After the news of Se Ra’s engagement that day, Yi Hyun stopped visiting Se Ra’s office.

But he still visited the officetel every day without fail.

“Hah……”

A sigh unconsciously escaped Ha Jun’s lips as she sat at her desk.

Lately, she had become sensitive due to Yi Hyun’s constant bad mood.

Why was he acting like this?

Come to think of it, things had been really strange lately.

Ha Jun recalled Yi Hyun’s appearance from last night. His face stiff with anger, his rough and impatient actions.

And his strange attitude. The sudden proposal.

‘Shall we have dinner together tomorrow?’

‘No.’

This had never happened before. Dinner…

In the past, such a proposal might have made her heart flutter, as if it were a date request.

Knowing Yi Hyun’s true feelings, Ha Jun neither accepted nor misunderstood his whims.

‘Why?’

‘Just… Come only at night. Like we always have.’

‘Right. We did. And it’s still night now.’

How was Yi Hyun at that moment? His expression seemed to have been bad…

In fact, she barely remembered what happened after that. She had fallen asleep, almost passing out after drinking the wine Yi Hyun had brought.

“Hah……”

Another small sigh escaped between her plump lips. She just couldn’t focus on work.

Then Yeon A, who had been closely observing Ha Jun from the next seat, asked with concern.

“Ha Jun, you look very tired. Couldn’t you sleep?”

“Yes, a little…”

“Then shall we have some coffee? I’ll go make it!”

“Thank you.”

Yeon A immediately stood up and hurried to the pantry.

As Ha Jun smiled slightly at Yeon A’s kind gesture, noticing and worrying about her poor condition, her phone vibrated.

It was the real estate agent.

[Miss, is 7 PM this evening okay? The person who viewed the house yesterday says they want to sign the contract.] [Yes. That’s possible.] [Alright. Then please come later.]

Finally… that house is being sold.

A small smile played on Ha Jun’s lips.

That house held the most painful memories among her difficult past. It was also the last trace of her father.

Once the house was settled, burying the most painful memories, perhaps some of her foolish past could be erased too.

Erasing one by one, writing anew, living ordinarily and happily like others. That was Ha Jun’s goal.

[This is the timeline separator]

The middle-aged couple bought Ha Jun’s house for more than the market price. On the condition that they would take all the furniture and appliances as is.

The furnishings, chosen to Jae Suk’s taste, were all top-quality and would fetch a good price even if sold second-hand, but for Ha Jun, it was much easier to get rid of everything at once.

After signing the sales contract and leaving the real estate office, Ha Jun entered her own house for the first time in a while. She intended to take one last look around her father’s legacy, which would become someone else’s house in a week.

Ha Jun sighed as she looked around the house, which was in complete disarray as if Jae Suk and Seo Hyun had left in quite a hurry.

“I’m surprised anyone would want to buy a house in this state.”

She placed her handbag on the sofa and rolled up her blouse sleeves.

Whatever the case, she didn’t want the last memory of this house to be such a mess.

As she roughly organized and swept up the visible items, time had already passed 9 o’clock.

But there was a strange buzzing sound coming from somewhere. Ha Jun looked around in confusion before finally remembering her phone, which she had set to vibrate.

Zing- Zing- As she took out the continuously vibrating phone from her bag and answered it, Yi Hyun’s urgent voice flowed out.

– Where are you! Ah Ha Jun! Is something wrong?

“I’m at the house. Someone said they’d buy it, so I came to sign the contract at the real estate office and stopped by, but it was so dirty I was cleaning.”

– Do you know what time it is!

“I didn’t know… I’m sorry.”

– Wait! I’ll come pick you up.

“Were you… worried?”

– Worried? What are you talking about? Ha Jun. Listen carefully. Don’t go anywhere without my permission until you pay off your debt.

“……”

– Thirty minutes. No, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.

Click, the call ended, and Ha Jun stared at her phone, thinking.

Why is this man acting like this towards me?

There were times when she had the fleeting illusion that maybe this man liked her, but to Ha Jun, the emotion Yi Hyun showed her seemed more like possessiveness or obsession rather than affection.

It was like a child’s attachment to their favorite toy.

Ha Jun had no dating experience and didn’t know much about love, but she at least knew that if they were in a loving relationship, they wouldn’t meet only at night in an officetel like she and he did.

Yi Hyun, with a deeply furrowed brow, arrived in exactly twenty minutes.

“Let’s go.”

As soon as he entered the house, he immediately grabbed her slender wrist and pulled. His expression was quite rigid.

Although she was sorry for not contacting him earlier, Ha Jun couldn’t understand why he was so angry.

After putting Ha Jun in the passenger seat and taking the wheel, Yi Hyun didn’t say a single word throughout the drive. Ha Jun also sat silently in the passenger seat, just looking ahead without saying anything.

The car sped roughly and quickly on the road.

A moment later, after parking the car in the officetel parking lot and unfastening his seatbelt, Yi Hyun’s upper body leaned over to the passenger side.

Ha Jun unconsciously drew in a breath.

With a click, the seatbelt was unfastened. Yi Hyun’s thick, hot breath warmed the area around her neck.

Yi Hyun’s heart boiled as he watched Ha Jun, whose eyes were wandering, unable to find a place to rest.

Yi Hyun immediately devoured Ha Jun’s lips.

“Let’s go up.”

Yi Hyun threw out these words in a low voice, then got out of the car and immediately came to the passenger side, opened the door, and held out his hand to Ha Jun.

Ha Jun’s hand slowly extended. Unable to wait, Yi Hyun snatched it, held it tightly, and walked at a frightening speed.

And as soon as they got off the elevator and entered the officetel, he embraced Ha Jun so tightly she might break.

Although his anger had subsided somewhat after seeing Ha Jun’s face, it was replaced by an explosive possessiveness that filled the empty space. Yi Hyun was on the verge of explosion right now.

[This is the timeline separator]

Yi Hyun’s eyes, fixed on the sleeping Ha Jun, were filled with confusion and regret.

“Ha…! You crazy bastard.”

He had completely lost his mind.

As always, when night fell, Yi Hyun came to the officetel a bit late.

Worried about whether she was eating properly, as she looked so thin, he had suggested a meal, but when she refused as expected, he had brought a packed meal for Ha Jun on his way.

But when he arrived, Ha Jun was nowhere to be seen in the living room, and all the lights were off.

He thought she might have fallen asleep again, but that wasn’t the case. Ha Jun was nowhere to be found in the small officetel. Anxiety rushed in instantly.

He hurriedly tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. It was the same even after trying several times. He couldn’t… contact Ha Jun.

Yi Hyun was terrified. Why? What? Why was Ha Jun’s absence a terror to him? Even he couldn’t understand.

When the call finally connected, he felt relief and at the same time, something crumbled inside him. He couldn’t bear it anymore. He had to see her face right away.

His instinct was screaming incessantly that only then would this maddening feeling subside.

However, the woman he found after rushing there in one breath was still expressionless. Unlike himself, who was on the verge of going crazy.

As if to say she had not a single piece of emotion to give him, she was utterly calm.

So his mood twisted. And an unquenchable thirst fanned him.

In the end, even after pushing her to the limit, the thirst still made his throat parched and his heart smolder.

“What on earth is this crazy feeling? Do you know?”

The sleeping Ha Jun’s face was pale. Gently brushing away the wet strands of hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks, Yi Hyun kept asking.

“Ha Jun. Do you know? You don’t, right?”

Boiling possessiveness, a burning thirst that enveloped his entire body like a storm, inexplicable anxiety and anger, and the violent trembling that had settled in a corner of his heart at some point.

This strange feeling that he couldn’t understand or explain at all.

Is this what his brother had called a tough and poisonous attachment? This… nonsensical thing?

Yi Hyun shook his head. It didn’t matter what it was.

Anyway, Ha Jun was by his side now.

Yi Hyun’s large hand slowly approached Ha Jun’s cheek, which still had a red tinge. The soft warmth spread through his palm, making his fingertips tingle.

“You’re mine. Don’t ever forget that.”

Yi Hyun withdrew his hand from Ha Jun’s face and got up. If he stayed any longer, he couldn’t guarantee what he might do to the sleeping woman.

With a thud, the bedroom door closed, and Ha Jun’s closed eyelids opened slightly.

The warm touch that caressed her cheek had pulled Ha Jun slightly out of her sleep. In the precarious boundary between dream and reality, she heard Yi Hyun’s dark voice.

‘You’re mine. Don’t ever forget that.’

At the low voice that cut and dug into her heart, Ha Jun unconsciously gripped the bed sheet tightly.

As she turned her head to look at the door he had left through, Ha Jun’s expression was so painfully distorted that if Yi Hyun had seen it, he would have thought it wasn’t real.

“…I won’t forget. I am…”

Your doll.