The gray dusk spilled across AUREX's glass tower. From the thirty-eighth floor, Han Serin watched her reflection — blurred, as if she were staring at someone she used to be but could no longer trust.Her phone kept buzzing: "Daesan Group Forms Alliance with Nara Holdings — A Countermove Against AUREX?"That name — her family's — echoed through every article, every cruel comment. Once it meant home; now it was nothing but a bitter echo.
Footsteps approached. Kang Jaehyun stood behind her, dressed in charcoal and composure. The silence between them was not distance — it was awareness."That news," he said evenly, "is just bait. They know you'll see it."Serin didn't turn. "And if they're not after my attention?""Then they're after your balance."
She turned to face him, her voice quiet but edged. "They know the weak point isn't AUREX — it's me. And I hate that they're right."
A pause. The air hummed with the faint scent of coffee and unease left from the afternoon's meeting.Jaehyun stepped closer, his tone gentler this time. "I expected their move. But I didn't expect—"He stopped."Didn't expect what?" she asked, almost daring him."That I'd be angry not because of business... but because they targeted you."
The words lingered between them — heavy, unguarded.Serin studied his face, searching for the truth behind his calm exterior. For once, his voice carried no chill — only a sincerity he seemed to struggle to admit even to himself.
"Jaehyun," she said softly, "you don't have to protect me. This is just a contract.""But you know," he replied, barely above a whisper, "not everything can stay just a contract."
Outside, thunder rolled beyond the skyline.The past was knocking again — not as memories, but as headlines and familiar faces from a life that once rejected her.But this time, she wasn't standing alone.
Jaehyun's gaze lingered on her, no longer purely professional.And amid the storm gathering beyond the glass, Serin realized — perhaps the protection she had refused all this time was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.