TSG 46

“Hey, this…”

Se-hyun repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists to control his surprise as he saw the rows of clothes coming in.

‘Let’s calm down.’

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If he didn’t calm down, he might end up twisting his superior’s neck right there, so staying composed was a priority for now.

“Is this the unit price?”

“Please wait a moment. Coming soon to this collection… ”

“Wait.”

Se-hyun raised his hand, interrupting the personal shopper. He sent a firm look to the woman whom he had become familiar with while following Shin Tae-oh around.

“You don’t need to bring anything else.”

The personal shopper’s gaze shifted back to Shin Tae-oh. Since Shin Tae-oh had been giving orders all along, if he insisted on bringing more, she would have to comply.

Shin Tae-oh nodded with his eyes fixed on Se-hyun’s face as if he were amused.

“Stop.”

“All right.”

As the personal shopper stepped back, Shin Tae-oh leaned back against the sofa and sipped his tea. The whole atmosphere of sipping tea was rather elegant.

“Sir.”

Se-hyun called out to Shin Tae-oh in a lower voice.

“Speak.”

It would have been more appreciated if he had responded with a bit of courtesy from the beginning.

“When I suggested shopping, it wasn’t to come here to see the new collection.”

It had gone completely differently from what he had in mind.

‘This is Shin Tae-oh’s shopping.’

The kind of shopping Se-hyun had experienced countless times while following him.

“I can’t even afford to buy a single piece of clothing here.”

Even without looking at the price tag, Se-hyun knew that he couldn’t afford a shirt with his monthly salary.

Shin Tae-oh seemed to realize that this wasn’t it after Se-hyun muttered that it wasn’t right, then he set down his teacup. After glancing around the lounge for a moment, Shin Tae-oh turned to Se-hyun.

“This is for both of us.”

Se-hyun shook his head.

“This isn’t it.”

Having a space reserved and a personal shopper recommending tailored clothes was exactly Shin Tae-oh’s style.

‘No wonder he took the lead when entering the department store.’

“Let’s go.”

Se-hyun grabbed Shin Tae-oh’s hand.

“I’ll show you one by one.”

He confidently led Shin Tae-oh to the men’s clothing section. After casually looking around, Se-hyun approached the nearest spot and promptly asked to see a tie.

Se-hyun received the tie from the employee and handed it to Shin Tae-oh.

“Does it suit him?”

Although Se-hyun knew that Shin Tae-oh’s gaze was not on the tie but somewhere on his forehead, he did not lift his head.

“He had a handsome face and everything suits him well.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why it’s hard for me to choose. When I only see the tie, it looks pretty, but when I see the whole thing, it gets overshadowed by his appearance.”

Se-hyun sighed in response to the employee’s praise, expressing his dissatisfaction, and the content was truly absurd. The employee alternated between Se-hyun, who remained unchanged in expression, and Shin Tae-oh, who only had a subtle smile, and seemed to have gotten his bearings.

“Yeah, I guess so. It must be tough having such a good-looking boyfriend.”

“Please show me that too.”

Se-hyun avoided the word boyfriend by choosing a different tie. Instead, he looked at Shin Tae-oh and tilted his head.

“Does it look good?”

Se-hyun mumbled as if he was unsure, and the smile on Shin Tae-oh’s face disappeared in response but was soon replaced by a bright smile. What’s this about? Shin Tae-oh’s heart was beating loudly just because Se-hyun was giving him a tie.

“Does it suit me well?”

Shin Tae-oh approached Se-hyun by a step. Even just slightly lowering his head, his breath reached Se-hyun’s ear. It was good that he’s not so small after all. It feels like he could easily touch him just by bending a little closer.

And he understands what Se-hyun is saying.

It was a place where people were coming and going. Anyone could see them, and Se-hyun wasn’t alone with him either. But strangely, he didn’t feel anyone else’s presence.

No wonder he fell in love with him.

Ahn Se-hyun could sway people with the simplest of things.

“Hmm? Tell me. Se-hyun-ah.”

Hearing Shin Tae-oh’s friendly voice, Se-hyun slowly lowered his tie. Having compared, it seemed fine, so he did it very naturally.

And Shin Tae-oh widened the gap he had narrowed.

“Yes. It suits you well. Sir.”

Se-hyun said he would treat him as if he were the main character, but he didn’t say they were dating.

“How cheesy.”

Shin Tae-oh regretted the warmth that touched his body. However, Se-hyun had already changed his expression.

“Please wrap it as it’s for a gift.”

The employee holding the tie looked momentarily confused as he glanced between Se-hyun and Shin Tae-oh.

“The person you are giving a gift to…”

“My superior.”

Se-hyun politely gestured towards Shin Tae-oh with his palm.

⍣⍣⍣

Se-hyun, who was preparing for the meeting alone in the conference room, confirmed the approaching figure.

“Chief.”

“Not done yet?”

Se-hyun shook his head as Lee Jin-ho said while looking around the table.

“It’s all done.”

Since it was a small meeting, there were still ten minutes left even though he prepared alone. Perhaps because of the time flexibility, Se-hyun greeted Lee Jin-ho with a lighter expression.

“Do you have something to say?”

“I’m going to call the CEO after checking if everything’s ready.”

Knowing why Lee Jin-ho came, Se-hyun adjusted the skewed paper properly. Lee Jin-ho clicked his tongue.

“Aren’t you disappointed about this meeting?”

“What do you mean?”

“The consortium. It seemed like there would be a good chance of winning the bid if we partnered with them.”

What Lee Jin-ho saw was also material to show to Ha Min-hyuk and Shin Tae-oh. They had simulated what it would be like to accept this consortium and enter the bid for a large-scale development. Although the business feasibility was significant, Se-hyun’s thoughts were different.

‘It might seem that way if you look at it simply.’

The biggest risk in this business was Ha Min-hyuk. To be precise, Ha Jin-seong would have made a fuss to interfere with Ha Min-hyuk, but anyway, this wasn’t the place for that.

“The decision belongs to the CEO.”

They were the ones who moved for the CEO’s decision.

‘And Shin Tae-oh will refuse.’

Today was no different from preparing an opportunity to firmly refuse Ha Min-hyuk. So, Se-hyun hoped Lee Jin-ho didn’t have too many expectations, but his eyes were filled with regret.

“If this goes well, the contract ranking will change.”

Se-hyun ignored the murmured words that would have a significant impact on the construction capacity evaluation.

“Anyway, I’ll call the CEO.”

“All right.”

Se-hyun was looking at the PPT material that was displayed on the screen for the last time. Without a knock, the door swung open wide, and he thought it was Shin Tae-oh coming in, but to his surprise, an unexpected person appeared.

‘A parcel?’

Either Shin Tae-oh or Ha Min-hyuk should have come in, but instead, Ha Jin-seong appeared with an irrelevant parcel.

“Are you that glad to see me?”

Se-hyun couldn’t afford to accept Ha Jin-seong’s playful greeting. Ha Min-hyuk was supposed to come, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong with Ha Jin-seong coming. After all, Ha Jin-seong was supposed to obstruct the consortium Ha Min-hyuk was trying to set up…

“I didn’t come here to cause trouble, so don’t worry.”

That’s the problem.

“I just came to observe. You can even treat me like I’m not here.”

Ha Jin-seong pulled out a chair and sat down on his own, then tilted his upper body towards Se-hyun like last time.

“I’m not doing anything today. I won’t ask you to pay for the shirt. I’ll just watch to see what tricks Ha Min-hyuk will pull, so don’t worry.”

The more he said he wouldn’t do anything, the more anxious Se-hyun became.

“I’ll just quietly watch.”

Ha Jin-seong emphasized similar words several times as if to reassure him and held out the coffee he was holding in his hand.

“This is for Secretary Ahn.”

“Why are you giving me coffee…?”

“You’ll see when you drink it.”

Ha Jin-seong just sipped his share of coffee and didn’t seem to have any intention of telling him the reason. On the contrary, Se-hyun was wondering why his eyes were sparkling with anticipation that he would get it right.

Why on earth did he give him coffee?

Frustrated, Se-hyun pretended to glance over it casually when he noticed the name of the cafe.

“This is…”

It was a cafe called ‘Coincidence’, that was, the place where Se-hyun gave the business card to Ha Jin-seong so that he could meet Yoo Jin-ha.

“I knew you would recognize it right away.”

Ha Jin-seong smiled happily and twirled his coffee cup.

“I didn’t know why you asked me to come here, but the coffee’s not bad after all.”

“The coffee tastes good. But…”

Se-hyun looked at his eyes as he adjusted the coffee he was holding. Se-hyun did it so Ha Jin-seong could meet Yoo Jin-ha by chance, but had nothing happened?

“Did anything happen there?”

He had to ask to find out. Ha Jin-seong nodded in response to Se-hyun’s cautious question.

“There was.”

Se-hyun smiled unconsciously. His heart pounded with anticipation, and Ha Jin-seong, who had just moments ago made him uncomfortable with his unexpected arrival, now approached warmly.

He must have met Yoo Jin-ha, right? Did they talk?

‘Tell me.’

They plan to capture Yoo Jin-ha and harass Ha Min-hyuk.