He Doesn’t Even Groan Once
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong—
“Meow, meow, meow.”
The continuous sound of the doorbell was joined by a cat’s loud crying.
“I know! I’m coming, I’m coming!”
After quickly finishing his shower, Woo-gyeol headed to the front door. The snow-white cat, Jasmine, who had been meowing along with the bell, followed behind him, her tail swaying gently.
“Ah!”
Without thinking, Woo-gyeol opened the door and let out a short scream. Jae-ho was standing there, pressing his blood-soaked shoulder with one hand.
Jae-ho gave a faint smile at Woo-gyeol, who stared at him with wide eyes.
“Have you been well?”
“Hey, Kwon Jae-ho! What the hell happened to you?”
“It’s a long story. I pressed the pressure point, so the bleeding stopped. Just disinfect the wound for me.”
“You’re insane!”
Even while scolding him, Woo-gyeol hurried back with a medical first-aid kit and settled down in the living room.
“This won’t do. I’ll have to stitch it.”
He looked seriously at the wound on Jae-ho’s shoulder.
“There’s no anesthesia, so it’ll sting. Bear with it.”
Taking out the medical tools, Woo-gyeol skillfully began stitching the torn flesh. As the needle pierced his skin, Jae-ho bit his lower lip and frowned.
“Seriously, you’re tough as ever.”
Woo-gyeol muttered while glaring at him.
“I’m stitching you up without anesthesia, and you’re not even making a single groan.”
It almost sounded like he wanted to hear Jae-ho cry out in pain. Jae-ho closed his eyes and slowly exhaled to endure it.
After a moment, a low, slightly locked voice came out.
“What kind of doctor doesn’t even keep anesthesia at home…?”
“Hey, I’m only a doctor at the hospital. At home, I’m just a butler. Right, Jasmine?”
Woo-gyeol turned to the cat stuck closely beside him as if asking for agreement. Jasmine’s large green eyes met his.
“Meow.”
But instead of agreeing, Jasmine scratched Woo-gyeol’s arm as if telling him not to get distracted.
“Ouch! Jasmine, you!”
Woo-gyeol glared at her with hurt eyes. Usually, she would hide somewhere whenever a stranger came. But today, for some reason, the moment she saw Jae-ho, she rubbed herself against his leg sweetly.
Did she feel some kind of bond because they were both so white? Even now, she watched Jae-ho biting his lower lip in pain with sympathetic eyes.
“Tch, Kwon Jae-ho. What next? You’re even charming cats now?”
Though Woo-gyeol frowned in dissatisfaction, his hands carefully tied each stitch with great care. After all, he was a highly skilled plastic surgeon. He couldn’t leave even the slightest scar on a wound that had passed through his hands.
Especially not on Kwon Jae-ho’s flawless, perfectly white skin. As a plastic surgeon, that was absolutely unacceptable.
“You should’ve gone to a hospital first instead of coming here covered in blood.”
“For just one or two stitches? Why bother going to a hospital?”
“Hey, diagnoses are made by doctors, not patients. And if you stitch this carelessly with just one or two stitches, it’ll leave a scar later.”
As the pain slowly became bearable, Jae-ho opened his eyes and looked at Woo-gyeol. Feeling his gaze, Woo-gyeol stopped stitching and turned his head toward him. The moment their eyes met, a faint smile appeared on Jae-ho’s lips.
“That’s why I didn’t go to just anyone. I came to the best.”
“Oh please, you sure talk nicely.”
Though he grumbled, the corner of Woo-gyeol’s lips lifted slightly at being called “the best.”
“Anyway, what was so urgent? Did you go straight to Arcadia right after getting off the plane? What did you think after seeing it yourself?”
The Arcadia complex shopping mall project was planned not by Executive Director Kwon Woo-sik, but by Vice Chairman Kwon Jae-woong. If he hadn’t stepped down so early, Arcadia would have been his masterpiece.
For that reason, Jae-ho had carefully watched the land selection from the beginning. The area had always had serious traffic problems, and after the mall opened, the congestion became several times worse. Yet no media outlet raised any issue about it.
The city that easily approved the construction permit, the silent media—someone was clearly pulling strings behind the scenes. And he had a rough idea who that someone was.
“On the outside, it’s flashy. But inside… who knows. It felt like it was struggling hard to look strong. Still, maybe it’s become more mature than before.”
Woo-gyeol’s eyes twitched at the word “mature.” They were talking about a building—why use a word like that?
“What do you mean? We’re talking about the same thing, right?”
Jae-ho neither confirmed nor denied it. He just curved his lips slightly.
He had gone straight from the airport to the mall, just as Woo-gyeol said, because he wanted to see Arcadia as soon as possible. But when he arrived, Min-woo appeared with his aides and blocked his way, somehow having already received word.
Min-woo greeted his cousin with a formal smile and a guarded attitude.
That reaction was expected. But even Jae-ho was surprised by someone he saw there.
…Yul-ri?
The girl who once cried in front of him, saying he was the only thing left from her mother, was now standing before him ten years later as a fully grown woman.
He had heard about Yul-ri and Min-woo’s marriage not long ago. Originally, Min-woo had been in talks to marry the eldest daughter of the Taemin Group for smoother group mergers. But Min-woo had stubbornly insisted that it had to be Chae Yul-ri.
Min-woo, who always bowed his head before Chairman Kwon, seemed unwilling to compromise on marriage. Jae-ho had already known through informants that Min-woo lingered around Yul-ri. At first glance, they looked like ordinary friends, but anyone paying attention could see Min-woo was completely in love with her.
Min-woo was one thing. But Jae-ho couldn’t understand Yul-ri’s decision. She used to strongly oppose arranged marriages. Why? Did she actually like Min-woo?
The answer came the moment he reunited with her.
The girl who once climbed over walls in a skirt just to see him, whose small face once showed countless emotions at once—she was gone.
He didn’t know what had happened all these years, but Yul-ri now wore a dry expression, as if all emotions had been washed away. Whether it was an arranged marriage or anything else, she looked completely indifferent to the world.
Maybe that was why, after seeing her, he couldn’t focus on the mall’s structure at all. Even when the fire alarm rang and chaos broke out, his gaze stayed fixed on only one place.
But what did it matter now?
“She’s about to marry Min-woo…”
A bitter smile escaped Jae-ho’s lips.
She was now on the same boat as Kwon Min-woo.
To him, that made her nothing more than an enemy.
An enemy that must be sunk.
As he went over the events of the day, Jae-ho’s eyes slowly darkened.
“…By the way.”
After finishing the stitches and putting medical tape over the wound, Woo-gyeol asked,
“Are you really going ahead with the plan?”
“There are no changes.”
The quick reply left no room for reconsideration. Woo-gyeol nodded as if he expected that.
“You must be firm if you dropped everything and came back. Anyway, don’t use your right arm if possible. It’ll ache until tomorrow. Want painkillers?”
“No.”
Jae-ho shook his head while putting his arm into his shirt sleeve. If it was pain he could endure, he welcomed it. It always kept him awake.
After buttoning his shirt, he walked to the window. Outside stretched the busy afternoon scenery.
As always, Seoul looked both changed and unchanged. Like family who felt close yet distant—familiar, yet strangely unfamiliar.
Ring—. Ring—.
When Yul-ri didn’t check her message, Min-woo finally called her.
Should she answer? After hesitating, she pressed the call button as she stepped into the house.
“Hello?”
“Yul-ri!”
Min-woo’s excited voice burst out.
“Where are you now? At the office? Or home?”
“At home.”
She was supposed to go to work after meeting the wedding planner. But she couldn’t go looking like this, so she changed her half-day leave into a full-day leave. Thankfully, her family was out, and the house was empty.
“Are you still upset?”
Honestly, it wasn’t about being upset. She was disappointed that he disappeared and left her alone earlier, but…
“What happened earlier?”
“Well, about that…”
After hesitating, Min-woo quickly explained.
“I got a call on the plane saying there was a problem at the mall. So right after landing at Jeju Airport, I took another flight back. The accident happened because the fire alarm malfunctioned during inspection.”
“……”
Even after the detailed explanation, Yul-ri stayed silent. Min-woo still didn’t seem to realize his biggest mistake wasn’t the Jeju business trip, but leaving her alone in the chaos.
After a while, he added in a discouraged voice,
“Yul-ri, I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you first. I had to shut off the sprinklers. They can only be turned off manually, and I had to give the order myself…”
When his excuses grew longer, Yul-ri cut him off.
“Okay. That’s enough.”
From the beginning, she hadn’t expected much from him anyway. Since he was the top manager of the mall project, maybe that really had been the best decision.
“Aren’t you busy handling the accident?”
“I am, but I still have time to eat. I’ll send a car, so get ready. Let’s have dinner together.”
As Yul-ri’s stiff voice softened, Min-woo raised his voice excitedly.
After hanging up, Yul-ri let out a small laugh. Sometimes he acted like a childish boy, but maybe that made him easier to deal with. He had promised her a free life, and their marriage was a mutual agreement based on what each of them wanted.
So no matter how Min-woo acted, there was no need to care too much.
When she arrived at the meeting place in the car he sent, Min-woo was already waiting for her in the lobby.
“Oh, you’re here?”
He smiled brightly and stepped forward.
But Yul-ri’s gaze moved past him.
Why…?
The man who had made her worry all day was standing behind Min-woo.
She had never expected to see Jae-ho here. She was slightly flustered.
He wore a black sweater with a low neckline, one hand in his pocket, leaning casually against the wall. In his left hand was a glass filled with amber liquid.
Even when Yul-ri appeared, he showed little interest and slowly lifted the glass to his lips. There was no emotion in the way he looked at her.
His dry eyes blinked lazily.
And yet, Yul-ri couldn’t take her eyes off him, as if frozen in place.
Facing her, he slowly took a sip. The drink slid down his throat, his Adam’s apple moving up and down. When he lowered the glass, his moist lips shimmered under the golden light.
It was dangerously alluring. Just looking at him made her throat burn as if she had drunk whiskey herself.
Jae-ho kept his indifferent gaze fixed on her and slightly parted his lips, letting out a long breath.
“Ha…”
The low sound seemed to whisper directly into her ear, even though they were standing apart.
Yul-ri bit her trembling lip.
Her heart pounded, and from deep inside, a strange thrill began to spread.
