A child who looks like me

Guk-soon hurried to Dobin’s house after receiving the call.

When she rang the doorbell, a stranger came out and greeted her politely.

“Hello.”

“You’re not the baby’s father, are you?”

“No, he went to the hospital with her.”

“Oh, right, right.”

Guk-soon clapped her hands and nodded her head.

Inside the house, Ye-na ran over and hugged Guk-soon.

“Grandma!”

Ye-na also introduced Guk-soon to Ji-heon.

“Uncle, this is my grandma.”

“Hello. I’m Jeong Ji-heon, a friend of Dobin’s father. I came to visit and ended up taking care of the kids. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. How’s Dobin’s mom? I heard she collapsed. Is she okay?”

“Yes, she seems to be feeling better now.”

“Oh, thank goodness. But your friend must really like kids to come over like this.”

That’s not really it…

Ji-heon glanced at Ye-na to gauge her reaction and then fell silent.

It seemed Guk-soon didn’t know that Ye-na and he had made plans to meet today. There was no need to bring up things that the child hadn’t mentioned, but he thought the child was quite clever.

Well, that’s how kids are. I was like that too.

Guk-soon looked at Ji-heon with a motherly smile.

Oh, he’s really handsome.

I wish I could have a son-in-law like him.

Now that she was happily living without a son-in-law, she didn’t have any regrets, but she couldn’t help but admire handsome men.

“Thank you so much for today. Please tell Dobin’s mom I appreciate it, and I hope she recovers soon.”

“Yes, I will.”

“Goodbye, Uncle.”

“Okay, goodbye…”

“Ye-na, goodbye! Come back to play!”

As Ji-heon was trying to say goodbye to Ye-na, Dobin ran over and shouted. Ji-heon’s farewell was drowned out.

“Well, then, goodbye.”

Ji-heon greeted Guk-soon separately.

On the way home, Ye-na excitedly recounted everything that had happened that day to Guk-soon. She was surprised when the uncle hugged her after Dobin’s mom collapsed, but she felt good because he had held her.

“The uncle is really tall, so I went really high!”

“You had fun playing with the uncle, my little puppy.”

“Yes! And I won at Go! But I know that the uncle let me win.”

As she talked, Ye-na displayed various emotions, getting excited and then pouting. Guk-soon smiled warmly at her cuteness.

There was a hint of sadness in her thoughts. She wished her granddaughter could have had a dad.

“Hey? Uncle!”

As they were almost home, Ye-na suddenly glanced at a nearby building and shouted. Guk-soon turned her head in the direction Ye-na was looking.

A tall, handsome man in a police uniform stood near the entrance of the adjacent building. Under the streetlight, his fair face looked even paler.

Another uncle.

The man recognized Ye-na and came closer.

“Ye-na, who…”

“It’s the police uncle! He helped me when I got lost and took me to my Go academy.”

While Guk-soon was still bewildered, Ye-na confidently introduced the police officer.

“Hello, my name is Kwon Bae-il, and I work at the Hwayang Police Station.”

Bae-il also bowed politely in greeting. Only then did Guk-soon smile warmly.

“Oh, I see. Police officer!”

“You must be Ye-na’s grandmother. I heard about you from Ye-na’s mother.”

“Our daughter knows you?”

“Yes, I’ve seen her a few times nearby. This is my home.”

“Oh, really? It’s so reassuring to have a police officer living nearby! It’s really nice to meet you.”

Oh, he’s so handsome.

Guk-soon’s expression brightened at having met two handsome men in one day.

Bae-il secretly chuckled at Guk-soon’s reaction, which was similar to Jeong Ji-heon’s.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Eun-bi felt the pressure of having to go back to work tomorrow. She had taken a sick day but couldn’t extend it any longer.

Eun-bi despised Lee Jeong-o.

‘If only I could separate him from my oppa.’

She couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Eun-bi decided to dig into Jeong-o’s weaknesses.

‘Maybe I can find something out by asking his former colleagues.’

There’s no one without skeletons in their closet, so there must be something. Since it was an advertising company, he might have caused some trouble, or there could be money issues or problems with men.

However, Eun-bi didn’t know anyone from Jeong-o’s previous company. As she pondered, she recalled a time when she received a business card from a headhunter.

[Yes, this is Lee Dong-eun.] “Hello, are you the headhunter? I’m Cha Eun-bi, a copywriter at Max Planning. Do you remember me?”

[Ah, yes! Hello!]
The headhunter greeted warmly.

Eun-bi, who couldn’t afford to waste any time, got straight to the point.

“I’m interested in Two H Communications. Is there any way I could meet someone from that company?”

After throwing in a few more comments as if she were interested in changing jobs, the headhunter immediately opened up with the information.

[There’s an AE I’ve been close to for a long time working there. Shall we meet together?]
“Yes! As soon as possible!”

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Jeong-o summarized the results of today’s meeting.

Due to a change in the direction of the competing PT plan, they would have to put in extra overtime. In any case, the revisions were being made step by step. Jeong-o and Mi-ran decided to finish up, and the others scattered.

“Team leader, you couldn’t rest either, right? I’ll finish everything and send it by email, so you can go home first.”

“No, I should report to you first.”

“You have to work all night again tomorrow, right? Just go home.”

Seeing how exhausted Mi-ran looked, Jeong-o sent her home first and took on the final tasks himself. Although he was weary from working through the weekend and now into the night, it was manageable. It seemed easier to express his opinions without Cha Eun-bi around.

“Ugh, I’m done!”

Around midnight, Jeong-o stretched while yawning lazily.

“Good job.”

“Ahhh, mom!”

He nearly fell backward from the voice that suddenly came from nearby while he was still sitting in his chair.

Ji-heon caught his wobbling chair.

This time, he had truly just steadied her, but Jeong-o’s heart didn’t calm down. As Ji-heon reached out, Jeong-o waved his hands frantically, thinking he might be trying to push him again.

“Why are you here, Director?”

Jeong-o, now steady on his feet, asked. His heart continued to flutter uneasily.

“I came to see if you were still working.”

“At this hour? But I thought you had something to do today.”

“I came back after finishing. Because of someone.”

“Who?”

The way Ji-heon smiled felt strangely significant.

He recalled the events from the office earlier in the day. Ji-heon had repeatedly apologized in a way that felt seductive. His gentle approach reminded Jeong-o of seven years ago, and he found himself getting oddly hopeful about such actions again.

Nostalgia.

“I just remembered a pretty girl.”

He thought of another pretty girl.

“What?”

Jeong-o tilted his head as if he hadn’t heard correctly. There was no chance to repeat himself. At that moment, the head of the planning team, who had been focused on revising the project, spotted Ji-heon and hurried over.

“Director, I thought you had something to do today. Are you still here?”

“I came after finishing my work. Is there something you need to discuss?”

“There’s an issue I’d like you to look at right now.”

Ji-heon looked back and forth between Jeong-o and the team leader before leaving with the team leader. Jeong-o felt a strange sensation, as if a lingering regret was sticking to his footsteps.

He had a feeling that the look in his eyes today, as if a spoonful of sugar had been added, would torment his heart for a long time.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

After leaving work at midnight, Jeong-o heard the news that Jin-seo had collapsed in the morning.

“It was fortunate that a friend of the baby’s dad was over. Otherwise, it could have been a big problem. It would have been tough to take the kids to the hospital.”

Guk-soon clicked her tongue, expressing her concern for Jin-seo as she recounted the events of yesterday.

“I should contact Dobin’s family later to check on how she’s doing.”

Jeong-o also felt worried about Jin-seo.

“By the way, Yena really likes Dobin’s dad’s friend. She kept calling him ‘Uncle’ and talking a lot.”

“Yena likes him?”

“Of course! He’s really good-looking. Looking at that, it seems like my granddaughter takes after me.”

“Geez. Seriously, Mom, such a materialist.”

“You talk as if you don’t care about a guy’s looks?”

“I don’t care about looks. Not at all.”

“Don’t lie, you! Your daughter is that pretty!”

“Mom, I made my daughter’s beauty.”

In the morning’s playful banter, Yena groggily woke up. As soon as she got up, she called for Jeong-o, whining.

“Mom, why did you come home so late yesterday?”

“Aww, our baby, are you awake?”

Jeong-o stopped the conversation with Guk-soon and rushed to Yena.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

After diligently preparing, Jeong-o arrived at work early and immediately began preparing for a meeting.

Jeong-o organized the updated information in the conference room with Ko Eun-joo, a fellow associate, and the AE from the planning team. If the materials prepared by the planning team conflicted with the production drafts, they would have to revise them again.

Eun-bi finally returned to work. She hadn’t shown her face from Saturday to Monday, and Jeong-o suspected that she must have been hurt by Ji-heon, and indeed, it looked like she had lost some weight in that time.

As Eun-bi entered the meeting room, the AE from the planning team asked worriedly.

“Manager Cha, are you okay? I heard you were sick.”

“No, I’m fine. I’m just worried about the PT. Ugh, this sense of responsibility.”

Ko Eun-joo, who found that irritating, flared her nostrils. Jeong-o quietly laughed at Eun-joo’s reaction.

Noticing this, Eun-bi shot Jeong-o a glance before carefully addressing the AE again.

“By the way, may I offer my opinion?”

“Of course, of course.”

Jeong-o sighed first, wondering why she would want to interfere with an already completed proposal.

“For starters, I think the main copy ‘I miss you’ is too cliché. What does the planning team think?”

Eun-bi’s opinion was once again a rebuttal to the copy.

However, to bring up complaints about the material to the planning team AE, on the day the production direction was being finalized, wasn’t the right approach.

Was she trying to use the influence of the planning team to interfere with the copy? That’s not how it should be, Cha Eun-bi.

And wasn’t that copy written by me? It was proposed by Ko Eun-joo. You’ve got it wrong.

Jeong-o felt bitter, but since Ko Eun-joo didn’t say anything, he kept quiet. In any case, Eun-bi’s opinion was unlikely to be accepted.

“I thought this copy lacks learning and depth. If I had been in better condition, I could have come up with a better idea, and I apologize for that. Also, I was a bit disappointed that the main characters were a mother and daughter. Since the primary target is 20-30 year-olds, wouldn’t a couple in a long-distance relationship be better than a mother and daughter?”

This time, Jeong-o immediately countered.

“Of course, we considered long-distance couples. But I felt that 15 seconds was too short to explain the background for long-distance couples. Having a mother and daughter makes it more relatable for consumers. I believe that, in a short time, a mother’s love is much more effective than the concept of a long-distance relationship.”

Eun-bi replied sharply, “I don’t find this advertisement appealing even when I imagine it.”

“Lack of imagination, perhaps…”

Unable to hold back, Eun-joo muttered under her breath. She was irritated because Cha Eun-bi, who hadn’t even been present for the discussions, was trying to overturn the results of their hard work.

Although it was meant to be a whisper, the surrounding silence allowed Eun-bi to hear Eun-joo’s voice. Cha Eun-bi wouldn’t just let it go.

“Manager Ko, since you’re here as a substitute for Assistant Manager Jo, shouldn’t you be handling the tasks she was responsible for? Have you organized this week’s trending issues?”

Eun-joo crossed her arms instead of answering.

“Manager, are you planning to join today’s meeting?”

“Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”

“Just worried that you might feel uncomfortable.”

Seeing Eun-bi tilt her head in confusion at her words, Eun-joo, with a face that showed not a hint of concern, continued, “I heard that you broke up with Director Jeong Ji-heon. I got that news when I received the handover from Assistant Manager Jo.”

Unflinchingly, Eun-joo revealed the information she had.

What Cha Eun-bi didn’t yet know was that the esteemed princess would turn to fire if her pride was wounded.

“It must be really painful for you, not being able to have the wedding you longed for.”

The AE from the planning team gaped in shock at the new information.

Cha Eun-bi’s face turned a deep, almost purplish red.

Jeong-o wondered who Assistant Manager Jo might have heard that from.

‘Could it be Jeong Ji-heon?’

Last Friday, hadn’t he seen Assistant Manager Jo walking toward Ji-heon’s office?

It was the day after he had pressed Ji-heon about the wedding.

‘Ugh.’

A chill ran down his spine.

Although he had given Eun-bi a week’s grace period, it seemed that he had never intended to wait quietly from the start.

‘What a slightly scary person.’

While he felt sorry for Eun-bi’s situation, it was something he couldn’t involve himself in.

Right? Cha Eun-bi.

Why did you have to target Ko Eun-joo instead of me?