Tap tap, tap.

It was the sound of small bare feet touching and leaving the marble floor.

Having not heard it for a full day, it was a desperate sound for the man.

“That’s why I moved you to my room, so others wouldn’t see.”

“…Yes, thank you very much.”

With a soulless thank you, Kang Do Eum slid her body into Seo Ji Wan’s bed.

The man’s lips curved up slightly, not disliking that the relaxed woman naturally went to his bed.

“Sleep more. I’ll sleep in the study.”

As if that was the plan, Do Eum nodded, then suddenly pulled down the sheet as if realizing the clothes she was wearing weren’t hers.

“Sir, don’t tell me you changed my clothes too?”

At the bedroom entrance, the man leaning on the doorframe smiled mischievously.

It was a smile revealing even teeth, the first she’d seen since meeting him.

“Speak properly. Not ‘changed’, just ‘dressed’. You were naked to begin with.”

Do Eum pulled the sheet over her head and replied in a dying voice.

“…Thank you.”

It was a voice that didn’t sound particularly grateful.

“I’ll be in the study. If you’re scared, I’ll stay with you.”

Though unseen, it seemed visible.

Standing with a crooked posture, eyes seemingly watching to see if the child he’d scolded with a look that said he knew what she’d say would cry or not.

“What should I do? Leave or stay?”

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t scared.

Throughout the hazy time, being alone was frightening.

She thought she might really die without anyone knowing.

But the man’s previous words choked her throat, preventing her from asking him to stay.

[Don’t do anything for my sake.]

It also hurt her pride a bit to ask a man who said not to do anything for him to stay for her sake.

If she’d known this would happen, she should have learned from dating experts like Jae Han or Min Seung.

Like how to reveal intentions subtly, or appropriate coyness.

Thud.

As one side of the bed rippled, Do Eum peeked her face out from under the sheet.

“Oh my, you startled me.”

The moment her eyes met the man’s, lying on his side right next to the bed looking down at her.

Her heart started racing as if broken.

“Why, why are you just lying down? Scaring people without permission.”

“You seem to have forgotten, but this is my bed.”

The man’s head, resting on one raised arm, nodded at the bed.

Seeing his black hair naturally falling down after only seeing his neatly styled hair, she thought the man’s smiling face looked like a pretty boy.

“You didn’t answer.”

She meant he hadn’t answered about staying if she was scared.

“I did.”

“I really didn’t.”

Even before the question ended, her face said she didn’t want him to leave, that being alone was scary.

The woman who kept rolling her eyes as soon as he asked, not realizing she was completely exposed, kept denying it.

“I understood.”

The man’s gaze was heated as he answered firmly that he’d heard.

“Come to think of it, you tend to hold back when you want something. I almost felt hurt, thinking you were scared of me.”

[Come to think of it, you habitually frown. I almost felt hurt, thinking you only did it when you saw me.]

Repeating her words from before with slight changes as if teasing, Ji Wan’s large hand covered her forehead.

Her long eyelashes lowered at the warm touch.

The breeze that brushed by with Ji Wan’s presence smelled of deep, rich forest.

“Your fever has gone down completely.”

And then he smiled at her again, making Do Eum fear that this man might use up all the smiles he’d smile in his lifetime today.

Worried that from tomorrow until the contract ended, he’d have a poker face the whole time.

“…Why. Why are you suddenly being so nice? It’s scary.”

The hand withdrawn from her forehead lightly brushed the man’s chin.

It was a habit that came out whenever Ji Wan hesitated.

She had discovered it through consistent observation, so he probably didn’t know himself.

‘What is he going to say now, hesitating like that.’

Though she should be used to the man’s unexpected attacks by now, Do Eum still felt chills down her spine at moments like this.

“I was a bit wrong.”

“What?”

Do Eum, who had only her face out from under the sheet, revealed up to her neck and asked again.

“This marriage has changed quite a few things for both you and me. Telling you thoughtlessly to act like before, to do nothing.”

Raising his lowered eyebrows, his dark brown eyes slowly took her in.

“I asked too much.”

Lowering his gaze that had been directed at empty space, Ji Wan quietly met her eyes.

“…I apologize.”

The usually unhesitating words were unusually slow, suggesting apologies were unfamiliar to this man.

Perhaps it was even his first time.

Embarrassed by the excessively proper apology, Do Eum turned and lay down.

There was no other way to hide the laughter leaking out.

“Don’t leave until I wake up. Don’t go to the study either, just stay right there.”

The woman who had given the apology as punishment soon breathed evenly.

*****

It was punishment.

For a man who didn’t waste even a minute of the 24 hours in a day, lying down doing nothing was like torture, so it could be seen as retribution for what he’d done.

Ji Wan, who had thought about bringing a book, followed the woman’s words not to go anywhere to a T.

He smiled unconsciously at the thought that in the brief moment he went to get a book, the awakened woman might run out again with those small feet.

He remembered the woman running towards his room across the hall as soon as she regained consciousness.

He was curious what she was trying to hide, not realizing her flustered appearance was visible through the wide open study door as she ran like that, and sure enough.

While thinking it was good he hadn’t touched the sheets, he became curious how her expression would be if he had, and then a laugh escaped again.

It was strange.

24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

That he, who rarely smiled except at official events, kept laughing like an idiot.

It’s because the peaceful quiet and tranquil surroundings are good.

These two things were what he had longed for, so that was all.

*****

“Who came by where?”

The obstetrics department of the university hospital where Seo Hyeon works.

The hospital’s VIP manager, Manager Oh, lowered his body sharply.

“Dr. Choi, Seo Ji Wan’s personal doctor. He was called to the newlywed home two nights ago. Looking at the prescription, it seems to be for the madam.”

Seo Hyeon looked around as if there were no listeners.

“So, no. No, why did he go to Hwa-an-dong?”

Manager Oh, who had pulled his upper body back slightly, pursed his red lips.

“I don’t know much. I just heard bits and pieces when I asked around.”

Opening her crocodile leather bag, Seo Hyeon slipped out three white checks.

“Jeju Island is nice these days. Should take a vacation around the end of this month?”

Manager Oh quickly straightened his pulled-back upper body and smiled meaningfully.

“I heard from a friend in the pharmacy that they only prescribed mild medication that pregnant women can take. They also prescribed lots of vitamins that pregnant women need to take.”

Seo Hyeon’s eyes turned cold.

“So everyone’s saying she might be pregnant…”

“That’s enough, get back to work.”

Seo Hyeon turned sharply and walked towards the lobby.

The click-clack of her heels sounded like a dagger stabbing her heart as Seo Hyeon’s face twisted in pain.

“Are you alright?”

It was her executive secretary Shin, who had been working with her since before the marriage at her family home.

“Put someone on the newlywed house in Hwa-an-dong, Seo Ji Wan’s place.”

“Yes.”

“Tell them to report everything from A to Z.”

“Yes.”

“Is there still no contact from Director Seo, that bastard?”

He clearly hadn’t listened at all to her words to not be late on the day she set at the hospital.

Seeing as he had no intention of even entering the house, let alone the bedroom where she was.

“Shall we go to the officetel address in Nonhyeon-dong?”

Seo Hyeon, who had been crossing the lobby, stopped abruptly.

It was the first time she’d heard of this place. It was also the first time she’d heard there was an officetel in that area.

“Does Director Seo have another house I don’t know about?”

“It’s the house he recently got for Miss Clara of Eden Entertainment. He’s been going there after work these days.”

Hah.

He’ll get the benefits of this marriage from me and have children elsewhere.

Raising the corner of her red lips, Seo Hyeon smiled.

“No, forget Nonhyeon-dong. Eden Entertainment. Let’s go there. Right now.”

It was a chillingly cold smile.

*****

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

He woke to the sound of rain falling on the window.

Unsure how long he’d slept, Ji Wan raised his left arm to check the time but lowered his gaze at the heavy weight.

He saw the woman nestled into the inside of his left arm, precisely his armpit.

Her small head buried in his chest with her palm resting on his solar plexus, it was a completely normal picture for a married couple.

The problem, if there was one, was that they were an emotionless, contract couple.

‘Why, no, since when?’

Before he could ask such things, the woman who had been fidgeting opened her eyes drowsily and mumbled as if sleep-talking.

“…It’s raining.”

The woman, slow to grasp the situation, seemed more focused on the rain outside than on what position she was in or who she was nestled against.

“Yes, it is. How did you know?”

It was impressive how the woman who had been sleeping soundly until just now knew it was raining.

“Before it rains, there’s a smell that it’s going to rain. Not the earthy smell right after it rains. Before the rain falls, the sky and earth and trees and wind give off a scent first. As if to say, ‘Look, it’s going to rain soon.'”

The woman, focused on her story, gently moved her palm up and down Ji Wan’s stomach,

“They say I’ve been eerily good at sensing that before it rains since I was little. So our neighbor grandmother said I had the talent to read the sky’s heart.”

She finally lifted the man’s shirt and started to slip her hand inside.

“That’s all well and good, but how about reading my heart instead of the sky’s right now.”

“…Pardon?”

Do Eum raised her head at his words, followed Ji Wan’s gaze, and startled when she saw her hand inside the man’s shirt, abruptly pulling away.

“Oh, mama!”

“I should be the one saying that, why are you?”

Swallowing the question of why she was looking at him like a pervert when she was the one touching and lifting things, Ji Wan got up from the bed.

It felt strange that his left chest where the woman had pulled away felt empty.

“Wh-where are you going?”

With his hand on the doorknob, Ji Wan turned around.

“You said not to move until you woke up, so I kept that promise. You just woke up.”

“…That’s true.”

“Then what, sleep more? If that’s what you want, let’s do that.”

For someone just suggesting sleeping, the man walking towards her seemed too aggressive, so Do Eum quickly sat up.

“No, no! I’m done sleeping. Let’s go out, let’s go out!”