The Textbook of a Lover - Chapter 38

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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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38.
She couldn’t afford to misunderstand.
Perhaps they, too, had sensed that Cha-kyung wasn’t sincere, and so they’d treated her well for that very reason—she’d never know.
The wounds Gyeong-jun had inflicted on her hadn’t fully healed yet, and she couldn’t afford to harbor feelings whose outcome was already written.
‘If he’s the heir apparent of Hyun-sin Group, then I’m just a low-level employee at one of countless subcontractors. It’s not self-deprecation—it’s objective reality. I can’t cross that line.’
Do A turned her gaze back to the monitor. The cursor blinked steadily.
The morning passed, lunch came and went, and the afternoon melted away.
Do A tried to concentrate on her work, but found herself checking the clock without meaning to.
Seven o’clock in the evening.
The time Na-hee was going to meet Cha-kyung.
* * *
The restaurant where Na-hee arrived was two blocks away from Cha-kyung’s office.
When she entered, Cha-kyung was already seated by the window.
‘Even his manners are good. He came out early and waited for me.’
Gyeong-jun had always come out early to wait for her too, but one couldn’t measure an ordinary low-level employee and a third-generation chaebol by the same standard.
“You came out early. I should have hurried if I’d known.”
“I’ve only just arrived.”
“Still, you were waiting. Let me treat you today—please order whatever looks good.”
Sitting face to face with him, a surge of pride bloomed in her chest.
Cha-kyung stood out simply by virtue of being a third-generation chaebol, and his business acumen was keen enough that rumors of it reached even A.B.
His height easily exceeded 180 centimeters, his body lean and sculpted with muscle, his face like a carved statue.
Becoming part of the Hyun-sin family would be better than winning first prize in the lottery, and to have a husband so accomplished and handsome besides—
Na-hee thought the odds were no different from winning the lottery jackpot ten times in a row.
“Thank you so much for making time despite how busy you must be with company matters. I fully expected you’d have to turn me down, given your schedule, Executive Director.”
“I have time to spare these days.”
I saw a news article about you recently, Executive Director. It said you made a significant contribution to Hyun-sin Department Store’s sales by bringing Moer in. I can’t think of anyone else as a successor to Hyun-sin Group.”
“Yes. Well, being an only son, there’s no one else to inherit it.”
What kind of conversational dead-end was this?
He kept cutting off every thread of dialogue before it could go anywhere.
The last time she’d seen him at a restaurant, he hadn’t been quite like this.
Na-hee, who had always evaluated Cha-kyung favorably until now, was acutely feeling his complete lack of charm today.
‘Just bear it, bear it. You think joining Hyun-sin Group is easy? Do A must have endured this too—what could I possibly not be able to handle?’
Na-hee turned her gaze toward the window and sighed softly to steel herself.
The moment her eyes opened again, her entire body went rigid as if frozen.
Through the glass, Gyeong-jun was standing on the street outside. His expression was one of shock as he stared at her.
At the same moment, Cha-kyung’s gaze shifted toward the window.
Three pairs of eyes met in midair.
Cha-kyung lifted his water glass and took a sip.
The scene unfolding beyond the window looked like a comedy. Gyeong-jun had begun raising both arms and shouting.
Seeing him, Na-hee told Cha-kyung “Just a moment” and hurried out of the restaurant.
It seemed less like a comedy and more like a melodrama, he thought, as Gyeong-jun suddenly started walking toward the restaurant.
The moment Cha-kyung set down his water glass, the restaurant door burst open.
Gyeong-jun strode straight toward the seat where Cha-kyung sat and cried out.
“E-Executive Director!!”
“Gyeong-jun, what are you doing right now! Why are you going over there!”
Na-hee grabbed Gyeong-jun’s arm and tried to pull him away, but she was no match for him.
Gyeong-jun spoke to Cha-kyung, his face flushed crimson.
“Even if you are the Executive Director, I think I need to say what I have to say.”
…….
“Why—why are you hitting on my girlfriend when you already have a girlfriend?”
He shouted at Cha-kyung, his voice choked with emotion. A restaurant staff member had already approached Gyeong-jun.
“Sir, we can’t have this. Please step outside to discuss this.”
“Move aside! Executive Director! Even if you’re rich and a bigshot, there’s such a thing as basic conscience, isn’t there!”
“Oh, Gyeong-jun, seriously! Stop it!”
“Does being Executive Director mean you can just see a subordinate’s girlfriend and seduce her? You think having money and status gives you the right to wreck someone’s relationship like this? Don’t people have any honor anymore!”
Then, cold eyes turned toward Gyeong-jun.
“Seduce? What seduce.”
Cha-kyung muttered, looking at Na-hee. Her face had gone deathly pale.
“Na-hee came to me begging and pleading to meet. I didn’t seduce her—your girlfriend was the one clinging to me. And isn’t it amusing for a con artist to speak of honor?”
Gyeong-jun’s flushed face drained of color. Murmurs rippled through the onlookers around them. After scanning the room, Gyeong-jun spoke.
“Wh-where are you getting those rumors? It’s that lunatic Do A again—”
At those words, Cha-kyung’s eyes—which had been calm and cold until now—flashed with savage fury.
“Looking at your behavior right now, you’re the one who seems unhinged. Stop causing trouble in someone else’s establishment and take this outside.”
Cha-kyung stood up. He passed by the frozen pair and headed toward the register.
“That man standing over there will handle the bill.”
After instructing the staff member, Cha-kyung turned to Na-hee once more.
“Consider it repaid by your boyfriend. Don’t think you owe me anything anymore.”
And without a backward glance, he left the restaurant.
* * *
“Please, the bill.”
Gyeong-jun pulled out his wallet, swallowing a curse under his breath.
‘Damn it. Why do I have to pay for food my girlfriend ate with another man!’
But the eyes on him inside the restaurant and his pride in front of Na-hee left him no choice.
Once he’d paid the steep price of the upscale restaurant and stepped outside, Na-hee glared at him with her arms crossed.
“Hey, Na-h—!”
“Gyeong-jun, are you insane?! What are you doing? Were you trying to humiliate me?”
“Ha! Look who’s talking. What’s between you and Cha-kyung!”
“Lower your voice.”
“Is that the issue right now? What’s your relationship with Cha-kyung! God, I even left Do A for you, and you do this to me!”
“Oh, so are you regretting that you left Do A and came to me?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Gyeong-jun was bewildered.
Lately Na-hee had been turning down dates and seeming distracted when they were together, which had been weighing on him.
Tonight he’d tried to set up an evening date, but she’d said she had to work late—and yet here he was, coming home alone.
But working late—
eating dinner at a restaurant with Cha-kyung was overtime?
If she’d done something like that, she should at least look sorry, but instead Na-hee acted boldly, as if Gyeong-jun were the one in the wrong.
“Do you know how much stress I’ve been under lately? Rumors spread through our whole company that you’ve gotten on Executive Director Cha’s bad side. I was just trying to smooth things over between you, and you won’t even trust me?”
“You’re asking me to believe that?”
“If you can’t, then forget it. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me.”
“Na-hee!”
Na-hee turned and walked away without another word.
Gyeong-jun watched her retreating back and clenched his fists.
“How does that make sense? Smiling coyly at dinner with Executive Director Cha was for my reputation?”
Gyeong-jun couldn’t believe what Na-hee was saying. But if he kept pressing the issue, he felt he’d really lose her.
“If I lose Na-hee now too……”
The moment he chose to believe her, his anger found an easier target.
“It’s all Do A’s fault.”
If Do A had never dated Cha-kyung, if she’d never gotten entangled with him at all, would they be in this situation?
All of Gyeong-jun’s resentment flowed directly toward Do A.

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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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