Ina’s eyes were closed as she drowsily crossed her arms under the covers and pulled her shirt up.

Thanks to the buttons Jiho had loosened earlier, her head easily slipped through the slack collar.

She tossed the inside-out shirt onto the floor beside the bed.

As Ina’s hands moved down to her pants, Jiho found himself instinctively turning his head.

‘Just how much is she planning to take off?’

When the buckle wouldn’t come undone easily under her clumsy fingers, Ina grunted in frustration.

Jiho just watched, unsure if he should leave her be or lend a hand.

The tight-fitting pants did look stifling and uncomfortable even to his eyes.

She kept fumbling but the buckle refused to budge.

Jiho let out a small sigh as he quietly observed.

“Phew… I’m not doing this because I want to, okay? I’m only helping you out.”

Although he had zero intentions of taking advantage of an Ina who was dead drunk, Jiho ended up unfastening her pants buckle for her.

As he tugged the pants down her ankles and off her legs, Ina stretched out her legs in relief.

Jiho pulled the covers up to Ina’s neck.

‘Tonight I’ll just look at her face as she sleeps.’

He gently brushed Ina’s hair aside with his fingers.

Lightly squeezing her cheek, he felt its soft, squishy texture.

He tenderly ran his fingers over her smooth face and lush lashes fanning her closed eyes.

“Lying still like this makes me want to keep touching you.”

Jiho lay down beside Ina, propping himself up on one arm.

He prodded and caressed her unresponsive face for a while before taking her hand.

Despite having a rather tiring day from morning to night, gazing at Ina’s face as she slept somehow made his fatigue melt away.

‘Guess I don’t need an energy drink. It’d be nice to fall asleep like this every night.’

The room reeked of alcohol but he didn’t mind.

It came from Ina’s breath so he liked even that.

“I must be a hopeless case too, huh.”

Jiho chuckled under his breath.

“Mm… Jiho.”

Ina, who had been lying still, mumbled faintly.

Through drowsy, half-lidded eyes, she gave a hazy smile.

Her languid gaze seemed unable to differentiate dream from reality.

‘Why are you looking at me like that again?’

Even knowing she was drunk, Jiho felt like Ina’s eyes held a seductive pull.

Why did her expression, slack and dazed with sleep, look so sensual?

‘Should I close my eyes? I really did intend to only look at her face.’

Jiho responded casually.

“Yeah. You sobering up a bit?”

“Mm-hmm. Where am I?”

“My room.”

“How’d I get here?”

Ina blinked repeatedly, trying to regain her senses.

Her memory was patchy.

She couldn’t recall how much she drank, how she left the bar, or how she got to Jiho’s place. Her recollection surfaced in disconnected fragments.

It was the first time she had ever gotten so plastered that she blacked out.

At Juhee’s urging to drink and forget since she firmly believed Ina and Jiho had broken up, Ina downed the consolatory drinks pushed her way without protest.

Strangely, as she listened to the comforting words, she did start to feel like she had truly been dumped.

Whether because she was drunk and emotionally vulnerable, the fact that her boyfriend was at the center of the recent scandalous uproar suddenly weighed on her heart anew.

As Juhee said, she wanted to get totally smashed and forget it all.

“I carried you. Don’t remember?”

Jiho grinned.

“It’s hazy.”

“So what will you do now? Everyone saw me carrying you. You okay with that?”

Straddling Ina on the bed, Jiho planted his arms on either side of her.

Her languid, smiling face was lovely.

“Yeah. Guess it can’t be helped.”

“About what you said before, that you want to show people I’m your boyfriend. That hasn’t changed, right?”

Jiho asked in a gentle voice.

He still couldn’t quite believe those words, so he might end up asking again many times.

“Mm-hmm. Hasn’t changed.”

Jiho gazed down affectionately at Ina nodding.

‘Making such a beautiful decision on your own without telling me beforehand.’

A tender hand lightly squeezed Ina’s cheek.

“Ina, you have no idea how happy I am right now.”

He really had intended to just admire her sleeping face, but Jiho’s head descended inevitably.

Their lips met and parted softly.

“Jiho, lie next to me.”

Her voice came out throaty and languid.

As Jiho lay down beside her, Ina’s slender arm wrapped snugly around his waist.

“Always stay by my side like this. Because you’re my boyfriend.”

She tugged him close, pressing their bodies flush together without gaps.

Feeling the sensation of her bare, pliant flesh directly, Jiho shuddered involuntarily.

Unsure how to handle an Ina burrowing into him, he held his arms up awkwardly.

He had no intentions of smothering a drunk Ina with kisses.

Summoning his patience, Jiho patted her back.

“I’ll stay beside you, so go back to sleep.”

“Mm. Hold me.”

Oblivious to Jiho’s restraint, Ina kept snuggling closer.

For Jiho, embracing an Ina clad only in underwear bordered on torture right now.

He had to wage a strenuous battle against the urges surging unbidden inside him.

Ina unusually clinging to him today, perhaps because of the alcohol, made him dizzy.

‘Please don’t test me.’

He felt her slender arms hugging him with all their might.

Just holding Ina as she nestled against him felt so good that Jiho also gently stroked her back.

“Why’d you drink so much when you can barely handle alcohol? I told you not to drink when I’m not around. Reflect on it and let’s go to sleep now.”

Ending his scolding, Jiho desperately tried to lull Ina back to slumber by patting her back.

Ina, who had been silently cuddling him, heaved a deep sigh that spread hotly across Jiho’s chest.

Hugging him tighter and burying her face in his chest, she mumbled in a low voice.

“I was upset…”

“Hm?”

“I acted like I was fine but I’m actually not.”

Jiho’s hand rubbing Ina’s back faltered at her trembling voice.

“I know it’s not true, but I still hate it…”

“Whew…”

So despite her composed facade, she hadn’t really been okay after all.

Preoccupied with his own concerns lately, Jiho had failed to properly grasp Ina’s feelings.

Since levelheaded Ina knew better than anyone that the rumors weren’t true, he assumed she wouldn’t be very bothered by it this time either.

“Sorry. I thought you were alright.”

Jiho held Ina tight, enveloping the back of her head with his large hand.

“I really hate you being linked to Han Na. I know it’s not true, but everyone keeps saying it. Each time I hear that…”

Her quavering words dissolved into sobs.

Ina’s shoulders shook.

Jiho’s heart plummeted.

“It’s like you’ve really been taken from me… I feel so pathetic… Because everyone’s talking about how you’re that woman’s man…”

She knew such talk made her sound pathetic and foolish, but she couldn’t swallow back the words rolling around her mouth.

Her pent-up distress poured out unfiltered.

The usual composure that would have enabled her to pretend to be fine had deserted the drunken Ina.

This made her appalled at herself, but her hurt feelings refused to be concealed.

“Why are you so amazing? Why are you this kind of man? If only you were just moderately good-looking and successful. If you were a man who was handsome only in my eyes and who only liked me. Why are there women everywhere saying they like you? Sob…”

Ina wailed, heaving sobs wracking her chest.

Once the floodgates opened, the tears wouldn’t readily stop.

She knew there was nothing Jiho could do about it, but resentful words kept spilling out endlessly.

“I wish I was the only one who liked you. I wish other women wouldn’t even dare to look at you. I want to tell them Seo Jiho is mine so no one else can eye him. Boo hoo…”

She didn’t know why the tears kept coming, but they welled up again and again.

It felt like all the moisture in her body had turned to tears.

Her face was a total tearful mess.

What an awful tantrum this was.

She was throwing the worst fit to Jiho who had gone through the trouble of carrying her here.

She wasn’t even sure what she wanted from Jiho.

She knew well how much he loved her, and he had never once made her doubt or feel insecure.

Jiho had always been sincere and did his utmost.

Despite knowing this, she felt the urge to irrationally vent like a child.

‘Won’t Jiho get tired too if I keep seeking reassurance?’

Realizing this even as she cried, Ina managed to catch her breath and steady her voice.

“I’m sorry. I tried not to be like this, but before I knew it…”

Jiho quietly stroked the head of Ina who was clinging to him with all her might and weeping.

He simply listened until she emptied out all the words she hadn’t been able to say while pretending to be fine.

His chest grew damp with Ina’s hot tears.

It broke his heart to see Ina cry, but seeing her so distraught with jealousy also made him oddly happy, evoking a tangle of emotions.

It felt like hearing an ardent love confession he had never heard from her before.

To think he would hear such impassioned words from Ina who was usually shy about expressing affection.

Embracing his sobbing girlfriend, a grin spread uncontrollably across his face.

Overwhelmed by the desire to squeeze Ina to the point of bursting, he tightened his arms around her.

“Ina, thank you. For liking me this much. But you know what? I like you way, way more than that.”

Jiho tenderly rubbed Ina’s back, hoping her sobs would subside.

“I didn’t realize you were struggling so much. I just thought baseless rumors should be ignored. They’re not true anyway. But I guess I was too thoughtless. I’m really sorry.”

Ina nodded, face buried in his chest.

“Let’s stop hiding our relationship now and date openly with confidence. I’d love to do that anywhere as long as you agree.”

Thinking about it now, Jiho felt he understood why Ina had suddenly wanted to show people he was her boyfriend today.

He had been so happy about it without knowing she suggested it out of distress, which made him feel even more apologetic.

Ina detached herself and gazed at Jiho, her face now calm.

It was the same tearstained face he had seen once before.

“Yeah. It’s okay. I want to tell the whole world you’re my man. I don’t want to hide anymore.”

Ina spoke in a trembling voice.

It wasn’t because of the alcohol.

She yearned for it wholeheartedly and desperately.

“Alright. Let’s tell everyone Seo Jiho is Jung Ina’s man.”

Jiho said as he drew Ina back into his embrace.

Although the process was a bit odd, it ultimately led to Jiho finally being able to openly date Ina as he had dreamed of for so long.

A blissful smile suffused Jiho’s face as he held Ina.

**

Incheon Airport Arrivals Hall.

Despite the early hour, the airport teemed with reporters who had come to await Han Na’s arrival that day, leaving hardly any room to stand.

It was due to her postponing an official statement regarding the recent scandal with singer J until after returning to Korea.

“Whoa, there she is.”

As Han Na appeared wearing a mask, the reporters swarmed forward all at once, shouting.

Han Na stopped in front of the photo line and raised a hand toward the cameras flashing at her as if in greeting.

A ring glinting meaningfully on her fourth finger sparkled under the flashing lights.