“Me and Tae-seong? He’s my junior. From med school.”
“Huh?”
Joo Yoon-seo let out a hearty laugh the moment she was asked about Cheon Tae-seong.
With her pristine appearance and composed demeanor, most people found her hard to approach—but beneath that graceful surface, she was surprisingly relaxed and soft.
That was exactly why, in a past life, Ha-jin had been able to open up to her.
Without hesitation, she revealed Tae-seong’s past to the curious Ha-jin and Kwak Mari, who hadn’t been able to connect the dots between him and medical school. A piece of history that Tae-seong hadn’t even left on record was casually exposed.
“He quit after two years—no idea what rubbed him the wrong way. Just up and left. The professors were all up in arms, saying he was too brilliant to waste like that.”
“Such a shame. That school’s too prestigious to walk away from so easily.”
When Kwak Mari agreed, Joo Yoon-seo nodded along. Ha-jin, hearing this for the first time, just widened his eyes in silence. He was surprised, more than anything. I wish I’d asked, just once—shown a little more curiosity.
She continued, explaining how they’d grown close after she kept being sent to chase him down under the professors’ orders.
“What really got me was that I didn’t have the slightest clue he was the grandson of the Chunwoo Group chairman. He does resemble the chairman a bit, but back then he looked softer, younger. I almost fainted when I ran into him again at one of those matchmaking dinners our families arranged.”
“Ah, so he quit to take over the company?”
“If that had been prearranged, there’s no way Tae-seong would’ve entered med school to begin with. Knowing him, I’d bet there’s a whole other story. Not that I care to know it.”
Hearing that, Ha-jin figured it was plausible. If it was Tae-seong, he definitely would’ve gotten into med school because he wanted to. At the same time, it was hard to imagine him wearing a doctor’s coat. It just didn’t suit him.
Well, maybe when he was wearing glasses in his library, nose buried in a book, he did look like a scholar…
But the moment he flings those glasses off, he’s a total thug again…
While Joo Yoon-seo and Kwak Mari chatted away, Ha-jin was getting lost in not-so-innocent thoughts. But he snapped out of it when he heard the next question.
Unable to suppress her curiosity—especially now that Joo Yoon-seo was indulging her—Kwak Mari’s excitement bubbled over. Shoulders bouncing, eyes sparkling, she finally asked the one question that had been gnawing at her.
“So, Professor… you and CEO Cheon… are you two… engaged or something?”
She tapped her index fingers together, giving a cheeky scrunch of her nose. Ha-jin’s eyes grew even wider. This is getting out of hand. Time to get out of here. But before he could act, Joo Yoon-seo answered without hesitation.
“Ahh, well, his grandfather really wants that.”
At her words, Ha-jin instinctively turned his head to look at her. The surprise was so intense that his neck stiffened.
“But that’s just something the elders want.”
“Oh my gosh… So it’s practically a done deal, huh? You two seem like such an unexpected match, but somehow you work. I’m honestly surprised—in a good way.”
Kwak Mari shot Ha-jin a meaningful look. He sighed inwardly. So that’s what all this prodding was about. She’s trying to gauge how long my contract with Tae-seong will last.
She had no way of knowing that the “contract” was already going off the rails. Still, her nosiness aside, Ha-jin felt like he had indigestion. His chest was tight and uncomfortable.
“Come on, I said it’s not like that. Honestly, I was more shocked by Tae-seong and Ha-jin. I’ve never seen him push someone so hard before.”
“…”
“Every time I asked, Tae-seong just said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ Right, Ha-jin?”
Joo Yoon-seo smiled slyly at him. In an instant, all eyes in the room turned to Ha-jin. He stammered under the attention.
“It hasn’t even been that long since we agreed to pretend we’re dating. Weren’t you supposed to be good at this?”
“Uh… um…”
Ha-jin remembered Tae-seong’s reaction when he’d said there was no need to deceive Kwak Mari. That alone was enough to tell him how he needed to answer now. But the three pairs of eyes staring at him were a heavy burden.
“Hyung?”
Especially Yushin’s eyes.
Ha-jin bit his lip and shifted his gaze. But before he could formulate a response, Joo Yoon-seo lost her patience.
She blinked and asked again, more pointed this time.
“The way you’re reacting, Ha-jin, it’s super suspicious. Come on—what’s really going on? Are you two actually a thing?”
Her tone was teasing, but to Ha-jin, it cut sharper than expected.
“Uh, well… it just kind of happened, I guess…”
Tae-seong had boldly told him to say they were dating back when he barged into that Executive Director’s car—but now that he had to say it himself, it was unbelievably hard. And without realizing it, he picked the most ambiguous wording possible—completely unaware it would only fuel the fire.
Predictably, the room fell into stunned silence. Even Joo Yoon-seo, who had pushed so hard for an answer, just looked at him with a strange expression.
The mood shifted into something strange, heavy. Ha-jin instinctively averted his eyes.
“No way! Lee Ha-jin! Are you serious? Since when?!”
Kwak Mari shrieked like she couldn’t believe it. Ha-jin sighed instead of answering. It was too late to take it back, but it felt like things were spiraling way too fast.
All he’d wanted was to faithfully play his part in this farce with Tae-seong… but now he was already worrying about how to clean this up once it was all over.
“Ah, so that explains everything! Of course—it all makes sense now! The way you rode up together in his car, the surgery, the private room—he arranged all of it, didn’t he? All for you, Ha-jin!”
Covering her mouth with one hand and grinning, Kwak Mari added,
“And that whole incident with Choi Chan-hyuk not long ago… Tae-seong throwing a tantrum in the hallway—it was jealousy, wasn’t it?”
“Wait, what incident? Something happened at the hospital? I didn’t hear anything about that!”
Joo Yoon-seo leaned in with growing interest, and Ha-jin felt a pang of guilt. How am I ever going to fix this mess?
“Let’s stop here, CEO Kwak.”
He tried to extinguish the wildfire—but then Yushin tugged on his sleeve.
“Hyung… so it’s true? You’re really dating that CEO guy?”
“…”
“I want to meet him, too. I’m really curious. And if he’s your boyfriend… what should I call him? I want to thank him properly.”
Yushin’s eyes were earnest and full of sincerity. Ha-jin couldn’t begin to guess what kind of assumptions his little brother might be making. Maybe I really shouldn’t have listened to Tae-seong.
This has gone way too far.
Ha-jin’s shoulders slumped, a look of defeat washing over his face.
***
Monday morning, the day of Yushin’s discharge, the hospital room was awake early.
A few final tests had been scheduled, and they had to be up and moving early if they wanted to get the results and leave by lunchtime.
All the test results came back within normal range. Yushin was cleared to go home.
Ha-jin had taken the day off to be there for him. He’d also dismissed the caregiver—he wanted to be the one by Yushin’s side. What worried him most was seeing Professor Joo Yoon-seo again… but oddly enough, a different doctor came instead.
Ha-jin was relieved. Not because I lied, he told himself, brushing off the unease. It’s just… if she asked again, I don’t think I could lie to her properly.
While Yushin changed clothes, Ha-jin went to the bathroom to take his prescribed meds and do his pheromone check. After fiddling awkwardly with his jaw, he finally stepped out—and found Yushin sitting there, fully dressed, watching him with a playful gleam in his eyes.
Ha-jin burst into laughter.
“I told you, it’s not like that.”
“Are you sure it’s not?”
“I explained everything already. It’s not.”
He’d spent the weekend explaining the entire situation to Yushin and Kwak Mari—everything from the supposed relationship to the contract with Tae-seong. He’d even admitted that he hadn’t been able to lie to Joo Yoon-seo because he wasn’t confident enough.
But predictably, they hadn’t been convinced.
Kwak Mari, in particular, had raised sharp questions and looked openly skeptical.
“But Tae-seong helped Yushin before he met that sketchy Kang Sung-oh guy, right?”
And Ha-jin hadn’t had a real answer to that.
Because I still don’t understand that part myself…
He’d managed to cover it up somehow, but it was clear now that even Yushin hadn’t been convinced.
“Even if you say it’s not real, I still want to thank him… Like you said, even if we have to repay everything, even if it was all just borrowed—I didn’t just receive money, you know.”
Yushin’s words were calm and clear. Ha-jin patted his brother’s thigh.
My little brother… you’ve really grown up. No matter how messy things had gotten, showing proper gratitude was the least they could do.
They finished the discharge paperwork and stepped into the hospital lobby, only to spot a very familiar luxury car parked near the main entrance. Ha-jin squinted in disbelief—and then the driver’s door opened, and out stepped Kim Dae-hong.
Without hesitation, he jogged toward them and began helping with their luggage.
Ha-jin’s mouth fell open in shock. Beside him, Yushin nudged him in the ribs and whispered,
“You’re sure you’re not dating him…?”
