Chapter 10
“You really are fearless when you look at it.”
“……Where are we going?”
“Somewhere nice.”
“Where is that?”
Even at Lee-jae’s question, the man did not answer.
Judging by the mood, it did not seem as though he meant to harm her, so she did not ask again.
Privately reassured, Lee-jae closed her eyes. Somehow, her head felt heavier than before. It seemed the alcohol was steadily rising. It was getting hard to endure.
Lee-jae lifted her gaze and met the eyes of the man watching her.
Those black eyes, dark as the deep sea, were fixed on her. Even though their gazes touched for only a moment, she somehow felt a chill run down her spine.
Normally, she would not even have been able to properly look at him because of the pressure this man gave off. But perhaps because of the alcohol, she wanted to hold his gaze a little longer.
Just a little more.
He was a man with eyes so cold they almost stung.
How could there not be a trace of warmth in a gaze like that? In its own way, that was fascinating too.
Thinking that even the shape of his eyes was so deep, she took in the man’s handsome face once more.
His face really was handsome. No one could deny that.
She had felt it earlier too, but how could the bridge of his nose be so high?
A sudden urge came over Lee-jae to reach out and touch it. Her gaze had just fallen to his closed lips when she spoke.
“……There’s something I’m curious about. Why did you support me back then?”
One end of the man’s eyebrow lifted. He looked at her as though asking why she was suddenly curious about that. He seemed slightly displeased.
“After my dad died, you suddenly appeared and helped me, and you got rid of the people who were tormenting me too.”
“I did that, for you?”
The man’s low voice held an arrogance that seemed inborn.
“Did you k*ll that criminal who used to live in our neighborhood?”
“Taek, did you k*ll him?”
“If you give the order, I’ll take care of it.”
“You heard that, didn’t you? He says he hasn’t been killed yet. He’s probably living with something wrong with him somewhere.”
Do-geon brushed the back of his hand over Lee-jae’s left cheek, which had been bothering him strangely for a while now. They had said she came out of Professor Seo’s house crying, and her cheek was red.
As if the cheek she had been struck on hurt, Lee-jae’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Do you want him killed, Baby?”
He asked in a languid tone. It carried the nuance that if she wanted it, he could do it right away.
It felt as though if she nodded here, he really would k*ll someone at once, so Lee-jae hurriedly shook her head.
“N-no, don’t k*ll him, how can you turn a person into a bloody mess…….”
“You make such a fuss even when someone’s trying to save you?”
Do-geon clicked his tongue lowly. Even so, he kept stroking Lee-jae’s cheek with the back of his hand. Her bare skin under his touch was soft.
“If there’s ever someone you really want dead later, tell me.”
“…….”
“You never know, I might k*ll them for you just because I think you’re pretty, Baby.”
At those words, Professor Seo suddenly came to mind.
When Lee-jae hesitated for a moment, he met her eyes directly.
Staring into those eyes like the deep sea, Lee-jae spoke as though entranced.
“If someone’s pretty, do you do everything for them?”
“If they’re pretty, I should.”
At that, Lee-jae rolled her lips inward and bit them.
She knew better than anyone that he was only saying it lightly.
When he said pretty, all it meant, to him, was young and pitiful.
Not pretty as a woman.
Because he thought of her only as a child.
Even when she was young, she had known full well that he looked at her with pity in his eyes.
“Haah…… I should never drink again.”
Lee-jae kept letting out hot breaths.
Her body kept getting warmer too. Maybe it was even more so because she was beside this man.
The man’s body heat, brushing over her cheek, was warmer than she had expected. He looked like the kind of person who would not bleed a single drop no matter how deeply he was cut, so that was strange.
That was why the touch of his hand against her skin felt so hot.
The same was true of the strong scent of his cologne.
It made her head hurt even more…… no, did it? It smelled so good she wanted to breathe in more of it.
The man’s cool, clean scent floated through the spacious sedan.
“Hoo…….”
Lee-jae let out a long breath through her pink lips.
When that hot breath touched the hand cupping her cheek, the man’s brow creased slightly.
He placed his thumb over her lips. When he pressed lightly against them, the woman kept letting out warm, soft breaths.
Lee-jae looked at the chest visible through the opening of the man’s loosened black dress shirt.
Did he undo the buttons down to his chest at night because it was more comfortable?
Lee-jae recalled the last time in the hotel room, when he had opened the door for her from behind. The chest that had touched her back had been very broad and firm.
At the sudden thought that she wanted to be held in that embrace, Lee-jae’s gaze blurred.
Tomorrow, she would meet the man she was being forced to marry.
Would she end up being held by a man she did not love, and live the rest of her life that way?
“Executive Director, you know…. may I ask you a favor?”
After being lost in thought for a long time, Lee-jae carefully parted her lips.
“What is it?”
“Well……”
“Baby, when you speak, get to the point.”
Do-geon spoke in a tone as if humoring a child. Unlike when he was scolding the men under him, his voice was rather languid.
“Y-you said if someone’s pretty, you’d do anything for them……”
Lee-jae lowered her eyes because she did not have the courage to meet the man’s gaze. Gulp, she swallowed unconsciously.
First love, first kiss, first time.
Even Lee-jae, who had never had a boyfriend before, had her own romantic fantasies about doing those things with the man she loved. Like in romance films.
Yes, just once.
She wanted her first time to be with a man she loved. Not taken by some nameless man her uncle forced on her.
She wanted her first time to be because she wanted it, with the man she liked…….
“Could you let me sleep with you tonight?”
“…….”
“…… Will you sleep with me?”
With the end of Lee-jae’s question, a strange silence fell inside the sedan.
She could not even bring herself to look up at Do-geon, so she kept her head lowered. The man said nothing for a long while.
After staring intently down at Lee-jae’s reddened face, he picked up the wedding invitation sticking out of the eco-bag beside her.
Tracing Park Jeong-woo’s name engraved inside the invitation with his fingertips, Do-geon gave a mocking laugh.
“No matter how little context there is, don’t you think the timing for making a request like this is trash?”
“……I don’t know. These things between a man and a woman can happen suddenly.”
Lee-jae replied brazenly, then pretended indifference and fussed with her bare nails for no reason. Her fingertips were trembling.
“For a baby, you talk like you know all about men and women.”
She only wanted to do it just once with the man she liked, because it felt so unfair that she was facing a forced marriage next month.
But saying that out loud would be no different from confessing her feelings, so Lee-jae swallowed the words she wanted to say.
“Baby. Do you like me?”
“Y-you’re not bad for someone to do it with just once.”
Heh, the man let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten such a stingy evaluation.”
“…….”
“What should I do, then? I’ve worked too much to have any desire to keep my chastity, I’m not especially tempted.”
When the man called, “Taek,” Taek handed him a cigarette case.
Taek was about to get out from the driver’s seat to light it for him personally, but the man stopped him. Instead, he took the Dupont lighter and lit it himself.
