As he spoke, Min-Jun glanced curiously in Ji-Won's direction. His brown eyes searched the man's face for a reaction.
Sure enough, the moment Min-Jun's words reached his ears, Ji-Won's eyes went wide. His expression became even more complicated than before. He avoided looking at either one of them and instead settled his gaze on the front door, wanting more than ever to get out of there.
Even though it was for a short moment, Min-Jun's sharp eyes caught that reaction. He crossed his arms, a corner of his lips curving in a small smirk.
While her brother was merely confirming his strange suspicions, Su-Jin, was shocked to see him acting cute.
'Has the sun risen from the West today or is the world coming to an end? Why is Min-Jun, the ever frozen iceberg, acting spoiled like this?'
But even as she wondered in astonishment what could have possessed Min-Jun to behave like this, she couldn't deny the sweet feeling it gave her. Despite not understanding the meaning behind Min-Jun's words, seeing her brother be more open with his feelings made her smile in delight.
Without thinking twice about what she was doing, Su-Jin took a couple of steps towards Min-Jun, then reached out for his head.
There was quite a bit of difference in height between the two, so she had to raise herself on tiptoes in order to pat the top of his head. With her head leaned back, she gazed up at her brother.
"How can that be?" she said in a pampering tone. "Be it boy or man, you will always be the most important person in my life."
As she spoke, her smile widened until her eyes curved into crescents.
Her face was such a sight to behold that it caused Ji-Won to fall into a daze. Yet, when he saw her hand touching the other man's hair, his heart sank. Together with her words that small gesture had the effect of a bucket of cold water being splashed over his head. It woke him up from whatever daydream he was having.
Min-Jun, who was currently being petted by his older sister as though he was a bigger version of Gyojeon, saw perfectly clear how Ji-Won's expression changed. He was now more than certain than ever that this person had a huge misunderstanding regarding Su-Jin and him.
'And I am sure it's all because of this silly creature. She must have done or said something to cause this to happen.'
Reaching this conclusion, Min-Jun let out a helpless sigh. He glanced down at his sister. She was smiling adoringly at him, completely oblivious of having given someone quite a bit of pain.
'But then again, the other person doesn't seem to be aware of what is going on either. He is still ignorant of his own feelings, if there really are any. Let's just wait and see what happens. There will be enough time to clear the air later.' Min-Jun reasoned with himself.
After giving her brother a sisterly pat on the head, Su-Jin turned around and opened the door.
Ji-Won's car was parked outside, right in front of their house. So, as soon as she saw it, Su-Jin headed straight for it without looking back. Nevertheless, she still couldn't help but throw Min-Jun a sentence over her shoulder.
"I'm going now. Take care of yourself."
"Mn. You take care as well." Min-Jun threw back at her, then turned towards Ji-Won. "Please take care of her, Director Kang."
With that Min-Jun gave Ji-Won a polite bow. The latter swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and responded by bending his body into a small bow.
"Rest assured. I'll make sure she returns home safely." Ji-Won said, borrowing from his usual business-like tone.
In the meantime, Su-Jin had entered Ji-Won's car and took the front passenger seat. There was really nothing special about choosing to sit there. It's just that it would have looked weird if she were to ride in the back. That would have made the Director seem like her personal driver.
After saying those last words to Min-Jun, Ji-Won followed Su-Jin inside the car.
As soon as he sat down, he glanced sideways at Su-Jin.
The young woman had her seatbelt on and was sitting in a ramrod position. She was holding onto her backpack, keeping it tightly clutched between her arms as though she was afraid the object might suddenly spring to life and jump out the window. She had her phone in one hand, while the fingers of the other were tapping nervously on the screen.
In short, Su-Jin was looking stiff and apprehensive.
Seeing her like that, Ji-Won's mouth twitched.
'Why does she look like she's been kidnapped and held inside the car against her will? I might be her boss, but it's not like I'll fire her if she sits more comfortably. Should I tell her that it's alright to relax a little?'
"You can place the backpack there, if you want." Ji-Won said good-naturedly after a moment of pondering.
His deep voice, sounding so close inside that small space, startled Su-Jin. Her head snapped to the side and she saw him gesturing with his hand towards the backseat.
"Oh, no." Su-Jin almost jumped in her seat. "No, it's quite alright. I am very comfortable this way. Thank you, Director Kang." Su-Jin replied hastily, looking away from him.
Even as she said that, Su-Jin looked anything but comfortable. Her whole body was tense. She kept her eyes fixed on the road ahead, her hand continuing to play with her phone.
Even though she was aware that her body language betrayed her agitation, Su-Jin stubbornly denied the truth.
Ji-Won ultimately had to give up trying to convince her. It wasn't like he could just pluck the backpack out of her hands and throw it onto the backseat. That would most certainly not help with easing Su-Jin's agitated nerves. On the contrary, it might just make him seem like a lunatic and a dangerous person.
They already had so many bad feelings towards each other, it wouldn't do any good to add another one.
As he put on his seatbelt, Ji-Won threw one last glance towards the house. There he saw Min-Jun standing outside, leaning against the doorframe. The young man waved at them, then remained still.
Ji-Won removed his eyes from the young man's figure and turned on the engine.