Silence filled the room. Until the suffocating silence settled from the floor and crept up to his neck, Seo Hee Won gave no response.
He briefly wondered if his ears had finally gone awry due to the recent emotional distress, but soon accepted that he hadn’t misheard.
Sitting with trembling eyes, he gazed at the small demon looking up at him with an innocent face.
He didn’t want to ask what she was thinking or what her intentions were with those words.
He didn’t want to know either. He just wanted to run away, but knowing he couldn’t made his heart ache even more.
How many minutes passed? In the end, the one who couldn’t bear the suffocation spoke up first.
“You said before. Even without feelings, even without dating, we can do anything.”
Did he say that? He didn’t remember, but the smart girl kept bringing up the past he wanted to erase and presenting it to him.
If he could, he wanted to go to his arrogant past self, stab him in the stomach, and warn him to watch his words. Unfortunately, modern science had not yet created the technology to enable time travel.
So now, all he could do was regret.
He kept his gaze in the air for a moment, his throat tight. His eyes felt a bit hot, but he held it back with all his might.
To avoid showing that he was shaking, he deliberately bit his lip for a moment and turned his head to avoid eye contact with her.
But at some point, running away from Yoon Na Eun became futile, so he had to give in and speak.
“…So, what do you want to tell me?”
He shouldn’t have, but his words came out cold. It was an unconscious defense mechanism to avoid getting hurt.
But Na Eun must have interpreted it differently, as she lowered her head with a slightly sullen expression.
“You don’t want to do that with me anymore?”
“…”
“You used to joke around asking me to do it before.”
No. Is it really just a joke because that’s all it is? It’s just a habit, did I misunderstand it as something you really wanted? She stabbed the man’s heart standing before her with an innocent face while rolling her eyes.
“I was just suddenly curious. Even after what happened to me today, I didn’t feel like I was suffocating or about to faint. I don’t know if it’s just you, but at least when I’m by your side, I’m not scared even if you stick close to me. Seeing that I don’t get angry or tremble even when Han Jae Kyung is next to me… Do you think I’ve really overcome it now?”
Hee Won asked the devil with an angel’s face in a expressionless tone.
“So, you want to experiment.”
With me. Even without adding those words, Na Eun quickly corrected herself, knowing he could read between the lines.
“Rather than an experiment… It’s just curiosity.”
“…But why me?”
He asked in a low voice. He thought she was only cruel to Jae Kyung, but she was the same to him.
That’s why her sharp words through the communicator must have hurt so much.
Because he had a premonition that it would happen to him anyway. He always had a damn good sense, both in combat and in daily life.
“Because you’re the type to do that kind of thing easily…”
Na Eun carefully replied, then quickly corrected herself, judging that it might be a rude remark.
“No, I don’t mean you’re easy! It’s just, you know. If I suddenly go out and ask someone else to do that, I’d get slapped. It would be sexual harassment.”
Hee Won also laughed at her joke.
Of course, considering his feelings, it wasn’t really a laugh.
“But not to me.”
“Ah.”
At Hee Won’s question, she widened her eyes as if she had come to her senses. And with an endlessly apologetic face, she tilted her head to observe his expression.
“Did it bother you? I’m sorry.”
“…”
“I’ll take it back. Sorry.”
She formally apologized.
Normally, he should have laughed it off and said it was fine, but Hee Won really didn’t want to, so he accepted her apology by averting his gaze.
If he were his past self, or if the person saying this to him now wasn’t Yoon Na Eun, he would have scoffed and told her to go ahead. But unfortunately, the person was ‘that’ Yoon Na Eun, and he was not his past self.
Na Eun carefully observed whether he was angry or not, and Hee Won deliberately laughed to put her at ease.
Even now, when he was worn out, making Yoon Na Eun feel comfortable took precedence over his own wounds.
Loving someone desperately was such a wretched thing.
As Hee Won laughed and the mood lightened a bit, Na Eun playfully shrugged her shoulders with the intention of changing the topic.
“You know what. Then maybe I should go to a club or something?”
Hee Won briefly suppressed the urge to make a wry smile. Whenever strange words came out of this girl’s mouth, his heart sank.
Whether she knew his feelings or not, Na Eun continued with a nonchalant look.
“They say it’s easy to do that kind of thing there. I even did it with Han Jae Kyung, so wouldn’t it be possible there too?”
He thought of the alcohol he hadn’t been drinking much lately.
Hee Won took a deep breath for a moment, slowly exhaled to calm himself down, and said,
“With just anyone?”
“…That’s how club culture is originally, isn’t it?”
I’m not sure since I’ve never been there. Na Eun blinked her eyes as she added, and Hee Won looked at her with mixed feelings.
He had to know what kind of thought process was going on in that small head of hers.
No, actually, it wouldn’t be too difficult to deduce.
If the other person is kind, she treats them kindly too. But if the other person is not kind to her, she doesn’t feel the need to be kind either.
So she was trying to choose a place like a club, or a person like Seo Hee Won, where she could approach without sincerity or feelings and not be impacted even if she didn’t reciprocate.
Because she had no intention of reciprocating either.
She was looking for someone she didn’t have to give her heart back to.
Hee Won, who could read her way of thinking because he loved her too much and had been too close to her, contemplated whether he should confess right then and there, but eventually gave up.
If he did something like that, there were only two possible reactions.
Either Yoon Na Eun wouldn’t believe it until the end, or she would believe it and apologize to him.
Hee Won never wanted to receive an apology like that from Yoon Na Eun.
Moreover, from the moment she found out, Na Eun wouldn’t act cute with him anymore.
She would keep an appropriate distance and try not to bother him with unnecessary hope.
The girl, who had a habit of being considerate of others ingrained in her, would probably try to protect him that way.
But Hee Won didn’t need that.
It was the first time he had liked someone so desperately, and it was also the first time he had been hurt like this, so he didn’t know how much pain was appropriate.
Anyway, it was Hee Won who chose to endure it.
It was something he brought upon himself from the beginning.
It was the foolishness of being arrogant that he would never genuinely like someone, not anticipating what the person in front of him would mean to him, and believing that human emotions could be controlled at any time.
If there was a god, he was probably tormenting him, saying, ‘I’ll show you how much you can hurt because of the thing you’ve been mocking.’
And Hee Won decided to gladly accept that punishment.
He couldn’t avoid it, and even if he could, he didn’t want to avoid it if it was something Yoon Na Eun gave him.
It was a decision that was not at all rational, but from the beginning, all the feelings he had for her were infinitely far from reason.
Meanwhile, Na Eun carefully got up from her seat after observing Hee Won, who was only looking down at her without answering.
Even though she didn’t know the reason, she must have sensed that his mood was unpleasant. She rolled her eyes here and there, then picked up her cell phone on the table to change the atmosphere and said,
“I’ll ask Sun Jin!”
She said she went to a club once before.
As Na Eun was about to leave with her cell phone in hand to ask her friend if the atmosphere was okay, Hee Won’s arm grabbed her.
He wrapped his arm around the waist of Na Eun, who was trying to walk past him towards the bed.
And without much effort, he lightly lifted her onto the table.
Sitting on the table with her bottom, she looked at Hee Won with wide eyes. Thanks to the height of the table, their eye levels became similar.
Hee Won smiled at his love, who had a clueless face, with resignation.
“I’ll do it for you.”
“…”
“…So don’t go to places like that.”
Was it because he tried not to show that he was pleading?
Na Eun’s gaze hardened with tension as she looked at Hee Won, who was muttering in a husky voice.
She had no idea why Hee Won had such a bitter expression and troubled eyes.
She was about to say that he didn’t have to do something he didn’t like just because she asked, but she couldn’t open her mouth because the hand caressing her cheek was so warm.
Hee Won murmured in a low voice, as if soothing a child.
“You’re right.”
“…”
“I’m easy. You know that too. Since I do everything easily… Don’t go to dangerous places and look for just anyone.”
At least I’m safe for you. I’m better. Than those places.
She was at a loss for words at Hee Won’s gaze, approaching her closely as she sat on the table and looking at her affectionately.
It was impossible to distinguish whether he wanted her or if he was forcing himself to do it despite not wanting to.
She hesitated for a moment, then just let him touch her because his hand felt good.
It seemed like a lie that until recently, she felt nauseous just by having another man approach her.
Is it only Seo Hee Won? Or is everything okay now? Since it was possible with Jae Kyung too, maybe everything is fine now.
While she was struggling with such thoughts, a dark shadow fell over her.
With one hand on her cheek and the other intertwined with her hand on the table, Hee Won slowly moved in for a kiss.
Na Eun’s eyes gradually closed at the warmth gently touching her lips.
To be precise, it wasn’t completely the first time. She remembered approaching Hee Won herself in the emergency room last time.
But now, everything was different from then. It was her who wanted it, not him, and it was him who approached her first, not her.
Kissing doesn’t have to feel like being devoured.
The warmth that softly covered and penetrated her lips. The gentleness of his touch caressing her cheeks and neck.
Even the strength given to the intertwined hand, lest she feel anxious.
It was just warm. It felt like being cared for. Far from being scary, she could just tell that she was being protected.
Strictly speaking, it was the first time for a proper kiss like this, so she raised her free hand and somewhat clumsily grasped the collar of his clothes.
Contrary to the past days when she considered him a delinquent and a playboy, Seo Hee Won’s kiss was more polite than anyone else’s.
He didn’t push forward, but he didn’t back away either.
Even while messing up the inside of her mouth, when her breathing became heavy, he breathed into her, and when their tangled tongues were about to loosen from fatigue, he chased after without letting go.
He was gently teaching her how to kiss.
Regardless of what kind of person Seo Hee Won was objectively, or whether he was a jerk to someone, Na Eun felt that at least to her right now, he was the most affectionate in the world.
So she stopped the entangled breath, and she smiled slightly with her lips still touching his.
Not understanding the meaning of her laughter, Hee Won stopped moving.
With his lips slightly parted from hers, he carefully observed her complexion.
Ready to back away at any moment if she told him to.
See, see. He’s affectionate, isn’t he? Na Eun wrapped her arms around the neck of Hee Won, who was examining her.
Hee Won’s body flinched and stiffened. Unaware of that, Na Eun just smiled and said,
“Keep going.”
“…”
“It feels like I’m really being loved.”
Is that why you’re popular with girls? She swallowed the rest of her words.
She wasn’t sure, but somehow it felt like it would be rude to Seo Hee Won if she said that.
Hee Won silently gazed at Na Eun, who was smiling at him. It wasn’t an act, but real love. However, it was fine if Na Eun was satisfied with that.
It was okay even if his sincere affection was dismissed as a momentary act.
If it made her feel good now, if it reassured her, …if it made her feel like she had overcome her past wounds.
What did it matter if his true feelings were ignored? As long as Yoon Na Eun liked it.
Hee Won laughed lowly at Na Eun, who was begging him to do it once more, then cupped the back of her head and pulled her in.
The lips that met again as he tilted his head were slightly wet, unlike the first time. He felt a faint thrill knowing that it was because of him.
The kiss became a bit deeper than before.
But Na Eun, who liked every single action he did, willingly tightened her arms around his neck and pulled him close.
Sitting on the table like that, she gratefully drank the rainwater he poured down like a person who had been thirsty for a long time.
It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t cold. It was all love, but a warm rain that she had no way of realizing.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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