Chapter : 14
Ju-hye startled as if struck by lightning and slapped his hand away.
Instead of retreating completely, Dae-hyun only stepped back a single pace.
Ju-hye barely managed to clutch the slipping hem of her clothes.
It felt pathetic that this was the extent of her resistance, but if she didn’t even do this much, it seemed like he would pounce on her immediately.
She could tell from his eyes alone that Dae-hyun meant what he said.
“You’ve always been someone who never even had enough time to work. So how could you possibly manage every day…?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Ju-hye desperately searched her mind for a reason to refuse, but Dae-hyun’s response was firm.
The approaching palm gently brushed aside her hair and stroked down her cheek.
When his large, hot hand rubbed her earlobe, a ticklish sensation spread.
“Day or night… even dawn is fine. From now on, I plan to hold you without caring about the time.”
“And if I say no?”
“Do you really think you can stop me all the way through, when you’re always so busy falling asleep from exhaustion?”
Her face flushed hot for a moment, and then a sharp doubt surfaced in Ju-hye’s mind.
She had always thought that once she fell asleep, he would leave the bed right away—but to think Dae-hyun had been looking at her sleeping face.
It was an assumption she had never once considered.
“You don’t know, do you? Because you usually fall asleep before I do.”
“…!”
“You call my name in your sleep, and even if I just touch your cheek, how red you get, and exactly where and how much… how obscene it all is.”
Dae-hyun let out a low laugh as he pointed everything out, as if he had completely seen through her thoughts.
In the suffocatingly quiet dressing room, only their breathing echoed softly.
“I know everything, and you know nothing.”
“Mr. Dae-hyun.”
“That’s what drives me crazy, Ju-hye.”
The sound of his tie hitting the floor seemed like a starting signal as Dae-hyun lunged at her.
Like a hunter, he swiftly hooked her waist and pressed their bodies together in one motion.
Ju-hye raised her hands to his shoulders again, but he easily subdued her feeble resistance and lowered his head deeply.
“Ah!”
The sound of him biting down on her earlobe sent shivers all the way to her fingertips.
Suddenly her vision spun, and Ju-hye was dragged into the bathroom in his arms.
As she tried desperately to push him away, she must have hit the faucet—cold water poured down over their heads.
Through Ju-hye’s thin dress, now soaked in an instant, her bare skin faintly showed.
“Don’t! Don’t do this…!”
“If you hit me this weakly, it sounds like you’re asking for more.”
No matter how much she beat at his shoulders, it was useless.
If anything, it seemed to excite him more, and he bent down even lower.
Ju-hye’s legs, barely perched on the edge of the bathtub, were forced apart in an instant, and a vivid heat touched her sensitive skin.
“Look at this.”
“……”
“Even now, can you still say you’re refusing?”
The shame of having her body betray her so honestly set her whole being aflame.
Ju-hye panted helplessly and scratched wildly at Dae-hyun’s back.
It was laughable that this was all the revenge she could manage against him right now.
[Unni, do you happen to have time today?]
Ju-hye stared at the message she had just sent and fidgeted with her fingers for no reason.
The more nervous she became, the colder her hands felt.
When she touched her lips with her fingertips, they were warm, making the chill in her fingers feel even more pronounced.
“Please…”
Ju-hye startled at her own muttered words and opened her eyes wide.
From the moment she thought she wanted to talk to Ju-young, she had been waiting for Dae-hyun to leave for work.
Even though her whole body still ached from him biting and nibbling at her last night, she couldn’t just stay still.
The one saving grace was that Seo Dae-hyun seemed to have at least a shred of conscience left—he never went all the way without Ju-hye’s consent.
It was quite contradictory that he acted as if pregnancy were the solution, yet never actually created the possibility.
Thanks to that, Ju-hye worried less about what would happen if her period suddenly stopped.
‘It’s irregular as it is—if I stress over it more, that’d be a disaster.’
Even normally, when she got sensitive or stressed, she sometimes skipped a month or two.
With how often she’d been under stress lately, it would probably happen again.
“…!”
Ju-hye stepped down from her chair and wandered the living room like someone lost, when at last her phone vibrated briefly.
It was a reply from Ju-young.
[Afternoon’s tough, but I’m okay right now. Yoon-hee just fell asleep. I was planning to drop by the office for the first time in a while—what’s up?]
Ju-young was the CEO of an interior design company, but lately she had stepped away temporarily to focus on childcare.
Perhaps thanks to the systems she had put in place before giving birth, the company ran smoothly even in her absence.
In many ways, Ju-young was someone Ju-hye looked up to as a role model.
‘Though I never hoped she’d be a role model in this area too…’
If she brought up divorce, how would her sister react?
Just thinking about it made her heart race and her stomach ache.
In a way, telling Ju-young about her decision to divorce was like getting a vaccination.
A chance to experience the reaction in advance, before telling their father or brother.
“Hello?”
Without hesitating, Ju-hye called her.
The phone rang only a few times before it connected.
—Hey, Ju-hye. What’s going on?
Ju-young whispered softly, trying not to wake her sleeping daughter.
It was clear how hard she had worked to get the baby to sleep.
“Unni, it’s not hard for you to go out, is it? If Yoon-hee’s at home…”
—The sitter’s here, so it’s fine. What’s going on?
Ju-young’s voice turned noticeably brighter.
She seemed genuinely happy to have some free time after successfully putting the baby to sleep.
“Well… with the arboretum ceremony coming up, I’ve been feeling a bit off. I thought maybe we could grab coffee together… and I also wanted to ask you for some advice about interior stuff.”
Ju-hye rattled off a string of plausible excuses.
She worried Ju-young might find it strange, but as expected, her sister adored her.
—That sounds great!
She responded right away, just from hearing Ju-hye’s hesitant tone.
“Are you sure it’s really okay? You’re not changing your schedule just because of me, right?”
—Of course not. I can go to the office anytime. Where should we meet?
Ju-young’s answer felt like a lifeline dropping from the sky.
Determined to grab onto it, Ju-hye replied earnestly.
“Could you maybe come to my place?”
She wondered how many people Dae-hyun might have planted around her to keep watch.
If someone tailed her the moment she stepped outside and overheard their conversation, it would be dangerous.
In that sense, having Ju-young come to her was the safest and least suspicious option.
“I’ll send Secretary Kim. Ride comfortably.”
—Okay, see you later.
Even after the call ended, her heart continued to pound wildly.
Whether it was because she was about to confess the truth to Ju-young, or because of a faint guilt over deceiving her husband… she couldn’t tell.
‘Let’s get ready.’
Ju-hye stood up, contacted Secretary Kim, and tried to distract herself by cleaning the house.
Looking at the spotless, meticulously organized space made her feel a little better.
She checked every pot on the terrace, wiping dust from each leaf by hand. The Albo Monstera leaves basking in the summer sunlight gleamed pale and green.
About an hour passed.
[Ma’am, we’ve arrived.]
She received a message from Secretary Kim, and exactly five minutes later, the doorbell rang.
“Wow, your place is beautiful.”
True to her profession, Ju-young immediately started examining the furniture and wallpaper as soon as she stepped inside.
Because they hadn’t been able to host a housewarming after the wedding for various reasons, this was her first visit.
“Sit here, unni.”
Ju-hye awkwardly guided her to the table.
Two cups of coffee—one hot, one cold—were set down.
Ju-young grabbed the cold one and gulped it down refreshingly.
“Coffee tastes best when you drink it fast. I can’t drink like this at home. Just when I’m about to take a sip, Yoon-hee always starts crying.”
Ju-hye listened quietly, then swallowed hard.
Only then did Ju-young seem to sense something off, narrowing her brows.
Before the uncomfortable silence could stretch on, Ju-hye spoke first.
“Unni, I…”
It might sound odd, but when it came to divorce, Ju-young was practically a senior.
She had even managed to get divorced successfully under far harsher circumstances than Ju-hye’s.
“I’m thinking of separating from Dae-hyun. Could you help me?”
That was why it felt natural for Ju-hye to ask her sister for help.
