It was no time for teasing her with a ‘Congrats on going broke.’ But he knew that unless he got under Oh Haein’s skin, the anger he’d been holding in wouldn’t go away. She’d cut off all contact after that day, clean and cold.

　　So he texted her back, going out of his way to rile her. Only when he saw her nearly jump out of her skin staring at her phone did he finally crack a smile.

　　“Woohyun, let’s go.”

　　“Yeah.”

　　He followed the manager, who’d cleared the table, out of the cafe. Haein couldn’t bring herself to stop him and just stood there, head hanging low.

　　“Oppa, can I ride with you too?”

　　Woohyun didn’t even bother answering Sena. He went straight to the van in the lot and pulled a T-shirt from the back seat.

　　“Hyung, I’m gonna grab another coffee. Be right back.”

　　“Got it. Hurry back.”

　　“Oppa, I’m coming with you, okay?”

　　Sena clung stubbornly to his arm when he wouldn’t answer. With a sigh, he shook her hand off without missing a beat and looked at the straw she’d chewed to pieces.

　　It pissed him off that the drink he’d meant for Oh Haein was in someone else’s hand.

　　“Hwang Sena, take your own car. And I didn’t buy that drink for you, so pay me back later.”

　　He was smiling, but the edge in his voice was ice-cold.

　　Leaving Sena’s grumbling behind him, Woohyun went back to Haein, who was still standing there in a daze. She’d just started to breathe easier now that he was gone, and she looked at him as if to ask why he’d come back.

　　“One iced Americano, please.”

　　“Ah… okay.”

　　“And an iced chocolate latte.”

　　Haein took the card he held out with trembling hands. Then a white shopping bag appeared on the counter—he’d slid the one he’d been carrying across to her.

　　“Go change.”

　　He said it in a voice so low, his lips barely moving, that the people watching him couldn’t make out a word.

　　“…I’m fine. Really.”

　　When curious stares started boring into her, Haein got uncomfortable and slid the shopping bag back.

　　“You’ll only look more ridiculous if you keep this up.”

　　Haein fell silent.

　　Woohyun just snatched the card back out of her hand. He left the counter so she couldn’t refuse any further and waited for the drinks at the pickup station.

　　Haein’s hands kept shaking as emotions welled up inside her. She barely managed to make the drinks, then called him over. When he started to walk off with just the Americano, she looked at him, confused.

　　“What about this…?”

　　“When have you ever seen me drink a chocolate latte? Can’t even take care of your own food, you idiot.”

　　His tone was exactly like he was scolding her for letting her writing get stolen.

　　Unlike her usual self, Haein clenched her teeth and hung her head. She wanted to scream at him that he didn’t have to talk like that, but she knew perfectly well this was Ahn Woohyun’s way of comforting her.

　　“I’ll call you when I’m done with work, so pick up. Don’t dodge me. Otherwise I’ll hunt you down and be a real asshole about it.”

　　Woohyun put on a carefully crafted smile and even nodded a goodbye, playing actor Ahn Woohyun to perfection. Everything he said, though, from start to finish, was in that rude-as-hell tone he saved only for his childhood friend Oh Haein.

　　Haein stared blankly at the dark iced chocolate, then went back behind the counter. Inside the shopping bag was a brand-new T-shirt, still in its wrapper.

　　Had he gotten it because she was a sucker for anything chocolate? She’d let herself hope, just for a second—one single second. She still hadn’t expected it to actually be true.

　　When that faint hope came back to her as the kind of comfort only a friend could give, tears welled in her eyes. Haein wiped them away with her sleeve, which still smelled faintly sour of coffee and milk.

* * *

　　Woohyun arrived at the agency reading a script that might as well have been an extension of his own body.

　　Ryu Entertainment.

　　The agency that had taken complete care of him from his debut now stood as a genuine major player, with him as its face. As a founding contributor, his influence carried absolute weight even inside its walls.

　　When he walked into the CEO’s office with his manager, CEO Ryu Myeongji, who’d been waiting for him, greeted them both.

　　“Come on in.”

　　CEO Ryu, seated at the center of the sleek office, rose and gestured them toward the sofa.

　　With hair just long enough to brush her shoulders and looks that made her mid-fifties hard to believe, she had a beauty that could’ve made her a celebrity in her own right.

　　The entertainment industry ran on male CEOs more than people might think, which made her talent truly one of a kind. That it ran in the family was something only Woohyun, her nephew, knew.

　　“Woohyun, you said you weren’t doing Writer Jang Seokwoo’s project, right?”

　　“Yes, ma’am. It seems Woohyun didn’t care for the script. His eye for scripts is outstanding, so perhaps it’d be best to trust him on this?”

　　After Woohyun had turned down Writer Jang’s script, CEO Ryu had sounded disappointed, so the manager found himself fawning automatically. On top of that, he’d heard Writer Jang and Studio Lion had even come by in person over the past few days, which had him sweating.

　　But Woohyun never went back on his decisions. He just crossed his legs, perfectly at ease.

　　CEO Ryu studied him in silence, then nodded.

　　“Alright, good. For his next project, let’s go with Writer Kim Mino’s work, like Woohyun picked. It’s a debut piece, but it was interesting. Our company will invest in it too.”

　　“By the way, I heard Writer Jang and Director Choi came by in person. Nothing happened, I hope?”

　　“What would happen? If I say his schedule’s full, that’s the end of it. Anyone who matters already knows Ahn Woohyun’s booked solid for the next three years.”

　　“Right, of course.”

　　The manager nodded, relieved by CEO Ryu’s words. What she was actually curious about, though, was whether Woohyun knew the truth about Writer Jang Seokwoo’s script.

　　“Ahn Woohyun, did you turn down Writer Jang’s script just because it wasn’t any good?”

　　Studio Lion had supposedly clamped down hard on the story, but word of Haein making a scene had still leaked out bit by bit. The broadcasting industry was full of gossip rags, and rumors spread faster than the internet.

　　CEO Ryu was an investor in Studio Lion herself, so there was no way she wouldn’t have heard fast.

　　“Do you need another reason?”

　　The moment CEO Ryu saw Woohyun’s easy smile, she knew. That sly fox had caught wind of the rumors about Writer Jang early and cut him loose so none of the filth would splash onto him.

　　“Ma’am, did something else happen?”

　　“I heard it from Executive Park at Lion. Apparently Writer Jang plagiarized a contest entry. They landed a broadcast slot with it, and it sounds like all hell broke loose.”

　　“What?!”

　　“Those bastards are pulling that shit again. How long has that dirty little habit been around? And the fact that the channel isn’t canceling the slot—they probably cooked it up together and are covering for each other.”

　　“Wow, Woohyun did say it felt like someone else had written it… You’re really something. You already knew?”

　　Woohyun shrugged at the manager’s amazement. He had no intention of airing Haein’s wounds in front of other people.

　　“Please also shut down any press about the script being offered to me.”

　　“Alright, got it.”

　　CEO Ryu figured there was nothing to gain from getting mixed up with Writer Jang either.

　　“Ma’am, I’d like about three days off. The schedule’s fine for that, right? I’d rather not get called in for anything unnecessary.”

　　Woohyun said it after spotting a rare empty block while they went over his schedule.

　　“Isn’t working out part of your schedule?”

　　“I’m not skipping workouts. I mean, don’t call me in for anything else, such as last-minute events, shoots, private gatherings, all of it.”

　　Woohyun looked CEO Ryu straight in the eye as he said it. By “private gatherings,” he meant the sort of meeting from a few days ago, where the people who ran the entertainment business got together.

　　More precisely, it was a gathering his parents, who sat at the very top of that world, had arranged so they could look at their son at ease for once, the son whose family ties they kept thoroughly hidden. Apparently he’d hated every minute of sitting there beaming like some performing kid.

　　Who am I supposed to blame for this brat’s personality?

　　He let out a small sigh. She wanted to tell him to take it up with his parents, but that wasn’t something to say in front of the manager.

　　“Seongjin, would you look at him, putting me on the spot over one little dinner invitation.”

　　“Haha, I know, right? There are kids out there dying to get invited to things like that.”

　　“That’s what I’m saying. Fine, rest up for three days. Don’t cause any trouble. Just hole up at home and relax.”

　　“We’ll see.”

　　What an insolent brat.

　　CEO Ryu swallowed the words that had risen all the way to her throat and went on, almost like a sigh.

　　“Seongjin, you take a break too. Just make sure you get this kid to his workouts on time.”

　　“Yes, ma’am. We’ll be on our way.”

　　Unlike Seongjin, who bowed politely at the waist, Woohyun just tipped his head and walked out. On the way down to the parking garage, Seongjin let out a belated laugh at CEO Ryu’s usual warning.

　　“It’s not like you’d go cause trouble anywhere, but she always worries like that.”

　　“I know, right.”

　　“I like that you keep yourself this solidly in check. Did you hear about Ji Seungwoo? Him getting caught with drugs at a club.”

　　“Didn’t know.”

　　“Apparently his company’s scrambling to cover it up. Can’t even control himself at a sensitive time like this.”

　　Seongjin waved it off, saying that in a place where news traveled this fast, they could only keep a lid on it for so long. Woohyun didn’t so much as flinch through any of it. He had no interest in other people’s business, and right now every last bit of his attention was on Oh Haein.