My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 27

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

27.

On Monday afternoon, after the weekend had passed, Baek Jin-hee arrived at the Workshop.
The moment she saw Lee Jin’s face, she laughed with a strange, breathy sound.
“Hey, your face is glowing like a full moon these days?”
The way she said it made it sound as though she knew exactly what Lee Jin and Kang Hyun had been up to over the weekend. Lee Jin felt heat bloom across her cheeks and pretended not to hear.
“I don’t—what full moon? I’ve been eating well and sleeping well, thank you very much.”
“Sure, sure. I meant it as a compliment.”
Her crescent-shaped eyes held a knowing look, but Lee Jin chose to ignore it.
“Anyway, it seems like Kang Hyun is serious about you?”
Baek Jin-hee made a fuss when she spotted the bag Lee Jin had received as a birthday gift and the couple ring on her finger.
“Maybe. But it makes me uncomfortable just receiving things without giving anything back.”
At that, Baek Jin-hee, who had been mulling something over, spoke as if struck by a brilliant idea.
“Then why don’t you just give him a gift too? I’m sure Kang Hyun would love whatever you give him.”
“You think so?”
Kang Hyun’s birthday was in winter. So there was no way to prepare a birthday gift for him.
“Homemade cookies or chocolates might be nice.”
“Really? Then I should try making some.”
Emboldened by her friend’s encouragement, Lee Jin decided to make homemade cookies. It wasn’t much compared to what he’d done for her, but she wanted to express her feelings somehow.

A few days later, Lee Jin finally managed to complete a cookie set that she was satisfied with.
Mixing the dough and shaping it had been manageable—almost like making pottery—but the taste was another matter entirely. After several attempts and adjustments, she finally finished a batch of cookies that looked just right.
“This should be fine, right?”
She murmured to herself as she left the Workshop. Every time he had come to see her there, yet she had never once gone to his office.
This would be a good chance to see the office and surprise him too. With that in mind, Lee Jin headed toward Kang Hyun’s office.
“Is an Architecture Office really this big?”
When she arrived in front of a building in Sinchon, she was taken aback by the standalone structure.
She’d assumed they would only use one floor of a building, but the entire five-story building was the Architecture Office.
“What if they don’t even let me in and kick me out at the entrance?”
Wondering if she should have called ahead instead of just showing up, Lee Jin stepped into the Lobby. That’s when a man with a familiar build caught her eye.
Such a commanding height and frame, coupled with a face so striking it drew the gaze of everyone passing by—such people were exceptionally rare.
Sure enough, Kang Hyun emerged from the elevator, looking around as if searching for someone. Without thinking, Lee Jin hid.
She didn’t know why she’d done it.
Only that his expression was so unfamiliar, so unlike the Kang Hyun she knew, that her body had reacted on its own.
Then a woman approached Kang Hyun.
Even from a distance, she radiated an unmistakable elegance. Tall and slender, and every single thing about her—from her clothes to her accessories—was clearly expensive.
The sight of a woman who looked as though she’d been born holding a silver spoon standing beside Kang Hyun stirred something uncomfortable in Lee Jin’s chest.
The two of them stood together with the ease of people who knew each other well.
The distance was too great to hear their conversation clearly, but it was obvious they were close.
‘Why am I doing this?’
Her stomach churned. She knew eavesdropping was wrong, yet her eyes wouldn’t look away.
Then the woman casually linked her arm through his. Kang Hyun’s brow furrowed for a moment, but he didn’t pull away.
Watching that, Lee Jin’s heart began to race in a way that felt wrong. Her stomach twisted more than before, and now her head was spinning.
The woman laughed and patted his arm. It was an intimate gesture. How was she supposed to interpret this?
Lee Jin exhaled sharply and turned away. She pressed her body further into the blind spot where Kang Hyun couldn’t see her and squeezed her eyes shut.
Suspicion was wrong. There had to be an explanation. She repeated this to herself, but then she caught sight of the cookie box in her hand.
She’d been so sure he would love them, but that certainty had evaporated. The box suddenly looked shabby and pathetic. Lee Jin regretted coming here, regretted the whole thing.
‘He doesn’t know I’m here. I should just go.’
With that decision made, she carefully made her way out of the Lobby. But just as she reached the door, she ran directly into that same woman.
“Oh? You?”
Lee Jin hadn’t expected the woman to recognize her, so she blinked in confusion.
“You’re Lee Jin, right?”
The woman even knew her name. Lee Jin composed herself and answered carefully.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
“I’m a friend of Lee Hwan’s. We’ve seen each other a few times—don’t you remember?”
It was impossible not to remember a woman with such a striking face. Yet Lee Jin couldn’t quite place when she’d seen this woman with Lee Hwan.
Noting Lee Jin’s confused expression, Cheon Eun-jeong sighed and formed her fingers into circles, holding them up to her eyes like glasses.
“Back in school, wearing glasses like this, a girl who was tall but otherwise unremarkable—you don’t remember?”
“Ah…….”
Only then did the memory surface, and Lee Jin swallowed hard. Cheon Eun-jeong smiled bitterly in response.
“I’ve changed so much you couldn’t recognize me? Well, I suppose that’s possible. The power of modern medicine and money is formidable, after all.”
“I’m sorry?”
Startled by Cheon Eun-jeong’s bluntness, Lee Jin blinked in confusion even as the other woman grabbed her arm and pulled.
“Since we’ve met like this, it must be fate. Come on, I’ll buy you something delicious.”
Before she could blink, Lee Jin found herself seated in a Cafe, unsure how she’d gotten there.
“Um…….”
Desserts that Cheon Eun-jeong had ordered without asking now crowded the table. Overwhelmed, Lee Jin spoke up, and Cheon Eun-jeong answered curtly.
“Not ‘um’—call me sister. You should call me sister.”
“Oh, yes. Sister.”
As if she’d never made that stern face, Cheon Eun-jeong’s eyes crinkled with laughter.
“Sister, there’s too much here.”
Lee Jin pointed to the desserts on the table, and Cheon Eun-jeong exhaled sharply, as if the notion were absurd.
“At four in the afternoon, you can’t manage this much?”
She pressed a fork directly into Lee Jin’s hand and added with grim determination.
“Eat. You need to eat more.”
Unable to protest again that it was too much, that she couldn’t finish it, Lee Jin simply thanked her.
“I’ll enjoy it. Thank you so much.”
As she cut into the Cake and ate small bites, Cheon Eun-jeong’s expression softened.
While they shared light conversation over their Desserts, Cheon Eun-jeong brought up Lee Hwan.
“What happened to Lee Hwan was truly tragic.”
Meeting someone who remembered her brother fondly was one thing; remembering his death was quite another matter entirely.
Memories she had deliberately buried rose to the surface like impurities suspended in murky water.
But Lee Jin showed none of this, her face composed as she replied politely.
“Yes, thank you for your concern.”
She had heard such pleasantries countless times. The concern was genuine, so gratitude was warranted. Even if sorrow came with it, Lee Jin would not complain.
And yet.
Tears were streaming down Cheon Eun-jeong’s face as she looked at her.
“Sister?”
Alarmed, Lee Jin called out to her, and only then did Cheon Eun-jeong seem to realize she was crying.
“Oh my, why am I like this?”
Cheon Eun-jeong wiped at her eyes hurriedly, visibly flustered.
Gazing at Lee Jin’s face, she must have caught glimpses of Lee Hwan in her features—in the shape of her eyes, the line of her nose.
An unexpected longing had welled up inside her, and with it came the painful certainty that she would never see him again. The tears would not stop.
Lee Jin had not expected Cheon Eun-jeong to cry. On the surface, she seemed aloof, someone unmoved by sentiment.
Lee Jin felt ashamed for having judged her so carelessly. Of course, Cheon Eun-jeong’s nature was exactly as she appeared.
But Lee Hwan had been the exception—something Lee Jin had no way of knowing.
“I’m being ridiculous.”
Cheon Eun-jeong forced a bright expression, wiped away her tears, and composed herself, touching her flushed nose with embarrassment. Then she remembered something—Lee Jin lingering outside the Architecture Office as if keeping watch.
“By the way, weren’t you here to see Kang Hyun?”
Cheon Eun-jeong asked with tears still wet on her cheeks, and Lee Jin could not bring herself to deny it. Her hesitation made Cheon Eun-jeong’s eyes narrow at once.
She imagined what Kang Hyun’s reaction would be if she told him she had Lee Jin with her. Surely something unexpected.
How amusing it would be to tease him. As she entertained these thoughts, her eye caught on the pretty box Lee Jin was holding.
‘She came to give him a gift but was too embarrassed, wasn’t she?’
The thought of Kang Hyun’s face dropping open when he saw it made her laugh inwardly. On impulse, she sent a message.

―I’ve got Lee Jin with me right now. If you don’t show up in one minute, she’s mine.

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