Han Seo Yeon walked to Seong Jun’s room with a worried face. She lightly knocked on the door and waited for Seong Jun’s response.

“Seong Jun? Is something wrong?”

But there was no answer from Seong Jun. After hesitating, Seo Yeon carefully pulled the handle. And her eyes widened at an unexpected sight.

“……!”

Seong Jun was shirtless, perhaps in the middle of changing clothes. His toned upper body, sculpted by exercise, came into view.

With each breath, his well-defined muscles moved in unison. Her cheeks flushed of their own accord at the sight of his body, more perfect than she had imagined.

Frozen in place, blankly staring at Seong Jun’s body, Seo Yeon belatedly realized the situation and turned her head away. Then, as if amused by her actions, a gruff voice sounded right in front of her.

“What are you doing?”

“C-can’t you put some clothes on?”

“After you’ve already seen everything, now you say that?”

“I was just surprised. I didn’t expect you to be undressed suddenly!”

“I guess I need to be careful even when changing clothes in my own room now.”

“Alright, it’s my fault for suddenly coming in. Anyway, please put some clothes on. Put them on!”

Finally, the sound of Seong Jun changing clothes was heard. When Seo Yeon glanced back, she saw Seong Jun had already changed into comfortable clothes.

With his hair down and wearing a casual t-shirt, he looked fresher and younger than usual.

As she stared blankly at this different side of her husband that was rarely seen, once again a gruff voice sounded close by.

“When you’re eager to do it with me, it’s one thing, but now you can’t even look when I take my shirt off? Are you really confident?”

Well, we could do it like before, turning off all the lights in the room and closing the blackout curtains. Even with all visual obstructions, that night when we were sober, my whole body felt hot and dizzy to the point of losing my mind…

Anyway, it was an experience we’ve already had once. The second time should naturally be much easier.

“Of course I’m confident.”

Huh. At Seo Yeon’s unexpected answer, Seong Jun let out a scoffing laugh.

She says she’s confident, of course. Is this really the same person who just moments ago was pleading with her head turned, unable to make eye contact, begging him to please put some clothes on?

But surprisingly, her answer held a strange certainty, as if she had suddenly become a different person.

Seong Jun was curious. Usually so innocent, where did this occasional courage come from?

As he marveled at the young lamb’s inexplicable confidence, Seo Yeon suddenly asked with a worried face.

“Oh right. What was that sound earlier? There was a loud thump. What happened?”

Seong Jun pointed to the floor lamp that had fallen next to the bed. He had accidentally knocked it over with his arm while changing. Seo Yeon exclaimed in surprise and set the lamp upright.

“Why was this fallen over? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see.”

And Seo Yeon approached Seong Jun, grabbing his hands and examining them carefully. Fortunately, even after a thorough inspection, there were no visible injuries.

“Phew.”

Seo Yeon finally let out a sigh of relief after confirming with her own eyes that it was just a simple mishap.

She had been so worried that he might have been cut by an unseen glass shard that her heart felt like it was falling. Seong Jun stared intently at Seo Yeon, as if not wanting to miss even the slightest change in her expression.

“Han Seo Yeon.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s date before we have a child.”

Seo Yeon asked with round eyes.

“……What?”

It seemed that when a person is too shocked, their mind goes blank. Date? Had the meaning of the word ‘dating’ that she knew changed overnight? Her heart sank as if she had just received an unexpected confession from her husband.

Then thump-thump. Her heart started beating as if it had malfunctioned. It was beating so fast that she felt breathless and dizzy.

After being thrown into confusion by Seong Jun’s words for a while, a question suddenly arose. Why? Why did he want to date her? And the question turned into suspicion.

Was he trying to shake her resolve with a casual attitude? First surprising her with a sudden kiss, and now asking to date?

As that suspicion arose, the word ‘dating’ that had seemed sweet just moments ago now felt like a huge trap set by the god of fate. Her excited feelings quickly faded as she snapped back to her senses.

“We’re already married, why should we date?”

At Seo Yeon’s response, Seong Jun’s expression hardened.

“You can’t date after marriage? Who made that rule?”

“Usually people date in order to get married, right? We’re already married, so why bother? What’s the purpose?”

Seong Jun’s expression grew increasingly stern at Seo Yeon’s words.

“I feel like I’m being used.”

“……”

“I feel like I’ve become a tool being used for your wish to have a child.”

Seo Yeon’s expression wavered at Seong Jun’s unexpected statement. What… what did I just hear?

“That’s nonsense. When did I ever t-treat you like a tool?”

“You have. All along.”

Seo Yeon shook her head vigorously.

“Is that why you suddenly got angry yesterday? I don’t know why you misunderstood like that, but it’s really not true. I must have said something wrong.”

“So your conclusion is that it’s all my misunderstanding, but you don’t want to date?”

His brow furrowed deeply. She must not be intimidated by that tone and gaze. After steeling herself, Seo Yeon slowly nodded.

“Yes.”

What she wanted was clear. To have a healthy child, to save Seong Jun. And then a future where all three of them could be happy in their own ways.

She didn’t know what form that would take, as it was a future she hadn’t experienced yet, but at least being swayed by her husband’s capricious feelings was not part of her plan. Not this time. Absolutely not.

“I don’t want to.”

At Seo Yeon’s firm answer, Seong Jun’s gaze turned cold.

“Then I have no intention of going along with your plan either. Of course, I don’t need a child.”

“……!”

Seo Yeon’s face crumpled miserably. Finally, biting her lip hard, Seo Yeon looked at her husband with resentful eyes, and Seong Jun struck at her core.

“That’s a problem, isn’t it?”

Her husband saying such things felt like he was a vicious villain. Seo Yeon slightly frowned. She never imagined he would say he didn’t need a child. She couldn’t even imagine a future without children.

As Seong Jun stared motionlessly at Seo Yeon, who looked aggrieved, she spoke up first after a moment.

“What do you mean by dating, Seong Jun?”

As Seo Yeon asked, half surrendering, Seong Jun smiled triumphantly. It was the answer he had been waiting for. However, quickly returning to a serious face as if he had never smiled, Seong Jun laid out his plan in detail.

“First, we’ll go to nice restaurants for dinner every evening. We’ll watch movies at night, and on weekends we’ll go to concerts you like or visit art museums.”

No way, he’s going to do all that? As Seo Yeon was astonished, Seong Jun’s voice reached her ears once again.

“We should repeat this course at least three or four times. Then we’ll start by holding hands. Hugging. Kissing. And then.”

Saying that, Seong Jun gazed at Seo Yeon. At first, he looked into her eyes, then his gaze lowered. His gaze was fixed on her lips. As he stared with deep, intense eyes, she felt a tingling sensation all the way to her toes.

“I’ll embrace you. For a long time.”

“……!”

Meeting Seong Jun’s passionate gaze, Seo Yeon thought her husband might kiss her at any moment. She couldn’t help but think so. It was the same look she had seen when he suddenly kissed her lips unexpectedly before.

But contrary to Seo Yeon’s expectations, he didn’t suddenly move in to kiss her.

“Do you agree?”

Rather, with a cool face like a businessman making a deal, he demanded an answer from her.

What on earth was I imagining?

Feeling awkward for having such inappropriate thoughts when her husband had no such intentions, Seo Yeon quickly nodded with a reddened face.

“Yes. If that’s what you want, let’s do it. I understand.”

At that, Seong Jun’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.

“Good. The deal is sealed.”

“Then can I leave now?”

“Go ahead.”

As soon as Seong Jun gave permission, Seo Yeon said a brief goodnight and turned away. Only after Seo Yeon disappeared from view did Seong Jun let out a pained sigh.

“Haah.”

It was a deep sigh that seemed to rise from the depths of his body.

When Seo Yeon first entered the room, he had felt resentful towards her.

Her face looked pretty when she said she had worked hard to cook for him, her bright smile at trivial things was lovely, and his body almost moved before his reason could catch up.

If they had stayed in the same space a little longer, he probably would have grabbed his wife and kissed her.

He wasn’t originally an impulsive person. But for the past few days, as if possessed by a ghost, he had been acting differently than before.

Whenever he discovered a new side to the wife he thought he knew, he wanted to talk to her more, couldn’t take his eyes off her, and wanted to imprint his existence on her.

And sometimes, like today, he was overwhelmed by an intense urge to hold her.

And when he tried to avoid the situation, only to have his wife lingering in front of him again, negating his efforts, it felt like torture.

After proposing to date Seo Yeon, who asked with worried eyes if he was hurt anywhere, he even felt uncharacteristically anxious in case she might ultimately refuse.

Fortunately, he was able to get her permission by resorting to what was almost blackmail. Seong Jun had no intention of letting this opportunity, which had come for the first time, slip away.

Because he realized that the excited feelings of wanting to know her when he first met Seo Yeon were still the same now. Now he wanted to become a real couple, not just a couple in name only.