“ What’s your girlfriend’s.. name? ”
“ Ah, it’s Seo Taehee ”
His voice trembled with tension
“How old is your father?”
“And how long have you been seeing each other?”he kept asking one question after another
Hwang Hyunjin answered for him instead
saying to ask Taehee if there was anything he was curious aboutand handled it with a sly smile
With a hearty laugh, at his father’s comment about whether he was very nervous
he let out a fake laugh
It wasn’t as if this was the father of a real boyfriend
and on top of that, it was the father of the person he’d lied to about being lovers
and since he was a famous CEO chairmansomeone everybody knew by name
it was only natural to be even more nervous
At the low, calm question
came a reply in a trembling voice
Whenever his father’s sharp eyes turned to me
I couldn’t help looking away
It wasn’t a lie I’d wanted to tell
but if the lie came out, what would happen
I couldn’t even begin to guess
So I tried hard to hide how tense I was so I wouldn’t get found out
A brief silence fell
After a long silence, one that made it hard to tell whether the questions were over or he was thinking of the next one
Hwang Hyunjin spoke first
“ Dad, we’ll head out first ”
He stood up from his seat
“ Sure, have fun and see you tomorrow ”
I stood up right after him
and before leaving, bowed to his father
then headed outside
His father grinned and gave a single nod
The moment we got out into the hallway, the tension I’d been holding in
burst out of me as a deep sigh
Inwardly, I was grateful to Hwang Hyunjin for wrapping up the situation
Through the Carnival window, I could see Hwang Hyunjin’s familiar house
I never imagined I’d come back here again
but the house was still huge and gleaming
Maybe he’d already told the staff in advance
because this time the staff didn’t come inside with us
Just like last time, Hwang Hyunjin
draped his clothes over the sofa and then went straightto the shower room
and I naturally sat on the sofa and quietly waited for him to finish showering
The paintings hanging on the wall that I’d seen last time, the big TV,
and the cute but elegant interior details
I slowly scanned them with my eyes
At some point, the faint sound of the shower cut off
and not long after, Hwang Hyunjin came down the stairs in a robe
Hwang Hyunjin looked a little flushed
and gulped down cold water
After letting out a refreshing sigh and wiping the moisture from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand
he asked, standing in front of the water dispenser, whether I was a little hungry
When I waved my hand and said I was fine
as if noticing it, my stomachgrowled loudly
For a moment, silence fell after the rumbling sound, but
Hwang Hyunjin immediately burst out laughing
Clutching his stomach and laughing out loud, Hwang Hyunjin
flung open the fridge and pulled out ingredients
He dumped the ingredients he had gathered in his arms
onto the marble table and said
“ Korean food okay? ”
