Oppa, That Must Be A Mistake - Chapter 12

Hye-Joo had been in a daze all morning.

Whenever there was a lull in her work, she would think of Joo-won’s neck collar and the tendons in the back of her hand. Her heart was racing, and she could feel the heat of her body when she touched it.

‘It’s because I’ve been starving so much lately…….’

What does dating do, Can you eat it?

I’d had a crush on Seung-won for all three years of high school, and I’d only been in two relationships in college, even then, it was safe to say that I hadn’t had any real relationships because my boyfriend had gone off to the army before they’d lasted more than three months.

That’s why her heart beats so fast at the slightest stimulus.

When she realized it was Kang Joo-won, she felt self-conscious.

“Hye-Joo, let’s have lunch together.”

While she was lost in thought, Da-hee knocked on the partition. Hye-Joo stopped what she was doing and looked up.

“Where’s Seung-won?”

“He’s out of town this morning. You don’t have plans for lunch, right?”

“Yeah.”

They hadn’t spoken since they left at the skewer shop yesterday. I was worried that Da-hee had left crying, but I thought it might backfire if I spoke up, so I just fiddled with my phone.

But Da-hee spoke to her first, and Hye-joo was grateful.

“I have to go somewhere for lunch, so I can’t go far, is that okay?”

“You can eat in the cafeteria. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the department store to buy something later. Let’s go.”

They found a table in the cafeteria and sat down.

The building is home to several companies, so the cafeteria was packed with office workers wearing various name tags around their necks. The two sat in the center of the room, where it was less crowded.

“This is a great menu today. Tteokgalbi and red pepper jjapchae. What’s going on at the restaurant today?”

“I guess that’s why it’s so crowded.”

After exchanging a few words, she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary about Da-hee.

Hye-joo was inwardly relieved. She’d been worried that Seung-won had hurt her feelings yesterday by saving her first.

“What are you going to the department store for later? Do you want me to come with you?”

Da-hee asked, picking at her chili. Hye-Joo shook her head.

“I’m buying a knit. I’ll be back soon, so you can go alone.”

“A knit out of the blue? You don’t wear knits much, do you?”

“Yeah. It’s not mine, I’m buying a man’s.”

“A man’s?”

Hye-Joo told Da-hee about the incident with Joo-won: she’d gotten seonjiguk on her clothes while eating with him, and she’d borrowed his clothes to cover it up.

When she showed him the “shrunken knit” in her shopping bag, saying that Soo-cheol had thrown it in the dryer and it had gotten a new bite, Da-hee laughed almost breathlessly.

“Wow, this is Mr. Kang’s knit, so I can wear it?”

“The dryer has been really good lately.”

“Well, it’s not exactly Mr. Kang’s size. But then again, his a big guy. Are you sure about that?”

“He’s a personality disorder.”

“If Seung-won were the same, I would have forgotten that you lent me your clothes. their brothers, but have opposite personalities.”

Da-hee covered her mouth and laughed.

Twinkle.

At that moment, a sparkling ring caught Hye-joo’s eye. A simple ring on her left ring finger, it was obviously a couple.

Hye-Joo felt her heart drop.

“Oh, this?”

Feeling the stares, Da-hee blushed embarrassedly.

“We got engaged. I thought it was too soon since we just started dating, but Seung-won was being a jerk, so I promised to leave it out of work…… and I forgot.”

Da-hee quickly took the ring off her finger and put it in her pocket.

I don’t know how to describe this feeling, but it was like a finalized sentence.

Kang Seung-won was hers now, forever. He shouldn’t have any regrets.

“It’s pretty, Da-hee. It looks good on you.”

Hye-Joo forced a smile. Her heart ached, but she also felt a sense of relief.

It was time to let her first love go.

*

“One hundred and twenty-seven million won.”

“One hundred and twenty…… dollars?”

“One hundred and twenty-seven million won, ma’am.”

Hye-Joo froze as she held out her card to pay for her new knit. It was almost lunchtime, and she had taken it out without looking at the price tag.

“This knit costs 1.27 million won?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A knit is a knit is a knit. Hye-Joo, who thought it would cost at least 200,000 won, felt like the sky was falling.

‘It’s been a little ominous since I was in the luxury store…… haha.’

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the shop’s sign again. It said something in jagged letters, but it wasn’t in English. It was all so foreign to her, whose only familiarity with luxury goods was Louis Vuitton and Burberry.

“May I help you pay, ma’am?”

Her hand tightened around the card.

Should I apologize and do the plaster sin? Or should I pack him a lunch for three months and ten days to make it up to him? Either that or…….

“Ma’am?”

Ha.

“Can I get a check for …… please?”

Ding, ding, ding. The sound of the receipt being pulled out rings out cheerfully. Hye-Joo stared at the receipt with almost teary eyes. The number 1,270,000 is clearly stamped on it, and the calculator in her head starts running.

For that amount of money, she could go to a skewer restaurant for a whole year…… How many clothes would that buy? How many months of rent would that pay?

Mr. Kang seemed to be shouting that it was a waste. Hye-Joo crumpled her stiff shopping bag and groaned.

“Kang Joo-won, I didn’t see that, but you’re an extravagant man. I can’t believe I’m paying over a million won for a knit in this recession.”

Then along comes Hye-Joo.

Hye-joo realized that this talk of wastefulness didn’t apply to Kang Joo-won at all.

Kang Joo-won’s family had been landed giants for generations and still owned several skyscrapers in Gangnam alone. It’s hard to believe that someone born and raised in such a family would be so frugal as to spend a million won on a single knit.

“It’s meaningless…….”

Hye-Joo shook her head and left the store.

Arriving at the company, she pushed her way into the CEO’s office like the horns of a moose. It was after lunch, so Joo-won was in the middle of his work.

“Mr. Kang, it’s Hye-Joo.”

“What’s the matter?”

“The knit I ruined, I bought a new one.”

Glancing over at his laptop, Joo-won said dryly.

“Leave it there.”

I secretly gritted my teeth at the fact that someone had taken on a massive blood loss equivalent to two months’ rent and didn’t even bother to look at it like it was a hundred-won ice candy.

“Why don’t you try it on?”

“I’ll try it on myself. Go ahead.”

“…… okay, then.”

Hye-Joo mumbled a quick bow and turned around.

The CEO’s office and Hye-Joo’s desk were on the same floor. As she walked back to her desk, an idea popped into her head.

‘I just bought you new clothes, so shouldn’t I be able to keep the knit that got smaller?’

Someone got a brand new knit that cost 1.27 million won, and someone was left penniless. No matter how I think about it, it’s unfair. It doesn’t make sense for Kang to keep both knits, whether he has a use for them or not.

“Yes, it’s the principle of collecting used products first when rewarding people with new ones. Shouldn’t I lose weight so I can wear them?”

Hye-Joo turned on her heel and headed for the president’s office, determined not to make Kang Joo-Won do anything good even if she was about to die.

I read somewhere that shrunken knits can be stretched a bit by soaking them in rinse water, so I should use that.

Smart smart.

“Mr. President, this is Hye-joo Oh.”

“Uh.”

Hye-Joo opened the door and stepped inside, afraid to answer.

“Come to think of it, that knit…….”

Hye-joo’s words were cut short as she fumbled for her shopping bag. What she saw was six gloriously ripped abs.

“!”

Hye-Joo’s jaw dropped in ecstasy. The sharply defined abs were almost too perfect to be seen in broad daylight.

“Oh, sorry. I was trying on the clothes you gave me.”

Joo-won crossed his arms in an X and removed the knit, causing the undershirt to ride up and reveal his abs.

“It’s fit.”

Once the knit was completely off, Joo-won brushed off his t-shirt. His well-defined muscles disappeared into his clothes in an instant.

“Why.”

“Oh, it’s because…….”

Hye-Joo, momentarily distracted, immediately thought of a purpose.

“That other knit I left behind earlier, do you mind if I take it?”

“You can take it. You’re going to wear it?”

“Yes. It doesn’t fit you any way, so I might as well wear it.”

“Do it.”

Joo-won handed me the shopping bag he had placed under his desk.

Why would he give it to me like that? Hye-Joo took the bag, puzzled.

“I’ll dress well then.”

“Okay.”

Hye-Joo bowed and disappeared, closing the door behind her.

Joo-won draped his jacket over his shoulders from the chair and stared at the door she’d left. He paused for a moment, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

“Cute.”

I’d wondered why she’d bothered to come back and grab a knit that wouldn’t fit, and now I knew.

“Does she want to wear it with me?”

This is the kind of thing I don’t normally wear.

“Hmm.”

Joo-won stroked his chin and looked at the shopping bag. Maybe it was because it was new, but he liked the blue color better than before.

*

While the statue dream was in full swing, Seung-won was also having a chaotic day.

He couldn’t get the memory of the day he had hugged Hye-joo at the skewer shop a few days ago out of his mind.

The relief he felt in her arms, the warmth of her hair tickling the tip of his nose, and her tiny shoulders.

I realized then that Oh Hye-joo was so small. She was always cheerful and easy-going, so I relied on her like an older sister, but I never thought of protecting her. I had said out loud that no one would pick her up if she stretched out on the street after drinking, but that was the first time I felt it.

Maybe…… maybe I was wrong.

Oh Hye-joo was small and thin. The first time I held her, her shoulders were slender as if they could break if I hit them, and her curled back was like a cat’s.

I feel like I need to protect her, and I want to protect her.

I’d never felt that way before, and I knew that if I had to face the same situation again, I’d take care of her first.

‘Why? Why am I doing this?’

I didn’t know why I was feeling this way about the subject, even though I was technically with my girlfriend. I felt a tightness in my chest, like I had a blockage somewhere in my esophagus. The more I thought about it, the more my head spun, and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

“Can you hear me?”

“Ah, yes.”

Da-hee was still engrossed in the story of Hye-joo asking for the knit.

“So I’m not saying that Hye-joo paid for more than a million won.”

“One million won?”

“One million two hundred and seventy thousand won to be exact. That’s a lot of money, right?”

Seung-won, who was lost in his thoughts, suddenly realized that something was off about Da-hee’s expression. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was a bit of a chill.

Da-hee laughs at the idea of Hye-joo’s two months’ rent being wiped out in one fell swoop. As if Hye-joo’s misfortune belonged to a perfect stranger.

If the roles were reversed, Seung-won could have bet his brand new gaming console that Hye-Joo would never have laughed.

Then why is she…… smiling?

“Are you happy?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Da-hee’s expression hardened instantly.