Illusion Blind Date - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#25

“Looks like you’re here for coffee?”
In the next moment, his expression softened into something warm and gentle, as if he’d never been any other way.
“Yes. I’m going to take it upstairs.”
“What kind?”
“We both drink Iced Americanos. Are you going to buy them for us?”
Faced with Cho-eun’s easy manner—the way she treated him like someone she’d parted with yesterday—Bom found herself at a loss for words.
Bom considered herself bright and cheerful enough, but Cho-eun operated on a different level entirely. She had no shyness, and her words came effortlessly.
Tae-mun smiled faintly and walked toward the register.
“Oh! I’m being called.”
Cho-eun glanced at her phone as it began to ring, her expression turning regretful as she gave Tae-mun’s back a light tap.
He turned to look at her.
“What is it?”
“Professor, you can cancel my coffee. I’ve been called in, so I’ll head out first. Buy me a coffee next time, okay? Promise?”
Cho-eun left Bom standing alone, waving as she disappeared.
She wondered idly why no one had called her.
Bom offered an awkward smile and drifted closer to Tae-mun’s side.
After ordering the coffee and completing the payment, he looked down at her and spoke.
“Don’t you like cookies?”
“I do like them, but… I ate too much at lunch.”
“Then have one later.”
Did my assist work go over that well with you today?
As she watched him order an additional box of cookies, Bom felt she was beginning to understand this man’s style.
Nobody disliked intelligent, capable people, but few went this far out of their way.
He clearly had a taste for competence.
Shortly after, carrying cookies and coffee, Bom left the cafe with him.
“The weather’s nice. Shall we walk for a bit?”
See? Just as I thought.
My instinct was right after all.
When she hesitated, troubled by something, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Are you worried people will misunderstand because of the article?”
He’d noticed her hesitation and posed the question with casual ease.
“A little, maybe. But everyone knows better, don’t they? I mean, honestly, there’s no way anyone would think you and I…”
“Why do you think there’s no way?”
There was a flicker in his eyes as they studied her face intently.
Is he serious?
The two of us—professor and me—as lovers?
“…I’m sorry?”
Bom’s eyes quivered slightly.
She was doing her best to appear composed, but her mind was beginning to blur.
The hand holding the coffee began to tremble faintly.
His eyes, gently rippling, caught and held her gaze, drawing it deep.
Bom turned her head away quietly.
As she did, both their reflections appeared in the glass wall of the building beside them.
Standing next to his broad frame, she looked like a cicada clinging to an old, withered tree.
A cicada on a dead tree.
See? How could two people like this ever be lovers?
No, this is ridiculous.
“Am I being unreasonable?”
Oh, he’ll hear me called unreasonable now.
Following where he led, they arrived at the Back Courtyard, connected to the annex building.
People sat scattered on benches as if sunbathing.
“Shall we sit over there?”
“Yes, of course.”
The Back Courtyard, bathed in lazy sunlight and touched by a gentle breeze, was one of YJ University Hospital’s greatest treasures.
The beautifully landscaped garden had pathways suitable for wheelchairs and a large pond where goldfish swam freely.
With benches scattered throughout for reflection and rest, it was a place people visited often.
Sitting across from Tae-mun at the table between their benches, Bom glanced uncertainly at her surroundings.
“Oh, this is lovely. Really lovely.”
She threw out whatever came to mind first. Unlike Cho-eun, she had no gift for conversation—what else could she do?
He smiled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
He was teasing her, obviously.
It would be foolish to turn serious over a joke, and this was the only way to fill the awkward silence.
Bom tilted her head back, gazing up at the sprawling cherry blossom tree overhead.
The rain had knocked some petals loose, but full blooms still tumbled through the air on the breeze, swirling around her feet.
Beautiful.
She felt gently dizzy, as if her feet had lifted half a centimeter off the ground.
Whether it was the spinning petals or the man in front of her, she couldn’t say.
“I like spring.”
“…?!”
Bom’s eyes went wide. She’d been mid-sip of her coffee, the straw still between her lips.
He laughed softly at her reaction, watching her with obvious amusement.
His arms were folded on the table, his smile relaxed—he was definitely playing with her.
“Your name is Bom, right.”
“I understood it as the season, actually. I really did.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. I’ve heard it so many times I’m used to it. Some people even tease me with a song about it.”
“How?”
“You know that nursery rhyme? Spring, spring, spring, spring, spring has come~ In our hearts too~, that one.”
“You sing well.”
“Ha ha, I do all right. When I sing at the coin karaoke, sometimes I get perfect scores.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, surprising, right?”
Bom kept talking, barely aware of what was coming out of her mouth.
She wasn’t usually this scattered—but somehow, in front of Tae-mun, she couldn’t seem to think straight.
Even now, after his words “I like spring,” she was rambling, unable to collect herself. She definitely wasn’t normal.
Her heart, which had been racing since the moment he spoke, showed no sign of slowing.
“Pretty.”
Oh!
He was really enjoying this now.
Why are you dropping the subject like that?
You learned Korean grammar very strangely, Professor.
“You thought I’d make you misunderstand, didn’t you?”
Bom let out a laugh despite herself, giving him a sidelong glance.
“Ha ha ha.”
Then he burst into genuine laughter.
Even now, Tae-mun’s bright smile was almost blinding.
Sunlight filtered through the cherry branches, gleaming off his long eyelashes.
He’d just made her heart skip with talk of liking spring, and now he smiled as if nothing had happened. There was something maddening about it.
This definitely isn’t normal.
When his laughter faded, he regarded her with steady, earnest eyes—so different from the glassy, almost frenzied light she’d seen before.
He’d looked at her like that once before, too.
Uncomfortable, Bom sipped her coffee through the straw.
Then a thought struck her, and she called out to him.
“Professor.”
“Hmm?”
“The Director came by this morning and complimented me personally. You didn’t mention anything to her, did you?”
“She saw the video first. The secretarial office reported it to her.”
“…Mother?”
Bom stared blankly at him, confused by the sudden mention of his mother. He took a sip of coffee and smirked.
“Ji-mun didn’t tell you, then.”
“Tell me what?”
They’d known each other for years. After all that time, there was almost nothing about him she didn’t know—or so she thought.
“That I’m the Director’s son.”
What?!
So this man sitting in front of her was the Director’s only son—the one everyone whispered about?
The moment those words left his mouth, Bom straightened her spine and placed her hands neatly on her lap.
He burst into laughter at the sight of her like that—at spring itself.
As if he found her adorable beyond words.
Ji-mun, you wait. Not saying something this important.
While Chun muttered to herself, Tae-mun called her name.
“Chun.”
“Yes!”
“You said there’s a barbecue party today—who usually handles the prep?”
“Oh, whoever leaves work earliest, sir.”
“Is that so? Then I should head over and get things started.”
“No, please. You don’t need to worry about that sort of thing, Professor. Just relax. We’ll take care of everything.”
As if she’d let the Director’s own son do the shopping. That was absurd.
“I can just pick up some meat on my way out and bring it.”
“Are you suddenly nervous because I’m the Director’s son?”
Did he really just say that?
Chi Ji-mun was killing her.
Which meant Ji-mun was royalty among royalty, top tier.
Sigh. The world really was this unfair.
“Should we get up now?”
“Yes!”
Chun answered brightly and rose from her seat. She picked up the cookie box and what remained of the coffee, then stood beside him.
She noticed he was holding an empty cup—when had he finished?—and reached out her hand.
He glanced down at her hand, then set his large one on top of it.
“Are you asking me to hold your hand?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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