Chapter 08
Hyun-jung covered her ears with both arms, the world going black as she wondered if she was really going to die like this.
Just then, a rattling sound came from the passenger-side door. She raised her head.
Through tears that blurred her vision she couldn’t see clearly, but she caught the figure of a man vaulting smoothly over the crumpled hood after finding the door locked.
In an instant he was in the driver’s seat.
Hyun-jung hastily wiped her tears and stared at him. Snow was piled thick on his hair and shoulders, but she recognized him at once—the man she’d had a one-night stand with the night before.
He was breathing hard, as if he’d run to get there.
“W-what… how…?”
He started the stalled car and unlocked the passenger door, then immediately slipped back out, leaping over the hood again.
Yanking the passenger door open, he turned and shouted to someone in the distance to bring a golf club.
Dropping to one knee, he met her eyes and gently stroked her tear-streaked cheek.
“We’ll talk details later.”
“P-please save me. Please.”
“Of course. Don’t say things like that.”
He examined her trapped leg from several angles.
“First, try to stay calm. Can you feel your toes?”
“I… I’m not sure.”
“It’s snowing heavily and the roads are slick. There’s an accident blocking the whole stretch, so the ambulance will take a while to get here.”
Looking straight into her eyes, he explained everything steadily. Her frantic heartbeat eased, a surprising calm settling over her like a sudden warm breeze.
She dabbed at her tears and nodded.
“There’s a tanker truck in the crash ahead. Fuel leaked and is flowing this way, so we can’t just wait for the medics.”
“…Okay.”
“Fortunately it doesn’t look like a broken bone, so don’t be afraid. Let’s get you out as quickly as we can. Think you can do that?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll wedge golf clubs between the seat and the frame to lift you. My assistant will help free your leg, so don’t panic. Bend the uninjured leg upward. We’ll slide you out.”
He spoke gently, as if soothing a frightened child. Tears kept coming no matter how hard she tried to stop. Maybe that’s what happens when relief sets in—you cry even more. After Jo Jae-seok ran off to save himself, leaving her alone, she’d felt scared, but now the tears flowed even harder.
“Won’t you be in danger saving me like this? What if the car catches fire…?”
There was spilled fuel and even flames from the tanker, yet this man was here to rescue her. Gratitude mixed with confusion.
The assistant arrived with a golf bag, and the man pulled out several clubs at once, smiling as if this was nothing at all, as if danger didn’t exist, as if rescuing her was simply the natural thing to do.
It was the complete opposite of her fiancé running away without a backward glance.
“I made you a promise once. You probably don’t remember.”
“A promise?”
Hyun-jung looked at him, bewildered. Even with her tear-stained face, he gazed at her as though she were beautiful, and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.
The moment was urgent, yet she unmistakably recognized the gentle lips that had held her so warmly last night—it felt unreal.
“Yeah. I promised to save you wherever you were. Your crying face is lovely, but let’s stop the tears and get you out of here.”
Had he ever promised to protect her? She tried to recall but nothing came.
He wedged two golf clubs between the seat and the glove box, braced himself with his legs on the seatbacks, leaning his back against the window as he took a deep breath.
“Ready?”
She wanted to say yes, but her body trembled uncontrollably. Still, these people had come to rescue her. Hyun-jung steadied herself, folding her uninjured leg upward and preparing to pull her other leg free the moment she felt space.
Her exhaled breath streamed white in the cold.
“Kim Sun-woo, be careful getting her out.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
The man gave firm instructions and the assistant nodded gravely.
“One, two…”
Bang!
A massive crash sounded nearby and the ground shuddered.
“Ah!”
Pain shot through her leg again and Hyun-jung lost consciousness.
After finishing a brutal work schedule, Tae-gun always stopped at a bar for a glass of whiskey—a habit known only to his assistant and grandfather.
The night before, at a hotel bar he rarely visited, a woman had approached him with a room key and suggested a one-night stand. Naturally, he’d assumed his grandfather had orchestrated it.
But then—
“Name: Seo Hyun-jung. She just turned twenty-four. Graduated from H University’s art department. Her father is the CEO of Bill Furniture.”
“Wait.”
It hadn’t been long since he’d ordered his assistant Kim Sun-woo to look into the woman he’d spent the night with, when the report came in.
Tae-gun was at his desk reviewing documents after a hot shower and a normal morning at work.
He stopped mid-signature at a familiar name.
Seo Hyun-jung. Bill Furniture. Twenty-four—six years younger than him.
He tapped his pen on the desk, focusing. It felt like a fog in his mind was lifting.
“When I grow up, I’m going to marry Tae-gun oppa!”
Light brown eyes, clear skin, a little girl reaching out with both hands as she vowed to marry him—it came back in vivid detail.
A forgotten memory from a long-ago Children’s Day.
“Did Seo Hyun-jung’s birth mother pass away?”
“Yes. The current wife of the Bill Furniture CEO is his second wife. How did you know?”
“Check if her mother’s name was Yeom Hye-ju.”
“Understood.”
As Kim Sun-woo turned to leave, Tae-gun sank into thought.
Could she really be that child? And if she was—what then?
It had been startling enough to sleep with a stranger on impulse, but to find out she was the little girl who once claimed she’d marry him? Unthinkable.
For once, the normally unflappable Tae-gun was thrown off balance. He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, but the tightness in his chest didn’t ease.
“Phew.”
Still feeling stifled, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering what to do.
Then the intercom buzzed from the secretary’s office.
“Yes?”
—“The chairman is here.”
The chairman meant the president of TOP Savings Bank, where Tae-gun was a director—his grandfather, Kang Ho-baek.
Normally the old man summoned him upstairs, never coming down to the director’s office himself.
A bad feeling prickled. Tae-gun rose, re-buttoning his shirt and straightening his tie.
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Without knocking, his grandfather burst in laughing loudly and sat on the main sofa.
Still chuckling, he eyed Tae-gun slyly across the table.
That laughter didn’t sound like anything good.
“I hear you spent last night with a young lady.”
Knowing his grandfather would already have the details, Tae-gun simply admitted it.
“Yes.”
“Until this morning?”
“Until dawn.”
“Excellent! I’ll allow the marriage.”
“Sir…”
“If my grandson has someone he likes, he should say so. I’m not a stubborn old man. If you like her, I like her. Bring her over right away! I want to meet my future granddaughter-in-law!”
After finally persuading his insistent grandfather to leave, Kim Sun-woo re-entered the office.
“Sir, Seo Hyun-jung’s late mother’s name was indeed Yeom Hye-ju.”
“She died when Hyun-jung was six.”
“Yes.”
Tae-gun nodded, confirmation settling in, while Kim Sun-woo hesitated as if he had more to say.
