Soo Young’s lips were just as imagined. Chewy and tasting like gummy bears. Gummy bears soaked in wine.

I thought I wouldn’t get scolded since she started it first, but unexpectedly I heard a giggling sound. What’s this? Is she laughing at me? Was it… not good?

“I had my first kiss with you, Mr. Seol Woo Jin?”

This was more shocking than hearing it wasn’t good. First kiss? Didn’t she say earlier that she liked some senior?

When I heard a thud, it seemed like she had tried to get up but sat back down. As Woo Jin reflexively reached out, his hand touched somewhere on her. Her waist?

“Oh… I need to lie down… This is just like soju! Wine was just grape-flavored soju!”

Suddenly shouting, Woo Jin barely managed to stand up while holding the woman’s waist.

“Let’s go lie down on the sofa.”

However, he wasn’t sure if he could accurately make it to the sofa while supporting her. But suddenly, Soo Young hugged his waist and said,

“Go, go, go! Turn left! That’s it! Well done! Now straight ahead, straight!”

Woo Jin carefully moved his steps, pulled by her force. The two were moving to the living room, holding each other as if dancing a blues.

“Go, go, go, now right, right! That’s it, that’s it! Oh, well done, well done! We’re almost there, almost there. Now, just lie down! Lie down!”

Suddenly, as Soo Young’s body tilted to one side, Woo Jin’s body, holding her, also tilted involuntarily.

Soon, he felt the slightly stiff cushion of leather touching his arms and back. He also felt her soft hair and back against his chest.

“Oh, our Mr. Seol Woo Jin… does well as told. Very well done. You’re a man, a man! Knowing how to lay a drunk woman on the sofa like this… Your manners are… the best, the best…”

Listening to Soo Young’s voice, which kept talking non-stop even though she seemed out of her mind, Woo Jin roughly guessed how they were lying on the sofa.

The alcohol had worn off long ago due to her scent under his nose and the soft hair tickling his neck. Soon, his arm felt tingly and he felt the flow of warm air.

From the wheezing breath, he could tell she had fallen asleep. He couldn’t understand how she could sleep in such an uncomfortable position.

As he moved to stretch his uncomfortable body, she made a tiger-like sound and pressed her back even more against him.

“Hup!”

When Soo Young’s waist or hip touched an important area, Woo Jin quickly covered his mouth with his hand. Stuck between the backrest and her, he tried to catch his breath for a moment and think of something else.

Unexpectedly, he remembered the school song he learned in elementary school. Perhaps because that was the last time he was innocent.

When he first saw her, even her snoring sounded manly, but this woman has quite the drinking habit. Why on earth such a woman?

Woo Jin asked himself as if asking someone else. Then, from her mouth that had been making tiger-like sounds, her characteristic low voice flowed out gently.

“…Well done …our, Mr. Woo Jin… Very, well done… Mmnya.”

What did she mean by well done? Making kimbap? Bringing her to the sofa? Or, the kiss? Whatever it was, being told he did well didn’t feel bad. The word ‘our’ either.

Her even breathing and her back that slightly swelled and shrank with each breath gradually calmed his pounding heart.

Although it was an uncomfortable position, somehow his eyes kept closing. That’s how they slept together.

Woo Jin remembered all of this, but Soo Young didn’t seem to remember. Thinking he had found something to tease her about for life, a giggle escaped Woo Jin’s mouth as he changed clothes.

“Why do you keep laughing? You didn’t… do anything to me yesterday, did you?”

Soo Young asked with a suspicious expression, looking at Woo Jin who still had his lips curled up even while eating the cold tteokbokki after changing clothes.

Then Woo Jin calmly said,

“I didn’t do anything.”

Watching him emphasize ‘I’, Soo Young decided not to probe further. She wasn’t sure exactly what had happened, but judging from Woo Jin’s tone, it seemed certain that she had pounced on this handsome man in her drunken state.

Just the kiss she remembered was enough.

It was something she had to take to her grave. Reminding herself several times that she had been wearing clothes that day, even if they were Woo Jin’s, Soo Young didn’t ask anything more.

The food on the table wasn’t diminishing as it was already quite a lot for just two people, and Soo Young was barely eating.

Meanwhile, Woo Jin, who was nonchalantly eating a gimbap, smiled and said,

“What’s this? It’s delicious.”

“…It’s gimbap.”

“Hmm… Did you buy it thinking of yesterday? Yesterday, you rolled me up…”

Aaaargh! Soo Young’s sense of despair deepened.

[This is the timeline separator]

Sitting in front of the computer, Woo Jin let out a long sigh. The time he spent concentrating on writing had significantly decreased compared to before.

This was because before Soo Young came, he couldn’t concentrate while waiting for her to arrive, and after Soo Young left, he couldn’t concentrate while ruminating on what they had done.

The manuscript that Ji Hyun had given him to revise seemed to be over a hand-span thick, but he hadn’t even touched it.

He shouldn’t cause trouble for Ji Hyun’s publishing company… While he was pulling his hair, suddenly his phone vibrated and the caller’s name was heard.

Kwon, Yeon, Seo. Kwon, Yeon, Seo.

Woo Jin hesitated for a moment, tapping his finger, before touching the screen.

“Yes.”

− Young master, can I come to your place?

“Are you in front of the house?”

Then Yeon Seo asked back in surprise.

− Oh, how did you know?

“You always call after coming here.”

− Ah, ahahaha!

Soon, Yeon Seo’s loud laughter was heard. Woo Jin slightly frowned as his ears hurt.

− Then can I come up? If it’s inconvenient, I can go back.

She always says this after coming all the way to the front of the house. If it were Seol Ji Hyun, he would have told her to go, but he couldn’t do that to Yeon Seo.

A small sigh escaped from his lips.

“Come in.”

− Yay! Okay!

Woo Jin’s brow furrowed again at Yeon Seo’s ridiculous cheer. He was really curious about her face. Whether it was as young and cute as her voice. Or if it was just her voice that was like this.

Yeon Seo always smelled of lemon. It was a fresh scent, just like her voice. Woo Jin thought that marrying her was the best thing Seol Ji Hyun had ever done in his life.

“Hold out your hand.”

When Woo Jin held out his hand at Yeon Seo’s words, she placed a drink bottle on it.

“What is this?”

“It’s a new drink that the food development department just released. Try it.”

“Am I some kind of beta tester?”

“If you say it’s delicious, it’s really true. Everyone is looking forward to it.”

Woo Jin lightly opened the cap and took a sip of the drink inside.

“How is it?”

Yeon Seo asked, watching Woo Jin’s expression. Woo Jin licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, savoring the taste for a moment, then closed the cap again.

“It tastes exactly the same as the juice I had before.”

Yeon Seo, who had been staring blankly at him licking his lips, asked in surprise.

“Oh my, really? We added strawberry flavor though?”

“I can’t really taste it.”

“As expected. Our young master is the best.”

Yeon Seo was the team leader of the food development department at Sam Foods, a subsidiary of her father’s company.

After becoming close to Woo Jin, she had him taste new products whenever they were developed. His taste evaluation was more accurate than most taste testers.

At first, Woo Jin was displeased with her asking him to taste foods he had never heard of before, but he gradually allowed himself to be used by her as Yeon Seo was so innocent in her approach.

And it was also consideration for Seol Ji Hyun.

“You didn’t come just to test this, what’s the matter? There are no side dishes today, and it doesn’t seem like you came to meet Seol Ji Hyun either.”

Although it might be unpleasant for a sister-in-law to hear her brother being called Seol Ji Hyun every time, Yeon Seo didn’t seem to mind much and said cheerfully.

“As expected, our young master has good intuition. I wanted to ask for your permission about something.”

“What kind of permission?”

“About Mrs. Jo Young Mi who came to your house, I’d like to scout her…”

“Out of the blue?”

“No, every time I come to your house, it’s so clean. It’s just like a model house. But now that she’s hurt her back, her niece is coming to work, right? Since her niece is coming here anyway, I was wondering if Mrs. Jo could come to our house when her back gets better.”

“What’s your real intention?”

Suddenly, his amber eyes turned cold and his voice became chilly as well. Even though Yeon Seo was simple, she immediately noticed that Woo Jin’s mood had turned bad.

“There’s no intention…”

“Are you trying to set me up with her?”

“Huh? Ah, no, I…”

Yeon Seo was very flustered, having been hit right on the mark. At the same time, she felt like she had messed up.

“Do you think someone like your sister-in-law would want to date or marry someone with visual impairment like me?”

Yeon Seo’s face turned bright red. She hadn’t thought of that. No, who said anything about marriage?

“Don’t think about treating other people carelessly just because it’s not your own body.”

Woo Jin abruptly stood up and went into his room. The sound of the door closing was loud.

Yeon Seo pressed her racing heart with her hand and tried to calm her breathing. I touched it. I touched it. I touched young master Woo Jin’s temper. What should I do!

Knowing that the damage would go straight to her husband, Yeon Seo became even more afraid.

[This is the timeline separator]

He knew he had been rude to his sister-in-law. But he was angry. Not at her, but at himself.

When Yeon Seo asked if she could scout the former housekeeper for her house, his ears perked up. He thought, then she could keep coming to our house, couldn’t she?

Then suddenly, one side of his head felt numb. Keep coming? What would you do if she kept coming? What would you do with that girl?

Woo Jin raised both arms to sweep everything off the desk in anger, then slowly lowered them again.

If things flew everywhere, putting them back in place was one thing, but before that, he could trip over something or get hurt.

If he injured his body, he couldn’t see the wound, making it difficult to treat. It’s my body, but I can’t take care of my own body.

He slowly sat down on the floor and then started to crawl on all fours. And like 8 years ago, he went under the desk, hugged his knees with both arms, and buried his face.

At last, he felt safe.

[This is the timeline separator]

The apartment complex was full of maple trees and ginkgo trees.

Although Soo Young felt a bit sorry for the trees, she deliberately picked a few large and pretty leaves that were still attached to the trees, not the ones that had fallen to the ground.

She thought of letting Woo Jin touch them. Although he said he disliked plants, he was taking good care of the potted plant she had brought him, so she thought he might be okay with touching leaves.

She wanted to let him touch them and tell him that autumn had come. To make him want to come outside.

Carefully holding the leaves in her hand so they wouldn’t get damaged, Soo Young opened the front door of Woo Jin’s house and listened, expecting to hear the tap-tap, huff-huff sounds again. However, the house was as quiet as a mouse.

“Is he not exercising desperately today?”

Feeling somewhat disappointed, she went to the kitchen, spread the leaves out on the dining table, and took out a lunch box from the refrigerator to heat it up. Today’s lunch was tonkatsu.

Then she deliberately made noise while walking back and forth in front of Woo Jin’s room door. After going back and forth about 10 times, she suddenly felt her phone vibrate.

Da, vid.

Wondering why he was calling while in the room, she rolled her eyes slightly and answered the phone.

“Come out and eat.”

After a moment of silence, Woo Jin soon answered with his characteristic soft voice.

− From now on, eat by yourself.

Despite the soft voice, the coldness that seemed to blow through the phone made Soo Young stare at the phone as if it were Woo Jin for a moment, then put it back to her ear and said,

“I told you I can’t eat alone?”

− Then starve.

The phone call abruptly ended. This time too, she raised her fist towards the phone instead of Woo Jin. As she was about to use that fist to knock on the room door, she soon lowered her hand subtly.

The room, which seemed to have a barrier around it, gave the feeling that it absolutely should not be touched. A feeling that only Seol Woo Jin could remove this barrier?

Although she didn’t understand why he had put up the barrier again, an employee couldn’t ask her employer about every little thing.

Maybe he was upset because he couldn’t remember what happened that day. If a man had pounced on her and then claimed not to remember because of alcohol, she would be upset too.

Soo Young hesitated for a moment and then tried calling David again. What on earth were they doing, being in the same house?

She thought she heard something chattering in the room, and then his characteristic voice came through the phone.

− What?

“It wasn’t intentional, you know.”

− …What wasn’t?

“That I can’t remember. What can I do if I really can’t remember? I know it’s irresponsible, but no matter how much I think about it…”

− You, it doesn’t matter if you can’t remember.

“Then why are you upset?”

− …I’m not upset.

“Then why aren’t you eating?”

− Do I have to eat with you?

“We’ve been eating together all this time.”

− …Not anymore. You do your job and go.

Now she wanted to eat with him not because of Seol Ji Hyun’s request, but because she wanted to. She wanted to talk while eating together.

She wanted to spend time together. But wondering if it was okay to say such things, Soo Young bit her lip tightly.

It seemed like he hadn’t hung up, but Woo Jin wasn’t saying anything either.

And so, the two exchanged breaths through the phone without words. For a long time.

Although she had hoped he would come out tomorrow, Woo Jin didn’t come out of his room the next day, or the day after. The phytoncide scent that had been softly spread throughout the living room also stopped emanating from some point.