The CEO's Counterattack

The buzz of sewing machines filled the air as Yuna Kang stitched the final hem of a client’s evening gown. Threads of concentration wrapped tightly around her, but even that couldn’t muffle the distant thunder rumbling in her chest. She hadn’t seen Minjae since the blind date fiasco, but her nerves hadn’t quieted since. What if he recognized her? What if he said something?

She bit her lower lip and tried to refocus, only to be interrupted by her coworker Eunjae nudging her playfully. “Yuna, you’ve been zoning out all morning. Who is he?”

Yuna flinched. “Wh-What? Who’s who?”

Eunjae giggled. “You’ve got that look. It’s either love or trouble.”

“Definitely trouble,” mumbled Kyungmin, another colleague, from behind his clipboard.

Yuna waved them off, cheeks warming. “Nothing happened.”

Her phone buzzed softly on her desk. She glanced down to see a new message:

Kang Minjae: Coffee, 5 PM. Rooftop Café. Don’t worry—I won’t bring wine this time.

Her breath caught.

Meanwhile, inside the sleek walls of EON Fashions' headquarters, Kang Minjae leaned back in his leather chair, arms crossed, watching the skyline.

“She lied to my face,” he muttered.

Seo Hyunwoo, his bespectacled and ever-stoic secretary, tilted his head. “The blind date girl?”

Minjae didn’t look away from the window. “She claimed she was Jiwoo Lee. But I confirmed the real Jiwoo was out of the country that day. So who did I meet?”

Hyunwoo adjusted his glasses. “You want me to look into her?”

“I already did,” Minjae said coolly, finally turning back. “Yuna Kang. Assistant designer. Works here. Has no idea who I was during the date.”

“And that bothers you?” Hyunwoo asked, though his voice was neutral.

Minjae’s jaw ticked. “No one lies to me. And no one walks out on me.”

Just then, the door swung open. Minjae’s grandfather, Kang Daejin, entered with the energy of a man thirty years younger.

“You’re still single,” Daejin declared. “I’m dying before you give me great-grandchildren.”

“You’re not dying,” Minjae replied calmly.

“Not yet. But soon, probably!” his grandfather waved him off. “Anyway, I arranged three more blind dates for this month.”

Minjae sighed. “Grandfather—”

“No arguments. Either you pick someone or I will.”

When Daejin finally left, Minjae’s shoulders slumped.

Hyunwoo, after a moment, said, “You need someone who benefits you. Not love—utility. A solution.”

Minjae’s eyes narrowed. “Someone who owes me... someone bold enough to lie to my face.”

The clock on Yuna’s desk ticked closer to five. Her fingers hovered over her sketchpad, but her mind was elsewhere. That simple message from Kang Minjae—Coffee, 5 PM. Rooftop Café. Don’t worry—I won’t bring wine this time—had lodged itself in her thoughts all day.

She sighed, packing her bag as the final rays of sunlight spilled into the studio. The city’s skyline glittered as she stepped into the elevator, heart pounding with every floor she climbed.

The rooftop café was eerily quiet.

No soft chatter, no clinking cups—just polished tables set under warm string lights and an unobstructed view of the sprawling city below.

She scanned the space, noting the absence of any other patrons.

That’s when she spotted him.

Kang Minjae stood near the corner table, impeccably dressed, hands folded, his expression unreadable but intense.

She pulled out the chair opposite him, sitting with a mixture of curiosity and caution.

Minjae slid a sleek folder across the table.

He looked unreadable.

“I’ve been thinking,” he began, voice low and steady. “About the mess you made on our last meeting, Miss Kang, or should I say, Miss Jiwoo?”

Yuna bowed her head. “I didn’t mean—”

“You lied. Sat across from me pretending to be someone else.”

“I was doing a favor!” she said quickly. “It wasn’t meant to hurt anyone.”