Episode 05
He seemed taller and broader than Daehong—
maybe over 190 centimeters. The sheer length of him carried a pressure more frightening than she’d expected.
“What are you doing… here?”
In that instant, the man stepped closer. Close enough that they might collide. Startled, she retreated, folding herself back into the emergency stairwell.
The door shut behind him, and the two of them were left in a dim, enclosed space.
“Uh, um, well….”
Had he heard her phone call out there?
Why was he looking at her with that irritated expression?
“Did… did you hear what I was sayin’?”
“What part?” he asked coolly. “Where should we kiss? I think that’s about where our conversation left off.”
His expression was anything but calm. The temples and rims of his ears were faintly flushed, his pupils darkened in shadow—whether from anger or excitement, she couldn’t tell.
“Ah… well… um….”
It was word salad. She’d only thrown out the idea of rubbing lips together to seem sexy, but she hadn’t really believed it would go this far. Apparently.
Judging by how flustered she felt as he closed in.
“I’m late with my answer,” he said. “Here.”
“Pardon?”
“You asked where we should kiss. I’m saying—here.”
“Here…?”
“Why are you suddenly pretending not to understand? An emergency stairwell is perfect. Dark lights. No people. Creepy.”
She hadn’t expected him to take the suggestion this seriously. She’d only blurted it out recklessly, trying to push him into accepting a contract marriage.
“No, I mean—suddenly like this— I need time to prepare myself….”
“So you jumped first without that kind of resolve?” he said flatly. “I made a pretty big decision accepting your proposal earlier. You’re more childish than I thought.”
Again—that look of condescension. The gaze of someone used to standing above others, trampling them underfoot from a superior position.
With his looks, his background, his abilities—he’d never lacked anything. He’d probably never known desperation.
Childish?
She wanted nothing more than to live childishly. Bristling with defiance, she shot back—
“Let’s do it then. The kiss. No—do it real deep. I’m all ready.”
She’d never even kissed a man before, not once in her life. In her rural village, there were barely any men her age besides Daehong—and she’d never had time to date.
No, really—Daehong was the only decent man around, and he was more like a brother. So she’d never had the chance.
And now, kissing a man she’d just met? She’d thought, What’s the big deal?
But faced with it, her heart pounded like it was being beaten with a mallet.
Is… is this okay?
The man stepped closer. And then closer still. As she retreated, her back hit the wall.
Her heart slammed harder, like her pulse had spread from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.
His face surged toward her, vivid—as if it had shifted from 2D to 3D.
Up close, his eyes were black and heavy, like the night sea. As though he might swallow her whole.
Her pupils shook, with nowhere to settle.
Only a step away, Gojun let out a quiet chuckle.
“Your expression’s too grim. I’m not trying to fight you. I’m trying to kiss you.”
Had her heart ever raced like this before?
When a typhoon flattened the peach trees?
When pests ruined the fruit?
When she heard the diagnosis of her grandmother’s lung cancer?
Just like those moments when her heart had dropped to the floor, her chest lurched again now—her pulse thudding as if it had sunk into her feet.
Trying to kiss you.
She hadn’t realized those words could feel this real.
And why did his voice, sharp as a honed blade, stab straight into her heart?
“So then what kinda face’m I s’posed to make?”
The wall at her back felt cold and alien. She barely managed to meet his pitch-black gaze.
“Right now is perfect,” he said softly. “Your cheeks are red. Your eyes are trembling. A face completely worked up….”
It made her skin shiver. What was this? Why was he suddenly coming at her so aggressively?
It was her first time with a man’s breath brushing her face—and on top of that, he was devastatingly handsome. Her mind felt far away.
A damn rogue.
Now she understood why people called him that. Why he’d been tangled in countless scandals with actresses.
At this rate, no woman’s heart would stay still.
That was what scared her. And what she hated.
“Enough talk. Just—just do it. The kiss.”
“Why are you telling me to?” he replied. “You’re the one who suggested it. You should be the one to pounce on me.”
What—what—what was he saying? Pounce?
With every word, his sweet breath washed hot over her lips. Pouncing felt too hot for that.
But… he wasn’t wrong. She’d made the suggestion. If she pushed it onto him now, she’d only look like an irresponsible child again.
The problem was—she’d never done this before. With zero experience, courage didn’t come easily.
And his handsome face only made it worse. So she squeezed her eyes shut.
Like in dramas and movies, she figured she could just rub lips a bit—slurp, smack—wouldn’t that be enough?
She puckered her lips and leaned forward.
But his lips didn’t meet hers. Not even their breaths collided.
When she cautiously opened her eyes, his face had pulled back, higher up. A deep, mocking smile curved his lips.
Heat rushed to her cheeks in a wave of embarrassment.
“You makin’ fun of me right now?”
Yes. He was.
“They say you’re handsome as hell and filthy rich. I said I’m marryin’ to live in comfort now. That’s why I’m gettin’ married.”
No one had ever spoken of him like that. To reduce him to a tool for luxury—it was repulsive.
And who was this grandmother she’d been pleading to on the phone? There had to be a story. No one lived without one.
Whatever that story was, dragging him into it so crudely irritated him.
Judging by her obsession with money and her behavior here, Chairman Lee probably hadn’t provided generously for his husband’s illegitimate child.
Exiled to the countryside. Bride training.
Pathetic.
His family was rotten; hers seemed no different.
A woman brainwashed into thinking handsome and rich equals marriage?
A naïve child who didn’t know the bitter taste of life. Or a reckless fool trying to use him with some hidden scheme. Either way, he didn’t care.
If she wanted to use him, she needed to taste bitterness first.
A contract marriage.
If she was dreaming of a pink drama, she needed to learn that reality was ash-gray.
Isn’t that right, Ma Dosil?
“I asked if you were makin’ fun of me.”
She glared at Gojun with wide, shaking eyes.
Without answering, he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and her back, hard.
It was a man’s strength she’d never known. More than physical force—it was a mental pressure that pinned her in place. His heat made it impossible to move.
Before she could resist, his lips came down and crashed into hers.
“Mm—!”
What—what was that?
Her first kiss.
His lips were neither thin nor thick, but full—his firm skin pressed against hers.
Her heart went berserk, pounding wildly, every nerve in her body funneling toward her lips.
So soft.
The unfamiliar sensation was dizzying.
When he bit gently at her lower lip, when his wet flesh slid out to lick her tender mouth—when he sucked at her upper lip, slowly melting her—
Ah. Something was wrong.
The way her thighs twitched and clenched.
The way her lower belly fluttered like butterflies.
It was unfamiliar—and maddeningly good.
She wasn’t completely innocent. Back in her teenage years, when she’d first gotten curious about R-rated things, she’d once lectured Daehong at length about kissing.
“Haven’t you ever seen a movie? You rub lips, stick out your tongue, lick like that—just bite and suck, that’s all.”
Without knowing how vast the gap was between theory and practice.
Without knowing how obscene biting and sucking felt in real life.
