Chae-Yoon looked at him incredulously. She never suggested sharing a bed, yet his words implied otherwise, making her feel unjustly accused.

She stared at Jae-O, who lightly shrugged and added, “I’ve never shared a bed with anyone; it would be uncomfortable.”

As if someone was there.

“I haven’t either,” Chae-Yoon replied, her tone conveying disbelief.

Jae-O’s eyebrows raised slightly. “So, let’s use separate beds.”

Chae-Yoon felt oddly disheartened by his blunt statement, even though she had no intention of sharing a bed with him. She retorted, somewhat petulantly, “Fine by me. Who’s arguing?”

Jae-O’s eyebrows twitched at her sulky tone. He watched Chae-Yoon, pouting, then said, “I was just trying to consider your comfort.”

“I didn’t want to share a bed with you either,” Chae-Yoon snapped back, her face betraying her frustration.

“Then why the attitude… Where are you going?” Jae-O asked as she left the room abruptly, ending their conversation. Soon after, two beds were placed in the spacious room.

Remembering the origin of the two beds, Chae-Yoon sighed, “One bed, as if…”

She was grateful they didn’t end up using separate rooms. Recalling Jae-O’s indifferent face, she glanced at his bed and then headed to the dressing room.

[Star Icon]

Jae-O, summoned to the vice chairman’s office right after arriving at work, found himself receiving unsolicited advice.

The topic of discussion was the retail business Jae-O had recently shown interest in.

“That’s too risky,” said Jung-Woong, Jae-O’s uncle and vice chairman of Taeil Group. Jae-O’s eyes narrowed slightly. Ever since he actively stepped into management, Jung-Woong had been obstructive, with unhelpful interferences like this one.

Finding it a waste of time, Jae-O retorted, “On the contrary, the direction you suggest is too safe and lacks differentiation from other brands.”

“Even so, pushing this marketing strategy with such risks is…”

“I’ll bear the burden, not you,” Jae-O cut him off, annoyance evident in his voice.

The room fell silent.

“…”

Jung-Woong, trying to maintain composure despite Jae-O’s disrespectful tone, replied, “I’m saying this for your own good.”

Jae-O’s mouth curled into a sneer. ‘For my good…’

From Jung-Woong’s mouth, these words seemed out of place.

If he had really cared about Jae-O.

[What will we do now that Uncle is in that state?] [What can we do? It’s inevitable.] “After Jae-O became an orphan, now Father will take care of him more than us,” they said, suggesting that Jae-O would receive more attention and care now that he was an orphan.

“That’s fine. He’s just a child, after all. Besides, Jae-O has always been obedient to us. His father’s early passing might even turn out to be a good thing for us,” they rationalized, believing that Jae-O’s situation could potentially benefit them.

Such words shouldn’t have been uttered at his father’s funeral. Jae-O recalled overhearing this conversation between Jung-Woong, who had always been two-faced, and his wife Kyung-Hee, who acted overly affectionate towards him, treating him like her own child.

Jae-O, remembering the moment he overheard them speaking so insensitively, slightly furrowed his long, narrow eyes and said, “You shouldn’t meddle in things that don’t concern you.”

Jung-Woong’s gaze hardened at Jae-O’s words.

“Han Jae-O,” he said in a low, grave tone.

Unperturbed, Jae-O responded, “I can handle my affairs. Please don’t mention this project again.”

His expression clearly conveyed his annoyance and desire to end this wasteful conversation.

Seeing Jae-O’s visibly irritated face, Jung-Woong’s lips twisted slightly, thinking, ‘That disrespectful brat.’

Jae-O maintained his defiant expression as he stood up and left the vice chairman’s office.

As he left the office, a voice tinged with irritation slipped through his graceful lips, “What a waste of time.”

This was typical of Jae-O, who never bothered with filtering his words or controlling his volume. Woo-Jong, standing next to him, noticed the frantic glances of the vice chairman’s secretaries and quickly ushered Jae-O away, knowing it was better not to attract too much attention.

“Director, let’s go,” Woo-Jong urged, and they both headed to Jae-O’s office in the elevator.

About a minute later, Jae-O arrived at his office, only to be met with an unexpected sight: Chae-Yoon, who he usually only saw at home, had come to his company.

Upon seeing Chae-Yoon, Jae-O’s long strides halted abruptly.

“Madam?” Woo-Jong sounded surprised as Chae-Yoon turned her head towards Jae-O.

As Jae-O laid eyes on her, his gaze subtly reacted to her presence, evident in the slight change in his eyes.