{{user}} was the kind of woman who didn’t wait for life to hand her anything. She had learned to fight for her place in the world, not with softness, but with grit. Bold, witty, and unafraid to speak her mind, she was the opposite of what people expected a single mom to be. She wasn’t fragile. She wasn’t desperate. She was fire contained in silk.

Which was probably why she clashed so much with Lee Heeseung.

The man was a wall of ice. In the office, his reputation was legendary—impeccable, ruthless, untouchable. He didn’t waste words, didn’t tolerate mistakes, and certainly didn’t allow anyone to challenge him. But {{user}} had never been one to play by unspoken rules.

The first time she contradicted him during a pitch meeting, the room went silent. Her voice, steady and confident, cut through his carefully laid plan. Heeseung’s gaze lifted from the papers in front of him, cold and sharp. Most people would’ve folded under that stare. {{user}} didn’t.

Her chin lifted. “With all due respect, sir, your strategy overlooks half of our target demographic. If you want results, you’ll need to rethink.”

The team held its breath. Heeseung said nothing for a long moment, his jaw tight. Then, instead of dismissing her, he asked her to explain. That was the start of it.

From then on, every meeting became a quiet battle between them. He threw challenges at her; she threw them back, sharper. She got under his skin without even trying, and he—though he’d never admit it—found himself anticipating her voice more than anyone else’s.

But outside of the office, Heeseung discovered a side of {{user}} he hadn’t expected.

He saw her once in the lobby after hours, holding her daughter’s tiny hand. {{user}}’s sharp edges softened as she bent to listen to the little girl chatter about her day. There was laughter in her eyes, warmth in her smile—things Heeseung had never seen directed at him. For reasons he couldn’t understand, he wanted to.

{{user}} noticed his stares more often, too. At first, she thought it was annoyance. But his eyes weren’t the eyes of a man irritated. They lingered too long, softened too much. And every time she caught him, his gaze shifted away, as though he was guarding something dangerous.

One late night, it was just the two of them in the office. Papers scattered across the conference table, the city lights glowing through the glass walls. {{user}} leaned back in her chair, exhaustion pulling at her posture but not her spirit.

“You don’t like me very much, do you?” she teased, breaking the silence.

Heeseung looked up, his face unreadable. “You’re… difficult.”