Chapter 20
Jaekyung coughed awkwardly.
The words on the shirt almost felt as though they were being read aloud.
She wanted to hide her red face behind a towel, but she forced herself to answer casually.
“It belongs to my father.”
She cleared her throat.
“I grabbed it in a hurry.”
Apparently, her father had made the shirts as birthday souvenirs to give out to regular customers from his days working at a host bar.
After retiring, he had no one left to give them to.
There were still around thirty of them at home.
Jaekyung couldn't afford new indoor clothes anyway.
Five years ago, she had joked that since there were so many brand-new shirts piled up, she would never need to buy T-shirts for the rest of her life.
“They're perfectly usable.”
Yugam looked down.
“There's a huge hole.”
Jaekyung froze.
“A hole? Where?”
She quickly looked down.
Maybe the shirt had caught on the protruding screw of an old door hinge.
There was indeed a large tear near the hem.
Jaekyung tied the loose end into a knot and looked up as though nothing was wrong.
The tightened shirt clearly outlined the curves of her chest.
When she noticed Yugam staring, embarrassment rushed through her.
Jaekyung immediately grabbed the welcome drink from the table and gulped it down.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
The clock sounded unusually loud in the silent room.
“...Secretary Seo.”
Yugam watched her.
“Secretary Seo? Are you sleeping?”
His voice sounded far away.
After driving all day, being soaked by rain, and finally taking a shower, Jaekyung's body had become heavy with exhaustion.
She had dozed off for a moment.
When she opened her eyes, Yugam was staring at her from across the table.
“Ah... yes, Chairman.”
Jaekyung shook her head, forcing her eyes open.
“Give me the compiled results from the advance student and parent surveys.”
Unlike Jaekyung, Yugam was moving between the laptop and documents, fully absorbed in planning the event schedule.
He had only recently taken office.
Still, this was work he could have delegated.
Does he really have to work this hard for the foundation?
Every time Yugam moved his arms beneath the rolled-up sleeves, thick veins stood out across his wrists.
The strange attraction she had never felt around Minho made Jaekyung uncomfortable.
She cleared her throat.
“Ahem... Here.”
Pamphlets and documents covered the living-room table.
Yugam glanced over them.
“Secretary Seo, what do you think of this?”
He pointed at the schedule.
“On the first and second days, we focus mostly on hands-on activities.”
Then he continued,
“On the final day, I want two places where they can relax, enjoy themselves, and take pictures.”
Jaekyung rubbed her sleepy eyes.
“...That sounds good.”
She glanced at the wall clock.
It was already four in the morning.
They had left the house at three-thirty the previous morning to catch their six o'clock flight.
She had been awake for more than twenty-four hours.
Yugam, sitting across from her, didn't look tired at all.
“Want coffee?”
“Ah... yes. I'll make it.”
Before Jaekyung could stand, Yugam walked toward the café counter.
He loosened a few shirt buttons and glanced at her.
“Don't bother.”
Then he gestured toward the documents.
“Choose places the kids will enjoy.”
His hands moved expertly as he ground coffee beans.
“You were a teacher, so you should understand them better than I do.”
Under his sharp gaze, Jaekyung carefully reviewed the materials.
Places the students would enjoy...
Parents were very interested in the school trip program.
The school could also use footage from the trip in promotional videos afterward.
“Here...”
Jaekyung stopped.
She had visited this place during a field trip in her first year of high school.
Back then, the Uitae Foundation had been at its peak.
With Chairman Do Uitae's extraordinary financial support, the school had taken them on an incredibly luxurious field trip.
Then she suddenly remembered the male student from her class who had disappeared.
He hadn't come on the school trip.
But if he were alive now, he would be twenty-five.
“Does it taste all right?”
Jaekyung looked up.
For one strange moment, Yugam's face overlapped with the boy who had collapsed beneath the camellia tree.
“Don't tell... anyone.”
“Let's go to the hospital. You could die.”
“Even if I die... it's fine.”
She had been too sick to remember his face.
The strange thought that he might have resembled Yugam disappeared like smoke.
“Ah...”
Coffee spilled over Jaekyung's hand and soaked the documents.
The cup tilted toward the laptop.
Jaekyung quickly caught it.
But the coffee splashed across her chest.
“Hot...”
“Use this.”
Yugam immediately used his cardigan to wipe the coffee from the front of her shirt.
Then he stood and went to the refrigerator.
He pulled out an ice pack and wrapped it in a towel.
“Here.”
He handed it to her.
“I'm fine.”
Yugam frowned.
“Seriously. You're a lot of work.”
Then he asked,
“Want me to do it?”
Jaekyung froze.
The burn was on her chest.
Yugam's stare made her panic.
“N-No.”
What does he mean he'll do it himself?
“If you don't want to go to the hospital, cool it down.”
Yugam continued,
“I'll have medicine brought up.”
“It wasn't that hot...”
Jaekyung winced.
“Mmm. I'm fine.”
It stung more than she expected.
Then suddenly...
Her father's commemorative T-shirt was pulled at the hem.
Riiiiip.
The shirt tore from the large hole near the bottom.
“What! What are you doing?”
Jaekyung pushed against Yugam's arm with all her strength.
It was useless.
The muscles and veins in his arm didn't move.
“First aid.”
Yugam looked completely serious.
