Tae Wook stared intently at Gyeo Wool again, surprised by an emotion he had never experienced before.

Tae Wook’s gaze and Gyeo Wool’s gaze met in mid-air.

She had already returned to her usual expressionless and cold face.

It must have been from that moment.

That he disliked hearing people call Gyeo Wool the Ice Witch.

And that she no longer appeared to be a cold and emotionless woman.

.

.

.

Tae Wook lazily stretched his lips and stared intently at Gyeo Wool’s face.

How strange.

Even as he looked, he wanted to capture her face in his eyes again and again.

And it wasn’t just his eyes that were being greedy.

His fingers twitched as if they had grown wings, wanting to touch her slightly parted, plump lips.

‘She might wake up.’

Though he knew this, his fingers were already moving towards her lips.

The warm and soft feeling on his fingertips.

Just that slight touch sent an electrifying sensation throughout his body.

“Hoo…”

Tae Wook exhaled the hot breath he had been holding inside.

He felt desire stirring, craving more intense stimulation.

He wanted to kiss her.

He wanted to bite those plump, deep pink lips.

He had only thought about it.

Yet Tae Wook’s lips were already close to Gyeo Wool’s lips.

He was startled by his own actions and tried to move his lips away.

But the warm breath spraying on his face. The sweet scent stimulating his sense of smell.

‘You’re the one who tempted me, Secretary Han.’

Tae Wook covered Gyeo Wool’s lips with his own.

[This is the timeline separator]

In her dream, someone kissed Gyeo Wool’s lips as she lay with her eyes closed.

Such a tender and sweet feeling. It was like a kiss that melted away instantly like cotton candy in her mouth.

If only this moment could last forever…

It was a dream she didn’t want to wake from.

Yet she wanted to know who this man was giving her such a sweet kiss.

She slowly opened her tightly closed eyelids.

Through her blurry, unfocused eyes, she saw a man’s gaze filled with passionate desire.

The CEO?

How could she be kissing the CEO, even in a dream?

At the blurry boundary between dream and reality, Gyeo Wool’s eyes widened in shock.

It was then.

“Secretary Han…”

A voice choked with emotion.

The moment she heard Tae Wook’s voice, Gyeo Wool’s eyes flew open, snapping out of her daze between reality and dreams.

She quickly pulled her face back and straightened her upper body that had been lying down.

“C-CEO. H-how, no this… I mean…”

Her mind went blank, not knowing what to say or how to begin.

No.

Perhaps leaving the place should have come before words or thoughts.

Tae Wook’s hot hand grasped Gyeo Wool’s chin.

His deep gaze penetrated her confused, trembling eyes.

“I won’t say it was a mistake.”

Completely unexpected words flowed from Tae Wook’s mouth.

“I…”

He let out a deep sigh and moved the hand holding her chin to gently caress her cheek.

Gyeo Wool shivered slightly as every place his fingers touched felt like it was on fire.

“I’m attracted to you. At least in this moment.”

His face was getting closer and closer to hers.

In his approaching eyes, a fire that seemed like it would burn everything was blazing.

The moment she gasped in surprise at the flames, his lips crashed roughly into hers.

Gyeo Wool closed her eyes softly.

Tae Wook strongly sucked on her lips.

All her breath was sucked away and all her nerves were melting from the heat.

[This is the timeline separator]

The next morning, in the car heading to the company.

An awkward silence lingered between Tae Wook and Gyeo Wool sitting in the back seat.

“Ahem!”

Unable to bear the atmosphere, Driver Choi suddenly cleared his throat.

Tae Wook put down the tablet PC he had been looking at on his thigh.

He turned his head and glanced at Gyeo Wool.

She had completely turned her head to look out the window.

Her body was pressed tightly against the car door, trying to create as much distance as possible.

Tae Wook smiled silently.

Gyeo Wool looked exactly the same as she did last night when returning from the company to the apartment.

The only difference was that yesterday she sat in the passenger seat because he drove himself.

She kept her lips tightly closed like a clam and didn’t speak or look at him.

Tae Wook knew it was because of the kiss.

Moreover.

-I won’t say it was a mistake.

He couldn’t forget Gyeo Wool’s eyes widening in shock and embarrassment when she heard his words.

At that moment, he wavered slightly too.

Should he apologize and move away from her?

Tae Wook asked himself.

If he could turn back time and go back a few minutes, would he not kiss her then?

The answer was NO!

-I’m attracted to you. At least in this moment.

And not just a light kiss on the lips careful not to wake her, but a real kiss.

Thrilling, stimulating, and intensely sweet.

A real kiss full of trembling and longing.

In fact, Tae Wook was confused.

When he went down to Jeju Island to meet Gyeo Wool, he had thought countless times that he would never be able to forgive her.

But reality was different.

He cared about her.

The more she pushed him away, the more his feet moved forward first.

And he was attracted to her.

Betrayal, hurt?

Such words had already faded and blurred in his mind.

“I got an email from Golden Wellness.”

Tae Wook casually threw out words that might seem out of the blue.

“After putting in effort for years, I finally received a positive email for the first time.”

Gyeo Wool’s head moved slightly towards Tae Wook.

He inwardly laughed.

He had guessed that she would show interest if it was about work, if nothing else.

And his prediction was exactly right.

“Golden Wellness? You mean the global resort company headquartered in France?”

Gyeo Wool remembered hearing about Golden Wellness from Deputy Manager Yoon.

“That’s right.”

“I heard you were trying hard to form a partnership with them.”

“They’re known for being very picky about choosing partners, and they reject even famous or large companies if they don’t meet their standards.”

“Then, is Flore Resort going to partner with Golden Wellness?”

Gyeo Wool asked with sparkling eyes.

“That would be nice, but the email said they’ll consider it.”

A look of disappointment appeared in Gyeo Wool’s eyes.

After putting in effort for years…

As far as she knew, “We’ll consider it” was a roundabout rejection.

However, far from being disappointed, Tae Wook’s expression looked rather encouraged.

“Are you okay?”

“About what?”

“It’s not good news, is it?”

“The fact that it’s not a rejection alone gives us hope. And the person in charge gave me a piece of intel.”

“Intel?”

Gyeo Wool was curious about his words.

“The CEO of Golden Wellness will be visiting Korea unofficially with his family this winter.”

“R-really?”

“I’ll have to try to meet him then. If it goes well, I should invite Leslie to Jeju Island sometime.”

“The person in charge’s name is Leslie?”

“Yeah.”

Just thinking about Leslie seemed to put him in a good mood, as Tae Wook smiled.

“You must have become quite close with this Leslie person.”

“We’ve exchanged countless emails over several years. I think it was around my thirteenth email? He suddenly said he liked me.”

“He said he liked you?”

Gyeo Wool widened her eyes in surprise.

Did he write something personal in the email?

“He even sent me his photo. It was an email with obvious intentions.”

The meaning of those words…

“Don’t worry, I won’t fall for it. But thanks to Leslie, we got valuable information. We should think positively.”

“I see.”

Gyeo Wool nodded awkwardly and turned her gaze to the window.

Though she couldn’t show it, her mood soured with jealousy.

[This is the timeline separator]

Gyeo Wool was in the pantry.

She put coffee beans into the automatic coffee machine and pressed the espresso button.

Soon the sound of grinding beans filled the pantry with a rich coffee aroma.

A moment later, the dark liquid filled the coffee cup.

Gyeo Wool picked up the cup and took a sip of coffee.

“Ugh~ bitter!”

She had chosen espresso to clear her thoughts, but it was so bitter it made her shudder.

“Are they teenagers or what?”

Gyeo Wool grumbled, looking down at the coffee still in the cup.

“Exchanging emails for years and what? He seems to like you very much?”

Tae Wook’s words kept ringing in her ears, gnawing at her nerves.

“Leslie… surely it must be a woman?”

Leslie was a gender-neutral name, so she couldn’t be sure if it was a man or woman.

But considering they sent a photo saying they liked Tae Wook.

Gyeo Wool’s intuition pointed to a woman.

“How can he smile like that while talking about Leslie?”

After even kissing yesterday.

The lingering sensation of the kiss was so vivid that just seeing Tae Wook’s face made Gyeo Wool’s heart flutter and her face burn red.

How long has it been since he said he was attracted?

“It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet!”

“What hasn’t been 24 hours?”

Tae Wook’s voice suddenly came from beside her.

“Oh my!”

Gyeo Wool was so startled she turned her body abruptly, forgetting she was holding coffee.

As a result, the black coffee spilled all over Tae Wook’s white shirt.

“Ah! How…”

Gyeo Wool quickly put down the cup and looked for tissues.

She grabbed a handful of tissues and pressed them firmly on the white shirt.

No matter how much she wiped with tissues, the coffee stains wouldn’t disappear.

And of all things, she had to get espresso which she doesn’t usually drink.

“It’s okay. You can stop now.”

Tae Wook grabbed Gyeo Wool’s wrist.

“I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. It’s my fault. I’m the one who suddenly came in and startled you.”

“Still…”

“I said you don’t need to apologize. I can just change, what’s the big deal?”

Rather than Gyeo Wool who was flustered, Tae Wook tried to reassure her.

“Wait a moment. I’ll go get you a shirt.”

Gyeo Wool tried to run to the CEO’s office.

But she couldn’t take a single step forward.