Min Woo looked at her in surprise, just as his phone started to ring. Checking the caller, he quickly pressed the call button with a bewildered look, releasing Yul Li.

“Yes, grandfather.”
[What the hell are you doing!] As soon as he answered the phone, Chairman Kwon’s angry voice flowed out.

[You’re the kind of guy who delegates all the work to subordinates and leaves early?] It seemed that Chairman Kwon had come himself after hearing that Min Woo, who was in charge, had left the office despite being in the middle of handling an accident overnight.

“I didn’t leave, I just came out for dinner.”
Min Woo hurriedly made an excuse. However, Chairman Kwon’s anger didn’t subside easily.

[Can’t you get back to the office right now!] “Grandfather, Je Ho is with us too. He saved Yul Li from getting hurt in the mall yesterday. So, we came out for a meal together.”
Min Woo spat out a lie without changing his expression at all, hoping that mentioning Je Ho would calm Chairman Kwon’s anger.

[Je Ho is there too?] Fortunately, it seemed that his guess was correct, and Chairman Kwon’s voice softened a little.

“Yes, grandfather. I’ll drop off Yul Li and return to the office right away.”
[Send Yul Li home with Je Ho and you come back to the office right now.] Having said what he wanted to say, Chairman Kwon abruptly hung up the call.

“Does the old man not sleep at night?”
Muttering to himself, Min Woo regretted mentioning that he was with Je Ho. He hoped he hadn’t opened a can of worms.

At that moment, Je Ho’s voice came from behind.

“I was given 30 minutes, but the Chairman probably won’t give you more than 10 minutes, right?”
Damn it! It was infuriating, but it was true.

“Yul Li, I’ll go ahead.”
After hurriedly saying his goodbyes, Min Woo ran off towards the parking lot. As Min Woo disappeared from sight, Yul Li turned towards Je Ho.

“There’s no need for you to take me. I can call a driver.”
“If you’re going to call a driver, I’ll drive.”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“We’re going in the same direction anyway.”
There was no real reason to refuse since Chairman Kwon had explicitly told Je Ho to take her home. Honestly, she had hoped to be alone with him for a moment. She had things she wanted to ask, but…

Because of the argument they had during the meal, it was hard for her to start a conversation. She started regretting why she got so worked up over nothing.

“I didn’t notice because of the situation that day….”
Finally, as they were about to reach home, Yul Li managed to start talking.

“When the accident happened, you weren’t wearing your jacket, were you?”
Despite having a deep enough wound to need stitches, the jacket only had blood on it; there was no tear. That meant he put on the jacket after getting hurt. In the shock of the moment, she hadn’t realized it, but on thinking back, he definitely was only holding the jacket at first. The jacket’s dark color probably didn’t show the blood as much as his white shirt did.

“Did you wear the jacket to hide your injury?”
Without looking at Yul Li, Je Ho nodded.

“Why?”
If she had known he was hurt, she wouldn’t have been blankly standing around… She would have tried to pull herself together and at least not been a burden.

“….I didn’t want to make you cry.”
After a moment of silence, Je Ho slowly opened his mouth.

He didn’t want to make her cry?

At those words, Yul Li’s heart began to race wildly. As her cheeks, already flushed from the alcohol, started to turn even redder, Yul Li pressed her hand against her face.

Snap out of it, Chae Yul Li! Showing weakness over a few glasses of wine……

10 years ago, she had cried at the sight of Je Ho’s injured state, so she must have thought she might cry again this time.

It probably means nothing. It would have been really awkward if she had cried in that situation.

Yul Li took a deep breath to calm her trembling heart.

When they arrived at her house, Je Ho stopped the car and turned off the engine.

“Take a rest, then.”
“Just a moment.”
As Je Ho was about to open the car door, Yul Li quickly stopped him.

“Leave the car as it is and bring it when you come to meet the Director tomorrow.”
He looked at Yul Li as if questioning her sincerity, then nodded slowly.

“Alright. Let’s do it that way.”
“Thank you for driving me. Be careful on your way back.”
Yul Li said goodbye and grabbed the door handle. As she was about to open the door, this time Je Ho stopped her.

“If you’re grateful, will you do me a favor?”
“A favor?”
“Take off your jacket for a moment.”
“Huh?”
“Just for a moment.”
As Yul Li began to slowly take off her jacket with a puzzled expression, Je Ho’s face slowly distorted.

“Min Woo, I knew you’d do this.”
Without thinking, Yul Li looked down where Je Ho’s gaze landed. Underneath her short sleeves, a swollen, red arm came into view. It was where Min Woo had grabbed her earlier.

“This is because Min Woo didn’t know. My skin is weak and bruises easily.”
Yul Li quickly made excuses, but Je Ho’s expression did not soften.

“How can you say that a friend who’s known you for over 10 years didn’t know you bruise easily?”
His voice shortened in excitement, and veins appeared on the back of the hand gripping the steering wheel.

Just as Yul Li was about to say ‘There’s no need to get so angry’, she changed her mind and kept her mouth shut. The thought that someone was worried about her didn’t feel too bad.

“I thought you would cry in pain……”
After a while, Je Ho spoke in a calm voice.

“But you didn’t cry even then. Should I praise you?”
“Not at all.”
Feeling like she had turned into a crybaby, Yul Li’s voice grew louder without realizing it.

“Now, I rarely cry.”
“Really?”
His voice was dry and emotionless. It sounded like he didn’t believe her, so Yul Li quickly added.

“Yes. It’s different from 10 years ago. I was young then, I didn’t know anything.”
Because she didn’t know anything, she was moved by trivial things, her heart raced, and she gave meaning to them.

But after finding out about her father’s hidden relationship with her stepmother and that Yuri was her halfsister, everything changed. All of this happened less than a month after Je Ho left for the U.S.

He wouldn’t be able to imagine how deep the wounds from her family’s betrayal were. Her tears that once flowed freely had eventually dried up, and her once soft emotions had hardened.

Physical pain was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

Her eyes trembled as she remembered the painful day.

That’s when it happened. Je Ho reached out and stroked her cheek.

Startled, Yul Li quickly backed away. But the space inside the car was too narrow to escape his touch. She felt the cold glass window against her back.

“So, you said you wouldn’t cry……”
Je Ho whispered softly, looking into her eyes.

“……!”
Only then did Yul Li realize that tears were welling up in her eyes. Like a lie, a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Looking at Yul Li biting her lip with a surprised face, Je Ho frowned.

“10 years ago, and now……”
He muttered to himself in a subdued voice.

“Nothing has changed.”
For some reason, her tears, both then and now, greatly irritated him.

Je Ho, frowning at Yul Li who bit her lips with a surprised face, ran his thumb over the trail of her tear, leaning in close to Yul Li.