“Re-really, I’m fine!”

“No.”

“Mr. Ki Sun Woo. Please let go.”

“I said no, didn’t I? Hurry up and take them off.”

A series of small sighs escaped.

As soon as they returned home and the door opened, he sat Se Eun down on the sofa.

Then he knelt in front of her and urged her to take off her socks.

There was only one reason.

“Quickly. You’re limping more than usual. I need to check the condition.”

That was it. He was trying to uncover the cause of the ankle pain from carrying boxes all day.

But she absolutely couldn’t bring herself to be honest about it.

Even today, hadn’t she seen how everyone’s attention focused on him when he appeared at the office?

If she told the truth, he might chase after her to the company again tomorrow.

Fidgeting with her fingertips, Se Eun came up with a lie she wasn’t good at making.

“I’m really fine. They said this can happen when you suddenly move after not moving much usually.”

“…Really?”

As Sun Woo looked at her with suspicious eyes, Se Eun’s excuses became more urgent.

“Yes. The attending physician said so. It’ll get better if I rest a bit.”

At the mention of the attending physician, Sun Woo seemed to believe her a little.

The problem was that his suspicion quickly shifted direction.

“Then what’s with these clothes? I sent you off wearing pretty new clothes, so why are they covered in dust? The office looked clean earlier, did young lady Yeon Se Eun do some manual labor somewhere?”

“Well…”

Gulp, Se Eun swallowed dryly.

His eyes looking straight at her were already half-certain with suspicion.

From the start, Ki Sun Woo was a man with very sharp instincts.

Hadn’t he called it a “witch’s den” at first glance when they went to greet her aunt?

“Well, why am I even asking. I saw it with my own eyes earlier. Shin Mo Na bullied you, right? Made you do hard work?”

“…”

“That’s the answer.”

A deep sigh flowed from his lips.

At the same time, whoosh, the sock came off Se Eun’s foot.

“…!”

It happened in a moment of carelessness.

Suddenly exposed, her small white foot was vividly marked with abrasions here and there.

It seemed she couldn’t avoid minor collisions while repeatedly climbing stairs carrying boxes.

“…I knew it.”

Sun Woo’s expression twisted as he looked at those scratches.

In that moment, a strange feeling Se Eun had never felt before bloomed in her chest.

For some reason, this unfamiliar man before her felt like he was on her side.

It felt just like a dream to have someone worry about her and get angry on her behalf.

“This won’t do. Take off all your clothes too.”

“…Pardon?”

“Your coat, take it off. I need to wash it right away. And Yeon Se Eun, you go wash up quickly. So I can apply medicine.”

“But…”

“If you don’t move, shall I undress you and wash you myself?”

“I-I’ll do it myself!”

As Se Eun hurriedly took off her clothes and set them down neatly, Sun Woo naturally picked them up and tucked them under his arm.

Then he dangerously sent her a look to go wash up quickly.

Thinking it best to obey meekly just this once, Se Eun promptly headed to the bathroom.

It was strange.

Her ankle that had felt so heavy earlier now seemed light again.

*

After washing up, Se Eun encountered a real crisis.

The wafting smell of dinner was truly good, but there was a mountain to overcome before that.

It was Ki Sun Woo standing firm holding the ointment.

“Come, sit down. Your ankle bone seems especially scraped.”

“I… can apply it myself.”

“No. Sit still. I’m going to apply the ointment and see in detail how injured you are.”

It’s not like I’m injured…

But Se Eun swallowed her words and chose to sit demurely on the sofa.

In any case, Ki Sun Woo would be the winner no matter what argument they had, and above all, she didn’t want to waste time in front of dinner.

She was quite hungry after her first outside activity in a long time.

“That’s right, good girl.”

“…”

“Hmm. I wonder if scabs will form…”

“…”

“I think it might be good to bring in something like a massage machine…”

Looking down at Ki Sun Woo muttering to himself, Se Eun held her breath with all her might.

She felt like she might fall backwards at any moment from the ticklish touch.

Every time his long, straight fingers grazed her foot as he caressed it, it felt like all her body hair stood on end towards him.

At the same time, it felt surprisingly good.

It was truly an unexpected change and discovery.

Until now, someone touching her body had meant getting hit.

She had never experienced a gentle touch.

Neither her grandfather nor her aunt had ever patted her even once when she cried wanting her mother.

But she never knew that contact with others could be this soft and ticklish.

Moreover, the hands of an unfamiliar man.

Ki Sun Woo’s hands, which she thought would be rough, were extremely delicate and beautiful.

‘Piano…’

Suddenly, she recalled his fingers playing her father’s piano that night.

That familiar melody, and her mother’s voice humming happily…

“Yeon Se Eun.”

“Ah.”

Se Eun abruptly raised her head at Sun Woo’s voice cutting through the gap in her memories.

He had already finished applying the ointment and was dusting off his hands, pointing towards the dining table.

The long-awaited mealtime had finally arrived.

While eating dinner, the two had an unusually large amount of conversation.

It was because today was the momentous day of Se Eun’s first day at work.

However, the content of the conversation was something that greatly troubled Se Eun.

After filling Se Eun’s rice bowl to the brim, just before rice grains would fall, Ki Sun Woo began to impart his teachings in earnest.

“You understand, Yeon Se Eun? No matter how much it’s social life, you can’t just live being pushed around.”

“I understand, I’m telling you.”

“Especially with nasty people, you have to establish dominance first from our side. Watch carefully. Narrow your eyes like this, and put strength into it… Ah, that’s not it. Yeon Se Eun! Who told you to open your eyes so cutely?”

She couldn’t tell if the rice was going into her mouth or her nose.

Ki Sun Woo’s lesson on establishing dominance continued throughout the meal.

“If someone bullies you, pay them back the same way. If they curse at me, curse back at them the same way. They hit me? Then hit them back the same way. Ah, it’s good to add a hit or two extra.”

Se Eun looked at him intently, dumbfounded.

She was grateful for his concern, but he seemed to be passing on strange methods.

Cursing and hitting?

There’s no way she could do that.

Instead, Se Eun decided to bring up the curiosity that had been accumulating in this opportunity.

Naturally picking up a well-grilled mushroom, Se Eun casually asked a question.

“By the way, why are you… so concerned about me, Mr. Ki Sun Woo?”

“Hm? Is this a variation of asking why I’m being nice to you? Curious?”

“…Yes. A little.”

Actually, it wasn’t just a little, but she couldn’t tell the truth.

She might reveal that it was rather her side that was concerned.

The answer came back casually and lightly, despite her being quite tense.

Instead, it made her heart flutter.

“I told you. Because you’re pretty.”

“What…”

“Hmm. Are you deliberately trying to hear me say this?”

“What? No, absolutely not!”

As the mushroom fell from her chopsticks with a plop, a pleasant laugh flowed from Sun Woo’s mouth.

Then he neatly picked up a new mushroom and placed it on Se Eun’s spoon.

The mischievous provocation was a bonus.

“If you want to hear that you’re pretty, I can keep saying it as much as you want without you asking.”

“I’m telling you it’s not like that!”

“Ah, really? I thought pretty Yeon Se Eun was curious if she was really pretty, so she was asking me as a mirror. Asking if you’re pretty.”

“S-stop saying that!”

Hahaha, a high laugh spread across the dining table.

His large cave-like mouth that grew bigger every time he laughed was very refreshing.

Enough to be considered good-looking at a glance.

Shaking her head vigorously as if to shake off the flush on her face, Se Eun inwardly resolved never to ask this kind of question again.

Then suddenly, Se Eun realized that she had become a little more comfortable with him.

Eating meals together, using the same house even though in different rooms, exchanging greetings morning and evening.

This ordinary daily life was something that had not existed for her for a long time.

Se Eun’s eyes moistened with a choked-up feeling.

And of course, Sun Woo didn’t miss that.

“What’s wrong? Suddenly.”

“Just… it’s a little strange. That I’m living like this with another person.”

“Why so suddenly? You didn’t live alone all this time either.”

At the meaningful response, Se Eun explained rather seriously.

“Still… Mr. Ki Sun Woo is someone I only met recently. But eating together, talking together… it feels somehow strange.”

“You don’t like it?”

Her words were suddenly blocked by the attack.

For some reason, she didn’t want to deny it. Was it because the meal he prepared for her was delicious?

Shake shake, as Se Eun silently shook her head, a smile spread across Sun Woo’s lips.

Soon he naturally drew a conclusion.

“There’s nothing strange about it. This is what married life is like.”

“Married life…”

That unfamiliar phrase, coming from Ki Sun Woo’s lips, took on a strangely sensual quality.

Enough to make her cheeks flush suddenly.

“Yes. A couple living together is married life. You and I are a married couple.”

“Ah…”

“Why are you being so shy? We had a wedding ceremony, we registered our marriage. So we are a married couple. Ah, there is one thing we haven’t done yet though.”

“Something… we haven’t done yet?”

She shouldn’t have asked. In an instant, tension filled the air.

Se Eun instinctively moved her chair back slightly.

But of course, it was a futile escape.

Sun Woo brought his chair much closer to her than she had moved back.

Suddenly finding themselves sitting side by side, Se Eun’s body completely stiffened.

In contrast, the constantly relaxed Sun Woo rested his chin on one hand and gazed at her intently.

Soon after, a very seductive voice fluttered like a butterfly and tickled her ear.

“Yes. Our first night. When can we have it? I want to enjoy nighttime married life with young lady Yeon Se Eun too, you see.”