Chapter 04
“Wearing Perfume?”
As always, Lee Yeon habitually checked that her makeup was still intact before stepping into the company lobby.
What should I do after work today?
She muttered to herself as she passed through the gate, radiating a professional scent.
Like any other office worker, she was already thinking about going home the moment she arrived.
Before she got married, she never looked forward to leaving work this much…
The longer her married life continued, the more grateful she felt for accepting Dohyun’s proposal.
A luxurious penthouse awaited her, work-life balance secured thanks to the housekeeper auntie.
The elevated quality of life was nice, but what she valued most was the freedom from her mother’s suffocating obsession.
The dinner-table lectures she used to endure every night, the pressure laced with worry, the forced lineup of blind-date candidates whose photos she had to choose from, all felt like something from a distant past.
Just as she was envisioning her post-work bliss, someone suddenly hooked an arm around hers.
“Hey! Lee Yeon, heading in now?”
It was Sujin her fellow new hire and friend of the same age.
In one hand, Sujin clutched a Starbucks cup, her smile making the aegyo lines under her eyes stand out even more.
Back when not a single person at Wuseong Card welcomed Lee Yeon, Sujin had been the first to approach her.
With her slightly upturned, cat-like eyes and striking features, Sujin had initially seemed aloof.
But contrary to her looks, she was down-to-earth and refreshingly candid.
“Sujin, are you seriously telling me the week hasn’t even started yet?”
Lee Yeon nodded in solidarity, her gaze drifting to Sujin’s outfit, which once again refused to be anything close to ordinary.
It was so Sujin.
Dark brown shoes paired with a brown skirt, a feminine blouse with a yellow ribbon, and dazzling, flashy earrings catching the light from her ears.
The vivid yellow blouse practically shouted, I’m Jung Sujin!
Loud enough for the whole lobby to hear.
“Is that a new blouse?
Even the colour is so… you.
I could spot you from a mile away.”
Yeon laughed playfully, eyeing the blouse.
“Bought it with my bonus.
And speaking of distinctive your curls are unique enough to be spotted from a hundred meters away.
How about a trip to the clinic?”
Sujin teased as she smoothed down Lee Yeon’s hair.
Always interested in grooming, Sujin had been bringing up hair treatments like a habitual greeting ever since she’d overheard coworkers openly gossiping about Lee Yeon.
She’d nagged more than once for Lee Yeon to either straighten her hair or at least put on a little makeup, but Yeon’s answer was always the same.
“Curls have their own charm.”
When Yeon replied with a smile, Sujin shook her head as if she’d expected nothing less.
“Lunch is at the company cafeteria today.
You know that, right?”
Leaving those words behind, Sujin headed off to her seat.
Yeon reached her own desk and immediately searched for a mirror.
“Ugh, thanks to Jung Sujin, my makeup almost got ruined.”
She dug through her bag until she found a brown eyeliner.
Sujin, while gesturing animatedly during their chat, had playfully tapped her cheek.
Quickly, Yeon traced over the freckles that had probably faded a little.
Press.
A firm touch, darkening them again.
“Secretary Lee, are you doing colouring games this early in the morning?”
That familiar voice came from just above her head.
Yeon froze in place.
She had completely forgotten Do Hyun had gotten in earlier today.
The state-of-the-art glass partition around his office was set to opaque, so she hadn’t realised he was inside.
She certainly hadn’t expected him to come out while she was… colouring her freckles.
God, how weird must this look?
What excuse do I even make?
Oh, this is just the latest freckle makeup trend?
She had never been caught like this before.
Her lips trembled with nervousness.
Unable to move, she slowly tilted her head up and forced a small, smiling eye-curve.
“Yes!
I was… testing the performance of my makeup.
You know… colouring.”
Whatever.
Just say anything.
Dohyun’s eyebrow twitched, clearly unimpressed with her eye-smile.
Ah, she remembered something he’d said in passing before overdone eye-smiles felt insincere to him.
This isn’t fake, I swear.
Please just let it go.
Please.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Secretary Lee do you wear perfume?
Or is that hand cream I smell?”
Whew.
Thankfully, he seemed willing to drop her odd excuse without fuss.
Relieved at the change in subject, Iyeon brightened visibly.
“Oh, it’s a mix of my favourite body cream and perfume.
It’s a unique, uplifting floral scent.
I’ve always liked fragrant products.”
“It’s not a common scent, that’s why I asked.”
“Nice, right?
I actually layer two different perfumes over the body cream.
The combination makes this lingering aroma that’s both unique and fresh, with a touch of floral.
It’s like I’ve crafted my own signature scent something you won’t smell anywhere else.
Want me to tell you which products I use?”
She was almost grateful for the topic change especially since it was about fragrance.
If anything could distract him from the freckle situation, it was this.
Her eyes sparkled more brightly than ever.
“No, that’s fine.
Just check today’s meeting schedule for me.”
“…Yes, understood.”
With that, Dohyun disappeared back into his office.
Too much?
She wondered.
Still, hearing that he liked the scent put her in a good mood.
Lee Yeon had always been especially sensitive to smells.
Perfume and body cream were non-negotiables in her daily routine.
After years of mixing and matching her favourite fragrances, she’d finally found this perfect combination and had stuck with it ever since.
It felt like she’d gone a little overboard, buoyed by relief.
Maybe that was why Dohyun had all but rushed back into his office.
Still… it was unexpected for him to ask a question like that.
He was a man who rarely showed interest in others.
Sujin had once said, “The Vice President’s surprisingly warm to you.
I’m jealous.”
But after giving it some thought, Lee Yeon had decided it wasn’t warmth it was simply that he found her easier to be around.
Unlike the other women who seemed to turn on their charm the second Dohyun appeared, she had remained completely indifferent to him, even after two years.
They had never so much as exchanged a glance romantically.
Perhaps that’s why he’d found it convenient to propose marriage.
It was probably that convenient lack of tension that had made him propose marriage in the first place.
Even after the wedding, he acknowledged her existence and nothing more.
Four months had passed, and nothing between them had changed.
Is it a good thing to be treated so casually… or a bad thing?
With that thought lingering, Lee Yeon used the remote to switch the office glass to transparent, picked up her work tablet, and stepped inside.
The office mirrored Dohyun’s personality modern, with a bold, commanding air.
Through the glass wall behind his desk, the stylish Seoul cityscape stretched out like a painting.
Walking in along the path of sunlight, she began her report.
“There’s nothing scheduled for this morning.
In the afternoon, there are two internal video conferences.”
She scrolled down the tablet screen with her finger as she spoke.
“What time’s the last meeting?”
“Four p.m.”
“I’ll head home right after it’s over.”
So he wanted to leave early too.
“Yes, understood.”
By the time she returned to her desk, the corners of her lips were slowly curling upward.
Oh yes early leave today!
Bzzz.
Just landed in Korea.
Perfect timing.
The notification was from Hayul.
Hayul was the only one who knew why Iyeon had become the person she was today.
The only friend with whom she’d shared wounds no one else knew about.
Where’d you go?
Uh, I told you I was going to Switzerland for a week!!!
Did she?
Now that she thought about it, it was odd for Hayul to go radio silent.
The three exclamation marks radiated irritation.
Lee Yeon felt she should probably lie and say she remembered.
Of course I knew! Just kidding, kidding.
When did you get back?
Yesterday.
Meet me today and I’ll let you off the hook.
For Hayul to request a meeting on a day she could leave work early it was almost too perfect.
The moment she clocked out, Iyeon weaved through the crowd of office workers eager to get home, practically flying to the spicy chicken feet place where Hayul was waiting.
Pushing open the door, she scanned the cluster of round, pojangmacha-style tables for a distinctive hair colour.
She spotted a woman with ash-grey hair sitting against the wall, not far from the entrance.
“You’re here.
I thought I caught a whiff of Lee Yeon.
Here, take this as your present.”
Somehow, Hayul had known she was almost out of her favourite fragrance and had bought a bottle during her trip.
“Thanks.
Now that I’ve got my gift, can I go home?”
Lee Yeon smiled playfully, making as if to rise from her seat with the present in hand.
Hayul stirred her spoon like a weapon, fuming.
“Traitor! Take it and run, and I’ll report you!”
Finding her friend’s outrage far too amusing, Lee Yeon burst out laughing.
Seeing Lee Yeon laugh like that, Hayul couldn’t help but join in.
Hayul wasn’t someone you’d call strikingly beautiful, but her smile was truly lovely.
When she laughed, two round “eggs” popped out on her cheeks, deepening into neat laugh lines, and her eyes curved into perfect half-moons.
“Every time I see you in that disguise, I feel so awkward I could die.
Who am I even here, eating spicy chicken feet right now?”
“Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?
You’re still going to tear into them one bone at a time anyway.”
Some things never changed.
For years, Hayul had repeated the same line whenever Lee Yeon showed up, saying she still wasn’t used to her.
Even after nearly seventeen years of friendship, she’d claim she still couldn’t fully adapt, as if she were probing to see if Lee Yeon’s heart had opened at all.
And in response, Lee Yeon would lightly let her know that nothing had changed.
“If I were born with your face, I’d have eaten the whole world alive.
I’d have debuted in the entertainment industry, made it big, and used my own hard-earned money to move out of that hellhole and live in comfort!”
It was second nature for Hayul to speak ill of her family.
That alone told Lee Yeon something had festered again.
***
Back in high school, Hayul had lost her mother, her only family, in an accident.
That was when she learned she was an illegitimate child.
Her biological father was Lim Junseok, vice chairman of Youngshin Holdings, one of the top three food corporations in South Korea.
After her mother’s death, Junseok had taken her in as part of the Youngshin family.
After Junseok took in the now-orphaned Hayul as a member of the Youngshin family, she grew up eating her meals under the sharp eyes and cold shoulders of the household.
Even after leaving the main estate as an adult, she couldn’t truly break free not while she was still tied to Youngshin Holdings by Junseok’s will.
Lost in their chatter, Hayul suddenly realised they hadn’t even ordered yet.
She threw her hand in the air toward the ceiling.
“Ajumma!
One order of spicy chicken feet and a bottle of soju, please!”
Fortunately, the food came quickly, and the table was soon set.
Claiming that stress was best cured with spicy food, Hayul cracked open the soju.
“First, we drink.”
“How was your trip?”
Lee Yeon asked, accepting the shot glass Hayul poured.
“It’s stupidly expensive, but it’s such a great country for healing.
You should go too.
Oh, take your husband with you.”
At the mention of her husband, Lee Yeon gave nothing more than an awkward smile.
Catching that awkwardness, Hayul’s eyes widened in shock.
“How can you make it that obvious?!
Don’t tell me… You two are still keeping your distance?”
