Ra Jin felt as if she had been struck by lightning, her skin suddenly feeling hot before goosebumps appeared.

‘Grades, report card? And from middle school year 2 at that?’

Somewhere in her hazy memory, there was also a disastrous report card. And that man had seen it.

In that instant, Ra Jin’s body, having lost all reason, darted forward first.

Stretching out both arms, as she grasped the diary in her hands, her body, unable to control its speed, tumbled forward. Even if she burns that darned diary, how can she erase that man’s memory?

Despite crashing into his solid body with a loud thud, the feeling of shame came before the pain. Since she had snatched it quickly, he couldn’t have seen it, right? No, he must not have seen it.

What an utter humiliation this was in front of Kang Ji Ho, a prosecutor who had only walked the elite path. Ra Jin just let out a deep sigh, her head hanging low.

“Ahem. Ms. Park Ra Jin.”

At the small gust of wind tickling her bangs, Ra Jin peeked out with just her eyes.

‘Oh no, I’m doomed, really doomed!’

This went beyond a total crisis – it was complete and utter disgrace. Ra Jin was using him as a mat, sprawled on top of him while clutching the diary tightly.

Since she had hit her forehead, should she just pretend to faint? Or laughingly brush it off coolly as if it were nothing? However, her completely broken mind could not come up with any solution.

“Are you hurt?”

“……”

“Shall I help you up?”

“Ah, no! I’ll… Haa.”

Not having the courage to face Prosecutor Kang Ji Ho, Ra Jin froze like ice, flattening herself.

“I didn’t see much.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Only the memo ‘Ra Jin got 72 points in math. Look into college student tutoring as soon as we return to Korea.'”

If he saw that, he saw everything. What do you mean you didn’t see much! How can I face this man now? For a moment, Ra Jin’s vision went hazy.

“What does it matter?”

“Please just say you didn’t see it.”

“If we had known each other back then, I could have tutored you.”

“Wh-what did you say?”

Ra Jin, eyes squeezed shut, clutched the diary as if she would tear it apart.

If she didn’t explain something here, it would be a very awkward situation. Should she find a proper report card and clarify things? Ra Jin agonized over and over.

“I took that test right after transferring, so I had no time to study.”

“Is that so?”

“No, not ‘is that so’. It really was like that.”

As Ra Jin appealed about the unfairness, a gentle breeze blew over the crown of her head. No, really, this man.

“I can prove it. I did way better in the second semester!”

“Yes, I’ll believe you. I believe you.”

If you believe me, then why are you laughing despite saying you do? Faced with the man smiling more brightly than ever before, Ra Jin was speechless.

“You’re making fun of me right now, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then why do you keep smiling?”

Ra Jin’s face, looking down at him sprawled on the floor, burned bright red.

“I should at least smile in this position, no?”

Spitting out those words as if throwing them, the smile on his face faded. The man had calmly returned to his original self, just as he was.

“Just because people say I’m blunt doesn’t mean I’m an emotionless bastard.”

For a moment, Ra Jin felt like she was standing under a water sprayer truck to film a rainy scene. The feeling of trembling while being showered by water that felt cold enough to sting. Why was she reminded of that moment now, with her heart pressed against Kang Ji Ho’s…?

What did that man’s words, spoken with a bright face, mean? Wanting to find their meaning, Ra Jin couldn’t take her eyes off Ji Ho.

If she gets a little, just a little closer, would she be able to tell? Ra Jin dropped the diary she had been clutching as if her life depended on it. Then she reached out towards him.

The warmth from his smoother than expected skin, his jaw muscles twitching and squirming in her hand.

He neither pushed away the hand that touched him nor avoided the eyes that met his. He simply gazed at Ra Jin quietly.

“I’m a bit strange today.”

“What do you mean?”

“Seeing you smile… it’s pretty.”

“Is that so?”

At his chuckling laughter, Ra Jin’s wrist felt ticklish. She kept wanting to talk to him, liking the feel of his fluttering breath.

“I don’t know. Why I feel this way.”

Ra Jin’s gaze settled on his eyes that were both cold and hot.

“The shining you and the ordinary me don’t make for a very suitable picture.”

Unlike his calm voice, his breath gradually grew hotter. No, the air swirling around them was to the point where you couldn’t tell whose it was.

Tumbling over clumsily and lying entangled haphazardly while exchanging meaningful words like this now. Even though all of this was unfolding as reality before her eyes, it only felt distant like an illusion.

“Once I start, I don’t know how to stop.”

As if to keep within bounds, Kang Ji Ho stopped Ra Jin’s hand.

“So Ra Jin. Words and actions like this are dangerous.”

“What if I don’t mind?”

Where was this courage coming from? While inwardly amazed, Ra Jin didn’t silence her mouth that was chattering as it pleased. She just wanted to, without any reason.

“It could be a loss for you. Think about it again so you don’t regret it later.”

“Even if it’s still okay?”

A shallow sigh escaped his reddening lips.

“Then shall we… test it out?”

“Test it out?”

“Whether it’s really okay for us to be like this.”

In an instant, the man’s large hand gently grasped the nape of Ra Jin’s neck.

“Pull away if you dislike it.”

Before she could answer, lips holding heat touched then parted. Their posture suddenly changed, eyes fluttering shut with the wind rippling between closed eyelids.

Left hands completely overlapped without room for even a finger to slip out, and the right hand grasping the end of his broad shoulders. The scent of faint strawberries could be felt between their softly reconnected lips, along with his breath.

The man who had been politely pushing her away was gone, and he cupped Ra Jin’s chin and cheeks. Ra Jin was quickly swept away by the man’s boldness that delved deep and intense.

So this was what a kiss was like.

There was something on a completely different dimension from simply touching lips enough to look pretty on camera.

If the kissing scenes she had done so far were just appetizing-looking models, then with Kang Ji Ho, it was the real, truly real thing with various flavors.

He would be relentless to the point she felt she would stop breathing at any moment, then softly embrace her as if giving a break… Ra Jin was lost in a daze to the man’s lips that were sweet enough to make her dizzy. To the point of forgetting to breathe.

“Ji Ho. Ha.”

The moment she called his name, Ra Jin gulped in the air she lacked. Instantly, her heart throbbed and her airways opened.

Ra Jin’s fingertips trembled at the suddenly quickened pulse. Unable to bear it any longer, she clung to him and tugged at his shirt. His chest, pulled taut, swelled as if about to explode at any moment.

“Are you okay?”

With the sound of a light smack as their lips parted and reconnected, his voice was heard.

A thrilling sensation she was experiencing for the first time, shivering as if in the dead of winter, then Ra Jin’s vision shook as if seasick.

“Ra Jin?”

“I’m not sure.”

Ra Jin answered, panting roughly.

“About what?”

“It’s different from when filming. Is it usually like this?”

At the question asked out of curiosity, his eyebrows twitched.

“I debuted as a high school student, so I’ve never dated a man before.”

She had only been dragged around one-sidedly by Kim Yu Jun, without any skinship with him. Perhaps she had been more desperate in case the moment they crossed the line, it would become uncontrollable.

So is that why it got weird? Because she had never done anything like this?

Ra Jin was flustered and confused by emotions she had never felt before, and gradually became frightened too.

“I think there’s something wrong with my head. I don’t know. Anything.”

He sighed gravely and bent his upper body.

“That can happen.”

His large hand brushed Ra Jin’s disheveled hair back.

His careful touch and warm tone. Ra Jin brought her cheek to rest against his hand, feeling like she would melt at the emotion.

“It’s natural. Don’t be confused.”

“You think it’s strange, don’t you?”

“Not at all.”

His eyes curved like a gentle puppy as he denied it. Which of this man’s sides was the real him? Seeing him like this, this pure-looking side seemed to be his true self.

Then a fleeting short thought crossed her mind and spilled out of Ra Jin’s mouth before she could even ponder it.

“You seem to be good at everything. Work… and other things.”

“In a good way?”

Averting her gaze to avoid him asking nonchalantly, she soon nodded.

With the sound of his chuckle, the two grew close again.

“Then, can we do it one more time?”

Before his words telling her to push him away if she didn’t want to could end, his lips descended upon Ra Jin’s once more.

The ceiling visible between the white fabric draped over the bed frame was all gray.

“This is crazy.”

Ra Jin, who let out a single sigh-like word, covered her face with her palms. Even though it was Monday morning, Ra Jin was still feeling under the weather from the aftereffects of kissing Kang Ji Ho.

“I’ve gone mad. Really.”

Even though a day had already passed since he left, how persistently did the memories of that night stick with her? They appeared when she ate, when she sat in the bathtub, and even when she slept – that man showed up.

His much too red and moist lips overlapping with his eyes that looked as if they would devour her soon, completed by a kiss. This man seemed to have no intention of leaving Ra Jin’s mind.

“His lips were so soft… !”

All of Ra Jin’s thoughts began with Kang Ji Ho and ended with his lips.

“Why am I like this, really.”

No matter how much she tapped her cheeks and clutched her head, it was of little use. Rather, it only encouraged the faint memories to become clearer.

Ra Jin spent a full day with her heart pounding as if standing on a shaky bridge, screaming then soon bursting into empty laughter.

Just as she felt like she was going crazy, a short vibration rang.

―Did you sleep well? When can I see your mother’s diary?

When she said she would self-censor it before showing him, distracted by other things, she hadn’t even looked through the important part properly.

Feeling apologetic, Ra Jin quickly tapped on her phone.