Ji Wan’s car came to a stop in an unfamiliar parking lot.

The place, filled with foreign luxury cars she had never seen before in her life, had such a grand atmosphere that it felt embarrassing to park her mid-size compact car there.

“Phew.”

Ji Wan took a short deep breath before getting out of the driver’s seat.

But her heart, already beating fast, was far from calming down.

This place, so different from the apartment she used to live in, resembled Joo Tae Sung’s image so closely that it made her realize she had entered his territory.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come…”

Ji Wan tried to reconsider her decision for a moment, but since she had already come this far, she couldn’t back out and quickly gave up.

Then she finally got out of the car and took out a large carrier.

She thought she had packed only the necessary things modestly, but why was it so heavy?

She hoped there would be a place to put all this.

“Let’s see, it was 4001, right? The password… Wow, it’s so long. I’ll never be able to memorize it.”

Standing in front of the common entrance door lock, Ji Wan entered the password Tae Sung had taught her.

As the thick glass doors opened on both sides, the scent of a luxurious diffuser stimulated her sense of smell.

“So in rich people’s homes, they even put diffusers in the elevator waiting area? Wow, that’s amazing.”

While she was exclaiming in admiration, the elevator arrived.

Ji Wan, along with her carrier, got in and found ’40’ among the many numbers and pressed it.

She was worried about how long it would take to go up 40 floors, but the speed to reach there was as fast as the high-speed elevator of the 63 Building.

Ding―

Soon, with a clear bell sound, the floor where Tae Sung lived revealed itself.

The corridor, with only a few units per floor despite the size of the building, had a luxurious feel reminiscent of a hotel.

Having easily found 4001, she tried to calm her nerves while looking at the front door.

“Think lightly. How much has Joo Tae Sung stayed at our house? Now it’s my turn to settle in. Yes, that’s all there is to it.”

As she muttered to herself, trying to enter his house as calmly as possible…

Click―

The front door opened on its own without even pressing the bell.

At the same time, what appeared was Tae Sung, revealing his upper body with well-formed angry muscles.

“You’re here? I told you to call when you arrived.”

He spoke casually, but Ji Wan couldn’t close her wide-open mouth for a while.

She had noticed he had a good body whether in a suit or t-shirt, but how beautiful it was to see him actually undressed.

Especially his well-raised chest muscles reminded her of a well-carved statue.

“W-w-why…”

Flustered by the blatant sight, Ji Wan couldn’t continue her words.

Tae Sung looked down at her and gave a slight eye smile.

“Think of it as a service.”

While she completely agreed with that expression, Ji Wan decided to act disgusted for the sake of her dignity.

“Who asked for such a service?!”

“Isn’t it a service to provide something without being asked?”

“If you start like this, I might just go home right now!”

“That would be troublesome, so I’ll be honest. Actually, I was about to change clothes because oil splattered while making steak.”

Tae Sung, who answered shamelessly, casually took Ji Wan’s carrier.

Ji Wan, who had been dazed until then, quickly regained her senses, shaking her head.

“Don’t show your body carelessly! You could have put something on before opening the door!”

“Are you already controlling your husband?”

“It’s not control! We need to prevent any unseemly situations!”

At Ji Wan’s reasonable nagging, the corners of Tae Sung’s mouth curved up more mischievously.

“Unseemly situations… For example?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“Yeah, I have no idea. Can you explain?”

Certainly, there was no way he didn’t know.

So the question he was asking now was clearly thrown to tease Ji Wan.

But even knowing this, Ji Wan’s face quickly heated up to the point of bursting.

Judging by the hot feeling on her cheeks, they must have turned as red as a radish.

“D-don’t pretend to be innocent! Who would believe that!”

Ji Wan shouted, trying to hide her thoroughly agitated self.

Tae Sung looked at her and let out a chuckle, answering nonchalantly by himself.

“The carrier is heavy. You must have had a hard time carrying it. I’ll put something on and come out, so take a look around the house.”

After finishing his words, he disappeared into the innermost room.

It was a shameless back view, just like his voice.

Ji Wan, who still hadn’t calmed down, glared resentfully at the direction he had disappeared.

If she’s being swayed like this from the start, who knows how much more she’ll be played by his hands in the future.

Now that she had voluntarily entered the tiger’s den.

Properly entangled by Tae Sung’s upper body attack, Ji Wan felt her future looking bleak.

* * *

A well-colored striploin steak.

A salad full of luscious vegetables.

A cream pasta displayed so beautifully it could be called a work of art.

And besides that, an evening table filled with diverse dishes she had never seen before in her life.

Ji Wan’s eyes sparkled at the skill that elicited exclamations with every bite.

“Did you really make all of this yourself, Tae Sung?”

“Seeing you ask like that, I guess you like it.”

“It’s the best! Especially the pasta, it’s the most delicious pasta I’ve ever had!”

“Now I feel rewarded for all the hard work in preparation.”

A satisfied smile formed on Tae Sung’s lips upon hearing Ji Wan’s heartfelt evaluation.

He filled an empty glass with wine he had specially prepared to celebrate today, and as he handed it to Ji Wan, he asked.

“Why did you decide to follow me?”

It was quite a direct question.

Startled for a moment, Ji Wan responded while unnecessarily cutting the already well-sliced steak into smaller pieces.

“You asked me to come… but now that I’m here, you’re asking why I came.”

“I’m just curious. Actually, I was half expecting you not to.”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t make sense. Asking you to live in my house because my situation is dangerous.”

In fact, Ji Wan had also thought that part didn’t make sense and had pondered over it for a long time.

But her heart chose to be by his side, and so she left her familiar home.

Until the day she made this decision, Ji Wan was worried about her unpredictable future, but now that she had unpacked here, she was no longer confused.

‘…If I say that honestly, he’ll definitely find it burdensome.’

Ji Wan, who had been thinking of a plausible answer for a moment, carefully put down the fork she was holding.

Then she looked straight into Tae Sung’s eyes.

It was to properly convey what she wanted to say, even if she couldn’t reveal all her true feelings.

“I’m keeping a promise.”

“A promise?”

“Yes, I promised you, Joo Tae Sung. That I would be a place for you to stay.”

Tae Sung’s eyes deepened upon hearing her sincere answer.

Ji Wan continued in a calm voice, not avoiding his gaze.

“The day after Hwa Young barged into our house. I promised you with my own words. That I would let you stay until you fully recover.”

“…”

“That didn’t simply mean providing a place… Since you’re surrounded by enemies on all sides, I would be your support. Well, that was the meaning.”

“…”

“The situation has twisted strangely since then, but you still haven’t recovered all your memories, right? So I’m still keeping my promise.”

Even when Ji Wan finished speaking, Tae Sung gave no answer.

Judging by his gaze that remained fixed on her, it was unclear how he had taken her recent confession.

Maybe the support part was an overstatement after all.

How dare she volunteer for such a grand role without knowing his situation well.

What if he’s inwardly laughing at me…

Just as she was about to start worrying about this.

A chuckle―

Laughter escaped through Tae Sung’s lips.

Thinking he might really be laughing at her, she checked his face, and what immediately caught her eye was Joo Tae Sung smiling gently.

This man does try to maintain a smile whether he’s still, teasing, or even angry, but this smile was, how should I put it…

“…I’m happy. For the first time in my life, I have a supporter.”

Yes, a happy smile.

A purely joyful smile that didn’t make you wonder about his true feelings.

Ji Wan’s heart started to race as she saw his eyes curved in a round shape.

As if she had received praise, a corner of her heart swelled and her face kept burning up.

Ji Wan gulped down the wine in front of her to cool down the rising heat once again.

“If you drink like that, won’t you get drunk?”

Tae Sung asked, seeing her behavior.

This is all because of whom. His voice alone was calm and languid.

“You know I’m quite strong…”

“You didn’t seem that strong when drinking with me.”

“I must have built up tolerance drinking with Hwa Young. I sobered up quickly even after drinking quite a lot then.”

Mentioning Hwa Young’s name was really without any intention.

As she rarely goes out for drinks, the recent people she had drunk with were really just Joo Tae Sung or Do Hwa Young.

So she hadn’t been conscious of it at all.

Tae Sung’s eyebrow that twitched for a moment when Hwa Young’s name was mentioned.

“Ah… Did you drink a lot with Hwa Young that day?”

Tae Sung, who quickly smoothed out his brow, asked.

To Ji Wan’s ears, busy serving salad on the side plate, it was a voice that didn’t sound strange at all.

“Yes, I think we emptied a bottle of whiskey between the two of us? Hwa Young said it was really expensive.”

“It would be. Because it’s Hwa Young.”

“What does it feel like to be able to buy such expensive things so easily? I’d like to experience it once.”

In response to Ji Wan’s envious words, Tae Sung willingly replied.

“You can experience it. I’ll do it for you.”

He was planning to give her a card anyway, under the pretext that she would need it while staying here.

However, before he could mention it, Ji Wan burst out laughing and waved her hands.

“Come on, how could I take that much from you, Joo Tae Sung?”

“Didn’t you take well from Hwa Young?”

“Hwa Young’s wallet is like an endless spring. She probably wouldn’t notice if four or five hundred disappeared, right?”

At that moment, Tae Sung’s eyebrow twitched again greatly.

As she had answered while looking straight at him this time, Ji Wan properly witnessed it.

Realizing her slip of the tongue, Ji Wan hurriedly started to make excuses.

“Ah, I-I’m not comparing…! It’s just that taking in a person is a lot of work, so I think I’m already indebted to you enough just for that…”

But he barely seemed to hear those words, just swirling his wine glass.

“So this is how Hwa Young felt…?”

“W-what?”

“Ah. Now I understand why she dislikes me so much.”

A chuckle―

Tae Sung laughed.

It was the same chuckle as before, but the feeling was very different.

If the first chuckle― was a pure smile full of joy, this chuckle― was…

‘He’s angry! Joo Tae Sung is extremely angry!’

It seems she had touched a rather bad spot.

Thinking that a quick change of atmosphere was important in such situations, Ji Wan drifted to change the topic of conversation.

“So… where am I sleeping tonight! Do you have a guest room? Or the sofa?”

Instead of an answer to her question, what came back was Tae Sung’s gleaming eyes.

Having completely erased the sweetness from just a few minutes ago, he opened his mouth with a somehow frightening eye smile.

“I’m sorry, but there’s only one bed.”

“One? If there’s one…”

“Today, the couple will have to share a bedroom.”

Tae Sung, openly showing his dark intentions, was clearly in the midst of revenge.

Ji Wan’s pupils trembled as she realized she had properly stepped on Tae Sung’s nose hairs that had been behaving quietly.