Chapter 5
At the same time as the man’s sneering words, a heavy silence fell over the room.
Jeong-woo froze on the spot, and the assemblymen only watched Beom Do-geon’s mood.
The man who had shattered the warm, friendly atmosphere in an instant met Lee-jae’s eyes with his characteristic arrogant gaze.
At that moment, Lee-jae’s head swam. Her body had already not been in good condition, and with the added tension, her dizziness became worse.
“Lee-jae, are you okay?”
Jeong-woo asked carefully.
“I need to go to the restroom for a moment…….”
Lee-jae left the room. She could feel Do-geon’s gaze following her, but she did not show it.
She had reached her limit. The filthy glances the other assemblymen were slyly exchanging over her. And the face of Professor Seo, insulting her parents. She did not want to face it any longer.
Only afterward did shame come over her. The fact that she had sat still in a place like that without saying a word, because she was afraid of the violence that would come later that night.
Lee-jae limped down the hallway toward the restroom. She wanted to hide anywhere at all.
But unlike her urgent heart, her damaged ankle would not cooperate.
“Haah…….”
Bracing both hands on the sink, she let out a sigh.
Her body was burning with heat. It seemed she really had to go home now.
After quite some time, Lee-jae came out of the restroom. She ran into Do-geon, who was coming back into the hallway, likely after smoking on the terrace.
It was just as Lee-jae, barely holding herself together, was trying to move toward the elevator.
She was blocked by a polished dress shoe.
At the unmistakable rush of that deep musk scent, Lee-jae steadied her breathing for a moment.
“……Please move.”
Lee-jae said it with the faintest lift at the corners of her mouth. Even in the middle of her dizziness, it was the most courtesy she could manage.
Do-geon fixed her with an arrogant gaze. Just like at the blind date when he had asked whether she really thought she could marry a bastard like him.
“Baby, why do you smile so easily?”
“What?”
“You smile brightly even when they say your parents were vermin bastards.”
“…….”
“You smile brightly even when they say your ankle is wrecked and you can’t even earn your keep anymore.”
His heavy voice, pressing down on her chest, was unmistakably mocking.
Lee-jae’s eyes trembled faintly. Perhaps because of the tension she always felt whenever she faced this man, her head throbbed even harder.
“So you don’t even have any pride.”
Ah, this is strange.
Lee-jae’s vision began to blur little by little.
“Move…….”
At the words that slipped out sounding almost too blunt, the man’s brow rose, and only then did she barely continue.
“Please…… move.”
She saw the man’s striking features gradually tilt toward her.
Right then, her vision spun, and Lee-jae lost consciousness just like that.
* * *
At the very moment she was about to collapse, Lee-jae’s body was lifted lightly.
Slung over one of the man’s shoulders like baggage, she was carried somewhere, and before long she was laid down on a soft, warm bed.
Unlike the storage room, the temperature of the room was warm too.
Not long after, the inside of her wrist was pricked by a sharp needle. It was an IV.
When she moaned in her sleep that it hurt, someone clicked their tongue as if scolding her.
Much time had passed.
“Mmm…….”
As Lee-jae pulled the soft blanket closer around herself, she opened her eyes.
It felt as though she had slept deeply for the first time in a very long while. It had been so long since she had slept somewhere this warm that she almost did not want to wake up ever again.
Lee-jae stretched, then confirmed that this was not the storage room and abruptly sat up.
“Where am I?”
Looking out the window, she saw the wide night view of the Han River.
Had she only just woken up after collapsing earlier?
Lee-jae hurriedly looked for her phone, then caught sight of her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window and widened her eyes.
“Ah.”
She bit her lower lip out of habit, then frowned.
A stinging pain shot through her lip, and when she touched it, it smarted. It was swollen badly.
Finding it strange, Lee-jae picked up the phone on the table. Jeong-woo was calling.
She answered quickly. His urgent voice poured out at once.
―Lee-jae, where are you? Where are you? Why haven’t I been able to reach you for days? After what happened that day, you…….
At that moment, the bedroom door swung open. Startled, Lee-jae turned around.
Jeong-woo’s voice was still coming through the phone.
“Come out.”
He was a very tall man. One of Do-geon’s subordinates.
Lee-jae did not understand what was going on and hesitated, and he urged her on.
“He’s waiting.”
In the end, Lee-jae told Jeong-woo not to worry and ended the call, then left the bedroom. She saw Beom Do-geon sitting on the sofa, lazily smoking.
“Baby, did you sleep well?”
At the man’s casual way of addressing her, Lee-jae swallowed dryly.
“You slept a long time. So deeply you wouldn’t have known even if someone had carried you away.”
He exhaled smoke. The pale smoke drifted over the man’s handsome face.
“It’s been 46 hours. You took over my bed and didn’t wake up once.”
Lee-jae’s eyes widened as she touched the screen of her phone. Just as the man said, the date had really changed.
How many hours had she slept without waking? Then had she been here with this man the whole time?
“Why didn’t you wake me up…….”
When Lee-jae looked flustered, Do-geon lazily tilted his head.
“It seems you don’t remember throwing up and making a scene. I was going to strip you and kick you out, but you looked pitiful, so I let you stay.”
Lee-jae bit down on her lip again out of habit, then let out a small groan. For some reason, her lip was badly swollen.
“……Do you happen to know why my lips are so chapped? Did I get hurt when I collapsed? They’re really swollen.”
“Ah, that.”
Do-geon made a soft sucking sound through his teeth as if he knew something.
Lee-jae waited for his answer. He made an expression as if he might tell her, then shook his head.
“Who knows. You kept biting them in your sleep. Maybe you had a nightmare.”
“In my sleep? Then…….”
“I lent you one side.”
“What, you don’t mean we kept sleeping in the same bed the whole time…….”
“It’s my bed, so I use it. Sit down first.”
Do-geon crushed out his cigarette in the ashtray and jerked his chin toward the sofa in front of him.
“I think I should go home.”
The man’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
“It’s not like I need to force you to your knees before you’ll sit.”
Lee-jae flinched at the man’s cold voice. Come to think of it, because she had slept deeply for the first time in ages and felt much better, she had relaxed too much.
When it came down to it, Beom Do-geon was someone everyone feared, and even Professor Seo watched his every move.
“We should feed you a proper meal, Baby.”
Do-geon gave the order to one of his subordinates.
Before long, a large tray carrying a full spread was brought in through the hallway.
Lee-jae’s eyes widened when she saw the table set before her with all kinds of dishes from land and sea and everything in between, from abalone porridge to sea urchin seaweed soup, salmon steak, braised short ribs, and more.
“What are you doing? At least eat out of respect for the person who prepared all this.”
“You want me to eat all of this?”
Do-geon put a spoon into Lee-jae’s hand.
“I was told to feed you a proper meal, Baby.”
“What?”
“That your nutritional state is a mess. The doctor said so before he left.”
“Ah…….”
It was not all that surprising. Professor Seo and his wife often withheld food from her at the slightest thing.
“Is there really anyone these days who goes without eating?”
He asked as he swept his gaze over Lee-jae’s thin arms and legs. She looked as though she might snap in half at any touch.
“At this rate, do you think you’ll be able to marry a mister like me?”
“…….”
“If you get any skinnier, will you even be able to last in bed?”
Seeing the man deliver such blatant remarks with a dry expression, Lee-jae’s face flushed hot.
The man’s gaze lingered on Lee-jae’s faintly reddened cheeks, then he nodded for her to hurry and eat.
Was this what people called a royal feast? Dried yellow corvina, pine mushroom dishes, even octopus hot pot with plump octopus in it.
Seeing the table crowded with food, Lee-jae swallowed hard.
Ever since her grandmother had been hospitalized, it had truly been a very long time since anyone had told her to eat.
Was it because she had not been eating well for several days? Or because she had slept deeply in a warm place for the first time in so long? She was starving.
“……Then thank you for the meal.”
Lee-jae glanced cautiously at Do-geon, then put a spoonful of abalone porridge into her mouth.
An involuntary gasp of admiration escaped her. The porridge was somehow softer and richer than anything she had ever eaten before.
Lee-jae started taking one dish after another, beginning with the braised short ribs, eating foods she normally never got to try.
“It’s so good…….”
When both Lee-jae’s cheeks puffed out full, Do-geon’s cold expression loosened a little.
“Eat slowly. No one’s going to take it from you.”
Around the time Lee-jae had finished her meal, a hotel employee came in and set down teacups.
She looked back and forth between the coffee placed in front of Do-geon and the cocoa placed in front of herself.
At the moment she was feeling a little puzzled, he spoke as though coaxing her.
“You won’t grow taller.”
Lee-jae turned a dumbfounded look toward Do-geon.
“I don’t even like cocoa anymore…….”
She had only liked it when she was little. Since becoming an adult, she had always preferred iced Americanos.
Besides, how was an adult going to grow taller?
Realizing once again just how much of a child she looked like to this man made her chest burn for no reason.
“Baby, you like sweet things.”
He motioned for her to drink it after she finished the rest of her meal.
When Lee-jae only held the spoon as if her appetite had suddenly dropped, his eyes narrowed.
“If you finish all your food, I’ll give you candy.”
“…….”
“Ice cream?”
With Lee-jae continuing to glare at the food as if it were her sworn enemy because of the constant treatment like a child, he looked into the air for a moment as if thinking, then said,
“Then should I buy you a strawberry whipped cream cake?”
