Separation Anxiety

9.

#Annoyed

At 4 o’clock, Hayun stood up from his seat. The planning department staff naturally turned to look at him, wondering what was going on.

“I’ll be leaving early.”

Already? It’s only 4 PM? There’s still more than two hours until the end of the workday?

There were many questions they wanted to ask, but Hayun’s confidence left them speechless. Though he was a very young director, his status as the group’s heir also played a part in preventing criticism of his early departure.

“If there’s nothing urgent, you should all leave early too.”

With a bright smile, he even encouraged the employees to leave early, leaving them with nothing more to say.

“Oh, I’ve finished the proposal we compiled this morning and uploaded it to the shared network, so you can check it.”

Hayun added one more thing before leaving the office. At these words, the employees were silently stunned. During the morning meeting, each employee had submitted their part of the materials for next month’s foundation anniversary event to Hayun. They were planning to create the event proposal based on those materials. They thought it would take at least a week, but Hayun had finished it all by himself in just one day.

He can leave early, that’s fine. Is that all? Even if he took the whole week off, we couldn’t say anything.

The employees exchanged glances, thinking the same thing. Since Hayun became the director of the planning department, their overtime work had significantly decreased.

They had heard he was outstanding, but this was beyond expectations. They had thought he was just parachuted in because he became a director in just two years, but it didn’t seem that way. He was just born different. It wasn’t for nothing that he was called the heir. Faced with this undeniable difference in ability, his young age as a director no longer mattered.

When Hayun went down to the parking lot, Director Park was already waiting in front of the car.

“You can just give me the keys and go home.”

Hayun said there was no need to accompany him.

“I’ll drive you to the school, sir.”

Knowing that Hayun was going to Dawoon’s school, Director Park opened the back door.

“No, it’s fine.”

Though he was smiling as he answered, it was a clear refusal. He held out his hand, indicating he wanted the keys. After a moment of hesitation, Director Park silently placed the car keys in Hayun’s hand.

“This is what you asked for this morning, sir.”

He pulled out an envelope from the back seat and handed it to Hayun.

“That was fast. Thank you.”

As Hayun took the envelope, Director Park bowed slightly and left first. Watching him go back into the company building even though he had been told he could go home, Hayun shook his head.

He could roughly understand why Chairman Jeong had assigned this person to him. He was a stubbornly righteous type. Such people rarely betray their chosen master.

Seated in the driver’s seat, Hayun opened the envelope first. It contained a photo of Kim Na-eun and a brief record of her background. He skimmed the first page and turned to the next. As an eighteen-year-old high school student, there wasn’t much to note. Her parents were ordinary office workers, and she had an older brother two years her senior. Her grades were consistently in the upper-middle range. The only thing that stood out was that she was an announcer for the school broadcasting station.

Hayun turned back to the first page to check Kim Na-eun’s photo. She had looks that anyone would objectively consider pretty. The photo source was listed as Kim Na-eun’s Instagram. Seeing that her follower count was quite high for a regular person, she seemed to be quite popular. Hayun smirked and put the papers back in the envelope, storing it in the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat.

There were plenty of women around Hayun who were prettier and more glamorous than Kim Na-eun. Sometimes, even successful celebrities expressed interest in being introduced to Hayun. Since he had been attending business circles meetings with his father from around Dawoon’s age, he naturally had many opportunities to mingle with women his own age. Without exception, they were all from notable families and equally glamorous. Compared to them, Kim Na-eun looked like a child.

But that was just by his standards; it could be different for Dawoon. Unlike Hayun, Dawoon had never attended any business circles meetings. While Chairman Jeong disapproved, Hayun also didn’t want Dawoon to attend such gatherings.

It was a place full of glamorous but dark-hearted people. There was no need for Dawoon to mingle with them. It was enough for Hayun alone to deal with them. He wanted Dawoon to remain pure as he was now, unaware of such a world.

Maybe keeping him too pure wasn’t entirely a good thing. Who would have thought flies would gather from unexpected places? Even if it’s just kids’ play.

Since it was a date night with Dawoon, he didn’t want to dampen his mood with unnecessary thoughts. He decided to put aside the matter of Kim Na-eun for now.

Even for Hayun, it had been a while since he had the luxury of leaving work this early. For the past few months, he had been returning home almost at midnight almost every day. Just thinking about Dawoon waiting for him lifted his spirits. He started the engine, stepped on the accelerator, and hummed a light tune.

***

Hayun parked the car in front of the school and checked the time. He was lucky. It seemed he had arrived just in time for the end of classes. He thought about making a call but decided against it and got out of the car, standing facing the main gate. There was only one exit anyway, so he figured he could wait and meet Dawoon there.

As he leaned against the obviously expensive foreign car, students coming out of the main gate one by one all glanced at Hayun.

“He looks familiar…”

He heard someone mutter. It was the private school Hayun had graduated from, and many children of the political and business circles attended here. If they had any interest in economic news, they might have seen Hayun’s face once or twice.

Whether they recognized his face or not, Hayun himself was eye-catching. Tall, with a perfectly fitted suit without a single wrinkle, and features like a well-sculpted statue. Female students gathered in twos and threes, stealing glances at him and whispering curiously about who he might be here to meet.

Regardless, Hayun showed no interest in them. His gaze was fixed on a spot just inside the main gate. The high school building was at the very back of the school grounds. Considering the walking time, it should be about time for Dawoon to come out.

Hayun saw Dawoon walking down the slightly sloped path. His lips reflexively curved into a smile, but it disappeared the moment he saw the person next to Dawoon.

Kim Na-eun. It was the female student he had just seen in the photo in the documents. She grabbed one of Dawoon’s arms and looked up at him, chattering about something. She kept smiling prettily, her eyes crinkling. Dawoon nodded occasionally, seeming to respond to her words.

Hayun’s gaze shifted to Kim Na-eun’s hand, which was holding Dawoon’s arm almost like she was linking arms with him. His lips tightened into a straight line. His steadily staring eyes instantly became cold.

Dawoon, who was walking towards the main gate, seemed to spot Hayun and hesitated. Hayun erased the coldness from just moments ago and smiled as if nothing had happened, waving his hand. At his charming smile, squeals erupted from the female students who had been sneaking glances at him. This made even the previously uninterested male students turn to look.

As people’s attention focused on him one by one, Dawoon’s face showed discomfort.

You still really hate standing out, don’t you?

Guessing Dawoon’s thoughts, Hayun stayed where he was and waited. Although Dawoon really disliked being in the spotlight, he had never ignored Hayun when he saw him.

Dawoon pulled his arm free from Na-eun’s grip and slowly walked towards Hayun, who was already half-surrounded by students.

“I thought you were sending a car.”

He seemed surprised that Hayun had come in person. He had thought only a driver would be sent, so he appeared somewhat flustered by Hayun’s appearance. Hayun grinned and nodded towards the car he had been leaning against. The meaning was clear: the car is here, isn’t it?

“Who’s that?”

Na-eun, who had followed closely behind, pulled on Dawoon’s arm and asked. Dawoon turned to look at her but instead of answering, he shifted his gaze back to Hayun. Na-eun’s gaze followed.

“Could it be your brother?”

She pointed at Hayun with her finger and exclaimed in an excited voice, then quickly retracted her finger and smiled awkwardly when she met Hayun’s gaze.

“He feels quite different from his photos,” Na-eun whispered to Dawoon. She seemed to think she was speaking quietly, but Hayun could hear everything.

“And he doesn’t look like you at all.”

Dawoon’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at Na-eun’s words.

Unnecessary words. Hayun smiled bitterly and gently grasped Dawoon’s arm, pulling him closer. This naturally freed Dawoon’s other arm from Na-eun’s grip. Dawoon looked up at Hayun with an expression that seemed to ask “what are you doing?”, but Hayun just smiled faintly instead of answering.

“Let’s go. I don’t think we should keep the car parked here any longer.”

It was quite busy in front of the main gate during the end of school hours. Moreover, because of Hayun, students were gathering, making it more crowded than usual. Although it wasn’t a no-parking zone, they were already surrounded by people, so Dawoon nodded obediently.

“Sit in the front.”

He pointed to the passenger seat as Dawoon was about to get in the back. Only then did Dawoon realize there was no one in the driver’s seat.

“Did you drive here yourself?”

Was that such a surprising thing? Hayun chuckled and reached out to lightly ruffle Dawoon’s hair.

“Just get in.”

At Hayun’s words, Dawoon went around to the passenger side. As Hayun was about to open the driver’s door and get in, he made eye contact with Na-eun.