Chapter34，Part1: Things are Starting to Get out of Hand (2)
They were funny.
How many people that were at Gong Te automobile’s presentation venue were unaware of ‘Chiffre’ in Korea, when it was developed in IT? Kang Chan wondered if anyone was genuinely congratulating them while he watched their fake cheers and claps.
One person seemed genuine about it, at least.
Yoo Hye-Sook.
As she watched Kang Dae-Kyung open the driver seat door near the model, she raised her hand, covering her nose and lips.
“My father looks amazing,” Kang Chan commented.
When he wrapped his arms around Yoo Hye-Sook, she ended up crying.
“Your dad struggled a lot because he met me, but he constantly looked over both of us without ever losing that amazing look of his.”
A joyful laugh came out.
Yoo Hye-Sook wiped her tears with the end of her long finger and clapped timidly. When the excitement all around the presentation venue died down, Michelle also came down from the podium. Since there was no reason to pretend he didn’t know her and come across as impolite, he raised his hand to get her attention.
“Channy!”
Damn it. I should’ve pretended I didn’t know her.
Michelle was already eye-catching, but she still boisterously ran to Kang Chan, her long blonde hair fluttering behind her.
“Michelle! Speak in French.”
Kang Chan didn’t have time to stop her, so he came up with a contingency plan instead.
“It’s so good to see you!” Michelle exclaimed.
Thankfully, she followed his instruction.
However, Michelle kept her entire body close to Kang Chan and kept kissing his cheek as if he was her lover whom she hadn’t seen for months, even though Yoo Hye-Sook was right in front of them. She was overacting, which wasn’t like her normal self.
“Calm down. There are people here that you met last time. You should greet them first,” Kang Chan said.
If Michelle spoke Korean here, they would basically be confessing they were acting when they first met. Finally, she moved away from Kang Chan.
Yoo Hye-Sook and Kim Seong-Hee had strange looks on their faces.
Michelle had good senses, but she had two sides to her. She greeted Yoo Hye-Sook and Kim Seong-Hee in French and even bowed at them brightly.
“What brings you here?” Kang Chan asked Michelle.
“The magazine company that I work at is releasing a feature story for ‘Chiffre’ next month. What about you, Channy?”
“I was the one that introduced Smithen. Didn’t you hear from Alice?”
“We’re not close enough to contact each other privately.”
Michelle gazed at Alice with a formal expression, then returned her attention to Kang Chan with a bright smile.
“My father’s the president of Kang Yoo Motors,” Kang Chan said.
“Channy, you were a part of a royal family?”
“No, not at all.”
Kang Chan thought it was time for him to arrive. Sure enough, Smithen approached Kang Chan, his left eye turning into a heart as soon as he did.
“You know of such beauty, Channy?” Smithen asked.
Kang Chan thought about kicking them away, but Yoo Hye-Sook and Kim Seong-Hee were beside him. More importantly, Smithen was Gong Te automobile’s Korean branch manager. He had no choice but to just let him greet Michelle properly. Kang Chan was told that it was the first time that Alice and Michelle had seen each other in person.
Smithen kept showing interest in Michelle but had to leave because of the reporters and the event organizer’s request. He seemed very disappointed, while Alice seemed relieved.
The hotel employees looked busy preparing simple snacks and drinks. When the people gathered around to socialize, Kang Dae-Kyung approached Michelle, greeted her, then took Yoo Hye-Sook and Kim Seong-Hee with him.
Michelle was definitely different from her usual self.
It wasn’t new for her to keep her body close to Kang Chan or anything. However, she brought drinks over and never left Kang Chan’s side.
“Channy, can you have a beer with me after the event?” Michelle asked.
Her eyes looked like she was imitating Kim Mi-Young.
“Sure.”
Michelle helped him meet Cecile, and she also introduced him to Alice, so Kang Chan agreed to go without complaints.
Lanok then approached Kang Chan. When Kang Chan introduced Michelle to him, Lanok greeted her in a very formal way and said, “I really should go now. I wish for your success, Mr. Kang Chan.”
He then left the scene.
“Channy, how do you know that person?”
“I just saw him for the first time today.”
Michelle couldn’t seem to believe him.
“He’s famous for being arrogant, and there are rumors that he’s aiming for the presidential seat after the upcoming election. He’s definitely not someone that would walk up to someone by himself and say hello first…” Michelle replied.
Why would any of that matter?
Kang Chan suddenly felt uncomfortable being in this kind of place.
“Want to go?” Kang Chan asked Michelle.
“Now?” Michelle seemed happy to hear that.
Kang Chan walked toward Kang Dae-Kyung and Yoo Hye-Sook.
“I’ll be leaving ahead with a friend. Would that be okay?” Kang Chan asked.
Yoo Hye-Sook became worried when she looked at Michelle.
“I don’t mind. Your mom’s going with me, anyway,” Kang Dae-Kyung replied.
“Thank you. Then I’ll be going. You were really amazing today.”
Yoo Hye-Sook still looked worried even as Kang Chan smiled and turned away, but he left anyway, pretending not to notice since he didn’t have any means to ease her worries.
***
Kang Chan and Michelle sat down on the top floor of the event venue, which had an outdoor terrace. Since it was a Saturday, it had a good number of people, but it wasn’t enough to be crowded. Most importantly, Kang Chan liked that he could smoke here.
Kang Chan smoked slowly after they ordered two beers.
He didn’t have to worry about Kang Dae-Kyung or Yoo Hye-Sook witnessing something they shouldn’t since he could see the people walking around through the glass wall. Taking a sip of beer, he actually felt a bit relaxed. Kang Chan then untied the knot in his tie and unbuttoned his collar.
“Ooh-la la! You look so sexy right now,” Michelle said.
“You need to go to a hospital. You’re acting a bit weird.”
Michelle’s eyes curved when she smiled.
She was charming, so much so that everyone sitting on the terrace glanced at her. But that was it.
Not only was Kang Chan not interested in sex without love, but he also didn’t have any intentions to cling onto Michelle and tell her to only look at him when she was already used to an open lifestyle.
“Channy, do you not like sex?”
I was wondering when she was going to ask that.?
Kang Chan smirked. He didn’t want to respond to her question, but Michelle seemed to be waiting for an answer.
“I don’t want to do it without love,” Kang Chan told Michelle.
“Can’t people just enjoy it because they’re attracted to each other?”
“You do that. I’m not interested.”
“Then are you inexperienced?”
Michelle copied Kang Chan, taking a sip of her beer.
It didn’t seem like a bad idea to take this opportunity to draw the line.
“It’s not that. I did lose interest after I had sex without love. I felt empty, and my loneliness just felt like it deepened. I wondered what I was doing when I turned away. That’s all.”
Michelle looked at Kang Chan, confused.
“Channy, are you really a high schooler?”
Shoot! I should’ve just said that there was something wrong with my body.
Instead, he thoughtlessly told her how he felt in France.
“Can you enjoy it with me if I love you?” Michelle asked again.
The way she spoke changed, but it didn’t matter.
“That’s going to be difficult. I don’t want chastity, but I also don’t want an open lifestyle.”
“Sure. So is it possible if I throw away everyone else from now on and love only you?”
“Michelle.”
Kang Chan looked at Michelle seriously while biting down on a cigarette.
“It’s not like we’ll immediately start loving each other when we start doing that. I don’t want to break up because it got boring after we’ve had sex for some time. So you should be yourself and have fun with good people. If you’re uncomfortable with meeting me because there’s no sex involved, then let’s not see each other anymore.”
“Agréable (You’re cool!)”
Phew! What’s the point of saying anything?
Michelle looked at Kang Chan with a flushed face. Kang Chan could only look back at her as well since he felt eerie for some reason.
“Je t'aime, Channy.”
Kang Chan stared blankly at Michelle for a moment because of how serious she sounded. And because her deep blue eyes were wet with tears.
“Pull yourself together.”
“No, Channy. I feel weird. It seriously hurts my pride to say this, but those eyes of yours sway me for some weird reason. I actually first found out about my feelings when you said that you were going to meet Cecile last Saturday. That actually put me at a loss on what to do. I even asked Cecile for a favor that evening—to consider you as mine for the time being because I think I love you.”
No wonder Cecile left without doing anything unusual in the hospital.
“This makes me uncomfortable, Michelle.”
“Is it because of my past?”
“I said that doesn’t matter to me. But you talk about love just as easily as asking to spend the night together. What are you going to do if the choice that you make now is wrong? Are you sure we can have a good break up? I can’t do that. Losing someone is so horrible that I have no confidence in letting them go once I’ve grown to love them. Even if it means death.”
Damn it.
Kang Chan held back from swearing after he finished talking.
His intention was to clearly draw the line through a serious conversation, but his plan had gone completely awry and seemed to have actually made the situation worse.
“J’taime. J’taime, Channy.”
It sounded like she was saying ‘I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.’
“Tsk!”
Kang Chan got slightly annoyed when Michelle appeared to be losing control of her emotions after not getting her way with him, even though she could get any man that she wanted.
1. Technically, the exact translation would be agra?t, which is Catalan, not French. But agréable is used here because she speaks French and not Catalan
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