A White Shirt and a Dangerous Question
Madam Jeong's eyebrows rose a fraction. The moment Sojin caught that expression, she pressed her lips tightly together.
Then Madam Jeong leaned in and whispered sneakily into her ear.
"You have to go and ask her about your love fortune. Whether things are going anywhere with Division Head Kang Dohyun!"
"I'm really not curious at all——"
"No, I'm curious, so you absolutely have to go. Okay? You'll do that much for me, won't you?"
Madam Jeong stared at her daughter with eyes full of expectation.
Sojin swallowed a small sigh.
After all, Dohyun was fated to end up with another woman…… She didn't want to needlessly crush her mother's hopes, so she quietly nodded.
"……All right. I'll go."
Only then did Madam Jeong's expression soften.
"Good girl. Smart choice."
Joy spread across Heesu's face.
"That's great. My mom will be thrilled too."
Sojin smiled awkwardly at that innocent reaction.
"……Yeah. Well, it's just a quick visit."
Heesu was already nodding along, practically vibrating with excitement.
Watching her look so delighted, Sojin felt a faint sense of unease.
Heesu's mother couldn't possibly be unaware that her daughter was being treated like Sera's servant.
Either Heesu is hiding it from her, or……
or for some unspoken reason—money, most likely—she was turning a blind eye and letting it slide.
If they use talismans and keep coming back, they must be regulars…… And Madam Jeong spends lavishly, so she'd be a valuable client, no question.
A bitter taste spread through Sojin's mouth.
In that moment, she was so preoccupied with thoughts of Heesu that she completely overlooked her own parents.
The fact that their interest in Kang Dohyun far exceeded anything she had anticipated.
"A date? With who, exactly……?"
"Who else? Division Head Kang, obviously."
Chairman Lee answered with a hearty chuckle, as if the question itself were absurd.
Sojin waved her hands in horrified protest.
"Oh, come on. What date? Forget it."
"You've been engaged for quite a while now, and you even work at the same company, yet there's no progress to speak of. Men and women, as a rule, only grow close when they spend time together."
There's no need for that. None whatsoever.
……She wanted to say exactly that, but clamped her mouth shut.
Right now, no matter what she said, her father wouldn't believe a word of it.
In the original story, an fiancée being in love with Dohyun was simply the natural order of things.
Sojin feigned indifference and turned her gaze back to her laptop.
"I'm busy, so please leave. I'll handle the date on my own."
There would be no date, of course. It was a convenient excuse—nothing more, nothing less.
Chairman Lee rested his chin on his hand and replied.
"Hmm…… Very well."
On his way out, he glanced back at her. His daughter was already absorbed in work, entirely oblivious to his presence.
The consummate daughter-doting fool gazed at her fondly.
My darling girl, your father shall make your first love come true.
Harboring some scheme(?) Sojin knew nothing about, he left the room.
The incident of the outsider bursting into company grounds was quietly wrapped up within a few days.
And the office returned to normal.
The employees, as if nothing had ever happened, set about clearing the backlog of work.
Arriving at work, Sojin looked down at the shopping bag in her hands.
Inside was a white dress shirt.
She had happened to pass a menswear store on her way in, thought of Dohyun, and bought it on impulse.
"……Did I buy this for no reason?"
Sojin murmured under her breath and gripped the bag's handles a little tighter.
"No, still—it's only right, as a decent human being, to give a shirt as a gift."
He did save my life, after all.
She nodded to herself, as if trying to convince the person doing the nodding.
Then she headed for the Division Head's office. Secretary An, stationed at the desk outside, finished a brief phone call and spoke to her.
"You may go in."
Sojin drew a short breath and opened the door.
Dohyun was seated at his desk, reviewing documents. He looked up.
"What is it?"
The same cold voice as always.
Sojin approached the desk and carefully set the shopping bag down.
"This."
Dohyun's eyes dropped to the bag.
"What is it?"
"A shirt."
"……A shirt?"
His eyebrows lifted, ever so faintly.
Sojin did her best to sound completely casual.
"Just a gift."
"……I don't need it."
He refused, just as she'd expected.
Sojin deployed the answer she had prepared.
"It's because it bothers me. Letting something like that slide without even a token gesture of apology."
Without a word, Dohyun lifted the bag and took out the box. When he opened the wrapping, a neatly folded white shirt lay inside.
His lips parted slightly—then closed again.
He looked down at the shirt for a moment, then brushed the fabric lightly with his fingertips.
Watching him, Sojin added hastily,
"Don't worry, I got a good quality one."
Dohyun's hand froze mid-motion.
"Why on earth would I worry about that?"
"Well…… that you'd been given some cheap knockoff?"
"Wha——ha……. I wasn't touching it to check the quality. It's just…… never mind. You're the daughter of a wealthy family; naturally you'd buy something decent."
Sojin replied, looking flustered.
"R-right, of course."
The moment the words left her mouth, a heavy silence settled over the office.
Sojin rolled her eyes around and finally spoke up.
"Anyway, then, I'll just be going——"
"One moment."
Sojin froze.
Dohyun checked the label inside the collar of the shirt, then asked slowly,
"How did you know my size?"
"……I'm sorry?"
"It's accurate to the point of being startling."
Sojin's shoulders stiffened, just barely.
I didn't think this through. It's weird. It's weird.
Come to think of it—me knowing Dohyun's shirt size was the strange part, wasn't it?
Dohyun's gaze turned toward her.
"I don't believe we were ever close enough for you to know my shirt size."
"I'm your fiancée."
Sojin answered almost on pure reflex—and only after the words were out did she realize her mistake.
The corners of Dohyun's eyes narrowed, ever so slightly.
"Hmm……."
"Th-that is…… I suppose I found out a while ago. While picking out gifts, or something."
"Did that happen?"
"I just found out somehow. Don't worry about it."
Sojin tried her utmost to breeze past it, but she could feel her face growing hotter by the second.
How exactly was she supposed to say, the memory of Sera stealing one of Dohyun's shirts to figure out his size is sitting in my head right now?
Dohyun studied her for a long moment.
He seemed to have noticed that she was embarrassed.
"Is it something worth being that embarrassed about?"
"Who's embarrassed?"
"You are."
"I'm not."
"Your ears have gone red."
Sojin's hands flew up to cover her ears on reflex.
In that instant, the corner of Dohyun's mouth moved—so faintly it was almost nothing.
Did he just smile?
Sojin narrowed her eyes.
"Did you just laugh?"
"No."
"I think you did."
"You're imagining things."
Dohyun tucked the shirt back into the box as he spoke.
"I'll wear it well. Thank you."
Sojin averted her eyes, flustered.
"……Thank you. For saving me, that day."
She bowed her head in a hurried goodbye and slipped out the door.
Dohyun stared at the closed door for a long while.
Then, slowly, his gaze lowered to the shirt box.
Suddenly, he looked at his desk—toward the spot where his scarf was kept.
Does she not realize the scarf is missing?
He had assumed, naturally, that she would come asking about it.
She'll come looking for it eventually.
He soon looked away.
Dohyun turned his attention back to the mountain of pending work.
He acted as if nothing had happened—here, in the very office where a knife had been drawn.
He was mercilessly striking out the unnecessary portions of a report with his pen when a knock sounded and an executive stepped inside.
Before the man could even open his mouth, Dohyun cut in.
"Can you explain to me why sales dropped eighteen percent compared to last month?"
"Ah, well…… you see, that is……."
The man scrambled to flip through his materials, and Dohyun simply watched him in silence.
"If you look at the report here, you'll see that……"
"No. I told you to explain it to me."
Dohyun cut him off without a shred of mercy. The executive's face went rigid.
Dohyun closed the report as if it weren't worth reading another line, and continued.
"Bring me a properly analyzed report by the end of this week."
"……Understood."
Once the executive gathered his papers and left, quiet returned to the office.
Dohyun leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, a faint trace of exhaustion had settled on his face.
Tedious.
Dohyun straightened his back and opened a drawer.
Inside lay a single scarf, folded in a neat square.
He grabbed it as though to crush it.
The silk crumpled softly in his grip.
Just then, his phone rang.