Chapter 52

Go Dohun had run into her aunt several times when dropping her off at home.

She had even introduced Dohun as the man she was going to marry—so how could she possibly say she was dating him now?

“So you’re saying you can’t get over that wall?”

“Let’s get permission.”

“What… from who? From our Madam Seong Yaein?”

“That’s right. Not right away… but when my broken engagement has faded from memory a bit. Let’s tell her in a way that won’t shock her too much. Let’s get her permission, and then date.”

He let out a sigh, then looked at her with provocative eyes.

“Wait again? How long this time? Another year? Three years?”

“I’ve waited until now, can’t you wait just a little more?”

A second sigh.

He let it fall to the floor, then repeated her words back at her.

“Wait longer after I’ve already waited until now? I’ve hit my limit—how do you expect me to go further? Especially in this state.”

Then Seonghun uncrossed his legs.

His still-unsettled, obvious desire for her was there for her to see.

This time, her sigh hit his feet. Embarrassment and awkwardness were all tangled together.

“Ha… you… you’re a bit much. What are you, some kind of sex maniac?”

She fanned her flushed face, but Seonghun crossed his legs again and grumbled.

“You made me like this. You tempted me when I was behaving myself.”

That was true. She had been the one to touch him first. She had been the one to light his fuse.

“Ah, I don’t know, I don’t know. Not now. I think I should watch my aunt’s movements. When the talk about my broken engagement dies down, when it feels like telling her won’t cause a big shock—then we’ll talk.”

“Fine, let’s do that. I don’t care when we tell her. But… how am I supposed to last until then without holding you?”

Damn. How could he be so good at making her heart race?

Just one word from him made her shallow heart flutter.

“Seeing you, holding you, touching you… if I can’t do that, I don’t think I can handle it, Jeongyeon.”

If my heart keeps beating like this, I feel like I’ll lose myself completely to you.

“Hey. Were you always this good at saying cheesy things? It’s all new to me.”

Lee Seonghun wasn’t stingy with affection—in fact, he expressed it so directly it was almost blunt.

Even for someone who’d known him for 29 years, this was a new, unfamiliar side of him.

“Is it attractive?”

She couldn’t deny it when he asked with that teasing tone.

“Yes. So much that I can’t refuse.”

“Then don’t refuse.”

“Seonghun, even if I date you… I want to do it without guilt, without hesitation. I want to like you completely.”

He stopped brushing his hair back and glanced at her, his eyes flashing with a cruel glint.

“Come to think of it—you’ve never even confessed to me. Try it.”

“What? Just suddenly… confess?”

“Do that much and I might feel like waiting. I don’t know what’s in your heart.”

“I have.”

“I feel you as a man… deeply, intensely… my whole body senses you as a man.”

Could that even be called a confession? It sounded more like praise for sex with him than anything else.

“That wasn’t a confession—that was your review of our sex.”

It seemed Seonghun had thought the same.

Suddenly she felt like a small herbivore trapped in a rabbit hole. Once he lit the fire, there was no escape.

But still, it was embarrassing—confessing her feelings to a friend of 29 years.

What could be more mortifying? It felt as humiliating as being stripped naked in broad daylight.

Even so, if she couldn’t give him even that much trust, she’d be disappointed in herself.

She clenched her teeth and mumbled her answer.

“I li’ke you.”

Jeongyeon’s awkward confession almost made him burst out laughing, but instead he smirked and kept his serious gaze.

If he didn’t press her now, he might not win her heart.

“What?”

“I said—I li’ke you—”

“Got it. So your feelings are only that much.”

Seonghun stood up abruptly, turned around, and headed for the door.

Once again, she saw his back.

Just like at that beach where she had left him, when he had walked away from the waves.

Her emotions shook so violently her knees almost gave out. Just like that day at the beach, a wave of feeling came crashing in.

If she let him go like this, she knew regret and longing would swallow her again.

She called the name she hadn’t been able to say that day.

“Seonghun.”

His broad back flinched and froze in place.

He didn’t turn to look at her—he just stayed there, motionless.

She began her long-awaited confession.

“I… don’t know exactly how much I feel for you. We’ve been friends for 29 years, but after that happened between us… one day I started getting nervous around you, feeling excited around you. If that’s what liking someone is, then yeah. I must like you.”

“……”

“But… I don’t know. Is this temporary? Or have I been carrying you in my heart for a long time without realizing it? You’ve been precious to me… for so long I don’t even know when it started. Is that enough? For a confession?”

It was a confession—more than just ‘I like you,’ it was the truth of how she thought and felt about him as a person.

Had it reached him? Her truth, her sincerity?

Only then did he turn back to look at her. She couldn’t tell what emotions were in his eyes.

He stood there, staring at her, before speaking in a softened tone.

“Three months. I can’t wait any longer than that. I’ll see you when I can. Since we’ll both be busy, if we can’t meet, I’ll at least hear your voice. I’ll do the things I used to do as your friend.”

With his imposing frame, determined expression, and perfectly handsome face, he had a way of grabbing people’s hearts.

If he decided something, there was no choice but to go along.

But… it was what she wanted too.

“You… going to see other women?”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? What nonsense is that?”

“Didn’t your father tell you to meet some fan? The minister’s daughter or something?”

“Why? Are you telling me to meet her? Or is this jealousy?”

He’d hit the mark.

But even if she was flustered, she couldn’t keep stalling.

“The second one. So… don’t meet her. Even if it makes you a bad son.”

“You’re taking me on a real rollercoaster here. Make up your mind, Gam Jeongyeon.”

“I will. Like before. I’ll call you and tell you every little thing about my day.”

He smirked. Somehow his smile felt a little bitter.

Why was that? Maybe because they both sensed that the ordinary daily life they wanted wouldn’t be possible for a while.

They were both busy. If he had free time, she wouldn’t. If she had a moment to spare, he wouldn’t have even a second to rest.

They both knew that even a long phone call would be rare in the future.

This waiting period would turn into longing.

“How can there be not a single thing I like about her?”

That was the outburst from Seonghun’s father, Hoonmin, at the dinner table. He was looking straight at Seonghun’s mother, Yaein, who had just sat down across from him.

“I can hardly get through to Seonghun these days. He’s so busy he barely has time to sleep—how can you keep pressuring him? Just accept it already. He’s an actor. A very successful one. You can’t control him forever.”

“All I’m asking for is one meal together, and he refuses? What kind of son ignores one request from his father?”

“Have you ever once acknowledged him? The work he wants to do, the work he’s doing now, his dream? Have you ever supported him? You’ve only ever torn him down.”

Lately, Yaein had been talking back to him more and more. Before their son’s success as an actor, she hadn’t dared to talk back at all.

In this house, his authority was steadily crumbling.