By Zephyria “Vice President, the temperature is quite low. You should wear an outer layer…”
“I’m just going to smoke a cigarette.”
Refusing the outer layer and sending him away, Lee Hae-sung crossed the crosswalk and stopped in front of the railing.
Given the time, there were no people around. He lit the cigarette and exhaled the first puff like a sigh. The smoke was swept away by the cold wind and dissipated without a trace.
‘Then that’s a violation of personal information.’
The moment he heard Yoon Hye-an’s sullen remark, he had almost retorted like this.
Hong-seo didn’t say that.
How do you know the accommodation location that I never told you? That’s a violation of personal information. That child didn’t say that. He almost sternly admonished Yoon Hye-an, telling him not to say things that Hong-seo didn’t say.
He, who had threatened the person who imitated the child, was now only looking for similarities with that child. To someone desperate to find similarities, everything would seem similar…
Facing the night view, Lee Hae-sung shrugged and let out a self-deprecating chuckle. Then, bringing the cigarette to his lips, he muttered.
“I’ve completely lost my mind.”
Just how much does Yoon Hye-an know?
The movies we watched together, the words that child said to me, the layout of my house that child frequented, even the custom-made perfume only we knew about… Yoon Hye-an received the perfume as a gift but pretended not to know, but the moment he unwrapped it, I was sure when I saw his stiffened face.
If so, does Yoon Hye-an also know about our most intimate communion, the two of us, waking up in bed?
When his thoughts reached that point, Lee Hae-sung frowned as if he had witnessed a repulsive scene. The hand bringing the cigarette to his lips stopped abruptly. What if he knows? So what?
He shook his head and deeply inhaled the filter.
“I’m not in my right mind.”
He actually suspected the reason he wasn’t in his right mind.
The night temperature was quite chilly.
That was enough to make Lee Hae-sung anxious. The cooling weather meant the time when that child left was approaching.
It was the first anniversary.
In the meantime, he had gained access to the ancestral shrine, and the movie was being remade. He thought he was moving forward a little, but that wasn’t the case. Lee Hae-sung realized he was still standing in the same place, like a child who didn’t know what to do.
He wanted to see him. He wanted to talk, to touch, to pull him into an embrace. He still couldn’t accept the reality that he couldn’t do that. He didn’t even know how he could accept that fact.
Before his eyes, a night view unfolded as if magic had been cast, but to Lee Hae-sung, the city was in darkness.
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ARA Group and Hanseo Group, Finalizing the Spin-off Phase
A tense atmosphere, cautious movements from both sides
The spin-off of Hanseo Group and ARA Group has entered its final stages.
Following the passing of the late Chairman Lee Woo-yeol, the third generation of management has been carefully laying the groundwork for a smooth spin-off. ARA, which was engaged in businesses such as electronics, finance, and insurance, had already grown considerably, making the spin-off a wise decision.
Issues such as shareholding ratios between the two parties have been completely resolved, leaving only the final administrative wrap-up on paper.
Lee Hae-sung, the current Vice President of ARA Electronics, who will become the first Chairman of the independent ARA Group, held a meeting with his key staff this afternoon at the ARA Electronics Building in Yeoksam-dong.
The photo shows Vice President Lee leaving the building after the meeting. Vice President Lee, who rarely shows emotion, had a considerably stiff expression, indicating the gravity of the matter.
The representatives of both parties are scheduled to meet on the 28th, two days from now, at the Hanseo Holdings building, the holding company of Hanseo Group, to put a period on their journey.
Choi Hong-seo, who had meticulously read through the article, scrolled back up to the top of the screen. The content was not particularly new, as he had already seen several related articles with similar information. However, the attached photo was new material taken this afternoon.
Lee Hae-sung passing through the revolving door and getting into the back seat of the waiting car – his movements were captured second by second and attached to articles from various media outlets.
Unlike his usual appearance in news articles, where neither pleasure nor displeasure could be read, his eyes were sharp and his mouth was set in a hard line.
It was something that had been prepared step-by-step over several years, and there was no reason for it to go wrong now. All the articles seemed to agree on this, but Choi Hong-seo knew that the completion of this spin-off itself would be a very significant turning point for both groups. Reading the article made his shoulders tense up without him realizing it.
Hmm… Choi Hong-seo let out a sigh, as if taking a deep breath, and put down his phone. Then, he pulled back the card, pen, and notebook that he had pushed to one side of the small dining table.
The card was still a blank white space, with nothing written on it, and the notebook, where he had practiced phrases to write on the card, was filled with rejected phrases scribbled out with straight lines. Choi Hong-seo picked up the pen again and began writing in the notebook.
“I saw the news. It seems like you have something important going on, so I hope it concludes well…”
Ah, this isn’t it. Choi Hong-seo erased the letters by scribbling random circles over them.
He hadn’t realized writing a single line for a card to go with a gift would be this difficult.
Picking up his phone again, Choi Hong-seo left the search results page for ‘ARA Lee Hae-sung’ open and opened a new tab. He typed the search query, letter by letter, pressing down firmly, muttering, “Support… mes-sage… writing… bu-tt-on…”
Just as he was about to look at the search results page, a cheerful melody signaled that the cooking in the oven was complete. He wasn’t very good at cooking, but this was a multi-purpose oven he had recently bought to heat up simple meals and make snacks for Tiffany.
Choi Hong-seo opened the oven with anticipation.
The chicken breast, dried with hot air, looked similar to the photo on the blog at first glance.
The shriveled, dried meat also vaguely resembled dried orange peel. He picked up a piece and tore it along the grain. When he put it in his mouth and chewed, it had a moderately chewy texture, not too hard. This seemed to be completed according to the blog’s recipe.
Tiffany, as if liking the smell, had already come down from the cat tree and was loitering by the kitchen entrance.
“Doesn’t it smell delicious? It’s your snack. I’ll give it to you after it cools down.”
As if protesting that she couldn’t wait and wanted it right now, she raised her tail and let out a couple of meows, opening her small jaw.
“It’s still a bit too hot for you.”
After blowing on the finely shredded chicken breast to cool it, Choi Hong-seo crouched down on the kitchen floor. When he placed the snack on his palm, Tiffany approached slowly with a hint of wariness and sniffed it first. He smiled at her serious expression, her gray ears perked up and her gray nose twitching.
Tiffany was basically a long-haired cat with white fur mixed with gray patches, but her eyes and ears were gray, as if she had been dyed. That’s why, even though Tiffany always had a stern expression, he couldn’t help but smile when looking at her.
Having thoroughly explored it, she finally took the snack on his palm into her mouth. She quickly ate the small piece and looked up at Choi Hong-seo, licking her lips.
“What? Do you want more?”
She answered with a meow.
This time, without shredding it too finely, he broke a piece in half and placed it on his palm.
Tiffany, putting one of them in her mouth first, took the other piece and trotted away from the kitchen. She leaped onto the top of the cat tree and placed the remaining meat between her paws, chewing the rest of the meat in her mouth.
Although her wariness had significantly lessened since they first met, she still never approached Choi Hong-seo unless it was time to give her a snack. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to hate being brushed, but even when being brushed, if his hand touched her body instead of the brush, she would roll over or let out a light hiss.
Choi Hong-seo was beginning to understand why cat owners were called ‘butlers.’
Even though he only provided her with convenience unilaterally, and couldn’t hold or pet her, he still enjoyed taking care of her, and found her adorable.
Choi Hong-seo, who had been gazing wistfully at Tiffany leisurely enjoying her snack while lying on the cat tree, suddenly looked at his phone’s clock, startled. He had to leave soon to not be late for his second consultation.
He no longer had time to ponder what to write on the card.
He tidied up the oven to prevent any accidents if Tiffany touched it while he was out, and then picked up the pen while standing. He couldn’t delay any longer.
Pressing the tip of the pen against his lower lip, Choi Hong-seo’s gaze turned towards the head of his bed.
Three movie posters were displayed side-by-side on the wall.
Only three movies they had watched together. Lee Hae-sung had gifted him all three posters.
They weren’t the original posters from their release, which were traded at a premium, but he had managed to buy all three posters online at a low price. They were old movies, but they were still classics, often mentioned among movie fans.
Looking at the posters, secured with masking tape, helped to calm his dizzy and confused mind a little. Lee Hae-sung was no longer his lover here, but the memories were entirely his own.
Looking at each poster one by one, Choi Hong-seo bent down and placed his pen on the card. As if mocking the hours he had spent agonizing over it, the pen wrote the letters firmly and without hesitation.
“You seem like someone who can do anything in the world, Vice President.
So, whatever it is, I’m sure it will work out as you wish.
I don’t think there’s anything else I can say. I don’t think there’s anything else he needs right now.
What the past Choi Hong-seo would have said to him…
Therefore, giving him what he needs seems like the best course of action.
After folding the card and putting it in the envelope, he took out the box from the long rectangular shopping bag he had carefully placed on the sofa. He carefully tucked the card envelope between the ribbons that had been prettily tied at the store.
He put the box back in the shopping bag, slung the bag he had prepared beforehand over his shoulder, and finally stood in front of the cat tree. Tiffany, having finished all her snacks, was lying down lazily, seemingly sleepy.
“Will you accept the gift?”
The cat blinked and flicked her tail once, as if in response. Choi Hong-seo playfully tapped her chubby paw and smiled with a tense expression.
“I hope you won’t be angry…”
Tiffany swiped her paw away, as if to say, ‘Don’t touch me.’ Choi Hong-seo retracted his hand with an awkward, bitter smile.
“Play well. I’ll be back.”
Standing at the entrance, he habitually glanced at Tiffany one last time before closing the door.
Inside the carefully packed shopping bag, the box contained a striped tie.
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