It was a soft yet intense sensation.

Ji Eun Jae’s sudden action caused Yoon Sun Woo’s calm eyes to ripple roughly.

She was a woman who would take two steps back for every one step forward. She was clearly that kind of woman, but the woman before him now seemed like a different person from the one he knew.

When she boldly grabbed his shirt, her fingertips trembled slightly with tension. That vibration was transmitted directly to Sun Woo’s chest.

Finding it cute, Sun Woo couldn’t hold back a chuckle that escaped.

Her eyes were clearly clouded from alcohol, yet her gaze burned as hot as the blazing sun.

Sun Woo’s gaze, unable to reject the woman’s direct stare, was held captive for a long time. He simply couldn’t tear his eyes away.

An unfamiliar emotion he had never felt before blossomed.

She was beautiful. Insanely lovable.

“Is this a breach of contract?”

The woman asked, touching her bright red lips as she lowered her head shyly.

Sun Woo slowly lowered his narrowed eyes. His still dark and pitch-black pupils grazed Eun Jae’s pink cheeks, then paused on her moist, glossy lips. Being drawn to beauty is a man’s instinct.

His reason had long since evaporated at Eun Jae’s unexpected provocation, and Sun Woo’s dark eyes were already filled with her lips that he had touched once before.

Looking back, from the moment she had unexpectedly wedged her way into his heart, he had wanted to touch her, hold her, and keep her in his arms at every moment she was in front of him.

I wish your everything was mine.

It was an instant for that simple thought to spread into a terrible possessiveness.

Sun Woo’s fingertips touched Eun Jae’s smooth nape. As his hot palm glided over softly like performing a waltz and reached Eun Jae’s nape, the woman’s half-closed eyes opened wide.

Sun Woo’s arm quickly wrapped around Eun Jae’s waist as she flinched and moved back. He firmly embraced her waist, as if telling her not to move away.

Her long, thick eyelashes, densely placed, were trembling delicately.

Up close, Eun Jae’s eyes were like a deep night embroidered with starlight, a tranquil lake.

Clear, dark eyes that seemed to contain all the bright things in the world.

Sun Woo leaned his head closer to Eun Jae. As if trying to fill those small pupils entirely with his image.

Sun Woo slowly caressed Eun Jae’s moist lips with his thumb, quietly looking down at them.

“We’ve already breached the contract.”

“Then how much do I have to pay back? Since it’s double, 400 million?”

“600 million.”

“Why 600 million now? You’re such a con artist…”

To make a bold drunken confession and now worry about the contract.

Sun Woo couldn’t help but laugh at that. No, it might have been because he unintentionally learned the woman’s true feelings that she had kept hidden.

Since when?

Have you been as troubled as I have? If not, I might feel a bit cheated.

I felt like I couldn’t keep you by my side without this contract. So I was wondering if I should hold onto you even like this.

“600 million… I can’t pay that back even if I spend my whole life…”

Eun Jae mumbled as if talking to herself, seeming sleepy. The corners of Sun Woo’s mouth curved up as he looked down at her.

“Then stay your whole life. By my side.”

The smile disappeared from his face in an instant.

“I have no intention of letting you go until you pay it all back.”

Sun Woo’s lips fell and engulfed Eun Jae’s soft lips in one bite.

The bittersweet scent of alcohol transferred to Sun Woo. The woman’s heated breath flowed from their hastily joined lips.

Like having a mouth full of sweet candy, every breath the woman gave was sweet. A dreamlike feeling like drinking a sweet cocktail further ensnared Sun Woo.

The full heat interfered with their breathing, and their chests heaved violently with the overwhelming breath.

Gasping as if lacking, desperately exhaling the breath they had barely swallowed, repeating over and over, yet neither of them seemed to have any intention of stopping their savoring and exploring of each other.

As much as they had wanted, as much as they had held back, the act was desperate and persistent. In the quiet stillness, the beautiful sound of craving each other’s lips filled the space.

Sun Woo, who had been freely tormenting Eun Jae’s lips, briefly separated his lips. He smiled as he stroked her pink lips, which were more swollen than usual, with his thumb.

“Ji Eun Jae. You’re in big trouble.”

“……”

“When I have a goal—”

Sun Woo roughly pulled off his tie, which had occasionally interfered with his path.

“I’m a relentless bastard who doesn’t stop until I see the end.”

Easily undoing the tie with one hand, he yanked it off and threw it somewhere, then his fingers moved to the top button of his shirt and popped it open.

“And now, my goal is.”

Sun Woo’s lips curved deeply and darkly as he looked down at Eun Jae.

“You.”

A burning heat bloomed throughout his body. As if one button wasn’t enough to relieve the tightness, Sun Woo quickly undid the second button and began to earnestly explore Eun Jae’s lips.

As if the previous kiss was merely a prelude, the force with which he crashed his lips against hers was too much for her to handle, just like his rough gaze filled with desire.

Her hand bracing on the bed kept sliding back until it finally gave out, and Eun Jae, losing her balance, fell with a thud onto the bed she had been lying on earlier.

Sun Woo, with his hands planted on either side of Eun Jae’s face as she lay defenseless on the bed, looked down at her for quite a long time.

A smile played on Sun Woo’s lips as he neatly arranged the hair scattered on the white sheets.

“I warned you, didn’t I? That I’m dangerous.”

His lips quietly threatened and then overlapped hers again. Unlike his words, the movement swirling inside her mouth was gentle.

A long time passed.

As his body gradually heated up and he became aware of the changes in his own body, Sun Woo slowly detached himself from Eun Jae.

If he stayed any closer for a bit longer, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

No, he probably wouldn’t be able to stop.

It was a relationship where he had forced marriage by taking advantage of the woman’s weakness, without getting to know each other or opening their hearts.

He knew it was too late to turn back.

Nevertheless, he wanted to properly go through those steps that some might find cliché.

Holding the other in one’s heart, thinking of them and being unable to sleep from excitement, smiling just by seeing them, sometimes being cutely jealous, loving passionately, and deciding to marry – the whole process.

He wanted to let Eun Jae experience all of that in order. He didn’t want to rush.

Whether she understood this feeling or not, Eun Jae held onto Sun Woo’s arm tightly with a plaintive look in her eyes, not letting go as he tried to move away.

“Don’t go.”

Sun Woo silently gazed at the woman’s eyes, which were trying their best to stay open despite being half-closed.

“Don’t go.”

The power of those eyes was tremendous. The heat he had just managed to cool was rising again at those words.

“Can’t you just stay beside me?”

Was she innocent, or pretending not to know? A curve reappeared on Sun Woo’s lips as he caressed Eun Jae’s drowsy eyes.

“I don’t think I can just stay still beside you.”

“Then what?”

Is this what they mean by a newborn puppy not being afraid of a tiger?

He might suddenly turn into a ferocious beast and pounce on her, but the woman didn’t seem to realize the seriousness of the situation at all.

“So fearless.”

“……”

“Don’t trust me too much. All men are the same.”

What should he do with this newborn puppy who was charging in without realizing he might be a tiger?

“Especially in front of a pretty woman like you.”

His deeply curved lips came down again and warmly overlapped Eun Jae’s.

“Ah……”

It was a pain she had never experienced before.

The feeling of her whole body shattering into pieces.

The feeling of a dull pain piercing through her head.

Indescribable pains rushed in all at once. Eun Jae writhed in the unfamiliar pain that washed over her.

Whether the alcohol was wearing off or not, the hangover headache persisted tenaciously. Eun Jae pressed her throbbing temples firmly and slowly opened her eyes.

Was she not fully awake yet?

Through her lifted eyelids, she could see a man sleeping soundly. Eun Jae snorted with a look of disbelief.

“What a vivid dream.”

Eun Jae muttered to herself as if complaining.

Even the scent that always came from the man was perfectly recreated. Grumbling, Eun Jae pulled the blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes again. Perhaps due to excessive drinking, her eyelids felt especially heavy today.

Despite that, she had slept really well. It felt so warm and cozy that she didn’t want to leave. It was similar to falling asleep in her father’s arms when she was young.

The man in her dream was more captivating than she had imagined. When he looked down at her with a face that seemed about to devour her, she felt like she would stop breathing even in her dream.

Danger, run away.

The red warning light kept flashing incessantly, saying a tidal wave would soon engulf her. Yet she didn’t want to leave his embrace. She wanted to be buried in that tidal wave. It seemed like it would be fine to be swept away together like this.

Eun Jae’s spine chilled as she slowly opened and closed her eyes.

‘What? Why am I here?’

The space she had seen when she opened her eyes earlier was unfamiliar.

No, it was a space she had seen once before, or more precisely, had entered before.

As soon as she realized this place was the man’s space, the man she thought was an illusion was still clearly filling her vision.

It wasn’t a dream.

The man in front of her was real.

‘I’m crazy, I’m crazy. How much did I drink?’

No matter how hard she tried to recall how she got home, nothing came to mind. The more she tried to remember, the more her throbbing headache intensified.

She had drunk because she was upset, and from the second and third glass onwards, all her memories had turned into blank sheets of paper as if erased.

More than that, the biggest question was why she had fallen asleep in this man’s room, and why she was lying side by side with this man on the same bed.

“I’m really going crazy.”

Eun Jae murmured in a voice so small only she could hear, and felt her own body under the blanket.

Fortunately, it seemed she was fully clothed, and a sigh of relief escaped without her realizing.

‘Nothing happened, right? Seriously, Ji Eun Jae, you should just die.’

She sighed deeply, pondering how to escape. Just then, Sun Woo suddenly stirred, and Eun Jae was startled and quickly closed her eyes again, pretending to be asleep.

“So. What did you think I would do, letting a man sleep next to you?”

Sun Woo’s voice was full of playfulness. But Eun Jae didn’t realize it. Her body just stiffened from the awkward situation and the man’s voice that was too close.

How could a voice that just woke up be so beautiful?

There was something she had vaguely thought about the man. The imagination that this man would look cool even when he just woke up in the morning.

It was no different from what she had imagined. The problem was that he was cooler than she had imagined.

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

At his teasing, tapping her shoulder with his finger, Eun Jae let out a long sigh with a feeling of resignation and slowly opened her eyes.

Then her eyes met Sun Woo’s, who was lying next to her. She quickly turned her head and fixed her gaze on the ceiling.

“N-no. I just woke up.”

The stuttering, the wandering eyes.

She was clearly flustered. Sun Woo looked at her as if she was cute, then chuckled and replied, propping his arm behind his neck.

“If you say so.”

“R-really! I was just about to wake up!”

Eun Jae jumped up and denied it in response to Sun Woo’s words. Still, Sun Woo replied indifferently, as if he couldn’t believe it.

Feeling it wasn’t working, Eun Jae suddenly threw off the blanket and got up from the bed. She unnecessarily ran her fingers through her messy hair.

Then her eyes met Sun Woo’s, who was leaning seductively against the bed headboard with his shirt unbuttoned to his chest, and even her hand combing through her hair stopped.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

At Sun Woo’s words, Eun Jae’s cheeks turned bright red.

It was now reflexive. Eun Jae, not wanting to show her blushing face, quickly avoided Sun Woo’s gaze and answered.

Why are his buttons undone? He’s always busy, but his body is so good.

“No… It seems like you’ve completely dropped formalities. Well, I don’t mind.”

“You do it too.”

“No, I’m fine.”

While Eun Jae was waving her hands and smiling awkwardly, Sun Woo slowly got up from the bed and approached her in just a few steps.

She clenched her fists tightly on her thighs. The man, who had come close enough to almost touch her, whispered.

“Why, you did it just fine yesterday.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Come on, no way. Me?”

As Eun Jae widened her eyes as if hearing this for the first time, Sun Woo took a step back, seemingly displeased with her answer. He looked at Eun Jae with eyes full of displeasure, tilting his head askew.

Intimidated by that gaze, Eun Jae asked again.

“R-really? Did I speak informally to you yesterday?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Not at all…”

“Not at all…”

Sun Woo’s expression was displeased as he repeated Eun Jae’s words, as if finding it absurd.

“That’s quite a nasty drinking habit.”

“……”

“If you say you don’t remember, that’s it.”

The man’s expression hardened seriously. Is it stranger to say nothing happened when healthy adult men and women slept in one room?

No, that definitely couldn’t have happened. Especially not with this person who doesn’t see me as anything more or less than a contractor!

Eun Jae quickly dismissed the impure thoughts, barely managing to gather her wandering consciousness as she brushed back her bangs.

Sun Woo took another step closer and lowered his lips to Eun Jae’s ear.

“Or did I not meet Ji Eun Jae’s taste?”