It was the lazy gaze of a predator that looked as if it would devour everything at any moment.

Though not forceful, given the situation, the direct gaze piercing down was sufficiently threatening to Eun Jae.

As Sun Woo drew close enough to share breath, Eun Jae snapped back to her senses and pushed against his chest, taking a step back.

“W-wait a moment!”

Despite Eun Jae’s efforts, Sun Woo quickly closed the distance again. His lips curled up on one side as he tilted his head.

“Why, didn’t you come prepared?”

Flushed face, hands visibly trembling even to the naked eye.

Sun Woo almost burst out laughing at Eun Jae’s appearance, but managed to hold it in.

This shouldn’t be happening, but he liked how flustered Eun Jae was. Her wide-eyed bewildered expression was cute, and her intense reactions were amusing.

Just when he thought he should stop, he felt reluctant to end it.

“Y-you misunderstand.”

Eun Jae shook her hands, her face red to the tips of her ears.

These thoughts didn’t just appear overnight. He could somewhat understand her defensive behavior from various misunderstandings piling up,

But that innocent look gazing up at him as if he were some scoundrel felt unfair. No matter how he thought about it, it was very unfair.

Even if I had told her to repay the favor with marriage.

Wait… come to think of it, aren’t I really the bad guy here?

Sun Woo’s hands touched the front of Eun Jae’s robe. Even that small action made Eun Jae’s delicate eyes flutter anxiously.

“Ji Eun Jae, I haven’t done anything yet.”

Eun Jae looked up at Sun Woo with pitiful eyes and shook her head.

“Don’t tremble from the start.”

Sun Woo pulled Eun Jae’s robe closed as much as possible and carelessly thrust it into her hands. Eun Jae’s eyes widened even more at the unexpected situation.

Then Sun Woo’s fingers dug into Eun Jae’s soft nape, pulling out the necklace hidden by the robe.

“Trembling like this just from me getting close.”

Sun Woo laughed incredulously as he let go of the pendant he had been fiddling with and took a step back. It was for Eun Jae’s sake, as her hands were still shaking.

“What? Marital relations?”

“The contract’s second clause said we had to maintain harmonious marital relations… That’s what it said…”

Eun Jae seemed to have regained some composure as she finally replied in a small voice. Sun Woo scoffed at her words.

“When two or more people, things, or phenomena are connected to each other, we express that as a relationship.”

“…”

“The relationship you’re talking about between a man and woman—”

“No, why are you saying things so carelessly?”

Eun Jae was startled even though he hadn’t intended to finish speaking. She looked around hastily and quickly covered Sun Woo’s mouth. Her hastily raised palm pressed against Sun Woo’s lips, making him frown.

Seeing Sun Woo’s expression and recalling the wound on his lip, Eun Jae quickly removed her hand.

“Oh no, does it hurt? …Ah, that’s, I mean…”

Eun Jae’s wrist, which had been pulling away, was caught in Sun Woo’s hand.

“…”

“…”

Their gazes met in midair and an awkward silence fell for a moment. Eun Jae, who averted her eyes first, dropped her head towards the floor.

“What was I going to say?”

“Ah, what did Grandfather mean earlier then?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That, the toad!”

“Ah, that…”

Ah, that? Eun Jae glared at Sun Woo, repeating his words exactly. Many things seemed to be read in Eun Jae’s eyes.

“I’ll take care of that toad myself, so don’t worry about it.”

Sun Woo let go of Eun Jae’s wrist and rolled the nearly packed suitcase. Eun Jae grabbed Sun Woo’s shirt as he was about to open the door and go out to the living room.

What do you mean you’ll take care of it yourself?

“Don’t worry? How can I not worry? Didn’t you hear it was Grandfather’s wish? I don’t think this is an issue we can just brush off, do you?”

“Then, is Ji Eun Jae going to resolve it?”

“…”

“You keep provoking me, but that’s enough. Plans can always change.”

Sun Woo’s gaze, which had been looking into Eun Jae’s eyes as he spoke, slowly moved downward.

“Take your hands off my body and fix your clothes properly.”

“What did you say?”

“Your underwear is showing.”

“Ah!”

Sun Woo chuckled as he watched Eun Jae clutching her wide-open front, then headed for the bed.

“And fix that habit of calling me ‘ajussi’ too.”

“…”

“And fix that habit of always jumping to conclusions.”

Sun Woo picked up one of the pillows lying side by side and gestured towards the bed with his chin.

“Now, you said you wanted to rest. You’ve washed up, so all that’s left is to lie down and sleep.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry and sleep, I won’t come in.”

“I’ll go out and sleep.”

As Eun Jae tried to snatch Sun Woo’s pillow, Sun Woo grabbed both her shoulders and gently pressed her down to sit on the bed.

“Lock the door when you sleep. I might really want to get ahead of myself.”

[This is the timeline separator]

As Yoon Gang arrived home and was loosening his tie, a suitcase rolled up in front of him. The rolling suitcase stopped as it hit the tip of Yoon Gang’s foot.

Yoon Gang sat down casually using the suitcase as a chair and unfastened his cufflinks. Then he asked again about the sudden announcement that had come out of nowhere.

“What’s this about the sea all of a sudden?”

“I just want to see the sea.”

Just as Yoon Gang was about to place the cufflinks on Eun Jung’s outstretched hand, he grabbed her hand and pulled her in.

In an instant, Eun Jung fell into Yoon Gang’s arms. Yoon Gang’s hand under her chin gently lifted Eun Jung’s face.

When Eun Jung’s heated gaze met Yoon Gang’s, he lowered his lips. Yoon Gang’s lips, which had lightly touched hers and pulled away, said:

“I have to stop by a client tomorrow morning. Let’s go another time.”

“Stop by. We’ll come back early in the morning.”

Yoon Gang, who had raised his eyebrows at Eun Jung’s stubborn words, also did not easily give up his will. He answered while quickly unbuttoning his shirt.

“You said Sun Woo came back. We should at least have breakfast together in the morning since I haven’t even greeted him yet.”

Eun Jung frowned and lightly smacked Yoon Gang’s back, not hard enough to hurt.

“Darling, why are you so oblivious?”

Then she started rebuttoning his unbuttoned shirt as she continued speaking.

“Do you really think what Sun Woo wants is to have breakfast with us?”

“…”

“Think about it, it’s their wedding night after registering their marriage today.”

Whether today is their wedding night or not, I’m not sure… Eun Jung trailed off, the tips of her ears turning red.

Yoon Gang snorted at her expression.

“Why are your ears turning red?”

“No, it’s just…”

In an instant, Yoon Gang’s lips brushed Eun Jung’s ear and then devoured her lips.

“Shall we do the rest while looking at the sea?”

[This is the timeline separator]

As soon as the door closed, Sun Woo let out the breath he had been holding. He carelessly pushed the suitcase to one side of the living room and threw himself onto the sofa. He was tired, and his tense body was also relaxing.

He had endured well.

The deeply exhaled breath was hot. Sun Woo closed his eyes and raised his arm over them.

“Ha, is this some new form of torture?”

What does this woman take me for. What? Marital relations? It’s written in the contract?

“She’s really a strange woman.”

Sun Woo, who had been spewing out whatever words came to mind, let out a chuckle between his teeth.

It was because of Eun Jae, who had touched the wound on his lip just now and said the exact same thing as yesterday.

And then, as if she had made a slip of the tongue, she stared at him with a startled face, which clearly showed that she remembered what had happened last night.

“You’re going to pretend not to know till the end.”

That reaction was amusing, and the way she tried so hard to act like nothing was wrong even though her emotions were all over her face was just too cute.

At times like this, is it right to wait, or to push forward?

“You’d have to have dated to know.”

If waiting is the right thing to do, how long should that period be, and if pushing forward is right, what level is appropriate?

One thing for certain is that the whole idea of taking it slow, which he thought would be possible, doesn’t suit him.

What’s the use of deciding not to rush when he gets impatient just standing in front of the woman?

Sun Woo fumbled in his pocket for a while before pulling out a small key. A smile spread across Sun Woo’s face as he looked at the key.

“Even though these all look the same, they’re custom-made so each key is different.”

“What makes this product special is that without this key, you absolutely cannot unlock that necklace.”

Just thinking about her running over with wide eyes to confront him made him laugh already.

“I left without even washing up.”

He just now realized he hadn’t washed up because he hurried out due to the bed that could be laid down with just a light touch, and the robe that looked like it could easily come off if the string was pulled.

Sun Woo thought about quietly going in to wash up after Eun Jae fell asleep, but decided to consider alternatives as he closed his eyes.

“Oh my, why are you out here?”

Sun Woo, who must have dozed off from fatigue, opened his eyes at Eun Jung’s voice.

“I’ll go in.”

“Why is your face so red? Are you sick?”

Sun Woo got up, looking over Eun Jung’s outfit as she looked down at him with concern.

“Where are you going?”

“Your father and I are going to see the ocean and spend the night at a hotel, coming back tomorrow morning.”

“Have a good trip.”

“Have you seen my earrings? I can’t find them anywhere. I wonder if I dropped them here.”

As Sun Woo looked around in the darkness, he saw a red ruby sparkling. He reached out and picked up the earring that had fallen under the coffee table.

“Here it is.”

Sun Woo slowly examined Eun Jung’s earring. It was a familiar earring he had seen before. It was the ear cuff Yoon Gang had first given to Eun Jung, who didn’t have pierced ears.

Did Eun Jae have pierced ears? His thoughts flowed naturally in that direction.

Eun Jung took the earring Sun Woo handed to her.

“I guess the finishing material has loosened from age. I’ll need to get it fixed.”

“The earring has aged a lot, hasn’t it?”

“You remember this? This earring has lived longer than you have.”

“Ask him to buy you another one.”

Eun Jung smiled broadly as she put on the ear cuff. The ruby earring matched beautifully with her red dress.

“Come to think of it, when you and Eun Jae have a baby that’s half like each of you—”

“I told you not to get ahead of yourself.”

As Sun Woo got up tiredly and trudged towards the room, Eun Jung whispered to him.

“Sun Woo, have a good time.”

Creeeak—

The door that hadn’t been used for a long time made a sound as it opened. Sun Woo startled at the noise and checked on the sleeping Eun Jae. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have woken up.

“Anyway, sleep well.”

I told her to lock the door when she sleeps.

“She’s so careless.”

Sun Woo chuckled and gazed down at the sleeping Eun Jae for a long time before turning his steps away.

[This is the timeline separator]

The blue light of dawn not yet faded touched Eun Jae’s eyes.

Perhaps because her sleeping place had changed, she woke from a light sleep. Rubbing her eyes that hadn’t fully opened yet, she fumbled across the white sheets.

Thump, Eun Jae grasped the phone that her hand bumped into and checked the time. As the bright screen illuminated her eyes, Eun Jae furrowed her brow.

5:00 AM.

Eun Jae yawned widely as she checked the time, then quickly looked to her side as she wiped her moist eyes.

On the vast bed, the empty space where a pillow should have been looked unnecessarily wider. The empty place where the man was not seemed to mirror her own heart, making her feel bitter.

Eun Jae ran her hand over the sheets as she fell into thought.

She had misunderstood the man.

She hadn’t meant to, but as various situations kept overlapping, she found herself making judgments and acting on her own without realizing. Even now, thinking about what happened earlier made her face heat up with embarrassment and shame.

If he had been a man who would take advantage of her, if that had been his purpose from the start, he would have accomplished it long ago.

Like when she entered his room on her own, or when she was drunk and out of her mind, or yesterday when she stood before him in light clothing. There had been plenty of moments when she unintentionally provoked the man and anything could have happened.

If he had had such impure intentions from the beginning when making the contract, he wouldn’t have done things like closing her open robe.

“How pathetic, Ji Eun Jae.”

Eun Jae let out a deep sigh and, feeling she wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore, slipped out from under the covers.

　

As Eun Jae came out after showering, she struggled with the necklace in front of the powder room.

It hadn’t really bothered her. It wouldn’t have mattered much if she didn’t take it off. Since the man had put it on her, it wouldn’t come off, so whenever she caught sight of it she would tug at the lock and look for the clasp in various ways, but no solution was apparent.

I guess it’s human nature to want to do something when you can’t, and to want to do it more when told not to.

Thinking she would have to ask how to take it off, Eun Jae carefully opened the door and came out.

As soon as she left the room, she saw the man’s feet sticking out from the end of the sofa.

“Pfft.”

She barely managed to stifle the laughter that burst out, as the sight was somehow both pitiful and funny. As she slowly came around behind the sofa, she could see the sleeping man’s figure at a glance.

How can even his sleeping form be so composed?

“He looks just like a baby like that.”

She had heard somewhere that a sleeping baby’s face looks truly angelic, and this scene seemed to be exactly what that saying referred to.

He looked no different from the child in the photo she had seen yesterday. Eun Jae gazed at Sun Woo’s sleeping features as if examining them one by one.

From the long eyelashes casting shadows, to the straight bridge of his nose, to the lips that aroused a small desire to devour them in one bite.

He was a man who shone even in the darkness just as dawn was breaking.