“I’ll let you sleep, so come to my place.”

“Why are you helping me, Representative?”

It had to be a question.

Even in college, I was just one of Nam Do Hyun’s many juniors.

Yet, I wanted to know why he was deliberately interfering in my pathetic life.

“Because you’re so pitiful.”

The anger that welled up seemed to be something like an inferiority complex.

Seeing how I was hurt by the sympathy that seeped through his dry tone.

“Is that what you usually do, Representative? If someone is pitiful, you help them and let them sleep over?”

I didn’t want to reveal my emotions, but Joo unknowingly clenched her jaw.

In contrast, Nam Do Hyun’s voice was so neat, as if observing Joo’s fluctuating mood.

“That’s how I usually am. If someone is pitiful, it weighs on my mind.”

“……”

“And that’s how you are right now.”

Joo took off the greasy apron that was hanging around her neck.

Then, as if taking out her anger on the apron, she folded it up in her hands and threw it on top of the trash bag.

“It’s okay. You think I have nowhere else to go besides your place, Representative?”

“So you were going to sleep in a place like this, with room and board provided?”

Do Hyun was trying hard to suppress and hide his displeased feelings. And it seemed like those feelings would no longer be hidden soon.

He was unnecessarily angry at Joo, who had tried to stay in an unfamiliar place with a woman’s body.

Moreover, he couldn’t understand how she wouldn’t swallow her pride even after properly recognizing her situation.

“I didn’t know it was a place like this.”

“Now that you know, I’m saying let’s go together.”

“It’s my business. I’ll handle it myself.”

“Let’s just go easily, Shin Joo.”

The space between Nam Do Hyun’s brows gradually furrowed.

As it happened, he had an appointment at the barbecue restaurant where Shin Joo worked today, and as it happened, Shin Joo, who was fidgeting while carrying a hot grill plate, caught his eye.

She kept entering his field of vision, making him worry about all sorts of things, and then said she would handle it herself.

“You just need to bend your pride once, why are you acting so high and mighty every time.”

“Is it going easily to meekly sleep at a man’s house just because he says he’ll let me? I guess I’m acting high and mighty because I’ve never lived that easily in my life.”

“She won’t give in even a word.”

Seeing her talk back so fiercely, Nam Do Hyun was so dumbfounded that he let out an empty laugh instead.

She didn’t seem to be like this in college.

He felt like she was a more obedient junior who treated her seniors with some respect.

Somehow, now it felt like she was only looking up to him because he was her boss at work and she had no choice.

“I have a bit of a strong competitive spirit.”

Nam Do Hyun raised one eyebrow as he fixed his gaze on Joo, whose eyes had sunk to the floor.

He could have just left her there, rejecting him like that. However, Do Hyun’s feet still remained in front of Joo.

“I can relate to that. I also absolutely hate losing.”

Was it a dramatic compromise? No, it seemed to be the opposite.

Before even interpreting what he meant by spitting that out, Nam Do Hyun let his actions speak for him.

That he was the one who had gone crazy with his competitive spirit.

Nam Do Hyun took a step and closed the distance between him and Joo without leaving any gaps.

When the rounded toe of Joo’s shoes collided with the tip of Nam Do Hyun’s black dress shoes, Joo tried to step back.

Do Hyun’s right arm wrapped around Joo’s waist.

“What……”

It was really in the blink of an eye. Her feet left the ground and her body rose into the air too easily.

Her view was lifted towards the sky, then her upper body folded in half and was turned upside down.

Nam Do Hyun had swiftly picked Joo up and placed her on his shoulder like a piece of luggage.

“What are you doing right now! Put me down!”

Despite Joo’s shouting, Nam Do Hyun paid no attention and walked out of the alley with his long legs.

Joo, who was dangling down, flailed her legs, but Do Hyun lightly ignored her and opened the car door.

Before Joo, who was thrown into the passenger seat, could say a word, the door slammed shut.

She was treated like luggage until the very end.

As soon as Nam Do Hyun, who had come around the front of the car hood, got into the driver’s seat, Joo shouted in great agitation.

“What are you doing, senior!”

Out of bewilderment, she even called him senior, which she hadn’t done before.

The corners of Do Hyun’s lips, who was nonchalantly starting the car, lifted slightly.

“It’s been a while since I heard you call me senior.”

Huh.

He’s laughing in this absurd situation.

Driving people crazy.

She hurriedly pulled the car door handle, but only a rattling sound was made, and the door didn’t budge at all.

“Senior, open the door.”

She spoke quite threateningly, lowering her voice.

But there was no way Nam Do Hyun would easily let Joo go.

“No can do. You’ve been kidnapped right now.”

“I’ve been kidnapped?”

What made him so brazen? Joo’s mouth wouldn’t close.

Nam Do Hyun let go of the seat belt he had pulled to fasten.

Do Hyun’s upper body leaned over the console box towards Joo.

In the car where only the faint sound of the car engine was humming, the sound of creaking leather rang out.

Joo, who had been bouncing around until just now, stopped like a paused screen.

As Do Hyun stared at her pupils as if looking into her inner thoughts, Joo also couldn’t avoid his eyes.

Before she could ask what was going on because she disliked the awkward silence, she heard the sound of the seat belt being pulled with a click.

When she rolled her pupils to the side, she saw the seat belt coming down, pulled by Do Hyun’s hand.

“Put on your seat belt.”

The corners of Nam Do Hyun’s lips curling up seemed to stab right at her heart.

“I take safety seriously even though I’m a kidnapper.”

Rather than hurting, it tickled, so she took a deep breath and puffed out her chest for no reason.

In the end, she ended up at Nam Do Hyun’s house.

This is crazy, she’s gone crazy. She felt like she had said that to herself at least 100 more times.

What if she faced Nam Do Hyun’s mother again?

As if that worry was only Joo’s, Do Hyun dragged her to his house again.

As the engine of the car parked in a corner of the underground parking lot was turned off, it became eerily quiet.

Thanks to that, even the sound of Nam Do Hyun unfastening his seat belt was clearly stuck in her ears.

“How could you bring me all the way to your house again?”

“I’ll have to decline that offer.”

Before Nam Do Hyun could throw Joo over his shoulder again, she quickly unfastened her seat belt and got out of the car.

Seeing Joo running away swiftly, Do Hyun let out a light sneer.

The two people, who had taken the elevator from the lower floor, entered the house together.

Nam Do Hyun, who had gone straight into his room, walked over to Joo, who was standing awkwardly in the living room.

“Wash up and change into these.”

In Do Hyun’s right hand were a t-shirt and pants in a relatively small size.

“No. I can just sleep in these clothes.”

“Refusing no matter what, that’s also a habit of yours.”

“……”

“Change. I don’t want the smell of meat to soak into my bedding.”

Joo lowered her head, raised her arms, and took a deep breath.

A nasty smell of meat wafted out that she couldn’t refuse.

Joo, who had raised her lowered head, grabbed the clothes in Do Hyun’s hand.

She thought they might not fit, but they would be better than the clothes she was currently wearing.

Joo, who had been moving her feet hesitantly, entered the bathroom.

‘Let’s wash up quickly and just go to sleep.’

And if she wakes up early in the morning, she can avoid running into him.

Joo, who had entered the shower booth, washed off the smell of meat that had soaked into her body.

As the hot water swept over her tense body, she felt languidly relaxed. Enough to briefly forget that this was Nam Do Hyun’s house.

Joo, who had washed cleanly and changed into new clothes, sniffed her wrist.

The smell of grease that seemed like it wouldn’t go away had disappeared, and the strong scent of Nam Do Hyun’s body wash remained.

Joo, who had opened the bathroom door and come out with satisfaction, discovered Do Hyun lying on the sofa.

“Representative.”

Even at Joo’s call, Do Hyun didn’t move an inch.

Joo took her feet off the marble floor and walked over to Do Hyun.

She thought he was just lying down for a moment, but she saw Do Hyun’s eyes closed under the hand covering his forehead.

Judging by the tablet with the screen turned on on the table, it seemed he had handled some work in that short time.

She thought about leaving him like this, but Do Hyun hadn’t explained to her which room she would be staying in.

Joo, who had been anxiously circling around Do Hyun’s head, carefully reached out her hand.

“Representative.”

As she called Do Hyun while raising her voice compared to before, she poked his arm with her fingertips.

But there was still no sign of him waking up at all.

Having no choice, Joo bent her upper body and was about to shake Do Hyun’s arm again.

Tak.

Do Hyun’s hand that had been resting on his forehead suddenly grabbed Joo’s wrist.

Nam Do Hyun’s eyelids, which had been deeply pressed down, were lifted.

His loosely released gaze lingered on Joo for a long time.

It was felt at a glance that he hadn’t completely woken up from sleep yet.

The grabbed wrist was hot. But the gaze staring at her seemed to have an even higher fever.

A husky voice flowed out between Nam Do Hyun’s parting lips.

“Shin Joo, did we…”

“……”

“Did we have something in the past?”

In an instant, Joo’s focus seemed to waver.

She wanted to avoid his matching eyes, but she felt like she shouldn’t avoid them, so she forcibly matched his gaze.

Joo slowly shook her head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nam Do Hyun parted his lips as if he had more to say. However, he swallowed the words lingering in his mouth and loosened his grip.

“No. I’m just saying strange things because I’m tired.”

Do Hyun, who had eventually sat up, got up from the sofa.

“It’s because of a dream I have sometimes. Ignore it.”

“……What kind of dream is it?”

Do Hyun’s steps, which were about to move one foot towards the bedroom, stopped for a moment.

Nam Do Hyun, who was about to readily talk about the dream he had, closed his mouth again.

For a very brief moment, Do Hyun’s eyes settled on Joo’s lips and then fell away.

“If I say it now, it’s the perfect dream for you to run away.”

Although it rather aroused curiosity, Joo didn’t press further.

Do Hyun, who had passed by Joo, gestured with his eyes towards the bathroom.

“Use the room next to the bathroom.”

“Yes. Sleep well.”

The door to the room Do Hyun had entered closed.

Joo, who was left alone, brought her grabbed arm behind her back and rubbed her wrist with her palm.

The pulsing heartbeat at her fingertips was fully conveyed.

“It’s because of a dream I have sometimes. Ignore it.”

I think I know what that dream is too.

A dream that must never come true.

A dream where we kiss.

But senior……

“That’s not a dream.”