Chapter 17: Asan Medical Center

When Soo-jin heard Kim Tae-hyun thanking her, she blushed, thinking, "Did I speak too loud?" As Soo-jin was clearing her head, she heard him speak once more.

"By the way, would you like to drink coffee with me since we have met here today?"

As Kim Tae-hyun wasn't coming in the car, his most trusted aide, Seo Jin-woo—playing all three roles in his life: his friend at school, his bodyguard, and now his assistant at work—also got out of the car. As he did, he heard Kim Tae-hyun asking Soo-jin to have coffee with him.

Hearing Kim Tae-hyun ask a girl for coffee in such a polite manner, all the security guards' jaws dropped, especially the security captain's. He regretted his earlier actions of disregarding Soo-jin. But Seo Jin-woo, who knew his boss the best, was the most dumbfounded. He had never seen Kim Tae-hyun speak to a girl so gently before, and he definitely hadn't seen him invite a girl for coffee of his own will.

Once, Seo Jin-woo curiously asked his boss Kim Tae-hyun, "Why don't you fancy girls like other boys?" Kim Tae-hyun replied, "Because I already have a girl I like." From that, Seo Jin-woo realized that his boss had fallen in love, but all these years he had never seen his boss's love until now. Looking at her, he thought, She is definitely beautiful, no doubt about that.

While Seo Jin-woo was deciphering what was different about Soo-jin compared to other girls, he heard Soo-jin decline his boss's offer for coffee with an apologetic expression.

"Oh no, thanks for asking, but you see, I am looking for someone, and you might be busy, so maybe next time."

Kim Tae-hyun, hearing that, was disappointed but did not show it on his face. He said, "Next time indeed. By the way, what are you doing here? Whom are you looking for? I can help you if you would like. I live in this neighborhood too, you know."

Hearing him, Soo-jin recalled he had definitely come out of the gates and replied, asking for help, "You see, I am looking for a person named Kim Joon-ho. He is also in our university but in the design major. We are in the same club. He hasn't visited the club and the class for almost three days. Worried, his homeroom professor sent me here to look for him. Do you have any idea where he might be living?"

Lying is also part of deception, and wearing a mask for almost seven years now, she had become an expert at it.

When Joon-ho's name fell from Soo-jin's mouth, Kim Tae-hyun became furious. Angry at Joon-ho, thinking, "Why? Why you, Joon-ho? Always you. You have to ruin everything—a perfect meeting between me and her. You've ruined it again!" He wanted to kill Joon-ho right away.

As Soo-jin looked at Kim Tae-hyun, there was a bone-chilling aura oozing from his body. The smile from earlier had vanished, and an oppressive atmosphere was forming around them.

"Sir, we are getting late," Seo Jin-woo, noticing his boss's change in mood, shouted out loud to save him from ruining his first impression on the girl he liked. As Kim Tae-hyun heard his friend's shout, he snapped out of it, and the oppressive aura vanished into thin air. Donning a friendly smile again, as if the smile on his face had never left in the first place.

Seo Jin-woo spoke once more as his boss was not speaking and the atmosphere was becoming awkward, answering Soo-jin's question from earlier.

"Kim Joon-ho, right? He is a gardener in the manor and he is injured, so he is admitted to Asan Medical Center. I was going to inform the university sooner anyway. Thank you, Miss, for looking after Kim Joon-ho."

Soo-jin, hearing Joon-ho was injured and admitted to the hospital, blanked out. Her mind froze; tears were forming in her eyes, threatening to fall. She was worried—extremely worried. Wanting to see Joon-ho, she started to run.

Kim Tae-hyun, seeing her worried for another man, was helpless. He wanted to stop her, tell her not to go, and stay with him, but he knew that seeing the tears in her eyes threatening to fall anytime after hearing Joon-ho was injured, stopping her now would destroy the possibilities of any kind of interaction with Soo-jin in the future.

So, despite never wanting to send Soo-jin to Joon-ho, he swallowed his grief and offered to send her to Asan Medical Center.

As Soo-jin wanted to run to see Joon-ho and if he was alright or not, she hadn't noticed the lies from earlier. When she said professor sent her to look for Kim Joon-ho, it was already exposed. Now everyone knew who was worried the most.

A hand abruptly grabbed her, stopping her from running. Looking back, it was Kim Tae-hyun. Anger filled her head as she wanted to shout out loud, "Why are you stopping me?" She heard him speak first.

"Wait, I will send you there with the car. You will arrive much earlier."

Soo-jin hesitated at first because she had just met him today, but not having any choice and wanting to arrive at the hospital as soon as possible, she obliged and got into the car. She was unable to see the grandeur and luxurious car's interior; there was only Joon-ho in her head. Looking out, she wiped the tears forming in her eyes.

Soo-jin and Kim Tae-hyun were sitting side by side in the car while Seo Jin-woo was driving. Seo Jin-woo, looking at Soo-jin from the rearview mirror, saw the anxious and worried look on her face, thinking what relation that abandoned Kim Joon-ho had to their young master's woman.

While Kim Tae-hyun saw Soo-jin beside him, looking out of the window, hiding her tears and wiping them occasionally, his heart ached seeing her like that. She had tears for another man. Looking at her, he was making a decision: something needed to be done about Kim Joon-ho.

With an expressionless face, he ordered Seo Jin-woo to "drive fast."

Seo Jin-woo, looking at both of them from the rearview mirror and sighing at the mess of the situation, complied with his boss's wishes and zoomed across the road.