Deal Breaker - Chapter 121
SS II. What if: Didn’t go to Libya
The door to the Director’s office opened. Kanghyeon stepped out and, as he passed by Hyeji sitting at the secretary’s desk, asked,
“Secretary Noh, you saw the email saying the Libya operation was canceled, right?”
Hyeji answered without stopping her typing.
“Yes. I also forwarded it to the temporary Guide and canceled the schedule.”
“Figures. An S-Class assistant.”
Was he going to get coffee? As Kanghyeon headed into the small pantry attached to the secretary’s office, the muttered words he spoke to himself landed squarely in Hyeji’s ears.
“Then things will be relaxed until September.”
The next operation was in September. Only then did Hyeji realize her mistake.
There was still time, so he would be able to find a temporary Guide like this time, and there would be no disruption to Kanghyeon’s work. The problem was that she still would not be able to fake-rupture her grandmother’s disc then either.
So the time has come.
Hyeji steeled herself and followed him into the pantry. Kanghyeon, who had been opening the cabinet, turned around and asked,
“Coffee for you too, Secretary Noh?”
“No.”
“Oh, right. You haven’t been drinking coffee lately. Then…”
“I’m planning to take maternity leave starting in August. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
She did not ask, May I? as if seeking permission. Maternity leave was a worker’s right guaranteed by the state, and there was no need to beg an employer for it.
“…What kind of leave?”
Kanghyeon frowned as he took out a mug and asked. Maybe he had misheard, or thought he had misheard. This time, so he would not need to ask again, Hyeji answered clearly, one syllable at a time.
“Maternity leave.”
Clang!
I should have said it after he put the mug down.
Like a drama protagonist hearing shocking news, the mug he dropped did not shatter completely, only the handle broke off. Still, Kanghyeon would not even touch it, then cleaned it up himself.
All the while, his movements were stiff and awkward, like a robot. His thoughts were clearly elsewhere. Even without mind reading, it was easy to guess what he was thinking.
‘Is it my child? Then what am I supposed to do now?’
He must have been looking for the proper solution to this problem. Or maybe recalling clauses from the contract.
When he finished cleaning up, his thoughts seemed to have settled too. He leaned against the counter with his arms crossed and finally looked straight at Hyeji.
“You’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
The questions kept coming, slightly unhinged.
“I’m three months along.”
Hyeji deliberately shaved off a month, making it later than the last time she had guided him. As she intended, Kanghyeon finished calculating quickly.
“Ah… You said you weren’t seeing anyone… So you were?”
She thought he would look relieved that it was not his child, but instead he looked even more flustered.
“C-Congratulations, Secretary Noh.”
Even though it was not his child, he offered congratulations with the face of someone staring at a catastrophe. The corners of his mouth, forced upward, trembled precariously.
“When will you give me the wedding invitation?”
Only then did Hyeji realize why Kanghyeon looked so stunned.
Did he think she was going to terminate the Guide contract because she was getting married?
“I’m not getting married.”
“Why?”
“We broke up.”
“What? Why?”
Kanghyeon’s expression turned fierce in an instant. He looked ready to grab the collar and punch the bastard who knocked up his Guide and run off. There was a man who got her pregnant, but no bastard who ran.
“It was just a man I had a fling with for a short while. I didn’t think he was someone who should be a husband or a father, so I didn’t tell him I was pregnant and blocked him.”
At least she had dumped him instead of being dumped. Kanghyeon seemed relieved by that, exhaling a long breath he had been holding. After that came worries and meddling that were very much like Han Kanghyeon.
“Did you break up safely? There’s no chance he’ll come looking for you?”
“He hasn’t contacted me. And I have bodyguards, so it’s fine.”
“If he does show up, tell me.”
What would telling him about himself even accomplish? In any case, Hyeji was certain that would never happen.
“You thought it through wisely. Secretary Noh, you’re an S-Class Guide, you’ll walk a flower path for life. You don’t want to get dragged onto an unpaved road by some idiot.”
If only he never realized that ‘idiot’ was self-deprecation.
Hyeji could not bring herself to agree with him. If it was ever exposed, it would mean she had been insulting him too.
So she stayed quiet like someone dragged into an uncomfortable seat, and ended up being misunderstood as being offended by him badmouthing her ex.
“…Don’t tell me you still have feelings for that guy?”
“No.”
It had been ages since she put her one-sided love behind her.
“Right. Even if there are two parents, it’s better to have one good one than two when one of them is hopeless. You grew up just fine as a respectable member of society without a father. You’ll do well too. If it gets hard, talk to me comfortably. Ah, it’s fine if you take parental leave right after.”
* * *
Only after returning to his office and being alone did Kanghyeon finally remove the mask of an ethical employer. The face revealed underneath looked like that of someone who had just been beaten senseless out of the blue.
Noh Hyeji had a boyfriend?
There had definitely been signs.
A girl who rarely used her phone during work hours now checked it whenever she had a moment, smiling brightly at it. She would hurriedly hide it when he appeared.
It was not only Hyeji’s behavior that had changed. She used to wear only neat suits, but recently she had been wearing only light, flowing dresses she had never worn before. Her hairstyle was the same, her makeup style the same. So he could not pinpoint exactly what had changed, but her appearance had changed too. She seemed softer somehow.
In short, a girl who was already pretty had become even prettier.
And when a woman suddenly gets prettier, there are usually two reasons. She met a good doctor, or she met a man.
Kanghyeon had suspected it might be the latter, but since Hyeji was like a monk detached from worldly desires other than money, he had not believed it.
Noh Hyeji really did have a boyfriend.
