Chapter 2
Smack—
A hand, heavy with force, landed across his cheek. Seung-hyuk’s head whipped sharply to the right before slowly returning to its place. His left cheek flushed red in an instant, yet his face remained expressionless.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”
His father’s enraged voice boomed against the high ceiling.
“How dare you sneak around hotels with another woman, a month before your wedding! Chairman Gong’s family already called to cancel the marriage! Do you know what kind of disgrace you’ve brought on us?”
With the same hand that had struck his son, Dong-gi picked up his phone and hurled it onto the living-room table. On the screen was a vivid photo: Seung-hyuk entering a hotel room with a woman.
Someone had sent the photo to Gong Seol-ah’s phone earlier that morning. The moment she received it, the Gong family announced they were calling off the engagement.
“News travels fast, Father.”
Seung-hyuk’s dry reply came as he ran his tongue over the corner of his lips. The metallic tang of blood spread, and suddenly the memory of last night’s heated kiss resurfaced. Oddly, the aftertaste felt sweet.
“And how are you planning to fix this? You’ll get down on your knees if you have to. Beg Seol-ah for forgiveness!”
His father’s voice still thundered with fury.
“Then just call off the wedding.”
The words left Seung-hyuk’s lips as if it were nothing. Dong-gi’s face turned a livid red.
“You—you dare say that!”
But Seung-hyuk’s thoughts were elsewhere. Not on who had taken the photo, but on the woman who had vanished.
He gave a hollow laugh. To think I’d be wondering about her in a situation like this—maybe I really have lost it.
The woman had disappeared.
When he woke, it was already close to eight in the morning. Reaching instinctively for the other side of the bed, his hand met only cold sheets.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept in so late. His brow furrowed. But what truly unsettled him was that the woman from last night had vanished without a trace.
“…Ha.”
A dry laugh slipped out. He raked his hair back with irritation.
A night with a stranger.
That wasn’t him. He was meticulous to the point of obsession, measured to the point of coldness. He never once gave himself freely to a woman whose background he didn’t know. He had grown weary of women chasing his wealth, and had tossed them aside without hesitation.
And yet, despite being a month away from a marriage—even if it was a loveless arrangement—he had done the unthinkable. Perhaps it was for the best that she left without a word.
But the remnants of her lingered, hauntingly vivid. Even after his rational mind returned, his body remembered—the touch of her hands, the press of her lips, the fever of her skin, the trembling sighs that had spilled from her mouth.
He searched the bed, the nightstand, hoping she had left behind a business card or some clue. Nothing.
An unfamiliar unease began to gnaw at him, and just then, his phone rang.
The caller ID: Father. It wasn’t often they spoke, let alone early in the morning.
With a frown, Seung-hyuk answered.
“What is it, this early—”
—“You reckless fool! Do you even know what you’ve done? Get home this instant!”
His father’s roar left him no choice but to head for the family estate. And the moment he arrived, he was slapped hard across the face.
“You think this is just about defying me?”
Dong-gi drew a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
“You think Yul Law Firm is the only match available to you? Plenty of families would kill to form ties with Hyun Hospital. Don’t waste your strength on pointless resistance.”
“My life is worth so little to you,” Seung-hyuk’s brow twisted, “that you think I’d throw it away just to defy you?”
“What did you say?”
“Let me be clear. I was ready to go through with this marriage, as you ordered.”
A bitter laugh left him. His father always dismissed everything he did as nothing more than rebellion.
“But since they were the ones who broke it off, don’t force this on me anymore.”
Without waiting for a response, he stormed out and returned to the hotel.
“Are you saying there’s absolutely no record?”
The clerk at the front desk gave him an awkward look and shook his head.
“Yes, sir. Room 304 was paid in cash, so we don’t have anything else on file.”
She had paid cash. In this day and age, paying a hotel bill in cash? Something about it left him uneasy.
Seung-hyuk realized he wanted to see her again—at least her face.
“Then let me see the CCTV footage.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Someone took a picture of me. I need to know how.”
The edge in his voice made the clerk shrink back.
“I’m sorry, sir. CCTV can only be accessed with police involvement.”
Bang—
His hand slammed against the desk before he realized it. Ignoring the startled staff, he turned away, a strange thirst prickling his lips.
Coming back to the hotel only made the memories sharper. He recalled the exact moment she had stepped into the bar—the way the atmosphere shifted with her presence.
Small, measured steps. The sound of her heels trailing closer set his nerves alight. Without even realizing it, he had wished she would come to him.
Her black off-shoulder dress revealed luminous pale skin, her slender arms and legs dazzlingly white. Long lashes framed half-lowered eyes filled with an air of melancholy. She had been unforgettable.
When she actually sat beside him, his heartbeat surged. And when she ordered the same Lagavulin as him, he lost control and spoke.
“…So you drink whisky often?”
“I like the smoky ones,” she said with a soft smile, her finger tracing the rim of the glass.
When she murmured that she was alone, the alcohol—though barely touched—seemed to rush straight to his head.
He tried to steady himself.
“…You play piano. Or… you used to, didn’t you?”
At his words, her fingers, drumming lightly against the marble table, froze as if burned.
“How did you know?”
“You were tapping the keys.”
She blinked, surprised, then narrowed her eyes with sudden caution, trying and failing to hide it.
“I do play. Why would you think it might be past tense?”
He hesitated before answering—something about her hands had bothered him from the start.
“You’ve had finger surgery. That scar… to a pianist, that’s fatal.”
At once, she lowered her hands beneath the table, her smile faltering.
Perhaps it’s a past she wants to forget, he thought, clicking his tongue. Normally, he would never pry into strangers’ wounds.
“I’m a surgeon. That’s the only reason I noticed. Forgive me if I offended you.”
He offered a brief apology and took a sip of his whisky. Tonight, even the bitterness seemed to melt into sweetness.
Her gaze wavered slightly, then her lips curved once more.
“It’s too good a night to just let slip by.”
She raised her glass.
He leaned in, not wanting to miss a word beneath the music.
“I may regret this tomorrow,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“I…”
Her lips parted slowly, and from them fell words he hadn’t expected.
“…I’m staying in Room 304.”
The air shifted. His hand tightened around the glass. Could she mean what he thought?
Heat coursed down his spine.
“Are you telling me… you want to sleep with me?”
It was a question for confirmation. Her smile deepened.
“Yes.”
As her body leaned softly toward him, his own was already breaking free of reason.
“I want to sleep with you.”
Reason lasted only until the elevator doors closed.
The moment the room door opened, he devoured her lips. Far sweeter than he had imagined.
He pressed her fiercely; every kiss sent sparks through his head and a burning ache below his waist.
She had pretended to seduce him boldly, but in truth, she was clumsy. On the bed, she trembled slightly, eyes filled with something almost tragic. He paused, asking if she wanted to stop—knowing that if he didn’t stop then, he never could.
“Of course not.”
Her swollen lips gave permission, and his last thread of restraint snapped. The only kindness he could offer was to guide her trembling hands to cling tightly to him.
By morning, he had intended to ask her name, her number. Then he would decide what came next. But she had fallen asleep, utterly spent, and he hadn’t the heart to wake her.
The burning passion had finally eased only after he had taken her again and again.
As they lay together, her face stirred a vague sense of strangeness, something he couldn’t place. But it didn’t matter. Exhausted, he held her close and fell into the deepest sleep he’d had in years.
And yet, when he opened his eyes, she was gone. Not a trace left behind.
Seung-hyuk clenched his fist. A one-night mistake should have ended there. So why couldn’t he shake her from his mind?
