Chapter : 45
Lying down, she lifted her head—and Daehyun climbed onto the bed, pinning it down with his knee.
“I wondered why you’d dressed up so prettily…”
He shrugged off his jacket and leisurely began unbuttoning his shirt with his right hand. The gesture felt like a prelude to what was about to happen.
Juhye swallowed hard, her whole body tense.
“Was it to meet another man?”
Judging by the way he spoke, he must have seen everything—including her talking with Kang Hyuncheol.
“That can’t be true.”
“Then what was it that I saw?”
“That was just—my brothers introduced him on their own… No, we don’t need to talk about this. Move. Now.”
If he’d wanted a conversation, he shouldn’t have behaved like this.
Juhye struggled desperately to get up, but the weight pressing down on her sleeve kept her from doing anything more than thrashing helplessly.
“If I can’t move…”
“Why did you even come here in the first place?”
“Why do you think, Juhye?”
A large hand slid to the back of her neck and cradled her head. As his fingertips lightly scratched her scalp, a chill ran through her.
“If I have to do something this pathetic just to never lose you again, shouldn’t I?”
His tongue tangled with hers, as hot as his body temperature.
He came at her without warning, their lips crashing together. Juhye twisted her body with all her strength, but it wasn’t enough to escape his firm restraint. The more she struggled, the deeper the kiss became.
From the way he slowly stroked her side, a dull ache spread through her body.
A ticklish sensation crept up from below her navel—unpleasantly welcome enough to bring tears to her eyes.
“Stop… it!”
In the end, unable to endure it any longer, Juhye bit his lower lip.
Ignoring the pain, he sucked and licked her lips thoroughly before slowly lifting his head.
Her face—flushed red as she gasped for breath from the rough kiss—was right in front of him.
Daehyun studied her reaction with an unreadable expression, then the corners of his eyes curved like crescents.
“You look satisfied. That’s a relief.”
“Hah… you…!”
“I feel like I haven’t tried hard enough until now, so I’m trying to make up for it.”
At some point, every button on his shirt had been undone. The fabric slid down from his hands.
His large, solid body moved between Juhye’s parted legs as if invading her space—clearly determined not to let her close them.
“I hope you’ll look kindly on me.”
“Don’t do this. Doing this won’t change—”
Nothing would change, so don’t bother trying.
As she coldly spat out the words, Daehyun froze for a moment.
“Then tell me.”
He lightly bit the tips of her fingers as she tried to push his head away, muttering with a strange expression.
“Tell you… what?”
“What on earth do I have to do to keep you?”
Juhye looked at his face through her increasingly blurred vision, then finally closed her eyes.
Hot tears spilled from beneath her tightly shut lids.
Daehyun’s lips slowly rubbed over the wetness, licking away even her tears.
“Someone like me…”
He pulled her fully into his arms, his chin pressing heavily onto her shoulder.
His dry lips rubbed roughly against her tear-soaked cheek.
Beyond her ragged breathing, his deeply sunken voice rang out with aching desperation.
“If I don’t even have a child… then what right do I have to keep you?”
“……”
“Tell me, Juhye.”
The next moment, Juhye shuddered at the sensation pushing up from below and clawed fiercely at his back.
“Tell me what I have to do to make your heart come back… please.”
Even if only for a moment, she wanted to leave him with a wound he’d never forget.
How much time had passed?
Juhye stared blankly out the window at the pouring rain.
With the sudden start of the monsoon season, she tried to guess the date, but it was hard to be certain.
‘It must still be August, at least.’
She pulled the blanket closer, but it wasn’t enough to warm her body.
What had last night been like?
She recalled Daehyun clinging to her in the bathroom, drenched from head to toe.
Herself, barely perched on the edge, gasping for breath—and her husband looking at her with burning eyes.
—
“Juhye, your hand.”
“Move it… ngh, that’s enough…”
“Let me hear you…”
—
Even the fingers she used to push him away, he bit down on, leaving marks.
With that relentless persistence, Daehyun left traces all over her body.
Every time she looked in the mirror, she looked like she’d been mauled by a beast.
“You’re awake.”
While she was quietly listening to the rain, Daehyun spoke from the doorway.
She clearly heard him, yet didn’t turn her head.
Unbothered, he carried a tray over and sat on the chair beside the bed.
On it sat a bowl of freshly cooked porridge, still steaming.
“Eat.”
“……”
“It’s cooled a bit. It’ll be easy to eat.”
Even when she ignored him, his response never changed.
Doesn’t he ever get tired of this…?
Unable to contain her frustration, Juhye finally turned to look at him.
Even her annoyed glare made him look delighted, like someone who’d found an oasis in the desert.
“Let me out of here.”
Meeting his eyes, she deliberately spoke harshly—something she was slowly getting used to.
“What should we have for dinner?”
Daehyun, too, seemed used to one-sided conversations.
Without answering her, he continued speaking.
“You haven’t eaten since yesterday morning. You must be hungry.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Ah—say ‘ah.’”
When she stubbornly refused, he scooped up the porridge himself and brought the spoon to her lips.
The gentle, coaxing tone—like he was dealing with a child—felt awkwardly intimate.
She’d never imagined Seo Daehyun could be this kind of man, not even back when she’d fallen for him at first sight.
When she turned her head away, the spoon followed.
“I don’t want to eat. My stomach doesn’t feel good…”
“You said you want to leave.”
“If I eat, will you let me go?”
“Someday.”
She was sick of these endless word games.
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to lash out any more cruelly—out of a pitiful sense of sympathy.
Because Daehyun looked just as ruined as she felt.
“You…”
“If you eat, I’ll eat too.”
His eyes—bloodshot from staying awake all night, afraid she might run while he slept—were terrifyingly red.
Since he hadn’t eaten either unless she did, his face looked even thinner.
Every flaw that appeared on that once handsome face made Juhye’s heart ache all the more.
“Do you want me to hate you even more than I already do?”
“I’m already hated plenty. Hating me more won’t change anything.”
And yet, part of her felt a twisted satisfaction knowing she alone could reduce him to this state.
Every time she felt that grotesque satisfaction, she despised herself—and resented Daehyun for making her feel this way.
And finally, she wanted to strangle her own past self for loving him in the first place.
“I’m asking whether you want me to truly come to hate you.”
Only then did Daehyun set the spoon down.
If not for the faint clatter against the plate, she wouldn’t have noticed his trembling hand.
In the suffocating tension, his cracked lips finally parted.
“…Even if you hate me, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Since when had he been looking at her like that?
As if his very breath depended entirely on her—empty, yet desperately clinging.
“As long as you stay by my side.”
That only made Juhye feel more miserable.
What if the reason he was clinging to her this desperately was merely to secretly help his mistress?
Just imagining it made her want to die from the pain.
“Even though I’m a woman who brings you no benefit at all?”
“I told you before—I don’t care about benefits.”
“No, you do care. That’s why you’re doing something this absurd to keep me here.”
Even if he trapped her in this villa, outside he’d probably still be stroking that woman’s hair, worrying about her.
The thought alone was unbearable.
“For the sake of the woman you truly love… shouldn’t you at least not do this to me?”
At her weakly spoken question, Daehyun’s gaze wavered for a moment.
“The woman I love?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. I know everything.”
Daehyun faintly frowned and set the spoon down.
Too late—she realized her mistake, but couldn’t take the words back.
“No—forget it. I misspoke. Just ignore it.”
“A mistake? How could that—”
Trying to avoid his grasp, Juhye stepped down from the bed.
But sudden dizziness overtook her, and she collapsed helplessly.
“Ah!”
Her unsteady body dropped to the floor, knocking into the tray.
The overturned bowl sent porridge spilling everywhere.
She wanted to say she was sorry, but her tongue felt stiff and unresponsive.
Her lips moved soundlessly, panic written all over her face.
“Jin Juhye!”
What’s happening…?
As she tried to think, Daehyun shouted her name.
She forced herself to lift her head again, but her vision darkened as if blackout curtains had fallen over her eyes.
By the time she realized something was wrong, an irresistible drowsiness had already swallowed her whole.
