Chapter 14
The man’s expression was so shameless that Jian was rendered speechless.
She let out an incredulous huff, but her face had already been burning hot for quite some time.
“Your face is red.”
With a faint smile playing on his lips, Saheon tilted his head to the side and waited for her answer. Jian swallowed dryly and shook her head firmly.
“I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
He genuinely looked as though he couldn’t understand.
Why? Saheon planted both hands behind him on the floor and tilted his head in dissatisfaction, and Jian was momentarily at a loss for words at how utterly composed he was.
With that face and figure, not to mention his education and family background, wouldn’t it have been easier for a college student like Lee Saheon to meet women than to eat cold porridge?
There must have been a line of women willing to follow him into bed at nothing more than a single, Let’s sleep together.
Suddenly, Jian remembered the most popular guy in her department when she had been in college.
His looks, height, and family background were all inferior to Saheon’s, yet he had been so popular that it was almost ridiculous. Once, she happened to sit beside him and accidentally saw his phone screen. It had been completely flooded with unanswered messages.
If someone who was merely a little above average had been that popular, how much more so would Saheon have been?
Perhaps the reason the thirty-something Director Lee Saheon she had served had lived such an extremely disciplined life, devoting himself almost entirely to work, was because he had already done all his playing around when he was young.
When her thoughts reached that point, Jian glared at him with a slightly incredulous look.
“I don’t like men who have been around the block too many times.”
Saheon paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Ah… You’re killing me.”
After laughing for quite a while, he lifted the hand he had been supporting himself with and turned Jian’s face toward him by gripping her chin. Their eyes met.
“I’m not a worn-out rag.”
The chin he was holding felt as though it had been scorched by fire. Saheon kept his gaze fixed on her slightly trembling lips as he continued.
“You’ve got the wrong idea, honey. I’m brand-new. I don’t even need to be washed before use. I feel a little wronged here.”
Liar.
Jian slapped his hand away and turned her head, but Saheon leaned his upper body toward her and whispered into her ear.
“I saved my first time for someone I liked.”
His voice was strangely innocent, completely at odds with his slick words, but Jian couldn’t feel even one percent sincerity in them.
Even if that were true, wasn’t the reason less I saved it for someone I liked and more Who would dare to sleep with me, Lee Saheon?
Left speechless by the absurdity of it all, Jian said nothing.
Saheon whispered temptingly.
“I’ve always wondered what sex would feel like. How about you teach me, noona?”
Jian’s lips parted.
Seeing her neck turn bright red, Saheon let out a quiet chuckle.
“I’m twenty-one, you know.”
“A-a twenty-one-year-old is already this shameless? Y-you really don’t hold back at all.”
She had meant to say it firmly, so why was she stammering like this?
She knew every single thing Saheon was saying was completely ridiculous, yet she felt as though she was being drawn into his pace.
Avoiding his gaze, Jian let her voice trail off.
“You’re six years older than me…”
“Okay, baby.”
Her ear suddenly stung.
Before Jian could even flinch, he had bitten the edge of her ear. Then, in an instant, her body toppled backward.
Her back hit the floor, and their bodies overlapped.
“Think about it carefully.”
The body pressed against hers was unbearably hot and hard. When Jian squirmed beneath him, he lowered his voice and whispered into her ear.
“I want to.”
“……”
“Besides, we have nothing to do here until our memories come back, anyway. I’ll make sure you don’t get bored.”
Saheon obediently allowed himself to be pushed wherever Jian pushed him, yet with his arms trapping her in place, he looked down at her with a smile like a hunter gazing at its prey.
Heejin was grilling dumplings when the doorbell rang. She opened the door.
“Welcome, Father.”
“Fatheeeer!”
“Dongyun, have you been well? I heard Aunt Jian came.”
Dongyun, who had been playing with his toys, ran over and threw himself into her arms. Father Jeong Beom-gyu, Peter, a priest with graying hair and glasses, gently patted Dongyun’s head.
Then he held up the bag of strawberries in one hand and smiled warmly at Heejin.
“I bought strawberries for everyone to share.”
“Big sis! We’re here.”
Behind Father Jeong came a bespectacled boy and a girl with a rather prim expression.
They were Paul and Anna, who had lived at Father Jeong’s orphanage from infancy all the way through high school.
“Oh, you’re here? Hurry and sit down. Father, you sit down too.”
Heejin placed a large plate piled high with pollock-roe dumplings and shrimp dumplings on the dining table, where sweet-and-sour pork, jajangmyeon, and jjamppong were already waiting.
“Why did you make so much?”
Father Jeong pulled out a chair, his eyes widening in surprise. Heejin pushed the food closer to him with a smile.
“You’re supposed to have jajangmyeon when you move into a new place. We have a guest staying in the rooftop room today.”
“A guest?”
“She works with Jian. Apparently, she quit her job and needed somewhere to stay for a while.”
“Really? How did she end up all the way out here in the countryside? And the rooftop room must be terribly inconvenient.”
“Exactly what I said. But she says she’s fine with it.”
“What about Little Sis? She came too, right?”
The bespectacled boy, Paul, asked eagerly again.
Heejin gave a small laugh and nodded.
“Yeah. She came with her. Come to think of it, why hasn’t she come down yet?”
Heejin took out her phone and called.
“Hello? Come down already. It’s time for dinner. What? You want us to eat first? Okay. Hurry up and come down.”
As soon as she hung up, Paul immediately asked,
“What did Little Sis say?”
“She told us to eat first. She’ll be down soon. Father, please eat.”
“We should wait and eat together.”
“Oh, just eat already.”
“Then let’s all pray together. In the name of the Father…”
After making the sign of the cross and finishing the prayer before the meal, Heejin served sweet-and-sour pork onto everyone’s small plates.
The girl seemed to have no appetite. She held her chopsticks between her lips while tapping away at her phone.
“Anna. I told you not to use your phone while you’re eating, didn’t I?”
Heejin was sternly scolding her when the electronic lock beeped and the front door opened.
Everyone’s attention turned toward the entrance.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Father.”
“Noona!”
Paul sprang to his feet.
“Why is her face so red?”
Heejin, who was serving sweet-and-sour pork, tilted her head as she noticed how unusually flushed Jian’s face was.
“Holy crap. He’s insanely handsome.”
Anna, who had been tapping away at her phone, spotted Saheon following behind Jian and dropped the chopsticks she had been holding in her mouth.
“Noona! So are you going back to Seoul?”
Paul asked excitedly while chewing on his jajangmyeon.
His face was practically glowing with excitement, like a little stray puppy in the countryside that couldn’t contain its happiness at seeing a stranger and immediately rolled over to expose its belly.
“Yeah. But I might be able to take some time off…”
Jian trailed off as she idly stirred the noodles around.
It was probably because Saheon wanted her to stay here with him for the time being.
Honestly, commuting between here and Seoul was simply unrealistic.
At that, Heejin’s hand, which had been wiping sauce from Dongyun’s mouth, stopped.
“Really? How long?”
“I don’t know…”
“Tell me honestly. Did you get fired?”
“N-no! Our company has something called a sabbatical month after three years of service.”
For something she’d hastily made up, it was a pretty decent excuse.
But she’s terrible at lying. It’s written all over her face. Cute.
Saheon suppressed a chuckle inwardly as he continued eating.
Heejin narrowed her eyes and looked at Jian before turning her gaze toward Saheon.
“Something seems suspicious. Is what she said really true, Mr. Saheon?”
“I think it was something like that.”
Saheon shrugged, and Heejin accepted the answer surprisingly easily.
“I see. That’s good, then. In that case, could you pick Dongyun up from school while you’re here?”
These sisters are both so innocent. They fall for things so easily.
Saheon’s gaze returned to his plate.
Then a soft voice came from across the table.
“Excuse me, oppa.”
“Anna!”
Heejin cried out in surprise, and Jian’s chopsticks stopped midair.
Saheon answered calmly.
“I don’t think I’m an oppa.”
“Why not? Big Sis and Little Sis are both unnie. So you’re an oppa too.”
“That’s because they’ve known you since you were little!”
Heejin waved her hands in exasperation.
Saheon neatly settled the matter of his title.
“I think it would be better if you called me uncle. Or you can call me mister.”
“Hmph.”
Anna pouted and lowered her gaze back to her phone.
“Um, may I ask your name? I’m Father Jeong Beom-gyu Peter.”
Father Jeong, who seemed to have been extremely curious about him for quite some time, finally introduced himself.
“I’m Lee Saheon.”
“I heard you attended Hyungang.”
“Yes.”
“How interesting. This town actually has quite a connection with Hyungang.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Half the people here farm, and the other half commute to the industrial complex beyond the mountain. All the companies there supply parts to Hyungang.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“So when Jian told me she got into Hyungang, I even hung a banner at the church. I wanted everyone in town to see it and brag about how amazing our Jian was.”
The priest smiled proudly.
Jian gave an awkward smile along with him, then let out a long sigh and kept stealing glances at Saheon.
