Ah! Our lips touched, they touched!

Contrary to her inner thoughts, Eun Jae couldn’t say a word. Her heart was beating so fast that she couldn’t breathe properly.

With their lips still touching, a few more flashes went off. After that, the photographer said something, but her ears, numb as if filled with water, couldn’t function properly.

This feeling was a first for her.

At that time, she was drunk and only the scene was vivid, but it was hard to remember the sensation.

As something soft and moist touched her lips, her heart raced like crazy. Her face flushed and the world seemed to spin. She felt dizzy.

If just this much contact felt like this, how hot must it have been that day…?

The shutter, proportional to the photographer’s greed, clicked incessantly.

A few seconds that felt like an hour passed, and the man slowly removed his lips. Eun Jae moved her eyes around, trying to avoid the gaze of the man looking down at her.

“Our groom is quite passionate. The last photo is a work of art. Great work.”

The photographer, looking satisfied at the result on the screen, left the spot smiling.

The studio lights brightly illuminating the two turned off, and Eun Jae, finally coming to her senses, raised her head and asked,

“What… did you do?”

Sun Woo, who was smiling silently while looking at Eun Jae, took off his suit jacket while keeping his gaze fixed on her.

That suit jacket fell, wrapping around Eun Jae’s exposed shoulders.

“Let’s go home.”

[This is the timeline separator]

While Eun Jae was washing up, Sun Woo who was spending time in the kitchen came upstairs and found Eun Jae sitting on the sofa with her half-dried hair wrapped in a towel.

With a pile of books on the coffee table, she was turning the pages with her brows knitted, as if stuck on something.

She’s already working so hard.

After indulging his selfish desires using the photographer’s words as an excuse, Eun Jae exuded awkwardness with her whole body during the entire trip back.

Compared to that day, today was nothing, just a graze. He barely swallowed the words that rose to the tip of his tongue.

Does she really not remember?

No, she clearly had a look of remembering. It feels like there’s a setback in his plan to tease her.

“Do it tomorrow.”

You were tired from shooting all day.

“You were nodding off in the car.”

Words different from his thoughts pop out unintentionally.

“I’ll just read a bit and go to sleep. Ah, I got a call from the chauffeur. He said there’s a shoe exchange to be done….”

Just as Eun Jae was about to go wash up, Sun Woo’s chauffeur called.

Saying that the professor would probably be in consultation, he called Eun Jae, and after exchanging simple greetings, the chauffeur asked if it would be okay to pick up the shoes tomorrow.

Following Eun Jae’s question as if hearing it for the first time, the chauffeur’s next words confused Eun Jae.

“The professor said he would just purchase them, but there was an order from above to exchange them for you.”

“The professor seemed very concerned that the heels were all worn out. Were the shoes that were brought again okay?”

On the day she first went to greet her mother, the high heels she wore for the first time had rubbed her heels raw.

She had hurriedly bought band-aids to put on while going out to buy juice, but it seemed she couldn’t hide her gait. It seems he had asked in passing why she was like that.

“Ah, that? I’ll stop by.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll stop by on my way to the hospital tomorrow.”

“Okay, then. It’s at the studio apartment, so come together when you come home.”

“Yes.”

Eun Jae, answering with a smile, fixed her gaze on the book again. Then she slowly turned the page.

“I thought I could make delicious food just by getting a certificate, but that’s not it, you know? It’s about learning the practical skills of a job that requires certification.”

At Eun Jae’s words, the man let out a deflated laugh.

“You said it was a secret.”

“Ah…. I thought you knew from seeing the books.”

Sun Woo raised his eyebrows in affirmation. Shifting his gaze to the piled books, Sun Woo asked,

“Does this certificate require so many textbooks?”

“It piled up as I bought this and that.”

This is for the written test, this is for the practical. And this is what they said would be good to refer to.

As Eun Jae explained, pointing to each book, Sun Woo, looking down at her intently, lifted the corner of his mouth and said,

“I’ve never seen someone who prepares so grandiosely before even starting turn out to be substantial.”

“I bought them because I need them all, you know?”

Eun Jae looked at Sun Woo with narrowed eyes. Sun Woo, meeting her gaze, tapped the book at the very top with his index finger.

“If it were me, I would have only bought this book at the very top. Staying true to the basics-”

The man, saying that much, quietly looked at Eun Jae’s large eyes glaring at him with resentment-filled eyes, and smirked.

That bright smile made her heart sink.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The fierce heartbeat felt like it was pounding on her chest. The man who suddenly got up swept his palm over Eun Jae’s eyes.

“Stop glaring.”

In an instant, everything in front of her eyes turned pitch black. The heat that had filled the man’s palm seemed to transfer to her cheeks.

“I’ll go wash up.”

Her obscured vision became bright again. The man was already gone, but the rising heat and crazy beating heart remained to torment Eun Jae for a long time.

“If it’s going to be like this, you should really become an actress.”

The man’s smile, faithful to his role today as well, makes her heart race again.

[This is the timeline separator]

Sun Woo, who had just come out after washing up, stopped while buttoning his pajamas and coming to the living room. Laughter escaped him unintentionally.

“I knew this would happen.”

Eun Jae, who seemed to have fallen asleep from fatigue, was lying awkwardly, hugging the book she was reading with one hand and the other hanging off the sofa.

Sun Woo, reminded of the first day she came to his house and fell asleep in an uncomfortable position, felt his lips twitch for no reason.

Come to think of it, you lost sleep that day too.

Even though you knew you would suffer the next day if you slept like that, you left me as I was, and that kept bothering me in the back of my mind.

Sun Woo approached the sleeping Eun Jae and sat in a spot where her face was best visible.

Putting down the book Eun Jae was preciously hugging, Sun Woo rested his arms on the coffee table, propped his chin, and gazed at the sleeping Eun Jae for a long time.

“Ji Eun Jae. Sleeping like that puts strain on your spine.”

Soft, steady breathing tickled Sun Woo’s ears.

As the gaze that had been intently watching Eun Jae shifted to her necklace, as if remembering something, he finely cut the tissue placed on the coffee table and twisted it like a thread.

It wasn’t that the necklace was important.

Before the wedding shoot, when the photographer brought the wedding rings and told him to put them on, Sun Woo had an ‘uh-oh’ moment.

We hadn’t gotten our wedding rings fitted yet.

Watching Eun Jae, who comforted the flustered Sun Woo at the photographer’s words and brightly smiled saying she left them behind,

I was already only thinking of tasting your lips then.

Sun Woo, who was smiling recalling what happened in the morning, wrapped the tissue twisted like thread around Eun Jae’s left ring finger. Every action was careful. Tying it calmly, removing it gently.

Having achieved his goal, Sun Woo put the tissue, which had Eun Jae’s exact ring finger size, into the breast pocket of his pajamas and quietly whispered.

It was a voice with no intention of waking her from the start.

“Ji Eun Jae, go inside and sleep.”

“……”

The deeply asleep woman doesn’t answer. After spending some more time like that in front of Eun Jae, Sun Woo lifted her up in his arms.

“I’m doing this for my own comfort.”

So you won’t lose sleep like that time. As if finding it amusing that he was making up reasons and excuses like that to himself, Sun Woo couldn’t easily bring down the corners of his lifted mouth.

After laying Eun Jae neatly on the bed and tidying her disheveled hair, Sun Woo, forcibly suppressing his desire to place his lips on the woman’s red, glossy lips, escaped the room as if running away.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Eun Jae.”

Mi Ran silently looked at Eun Jae, who wasn’t answering after several calls.

What could she be thinking about to not even hear me calling? It made her needlessly worried.

Mi Ran recalled Eun Jae’s future parents-in-law who had visited her a few days ago.

They were an impressive couple who carefully conveyed each word, trying their best to be considerate of her in their simple attire.

Although they had dressed lightly on purpose because of her disheveled appearance from illness, it couldn’t hide their dignity.

They say you know the parents by looking at the child.

It was really as expected, so she felt relieved. Although she knows it’s greed, the fact that Eun Jae is becoming a part of such a family made Mi Ran simply happy.

“Ji Eun Jae!”

Eun Jae, who had been fiddling with the fluffy dried towel for minutes, came to her senses startled by Mi Ran’s call and looked at her.

“Huh? Uh… Mom, what is it?”

“You, mom called you several times.”

“Oh, did you?”

Yesterday’s aftermath was intense. After that incident with the man, she couldn’t focus on anything. Just recalling that scene made her ears hot.

Throughout the call with the chauffeur about the shoe exchange, the questions she wanted to ask lingered on her lips.

Did he really worry about me? Did it really seem like sincere concern? If so, how much did it seem like he was worried?

Why do I get so curious about whether his actions, which may be nothing special, are sincere and how deep they are?

Why do you keep confusing me? Why do you keep making me expect things?

Don’t you know how hard I’m trying not to like you, not to show it?

She knew it wasn’t a feeling she could neatly cut off.

When she cut her heart to empty it, the feeling the size of a fingernail that remained sprouted again, and when she cut it, it defiantly sprouted again.

It’s because of the man who diligently waters the sprouts she cuts.

“What have you been thinking about since earlier?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Eun Jae started folding the well-dried towels, forcing a smile. Mi Ran reached out and snatched the towel Eun Jae was folding.

“It’s 3 o’clock. Go in quickly, don’t match the time.”

“Okay, I will after organizing this.”

Eun Jae stubbornly took the towel back from Mi Ran and folded the towels far from her.

When she was neatly organizing the prettily folded towels in a place easily accessible to Mi Ran, Eun Jae’s phone placed on the bedside table rang.

Glancing at Eun Jae’s cell phone, Mi Ran made a fuss.

“Yoon son-in-law is calling. See, I told you to go in quickly.”

Eun Jae, without even looking at the ringing phone, continued organizing the remaining towels and retorted.

“No. It’s not even time to get off work yet. It’s fine since I’m going to the studio apartment anyway.”

“Leave it and go quickly.”

“Ah, why is he really calling….”

Eun Jae spoke up to there and felt Mi Ran’s sharp gaze, so she quickly corrected her words.

“Why would our Sun Woo call….”

Eun Jae, smiling with the corners of her mouth forcibly lifted, turned around with her back to Mi Ran and answered the phone.

She lowered her voice to the quietest whisper.

“What is it?”

[Do I have to have something to call about?]

“Well, not necessarily, but….”

What reason would we have to talk on the phone for no special purpose?

She desperately swallowed the question she wanted to ask right away.

[Are you still at the hospital?]

“Yes.”

[I should have waited and come.]

The man’s kind words flowed into her ears. Eun Jae lowered her gaze to the watch on her wrist. It was a little past 3 o’clock.

“You got off work already?”

[I had to review a paper for a seminar, and all the scheduled patients were gone, so.]

“Ah….”

[Will it take long? Should I pick you up?]

Expectations rise again at his words wearing the mask of kindness.

It’s difficult. Both my heart fluttering at your courtesy that’s like a habit, and having to deliberately turn away from it.

If I could engrave your words in my heart rather than trying to calculate them,

If you and I had met ordinarily, dated passionately, and loved passionately….

Then a hollow laugh escaped.

Because there was no way for us, who had no common ground from one to ten, to meet ordinarily.

“No, I’ll go soon. It’s right in front of me.”

[Okay, then.]

Why did I have to fall for someone like you?

When I can’t even handle it.

Eun Jae, unable to resist Mi Ran’s urging, had just come out of the patient room and was heading towards the main entrance after getting off the elevator.

Another call came from the man. Eun Jae, stopping for a moment, stood in the middle of the lobby and pressed the call button.

“Yes.”

[7 o’clock direction.]

“What? What does that….”

7 o’clock direction out of the blue?

Eun Jae, looking around, turned her body in the direction he said.

[Here.]

“Huh?”

There stood Yoon Sun Woo, wearing a warm smile that seemed to hold the sunlight pouring through the full-length windows.