It was a clear voice even amid the sound of heavily pouring rain.

After resigning myself that even if I waited, he wouldn’t come – not that he didn’t want to, but that he couldn’t – it was Ji Wan at last.

The man who must have rushed here quite hurriedly judging by his heaving chest, hesitated to enter under the awning despite coming so close.

“If you knew, you should have gone somewhere before it started pouring.”

The concern in his dark eyes turned into an unwarranted reproach.

‘When you wait for someone you don’t expect to come, there are moments like this when they do arrive.’

An indescribable joy filled Do Eum’s face as she looked up at Ji Wan.

Even though it was a choice made out of having no other option, with all expectations and hopes set aside, waiting was still waiting.

It was the first moment the one she waited for had come to her.

“…You came?”

The words uttered with eyes full of joy trembled slightly.

Do Eum rose from her seat and slowly reached out her hand to Ji Wan standing in the rain.

“Of course I came. Your phone was off and you weren’t at home or school…!”

Almost simultaneously with the words of blame he just blurted out,

Do Eum leapt into Ji Wan’s arms with a face that looked about to cry any moment.

Pulling on his soaked suit jacket and burying her face in it, Do Eum murmured softly:

“…I’m glad you came.”

A flash of lightning illuminated everything for an instant before darkening again above her choked voice.

The reason he hadn’t entered under the awning despite rushing over without even thinking to open an umbrella, and standing just out of reach with Do Eum right before his eyes, was the man’s barely restrained patience.

The already small woman appeared and disappeared repeatedly between the flickering lights, huddled up tightly.

Throughout watching that, Ji Wan’s heart pounded madly.

It was like the frayed edge of reason he barely clung to, lest he rush over and crush that small body in his embrace, desperately clinging to those red lips.

From the moment she entered his sight, he had slowed his pace, composed his breathing, and steadied his heart.

He maintained just that much distance, outside the awning.

The moment her small head fit snugly against his chest as she pulled on his collar,

His reason snapped feebly.

Ji Wan had expected this would happen eventually.

Whenever he repeatedly made foolish mistakes in front of this woman, deviating from his usual controlled self, he had apologized each time to smooth things over despite knowing they were not really mistakes, because he knew it would ultimately come to this.

That he would ultimately come to hold this woman in his heart.

Damn it.

As if determined to see it through now that he had lost his reason and become an irredeemable fool, Ji Wan tilted up Do Eum’s lowered chin and bit down on her red lips.

It was a kiss clearly different from their previous ones.

While the earlier kisses were restrained enough to be passed off as mistakes, this one after confirming his feelings was urgent beyond compare and even threatening.

Even after yielding her lips, Do Eum’s body was pushed back until she hit the concrete wall.

The coolness against her back was forgotten in the warmth covering her lips.

Neither the sound of rain falling on the awning, nor the chirping of unknown insects, nor any other sound reached Do Eum’s ears.

The breaths exchanged through their slightly parted lips were unbearably hot.

“Um, wait a moment please.”

Barely managing to steady her breath that seemed about to stop, Do Eum gently pushed against Ji Wan’s chest.

She was short of breath, having only been taken from without giving in return.

“Let me catch my breath… for a bit.”

There was no need to ask permission just to breathe, but seeing how the man approached again as soon as she pushed him away, she had to say it before her lips were sealed again.

Lowering his gaze instead of his lips, Ji Wan asked:

“You should have left if I was this late.”

It seemed he wasn’t the only one short of breath, as the man also struggled to speak even such a short sentence.

“…I was going to.”

Unable to muster the courage to look up and meet his eyes, Do Eum’s reddened gaze was fixed on the concrete floor.

An apology for being late should have come first.

Putting off that task and reproaching the one who had waited for him, no, doing even more than that by suddenly pressing his lips against hers – Ji Wan felt utterly pathetic.

“I’m late, I’m sorry.”

Though sincere, the complicated feeling of having doled out a kiss like punishment did not disappear.

Only then did Do Eum slowly raise her head.

“What you just did… this too?”

It was a question of whether the apology for being late included the kiss from earlier.

If he said yes, it was a meek face that would reply, “Alright then.”

“No, I’m not going to apologize for this.”

Do Eum’s head tilted far back due to their height difference as she rolled her eyes, wondering what this meant now.

“The whole time, constantly… I wanted to do this.”

Before she could respond, Ji Wan cradled her tilted head with one hand and cupped her cheek with the other as he pressed his lips to hers.

Unlike the first time, it was a leisurely, unhurried kiss.

His soft, plump lips gently caressed hers as if soothing a sleeping child.

Having done this a few times now, Do Eum closed her eyes quite skillfully and released Ji Wan’s jacket she had been gripping tightly, slipping her hands inside.

She could clearly feel the man’s taut back muscles beneath the thin shirt.

Though his suit was wet, Ji Wan’s embrace was warm.

It was all so wondrous to Do Eum, experiencing a proper kiss for the first time.

How could her heart feel so full, as if possessing each other’s entirety, when they had only joined one of the countless parts they possessed?

The forest scent that used to emanate from beside Ji Wan now came from her as well at some point.

Is it alright for us to be like this?

Did this man make up his mind to do this?

Then what should I do?

Though her mind was in turmoil, Do Eum decided to forget it for now.

Today, she would just nestle in Ji Wan’s arms and become part of the forest with him.

It was a beautiful first kiss, with the rain pouring from the pitch-black night sky of no consequence whatsoever.

*****

Se Hyun pulled out a cigarette from inside his jacket and lit it with a Zippo lighter.

“Right, that motorcycle from back then.”

Like an illusion, a motorcycle flickered before Se Hyun’s eyes through the hazy smoke and silent surroundings.

It was a memory from easily 10 years ago.

Though what image was there to maintain for a company built on violence by neighborhood thugs, his father Chairman Jin fretted endlessly over the company’s public image.

It amounted to nothing more than exploiting emotions through volunteer activities at orphanages or nursing homes, but for Se Hyun it was the only moment when he could breathe in his suffocating daily life.

That day too was a day for volunteering at an orphanage.

Just as he had taken out a cigarette to have a momentary respite from others’ eyes,

A motorcycle appeared out of nowhere.

The man who came straight up to him after removing his helmet snatched away the cigarette in his mouth without a word.

“Hey, you!!”

With even his school uniform shirt that should have been properly buttoned up loosened and disheveled, he was an utterly delinquent black-haired man.

He looked to be about nineteen or eighteen at most.

“Here, spray this and chew this.”

Though he’d be two years younger even if he was nineteen about to graduate, the man’s abruptly cut-off speech was quite irritating.

And what was with the cheap perfume and strawberry-flavored gum he hated most that were thrust before him?

“You, do you know how old I…”

“No time for this. The chairman is on his way here right now. With a bunch of TV cameras too.”

The news that the chairman, who never set foot anywhere without TV cameras, was coming meant that his father Chairman Jin was making an appearance.

“Why are you telling me this only now!”

Se Hyun stuffed the strawberry gum he had called the worst just moments ago into his mouth and started spraying the perfume he had dismissed as cheap all over.

A grown adult woman turned away in an unsightly manner before the uniformed young man who should be setting an example.

It felt unpleasant, but she was in no position to be picky now.

She could see Chairman Jin’s vehicle entering the gates in the distance.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Se Hyun turned back to ask as she was about to run off.

The man answered indifferently while brushing off his uniform pants:

“San Ha, Im San Ha.”

*****

The two sat facing each other at the neatly set breakfast table.

After returning to Hwa-an-dong like that the night before, they hadn’t said a single word in the car on the way back.

It was quite an awkward silence for people who had just shared each other’s breath through a deep kiss.

“Um…”

“This is delicious.”

Before Do Eum could muster the courage to speak, Ji Wan put some clear seasoned radish in his mouth and murmured.

According to what she had found out from his family home, men generally liked side dishes.

Ones that weren’t too heavily seasoned, that is.

“Oh, I’m glad.”

It seemed he didn’t want to talk about the previous night.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it didn’t seem like a conversation to have before breakfast.

The night before, what Do Eum saw on Ji Wan’s face was clear dismay.

What will become of us now?

No, is this contract still valid – Do Eum swallowed these questions and silently chewed her food.

For both Ji Wan and herself, what happened the day before was perhaps like an unexpected accident.

“You really are good at cooking, I believe it now.”

“Only now?”

“I believe it, so don’t try too hard. No situation should take precedence over your school life.”

“…I see.”

It was likely concern that she focus on her studies so there would be no issues no matter when things returned to normal.

“Oh, right!”

Unable to bear the prolonged silence any longer, Do Eum ran to her room and returned with a piece of paper.

“Listen to this – it’s about a couple about to get married. They’ve been dating for about 2 years. The woman is planning to propose soon, but what kind of proposal would the man want to receive?”

Ji Wan, who had been sipping his soup, furrowed his brow slightly.

Do Eum probably thought there was an issue with the soup’s seasoning, but for Ji Wan it was the topic of conversation.

A proposal, huh.

“It’s for a liberal arts class report. Come on, hurry. Director Han will be here soon. How would you, CEO, like to receive a marriage proposal?”

Her fidgeting in her seat with both feet was cute, so Ji Wan deliberately delayed his response.

Sometimes it seemed this woman completely forgot what kind of person he was.

That if he wanted, he could make his secretary arrive an hour or two late.

That even if they did arrive, if he was in a situation where he couldn’t leave, he could dismiss them without a second thought.

All it would take was one word from him asking for more time.

Instead of just fidgeting uselessly when nothing would change anyway.

The hand not holding his chopsticks inevitably stroked the man’s chin.

It was quite perplexing to be asked what he’d like to receive when he had never experienced it before.

“Well. Why don’t you ask those friends of yours from before?”

Unable to say that one of those friends was the one who would be receiving the proposal, Do Eum continued:

“For reference, proposal gifts men want to receive are luxury watches, gaming consoles, and high-end foreign cars…”

As she listed them off, the man who could easily acquire all those things muttered quietly:

“Those are all useless to me.”

Do Eum set down her chopsticks with a clack and rested her chin on her hand as she looked at Ji Wan.

“Then tell me, what would be useful for you, CEO? What would make you want to get married if someone asked?”

Ji Wan carefully studied the woman’s face as she leaned forward, bringing it right up to his nose.

The answer was decided from the start.

Other than things money could buy, there was only one thing the man who had just awakened to his emotions desperately wanted, among all the acts adult men and women could do, the most

Erotic act.