My trembling eyelids couldn’t be controlled. My vision was obscured, but I knew he was slowly approaching.

When I could clearly feel his tickling breath, the hot object touching my lips was undoubtedly his lips.

Startled, I opened my eyes, but my vision was dark. His large palm covered my eyes.

And again, he kissed me a little longer.

I worried my hot lips would transfer to you, my feelings would be seen by you, be discovered. I was fortunate that my vision was blocked by your hand.

As the large hand covering my face disappeared, light entered my vision along with a sense of disappointment. It took time for me to make eye contact with him, who was closer than I thought.

Just as I need time to gather courage for you. And I try to face it along with my adjusted vision.

“You know what.”

His phone placed on the table rang. Stopping mid-sentence, attention poured onto the phone vibrating in place.

Tae Hong focused on Hae Jin as if he had no interest in the phone. But Hae Jin was bothered by the ringing vibration.

“I think you should answer the phone.”

Tae Hong said she didn’t need to worry about it, but seeing Hae Jin keep glancing at the phone, he had no choice but to answer.

After answering the call and checking the other person’s voice, Tae Hong glanced at Hae Jin once. He had been quietly listening, then ended the call saying he understood.

It was clear that it was a call Hae Jin shouldn’t overhear. Suddenly, the call he had made before came to mind.

Instructing Seo Woo to look into something, could it be related to that?

“What were you going to say?”

I couldn’t readily speak at his somewhat subdued voice. I had overheard it by chance, but I figured it out.

“It’s nothing.”

In this situation, I couldn’t bring myself to suddenly say I would run to you with two steps at a time. Although the mood was disrupted, the kiss we shared didn’t disappear.

“Don’t close your eyes in front of me from now on.”

He tried to bring out the feelings I had barely calmed down while he was on the phone.

“This is the last time I’ll be gentlemanly too.”

Along with the conviction that there would be no more childish play kisses like this in the future, it was a deep warning that if we ignited again, he wouldn’t end it gentlemanly then.

If such a situation comes again, can I really stop him? To be a bit more honest, do I have the confidence to not go all the way?

Probably not.

While Hae Jin was lost in thought, Tae Hong began clearing the food she had eaten.

“I’ll clean up, so go finish your work.”

It was an ironic thing to come out of his mouth. It seemed like our roles had switched. As I just stared blankly, he stopped what he was doing.

“You said you were stressed.”

Of course, but that wasn’t the reason Tae Hong had to clean up.

“It’s because of work.”

I couldn’t deny it, but that also wasn’t a reason. Since it wasn’t a valid reason, I couldn’t let him clean up. Honestly, he had only taken one sip of the soup. Even splitting by the amount eaten, it was right for Hae Jin to clean up.

“I was the one who made you do that work.”

Ah, there was plenty of valid reason. Hae Jin unknowingly nodded.

“Finish up quickly and come out. The stress disappears when you get off work, right?”

Tok tok, he tapped on her cheek. He was an incomprehensible man in many ways.

Hae Jin immediately turned off the computer. She was trying to do tomorrow’s work in advance anyway. Since it was work that didn’t need to be done now, she finished up without lingering.

“You’re done already?”

Even though he said that, Tae Hong went in and came right back out. Seeing Hae Jin in perfect after-work attire, satisfaction settled in.

“Let’s go.”

She didn’t think they would be able to leave work together. Him saying let’s go together was oddly exciting.

**

Even though fatigue from driving due to outside work was about to rush in, he gripped the steering wheel.

The vibration of the phone placed on his lap rang. It was just a simple advertisement message. He checked it without much thought and closed the window, but the image that happened to pass by in his mind was of Tae Hong answering the phone in the conference room.

I must have been lost in thought for a long time. Tae Hong’s hand made a snapping sound with his fingers, waking her up.

“What are you thinking so deeply about?”

Should I ask or not?

“Is there something you’re curious about?”

“How did you know?”

I asked because I was really curious. Was it written on my face, or was he quick-witted?

“When you stare at me with a face full of questions, how could I not know?”

I realized I couldn’t lie in front of him.

“When you ask with that face, it seems like I have to answer anything.”

Now that it had come to this, I decided to ask. Even if not now, it was obvious that I would have to ask at least once someday.

“Don’t misunderstand first. I didn’t intend to listen, I overheard it without knowing.”

I blurted out an excuse, but I didn’t want him to misunderstand. I had no interest in eavesdropping on other people’s conversations as if prying.

“You told Park Seo Woo to investigate, right?”

“That’s right.”

Unlike the words I had uttered after much contemplation, he was simple and clear. It was like he was asking what the problem was with that.

“Do you always do that?”

“Always?”

“Investigate people.”

Tae Hong’s fingers tapped on the steering wheel. What kind of answer did I want?

He was the person who had investigated me. I knew better than anyone that his information power was outstanding. But I never thought it would be his daily routine.

I wondered if everyone who gets caught by him gets investigated. Of course, this kind of thing was common in this field.

Just going to a matchmaking meeting, it was nothing for the family’s personal information to be exposed. Someone’s weakness could become their strength.

“Do you know this saying?”

I don’t know if he’s trying to persuade Hae Jin or give justification to his actions.

“Know your enemy and you will win a hundred battles.”

It’s a classical saying, but a commonly used saying strategically, but what strategy was he trying to devise?

“I investigate to win.”

In the end, what he wanted to say was justification.

“No matter who it is.”

It also meant that no one could escape his radar network.

“Especially.”

He finished parking in front of Hae Jin’s house. As he unfastened his seat belt, Tae Hong emphasized with force.

“Even more so for the guys who are messing with the woman I’m investing in.”

Unlike his brutal tone, the way he looked at Hae Jin was affectionate.

“I need to have a lot of information.”

Tae Hong was smiling, but it wasn’t a smile. He was just trying to hide his jealousy in front of the woman he was investing in.

Tae Hong’s body half-crossed over to the passenger seat. Then he unfastened Hae Jin’s seat belt. His scent spread every time he moved.

The seat belt that was suffocatingly fastened was loosened, but the body still couldn’t move an inch.

“So I gave the order. Are you a bit relieved of your curiosity now?”

I knew better than anyone why he did that. The woman he was investing in was also me.

Seo Woo’s every action touched him. I also knew this well.

That’s why I understood his actions. In the end, it was because of me.

“Hae Jin.”

Tae Hong called her without returning to the driver’s seat. He was in front of her with an even narrower gap in the narrow car. Where should I put my eyes? Everywhere was his territory.

I placed my gaze between his loosened necktie and the two buttons he had left open. It was the only place I could catch my breath.

“You know, I…”

The car was filled with his resonant voice. At his calm confession, Hae Jin bit her molars. She pulled her lips in at the calm confessional situation.

“…like Jung Hae Jin.”

The pupils trembled like crazy. One hand was on the console box, and the other tapped on her cheek that he had tapped before.

Hae Jin almost closed her eyes again at the touch that came simultaneously with the confession.

This was a foul play. It was a cheat key to immobilize both hands.

“It’s annoying that I have to let the woman I like work with a man who’s hitting on her.”

I forgot how to breathe. The only thing I knew was that I shouldn’t avoid his gaze.

“Seeing your enthusiastic face, I’ll have to allow it.”

The more he spoke his true feelings, the more my heart tickled. A shudder had already struck from head to toe and swept past. The heart was beating as if it would burst, as if it would pop out of the body.

My clenched palm turned yellow from the lack of blood flow.

“That’s why I did that.”

He was saying that there was a reason for you in all his actions. At Tae Hong’s sincerity, Hae Jin realized that she could no longer stop it.

I was his justification.

“Honestly, I’m anxious.”

Tae Hong pulled his necktie down a bit more. He brushed his tousled hair up. Anxiety was etched in his furrowed brows. Uneasiness was loaded in his moist eyes.

“Very anxious.”

It felt like the heart I had barely grasped was ‘popping’ and exploding.

I wondered if the man in front of my eyes was really Moon Tae Hong. At the words that he was anxious, the tightly clenched hand loosened on its own. The loosened hand slowly rose.

It touched the cheek of the man trembling before my eyes. I realized my hand was cold as I felt his face was hot.

He was as hot as I was. Would he tremble as much as I did?

Tae Hong’s pupils dilated at Hae Jin’s hand that suddenly touched him. It must be an unexpected situation. Hae Jin also never imagined she would touch his cheek.

“I have no confidence that you’re mine, and I don’t give you the assurance that you’re mine either.”

His eyes yearned for Hae Jin more than ever. He didn’t hide the flaring desire for her. His hand overlapped on the back of Hae Jin’s hand. The disappeared hand was hidden in his palm.

“This feeling is very new to me too, so it’s very unfamiliar.”

Tae Hong boldly showed Hae Jin his emotions that had burst out once without blocking the flow. Hae Jin also accepted it fully in her heart without blocking it, then held it in her eyes.

She calmly felt his body temperature on her touch.

“Still, I like Jung Hae Jin so much.”

It was the perfect confession from the perfect man.

“So, Hae Jin.”

He grabbed her small hand with force. The will to never let go of her hand that caressed his cheek was contained.

It was as if he was saying that although he grabbed Hae Jin’s heart, letting go was Tae Hong’s decision.

“Can’t you run a little now?”

He was fervently pleading, saying one step was now tantalizing, asking her to run with big strides, increasing the speed.

Hae Jin’s hand on his cheek gained strength. She kissed his face that she slowly pulled in.