MR 13

Chapter 13

Jian threw the door wide open and looked around the rooftop room in disbelief.

“Wow! It looks like you really cleaned everything out, unni.”

Just as Heejin had said, the place was spotless.

Once all the clutter had been cleared away, it was actually quite usable. There was a small but clean kitchen connected to the living room, and even a tiny bathroom. There was even a top-loading washing machine in the bathroom.

“Is this all?”

Saheon asked with a faint smile. Somehow, because only his lips were smiling, he looked even more frightening.

“There’s another hidden room, right?”

“There isn’t… It’s a studio apartment.”

“No way.”

“What you see is everything.”

He probably couldn’t believe that a house this small actually existed in the world.

Jian knew because she had been to Saheon’s home herself. This rooftop room was even smaller than the bathroom in the place where he used to live.

“The room is small, but you can use the rooftop, so it feels really open. And it’s not even that hot yet. I’ll see if I can find a chair I’m not using.”

“It’s fine. I’ll try to get used to it.”

Saheon spoke calmly as he cut the price tag off a pair of bathroom slippers.

Jian had put several newly purchased towels into the washing machine in the bathroom and pressed the button. Then, stealing a glance at him, she spoke.

“Um, Director.”

“Yes?”

“I told my sister that you were just a coworker. I thought if I told her about you losing your memory, I might end up having to explain everything.”

“You did the right thing. From now on, just call me by my name while we’re here.”

“Yes. I’m asking for your understanding in advance.”

“Why would you need my understanding? I actually prefer it.”

“…And I’ll pay you back the money.”

“Keep it. It was given to you by a crazy Lee Saheon. The sane Lee Saheon might not give you anything like that.”

“But it’s far too much money. I really don’t think I should accept it.”

This was awkward.

She felt uncomfortable, embarrassed, and even ashamed, as though she had unnecessarily lectured him earlier.

Jian pursed her lips and kept glancing back at him, sighing restlessly. Saheon tore open a toothbrush package and placed it on the sink, then let out a quiet chuckle.

“If it really bothers you that much, I worked hard to earn that money for my wife, so why don’t you give me a kiss to thank me?”

“Director!”

Jian’s face turned bright red as she shouted.

Saheon grinned mischievously.

“You called me Director again. If you don’t want to call me by my name, you can call me oppa. You said I’m older than you, too.”

“I’m just not used to it yet. So please stop teasing me.”

“Okay, honey.”

Though even the tips of her ears were red, her indignant reaction was so cute that Saheon continued teasing her.

Jian, now as red as a roasted sweet potato, bit down on her lip and abruptly stood up.

“…I’ll go downstairs for a moment.”

“Want me to come with you?”

“No. I’m just going to see if there’s anything I can borrow from my sister. It would be nice if she has a pot or something.”

“Okay.”

Saheon obediently nodded, and Jian quickly slipped out of the rooftop room.

Perhaps they had stepped out for a while, because the second floor happened to be empty.

Jian quickly gathered a pot, two small plates, two rice bowls, and some spoons and chopsticks.

Come to think of it, there wasn’t even a dining table or any chairs…

There were more things they needed than she had expected.

I’ll have to discuss it with Manager Choi when she comes tomorrow.

After spending quite some time searching for this and that, Jian finally opened the door to the rooftop room with her arms full of miscellaneous things.

“Director—”

The words died in her throat.

Saheon had fallen asleep while sitting against the wall.

“…He fell asleep.”

Come to think of it, he had only been discharged from the hospital a few days ago. And hadn’t he spent several hours in a car coming down from Seoul that morning?

Jian quietly set the pot and dishes she had brought from her sister’s house on the floor.

She unfolded the blanket that had been neatly folded in the corner and gently draped half of it over Saheon’s knees.

Then she carefully sat down beside him.

Her gaze traveled along the brow bone where traces of his injury still remained, down the sharp bridge of his nose, before finally stopping at the delicate line of his lips.

“Phew…”

A sigh escaped her lips before she even realized it.

His face really was ridiculously handsome, no matter how many times she saw it.

He must be so confident because he could rely on a face like that.

But the man in front of her wasn’t the Lee Saheon she knew.

No. He wasn’t.

The things Saheon said to her were nothing more than the teasing of a twenty-one-year-old man.

And even if there was one percent of sincerity mixed in with it, it was probably only because he was temporarily confused from being ill.

But even if it was all a joke and he meant none of it, when a man with a face like that seriously called her honey or darling, she couldn’t help being shaken.

She was a woman, after all.

…Honestly, it was almost like he was playing with her.

Jian let out a deep sigh and looked away. Just as she was about to stand—

“What are you doing?”

She suddenly met a pair of black eyes that had opened without warning.

“Ah!”

A large hand caught her wrist.

Her heart pounded at the unexpected contact, and the sudden loss of balance sent her tumbling straight into Saheon’s firm embrace.

“You’ve been secretly staring at my face for a while now. Where are you going?”

“…”

“I was waiting because I thought you might give me a kiss.”

“…”

“Since my wife was staring at me like that.”

Their faces were so close that their breaths mingled.

Saheon stopped speaking for a moment, slowly scanning her face before whispering mischievously,

“I’m hard.”

Hard? What is?

“What are you talking about…?”

Jian’s eyes shook violently as her voice trailed off.

When she stared at him as though questioning her own ears, Saheon shamelessly smiled back.

“You know.”

The pounding she felt beneath her palm—

Was it her heartbeat, or his?

Why was it beating so fast?

At this rate, was she going to die?

Just as her thoughts reached that point, the corners of Saheon’s mouth curled up playfully.

“My chest is pretty firm.”

Jian flinched as though she had been burned and immediately pulled her hand away from his chest.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Your heart’s really beating fast, isn’t it? Feels like it’s going to burst. And it feels like something down there might burst, too.”

Only then did Jian realize what she was sitting on while she was in his arms.

“……!”

The thing beneath her suddenly grew noticeably larger, as though it had a will of its own.

Jian recoiled in shock and hurriedly scrambled out of his arms.

Seeing the panic in her wildly trembling eyes, Saheon burst into a wicked laugh.

Jian dropped to her knees on the floor and pressed the back of her hand against her burning face, deliberately putting on an angry expression.

“What on earth is wrong with you?”

“I’m the one who’s curious. Why am I like this, exactly? Don’t you know, Ms. Jian?”

“If you don’t know yourself, how am I supposed to know, Director?”

“Saheon.”

He corrected her in a low voice.

“I told you to call me Saheon.”

“…”

Jian was momentarily speechless. She drew a deep breath and huffed angrily.

Did he really think acting like that would make him scary?

He looked like an angry rabbit without even realizing it.

Saheon rubbed at the corner of his mouth, which kept trying to curl upward, then motioned with his chin as if telling her to continue.

Jian finally spoke.

“Yes, Saheon. If you don’t know why you’re acting like this, how am I supposed to know?”

“Why don’t I know? Who was it that was practically licking me with her eyes while I had them closed? And now that you’ve gotten me worked up, you’re going to pretend you don’t know?”

“Who was staring at you like that…?! And as for getting you worked up, you did that yourself, Saheon! I didn’t do anything! Seriously…”

Why am I even having a conversation like this with this man?

Jian fanned herself with her hand in disbelief and avoided his gaze.

Saheon stared at her bright-red neck and let out a hollow laugh.

“This is driving me crazy.”

He muttered under his breath and rubbed between his brows as though a headache had suddenly come over him.

Then he stared intently at Jian.

The faint smile around his lips slowly disappeared.

“I think, before I lost my memory, I must have been very interested in you, Ms. Han Jian.”

“You were?”

Jian’s eyes widened.

Saheon gave a quiet chuckle.

“Yes. That Lee Saheon—the director.”

“That can’t be…”

“Anyway, that’s what I think. Otherwise, it would be strange that I forgot every other memory but somehow remembered you as my lover.”

“That makes no sense. You and I barely had any contact outside of work. There was no reason for anything like that to happen…”

“You’re pretty, Han Jian.”

“What?”

“Do you really need some grand reason? If you’re attracted to someone and they turn you on, that’s attraction, isn’t it?”

“…”

He was right.

What was so complicated about the relationship between a man and a woman?

When two people were attracted to each other, they went on a few dates, started seeing each other, and eventually fell in love. That was what ordinary romance was.

Jian had never harbored any grand fantasies about love or relationships, either.

But Saheon and she had only ever been superior and subordinate.

A relationship like that simply wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place.

And, most importantly, Saheon wasn’t in a normal state right now.

Jian stared at him for a moment, unable to find anything to say.

Saheon continued.

“Well, maybe I fell in love with you at first sight the moment I opened my eyes in the hospital.”

“No. You’re saying these things because you’re not in your right mind right now.”

“I’m definitely out of my mind. That’s why I’m running my mouth like this because I want to sleep with you.”

“Sleep with me…?”

“What?”

“Do you want to sleep with me?”