A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 16

16. That Wasn’t a Kiss

I hadn’t been this annoyed in a long time.

Lee Jung-oh, who said she had something to say, went out to make a call and then left work without a word.

Park Seung-gyu, who called himself my best friend, turned his back as if he would never see me again.

With two people bothering me, Jiheon even had trouble sleeping.

Still, I had to work, so I went to the office. On the way to his office, he stopped for a moment and looked at Jung-oh’s seat from afar. It seemed she hadn’t come to work yet.

From the pantry, Cha Eun-bi and her colleague’s voices could be heard. Jiheon moved to his office.

“Director, you’re here.”

“Yes.”

He answered his secretary’s greeting perfunctorily and stepped into his office.

He wanted to sit at his desk, but his head hurt so much that he lay down on the sofa instead.

After a while, he heard soft footsteps outside his office.

Thinking it was Cha Eun-bi, Jiheon immediately closed his eyes. He was annoyed by everything and didn’t want to exchange a single word with her.

Soon, the door opened and someone came in. If someone is lying on the sofa, it’s polite to assume they’re resting and turn around, but the woman stood there. Displeased, Jiheon’s brow furrowed slightly.

The approaching footsteps were even more unnerving.

He felt a heat as if she was sitting near his head and observing him. The faint breathing, almost inaudible, seemed to wish for his peace.

The skin touched by her breath felt ticklish. The tips of his fingers tensed up.

The desire to face her arose, but Jiheon held back, fearing he would regret it if he opened his eyes.

Then, something hot and wet landed on his lips with a *thud*.

It felt like his body was heating up as something hot, like a brand, quietly seeped between his lips. The woman also seemed surprised. He felt her get up and quickly turn around.

‘What am I doing now?’ Jiheon wondered.

Jiheon couldn’t stand it and opened his eyes wide.

And he recognized Lee Jung-oh’s back.

He had pretended to be asleep because he didn’t want to talk to Cha Eun-bi, but it was Lee Jung-oh.

“Where are you going?”

“…….”

“Where are you going, after doing this?”

Jiheon nimbly grabbed her.

“Uh, uh, uh… I didn’t do anything.”

She turned her head and replied with a flustered look. Her face, which was always pale, was flushed red today. Jiheon immediately got up from his seat.

She was mischievously stepping back, as if she was planning to open the door and run away someday with that backward step.

Jiheon took a step forward and stood with his back to the door.

When the passage was blocked, her face contorted this time.

Even that flustered look pleased him.

It was his taste.

His pride was a little hurt to admit it.

It wasn’t just somewhat pleasing, it was definitely his taste.

Even in this situation, his heart and body were drawn to touch her; it was a very definite taste.

Soon, he would exceed the limits set by his body. His head sent a warning: Being with this woman is dangerous.

He could avoid creating situations where they would be together as much as possible, and he could even fire her from the company, but Jiheon didn’t want to do that.

Then, he had no choice but to get used to the stimulation she gave him.

He wanted to keep her closer, by his side, as much as possible.

He wanted her to make a mistake. He was thinking of digging into that mistake.

So he couldn’t miss this opportunity either.

“I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, so how are you going to take responsibility?”

“Yes? For what?”

“…….”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She pretended not to know anything and replied.

Jiheon’s lips twisted at her brazen reaction.

‘Should I insist too much?’ he wondered.

“That’s right. I don’t know either.”

“…….”

“I’ve experienced all sorts of things, but being kissed while sleeping is a first.”

Jiheon said wickedly, wiping his lips with his thumb.

Jung-oh was dumbfounded by Jiheon’s stubbornness.

‘Are you stupid?’ A tear fell. ‘What kiss!’

“That’s not a kiss… !”

“Yes. It’s not a kiss, it’s a peck.”

As he continued to insist, Jung-oh had no choice but to confess.

“…It’s a tear. Director.”

“…….”

“It’s not a kiss, it’s not a peck, it’s just a drop of tear.”

His brow furrowed like curtain pleats. He still had an expression of disbelief.

Of course, it was probably a pretense.

“How can you misunderstand that? Like someone who’s never been kissed.”

‘You sly bastard. Anyone would think you’ve never even had a peck,’ she thought.

“Then why?”

“Yes?”

“Why. Why did you drop a tear in front of me?”

“That’s…”

Jung-oh closed her eyes tightly and opened them.

‘I don’t know either. Whatever will be, will be,’ she thought.

“Director… you look like my deceased father!”

His expression became even more fierce than before. He seemed shocked.

But after a while, he narrowed his eyes and took two steps closer.

“You want me to believe that?”

“It’s true.”

“How much, how do I look like him?”

‘Ah, damn it,’ she thought.

“Do you have a picture of your father?”

She sold a father she had never seen and was cornered.

Jung-oh had to come up with another brilliant idea.

‘He said he doesn’t like being called handsome, right?’

She recalled what Miran had told her on her first day at the company.

“Just the handsome part is similar. My dad was really handsome.”

‘There. I made you feel bad, so glare at me. Hurry up and look at me like I’m a bug. Criticize me! Kick me out! Hurry up and kick me out!’ she thought.

But contrary to Jung-oh’s expectations, he took a step back without saying a word.

Perhaps trying to calm his anger, a long, rough breath escaped from between his tightly closed lips.

Anyway, it seemed like her quick thinking worked. Jung-oh slowly moved her feet in a rounded semicircle. He didn’t move his body so that she could barely grab the doorknob.

‘I’m sorry for lying right now, but this much is okay, right?’ she thought.

‘You hid your true self from me too. I didn’t know for a full 7 years. Who you are, what kind of person you are,’ she thought.

Jung-oh twisted the doorknob behind her back.

“I’ll be going now.”

“You said you had something to say yesterday.”

He had been silent, but he spoke again as if to stop her.

“Ah, that’s…”

“…….”

“It was that you look like my deceased father. Then I’ll really be going.”

‘Okay?’ she thought.

Squeak.

The door was slightly open now. He added another word with lingering feelings.

“I waited 30 minutes. Yesterday.”

“You only waited 30 minutes?”

Words she hadn’t prepared popped out. She felt dizzy after saying it.

But since words that had come out of her mouth couldn’t be taken back, Jung-oh quickly rationalized her actions.

‘I have nothing to fear. I’m going to go wild. I’m the one who knows about your scandal from 7 years ago!’ she thought.

‘Of course, I’m the person involved in that scandal,’ she thought.

Jung-oh ran away as soon as she finished speaking.

He probably heard those words for the first time.

If you said you waited 30 minutes, I would say I’m sorry and I won’t do that again, right?

Since I talked back like that, he must think, ‘What a crazy kid.’

But that was Jung-oh’s inner thoughts, her true feelings.

‘I’ve been waiting for you for so long, what’s 30 minutes?’ she thought.

She rationalized it that way, but her heart continued to pound.

* * * * * *

Yesterday afternoon, Eun-bi discovered Jiheon’s secretary loitering in front of Production Team 2.

Production Team 2 was all in a meeting, so no one was there.

“Aera, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, yes, Manager. I have a memo to leave.”

If Secretary Yoon Aera was leaving a memo, it must be Jiheon’s message.

At first, Eun-bi thought the secretary had come to leave a memo for Miran. But the secretary placed the memo she was holding on Jung-oh’s desk.

‘Why is Oppa [term of endearment for an older male] to Lee Jung-oh?’

After the secretary left, Eun-bi quickly got up and went to Jung-oh’s seat.

A memo was placed in the center of the desk.

– 5/13 18:00 Director Jung Jiheon calls.

‘Why?’

The hand gripping the memo tightened. Her expression, like the memo in her hand, was also crumpled fiercely.

Eun-bi crumpled the memo even tighter and threw it in the trash.

And in the morning, Eun-bi, who had been watching Production Team 2, called Jung-oh to her seat as soon as she came out of Jiheon’s office and sat down.

“Assistant Manager Lee Jung-oh.”

“Yes. Manager.”

“Can you come here for a moment?”

Jung-oh got up from her seat and went to Eun-bi.

She wanted to snap, ‘If you have something to say, you come here,’ but she decided to let it go because there were eyes watching.

“Yes. Manager. What’s wrong?”

“Where did you go yesterday?”

“I had an urgent matter, so I left work early.”

“It’s not like you’re the only one with urgent matters. Everyone is busy. You know that, right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you separately, Manager.”

Jung-oh smiled, pulling up the corners of her lips as much as possible, lest she be told she had a sour look on her face again.

Eun-bi seemed to have a sour look on her face this time, as if she didn’t like Jung-oh’s smiling face.

“After the meeting the day before yesterday, we divided up the roles for the study of past advertisements. Yesterday, other team members, including me, had a hard time doing Assistant Manager Lee’s part instead.”

Eun-bi said, tapping the document on her desk with her fingertips.

She subtly emphasized the beginning of each phrase, packaging it as if everything she was saying was important.

“I did it, Manager.”

If she came out like this, Jung-oh couldn’t stay still.

“I organized my part immediately after the meeting the day before yesterday and uploaded it to the cloud.”

Jung-oh looked over the data that Eun-bi had pointed out.

Very ridiculously, except for the cover, the contents inside were exactly as Jung-oh had written.

‘If you’re going to cheat, you should do it with some sincerity,’ she thought.

“The data you’re looking at is also what I did. It’s not what the team members did new. Did you check the contents properly, Manager?”

Eun-bi froze.

Last night, she had hastily concluded that Jung-oh had not appeared at the meeting room and had left work early without doing her job properly. So she didn’t think that the data printed out by another team member was Jung-oh’s.

On top of that, Jung Jiheon even left a memo looking for Jung-oh, which made her feel uncomfortable.

Lee Jung-oh should be whimpering at this point.

Hiding her embarrassment, Eun-bi responded.

“You should have sent that by email. That’s how you check it properly.”

“At the meeting the day before yesterday, we decided to upload it to the cloud for PT [presentation] preparation, Manager. You can check the minutes of the meeting.”

Jung-oh found Eun-bi amusing.

“Everyone else seems to have checked it properly. Anyway, I’ll pay more attention in the future, so that you don’t miss anything because you didn’t check properly, Manager.”

‘Cha Eun-bi, I won’t be taken advantage of like I was back then when you ruined my school life,’ she thought.

‘I have a lot to do here. I have to earn money and let our Yena meet her father,’ she thought.

‘But I’m not thinking of stealing your man.

But if you threaten me, I can’t stand still.

Don’t harass me. Don’t try to ruin my workplace.

Protecting me is protecting my daughter.

I will defeat the enemy and protect myself.

Cha Eun-bi, the same goes for you. If you slander me, you are also my enemy.

Everything that blocks me is my enemy.’