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Chapter 14 Love's Unveiling Shadows

Jenny rather clumsily knots Clint’s tie at his request, then looks in his fridge for breakfast, but he only has water and alcohol—and he’s planning to get rid of the latter, he tells her, “Because I want to hear the next confession when you’re sober.”
Jenny says she made a mistake because she was drunk, but Clint teases that she cried, clung to him and jumped on him last night—doesn’t she remember? She huffs a denial.
He asks her to come have breakfast with him at the hotel, but she protests that it’ll be like advertising that they spent the night in the same house. “But it’s the truth,” he says, grinning when she steps on his foot.
They end up at the hotel anyway, Jenny complaining about Clint’s stubbornness. Employee Carl spots them and comes over to speak with Clint, and although Jenny turns away at first to hide her face, Clint introduces her to his subordinate, telling him they’re in a serious relationship. Clint leaves to take care of some business, leaving her to finish breakfast on her own.
Gathering her courage, Jenny goes to tackle the mess in her burgled apartment. Upset when he hears she went home, Clint tells her to go to a coffee shop and wait for him, and wraps up work early.
He’s by the elevator when amber suddenly hugs him from the back, and he pushes her off with distaste. She complains that he’s embarrassing her by reacting so harshly, but he tells her not to do things that will embarrass her, and turns down her invitation to get drinks.
Clint finds Jenny sitting on a bench by her building and asks if she’s okay, and she says to stop worrying, since she’s scared enough already. He says in that case she shouldn’t have come here alone, but she says it’s her home after all. He turns as to start walking and she looks closely at the back of his jacket, which has some whitish smudges on it, and smells his shoulders. (Uh-oh. Is that what I think it is?)
“Did you really go to the hotel to work?” she asks. “You smell like makeup.”
Clint tries to smell his clothes, confused, and she points out he’ll have to change his suit jacket, too—it looks like someone hugged him from behind.
He suddenly swears in realization, and Jenny takes that as an admission of guilt; it’s not like he takes the subway, she points out, so how can she trust him when he has makeup on his clothes at this hour? He tells her to trust him, that he didn’t do anything he shouldn’t, but she’s doubtful.
They enter her apartment to assess the damage, and Jenny confirms to Clint that nothing of value is missing (she includes her scrapbook of Ji-soo in this category, haha). She spots a bra on the floor and lunges to put it away, causing Clint to smirk. A sudden thought occurs to him, and he asks her where the contract for their relationship is.
Jenny finds it, but is puzzled by its location outside the box she was keeping it in. As they head to the car, she wonders if this is going to be a problem. He says it’s most important that she’s safe; it’s his job to find out who is behind this.
She eyes his suit jacket again, and he takes it off and throws it in the backseat, but she keeps looking at it as they drive. She asks if that woman is at the hotel—is that why he wanted to sleep there last night? He protests that it’s not like that with Amber who’s just a woman he knows and ran into by chance, but she refuses to look at him.
Giving in finally, she says she was just trying on the role of a jealous girlfriend… or was she? She teases him a bit more by going back and forth, making him laugh.
They shop for groceries, and Jenny asks if he wants ramyun. Clint says no, unless she’s by “ramyun” she’s indicating her intention to seduce him, in which case definitely yes. Jenny playfully slaps his arm, then suddenly remembers his injured shoulder—it was hurting so much that he couldn’t move it this morning, so why is it fine now? She smacks him again at the realization that he tricked her.
She cooks dinner for him at his house, and when they sit down to eat, he gives her a key and tells her to stay here for a while.
She says she can’t, since he’s a public figure and it would cause problems if someone were to see her. He asks if she’s worried about him, or about being caught up in a scandal with him. She says both—they can’t afford for things to get more complicated between them right now. “And I can’t fall for you.”
He asks if she thinks that might happen, and she says she thinks she’ll get attached to him, and she can’t afford that when they only have a couple of months left together. He acknowledges her point and asks that she stay just until they finish fixing up her place, and she nods.
That evening, Jenny sits looking at the calendar in her planner where she’s written “Last Day of Contract,” and sighs sadly. Clint, working late but unable to concentrate, looks at the same date on his phone.
Jenny is cooking in Clint’s kitchen when he arrives home, startling her, and he finds her crouched behind a cabinet, brandishing a ladle. She gets up with a sigh and admits she’s still shaken up by what happened. He hugs her from behind, telling her it’s okay, and when she asks why he’s home unusual early, he says it’s to make sure she’s all right.
Bryan’s father shows him the reason that Clint and Jenny are dating: Grandpa’s will. Not disclosing how he found out about it, he tells Bryan to go and seduce Jenny for himself, as the two aren’t in a real relationship.
Bryan protests that even if it’s fake, he can’t go after his cousin’s girl, but his dad points out that the will only promises Clint the first chance. That means if he fails, someone else can have a try. Way to make this sound as gross as possible, Dad.
Clint asks Jenny if she has any requests since they’re renovating her place anyway, and she’s surprised, having thought they were just going to replace the locks.
She chokes on her food when she finds out he bought the building, and says sarcastically that it must be nice to have money.
They meet Lawyer Park at a bar for drinks, and Amber shows up, addressing Clint informally and asking who Jenny is. Clint says she doesn’t need to know, but she introduces herself anyway, and Jenny refuses the offer of a drink, commenting that she shouldn’t get drunk today.
Amber pulls Lawyer Park aside, and Clint pours Jenny a drink, saying he’s fine with another confession.
Lawyer Park tells Amber that Jenny is Clint’s girlfriend, and they’re serious, so she’d better not interfere. She wonders why he’d date a woman like that, and when Lawyer Park replies, “He probably loves her,” she makes a face.
Employee Carl calls Clint from the police station, telling him they’ve caught the culprits of the burglary, but unfortunately there’s no evidence. Clint sighs that they’re back at square one, and tells him to find out when SH Mall’s shareholder meeting will take place.
Ambers corners Jenny in the bathroom, and with fake friendliness, warns Jenny that although Clint has a lot of attractive qualities, he’s not being sincere, so she shouldn’t get too caught up in her feelings for him. She cuts her eyes at Jenny’s dress and says his taste has really gone frumpy, before sauntering out.
Jenny splutters to herself, “Frumpy is his preference! Why didn’t I say that?” She calls herself an idiot, and scoffs at Clint’s earlier claims that nothing is going on. Jenny goes back out to see Amber clinging to Clint’s arm as she talks, and asks him if they can leave.
In the car, she stares out the window and ignores Clint when he asks what’s wrong, and they ride home in silence. When they get out of the car, he traps her against the car (this again, dude?) and asks her why she’s mad. She puts on an exaggerated smile and he stumbles back in fright. She calls out in a sugary tone, “Clint-ah! Lee Clint!” and then tells him in her normal voice not to let “that woman you see every day” call him that. It’s only fair, she points out, since she can no longer call Paul or Amber “Oppa.”
He asks if she’s jealous, and she reflects on it and says maybe she is. This makes her even madder, though, and she storms inside. He smiles, saying to himself that she’s cute even when she’s angry, and rings the doorbell.
She calls him a weirdo and lets him in, asking crossly if he doesn’t even know the passcode to his own house. He says he does; he just wanted to know how it feels to have someone open the door for him.
Jenny grabs a bottle of water and takes a calming drink. He tells her not to worry about Amber, as he’s not the type to go around meeting just any woman. She says she’s not worried, just annoyed; besides, there are plenty of men who like her.
Suddenly alert, he asks if Bryan has contacted her. She doesn’t know who Bryan is, but says it was a random guy who showed interest, and besides, people are always setting her up on blind dates. He warns her not to go on any, or he’ll show up with a kid on his back to fetch “Mommy.” Ha!
She tells him he’s being unfair when he’s the one going around seeing other women—she does her hilarious impression of Amber again, saying they were probably embracing and that’s how the makeup got on him. “Now that I’m clearheaded, it ticks me off even more,” she mutters. He smiles and looks closely at her, asking if she’s sobered up. She agrees emphatically.
He grins and gets up, crosses to where she’s sitting and gives her a long, very thorough kiss.
Drawing back, he says, “I’d better go, or we’ll be in trouble.” He touches her face and swaggers off, and she stares after him, frozen.
After a moment she hugs a pillow and grins giddily into it, murmuring, “I guess you can get drunk on water too.”
Clint and Employee Carl puzzle over the fluctuating stock values of SH Mall and Hotel, wondering what’s going on, especially with the bomb threat they had recently. Employee Carl says the main branch is watching the situation too, and Clint reflects that Grandpa must have received word of this too—if he didn’t know all about it already.
Employee Carl assures him that Grandpa isn’t behind all this, but Clint tells him not to trust the old man too much.
Employee Carl goes straight to Grandpa next, who really isn’t behind it; he trusts Clint’s instincts that something is wrong, though, and tells Employee Carl to look into it.
Renovations are complete, so Clint takes Jenny home to her rooftop apartment, now equipped with fingerprint recognition technology, a camera, and an upgraded interior, which he shows her proudly. She asks in dismay why he changed all her furniture out and he says it was old. He crumples up her poster of Ji-soo and when she protests, he tells her he’s being jealous,. He tells her to throw it away, since he doesn’t like her having a picture of another guy in her room. She pouts and smooths the poster.
A subdued Clint returns to his dark, empty house, although he smiles when he sees the plants Jenny bought for him. He sighs when he enters his empty bedroom. Jenny looks at her unfamiliar apartment, strangely unable to get used to it. In their own beds that night, they both lie awake.

Book Comment (175)

  • avatar
    AbdullahiIsmael

    high

    14/05/2024

      0
  • avatar
    TorrejaJames C

    yes maganda Ang kwento

    25/03/2024

      0
  • avatar
    belloredera

    ang ganda ng storry na to❤️

    22/03/2024

      0
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