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“I never really realized it, but you’re so fast with your hands!”
Lee-yeon frowned at the voice of Director Park of Solgae Tree Hospital, who was grumbling behind her back.
It was the first time in a long time since she’d been outside of Hwaido. They were on a tour bus that would take them one-way over the bridge to Gimhae. Lee-yeon had just gotten on and was making her way down the narrow aisle of the bus. If it wasn’t for Director Park, who had been rambling on for a while now, the start of the business trip would have been much more relaxing.
“As expected, young people are scary, so scary.”
Lee-yeon remained silent despite the provocation.
“Director So, exactly what game are you playing here?”
He poked Lee-yeon in the back and she looked back in amazement. Director Park, dressed in luxury brands from head to toe, took a big sip from his brand-name coffee. He was just your average middle-aged man, except that even the sunglasses sitting on his nose had a big logo embedded near the hinge.
Lee-yeon stared at her face in the reflection of his black lenses and said flatly, “Don’t poke me in the back.”
“Oh, come on, let me in on it. What exactly did you do to make the animal center workers come running to Spruce Hospital? You and I both know that Spruce doesn’t have that many customers. I’m the one who’s been supplying these people with their coffee, so what did you do?”
“
.”
‘People here value new recruits too much.’
“Is there anything better than air conditioning in this heat?”
Lee-yeon threw herself into a seat by the window.
She was already at a loss. The rescue center had accepted dozens of cups of coffee from Director Park, but at same time came and greeted her.
Aside from this, she was dreading how things would go this day— Chae-woo being one of the judge. She was purposely sitting far from where he would be sitting but it was useless.
“Hey, talk to me. I may not be as young as you, but I can still feel when something’s up,” Director Park asked from the seat behind her, sticking his neck out long.
“There’s nothing going on, Director Park.”
“Oh wow, stop avoiding the question. And don’t feign ignorance either–!”
She really didn’t want to say anything. She wasn’t trying to avoid his questions, but how could she tell him that the man she was living with would reluctantly sit far away from her.
Lee-yeon cleared her throat and looked out of the window, disregarding the director. And her eyes were immediately drawn to someone wearing a thin zip-up jacket. He was almost a head taller than all the other animal center rescue workers wearing the same jacket. With straight broad shoulders and jet-black hair, he stood out easily from the crowd.
Chae-woo was talking to Dong-mi, nodding his head briefly with an indifferent expression on his face or furrowing his brow.
“There’s a saying that if you get into a fight with a family member, you’ll have bad luck, but I don’t believe it.”
‘One, two, three, four.’  Lee-yeon ignored what was being said to her and began doing a headcount of the center workers.
In the midsummer weather, the scorching sun shone fiercely with no shadows for relief. The sun shone brightly on Chae-woo’s pale face, drawing many people’s attention.
Unlike other people whose faces shined with sweat, his face was like a well-ironed button-down shirt. This man without a single drop of sweat was the most alien of the group. She brushed her tongue along the inside of her cheek bitterly and tried to contain her creeping anxiety.
“Director, are you listening to me? Why are the staff only greeting you?”
As the staff all filed onto the bus, it quickly became noisy.
Her eyes met Chae-woo’s as he walked in between the seats, his neck bent low. Lee-yeon’s heart fluttered when he pulled off his jacket like a young athlete.
She replied to Director Park as though possessed, “I know someone here.”
“Really? Who is it? A team leader? Or the head of the center?”
But Chae-woo passed by her without any sign of acknowledgement.
Even though they had agreed to pretend not to know each other before leaving the house, her head still went blank as if she’d taken an unexpected blow. She couldn’t believe she was so shaken up by his behavior, when he was the one whose embrace she fell asleep and woke up in. It was actually kind of funny.
“Who is your connection?”
Director Park urged Lee-yeon on by poking her shoulder and, staring at Chae-woo’s arms and the top of his head poking out over the seat, she said, “I-I don’t know.”
“What? What kind of answer is that?”
For the entire duration of the bus ride to the mountain, Chae-woo didn’t look back at Lee-yeon once.