“Would you like to… stay together tonight?”

It was a shocking provocation from Se Hee, whom I thought only knew how to smile purely and innocently.

That stimulating provocation properly shook up Kyle’s emotions that he had been barely containing.

There was no need for an answer.

But Se Hee, who couldn’t have known that, had a clear expression on her face.

While pushing Kyle into an uncontrollable whirlpool of emotions.

He just wanted to hold Se Hee like this.

An extremely instinctive desire was eroding his reason.

But suddenly, Se Hee’s dark expression flashed through Kyle’s mind.

The sight of Se Hee being shaken while looking at someone on her mobile phone, even though she was with him.

He recalled that coldly cooling expression.

Cha Hyo Jun.

It was a moment when Kyle’s pride was completely crushed because of someone whose face he didn’t even know.

Cold reason strongly suppressed Kyle’s emotions that had been hotly excited.

Soon, a firm word fell from Kyle’s mouth as he calmly restrained his emotions.

“…I refuse.”

Se Hee’s eyes widened in surprise at Kyle’s negative answer.

It was truly the first time in her life she had said such a thing to a man.

During that brief moment while waiting for his answer, Se Hee’s throat went completely dry.

Because she knew well what her words meant.

It felt as if everything around them had disappeared and only Kyle and herself were in this space.

But.

Kyle’s answer of refusal dealt a fatal blow to Se Hee.

As if time had stopped, Se Hee couldn’t even feel the blowing wind.

She hadn’t thought he would accept 100%, but.

Hearing the intention of refusal directly from Kyle’s mouth was a tremendous shock.

She had done something unnecessary.

Embarrassment washed over her like a wave.

Se Hee didn’t have the confidence to face Kyle with her reddened face.

She wanted to hide right away.

Se Hee, who had suddenly become awkward, silently took a step back.

As if saying goodbye, forcing a smile.

Looking directly at Se Hee like that, Kyle opened his mouth again.

“If your current choice is not impulsive.”

At those words that opened a small possibility, Se Hee’s eyes sparkled.

“I’d like you to be sure.”

‘That it’s not because of Cha Hyo Jun, but because you wholly want me.’

Kyle actually wanted to say that.

But he couldn’t bring himself to say those words.

Kyle had never been compared to anyone before.

No matter who the other person was, he had only been the object of admiration, never once being compared side by side with them.

But that Cha Hyo Jun, whom he had never even seen, seemed to be a more formidable opponent than expected.

To the extent that he could still shake Lee Se Hee’s emotions in an instant.

Even though he himself was by her side.

Kyle wanted to make it clear.

That’s why he refused Se Hee’s proposal, which might be the first and last.

The emotion Se Hee showed him had to be one that bloomed solely because of Kyle Graham Evans, not because of Cha Hyo Jun’s shadow.

Even if it was selfish, or unnecessary pride.

“If that’s still your thought after rational consideration, then I’ll gladly respect it.”

Kyle’s low voice, giving a deep resonance, seemed almost like a declaration.

Having finished speaking, he took out a small case from his pocket and handed it to Se Hee.

Se Hee received the case he handed over in a daze.

“…I’ll wait.”

Kyle said with a faint smile.

To come to me wholly.

Unable to utter those words, Kyle slowly turned around.

Leaving all choices to Se Hee.

Se Hee watched Kyle’s disappearing back for a long time.

Only after he had completely disappeared did she check what he had handed over.

A small, thin case.

Se Hee slowly opened it.

Inside.

There was a golden card key engraved with the words ‘VVIP 2101’.

Kyle’s room key?

Se Hee’s heart started to flutter slightly.

She thought she had been perfectly rejected by Kyle.

So she was on the verge of collapsing from disappointment.

She was about to resign herself, thinking his words about refusing if it was an impulsive decision were quite reasonable.

Se Hee’s lips curled up slightly as she looked at the card key shining in her hand.

“I’ll wait.”

Kyle’s voice seemed to come alive and resound in her ears.

At that moment, Se Hee’s heart, which had fallen into an abyss, began to beat again.

* * *

Kyle, who had come out of Se Hee’s room, berated himself.

He should have just accepted Se Hee’s proposal.

Instead of putting up unnecessary pride.

Then he wouldn’t have had to do such a contradictory thing as handing over his room key.

Damn it.

The impulsive one wasn’t Se Hee, but himself.

The moment he faced Se Hee asking him to stay with her with shy but intense eyes, Kyle was already out of his mind.

Rational?

To hell with that.

Damn it.

He couldn’t control the anger surging within himself.

His heart felt like it was about to burst.

Kyle, who had returned to his room, closed the door so hard it almost broke.

Warning not to be impulsive.

He himself was the impulsive one.

Haah.

Regret swept over him like a typhoon at his actions that made no sense at all.

His mind was as complicated as if a hundred threads were tangled.

Above all, what was most painful was.

The thought that she might not come.

Kyle’s gaze, full of regret and despair, turned to the door he had just closed.

But he couldn’t blame Se Hee for not coming after he had done such a crazy thing as throwing away the chance she gave him because of someone like Cha Hyo Jun.

Crazy.

Kyle cursed himself as he painfully turned his gaze away.

But then.

The signal sound that rings when the security is released was heard from outside.

At that moment.

Kyle froze right where he was.

He simply couldn’t turn around.

His heart, which had been plummeting to the floor, began to beat several times faster.

Finally, the door opened and footsteps were heard.

Overwhelming joy covered Kyle’s entire body.

“Um, Mr. President. Tomorrow’s schedule……”

Kyle’s tension, which had been reaching its peak, suddenly loosened, and his brow furrowed in an instant.

Dave, who was about to speak about the schedule, froze like a statue.

He almost had a heart attack at Kyle’s sharp gaze flying like a dagger.

He had been waiting for Kyle until now to report on the meeting schedule for tomorrow’s port of call in Naples, and when he saw him returning after midnight, he hurriedly followed him in.

The Kyle in front of him looked like he was about to turn into a demon.

“…Get. Out.”

Dave felt goosebumps all over his body at Kyle’s voice, which sounded like a messenger from hell.

“…Don’t set foot in here until I call for you.”

What kind of sudden expulsion is this in the middle of the night?

Dave stood dumbfounded as if struck by lightning out of the blue.

What did I do wrong?

As a capable secretary, he had simply waited for Kyle until late and tried to ensure the schedule wouldn’t be disrupted.

Dave’s gaze towards Kyle was full of resentment.

“Don’t forget to delete your fingerprint recognition and return the room key.”

But at Kyle’s murderous voice flying at him once again, Dave immediately placed the card key on the table and promptly left the room.

Not forgetting to delete his fingerprint registered for door lock release as per Kyle’s order.

After Dave left, Kyle glared at the closed door for a while, but it didn’t open again.

Right. Of course not.

She wouldn’t come, of course.

Just because I gave her the key?

What am I hoping for now?

Kyle mocked himself.

Yet his gaze wouldn’t leave the door.

The key he had given, saying he would respect her choice, had become a trap he set for himself.

A painfully cruel trap called false hope.

Roughly rubbing his face, Kyle headed to the bathroom.

He plunged his whole body into the cold water pouring into the snow-white marble bathtub.

But his complicated feelings didn’t calm down at all.

* * *

When it came to actually going to Kyle, Se Hee became hesitant.

Giving her the card key, he had clearly said he would wait.

That he would gladly respect her opinion.

But what did he mean by asking her to judge rationally?

As Se Hee pondered deeply, she took a light shower to clear her mind.

While feeling the warm water stream, suddenly.

She realized what Kyle’s words meant.

Could it be, because of Cha Hyo Jun?

Did he think I was acting impulsively because of that kind of man?

That the most perfect man in the world was jealous over someone like Cha Hyo Jun?

That thought strangely made Se Hee feel ecstatic.

To the point where even her heart felt hot.

Feeling courageous, Se Hee picked up the golden card key.

Se Hee, who left her room with quick steps, slowly headed towards his room while feeling the early morning breeze.

There was no need to think rationally.

Because from the beginning, her heart had always been with Kyle.

She thought it was quite a long distance, but before she knew it, Se Hee was standing in front of VVIP room 2101.

When she touched the card to the door with trembling hands, the lock was released with a soft sound.

After taking a long deep breath, Se Hee carefully opened the door.

In the space where all lights were off, only faint moonlight was shining.

Could he be sleeping already?

As Se Hee looked around, she found a switch glowing in the shape of a card key.

When she touched the card there, lights turned on from the floor as if a blue carpet was being laid, showing the direction to go.

At the end of that light, another door was waiting.

Se Hee carefully walked up to it and touched the card key for the last time with nervous hands.

As the lock was released, a small bell sound rang.

Will he be there when I open this door?

Thinking that made her whole body feel like it was trembling.

Se Hee carefully opened the door and entered, only to be surprised by the size of the bedroom, which looked twice as big as her own room.

A soft light from a small lamp next to the large bed placed near the balcony welcomed Se Hee.

But there was no one on the well-made bed.

Without a trace of anyone.

Is he not in the room?

Just then, the sound of water reached Se Hee’s ears.

Se Hee moved her steps following that sound.

As the sound of water got closer, her heart began to beat wildly.

But before Se Hee arrived in front of it, the door opened first.

Kyle, still wet and not fully dried, walked out with only a bath towel precariously wrapped around his hips.

Se Hee froze right there.

Forgetting even to breathe.

“…Haah… Seems I drank too much. A hallucination, huh.”

Kyle muttered to himself, shaking his head as he saw Se Hee standing still.

Unable to calm down at all with cold water, he had drunk a few glasses of alcohol.

He had been vowing never to put up his pride or anything like that in front of Se Hee again, no matter the situation.

But of all things, a hallucination of Se Hee.

How desperately must he have wanted her.

Kyle, who was about to pass by, suddenly stopped.

Strangely, a sweet scent that could never be felt from a hallucination stimulated his nose.

Kyle changed direction towards where Se Hee was standing.

He carefully walked over and stopped right in front of Se Hee.

Kyle’s fingers gently twisted Se Hee’s long, flowing hair.

Looking at Se Hee with a surprised expression, as if not believing she could be touched.

Until then, Se Hee, who had been unable to breathe properly, exhaled a labored breath.

“…Se Hee?”

Only then did Kyle realize that Se Hee was real, not a hallucination.

“Yes. It’s me.”

Se Hee’s watery smile was directed at Kyle.

For a moment, Kyle’s deep eyes wavered.

Gently releasing Se Hee’s hair, this time he caressed Se Hee’s cheek.

Kyle’s hand caressing her cheek slowly moved down to Se Hee’s lips.

His fingers firmly pressed Se Hee’s soft lips and then flowed along her neckline.

Just like that, Kyle’s intimate and careful touch moved towards Se Hee.

“…I desperately wanted you. To come to me.”

Kyle’s strong arms firmly wrapped around Se Hee’s waist.

The ensuing encounter with Kyle’s hot lips made Se Hee tremble even more.

They began to fall deeper towards each other.