A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 42

42. I’m Sorry

Pretending to be friends.

If that’s all that’s allowed, he could pretend as much as she wanted.

Jiheon was a person who had no aversion to false relationships. He had always lived that way.

He couldn’t suffocate her first between a superior and a subordinate, so if it was a relationship she proposed, he welcomed it.

To him, the title of friend was just a means.

Jiheon looked at Jeong-o with affectionate eyes.

Jeong-o hid the back of her hand, where Jiheon had just kissed, behind her back and glared at him.

Even that was a pleasure for Jiheon.

“But if I’m friends with you, does the age difference make me seem younger?”

“Of course. It’s not just one or two years, but three.”

“You even know my age.”

Jiheon pointed out sharply, and the eyes that had been meeting his subtly turned elsewhere before returning.

“Yes. Team Leader told me.”

“Looking at it, your team leader seems very interested in me too.”

“Yes. Our team is all very interested in the director.”

“But are you going to call me ‘Director’ while we’re friends?”

“Then what should I do?”

“You can just call me by my name.”

“…….”

“……You can call me ‘Oppa’ [an affectionate term used by younger women to address older men] if you want.”

At his subtly suggestive words, Jeong-o curled her lips inward, suppressing a smile. She remembered the man who smiled whenever she called him ‘Oppa’ seven years ago.

Ah, don’t fall into sentimentality, Lee Jeong-o. Don’t forget your mission!

Jeong-o bowed instead of answering. She couldn’t stand there with him for long in her neighborhood.

“Then, then, I’ll be going now. Thank you for the ride.”

She quickly said goodbye and ran off. She didn’t look back.

Jiheon didn’t chase after her and just watched. After a while, she turned a corner and disappeared into the alley. As soon as she was out of sight, a hot sigh escaped from Jiheon’s lips.

It felt like taking the first step. He told Seung-gyu that it wasn’t romantic feelings, but somehow a similar tingling sensation arose. He was still plagued by lust like appetite, but he didn’t hate the time spent getting to know her.

As he quietly smiled, his phone vibrated.

It was his friend Seung-gyu.

“Hello.”

[Hey, friend, where are you?]

Seung-gyu’s voice sounded unusually small. He seemed to be cautious about something.

“I went to work and now I’m about to go home.”

[Oh. Really? Should I buy you dinner?]

“It’s the weekend, aren’t you spending time with your family?”

[No, I have something to tell you.]

“What is it?”

[……You’ll come to my house on Monday, right?]

Ah.

Jiheon, recalling the promise from a few days ago, chuckled.

Seung-gyu had come to him a few days ago with that request, and he seemed worried that he hadn’t given a definite answer.

“I’ll go, so don’t worry.”

Jiheon readily agreed.

[Oh, really? Really?]

“Yeah.”

[Wow. What’s gotten into you. Thank you so, so much! I’ll be good to you from now on! Friend. I really like you.]

An overwhelmed Seung-gyu even made an over-the-top declaration of love, expressing his gratitude.

Jiheon thought Seung-gyu was a really good dad. And of course, a good friend too.

Jeong-o ran quickly to her house. Her heart was pounding.

‘Good, good.’

It was a bit unsettling that he kissed her hand.

Anyway, he readily accepted the friend proposal. He didn’t seem to have any suspicious intentions.

Get closer to him little by little. Be careful not to provoke Chae Eun-bi.

As she neared her house, Jeong-o slowed down. Convinced that Jiheon hadn’t followed her, Jeong-o slowly calmed her breathing.

“Looks like you’re coming home from somewhere.”

“Ah!”

In the meantime, someone spoke from behind. Jeong-o, startled by the voice, almost fell backward, but Detective Kwon Bae-il quickly caught her.

“Detective.”

“Hello.”

Jeong-o straightened herself with Bae-il’s help. She felt embarrassed for no reason.

“I was surprised, but it’s not because I did anything wrong.”

“Yes. I know. I startled you.”

“It’s okay. I’m coming home from work, are you coming back from somewhere too, Detective?”

“Yes. I was playing soccer…….”

“Ah, soccer.”

“There’s a soccer club at the station.”

“You’re running around catching criminals every day, how can you even play soccer on the weekends?”

“You can’t kick criminals with your feet, you know.”

Ah.

Thinking about him catching criminals with that beautiful face contorted in a fierce expression, Jeong-o chuckled a little.

Seeing Jeong-o smile, Bae-il also gave a kind smile. However, beneath that smile, Jeong-o caught a scene she couldn’t laugh at.

“Oh! Detective! Mosquito! Mosquito!”

A mosquito was sitting on Bae-il’s exposed forearm!

Thwack!

Bae-il, who had been smiling blankly, belatedly hit his forearm, but the mosquito nimbly flew away.

“Ah, I got bitten.”

Bae-il said slowly, looking down at his forearm.

Jeong-o could see the skin on his forearm swelling up.

He can catch criminals but not mosquitoes.

I thought he looked too naive to be a police officer, but he does have a bit of a simpleton side.

I bet it’s itchy…….

“Detective, just a moment.”

Jeong-o took out transparent tape from her bag. It had become a habit to carry tape in her bag to stick A4 paper on the wall when preparing for competitive presentations.

Jeong-o cut the tape into a small piece and stuck it on Bae-il’s forearm.

“This will make it less itchy.”

“Oh. A tip for life. Thank you.”

Bae-il nodded as if it was a brilliant tip.

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

Sunday afternoon. Eun-bi went out to meet Mrs. Jang Young-mi as promised.

Eun-bi was anxious and nervous all the way. She was so afraid that Jiheon would have already revealed everything to Mrs. Jang.

Eun-bi sat at the table she was guided to in the upscale restaurant, waiting for Mrs. Jang with a trembling heart.

Mrs. Jang appeared 10 minutes late.

“Mother!”

Eun-bi tried to hide her nervous heart and stood up with a bright smile.

“Yes. Eun-bi. I’m late. The traffic was terrible.”

“It’s okay, Mother.”

Eun-bi’s face relaxed as she saw Mrs. Jang’s expression, which was welcoming without any other signs.

“Eun-bi, do you like French food? I made a reservation as I pleased, I don’t know if it will suit your taste.”

“Mother, I eat everything well. I eat what you buy me even better.”

“Yes. That’s why you’re so pretty.”

Eun-bi felt good at Mrs. Jang’s compliment.

Soon, the course meals entered one by one. Eun-bi’s heart ached at the feeling of receiving treatment she had never received from Jiheon.

“Is work not hard?”

Mrs. Jang asked in the middle of the meal. Eun-bi sighed shallowly and answered.

“Work is okay, but there are people problems.”

“People problems?”

“There’s a friend I have some trouble with.”

“Eun-bi has troubles like that too?”

Mrs. Jang smiled as if she found such Eun-bi cute.

“Actually, my high school classmate recently transferred and came in as a copywriter. But she hates me a lot.”

“Why? Our pretty Eun-bi.”

“That friend is a Deputy Manager, but I’m a Manager, so is that why? I don’t really know.”

Eun-bi smiled with a dejected expression and continued.

“In high school, that friend’s family situation wasn’t good. I felt sorry for that friend and tried to take care of her a lot, but I think the inferiority complex from that time remains.”

“Oh dear. All the gratitude from that time has turned into an inferiority complex! Well, you’re a Manager and she’s a Deputy Manager, how envious she must be of you.”

“And actually, that friend is from a single-parent family. Even if you try to hide single-parent families, it shows. It can’t be helped. Even if problems arise, there doesn’t seem to be a proper adult to tell them that it’s wrong.”

“Yes. I also told our Jiheon to be careful of single-parent families since he was young. Oh my, I really get along well with Eun-bi!”

Eun-bi felt proud as Mrs. Jang agreed with her.

In fact, she knew very well from her brother Eun-yeop that Mrs. Jang hated single-parent families.

Eun-bi burned with determination inside.

She will not break up with Jung Jiheon.

She can’t allow Lee Jeong-o to take her place even more.

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

The next day.

After being in meetings all day, it was already evening.

Jeong-o took down all the papers that had been attached to the wall.

Chae Eun-bi, who hadn’t shown up all weekend, suddenly took a monthly leave today. It felt bitter to pass on the responsibility, but she didn’t feel bad because the preparations for the competitive PT seemed to be going well thanks to it.

Today, they decided to finalize the production direction. Once the direction is finalized, the work of creating advertising drafts will proceed based on this.

“Let’s start the meeting at 7 o’clock. Someone go to the director and tell him that the meeting will start at 7 o’clock.”

Who will bell the cat?

At Miran’s instruction, everyone lowered their heads.

“I’ll go.”

Jeong-o had no choice but to step forward.

It was a busy day like any Monday for Jiheon. After attending Max Planning’s executive meeting, going to two external meetings, and clearing a pile of approval documents, it was evening.

After tidying up his seat, Jiheon got up and put on his suit jacket. He was scheduled to meet Seung-gyu in the parking lot in 10 minutes. It was the day he was going to meet the children. It was the first time he was taking time for ‘the children’ personally, not for work.

Just as he was about to leave his office, there was a knock on the door and the door opened.

It was Lee Jeong-o, whom he hadn’t seen all day. Even while moving according to his schedule, his heart was happy and his eyes lit up.

She had a very business-like voice.

“Director, the meeting is ready. Is 7 o’clock okay for you?”

She said she would be friends the day before.

Anyway, he didn’t forget his duty as a director and asked her.

“What meeting?”

“You said you would decide on the production direction for the competitive PT today.”

Ah…….

“Are you leaving work now, Director?”

Jiheon closed his eyes tightly and quietly sighed. He belatedly remembered what he had told the production team last week.

When he received a report from the planning team leader in the morning, he had assumed that the production meeting would also be postponed because the related research data would arrive tomorrow.

“Let’s postpone it to tomorrow morning.”

Jeong-o looked perplexed at Jiheon’s decision.

“I heard that you didn’t have any schedule today, so we 맞춰 it [adjusted it] for today.”

“Something suddenly came up. Let’s do it tomorrow morning. The planning side also said that the research data isn’t ready, so let’s check it together tomorrow.”

Jeong-o’s eyes sharpened at Jiheon’s answer.

That’s right, you’ve been caught.

Jeong-o, who had once worked overtime like extra study on Yena’s birthday, couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Jeong-o raised her chin high and argued.

“If the decision is delayed, it may cause problems with other schedules, Director.”

You have things to do too, but where are you trying to run off to?

You should experience it too.

“What is it, Director?”

“Personal matter.”

“What kind of personal matter?”

“…….”

“I hope you go after work. It’s something that the director is essential for.”

Jeong-o pouted her plump lips with a sulky expression and snapped.

Jiheon’s eyes narrowed as he noticed Jeong-o’s intention.

“Are you taking revenge?”

“No. I’m saying let’s think from each other’s perspective.”

“I said I was sorry then.”

“Honestly, it was just lip service.”

Jiheon couldn’t move when Jeong-o pointed it out.

He was a person who couldn’t empathize with other people’s feelings well. Not only the exit of emotions but also somewhere at the entrance was blocked.

He had no choice but to admit this fact.

“I lack empathy.”

“…….”

“This is also because of the accident 7 years ago, but anyway, I’ve never tried to understand someone, so it’s my fault.”

Her stubbornness, as if she was just nagging to go into the meeting, was cute, but he couldn’t grant her request this time either.

He wanted to keep that small promise from 3 weeks ago.

The little child who said let’s definitely meet again next, next, next Monday. He didn’t want to make that child cry.

If that child didn’t resemble you, I wouldn’t be so 신경 쓰이다 [concerned].

So please understand.

He took half a step closer and said politely.

“I’m sorry. I was really sorry then.”

Half a step.

“I’m sorry.”

Another half step.

“I’m sorry.”

“…….”

“I’m sorry.”

Jeong-o shrugged her shoulders. Her heart fluttered.

The shorter the words of apology as he approached.

The gentle tone, as if he was really talking to a friend, was heard at the very end in front of her face, tickling her eyelashes.

She couldn’t help but look at him with trembling eyes.

It was a look that was hard to tell whether he was apologizing or seducing.

He tilted his head to the side and smiled brightly.

“Are we good now?”

Oh, this man!

She was dazed as if possessed, but as she suddenly came to her senses, she widened her eyes in embarrassment, and he, convinced that he had received permission, took a step back and 인사했다 [bowed].

“See you tomorrow.”

The door opened, and he left first.

Jung Jiheon, you bastard!

She felt like she had been 농락당하다 [played with] by her superior’s coquetry.

Jeong-o was so angry that she couldn’t tell anyone about this.