However, the guilt of not being able to reveal the secret. The conscience that had been deceiving him until now rose up from the bottom of her chest.

So Yeon turned her head sideways, barely widening the gap between their faces, and asked.

“It’s not because of me, is it? Why did you come here?”

Seo Jun grabbed her small chin as soon as her moist, sweet lips parted.

“I’m a clingy man, aren’t I?”

Dark pupils drew close to the sparkling, clear eyes.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“To cling to Eom So Yeon. I came to be clingy like this.”

“Are, are you telling me to believe that?”

The memories with Tae Seo Jun were frozen in Spain. With the pain of her heart cut by his indifference, sharp as a whetted blade, vividly recalling the incident at the filming site, there was no way his words could be taken at face value.

“We were a lie from the start.”

So Yeon said with a clouded expression.

“So I can’t believe it. Whether you’re really sincere, or if I just seemed easy because we slept together once. Your attitude in Cadiz, treating me more like a stranger than strangers, it hurt. I don’t want to get hurt. And I hate seeming like an easy woman even more.”

So Yeon spat out only harsh words.

“And what did you say to Yoo Jung Hwa? Didn’t you say you’d meet any woman?”

It was an outpouring of all the mistreatment she had endured from Yoo Jung Hwa and the accumulated resentment.

“Why did you come looking for me? Did you miss me again after not seeing me for a while?”

The resentment that could only be love, the longing that clung tighter the more she tried to remove it, burst forth like a flood, and her small lips moved incessantly without pause.

“So you came to shake me up again, and when I missed you and even cried, did that make you feel good? Was it so entertaining because I’m an easy woman?”

But all her words were off the mark.

Even so, if what she said was true, wouldn’t that make him a complete trash of a human being? Seo Jun furrowed his brow tightly and refuted point by point.

“Is it fun for you to choose only the wrong things to say? If Eom So Yeon were an easy woman, would I have rushed here in the middle of the night? Therefore, I’m the easy man, you know.”

“That makes even less sense. What could Tae Seo Jun possibly lack?”

“You really don’t know me at all.”

“That’s right, I really don’t know! I really don’t understand!”

As So Yeon spoke with a voice full of resentment, Seo Jun’s heart began to race quickly. Where did things go wrong? What should he unravel first? He was flustered. For that reason, Seo Jun’s expression, having lost its elegance, was no longer composed.

“Have you tried to understand? Have you made any effort? No, you haven’t. Eom So Yeon, you’ve only pushed me away!”

“…”

So Yeon pressed her lips tightly without replying.

Seeing how stubborn she looked, Seo Jun thought that this was indeed typical of Eom So Yeon and chuckled.

“I’m glad I came today. Good. Say it all now. The words you wanted to say to me. No, you can even curse at me freely. You can even slap me hard for all the hurt and pain I’ve caused you.”

“You’re telling me to… do more? To hit you?”

“Yes. But I won’t let you go a second time.”

“Heek! Let go of me!”

His movements were quick, and in an instant, So Yeon was lifted off her feet and let out a shallow scream.

“No.”

“What if someone sees? Put me down quickly!”

As So Yeon struggled, Seo Jun pretended to give in and set her down on the floor. He propped one arm against the wall. With his other arm, he tightly embraced her waist. So she couldn’t move an inch. So she couldn’t escape anywhere.

“Today, if I ask to stay together, you’ll say no, right?”

“Of course.”

“Have you consulted with your heart about that answer?”

“Co-consulted?”

“You can’t say you have, I see.”

“That’s… because it’s too sudden.”

“If it’s not sudden?”

“What…?”

“You choose the place.”

“What place?”

“Where we’ll stay together.”

“Why are you jumping to that? I never said I’d stay with you.”

“Then tell me. Say you’ll stay with me.”

“No way.”

So Yeon kept shaking her head, and Seo Jun, cleverly catching the tail end of her words, didn’t back down from his intention.

“Is it that you can’t say it because you dislike it?”

“Well…”

“Seeing as you can’t answer readily, it seems you don’t dislike it. I’m fine with Dogok-dong too. Shall we go there?”

“Our, our home?”

“Yes.”

“That, that’s really not possible! My mom is there, and Hyun Woo and the nanny are there too, how could we go in together…!”

Ha! What am I saying now?

The true feelings that popped out unconsciously were like spilled water that couldn’t be put back.

The round eyes widened in surprise at her own slip of the tongue, the dimples sunk into her reddened cheeks were very cute. As So Yeon bit her lip inward, a handsome face tanned by moonlight broke into a big smile.

“Then, how about my place?”

Seo Jun said without hesitation.

His own space where he had never let any woman in except his mother.

“Your, your home?”

“You said you don’t know about me. I said I’d tell you everything, one by one.”

“…”

Wavering brown eyes stared intently at Seo Jun.

For three months, she had tried everything to forget Tae Seo Jun. But the more she tried, the more she missed him desperately, and her heart ached to death. But today, she unexpectedly encountered the Tae Seo Jun she had longed for.

As all her thoughts became mushy under the waterfall-like courtship and persistent persuasion, So Yeon ended up laughing helplessly. She had surrendered to his advances, which were partly astounding and partly brazen.

So now there was no choice.

But to leave everything to the given fate.

“Are you really saying we should go to your home?”

“Yes. Eom So Yeon is going to my house.”

It was unexpected. She thought it would be a hotel or villa even if they went somewhere, but he said his house. Curious at the wrong moment by Seo Jun’s clear response, So Yeon asked again.

“Am I really going to your home?”

“Let’s go.”

“Ah, ah…!”

Even as she stretched her back, So Yeon’s legs obediently followed Seo Jun’s lead.

Whisk, thud!

A small box was carelessly tossed into the trash can.

Won Hoo, who had returned to the CEO’s office, threw away the now useless ring into the trash can and slumped down in the swivel chair.

They were that kind of relationship? I didn’t even know…

A dejected smile spread across his stiffened face.

No, it wasn’t that he didn’t know. He prided himself on knowing Tae Seo Jun well, and because he was the type to never show his true feelings, he himself had never even thought in that direction.

Come to think of it now, the guy who had never been like that before enlistment had been coming in and out of the company every day after being discharged, wearing out the threshold. It was all because of Eom So Yeon.

“Ha! I really was a fool…”

Won Hoo, who had barely shaken off Oh Min Jung, immediately entered the corridor leading to the restroom.

To finish the conversation he couldn’t conclude with So Yeon.

However, what he had to face was the curtain fluttering slightly as if someone had just gone outside, and whispered voices coming from that direction.

He could have just gone outside and confirmed with his own eyes, but for some reason, Won Hoo couldn’t approach and turned off the lights in the corridor. Then, along with the moonlight, the shadows of two people were clearly projected onto the curtain.

It wasn’t hard to tell who they were just by looking at the shadows. That it was Tae Seo Jun and Eom So Yeon embracing each other and kissing passionately.

Until dawn, Won Hoo guarded the CEO’s office.

He felt like he had to do something frantically to escape the shock those two had given him. But how could human hearts work as one wishes?

Won Hoo picked up the ring box from the trash can again.

As he put it in the desk drawer, his lips curled up into a smirk.

That smile meant it wasn’t over until it was over.

Got bored, but came back because you missed me again?

Me, you?

No, Eom So Yeon shouldn’t say such things to me.

I did let you go when you said you were leaving because I didn’t know how to hold on, but it was always me who was abandoned by you.

The first time, I foolishly lost you while sleeping, and another time, I let you go because that’s what you wanted. But now it’s my turn to do as I please, and isn’t that fair?

Seo Jun chuckled softly as he mulled over So Yeon’s words one by one.

“…”

Once upon a time, because of learning love wrongly, he dismissed true love as an untrustworthy emotion. But little did he know it would be the biggest mistake of his life.

Seo Jun realized during the time he suffered from the severe illness called longing.

That he should never have let her go, even if it meant getting slapped. That living like a breathing corpse was far worse than following Eom So Yeon around.

That’s why Seo Jun held So Yeon’s hand tightly and didn’t let go from the time he left Samseong-dong until they reached Nonhyeon-dong.

At last, the car entered Tae Seo Jun’s secret space.

Luxury cars that looked like they belonged in magazines were parked in a large, spacious parking lot that resembled a showroom. Not just one, but several. However, compared to the size of the entire huge house, the scale and sight of this parking lot were nothing.

“Wow!”

So Yeon, who had been continuously exclaiming in admiration, looked around here and there from the first to the third floor as soon as she came up to the living room by elevator, with the owner’s permission.

“Do you really live alone?”

So Yeon, who had returned to Seo Jun in the living room, asked with her flushed cheeks twitching.

“The house is so big? By any chance, your mother, father, siblings won’t suddenly pop out from everywhere, will they?”

Seo Jun shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘who knows’ and grinned.

“Didn’t you run into them?”

“!”

Even though she knew it was a joke, So Yeon couldn’t help but startle and looked around the empty interior, stretching her neck like a meerkat.

“Why, do you really want to greet them?”

“Oh my, what a strange thing to say.”

Relaxing at his mischievous smile, So Yeon gently rubbed her damp palms on her skirt.

“Is there anything to be scared of? Even if you do run into them, Eom So Yeon just needs to look at me. Or hide behind me.”

Come to think of it, that seemed fun too.

What would my parents say if I introduced this woman as my woman? They probably know roughly, but how would they react?

At that thought, Seo Jun’s lips curved smoothly.

And it was a while later.

It was a hot summer night, and he had been sweating profusely since he went to the company with the sole intention of seeing Eom So Yeon. For that reason, Seo Jun, who had showered faster than usual, came out of the room in comfortable clothes.

So Yeon, who had been looking at all sorts of trophies that seemed to have swept every acting award and rare decorations in the living room, suddenly felt her breath catch as soon as she saw Seo Jun with wet hair. It was because Seo Jun’s attire was so defenseless that it made her dizzy.

An unbuttoned shirt. The firm and sturdy chest visible through it. Her gaze that traced upwards stopped at his Adam’s apple.

How seductive it is every time it moves up and down. Although she had seen it more than once or twice, So Yeon swallowed dry saliva anew and turned her gaze elsewhere.

“I think Eom So Yeon should wash up too.”

“What? Why should I?”

He brought her to his house saying he would reveal the truth, and now he’s suddenly telling her to wash up?

As So Yeon opened her eyes wide, Seo Jun chuckled and pointed to her smudged eye area with his fingertip.

“You look like a black raccoon might ask to be friends.”

“Oh my…!”

Startled, So Yeon approached the mirror hanging on the wall and looked at her face. Her makeup had smudged when she cried earlier. As he said, she wasn’t exactly a black raccoon, but the area around her eyes was quite messy.

“So, don’t you think you should wash up?”

“…”

So Yeon was too embarrassed to speak and just nodded.

The room he came out of was the largest among the visible room doors from the living room. So Yeon, straightening her spine deliberately, asked while bumping her gaze against other door knobs.

“Where should I go…?”

Seo Jun gestured with his chin towards his master bedroom.

“That room will be comfortable. The weather was quite hot today, so take a shower too. Make yourself at home. If your clothes are uncomfortable, choose something suitable to wear from the dressing room attached to the bathroom and come out.”

“In your room?”

“Is there a place in my house that isn’t my room?”

It was the most appropriate thing to say, if only because of her awkwardness at being told to use his room. As Seo Jun gently pushed her back, So Yeon stepped over the threshold of the room before she knew it.

“Then, excuse me for a moment.”

“By all means.”

So Yeon closed the door and turned around.

But, for some reason, her face immediately turned red.