Jaeha carefully separated his body and moved to the driver’s seat while being careful not to bump into anything. His long legs touched the steering wheel, causing the horn to sound once.
“Shouldn’t you contact them?”
Jaeha said while sitting down and arranging the protruding shirttail and disheveled pants.
Still lying on the reclined passenger seat, Kyungwoo picked up his phone but far from tidying his disheveled shirt and vest, he left his unfastened pants and drawers as they were.
A thin irritation flickered across his cold face as he glared at the phone screen. His cheeks, which still bore traces of excitement, quickly sank to a pale color. On his slightly exposed pectoral muscles and sweat-dampened neck, Jaeha’s marks were still vivid.
‘It’s an insane sight.’
Seeing that, Jaeha nearly got excited again at the sight of asceticism and debauchery freely mingled together.
Kyungwoo, who had been unlocking his phone and checking messages, suddenly sat bolt upright. He squinted to confirm whether he’d seen correctly.
“…Fuck.”
Spitting out a low curse, he put the phone in the door pocket and straightened the seatback. Then the hand that had been groping Jaeha’s body quickly tidied his clothing.
Picking up the phone again, he contacted Dohyun.
“Ah, Dohyun-ssi. I just saw the message. What does that mean? Why is Mother going to my house?”
Because it was so quiet, Choi Dohyun’s voice could be faintly heard. Suddenly. A lot of food. Ajumma. Called. Main house now. Putting it together, it seemed she’d called Dohyun, who would drive the car along with the ajumma, because of food.
“You’re my secretary. Why are you following Mother’s orders!”
It was the first time seeing Kyungwoo raise his voice like that. It was very interesting. His relationship with his mother didn’t seem that good. When their eyes briefly met, Kyungwoo seemed conscious of Jaeha and lowered his voice.
“Huu. Fine. Hold out as long as possible. When you leave, call—no, text me.”
As soon as he hung up, Kyungwoo said to Jaeha.
“Sorry, but I have to go back.”
“What’s wrong?”
He pretended not to know and asked back.
“To my house. Right now.”
Vroom.
When he pressed the start button, the engine started with a deep vibration sound. While Kyungwoo tidied his appearance, Jaeha stepped on the accelerator.
Since they were near the road, their speed quickly increased.
Each time streetlights flashed by, Kyungwoo’s expression repeatedly hardened. There was no longer any trace of the person who had engaged in passionate acts.
“Your mother is coming? Now?”
He was curious since their meeting had been interrupted. Previously, there would have been no reason to ask, nor should he have asked such a question. Even if Kyungwoo didn’t answer, he could predict the situation from the few words vaguely thrown out.
For a single man living alone, a surprise visit from parents was quite a big deal. Still, while it was a bit embarrassing, it wasn’t urgent enough to rush back like this.
“So annoying. She only knows the address but doesn’t have a key, so she arbitrarily called my driver secretary.”
The wrinkles between his brows deepened considerably. At the same time, his eyes flashed. He hadn’t heard about a stepmother. But was it something to feel this bad about?
“It seems you have a bad relationship with your mother.”
“There’s no relationship to speak of. It’s worse than strangers.”
“I see.”
He didn’t pry further. Kyungwoo also turned his head toward the window, as if answering was bothersome. The hot air inside the car instantly cooled like a refrigerator.
Perhaps it had gotten worse after that incident. He was kidnapped while out with his mother, and since he grew up in America afterward, there was sufficient plausibility.
He had no intention of getting involved in family matters. He just hoped Kyungwoo wouldn’t get overly excited.
*
After finishing the call, Dohyun wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. There were still about 5 minutes left before arriving at the main house. Her hands gripping the steering wheel grew cold.
—You’re my secretary. Why are you following Mother’s orders!
While hearing him shout itself was extremely rare, matters involving Park Jungok, the director of the Cultural Foundation and the wife of the chairman, led to shouting 100 percent of the time.
This time too, when the housekeeper who received orders from the wife contacted her, Dohyun clearly said so. She cannot enter the house without Executive Director Jung’s permission.
Usually, while the housekeeper organized side dishes and cleaned the house, Dohyun stayed by her side the whole time under the pretense of helping. It was a task undertaken by Dohyun, who was hired as Kyungwoo’s personal secretary, and naturally handled during work hours.
Calling her in after work hours was against the rules. When she cut it off sharply saying it wasn’t allowed, this time the director called directly.
—I’m going too. Come now.
From her attitude of only stating her business and hanging up, she felt the silent pressure that wouldn’t tolerate even an inch of refusal. Still, she was the chairman’s wife and her superior’s mother. She couldn’t just ignore her.
As expected, Kyungwoo who received the contact was extremely angry. Even if she didn’t go, if it was the director, she was someone who would call a locksmith to open the door. Her superior, who knew this well, ordered her to delay arrival as much as possible.
While she was dawdling, the housekeeper called again.
—Everything’s ready here. Come quickly. Ma’am is on the verge of exploding right now. If you don’t come within 5 minutes, she says she’ll leave separately. You know that’ll be an even bigger problem, right?
“Yes. I’ve almost arrived.”
As soon as she parked the car in front of the Taeryoung main house with its large garden, she got out of the car. At the same time, the front gate burst open.
“What took you so long?”
Jungok said coldly. Her liver and gall bladder went cold.
“I’m sorry, Director. Traffic was backed up.”
“Whatever. Ajumma! Hurry and bring it!”
“Yes, I’m coming, ma’am.”
The housekeeper appeared from the building entrance carrying two bundles wrapped in cloth that looked heavy. Dohyun couldn’t decide whether she should open the door for the wife first or help the housekeeper.
“What are you doing? Open the trunk.”
“Yes.”
Clunk.
After opening the trunk, she quickly ran to the housekeeper. In the meantime, Jungok got into the seat of honor in the back seat on her own.
After closing the trunk, the ajumma sat in the passenger seat. She spoke to Dohyun, who sat in the driver’s seat.
“It took some time making a lot of food. Sorry for calling you while you were resting, Secretary Choi.”
“Not at all.”
“Leave quickly.”
At the wife’s cold command, Dohyun immediately started the car.
It was clearly evening, but oddly enough, there was no traffic. She couldn’t take a detour either because it would be too obvious. The car entered the underground parking lot of Kyungwoo’s luxury apartment much faster than expected.
As soon as the car stopped, Jungok got out on her own. The housekeeper and Dohyun hurriedly got out, picked up the pile of side dishes loaded in the trunk, and followed her. There was no bow from the elevator attendant. As soon as she held up the card key, it opened right away.
The high-speed elevator rose refreshingly to the top floor. There was no time to text her superior while watching the wife’s reaction.
Ding.
The door opened, revealing the apartment hallway submerged in darkness. As Jungok, wearing high heels, walked in precisely, the auto lights turned on one after another.
“Let’s organize the food first.”
“Yes.”
The housekeeper, who received the cloth bundles from Dohyun, quickly disappeared toward the kitchen. Dohyun changed into indoor slippers at the entrance to the living room and brought a pair to Jungok.
“Director, here.”
“Ah, thank you.”
After changing into indoor slippers, Jungok walked around the ownerless house without hesitation. After looking around the living room, she lifted the curtain covering the huge glass window.
Meanwhile, Dohyun sent a message to her superior.
[She’s already entered the house.]
[You call that an explanation? Absolutely don’t let her enter my room!!!!]
With four exclamation marks attached, Dohyun was, so to speak, scared to death.
How did it come to this? It was the first time the director had suddenly done something like this. She had no idea what change of heart it was.
“You clean here every day, right?”
“Not every day. When Imo-nim comes, she cleans thoroughly.”
“There’s no dust.”
“Yes. We run the air purifier regularly.”
“Where’s my son’s room?”
For a moment, Dohyun felt her heart drop with a thud. Unable to speak, she hemmed and hawed, and Jungok looked Dohyun up and down with a sideways glance as if dumbfounded.
“Kyungwoo told you not to tell?”
“Yes.”
“You’re loyal, Secretary Choi. I like it. Right, since you’re my son’s secretary, Secretary Choi should listen well to Kyungwoo.”
Jungok, who nodded as if understanding, suddenly headed toward a nearby room and burst open the door.
“Not here. Is it over there?”
“Director!”
Dohyun was so surprised she ran to her side.
“You can’t go in.”
When Dohyun stopped her, Jungok smiled broadly.
“Secretary Choi. You seem to be mistaken, but I’m not a secretary, I’m his mother.”
She was certainly right. Dohyun had no more means to stop Jungok.
The door she opened this time happened to be the door leading to the bedroom.
“Here it is.”
An adult over forty, and moreover a woman who raised children and managed the household, couldn’t possibly not know the structure of a house.
“If you do this, the Executive Director will be angry later.”
“Later is later. He’s not here now.”
Jungok went inside without hesitation. Dohyun didn’t dare follow her and only lingered at the entrance.
The housekeeper, who had organized the side dishes and come out to the living room, saw Dohyun like that and her eyes widened.
“She went into the bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my. There’s going to be shouting. I want to get off work quickly.”
“Me too.”
Jungok, who went inside, examined the bed. There were no special signs on the well-organized monotone bedding. The dressing room was the same. The bathroom was also ordinary.
“So this is how my son lives. It’s neater than I thought.”
Looking at the well-organized room and the dressing room boasting a sophisticated composition, Jungok smiled inwardly with satisfaction. There wasn’t a single lacking point anywhere, but still, with a mother’s heart, she wanted to fill it more.
“I should change the shower curtain and mount the showerhead lower too. The mirror too. It’s too inconvenient for a woman to use. And there’s no trash can either. Does he have a brain or not?”
While pouring out the nagging she’d wanted to do all her life but couldn’t and only kept inside, Jungok went out to the powder room.
The vanity with the large mirror was simple. Men’s perfume, skin care products, and a hair dryer were all there was.
“These days even men take care of their skin. Is it because he grew up in America? He doesn’t take care of himself at all.”
She thought she should call the director of her regular beauty salon soon to fill up the vanity. As she casually opened the mirror cabinet at that moment, Jungok’s swollen heart sank with a thud.
