Chapter 5
At Wooseok’s appearance, the attention of the entire office—which was already dead silent—subtly converged on Hyeju and Wooseok.
“Assistant Manager Shin Hyeju.”
“Yes, did you want to discuss something…?”
“Please step into the meeting room for a moment. It’s regarding the email you sent yesterday.”
The team members who had been CC’d on yesterday’s email stole pitiful glances at Hyeju, assuming she was about to get chewed out for the problematic [Team Leader b-stard] email. To them, Hyeju must have looked like a pig being dragged to the slaughterhouse. And in truth, that wasn’t too far from reality.
Click. The moment they stepped into the meeting room, Wooseok shut the door behind them.
When his long, smooth fingers closed the door, the sound resonated with strange, jarring clarity. Along with that metallic click, the plot for the next chapter of her story unfolded inside Hyeju’s mind.
Once the meeting room door is locked, his long, thick fingers will slide under Assistant Manager Lee’s skirt while he reprimands her…
You are seriously insane.
Hyeju shook her head to dispel the imagination. She was losing her mind. How could she have such delusions right in front of him after what happened yesterday?
“Sit.”
“Ah, yes…!”
Hyeju desperately tried to wipe away her fantasies and took a seat opposite Wooseok. She bowed her head first to address the email, which was the reason she had been called here.
“I am so sorry. I was completely out of it yesterday when I sent that email… I must have hit the send button by mistake. I will make sure a blunder like this never happens again.”
“Yes. You absolutely should ensure that. But…”
Wooseok swiveled his chair slightly and crossed his long legs.
“You know as well as I do, Assistant Manager Hyeju, that I didn’t call you in here to talk about that.”
“Then, what is this about…?”
“What do you think it’s about?”
“I… don’t really know.”
At that, Wooseok gripped the armrests of his chair, putting strength into his arms as if he were about to stand up right that second.
“Then let’s just pretend yesterday never happened.”
“Ah, no! It’s not like that… I just didn’t expect you to talk about this at work…”
“Right. I didn’t expect you to write that kind of novel at work either, Assistant Manager Hyeju.”
It was a retort that left her with absolutely no defense, even if she had ten mouths to argue with.
“By any chance… did you read any more of my novel?”
“Why would I read that?”
Wooseok shot back, his expression hardening into a stern, deadpan grimace.
“I, uh, just asked just in case.”
Right, if someone asked me if I read a delusional novel starring myself as the main character, I’d be offended too. Thinking this, Hyeju bit her lip.
“Let’s have dinner together after work. I’ll have my car parked in the building next door, so come over there.”
“Dinner?”
Hyeju asked back, but Wooseok merely stated his piece as if the decision had already been made.
“Daeyoung Tower South Wing B2, Section C6. It’s a reserved parking zone, so it’ll be easier to get there if you take the elevator inside the innermost emergency exit. The license plate number is 4875.”
“Okay.”
“Aren’t you going to write it down? As far as I know, your memory isn’t particularly good, Shin Hyeju.”
“Ah, right. I’m sorry. I’ll write it down.”
She hurriedly pulled out her phone, opened the memo app, and jotted down the location he specified. Then, at the very end of the note, she added one more line. Because, just as Wooseok said, Hyeju didn’t have a very good memory.
[…Next chapter: getting scolded behind locked doors in the meeting room.]
“C6, 4875…”
Muttering under her breath as she searched the parking zone, a luxury foreign car came into view. Having kept the engine idling in advance, the car smoothly pulled out of the parking space the moment it spotted Hyeju, coming to a halt so she could board comfortably.
Hyeju walked to the side opposite the driver’s seat and reached for the passenger door, but hesitated for a moment.
Riding right next to him felt too much like a dream, but she worried the Team Leader might find it uncomfortable instead.
With that thought, Hyeju opened the rear door, only to be met by her team leader’s chilly voice.
“What are you doing? Get in the front.”
“Ah, yes.”
She flusteredly hopped into the passenger seat and quickly buckled her seatbelt. The car glided forward smoothly.
It was her first time sitting this close to the Team Leader. Out of the corner of her eye, his broad shoulders and handsome face flickered constantly. The subtle, lingering scent of his cologne alone made her heart pound so violently she felt like she might faint at any moment.
At a total loss for what to do, Hyeju clutched her seatbelt with both hands and cast her eyes downward. When she lowered her gaze to avoid his face, his firm thighs hidden beneath his suit trousers filled her vision. Looking straight ahead wasn’t much help either, since his sexy upper body gripping the steering wheel was right there.
If I’m this nervous just sitting in front of him, will I even be able to properly coach him in the future?
After a stretch of silence, she remembered the reality that she was a subordinate sitting next to her superior. She had been taught that staying quiet while a boss is driving is bad manners. Driven by a sense of obligation to keep him company during the drive, Hyeju forced her mouth open.
“Um, where are we going?”
“Didn’t I tell you? We’re going to eat dinner.”
“Ah, of course it would be a restaurant… haha.”
Since he didn’t specify, she naturally grew curious. Hyeju stole a glance at the navigation system’s destination.
“Oh…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
The destination was a 5-star hotel in downtown Seoul.
All sorts of acts that naturally come to mind when a man and a woman go to a hotel began to flash through her head.
A hotel… Right, hotels have restaurants too. Cupping her flushing face with both hands, Hyeju vigorously shook off the dirty thoughts.
The car, traveling in silence, slid to a stop in the hotel parking lot.
Upon entering the lobby, Hyeju looked around to see if there was a sign indicating where the hotel restaurant or lounge was. Surprisingly, however, Wooseok walked straight toward the reception desk.
Thinking he might be asking for directions to the restaurant himself, Hyeju waited quietly for him to return.
But when Wooseok walked back, he had a room key in his hand.
“Let’s go.”
Do hotels these days require a card key just to enter the restaurant? Musing over this, she stepped into the elevator with him.
Yet, their arrival point was undeniably a hotel room.
“Um… this is a hotel room.”
“Yes. It’s a hotel room.”
Wooseok inserted the card key to open the door, then held the heavy door open with one arm, waiting for Hyeju to enter comfortably.
Hyeju cautiously stepped inside the room.
As she entered, a reasonably sized city-view room meant for two people came into sight.
But at that moment, the very first thing that caught Hyeju’s eye was the bed.
There was only one bed.
A single king-sized bed.
Her mind blanked out for a moment. Could it be that wanting relationship coaching meant he wanted… ‘sex’ coaching?
While she was agonizing over this for a long while, Wooseok slowly walked toward the bed. He shed his completely unwrinkled suit jacket in one swift motion, tossed it onto the bed, and began to loosen his tie.
Her gaze was automatically drawn to that sight. She tried to put the brakes on her own delusions, but her self-control was useless in front of Wooseok undressing right before her eyes—and in a hotel room, no less.
Everything passed before her eyes in slow motion, like a video. His crisply ironed shirt rose and fell minutely with his breath. Down to his long fingers hurriedly unknotting the tie to loosen it.
The neckline and collarbones exposed between his collar didn’t look like mere anatomical body parts to Hyeju at all. Unlike his usual relaxed demeanor, he looked flushed and heated up, which made her heart constrict.
Naturally, inspiration surged, and a scene from her novel instantly flashed before her eyes.
In a hotel they visited for a business trip, Seonju went to Team Leader Cha Seokwoo’s room.
As his tie was completely undone and dropped, he bound Seonju’s wrists with the smooth fabric. The man who used to give work orders with a piercing gaze now looked down at her body with that very same expression.
“Can’t you even spread your legs properly, Seonju?”
The cool, sharp voice that used to overwhelm employees in the meeting room had now turned into a low, dry command meant only for her.
His large hand flipped her skirt completely up. Ripping her stockings apart in one go, his long fingers breached and invaded her private crevice. Bound at the wrists, Seonju twisted her body under his sharp gaze.
“Haah…”
He let out a low groan upon seeing Seonju’s drenched underside. It was the moment the rational mind of an aloof man crumbled. The eyes of a man whose dam of restraint had collapsed gleamed ruthlessly.
“B-By any chance, in a hotel room…”
Hyeju asked, but nearly slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized her voice sounded blatantly breathless and flushed.
“We came here to order room service. What exactly were you thinking?”
“…Pardon? Room service?”
“There are too many eyes watching. If the two of us eat together openly near the company, people will find out. Ah, I’ll take off my tie and jacket since they feel a bit stifling.”
“Ah… Yes, please make yourself comfortable!”
“You don’t seem worried at all, Hyeju.”
