The one who called Yeo Eun was Manager Kim Jung Joo.

Manager Kim Jung Joo, who said he was on his way after dropping off Cha Do Ha at the hotel, left with bright words of encouragement.

Watching him disappear from view, Yeo Eun just smiled bitterly.

“Encouragement, huh.”

What did Manager Kim Jung Joo think her role was?

Just an image trainer?

He should know it’s not that.

Yet he says to work hard.

Yeo Eun hesitated for a long time, looking at the hotel key card and bagged coffee in her hand.

Then she slowly stepped into the hotel.

This afternoon, she received a call from So Jung’s attending physician.

It was a notification that the physician in charge had changed to the department head as So Jung was moved to a special room.

[−The department head is an authority, and the surgery schedule follows his as well.] [Has the surgery date been set?] [−The schedule is backed up for years, so not immediately, but it should be set soon. Usually the department head’s patients get priority.] [That’s a relief.] [−Yes. Plus, your mother’s condition is much more stable. The VIP ward has many life support devices not used in general wards, so it will definitely help with treatment.]

Though she ended the call with words of thanks, Yeo Eun felt conflicted.

Cha Hyun said she would move So Jung to a special room, but she moved her to the VIP ward instead.

A VIP ward for someone in her situation was beyond her means, but it also made her want to burst into tears with desperation.

So Jung, who entered the VIP ward thanks to Cha Hyun’s consideration, would face that much less risk.

The problem was that Yeo Eun had to respond to Cha Hyun’s consideration.

Yeo Eun got on the elevator, scanned the card on the reader, and pressed the P button.

As the elevator quickly ascended, giving a slight feeling of buoyancy, Yeo Eun suppressed her tension and stepped out when the doors opened.

Though the thick carpet muffled her footsteps, a heavy sound still reached her eardrums.

Whether it was footsteps, heartbeats, or just the clamor of her complicated feelings.

Nothing could be properly distinguished.

Arriving in front of Cha Do Ha’s room, she hesitated for a long time more.

The hotel room key and bagged coffee.

What they meant to her, what they meant to Cha Do Ha.

What they would mean to Cha Hyun and Chairman Cha Ji Seop, and to Jin Yu Hee who came to see her today.

Lastly, her mother.

“Mom.”

Calling out to her mother in a low voice, Yeo Eun laughed dryly at how much her voice was trembling.

Coming all this way without fear, setting everything in motion, and only now being scared of Cha Do Ha.

It was a contradiction.

“Stop this nonsense, Seo Yeo Eun.”

Gathering her resolve, she quietly opened the door to the penthouse.

* * *

The time he returned to the hotel was just before 9:05.

Hoping Yeo Eun might have arrived first, he entered the room with anticipation, but the darkened room was only quiet.

The rush of disappointment showed how much he had been looking forward to that woman.

“Damn it.”

Muttering a curse under his breath, he went into the bedroom and tossed his jacket onto the bed.

He also threw his tie, which he had pulled loose with his fingers, on top of the jacket.

Still feeling suffocated, he unbuttoned a couple buttons on his shirt and walked back out to the living room.

Taking out the wine he had been drinking yesterday from the wine fridge and filling a glass, he checked the time again.

Five minutes had passed since 9 o’clock.

“Is she late?”

A smile escaped him.

He recalled Yeo Eun’s expression when he handed her the hotel room key after finishing lunch today.

A faint blush had spread on her white, transparent skin, as if she wasn’t unaware of what it meant.

The slowly spreading red tinge felt so erotic that he could feel blood rushing downward.

Her white hand carefully grasping the offered key, her slender legs as she stood up with him.

Her upper body leaning forward as she bent to pick up her handbag.

If not for social propriety and basic human morality, he would have taken that woman right then and there.

That’s how much his body was reacting to her, to Seo Yeo Eun.

To be anxiously waiting for such a woman, called to the hotel at a late hour.

It was very unlike Cha Do Ha.

His tongue drying up and his throat tightening with thirst was also unlike him.

He drained half the wine glass, but the thirst didn’t easily subside.

In this state, if he sees that woman, it’s obvious what he’ll do.

He’s bad enough, and she’s desperate enough, that neither will be able to stop themselves.

For the sake of that poor woman, should he message her not to come tonight because he’s tired, to come here in the morning instead?

For a brief moment, he had such thoughts out of a meager conscience.

Just as he finished the remaining wine and refilled his glass.

There was the sound of the front door lock being released.

For a moment, he felt as if something sharp was scratching somewhere in his chest.

Clenching his fist at the unfamiliar sensation, Do Ha looked towards the lit entryway.

Shortly after, the being that had tormented him all day appeared before his eyes.

A pale face filled with tension, slender yet straight shoulders, a round bosom and slim waist.

And beautiful, long, straight legs.

Appearing just as she had countless times to disturb his thoughts, Yeo Eun met his gaze steadily and bowed her head.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Director.”

The ache that had scratched his chest earlier was replaced by a heat.

Whether it was spreading through his blood vessels or along his nerves.

The heat that started in his chest quickly took over his whole body, and finally ignited the desire he had barely suppressed.

A meager conscience?

Some measure of pity?

The fire in his chest swept him up impurely, as if telling him to throw away such nonsense.

“You’re here.”

Do Ha took a sip of wine, not taking his eyes off Yeo Eun as she raised her head.

He had only had one more sip from just one glass, yet he felt tipsy and even languid.

Looking straight at him, Yeo Eun smiled faintly.

“I was late buying the bagged coffee. You said you wanted to try it.”

Then she held up the small paper box in her hand.

That must be what created the sweet coffee scent in Yeo Eun’s breath.

Do Ha briefly looked down at the bagged coffee, then looked back at Yeo Eun and finished his wine.

Setting the empty glass down on the bar, he approached Yeo Eun with slow steps.

“Is bagged coffee really what I want to taste?”

Do Ha grasped Yeo Eun’s wrist holding the bagged coffee as if wrapping around it, pulling her close in front of him.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

No other words were necessary.

No other considerations were needed.

Revealing his desire as it was, Do Ha looked down at Yeo Eun’s face as if he would devour it.

Pulled close enough to touch him, Yeo Eun tilted her head up to look at him and did not avoid his gaze.

His face was reflected in her brown eyes full of stories.

What was it about that?

Why does something so insignificant make a person’s heart…

“So run away while you have the chance.”

He said this because Yeo Eun’s eyes full of stories made even his own reflection in them seem full of stories.

What kind of feelings was she looking at him with?

“It’s not too late yet.”

He said that, but he tightened his grip on her wrist even more.

So that Seo Yeo Eun couldn’t run away from him, so that she absolutely couldn’t escape.

Staring up at him silently, Yeo Eun smiled faintly and shook her head.

“I’m not running away.”

She overlapped her other hand on top of his hand gripping her wrist, her eyelids fluttering as she continued.

“I’m curious too.”

There was moisture in her voice, making it sound moist.

“What a night with a man like you would be like.”

Her slightly lowered voice rippled seductively.

“I want to taste it.”

For the first time, he truly felt what it meant for restraints to be loosened.

The meager conscience he had been clinging to snapped, and the sympathy gauging the woman’s circumstances was mercilessly crushed.

Moral, ethical, humane, and so on.

The numerous notions and standards he had never held when dealing with women, which only cluttered his mind with this woman, even those disappeared cleanly.

So what?

She says she wants to taste it.

Instead of releasing her wrist, he grabbed the nape of her neck and roughly pressed his lips to hers.

Falling for words that were obviously lies was because he had drunk too much.

It’s intoxicating, isn’t it? Just two glasses of wine.

Besides, she came close exuding her scent and said she was curious about me, even if it’s a lie, so I should teach her.

Thinking this, Do Ha delved deeper into Yeo Eun.

Let’s say the numbness of reason from the soft sensation of her lips and the strange feeling inside her mouth was also due to the alcohol.

Yes, it’s because of the alcohol.

* * *

I think this is crazy.

Saying I’m curious about you, that I want to taste you too.

But it’s also feelings as honest as they are crazy.

Just what is Cha Do Ha, what does it mean to be involved with this man, that everyone torments me so much over it?

I even had the wicked thought that if I could really seduce him and shake things up, it would feel good because I was so upset.

But a much more honest feeling is that I’m truly curious about Cha Do Ha.

From the first glance, my body reacted to this man, and every time I thought of him, I fell into a strange heat I couldn’t escape from.

If I could just be held by him once, maybe I could break free from that fantastical heat.

That was the simple thought.

Yes, that would be better.

Even now as our lips meet and breaths quicken, that’s all I’m thinking.

If I could cut off the heat bubbling up from inside my navel, I’d feel lighter.

But in the end, even that thought was a luxury.

Cut off Cha Do Ha? How?

When just one kiss makes me feel like I’m going crazy?

In the end, Yeo Eun dropped the box of bagged coffee she was holding to the floor and tightly embraced Cha Do Ha, who was showering her with kisses while holding her body as if it would break.