A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 48

48. Looking Good

Even after leaving Jiheon’s office, Jeong-o’s heart continued to pound. She felt dizzy from the rush of blood.

If his secretary hadn’t reminded her of her next schedule, she might still be stuck in his office. The thought made her legs tremble.

‘Seriously, how did he manage to live for seven years and become so….’

…alluring?

Just his gaze made her breathless, and she couldn’t focus with his persistent looks and touches.

In the conversation she’d overheard between Jiheon and Eunbi, Eunbi had said Jiheon didn’t have a girlfriend.

No girlfriend, but he just played around a lot? Flirting with many women and being promiscuous?

She felt like that might be the case. Otherwise, she couldn’t explain his fox-like behavior.

It wasn’t just his fox-like behavior; many things seemed to have changed. Or should she call it a transformation?

It felt like his abilities had leaped forward, making him seem like a different person.

Stronger, more aggressive, more persistent, and more alluring.

In any case, Jung Jiheon had changed a lot. Yet, glimpses of his self from seven years ago occasionally surfaced, startling her.

What had changed had changed, and what hadn’t hadn’t, leaving Jeong-o unable to move, as if she were captured by him.

She was surprised at herself again, as she had been before.

In fact, Jeong-o had once resented him so much that she had tried to erase her memories of Jung Jiheon. She probably forgot quite a bit as a result of her efforts.

Nevertheless, some things were etched into her body and could never be erased. Like a retired ballerina who could still recall the same music and choreography decades later, she realized that she was reacting to his actions in the same way.

‘Jung Jiheon must be feeling really good right now. That I’m moving just as he wants me to.’

That made her a little resentful. She had unintentionally given him satisfaction.

Anyway, she couldn’t turn back time, so she couldn’t do anything about what had happened. Jeong-o now had to think about the future again. She had to use her head.

Madam Jang Young-mi hates me. That’s for sure.

If she already knows about Yena, my approaching Jung Jiheon might irritate her.

She might even harm Yena.

But, what if she didn’t know about Yena and is only finding out now?

She might just want to take Yena away and hope I don’t approach him.

‘First, let’s meet with a lawyer.’

Just in case she tries to take Yena away, I need to act quickly.

As she was thinking about the various things that could happen, her phone vibrated.

‘Gasp!’

Jeong-o immediately turned off the screen as soon as she saw the text message on her phone.

– I’ll come back to the office. Let’s go home together. I’ll take you home.

Doesn’t this man have any sense of boundaries at all!

It seemed like the first thing to do was to warn Jiheon.

– No! I’m going home alone! And never contact me personally when you’re at work! Don’t make it obvious at work either!!!!!!

Jeong-o pressed the send button with a sigh.

It felt like a countdown had begun. Her heart raced, and she felt scared as she thought about the future.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Despite their secret meeting in the office, he missed her as soon as they parted.

Jiheon couldn’t stop thinking about Jeong-o throughout his business trip.

He had lived a life of being easily distracted, so it didn’t interfere with his work. As Seunggyu said, he only needed to put in 80% effort to get the job done without any problems. He could easily accomplish things with minimal energy.

It felt like the empty time he had was suddenly filled. It was like a long-dormant heart had awakened. That unfamiliar feeling energized his work as well.

“Director, do you have something good going on? You look brighter somehow.”

An executive from a Sehyun Group affiliate, a client, greeted Jiheon in a friendly manner. Normally, he would have just said, “No, not at all,” but Jiheon responded cheerfully.

“Does it seem that way?”

“Yes. You look much better.”

“Thank you. I’m in a good mood these days because my employees are doing a great job.”

Jiheon didn’t say a word about his personal life and gave credit to his employees.

As he was traveling, he sent a text message to Jeong-o, and she sent back a reply with ten exclamation marks, asking him not to do that. It was a cute message that made it sound like he could hear her voice.

Jiheon also agreed with her request not to make it obvious at work. Because of the issue with Chae Eunbi, and because Chae Eunbi mistakenly believed that Lee Jeong-o had come between them, he couldn’t reveal his feelings rashly.

While he was thinking about Jeong-o, the executive spoke to him again.

“Ah, Team Leader An Chan-seop made a suggestion to me a while ago, and I said I would look into it, but I forgot. It was a very convincing idea. Is it possible to ask about it now?”

“Is that so? I’ll ask right away.”

Jiheon immediately picked up his phone and called the head of Production Team 1. However, Team Leader An Chan-seop didn’t answer the phone.

Jiheon thought he should ask the other team members, and he dialed the internal number for Production Team 1, but then he paused and hung up.

Since it was a nearby team, he thought he could ask Jeong-o.

– Is Team Leader An Chan-seop not at his desk right now? I can’t reach him.

He sent a text message and received a reply right away.

– He’s not here. Should I tell him to contact you as soon as I see him?

– Yes. Please do. Then is no one at Production Team 1’s desk right now?

Jiheon smiled even at the formal text messages. He wanted to keep getting replies because this was more fun than talking to the executive in front of him. His desire was contained in the question mark. But.

– There’s no one at all.

Jiheon blinked at the strange three-syllable message.

Soon after, new text messages arrived from Jeong-o in quick succession.

– There’s no one there’s no one there’s no one!!!!

– There’s no one there at all!!!!!

Huh.

An uncontrollable laugh caught between his pursed lips.

It was noisy just reading the text messages. It felt like he could hear her shouting.

She must have made a typo in her reply while working frantically. She must have been so embarrassed by her mistake that she quickly sent a correction.

“You must have a lot of interesting things going on.”

The executive spoke again, looking at Jiheon’s expression.

“An employee made a typo in a text message, and it’s so funny.”

“Ah, you were laughing at an employee’s typo?”

“I’m sorry.”

Jiheon barely suppressed his laughter and sat up straight. The executive smiled as if he was pleased.

“No, it’s okay. Other executives scold their employees when they make typos in text messages. You’re different, Director Jung. Your department employees must be so envious.”

Thanks to Lee Jeong-o, he received an unexpected compliment.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Jeong-o kicked her feet in the air a few times, recalling her mistake.

She had been acting like a dazed person all day, and then she even made a typo in a text message to Jiheon.

She wanted to be a meticulous, smart, and flawless person, but she was constantly showing Jiheon her flaws, and she felt pathetic. She was also worried that Yena’s existence might be revealed first.

Chae Eunbi didn’t show up for overtime work today either. She had acted like she would work so hard in the morning, but when evening came, she left again, saying she was sick.

That was understandable.

‘I pushed her so hard; she must be upset.’

She wasn’t going to apologize or take back her words, but she also felt a little sorry for Eunbi’s situation.

“Assistant Manager Lee, here are a few ideas for the affiliate collaboration proposal that the director mentioned today. What do you think?”

A staff member from the planning team handed Jeong-o a thick document. Jeong-o reviewed all the documents and gave her opinion.

“These are all great! The ideas are sparkling. I think it would be good to show them all to the director as they are. Since you said you would propose them directly, I think the director will make a realistic judgment.”

“Ah, thank you. If I show this to him, will I end up working overtime next to the director too?”

“Do you want to?”

“No. Not at all.”

The staff member AE [Account Executive] shook her head vigorously, her cheeks trembling.

Speak of the devil, Jiheon’s figure appeared from the other side of the hallway. He had returned from his business trip this late at night.

Jeong-o’s expression also stiffened.

She was thinking of running away little by little, but Jiheon stopped right in front of Jeong-o and said to the surrounding employees.

“Don’t stay too late today; let’s go home. It’s already late.”

The faces of the employees, who had thought they would be working overtime until at least 10 p.m., brightened. Even the team leader couldn’t do anything about the director’s orders. Miran said to everyone.

“Let’s wrap things up and go home today.”

The team members answered Miran’s voice cheerfully and began to pack up. Jeong-o went to the conference room to clean up the mess. Jiheon followed Jeong-o to the conference room.

“A copywriter, you know. Shouldn’t you type your texts properly?”

Jeong-o’s hand, which had been organizing her laptop, stopped.

She had told him not to make it obvious at work, but he wasn’t getting too close like he did in his office, and he was teasing her in a sly way while keeping his distance. It was really annoying.

“Or, did I write the text properly, but I’m just too clueless to understand?”

Jiheon approached and took Jeong-o’s laptop when she glared at him sullenly.

“You just said not to make it obvious at work, right?”

“……”

“Let’s go quickly. I’ll take you home.”

Jiheon, who had taken everyone else’s laptops as well, went out of the conference room first.

Jeong-o sighed. She had clearly told him in a text message that she would go home alone, but it was as if this man had forgotten all about it on purpose. Jeong-o hurriedly chased after Jiheon. Jiheon turned around and smiled as if telling her to follow him quickly.

But Jeong-o couldn’t chase after him any further. Chae Eunbi was walking towards them from the front.

Where had she been hiding, and why had she reappeared again this late at night?

Chae Eunbi, who had looked like she was dying when she left work, appeared with a completely recovered face in two hours and said to everyone.

“Oh my, are you trying to leave work now? I took some medicine and my energy came back, so I came back. I was too worried that I hadn’t been able to participate.”

“Hey, you should still rest. Why did you come back this late at night? Everyone has decided to go home, so Section Chief Chae should go and rest too.”

Miran said kindly to Eunbi.

“I guess I should. I’ll work hard again from tomorrow. I’m sorry, Team Leader.”

Eunbi greeted them cheerfully.

Jeong-o thought that she was really good at jumping on the bandwagon and had good luck, and she returned to her seat.

Jiheon didn’t even glance at Eunbi and put the laptops he had brought on the Production Team 2’s desk.

“Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o, your daughter must be happy that her mother is leaving work early.”

But, Eunbi suddenly called out to Jeong-o with a bright smile.

Jeong-o’s heart sank.

“Daughter?”

Team Leader An Chan-seop got up from his seat and asked, showing his face.

Everyone’s attention was focused on Eunbi and Jeong-o.

Eunbi continued to speak, unconcerned.

“I have a friend who used to be a colleague of Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o at her previous company. I heard it from that friend. She said she has a pretty seven-year-old child.”

Jeong-o looked at Jiheon.

Jiheon didn’t move. His feet were stuck to the floor. His expression didn’t reveal any emotion. That made Jeong-o feel even more scared.

There had been one chance.

On the day he took her home, he had asked if she lived with her mother, and she had said yes.

If she had known this would happen, she would have revealed that she had a daughter at that time.

Of course, if she had said that first, he wouldn’t have approached her so aggressively, but at least she wouldn’t have become a liar.

“Team Leader, I think this competitive PT [Presentation] will go well. It’s a story about a mother and daughter. Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o will understand the mother’s heart better than anyone else.”

Each word Eunbi spoke rang in her ears.

Jeong-o could guess why Eunbi had been away for two hours. She had met Jeong-o’s former colleague to dig into her past and weaknesses.

There weren’t many people at her previous company who knew about Jeong-o’s family situation, so she probably only heard a rough story edited with sensational content.

The reason she came back was obvious. She must have been itching to reveal this fact quickly.

Eunbi was talking very happily.

“I thought Assistant Manager Lee Jeong-o was so pretty that she was unmarried. I can’t believe she has a daughter who is already seven years old.”

Jiheon’s profile, with a cold expression, came into Jeong-o’s view.

He had stopped for a moment, but he slowly began to move.

Trust had been broken.

It felt like her heart was fading as much as he was moving away.

She couldn’t do anything about it right now. She had to bear all the consequences of her lie.

“I am unmarried. I have a child, but I’m not married.”

Jeong-o revealed the truth with a calm expression.

“I’m a single mom.”

The past, when she had experienced the pain of the world collapsing, was of considerable help in living her life. Jeong-o doesn’t despair easily.

Chae Eunbi, you will regret today someday.