A sentence that Jae Heon could hardly believe echoed in his ears, calming his regret.

“Mr. Jae Heon.”
“Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you home.”
“I don’t want to be alone today.”
Click. Jae Heon’s thought process came to a halt.

Did he finally develop some problems with his eardrums? Or was he hearing things?

“Can we be together?”
“……”
“I feel like I’ll suffer from insomnia.”
Jae Heon took a deep breath slowly.

So… her words did not mean ‘that’.

Today, Ra Jin had an unspeakably difficult day, wanted to be comforted, and wanted to be with someone because she couldn’t fall asleep easily.

The fact that he was the one, her temporary contracted dating partner, was only too obvious in a situation like now.

It was not a seduction with a hidden motive but a desperate need for warm comfort.

“Alright.”
Having fortified his mind, Jae Heon managed to respond.

“Let’s go to my place.”

((()))((()))((()))

Sitting on the sofa, Jae Heon asked Ra Jin, who had just finished taking a shower.

She had changed into comfortable clothes that fit her well.

Right after the contract was signed, Jae Heon had arranged as much as possible the things needed like clothes and cosmetics for Ra Jin.

“Do the clothes fit well?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Have you had dinner?”
Ra Jin couldn’t eat because Min Chan visited while she was stirring the pasta.

Even if Min Chan had not come, she probably wouldn’t have been able to swallow the food properly.

“No.”
It was a question asked out of courtesy, thinking that she would have eaten since she had gone home for the evening.

At her unexpected answer, Jae Heon put down the tablet he was holding.

“I thought you would have eaten.”
“……”
Seeing her heavy silence, it seemed something had happened with her family.

“Mr. Jae Heon.”
“Yes?”
“Is the special weekend bonus over?”
At his gaze, Ra Jin bowed her head and spoke softly.

“I want to eat Janchi Guksu.”
Tension filled Jae Heon’s forehead. Her manner was both cute and poignant.

If the dish he made could be a comfort, he would love to do it gladly.

“Or as a penalty…….”
“Save that. I won’t make any mistakes from now on.”
Rising from his seat, he stroked Ra Jin’s head once and headed towards the dining room.

“Sit and wait a bit.”
Looking at his back, Ra Jin bit her lower lip hard.

It was an enormous attempt accompanied by fear for Ra Jin, who had never annoyed others or strongly spoken her demands.

She wanted to force this kind of thing at least once. It was okay to call it a whim.

“If Jae Heon were to refuse, I considered using up all the penalties I had.

However, without a shred of hesitation, he rose from his spot.

‘…How could I not like him when he’s like this.’
Ra Jin decided.

For three months, she would let herself like him wholeheartedly.

And like today when she left her family, she decided not to cling onto his ankle and leave without regrets.

((()))((()))((()))

“It was so delicious.”
“Of course, who do you think made it?”
At such a typical Jae Heon response, Ra Jin bowed her head and smiled.

“Why are you laughing?”
“Just because. I find you, Mr. Jae Heon, cute.”
He made a face as if a bug had crawled into his ear.

“Really, that’s the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard.”
Jae Heon, nearly 190cm tall with a physique often compared to a door, with his cold eyes that often depicted him as foultempered, has always received more compliments about being cool or overflowing with charisma rather than being cute even when he was a very young child.

Cute, him of all people? Ra Jin’s condition was definitely strange.

“I’m not going to ask as you told me not to. But I suspect you might have gotten a bump on your head or have issues with your vision.”
He pulled Ra Jin’s hand over and placed it on his own.

“Look at this size difference. Who’s calling whom cute?”
Ra Jin, who had been silently watching their overlapping hands, softly held onto his finger.

‘What’s this? This fluttering… No, this sudden action?’
Jae Heon, whose heart had begun to pound with a thump, had no way of knowing that Ra Jin was gently stroking his finger.

She wanted to remember this sensation.

She wanted to forever remember the warmth of the hand that held her in silence, stroked her head, comforted her back, and cooked food for her.

“Hey, Secr….”
Damn it, he had been calling her ‘Secretary’ for four years that it had stuck.

‘I almost made a mistake.’
Jae Heon steadied his breath.

“Ra Jin.”
“Ah. I’m sorry. You must be upset.”
No, well… He wasn’t exactly upset.

“I ate well. I’ll do the dishes.”
“The reason for installing the dishwasher is getting negated.”
“Ah…”
“Put them in there and follow me.”
“Where to?”
Jae Heon carelessly spat out.

“To watch a movie.”

((()))((()))((()))

The two of them went downstairs.

Following behind Jae Heon, they entered a room at the very end of the corridor. Huge home theater speakers were installed on both sides of a massive screen, and opposite them was a brown leather sofa and a massage chair that looked incredibly luxurious and comfortable at first glance.

“As part of insomnia treatment in the past, I used to try to sleep while watching calm and quiet movies.”
“I see.”
“Well, it was useless. But it was nice to just put anything on and watch when I needed to cool my head.”
Jae Heon said as he sat on the sofa.

“What genre do you like? Action? Comedy? Surprisingly romance?”
“Is romance surprising?”
“I just thought you wouldn’t like it much.”
Except for these past few days, having only seen her as a thorough and flawless secretary, Jae Heon thought she might prefer watching documentaries or news over romantic movies.

“I like it.”
Suddenly, at these words, Jae Heon’s heart dropped abruptly.

“What… did you just say?”
Ra Jin looked him straight in the eye and said it again.

“I like it.”
“….”
“Very much.”

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