Compensation for Jealousy
“So you came to congratulate me, oppa.”
Even knowing the lingering attachment on his face, Tae-yeon said it anyway.
They sat by the window of a coffee shop on the first floor along the main road, talking.
In the end, Tae-yeon treated Noel only as an older brother she knew, smiling brightly so he could not pull out even a single thread of his lingering feelings.
Even if she noticed his other emotions, nothing would change.
“Oppa. You have to come to the wedding tomorrow. You got the invitation I sent, right?”
“Yeah. Cho-hee and Mom are coming too.”
“Good. Our whole family is planning to go. Do you talk to Cho-hee often?”
“No. I betrayed Cho-hee. I didn’t even tell her until the baby was born. So she’s still mad. Honestly, everything changed so suddenly that I don’t know what to say either.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“So bring Cho-hee with you. She has to come to the wedding. She’s your best friend.”
Cho-hee was her closest friend.
While living with her mother in the rooftop room at Cho-hee’s house, the only reason Tae-yeon could feel at ease was because of Cho-hee and Noel.
Even while sensing the regret still left in Noel, Tae-yeon tried her best never to cross the line.
An uncomfortable stretch of time passed.
There was nothing more to say if they stayed any longer.
Finding limited things they could still talk about within the boundaries they had drawn was exhausting.
Feeling that fatigue, Tae-yeon smiled and spoke.
“Oppa, it’s time for our baby to have his milk. I need to go inside.”
“I see. Right. Then we should get up. Let’s go, Tae-yeon.”
They stood together and stepped outside.
Neon signs looked even more dazzling against the complete darkness.
People still came and went in large numbers.
Noel smiled and held out his hand.
“Take care, Tae-yeon.”
Tae-yeon looked at the offered hand for a moment, then took it casually and shook it.
The hand was neither cold nor warm, plain and without burden.
Perhaps like the time the two of them had shared.
“I’m going, oppa.”
“Want me to walk you?”
“It’s just across the street. No need. We’re not even dating.”
That was true.
They were not dating.
That was exactly why it hurt more.
Noel stood still, watching Tae-yeon walk away.
She blended into the crowd, crossed the street, and disappeared between the alleys.
Noel hoped she would soon become invisible in his heart as well.
When Tae-yeon reached the front of the house, Hyun-seo’s car was parked there.
As she approached the gate, Hyun-seo got out of the car.
Seeing him step out of a car with the engine off made Tae-yeon feel something was off.
Why would a man who hated wasting even a single second get out of a car that was not running?
“Director. Where did the driver go? Why are you getting out there?”
“Sometimes I have things I want to think about alone. In that sense, the inside of a car is a good space. What about you, Assistant Manager Min? Where are you coming from?”
The way he asked felt somehow crooked.
Tae-yeon, with five years of work experience, took the little battle of nerves lightly.
“Oh. I was just meeting someone I know.”
“A man?”
The nuance was a little strange.
She answered a light, variety-show-style question as if it were a documentary.
Hyun-seo raised his eyebrows and fired off more question marks.
Of course, it was not a pure question but closer to a rebuke.
“Is it okay for a bride about to get married to go around meeting men?”
The words that followed made her wonder if something bad had happened to him.
If so, she would have to accept it.
Tae-yeon nodded confidently at Hyun-seo’s words.
“Yes. It’s fine.”
“What?”
“We’re not getting married because we love each other. Besides, this is my job anyway. Can’t I meet men privately?”
Hyun-seo was speechless.
“It would be troublesome if other people saw it that way.”
“He’s Cho-hee’s older brother, a close friend. He’s also a colleague at the same company.”
“Hmm.”
Hyun-seo pressed his lips together while looking at Tae-yeon.
Tae-yeon was fairly confident.
“We have a relationship where meeting is perfectly acceptable. There’s no room for misunderstanding. We didn’t meet in some shady place either. It was a café on the main road……”
She stopped mid-sentence and looked at Hyun-seo.
“Did you happen to see me while driving by?”
Hyun-seo did not answer and simply walked through the gate.
Watching him, Tae-yeon became certain that he had seen her.
‘What? Don’t tell me he’s in a bad mood because I met a man? I hope that’s the case.’
Even if it did not show on his face, she wished the emotion called jealousy existed even a little inside Choi Hyun-seo.
Knowing it was an unreasonable hope, she was surprised that her expectations toward him still would not fade.
Feeling his piercing gaze, she stepped inside.
Icheon-daek was pacing with Yun-woo in her arms.
Yun-woo was crying.
“Why are you crying, our Yun-woo? Aigoo, are you looking for Mommy? It’s getting dark and Mommy wasn’t here. Little Madam, it seems Yun-woo is looking for his mother. Well, the Madam has never stepped outside the house even for a moment, so it makes sense he would look for her.”
At Icheon-daek’s words, Tae-yeon quickly washed her hands and reached out toward Yun-woo.
Hyun-seo’s gaze landed on the palm Tae-yeon held out.
“Come here, Yun-woo.”
When Tae-yeon reached out, Icheon-daek placed Yun-woo into her arms.
“Why did you cry, Yun-woo, really? Did you cry because of Mommy?”
Seeing Yun-woo stop crying instantly, look at his mother, open his mouth, and smile, Icheon-daek clicked her tongue beside them.
“Aigoo. Even though I carried him around so much, he still looked for his mom and called her.”
Was he getting attached?
Hyun-seo frowned as he watched Yun-woo smiling in Tae-yeon’s arms.
The child was completely taken with Tae-yeon.
Because she was his mother?
Even though she was a mother who did not even produce milk?
Even he himself felt at ease watching Yun-woo nestled in Tae-yeon’s arms.
So Assistant Manager Min Tae-yeon was simply being diligent at work.
She was even producing good results.
Thinking that, he turned and headed upstairs.
The image of Tae-yeon smiling at a man in the café earlier floated into his mind.
He knew who the man was.
Deputy Manager Shin from Sales Team 1.
The person who had come up when he looked into Tae-yeon.
A man who lived in the same house.
From the very first investigation, the man had bothered him.
Same company, same house.
He had thought they must have run into each other countless times.
He had also known they could meet once before the wedding.
Yet all of it was unpleasant.
“I might have to cut her pay.”
* * *
The next night, after putting pretty Yun-woo to sleep, Tae-yeon went upstairs.
Tomorrow was the wedding, so everything was a bit chaotic.
When she entered the bedroom, someone was sitting on the sofa in the dimly lit room where only the mood light was on.
The familiar large frame belonged to a man she never expected to face inside this bedroom.
Someone who only gave her expectations, never approached, and then disappeared.
“What brings you here, Director?”
He rarely entered the bedroom.
‘The day before the wedding, why is he here at this hour?’
“I’ve been thinking. It seems I’ve always compensated Assistant Manager Min Tae-yeon with money whenever I hurt or displeased her.”
“Yes, you have.”
“When the amount seemed too small, I even sent more.”
“Yes. I never asked for it.”
Was he about to say she had received too much money and demand it back?
It did not seem likely, yet the words he was bringing up did not feel like they would lead anywhere good.
When Tae-yeon looked at him, waiting for his next words, Hyun-seo nodded.
“Right. Even without you asking, I thought I should give appropriate compensation, so I did. But what if the opposite happens? How will you compensate me?”
“Excuse me?”
“The contract. It’s one-sided.”
She had not thought about it, but he was right.
Normally, both parties put in the conditions they wanted between the superior and the subordinate.
Choi Hyun-seo had never mentioned any compensation Min Tae-yeon would have to pay if he himself was hurt.
The contract was important.
Therefore, she had to read it carefully so no disputes would arise later.
Knowing that, Min Tae-yeon had read the contract multiple times.
“As far as I know, there was no clause in the contract stating that I have to compensate you, Director.”
“That’s why I’m suggesting we add an item. So that you compensate me as well.”
“Me? I’m supposed to compensate you, Director?”
It was absurd.
Was he trying to take back the money he had given?
Suddenly feeling it was a waste?
But from the beginning, the two of them had contracted something that could not be converted into money.
Tae-yeon did not think she had been paid too much for the constant tension and fatigue she felt twenty-four hours a day.
There were times when she wanted to say, “If you’re going to give money, then try bowing down to me once too.”
The Choi Hyun-seo who was now talking about compensation was clearly far from his usual smart self.
Tae-yeon shot him a suspicious look.
“What kind of compensation are you even talking about……”
Then the rest of her words were cut off.
Hyun-seo suddenly rushed at her and pressed his lips against hers.
The moment their lips met, her mouth opened without any chance to resist, and his heavy tongue pushed inside.
She could not breathe not because her mouth was blocked, but because she was stunned.