You'll End Up Looking Only at Me

"What?"

Her heart lurched hard in her chest. The first words out of the man studying the painting had nothing whatsoever to do with the painting.

"By the window, I mean."

Ye-seo pressed her fingers to her forehead, which felt as though it might burst into flame, and let out a low sigh. So their eyes really had met.

They had locked gazes and she had even held her breath; of course he would think she had been spying on him. She had fretted the whole time that he might come upstairs, half-convinced he was already in the studio—

She had assumed that, since he was looking at the painting, he would say something about the painting. The realization only doubled her mortification.

"That was just a coincidence…. I happened to see you, that's all. If it bothered you, I won't look again."

"Bothered me? Hardly."

With those words Kang-hyun finally turned around. His large brown eyes settled squarely on Ye-seo.

They were strange eyes, holding both a searing ferocity and an abyss-like coldness at once.

"I'd rather you looked at me even one more time."

"……."

Stunned, Ye-seo's eyes went round. She could not move, as if she had been snared in the snare of the light-brown irises locked on hers.

"There are plenty of people who look at you already, Executive Director. People who admire you and watch you—they're everywhere."

Flustered, she was saying whatever tumbled out of her mouth.

"Women… especially."

Why had her voice turned so hesitant precisely when she said that?

Yet it was an undeniable fact. Whenever Executive Director Do Kang-hyun walked by, the gazes of nearby women stuck to him like magnets. It happened every single time she saw it.

Even Ye-seo had to admit that his rare, superior looks were simply fact.

Handsome, yes—but not merely handsome. His appearance carried a uniquely aristocratic air that suited the world he had been born into.

The eyes of the women who looked at him held many things at once: admiration for that beautiful face, longing for someone they could never have, and even a flicker of fear drawn out by the formidable impression he gave.

Kang-hyun slowly lifted one corner of his mouth. Coming from anyone else the words would have been ordinary, but hearing them from Jin Ye-seo made them fresh and interesting.

"And how would you know that?"

Ye-seo, who had been looking elsewhere, rolled her eyes hesitantly before answering in a small voice.

"…I saw it at the company."

Kang-hyun huffed a quiet laugh at the sight of her. So even while she pretended not to look whenever she trailed after him, she had been watching everything after all.

Jin Ye-seo…. A woman who had no idea how cute she was. A woman it was fun to keep learning about.

"Fine. Anyway. So what you're saying is you won't look at me?"

At that, Ye-seo lifted her eyes and looked up at Kang-hyun. Why was he asking something like this? This man.

She could not tell whether he was truly interested in her or simply teasing. On the surface it was flirting, yet she could not tell if there was any sincerity behind it.

Of course he was a man whose sincerity she could not afford to receive. And if a man this formidable were sincere, that would be a problem all its own.

Yes—that was the real problem, if anything was. Ye-seo pulled a sullen face even as her voice somehow shrank smaller still.

"There are already so many. Why would you need me as well…."

She fretted timidly that he might harden his expression at the refusal. Yet for some reason Do Kang-hyun only laughed softly instead.

It was a small laugh, yet she thought it might be the first time she had ever heard this man laugh out loud. He took a few steps closer to her.

"Ye-seo…."

Ye-seo's eyes flew wide. It was also the first time this man had called her Ye-seo.

He had come right up in front of her nose, yet Ye-seo could not move, as though her feet had been glued to the floor. The breath of his whisper brushed her ear.

"What am I going to do. In the end, you'll only look at me."

Ye-seo flinched and hunched her shoulders.

What did he just say? What kind of terrible curse was that.

He's crazy. This man is insane.

Her heart pounded helplessly against her ribs. The words were terrifying enough that she did not even want to imagine them.

She ought to have said that such a thing would never happen, yet for some reason no words came out. Rooted to the spot, Ye-seo could only stare at the man's smiling face.

If something that must never happen were ever to come true—would she even be able to go on living? She did not know why, but she felt it would be utterly devastating.

While Ye-seo remained unaware that that desolate imagination was showing on her face, Kang-hyun looked down at her steadily.

Whenever the woman who had been quietly defiant wore a face this frightened, he found it even harder to look away.

Her white skin was flawlessly clear even from this close. Kang-hyun slowly raised a hand and touched her cheek.

He had expected her to pull away, yet for some reason the woman, rigid as a board, did not move. Skin soft as a baby's slid beneath his fingertips.

The dark eyes looking up at him were even more moist and glistening up close. If he thought about the words he had just spoken coming true—about those eyes eventually looking only at him—

"Fuck…. I really won't be able to hold back."

The mutter slipped out loud, and the woman's glistening eyes snapped wide open. To her it would have been a curse that came from nowhere; of course she was startled.

"…What?"

Come to think of it, her face went pale every time he swore. She must have grown up barely ever hearing profanity. Jin Jae-hwan really had raised his precious daughter gently.

"There's a reason. You'll find out soon enough."

Still offering her face to Kang-hyun's hand, Ye-seo froze even stiffer after the sudden curse and the strange remark. His hand was no weapon, yet the brush of it against her cheek felt like a blade.

Barely managing to breathe, Ye-seo thought that if she stayed like this any longer she might end up allowing him even worse. Being near this man kept making her head go strange.

As though coming to her senses a beat too late, Ye-seo stepped one pace back. The man did not follow. He only curved his mouth in a smile.

Ye-seo turned away from that smile and left the studio. Breathing hard, she hurried into the bedroom, ran to the bathroom, and washed her face with the coldest water she could get.

She scrubbed clean the face his hand had touched, as if it were something unclean. Even she did not understand why she was going this far.

An unscheduled meeting had been called without warning. It was for the project Executive Director Do Kang-hyun had been pinning the greatest hopes on lately, so meetings had been frequent.

While Deputy General Manager Yoon Tae-seok prepared the detailed materials on the agenda as the Executive Director had instructed, Ye-seo went to the conference room to handle the simple setup.

Until recently Secretary Jeong Ji-a had taken care of it, but once Ye-seo arrived she had returned to her own post and focused mainly on administrative work.

Entering the empty conference room ahead of time, Ye-seo calmly set out the places. After laying a bottle of water and a cup at every seat, she turned back toward the Executive Director's office.

She was going to fetch the one drink Executive Director Do Kang-hyun preferred, just as Secretary Jeong had taught her.

There were still fifteen minutes until the meeting, so if she prepared the hot water now it would not cool too much by the time things began.

"Whew…. Done."

She steeped the premium black tea made from first-flush Darjeeling buds at a precise eighty-five degrees for seven minutes. She was only following Secretary Jeong's instructions, yet anything involving Do Kang-hyun felt as though it could not be done carelessly, and even the small details made her tenser than usual.

She poured the beautifully colored tea into a cup, set it on a tray, and carefully carried it to Executive Director Do's place in the conference room. Less than five minutes remained before the meeting. Employees were beginning to filter in and take their seats.

"Hello, Ms. Jin Ye-seo."

At the bright male voice she turned and found Deputy Manager Choi Yeon-jun standing there with a pleasant expression.

Ye-seo was a little flustered, but she tried not to show it as she returned the greeting.

"Yes, hello."

Yet the man she wished would leave quickly insisted on speaking further.

"You've been working hard."

"Not at all. You're the one working hard."

It was only light small talk, yet the conversation she had overheard in front of the elevator last time kept rising unbidden in her mind.

'Yeah, Secretary Jin. Her face is so fair. She's just the right size and cute—my type.'

'Maybe I should try something.'

Oblivious to what was going on inside her, Deputy Manager Choi kept grinning. He still had not moved from the spot.

"Looks like I'll be seeing a lot of you too while this project is running, Ms. Jin."

"Yes, it seems so."

It would be better for both of us if we didn't see each other often. Ye-seo stuck to short answers, unable to shake her unease, yet Deputy Manager Choi showed no sign of withdrawing.

"If you ever need to reach me about work or pass something along and I don't pick up at my desk, you can contact me here."

Smiling, Deputy Manager Choi held out a business card. In truth Secretary Jeong had already given her a full list of contact numbers for everyone on the current project team. Yet here he was deliberately pushing his personal number.

"Ah—yes."

In any case Ye-seo had no choice but to accept the card naturally. The moment she glanced around out of sheer awkwardness, however, her expression stiffened.

Unfortunately, Do Kang-hyun had already entered the conference room and was standing right there in her line of sight.