The Chairman's Daughter
I arrived at the cafe where I'd promised to meet Arin noona, standing just outside the glass doors.
"Hoo―."
I'd gotten here earlier than expected. Staring through the window, I took a deep breath. Tension lingered in the air at the thought of facing her again after all these years.
Steeling myself, I stepped inside and turned toward the window seats. The moment my eyes swept the room, I spotted her instantly.
It was Arin noona.
She sat with her chin resting on her hand, gazing out the window with a languid expression as she sipped her coffee. That distinctive aura of hers—effortlessly drawing men's eyes wherever she went—hadn't changed one bit.
She didn't have Yuna's magnetic, attention-grabbing presence. Instead, she carried a calm, mature, and subtly aloof charm that was uniquely hers.
And before any of that charm even registered—
She's beautiful.
Honestly, that alone was enough.
As I approached quietly, I noticed one change in her appearance.
She cut her hair.
The soft brown, slightly wavy locks that once reached her waist were now neatly trimmed to just brush her shoulders. Even that suited her mature vibe perfectly.
She must have sensed me. Turning from the window, she looked straight at me.
Her eyes were the same soft brown as her hair—deep, always carrying a calm, steady light. I found myself caught in that gaze without meaning to.
I'd always liked those eyes. Just looking into them made my heart settle, as if she understood me without a single word needing to be said.
She felt both relaxed and mysteriously secretive, like she was hiding something. Looking back, I realized I'd known a lot about noona, yet never truly reached the deeper parts of her. She always allowed me close up to a certain line, but anything beyond that stayed locked away. That invisible wall was probably why I couldn't give her my whole heart before we parted.
"Dohun-ah."
Spotting me, she curved her lips into a relaxed smile and gave a small wave. A flicker of warmth rose in my chest, but I quickly suppressed it, forcing a stiff expression as I sat across from her.
Once seated, I noticed a drink already waiting in front of me.
Iced café mocha.
The same thing I always ordered whenever I came here.
Raising an eyebrow in question, I met her gaze. She rested her chin on her hand again and smiled, eyes crinkling prettily.
"You always got this whenever we came here. I remembered and ordered it ahead of time."
That single sentence made my heart waver.
This cafe had been our regular date spot back when we were together. The drink was exactly what I'd loved. Even after years apart, she'd remembered my preferences. Thoughts began to tangle in my mind.
Honestly, part of me was glad to see her again. But she'd been the one to unilaterally announce our breakup and vanish without a trace. And if the reason was the same thing Yuna was going through… then the fault lay with my constitution.
While my thoughts churned, she spoke again.
"Dohun-ah."
Leaning forward slightly with her chin still propped up, she asked, "What are you thinking so hard about?"
Those captivating eyes stared straight through me, as if they could see right into my soul. I nearly got pulled in.
Snapping out of it, I looked away and scanned her outfit instead.
A crisp white blouse stretched taut over her full chest. A black H-line skirt hugged her narrow waist and hips. Below the table, her smooth legs were wrapped in black stockings.
It was a classic office look—simple, yet perfectly suited to her.
I vaguely recalled hearing through university friends that she'd landed a job at a major corporation after graduation.
"Coming straight from work?"
It was a weekday evening, and her clothes made it easy to guess.
She let out a soft sigh, looking slightly tired.
"Yeah. Just finished. It's nonstop overtime every single day."
Then she added with a languid smile, "Still, I wanted to see you as soon as possible, so I dropped everything and came."
Her words tugged at my heart again, but I forced my voice cold and got straight to the point.
"So."
I met her eyes directly.
"What's the real reason you dumped me out of nowhere and went radio silent?"
At my blunt question, she gave a bitter smile and lowered her gaze.
"Right… I guess you're not in the mood for casual small talk and catching up."
She folded her hands on the table and looked at me seriously.
"Do you happen to know that I'm the youngest daughter of the chairman of Sesung Electronics?"
"…What?"
For a second, I thought I'd misheard.
Everyone in this country knew the name Sesung Electronics. It was the top chaebol conglomerate that practically ran Korea. The chairman's daughter?
"I… didn't hear that wrong, did I?"
"I figured you didn't know."
She nodded with another bitter smile.
"After we broke up, I wondered if maybe you'd heard rumors… but you really had no idea."
I could only gape, completely stunned. If she'd just said she came from a rich family, I might've believed it. But the daughter of the country's biggest corporation? It didn't feel real.
"But earlier you said you do overtime every day—"
"Even so, I'm still just a newbie who's barely started learning the ropes of management."
She shrugged.
"My father told me to start from the bottom, so I'm grinding away as the youngest employee in the headquarters planning team. Overtime is just part of the job."
Even faced with that staggering truth delivered so casually, I still couldn't process it.
"Uh, noona, you… really…?"
"Heh…"
She let out a small laugh, clearly amused by my flustered reaction.
Hearing that laugh, I knew she wasn't lying. There was no reason for her to make something like this up, and it wasn't in her nature to play childish pranks anyway.
Forcing my racing heart to calm, I asked sharply, almost accusingly, "So why are you telling me this now? You hid it the entire time we were dating. Why reveal it only after all this time?"
Her expression darkened at my pointed question.
"I was afraid that if you knew, you'd feel intimidated or push me away. I wanted to stay by your side as just an ordinary girlfriend."
She bowed her head deeply toward me.
"But if my excuse made you uncomfortable, I'm truly sorry. I'm sorry for lying to you, Dohun-ah."
That sincere, weighty apology… This was exactly why our relationship hadn't ended as a one-night fling. It was because of this mature, genuine side of her.
I let out a long sigh and straightened up.
"Hoo―. Fine. More importantly, keep going."
I stared at her.
"There's still more you haven't said. The real reason we broke up."
At my urging, she finally parted her lips.
"I'll be direct."
Her gaze didn't waver as it met mine.
"My father found out we were dating. He ordered me to break up with you immediately."
I asked calmly, "Because of the difference in our family backgrounds?"
"That's not entirely untrue, but…"
She smiled bitterly.
"The biggest reason is that he wanted me to focus solely on learning management so I could become his successor."
"Successor?"
I echoed, confused. As far as I knew, the Sesung Electronics chairman had two sons as well.
Reading my expression, she continued evenly.
"My brothers didn't meet his standards."
Which meant she did.
"I'm not a perfect vessel either. But he judged that my head was a little better than my useless brothers'. So he decided to position me as the most likely next successor."
She fiddled with her coffee cup and murmured, "For the record, my brothers don't know about this."
I sat speechless, as if I'd been struck over the head with a hammer. The succession secrets of the nation's top chaebol—could she really be telling me something this huge?
"Because of that suffocating family situation, my father started monitoring my every move. To protect you, I had no choice but to cut you off. That's the whole story."
After her calm confession ended, I sank into a whirlpool of thoughts.
So… noona didn't run away because of our relationship like Yuna did.
My mind tangled further.
Did that mean the women I'd been with didn't automatically fall into that bizarre condition? Then how did I explain what happened with Da-eun noona last night? Was it just a coincidence that only Yuna and Da-eun noona showed symptoms?
While I frowned in confusion, her hand slid across the table and gently covered the back of my stiff hand.
"……!"
Startled, I looked up. She gazed at me with those deep eyes and whispered, "Dohun-ah… can't we start over? I have the power to protect you now. So give me another chance."
She squeezed my hand and confessed in a sweet voice. I was almost drawn in by that captivating atmosphere—until I looked into her eyes and froze.
Those eyes were hollow, just like Yuna's had become.
