The Season I Loved You Without You - Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

Go-yeo was on her way to the rooftop with Ga-eul. It was to celebrate his birthday, which had been ruined in Eternal. Feeling indebted for what happened with Ji-hyuk, she obediently followed his suggestion to go home. They bought coffee each at a cafe near his house. His excited demeanor was unfamiliar, so she smiled as she watched him chatter away.

“Do you walk to school from here?”

“I could walk, but it’s a bit ambiguous, so I take the bus. It’s a 5-minute ride by the village bus. Oh! And the campus is spacious, so the bus goes inside.”

“How interesting.”

“…I find it more interesting walking side by side with you, carrying coffee with the boss.”

His directness made Go-yeo chuckle. Ga-eul, who wasn’t familiar with flirting as commonly understood, simply blurted out admiration from time to time.

Seeing his deer-like pupils and dimples on his face, she instinctively lifted the coffee cup to hide the smile that came out on its own.

Under a small light installed on the outer wall of the rooftop, there were two people. Since the rooftop was a communal space of this building, Go-yeo naturally thought that someone unfamiliar was there. However, it wasn’t the case, as a cheerful voice she had heard recently echoed.

“Brother!”

Eun-jae’s sudden appearance seemed to catch Ga-eul off guard as well, to the extent that even Go-yeo, standing beside him, could feel his surprise.

“Wow! Boss!”

Eun-jae, more excited than surprised to see her again, hurriedly approached, barely able to contain her excitement. Though she had thought she was bright and mature, in front of her brother, she seemed nothing more than a peer student. Behind Eun-jae, another girl of Ga-eul’s age approached. Go-yeo looked at her.

“Sister Anna is here too! It’s my brother’s birthday today. She came to celebrate with us.”

Go-yeo looked at the cake box the girl was holding. However, Anna seemed somewhat surprised to see her. As pretty as her name suggested, Anna already felt like a familiar face through Ga-eul’s descriptions.

“Sister! Say hello. This is the boss who works with brother!”

“Hello. I’m Kim Anna.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Anna glanced at the girl standing next to Ga-eul. From head to toe, a polished and refined person. And someone Yoon Ga-eul liked.

The person she worked with was a woman. Why did she assume it would be a man? His gaze wasn’t the same as the one he had when he first saw her at the opera house.

Facing the hidden anxiety, oddly enough, felt refreshing. Yoon Ga-eul, someone like him, immediately revealed his feelings. A smile she hadn’t seen before, an unfamiliar affectionate expression.

“Boss! Did you come because it’s Brother’s birthday today?”

“Eun-jae.”

Ga-eul resisted Eun-jae’s pestering of Go-yeo.

“It’s okay, Mr. Ga-eul. I’ll leave now. We’ve finished our conversation anyway.”

Go-yeo suggested, making a feeble excuse that the conversation was over.

“Huh? Why? Stay a little longer.”

Eun-jae approached Go-yeo closely.

“It’s alright.”

The reason Go-yeo could resist Eun-jae’s clinging was that she wasn’t supposed to be here, considering the gathering for his birthday. She turned away without any lingering feelings. Of course, there wasn’t any special plan with him in mind either.

Ga-eul followed Go-yeo down to the first floor.

“Boss, I’m sorry. No, let me drive you home.”

He said, standing in front of the car parked a little away from the building.

“No, go ahead.”

“I asked you to come, and now…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Go-yeo smiled reassuringly at him.

Ga-eul didn’t have a valid reason to detain Go-yeo further. Eventually, he just watched until the car disappeared.

Anna faced Ga-eul again as he came back up. Ga-eul reproached Eun-jae for bothering Go-yeo, though his tone remained calm, the atmosphere felt anything but usual.

“Eun-jae, even if you were coming, you should’ve let me know beforehand.”

Ga-eul said, detecting the subtle annoyance in his brow. So, a somewhat rough response came out of her hurt feelings.

“…Well, it’s a surprise party, how could I have informed you beforehand?”

Anna felt uncomfortable just watching this situation unfold.

“It’s my fault entirely. I shouldn’t have come and become an uninvited guest.”

Though she didn’t want to express that feeling of resentment outright, her tone unavoidably carried some sharpness. And, above all, she was expending a lot of energy trying not to display a cold, aloof expression, leaving her unable to focus on anything else.

“No, Sister. Sister even bought a cake to celebrate. It’s all my fault. I thought Brother would be alone on his birthday, didn’t expect to be with the Boss.”

Eun-jae intervened, trying to restrain Anna who wanted to leave, and gave her some time to congratulate Ga-eul. Ga-eul also tried to maintain a comfortable expression, but it wasn’t easy.

Ga-eul saw the two off in a taxi and then inspected the house until the end. Even though Eun-jae had come, he couldn’t let her see the part of the house filled with items bought by the boss. No matter how close a sister she was, there were parts he couldn’t allow.

From the bed sheets to the desk lamp, potted plants, small bookshelf, and kitchenware, there was no part untouched by Go-yeo’s hands. So, he wanted to show her the place decorated with her sense of aesthetics today. And in the fridge, there was a cake she had bought in advance.

He felt a growing resentment for what had just happened. Of course, it couldn’t be helped.

Ga-eul soon shook his head to clear his mind of those thoughts.

* * *

Ji-hyuk arrived at the office and greeted his team members. His sudden absence after a long business trip confused the staff, but he remained nonchalant. Despite the pile of tasks accumulated during his trip, he leaned back in his chair, lost in thought while smoking a cigarette, gazing at the ceiling.

The scattered rays of light through the vertical blinds cluttered the ceiling. Feeling tired, he rubbed his eyes with his arm. Despite the confusion about where to start, he found his way back and made a plan.

After a while, Yoon-young entered his office. She was more concerned about how to approach him than the fact that she was in his office for the first time. Since the incident at the restaurant that day, she had been thinking about him again, and it was still ongoing.

As she had told him, she did like him, and she did want him desperately. But a man who didn’t know his limits wasn’t her cup of tea. There were things she could tolerate and things she couldn’t.

“Jo Yoon-young.”

Yoon-young looked at Ji-hyuk as he quietly called her name. Their eyes met, and he smirked before tossing a stack of photos onto the desk. Yoon-young looked at him anxiously, then at the photos, and was taken aback. The photos were full of herself and Kang Seung-hoo. Meaning, it wasn’t taken by a third party but personally by Kang Seung-hoo. There were even discreet photos taken at the hotel.

That bastard Kang Seung-hoo. She didn’t know he could stab her in the back like this. She never should have gotten involved with someone like Kang Seung-hoo, even if it was just for a moment.

Yoon-young maintained the same calm expression she had when she received the photos. She met Ji-hyuk’s lazy gaze.

“What’s this?”

With a nonchalant response hiding her surprise, Ji-hyuk slowly closed and opened his eyes, smiling as if finding it interesting.

“Exactly. It had to come out like this. I thought you’d be too surprised and find it boring.”

“…And you want to break off the engagement with this?”

“Of course.”

“It seems like Mr. Ji-hyuk doesn’t care, so should I show it to CEO Yun Seung-ok for handling?”

Yoon-young was well aware of Yun Seung-ok’s tendency to be obsessive. Perhaps it was due to her background, but she was sensitive to issues regarding men. Even if there were benefits to her relationship with her father, as someone engaged to Ji-hyuk, she couldn’t just overlook photos of her with another person.

“You’re too naive, aren’t you? Even if just for Yun Seung-ok’s sake, you should’ve played along until the end. So, don’t lose your strength over trivial matters now. Find your own way.”

Yoon-young wasn’t angry at Ji-hyuk’s words, but she was exhausted.

“I’m so sick of both of you. What exactly is Han Go-yeo to Moon Ji-hyuk?”

Yoon-young’s question prompted Ji-hyuk to close his eyes, seeming tired rather than answering.

Well, what is Han Go-yeo to him?

Han Go-yeo was the beginning of all senses for Moon Ji-hyuk. Yun Seung-ok’s hysterical abuse during his childhood led him to live a life devoid of emotions. When he finally escaped Yun Seung-ok’s grasp and went to study abroad, he felt liberated for the first time. At the center of that liberation, Han Go-yeo appeared like a free-spirited soul.

Though she seemed to sway here and there like a tree, she had deep roots and wasn’t easily swayed by trivial matters. Perhaps that’s why he wanted more confirmation of her love.

Can she still like him?

Every time she looked at him with that loving gaze, he felt satisfied, as if he had become the master of the world. To her, he wasn’t just the son of  Yun Seung-ok, an appendage of MMK, but solely Moon Ji-hyuk. In front of Han Go-yeo, the unadulterated Moon Ji-hyuk existed.

So, Han Go-yeo is his world and his very existence.

“I don’t know. But one piece of advice: Yoon-young, your thinking is overly narrow-minded despite being smart.”

It was the first time Yoon-young had heard such words in her life, but it felt worse coming from Ji-hyuk. Seeing Yoon-young’s furrowed brow, Ji-hyuk laughed as if he enjoyed it.

“You jerk.”

As Yoon-young left, Ji-hyuk, now alone, pressed his temples wearily and got up to respond to the calls he had been receiving from Yun Seung-ok since a few days ago. He had urged to expedite the investigation into Ahn Pil-jo, who held Yun Seung-ok’s dirty secrets. If he shook him up, something would surely come out.