Chapter 2

Yiseo found herself holding her breath. Jae Yeol’s eyes were intently on her.

How long…

Unlike Yiseo, who was scrambling to hide her surprise, Jae Yeol looked quite at ease. He leisurely repeated inhaling and exhaling on his cigarette. The bitter smoke evaporated into the night sky.

Yiseo’s expression darkened.

Did he overhear everything?

Up until three years ago, Yiseo was not in the secretary department, but a member of the Strategic Planning Team that Jae Han was leading. Even then, he was well-known in the company for his excellent skills.

However, the sudden news that he was the secret son of President Kwon, born out of wedlock, was announced, and it caused quite a stir.

The person who let this be known was none other than President Kwon himself. He was a man who abhorred gossip and rumors, so for him to personally make this announcement meant that he was officially declaring Jae Han as an heir.

As expected, he was promoted rapidly to the position of director. Everyone accepted this. However, his choice to promote Yiseo to be his secretary was not so easily received.

How could a mere staff member, someone who was not even in the secretary team be given such a promotion?

People endlessly whispered about how suspicious it was that Jae Han had always taken particular care of Yiseo since the days when they were in the Strategic Planning Team, and that they were probably secretly sleeping together.

Yiseo took it all in stride. She was not easily shaken. She firmly stood her ground and worked harder than anyone to enhance Jae Han’s performance and value to the company.

So why now? She had heard far worse. This was nothing compared to what she’d heard before but knowing that Jae Yeol also heard these words made her heart grow stiff.

“Oh, Manager Lee, what was that rumor about the Vice President you were talking about before?”

“Oh, that.”

Yiseo quickly turned. She had to go and stop Chae Yeon. The most important virtue of a secretary was first and foremost the ability to keep their silence.

Just then, she caught the movement of Jae Yeol, who had been still until then.

The long finger in the leather glove came up to his smooth lips. It was a warning to not interrupt and to keep quiet.

“You know that JS Group’s daughter?” Chae Yeon inquired.

“The pianist, who is the baby of the family?”

Pianist Hana Ko.

She had been known as a prodigy from the age of five and received international attention. She was now a famous pianist that represented Korea.

Yiseo had seen her a few times. She had never been able to exchange words with her, but she and Hana had graduated from the same high school together.

“According to our team director, Hana Ko and our Vice President were apparently promised to be married,” said Chae Yeon.

Marriage?

At the surprising news, Yiseo’s brows stiffened.

“Oh, really? Then that’s why he got himself appointed to the headquarters… but isn’t she in the hospital right now with a chronic illness?” asked Sae Eun.
“Yes. She suddenly fainted right before a very important recital.”

One year ago.

Right before her recital in Norway, Hana Ko had unexpectedly collapsed. Her condition was severe enough for her to be admitted to the intensive care unit. According to JS, Hana Ko had suffered from an illness from a young age. JS rushed to leak this to the press to end any controversies.

“But don’t you find it weird?” remarked Chae Yeon. “That someone who was completely fine the day before would suddenly collapse a day before the recital?”

“That’s true…” replied Sae Eun.

“From what I found out, she wasn’t the only one our Vice President was talking marriage with.”

“Wow, there was someone other than Hana Ko?”

“Of course, there would be. In this industry, marriage is business too. A child is a commodity. In that sense, wouldn’t marrying our Vice President be like hitting the lottery? He might soon be the head of DL. Any president with a daughter would be dying to get their names in,” Chae Yeon said, knowingly.

“Then… if Hana Ko didn’t faint from an illness…”

“It was attempted suicide.”

Yiseo’s hair fluttered in the cold wind.

The chilly air made her neck feel cold. As she brushed her hair back, the smell of smoke that had been faint before was suddenly strong. Yiseo slowly looked up. Jae Yeol was standing right in front of her.

“Maybe because she was raised like a princess, but I guess she never thought she could be dumped.”

Chae Yeon kept up her gossiping. As Yiseo reflexively turned her head, a large hand grabbed her chin.

Yiseo gazed at Jae Yeol’s face with a stiff expression. Even with the lightest grip, he was able to fix her eyes at him.

She clenched her fist. Even in the dark, Jae Yeol’s black eyes were distinct. He slowly suffocated her with his expressionless face that she was unable to read.

“Dumped? The vice president dumped Hana Ko?”

“They broke off their engagement the day before the recital. Doesn’t that tell you everything? She should’ve just enjoyed herself with him instead of falling in love. It was her fault for not treating it like the business agreement that it was.”

Enjoyed… love… break up.

These three words pierced Yiseo’s heart.

“Then she tried to kill herself from the shock of the breakup? I didn’t think our vice president was that kind of person. I saw him for the first time today and it was love at first sight. He looks like an actor. How could he be so hot? And he has an air about him that is very overpowering.”

“He’s living up to his looks. Do you think it’s just him? That’s just the way their world works. If you look closely, it’s worse than the animal kingdom. But anyway, keep this to yourself. Let’s go inside. It’s cold,” said Chae Yeon.

The two girls could be heard leaving the alleyway. When the sound of their footsteps completely faded, the force on her chin also slackened.

Given the opportunity, Yiseo took a step back. She fixed her eyes to the ground and calmly tried to rectify the situation.

“I will never speak of what happened here tonight.”

Whether she had heard about his personal life intentionally or unintentionally, she would be considered nothing more than a thorn in his side. The best thing she could do at this moment was promise her silence.

Jae Yeol stood without a word. His eyes were deep and dark as they looked down at her. His gaze was like the blistering winter winds, and she felt like he was reading every one of her thoughts.

“You’re quite well-known for doing everything you can for Director Kwon.”

Yiseo fell silent.

“Then shouldn’t you reflect on what you heard and use the gossip to your advantage?”

And you should relay this information to your boss. Isn’t that your job? his eyes asked coldly.

There was no other place where everyone was on such high alert for gossip about other people’s personal lives.

All they cared about was getting the dirt on their competition to use it against them as well as how they could use it shamelessly as a stepping stone to go higher up on the social status ladder.

Jae Han, who was treated like a bastard child in the DL household, could use such information more than anyone else. But Yiseo thought differently.

“The director is not someone who would do harm to others.”

The Jae Han she knew would never hurt someone for his own benefit. From the moment she met him in the orphanage, he had always treated her with the same consistency.

“But his secretary must be different,” retorted Jae Yeol. “Why, she even has the trust of the president and does his personal bidding.”

Yiseo’s solid expression cracked ever so slightly.

She realized that Jae Yeol knew she had brought her camera at President Kwon’s request.

“Ms. Yiseo Chae.”

Hearing him say her name, she knew now that he remembered her.

“You seem to still be doing everything in your power for Jae Han.”

For the first time, something that looked like emotion welled up in Jae Yeol’s eyes.

It was not an unfamiliar look.

How could she forget those eyes?

She had been nineteen. Those eyes had saved her life when she was on the verge of letting go, and they had driven her to live fiercely until now.

Every time life became overwhelming, every time she wanted to end her pitiful existence, she recalled this man’s contempt-filled eyes.

But how was it that seeing him now, for the first time in nine years, she felt like she was nineteen again. She could clearly visualize the day she had sobbed, feeling utterly small and helpless. She also remembered the way he had looked down at her.

/“Get out of my sight.”/

His eyes had pierced through her then.

He now warned her with a similar look from the past.

“It would be best…for you to stay out of my sight.”

***

When she returned to her room, she checked her cell phone. There was a text message from Jae Han.

[I’m thinking of having dinner with Jae Yeol tomorrow evening. I wish you to join us. It’s been a while since we got together.]

She was confused. She gazed at the camera on her nightstand. There was nothing more precious to her. It was the last camera her mother had used when she had been a photographer. Her mother had told her that she had traveled with this camera to many different countries and had met her father. Yiseo did not know what her father looked like. If she had been unlucky, she would have never met her mother, either, because the person who raised her as a baby was the teacher at the orphanage.

/“You’re telling me that this child is Yiseo? My daughter, Yiseo?” /

The year she turned nine, a woman she had never seen had shown up at the orphanage. She held little Yiseo and cried and cried. It was her birth mother, Joung Wha.

She had heard a long while later that her father’s family had taken Yiseo away from her. It had taken her mother over 7 years to find her.

Her parents had fallen in love at first sight in a foreign land.

The only fault her mother had was that she had been too naive. She did not know the kind of person her father was, what kind of family he came from, or how he lived.

She had just loved fiercely, and the result of that love was Yiseo. When they returned to Korea, she did not end up as his wife but found out she was nothing more than a mistress.

That’s how her mother lost everything. She lost her dreams, love, and her hopes.

But Yiseo had been happy. She finally had someone she could call family. This person was her real mother.

But it was a hard life for two girls to live alone in the world. Every day was a struggle.

And the day that despair had pushed her on to the edge, she had met that man, Jae Yeol.

So the first time she had seen him, she was nineteen. It was an unusually clear, early fall afternoon.