Kang Mo opened the car door abruptly and took broad strides towards Seo Hee, who was approaching with quick steps.

“Baek Seo Hee.”

“Oh, Kang Mo. You’re here already? I thought I would arrive first.”

Kang Mo smoothly replied as he took the bags from Seo Hee’s hands.

“Well, when you call, of course I have to come quickly. I got ready and left as soon as I got the phone call.”

“I told you to come slowly. Don’t tell me you sped while driving?”

Kang Mo tried to gloss over it with a fake cough when he had nothing to say, but,

“Lee Kang Mo, you were speeding, weren’t you?”

Seo Hee didn’t seem to have any intention of letting it go.

“No, well, just a little?”

“What? A little? What if you get into an accident? I shouldn’t have called you and just brought it myself.”

“No, it wasn’t really speeding, just a bit where there were no cars. I’ve been accident-free so far. You don’t have to worry.”

“Don’t you think you’ve just been lucky so far? I wish you would become a gentle lamb when you’re behind the wheel. Don’t ever speed from now on, okay?”

The corners of Kang Mo’s mouth slowly turned up. Anyone could see that he didn’t look like someone being nagged.

As soon as Kang Mo closed the trunk after loading the 5-tiered lunch box and the large thermos bag, he pulled Seo Hee, who was standing next to him, into his arms.

“Lee Kang Mo! What are you doing?”

Kang Mo held Seo Hee’s delicate body, who was struggling to push him away, even more tightly.

“Just stay like this for a moment. Just a moment.”

“We’re outside. What if someone sees?”

“So what if someone sees? They’ll think we’re a couple on a date.”

“……”

“It’s great. That Baek Seo Hee called me out, that you nag me out of concern, that you packed holiday food for me to eat, I love it all so much.”

A blunt voice flowed from Seo Hee, who had been squirming in his arms.

“There’s nothing good, so you even like the nagging. You’re really… And Mom packed the food because she felt sorry for a man living alone, you know.”

“Anyway, you must have packed it because you cared too. Right?”

“……”

She didn’t answer, but her hesitant hands that had been fumbling around his waist warmly wrapped around his lower back. Even the small gesture in place of an answer spread a heart-fluttering emotion throughout his chest.

The day filled with an inexplicable anxiety after sending Seo Hee to the house where her stepbrother was staying finally began to be colored with peace.

“Seeing how heavy it is, you must have packed it really tightly. You should have just told me to come to your house. Why did you bring such heavy things all the way here?”

“It’s not even a hundred meters from the house to here. And I’m stronger than I look.”

A puff of air leaked from Kang Mo’s mouth.

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to check next time. How strong my girlfriend is.”

“……”

Kang Mo was frustrated with Seo Hee, who always shut her mouth and burned him up inside whenever he used words that defined their relationship, such as lover or girlfriend.

While acknowledging that his heart, which he had cultivated for a long time, and Seo Hee’s heart, which had just begun to accept her feelings, were bound to be different, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“Seo Hee.”

“Yes.”

“Baek Seo Hee.”

“I’m listening. Go ahead.”

“…I like you.”

“……”

“I love you.”

“……”

“You really like me too, right?”

Seo Hee, who had been moving her tightly closed lips, carefully let out her words.

“How could I kiss you without having such feelings? Do you… have to hear it in words to know?”

The strength in Kang Mo’s arms holding Seo Hee increased. Although it was a forcibly heard statement, it seemed like she was also saying she liked him, bringing a sense of relief to his heart. Then, a quiet voice flowed into his ears again.

“And a little… No. More than you think… I like you.”

Kang Mo released Seo Hee from his arms, thinking he might have misheard.

“…What did you say?”

Seo Hee’s unusually large eyes rolled towards a distant mountain.

“You heard me.”

“I didn’t hear it properly. Say it again.”

Seo Hee, who had fixed her gaze on the distant mountain and let out a faint sigh, moistened her dry lips with her tongue and hesitantly opened her mouth.

“I… like you too, a lot.”

Kang Mo, who had been constantly letting out empty breaths, had no way to express this overwhelming feeling. After staring intently at Seo Hee, who was fidgeting shyly, he suddenly cupped her face and brought down his hot lips.

“Mmph. Hey. Lee Kang, mmph.”

The strength slowly drained from Seo Hee’s hands that had been gripping Kang Mo’s arms. The moonlight gently enveloped the two who were now lost in the kiss.

After the holiday passed, Seo Hee, who returned to Kang Mo’s apartment after three days, gazed at the gentle sunset outside the living room window and was engulfed in a serene feeling as if she had come back to her own home after a long trip.

She couldn’t tell if it was because she had already adapted to this apartment after staying here for some time or if it felt more like that because it was a space where Kang Mo stayed with her.

The only thing certain was the fact that she felt a greater sense of stability here than at the place where her mother was.

Seo Hee looked at the clock on the living room wall and gauged the time Kang Mo, who had gone out, would return, and headed to the kitchen. There didn’t seem to be enough time to organize and wash the food that Mom had packed in abundance before Kang Mo arrived.

Kang Mo, who arrived at the apartment after breaking through the jammed roads today, let out a faint sigh and opened the front door. The moment he naturally lowered his gaze to take off his dress shoes, a pair of simple black flat shoes caught his eye.

“You’re here.”

Looking at his wristwatch, it had just passed eight in the evening. She said she would arrive after nine, but it seemed she had left earlier than expected.

Kang Mo hurriedly entered the living room, quickly scanned the surroundings, and headed straight to Seo Hee’s room. Just as he was about to knock, her door opened wide. There she stood before his eyes, her face looking white and glowing, as if she had just washed.

“Oh, Kang Mo. You’re here early? Didn’t you say you would be a bit late too…?”

The unfinished words disappeared into Kang Mo’s mouth. How could he miss her and feel so affectionate even though they had only been apart for a few days?

Kang Mo had to express his longing for Seo Hee, how empty the house felt without her, how much he missed her scent, with a passionate kiss instead of words that couldn’t describe his feelings.

Lying on the bed, Seo Hee absentmindedly scanned the moonlit room with her eyes and muttered in a low voice.

“Should I install blackout curtains? It’s night, but it’s too bright. Yes, it’s because it’s bright, because it’s bright.”

Seo Hee usually wasn’t picky about her sleeping environment. Unless there was something special the next day, whether it was bright or noisy, even if the sleeping conditions were a bit uncomfortable, she hadn’t really had much difficulty falling asleep.

She would generally finish all her tasks, lie down, and naturally fall asleep within a few minutes. However, her sleeping pattern had changed a bit recently.

Since Kang Mo had moved into the apartment and started living together, the time she went to bed had gradually become later. She didn’t easily fall asleep even after lying in bed, and instead, her eyes would be wide open.

Thinking that if she kept her eyes tightly closed, she might fall asleep, she tried closing her eyes tightly, but instead of sleep, all sorts of black and white geometric patterns unfolded inside her closed eyes, making her feel dizzy for no reason, so she would rather open her eyes and spend time.

The moonlight that passed through the lace curtains danced faintly on the white ceiling with no patterns. Sometimes it looked like clouds drifting with the wind, and sometimes it looked like an elegant dance movement of a graceful dancer.

After being entranced by the picture drawn by the moonlight for a while, she could finally fall asleep, but it didn’t seem like it would be easy today either. Just as she let out a deep sigh with a somewhat stuffy heart, it happened.

When the hour hand of the wall clock was a little past midnight, a faint knocking sound that was barely audible came from the door. It was such a careful and quiet sound that if she hadn’t been awake, she might not have heard it or even if she did, she might have thought it was her imagination.

Seo Hee hesitated for a moment whether to answer or not, then pressed her lips tightly together and held her breath. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like a comfortable time to face Kang Mo.

She thought Kang Mo would naturally leave if there was no answer, but the door was sliding open. Seo Hee quickly closed her eyes, lay on her side, pulled the blanket up to bury her face, and pretended to be asleep.

Click. The door closed. Seo Hee couldn’t tell if Kang Mo had come in or had closed the door and left, so she was on high alert.

Only the sound of her pounding heart and the quickening tempo of her breathing enveloped the surroundings quietly. At that moment, Kang Mo’s voice, which had become very low, penetrated her ears.

“Baek Seo Hee, are you asleep?”

“……”

“Seo Hee.”

“……”

She should have stopped pretending to be asleep. Seo Hee was now in a difficult position where she could neither answer nor continue to hide.

Lee Kang Mo, what are you doing coming to a sleeping room at this late hour?

While she was burning up alone, suddenly there was a sound of something being dragged, and she felt a presence right next to her. The inside of the blanket was now filled with her own tension.

The blanket covering her face slid down to below her chin. Seo Hee tried to calm her flustered heart, hoping that her eyelids wouldn’t tremble. Soon, the hair that had been tickling her forehead was brushed away, and his warmth touched her face.

“You’re pretty even when you sleep.”

It seemed that Kang Mo had pulled a chair and settled down next to her. His hand gently stroked her hair and caressed her face for a while. She thought he would surely stop and leave soon, but Kang Mo seemed to have no intention of leaving as his careful and languid touch continued.