Frozen by Sun Woo’s terrifying gaze, Green decided to drop her pointless bluster and tell the truth.

“I’m sorry, Sun Woo. I lied. In my freshman year of college, I went on blind dates with about five guys, but none lasted more than a week. The men from the marriage agency didn’t last more than three months either. I’m sorry for disappointing you.”

Green squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, rattling off her confession like a rapper before she could change her mind.

But when he remained silent for a long time, Green anxiously raised her head. Sun Woo was looking at her as if utterly confused.

“I knew from the beginning that what Green said this morning was a lie. But I don’t understand why you think I would be disappointed.”

“You knew all along? How?”

“Because your kisses were too clumsy.”

Unaware of Green’s frustration, Sun Woo was simply trying to understand her feelings.

“Why did you think I would be disappointed?”

“You said you’re a curious person without prejudice and have had many experiences. So I thought you might want me to have a lot of experience too.”

“Haah…”

Sun Woo let out a long sigh and roughly ruffled his hair with one hand. His eyes looked somewhat resentful and hurt.

“Didn’t you think that I might have lied to irritate my father, just like you lied to stop your father?”

“At first, I definitely thought so. But last night, you were so, really, incredibly skilled…”

“So you thought I really went around fooling around in Marseille?”

Sun Woo looked at Green as if dumbfounded.

He wasn’t sure whether to be angry at Green for seeing him as a complete playboy, or to feel proud as a man for satisfying her enough to cause such a huge misunderstanding.

For now, Sun Woo struggled to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising as he spoke with a stern expression.

“I’ll only say this once, so listen carefully. In Marseille, I lived very ascetically. I worked day and night to finish a project in a year and a half that should have taken at least two years.”

“No, why did you push yourself so hard?”

Seeing Green’s incomprehensive expression, Sun Woo looked at her with reproachful eyes.

Just as Green felt slightly wronged, wondering if his overexertion in Marseille was her fault, Sun Woo spoke.

“Secretary Na Mi Ran would send a photo of my wife occasionally, and in those photos, my wife was getting thinner by the day. Do you think I would have worried about that or not?”

“…You would have worried.”

Realizing it was indeed her fault that he had pushed himself, Green was at a loss for words.

“I’m sorry, Sun Woo.”

Green took his hand and gently shook his shoulder, smiling sheepishly. It was an unconsciously coquettish gesture to appease his mood.

Caught off guard, Sun Woo let out a chuckle he had been holding back at Green’s aegyo.

Somehow, he had an ominous feeling that he might not be able to stay angry at her for long anymore.

Seeing him laugh, Green seemed relieved and grinned broadly. Sun Woo deliberately spoke in a slightly stern voice towards the smiling Green.

“Go wash up. We should go to bed early since we have to go to Pyeongchang-dong tomorrow.”

“To grandfather’s house? Then let’s find the photo on our way. I had the birthday gift photo enlarged.”

“Alright. Ah, my parents will be coming tomorrow too.”

At the thought of meeting Jin Young Cheol again on her day off tomorrow, Green became slightly sullen. Suddenly, Sun Woo glanced at Green.

“Do you think it would be better for me to enter politics rather than stay at K1 Construction?”

“No!”

Green reacted with much more distaste than he had expected. Feeling her response was too extreme, she hastily added,

“Of course, if you have political ambitions and really want to do it… I’d still be against it though. Anyway, I don’t think you should enter politics just because you can’t inherit K1 Construction.”

Sun Woo nodded with satisfaction at Green’s clear opposition.

It was really amazing and grateful that without having to explain everything in words, Green’s heart seemed to have been in sync with his from the beginning. Perhaps this heart of Green’s was the greatest strength and support for Sun Woo.

Clumsy at expressing his inner feelings, Sun Woo realized she was truly his other half every time she voiced her true feelings.

*****

“When on earth did you take the children’s apartment access cards?”

Park In Young coldly asked her husband Jin Young Cheol as she received Sun Woo’s access cards.

She hadn’t even known that her husband had visited Sun Woo today until Sun Woo came to the vice chairman’s office to talk. And with divorce papers, no less.

“Vice Chairman, our apartment’s access system has changed. The existing access cards can no longer be used, so please inform your father as well.”

After hearing the whole story from Sun Woo, In Young felt ashamed of Jin Young Cheol’s actions.

“You must have been very surprised. He won’t visit like that again.”

Since In Young had personally arranged Sun Woo’s apartment, she kept the spare access cards. However, she had never used those cards and had completely forgotten about them, storing them in a dresser drawer.

She was baffled as to how Jin Young Cheol knew they were there and when he had taken them out.

“Well, I had something urgent to discuss with Sun Woo.”

“Was divorcing the kids such an urgent matter? Urgent enough to secretly search my closet?”

Jin Young Cheol’s face flushed with shame, but he thought he should clearly express his intentions to his wife as well.

“Sun Woo is my only son. I’m truly sorry to you, but I can’t stand to see my son ruined. If your father abandons Sun Woo, I will protect my son myself.”

In Young silently looked at her husband. Whenever she looked at him with those eyes, Jin Young Cheol felt frustrated. He could never tell what she was thinking.

After a long silence, In Young slowly opened her mouth.

“Even when I forget, you make me realize once in a while. What kind of son Sun Woo is to you.”

Still with an unreadable expression, In Young quietly left the room.

*****

When Green came to the bedroom after washing up, Sun Woo was sitting on the bed with only the reading light on.

“Sun Woo, aren’t you going to sleep?”

Green waited in front of the dressing table for Sun Woo to lie down quickly. Although they had spent an incredible night together, it was inevitable to feel awkward again as night fell.

“Today, just pat your face twenty times and come here quickly,”

As if seeing right through Green’s attempt to stall, Sun Woo said while pulling back the covers on the side next to him. Unable to make excuses after being so accurately called out, Green hastily patted her face and went to his side.

“I’m curious about something.”

“What is it?”

“You said you broke up with all the guys you dated in college within a week. Why was that?”

“Oh, well…”

Green briefly worried about Sun Woo getting upset again, but from experience, she concluded that being honest was the best option.

“On the first day we agreed to date, they all seemed polite and quite nice. But after two or three meetings, they would suddenly try to kiss me anytime and put their hands inside my clothes.”

“…”

“I was so shocked at how quickly they changed. It’s a bit crude to say, but in my young mind back then, all men in the world seemed like dogs in heat. It was pathetic.”

“I see.”

“After my mother’s accident, I didn’t have the luxury to date. If it weren’t for my father’s nagging, I wouldn’t have even met potential matches.”

Suddenly realizing that she had never had a proper relationship, as Hannah and Jenny had said, Green let out a sigh.

Then she suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked at Sun Woo. Sun Woo’s eyes widened at Green’s aggressive gaze.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just realized I’m the only one who spilled all about my past. You’ve dated a lot, haven’t you? Right?”

Sun Woo laughed awkwardly at Green’s interrogation. Given how sparse Green’s past was, his past would seem quite colorful in comparison.

“I had a few casual relationships in college, but due to my complex about being born out of wedlock, they never developed into deep relationships. Then four years ago, there was someone I liked enough to consider marriage…”

“And then?”

“When I confessed about being born out of wedlock, she left.”

“Oh no!”

Green’s brow furrowed with sympathy. She now understood why Sun Woo had asked her how she felt when she heard he was born out of wedlock on the day they first drank together.

But Green soon smiled bravely.

“Thanks to her, I got my chance. If I happen to meet her by chance, I should thank her.”

Sun Woo laughed silently at her unexpected words. Slowly nodding, he gently stroked Green’s hair.

“You might think I’m siding with them because I’m a man, but I somewhat understand the feelings of those guys you met in college.”

This time, Green was taken aback by Sun Woo’s words. Those guys who tried to lock lips just two or three days into dating?

“She’s my first girlfriend as an adult. I’m crazy about how much I like her and how pretty she is, but I’m clumsy in expressing it.”

“Hmm, I guess they all did like me a lot.”

“If they had more experience, they might have expressed their feelings more sophisticatedly while considering your feelings too. But back then, they probably didn’t know how to handle their overflowing emotions, so their lips and hands moved first. Instinctively, they wanted to touch you so badly, and that was the only way they knew to express their feelings.”

Hearing Sun Woo’s words, Green could understand a little bit. She was young, and so were they. Confused and at a loss with their first encounter with romantic feelings.

Sun Woo spread one arm towards her. Green naturally snuggled into his embrace.

She liked having these gentle conversations with him. Besides her mother, Sun Woo was the first person to listen to her stories so well.

Sun Woo’s hand, which had been gently stroking Green’s hair, slowly caressed her cheek. Then, as if it were the most natural thing, he captured Green’s lips.

Just like the night before, as he kissed her in a way that took Green’s breath away, Sun Woo’s hands naturally slipped inside her nightgown.

“Wait, Sun Woo!”

She urgently grabbed his hand. Sun Woo started to tease her neck with his lips, as if sulking.

“Didn’t you say that with more experience, you express your feelings more sophisticatedly? Why are you acting like a twenty-year-old boy too?”

“Because I lack experience too.”

He said something nonsensical and then swiftly removed Green’s nightgown. Although excitement exploded every time Sun Woo’s touch landed on her, she chattered in a disgruntled manner.

“Strictly speaking, today is only our first day, isn’t the progress a bit too fast from day one?”

Sun Woo then smiled very seductively with his eyes curved into crescents.

“It’s okay. We’re married.”

Completely won over by those words again, Green tightly wrapped her arms around Sun Woo’s neck.

Thinking that while her friends’ biggest worry during their prime dating years was the push and pull of intimacy with their boyfriends, she was glad she didn’t have to do such push and pull since she was dating her husband.