp voice yanked him back to the present. Kang Ji-yoon’s eyebrows were furrowed.
“Are you even listening to me?”
His patience, already frayed, finally gave out under her insistence.
“It was fun tonight. Please convey my regards to Chairman Kang.”
Woo-jin dropped the words and rose from his seat. The waiter who had just brought their plates stared at him in bewilderment.
Behind him, Kang Ji-yoon’s face burned with shock and fury.
Woo-jin left the restaurant without looking back.
“Hah.”
The moment he yanked open the driver’s door of his car, he burst out laughing.
Instead of the regret-stricken face he had expected, he found Shin Yu-won curled small in the driver’s seat, fast asleep.
After last night, they had spent every moment of the day together. It was only natural.
Yet while he had been staring at his watch in the restaurant, she had slept through it all. He was stunned.
The impulse to grab her small chin and crush his lips against hers surged, but he forced it down and climbed into the passenger seat.
“Mmm.”
Shin Yu-won let out a soft sound. Her neatly arched eyebrows fluttered, and her forehead tightened.
Cold?
Woo-jin pressed the ignition button and turned on the heater. He activated the seat warmers and reclined the backrest. The small body beneath him slowly melted into the seat.
Even though he had acted without care, the woman made no move to wake.
Woo-jin watched her in silence. The tiny shoulders rose and fell with each breath.
Click.
He switched on the overhead light. Gentle illumination poured over Shin Yu-won’s face. Her forehead furrowed again.
Woo-jin reached out and lightly brushed his finger between her brows. Shin Yu-won’s half-closed eyes fluttered; she soon relaxed, exhaled, and breathed evenly once more.
Even though it was only her sleeping face, he could not tear his gaze away.
Her jacket had shifted, exposing the inner curve of her neck. The faint traces he had left the night before lingered. The memory of last night flooded back in full force.
The end of the obsession he could not even understand himself remained elusive.
***
“Mmm……”
A pleasant weight settled over him, laced with the clean scent.
In his half-asleep state Yu-won reached for it with her hand. The texture of fine fabric warmed his palm. Her touch was soft and warm, and he found himself lingering.
“If it suits you so much, would you like the suit as well?”
Suddenly Woo-jin’s voice rang in her ear. Yu-won’s eyes snapped open. She had not noticed the reclined seat and jerked upright, losing her balance.
“Ah!”
Woo-jin, who had been watching the tablet in the passenger seat, reached out with one hand and caught the falling Yu-won.
“I’m sorry.”
Her heartbeat pulsed wildly beneath his palm.
She snatched her arm free and handed him the jacket she had been holding over herself.
“You don’t have to take it.”
The man tossed the words out with a straight face. Yu-won straightened her collar and raised the seat backrest.
“I fell asleep without realizing it. I’m truly sorry.”
“I arrived just now too.”
Woo-jin glanced at the clock in the car.
8:30.
He had been at the matchmaking for two hours.
Ah, so Chairman Kang didn’t appeal to him after all.
The conclusion felt bitter on his tongue. Yu-won bit her lip. Something scraped inside her chest as if she had rubbed it with sandpaper.
She had expected Woo-jin, who rarely showed his emotions, to handle the date so flatly.
How foolish that assumption had been.
She had never imagined that sending the man she loved to a blind date with another woman could be this agonizing.
“We should head back now.”
Woo-jin wanted to escape before she could sense the storm inside him.
Yet even as Yu-won reached for the steering wheel, he made no move to get out.
“I’m starting the car……”
“Go ahead. Start the car.”
Woo-jin looked at her as if something were wrong.
In the usual arrangement he should have been in the back seat. That was the correct position for him, and it gave her the proper distance.
“Is something wrong with the car?”
Woo-jin lifted his head from the tablet.
“No, nothing. I’m starting now.”
Yu-won gripped the wheel until her knuckles stood out. Pain throbbed between her ribs and sternum.
She had to bury all her jealousy because it was not hers. The thunder of her heart made her fear he would hear it. She stared straight ahead and pressed the accelerator.
***
“Woo-jin, you met Grandfather’s granddaughter last night, right?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you like her?”
Chairman Lee Yeong-ho’s question made Woo-jin set his coffee cup down.
“No, of course not.”
Woo-jin offered his grandfather a polite smile from his seat at the head table.
“We had a very pleasant time.”
“Then why is Chairman Kang so angry?”
Lee Yeong-ho clicked his tongue lightly and picked up his spoon.
Once a week, the weekly breakfast at Yeongunjae.
This meal brought the entire Taekyung family to Lee Yeong-ho’s ancestral home. Around the head table sat Grandfather Lee Yeong-ho, Grandfather Lee Min-gyu and his wife, and the mother-son pair.
It had begun after Woo-jin’s father died. In other words, it was already nearly twenty years old—a long-standing family custom.
Woo-jin clasped his hands and relaxed.
“Perhaps they didn’t like me.”
“Mother, come now. That’s hardly possible.”
Cha Yeo-gyeong jumped in quickly, glancing between her father-in-law and her son. She gave him the signal not to say unnecessary things.
“Father, don’t worry. We’ve arranged a far better match than Se-won. You know how my Woo-jin is. Everyone is dying to have him.”
“People are bound by fate. If you let the right opportunity slip, you’ll never get another chance.”
Lee Yeong-ho nodded and lifted his water glass. A servant quietly poured water beside him.
“Right. How is Moment doing lately?”
“It’s thriving, Grandfather.”
Lee Min-gyu cut in. Having stepped back from frontline operations, he was effectively the real power behind the headquarters.
“Woo-jin is still too young. We must worry he’ll make a mistake. It’s better if he gains experience in the subsidiaries first.”
This was exactly what Lee Min-gyu had said to Chairman Lee when pushing Woo-jin into Moment.
Playing the kind uncle, pretending to be concerned for his future.
Woo-jin had no trouble seeing the blade beneath the polished words.
“There are plenty of talented people in the company. Watch over them.”
Woo-jin met Lee Min-gyu’s eyes with a broad smile.
While patience remained, he could play along in this farce.
The problem was that his patience was running out.
“Father, our Woo-jin already has a track record. The Hanseong Department Store pop-up just opened. We’re also lowering the commission rate significantly.”
Lee Min-gyu spread his fingers in a sweeping downward gesture.
“Good. You’ve done well.”
Lee Yeong-ho, who rarely praised anyone, gave a rare nod. The atmosphere was unusually warm.
“However, Vice Chairman.”
Woo-jin wiped his mouth with his napkin and slowly raised his head.
“You keep calling me Vice Chairman. I told you not to.”
Lee Min-gyu laughed heartily and surveyed the table.
It was absurd to see the blood relative playing the part of a loving uncle.
Woo-jin swallowed the cold sneer threatening to surface and spoke.
“The pop-up commission was already restored yesterday. I wonder how you knew it hadn’t been officially documented.”