* * *
‘—Mother, I heard you stopped by the office recently. You didn’t even say hi before leaving. I’m hurt.’
Despite the voice whining through the smartphone, Chairwoman Choi looked completely unfazed.
“I had someone I needed to meet. It was just a brief stop.”
Her tone was as flat as her expression.
Wookyung had had a feeling when the call came in, and sure enough, the conversation went exactly as he’d expected. He let out a sigh.
—I heard. You met that beta Saheon’s dating. Why would you do that? He’s not someone you need to worry about.
“What do you mean, not someone to worry about? Saheon cares about him that much.”
—I just meant… maybe it’s too early to judge. They only just started dating.
The daughter’s voice sped up, clearly flustered.
—And you went on the tour alone again? If you’d told me, I would’ve joined you…
Then, the topic changed abruptly.
She knew her mother wasn’t paying attention to her complaints.
Sharp-witted and capable—she’d always been the textbook example of a reliable first daughter.
She was the one who’d managed to revive the declining HK Furniture brand.
But her problem was that she let personal emotions get the better of her.
That was why Chairwoman Choi hadn’t entrusted her with the group.
And now, grasping for something that wasn’t hers, she was once again stirring up unnecessary drama.
“Heejung.”
—Yes, Mother.
Her response was obedient and prompt
. Chairwoman Choi turned to gaze out the window.
Beyond it was the runway, and the plane was preparing for takeoff.
She was headed to Chicago—to see her grandson.
And the person her daughter had been talking about.
“Saheon may have told you, but that boy doesn’t care about what’s mine or what’s yours.”
Even if that weren’t the case, he had grown up perfectly fine on his own.
When he suddenly announced his return to Korea, Chairwoman Choi had felt both happiness and curiosity.
He had left like someone who never intended to come back.
And when she heard the reason why, she’d thought—so this is what destiny feels like.
“He said he came here to find the person he loves. So don’t do anything foolish that might cause trouble.”
—Mother, I didn’t mean it like that…
“I love you, Heejung. But remember—I also value someone who knows their place when it comes to business.”
Her words were cold, but necessary.
Chairwoman Choi didn’t pretend to know everything about Saheon.
But she had at least figured out that they were alike.
Hiding his secondary gender from the family until he’d established himself as an adult, acting without hesitation when it came to the person he loved…
That much, she understood.
So it was easy to predict.
Just how drastically he would change if someone touched a person he held dear.
“Chairman, they say we’ll be departing soon.”
The chief secretary approached quietly and informed him of the situation.
Chairman Choi gave a nod and opened his mouth again.
“Leave it alone. It’s none of your concern.”
There were more pressing matters for his eldest daughter to worry about.
Like her alpha son who couldn’t even manage his own affairs.
Chairman Choi had once asked Saheon why he had insisted on joining HK Furniture.
His grandson’s answer had been succinct:
“There’s someone I want to meet there. And I want to make sure I punish the one who hurt him.”
Chairman Choi had recently figured out who that person was.
Though he still didn’t quite understand what had driven Saheon to feel that way.
But it wasn’t something he had any business getting involved in, nor was it a matter to be discussed—so he ended the call there.
The plane soon took off.
When he woke up after putting his smartphone on silent mode, Wookyung was met with a flood of missed calls and unread messages in his messenger app.
Not having the mental energy to face them, he simply flipped the phone over.
He didn’t have anything to say right now anyway, and things here weren’t sorted out yet.
Rather than acting recklessly, it was better not to look at anything at all.
“Grandmother’s staying at the nearby W Hotel. She said to let her know if there’s anything you want to eat. What should I tell her?”
“I’m fine with anything. But shouldn’t we go with something the Chairman will like?”
Compared to him, who ate just about anything, Chairman Choi was likely to be more particular—especially considering the elderly had come all the way here.
“She said to take care of you first.”
Still, even so—
“Then let’s just meet at the W Hotel restaurant.”
That way, Chairman Choi wouldn’t need to go out of her way, and it would be less of a hassle for everyone.
Saheon nodded silently, as if respecting the sentiment.
“By the way, is there anything I should watch out for when meeting Chairman Choi?”
“No. More importantly, what do you want to do about breakfast? Should I ask them to bring it up? Or should we eat at the restaurant?”
His focus seemed more on breakfast than on meeting the Chairman.
Wookyung let out a long sigh.
“I’m meeting with Choi Siwon this morning.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? It’s about today’s issue.”
Might as well catch up on the state of the company while he’s at it.
Wookyung’s gaze drifted back toward his smartphone, which continued to flash as if knowing it had his attention.
“I’ll tell him we’ll meet at the lobby later, after we each have breakfast.”
Apparently, Saheon had no intention of eating with Choi Siwon.
But this time, Wookyung shook his head.
“No. I have things I need to talk to him about, so just ask him to come here and eat with us.”
“Why are you so insistent?”
Saheon folded his arms and met his eyes, seeming to realize Wookyung had something else in mind.
After a brief hesitation, Wookyung confessed honestly.
“I wanted to ask him a few things about how things are going at the company.”
Saheon frowned and immediately responded.
“There’s a separate crisis response team handling the rumors. So you don’t have to worry about that either.”
“Crisis team?”
He didn’t remember there being one.
He knew Marketing did some image management, but this was news to him.
“Yeah. I asked for one to be formed. You have to get ahead of things like this early. Otherwise, baseless stories start popping up later.”
Considering Saheon himself was involved, it made sense.
“Chaebols really do operate on another level, huh.”
“Well, that’s one way to look at it.”
What was that cryptic tone?
Wookyung narrowed his eyes, signaling he wanted to hear more. Saheon added,
“You’re the one who said it. That you’re going to proudly announce our relationship. Didn’t you?”
“…I did.”
Maybe he said it without thinking ahead, but he had said it, so Wookyung nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Exactly what?”
“I formed the team so that the person I’m going to marry won’t be hurt by malicious or groundless rumors.”
It didn’t sound all that different from what he’d said before.
Wookyung kept his mouth shut instead of pointing that out.
It was true that he had said he wanted their relationship to be public.
Since it was meant to prepare for any fallout from that, he figured it’d be ridiculous to complain about it.
“Still, let’s call Choi Siwon and have him eat with us.”
Even without that, there were still things he wanted to discuss.
When Saheon finally gave a small nod of approval, Wookyung added,
“Can you contact him too? As you can see, my phone’s kind of out of commission.”
He motioned with his eyes to the device.
After glancing at it once, Saheon sighed like it really didn’t sit well with him and placed the call.
Not long after, Choi Siwon stepped out of the elevator, his face full of concern.
“Assistant Manager, are you okay?”
He rushed over in one breath and spoke with urgency. Wookyung just shrugged.
“Come sit here, Choi Siwon.”
He gestured to the seat across from him.
Only after giving Wookyung a thorough once-over did Choi Siwon finally sit down.
“I was really worried yesterday.”
Apparently, even that wasn’t enough to satisfy him, as he started up again.
He hadn’t even spared a glance at Saheon, who sat beside Wookyung.
“Because of my secondary gender?”
Rather than pointing it out directly, Wookyung brought up the topic he figured Choi Siwon was most curious about.
Sure enough, the big guy flinched.
“Assistant Manager… is that true?”
His voice was cautious.
“It’s true.”
Wookyung once again told only the truth.
Choi Siwon’s expression immediately darkened.
“Then all this time…”
“Mr. Choi Siwon.”
“Yes?”
“Do I seem any different to you now that you know? Compared to before?”
Choi Siwon blinked, not fully grasping the question.
The answer came instead from Saheon, who’d been watching him with mild disdain.
“Not at all.”
“Right? So there’s no need to be nervous over something like that. I’m still going to keep my position here, and I plan to keep doing as much as I can.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Choi Siwon seem to catch on, opening his mouth as if something clicked.
He stared at Wookyung blankly for a moment, then suddenly blurted,
“You’re really strong, Assistant Manager.”
It was a silly thing to say.
But Wookyung couldn’t help but smile at the rare, genuinely pleasing compliment.
Yeah. Back then or now—nothing had changed.
And for now, that was all that mattered.
* * *
