Kim Tae-yeol, who Sunwoo expected to answer imdiately, hesitated unusually. He looked at Sunwoo's face for a while, as if searching for sothing. Then, scratching his head, he finally spoke.
“Well, at first, I thought it wasn’t like that. Honestly, when I heard it from you, it seed like you really hated Kang Jinwook.”
Sunwoo hated Kang Jinwook…?
“So when the assistant to Vice President Kang contacted you, you initially refused to et.”
“I refused? ?”
Sunwoo hadn’t heard the full story because of the talk about compensation, so he had assud that Sunwoo had t with Kang Jinwook’s brother’s assistant. But it seed that wasn’t the case.
“Yeah, you said you didn’t want to et Kang Jinwook and told him not to contact you again. Then the assistant called again and said it wasn’t about that but about the land issue. That’s what he said.”
“So, I went to et him thinking that’s what it was, and then the engagent talk ca up?”
“Exactly.”
What? Then what about the 3 years he had spent stalking Kang Jinwook, taking photos, and posting them on social dia?
That seed like the typical behavior of soone secretly in love, recording every detail. Although Sunwoo hadn’t gone through every single post on social dia from start to finish, he had scrolled through a year’s worth of posts. They were all filled with praise for Kang Jinwook’s looks, confessions of his feelings, wishes for them to end up together, and resentnt over not being acknowledged.
But he originally hated him? No, this must an his feelings started changing at so point.
“You thought you hated him, but it wasn’t like that?”
Sunwoo decided to ask the most pressing question first.
“Yeah. When you said you had to join Kang Jinwook’s office, you were really drunk the night before. That’s why you were late to work on the first day, an hour late.”
Even if he hated going to work, Sunwoo couldn’t imagine showing up late on the first day. As soone who took responsibility, that was unthinkable to him.
Of course, it could be said that Sunwoo was a parachute hire, so maybe that’s why.
Still, that didn’t sit well with him. Well, he’d chalk that up to before his ti, and he could excuse that as sothing in the past.
Sunwoo gave Kim Tae-yeol a look to continue.
“You also ca ho drunk after work and complained to
about how you didn’t like any of the secretarial staff, how their personalities were strange.”
This was getting more and more ridiculous.
“The office was terrible, the desks uncomfortable, and there was nothing to do. Ti just dragged on. You also had to eat out of the office, which was annoying. Of course, you complained more about Kang Jinwook than anyone else.”
By now, Sunwoo was starting to put things together. The reason the secretarial staff ignored Sunwoo wasn’t just because of Kang Jinwook’s orders or his parachute status. Sunwoo had clearly done sothing to warrant that.
Showing up late after getting drunk on the first day, complaining about everything, and then cursing at the coworkers he had only t for a day?
‘Well, I guess it makes sense. He’s the villainous “submissive” type, so it’s no surprise.’
It was probably his personality that made him a villain. The more Sunwoo reflected on what Kim Tae-yeol had said, the more he felt his neck and ears burning.
“Wow… I can’t believe it.”
Next ti he t one of the secretarial staff, he would have to apologize. After acting like a complete nuisance, to then quit and claim to be the victim—it was hard to believe.
There probably hadn’t been a more ridiculous situation than this for the staff.
Even if Sunwoo had shouted at them and told them they should quit like that, he would have no excuse.
“Uh, uh?”
Sunwoo, stunned, let out a small exclamation, and Kim Tae-yeol looked at him with a confused expression.
“What? So what happened next?”
Sunwoo quickly waved his hand and urged Kim Tae-yeol to continue.
“So, after all that, you ca ho drunk every day, complaining about everything. Then you’d complain about not wanting to go to work after the weekend. And, of course, you’d keep cursing at Kang Jinwook.”
“Exactly what kind of curses did you say about him?”
Sunwoo had been wondering this ever since Kim Tae-yeol kept emphasizing the curses about Kang Jinwook. What kind of curses did soone who supposedly hated him throw around?
It was purely out of curiosity now.
“‘He’s too handso, I hate it,’ ‘He’s too tall, I hate it,’ ‘His eyes are too sharp, I hate it,’ ‘He handles everything perfectly, I hate it,’ ‘Everything he does in business succeeds, I hate it.’”
Was that really cursing? No matter how much Sunwoo listened, it sounded more like infatuation. The phrase “strong rejection is actually strong affirmation” ca to mind as he heard it.
Noticing Sunwoo’s gaze, Kim Tae-yeol scratched his head again.
“That’s why I said, at first, I thought you hated him, but it turned out I was wrong.”
“Yeah, I guess. But why did you think you hated him?”
“You used to talk about Kang Jinwook when you were drunk.”
Sunwoo rembered that Kang Jinwook and he had only attended middle school together. After graduation, Kang Jinwook went to study abroad in the U.S.
That ant they hadn’t seen each other in over ten years. If they had only t again through Kang Jinwook’s brother, it had been at least a decade since they last saw each other.
“Talk about Kang Jinwook? ?”
That seed strange. Talking about soone they hadn’t seen for over a decade? Could that be possible? No, if he really hated soone that much, would he talk about them all the ti?
Sunwoo had never hated or despised anyone to that extent, so he couldn’t imagine doing that. It didn’t make sense to him to talk about soone you didn’t like every ti you drank.
“Yeah, when you were younger, you said you were angry about the way he had ignored you after you ssed with him. You said his gaze always annoyed you.”
“That sounds a bit odd.”
“What’s odd?”
It still didn’t sit right. No matter how many tis he listened, sothing about it seed off. It was hard to pinpoint, but Sunwoo’s gut instinct told him this wasn’t just a matter of like or dislike.
No, if he were to be honest with himself, it felt like Sunwoo had been secretly harboring feelings for Kang Jinwook since childhood. Perhaps Kang Jinwook felt the sa way.
He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but it was a possibility.
“But there’s sothing more, right? You said sothing made you hate him even more.”
“What’s that?”
Now Sunwoo was really curious. It almost felt like he was hearing about soone else’s love story.
To be honest, these were just past events, but they were important to understand how things were going to unfold in the future.
“Kang Jinwook went to the U.S., rember?”
Yes, after middle school graduation. Was that the key?
“You didn’t know that, though. Actually, you found out later. You didn’t know why he called you, and when you t, you thought he was apologizing for what happened in the past.”
Sunwoo had a feeling he already knew the next part.
Usually, these stories ended with the two of them either not eting or parting because of misunderstandings.
“It was a cold, rainy day, and you went out to et him after he said he had sothing important to tell you.”
Even the weather was bad. Yet, despite that, Sunwoo went to et him? After hearing all of this, it seed obvious that sothing had been going on between them.
Sunwoo almost wished he had popcorn in his hand, feeling a bit of regret. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to eat it because of the sll, but it would have been nice.
Instead, he poked at the cake Kim Tae-yeol had brought him with his fork.
As he bit into it, the rich chocolate sweetness spread in his mouth. After one bite, he found himself wanting more.
“But even after waiting, Kang Jinwook never showed up.”
“Ugh…”
Sunwoo sighed, as he had expected. It made sense to him. Years of experience in publishing had shown him that these kinds of things rarely turned out well.
“How long did you wait?”
“30 minutes? Sothing like that.”
Hmm. Not sure. Kim Tae-yeol tilted his head as he spoke. Sunwoo gave him an incredulous look.
He thought it had been so dramatic love story where Sunwoo had waited all day or at least half a day. But then again, considering Sunwoo’s character, waiting 30 minutes was probably already a long ti for him.
“Didn’t you try calling Kang Jinwook?”
Sunwoo unconsciously asked as if it were soone else’s problem. Even though he was technically a different person now, the question still seed strange.
Kim Tae-yeol smiled slightly at the question, probably having the sa thought, and answered with a laugh.
“I did, but his phone was off.”
Ah… this was straight out of a novel. Of course, he couldn’t reach the person he was waiting for.
“Bad weather, couldn’t get through. Then, one day, you heard he went to the U.S. for school. Yeah, I guess I can see why you’d hate him.”
If Sunwoo’s personality was already difficult, it was no surprise he would curse Kang Jinwook out.
Still, it was nice to hear the past between them, even though there was so much Sunwoo didn’t know.
What had really happened that day with Kang Jinwook? What kind of relationship did they have back then? That was sothing Sunwoo would need to ask Kang Jinwook himself.
‘Before that… I need to check social dia again. Maybe there’s a clue there I missed.’
Sunwoo thought as he took another bite of cake, his mind still swirling.
Reviews
All reviews (0)