VSSSP 09

Chapter 9

Curious about what expression the man was wearing, Lee Hyun lifted her head. He was already tall to begin with, and standing like that, she had to crane her neck to look up at him.

At last, her eyes met his—eyes that emitted a cold gleam. Without even the faintest hint of a smile, one of his brows arched crookedly.

He must think it’s ridiculous for a woman he just met today to say something like this.

Once at the Seongbuk-dong house, once on the hotel stairs, and now here.

They hadn’t spent the entire day together, but it was almost as if he had witnessed everything she had gone through today.

His rough words had left her stunned, yet if she thought about it calmly, he had practically helped her. It was because of the man standing before her that she had turned back instead of running out of the hotel.

She couldn’t just let someone like that walk away. Lee Hyun reached out and clasped his hand with both of hers.

“Secretary… I’m really curious.”

One of his brows lifted slightly. Lee Hyun took it as a sign to continue.

Fueled by alcohol, reckless courage, and an inexplicable desperation, she parted her lips.

“Am I… that unattractive as a woman?”

His brow furrowed even deeper than before.

“Secretary…”

“Do you even know what you’re trying to do right now?”

Lee Hyun nodded slowly.

Even at a moment like this, there wasn’t the slightest gap in his sharp gaze or in his posture. Swallowing dryly, she looked up at him. The faint bitterness lingering in her mouth remained.

Then she spoke carefully.

“My life… is a complete mess. There isn’t a single thing that’s perfect.”

Family, work, even love.

There was nothing that was fully hers, nothing she had accomplished perfectly.

His cold voice rang out.

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to perfectly execute that so-called ‘rebellion’ you were babbling about.”

As expected of someone with such piercing eyes, he immediately grasped her intention.

When she nodded, a soft scoff escaped his lips.

“You’ve got no fear.”

His mouth curved gently, but the look in his eyes as he gazed down at her was fierce.

“Is that… a rejection?”

Instead of answering, he cupped her chin in his hand. It didn’t hurt, but the grip was strong enough that she couldn’t easily pull away.

“A perfect rebellion, huh.”

“……”

“That does sound interesting.”

Lowering his head, the corner of his lips twisted.

“You’ll regret it tomorrow.”

“Maybe… or maybe I won’t.”

“What will you do if you see me again?”

“It’s fine. We won’t have any reason to meet again.”

A man who seemed to belong to a completely different world from hers—there would be no reason to cross paths again.

Looking straight at him, she said,

“Even if we do run into each other… let’s pretend we don’t know each other.”

“You started this.”

“…Yes.”

“Once I start, I don’t stop.”

Gulp.

His face drew close—so close it was right in front of hers. A fresh, deep scent of wood seeped into her lungs. It was like the smell of a damp forest, the rich fragrance trees and leaves give off after rain. She had always loved that scent.

He carried the scent she loved.

“Are you prepared?”

Instead of answering, Lee Hyun slowly lowered her eyelids. As her vision narrowed and finally closed, her lower lip was gently sucked. It tickled, it burned—a strange new sensation.

So this is a kiss.

Just as she felt relieved, thinking it wasn’t such a big deal, something soft yet insistent parted her lips and slipped inside. In an instant, their breaths tangled.

The wet, intimate sounds of lips and tongues mingling filled the air.

Her struggling tongue was caught, and even her disordered breathing was completely taken over by him.

She had no room to think about where she was or even who she was.

Somewhere deep inside her body, an unidentifiable heat began to simmer. Their locked lips were unbearably hot. The unfamiliar heat unsettled her.

Just as she wished desperately for rain to come and extinguish this fire, a sudden downpour roared from the sky.

Through her barely opened eyes, the sparkling Namsan Tower flickered in her vision. It was a breathtaking sight, soaked in rain.

It felt as if the man had the power to cast spells.

Or perhaps this was the kind of illusion a kiss could bring. That must be why people cling and kiss like this.

Whether magic or illusion, she was certain of one thing—she wanted to keep this moment in her eyes forever.

Ssshhh—

She heard the sound of rain.

Still half-asleep, her consciousness drifted between dream and reality.

Lee Hyun’s room, tucked away at the far corner of the second floor, was always chilly. Warmth like this was something she only felt in the height of summer.

Even sensing the warmth around her, she instinctively buried her face into the blanket, hugging it tighter against her bare skin.

Bare skin.

Her eyes flew open.

A white blanket filled her vision. The sound of rain still echoed faintly.

She slowly lowered the blanket from her face.

As expected, it wasn’t her room.

She lifted the blanket to look at herself. Fortunately, she wasn’t completely naked. She was still wearing her underwear. Only her underwear.

And she realized something else.

The sound of rain was coming from behind a closed door.

“It’s not rain…”

It was coming from the bathroom.

The “rain” was the sound of water from the showerhead—and it meant someone was inside.

If her memory wasn’t wrong, that someone had to be the Secretary.

She remembered blurting out something about a “perfect rebellion” last night. And the scorching kiss.

“Ha, Seo Lee Hyun. You’ve lost your mind.”

It felt as though all the blood in her body had turned cold. Even so, her eyes frantically searched for her clothes.

Fortunately, they were hanging not far from the bed. A transparent plastic cover stamped with the hotel’s logo was placed over her necklace, as if laundry service had been requested.

As she started to rise from the bed, she collapsed back down.

“Ah…”

Her whole body ached as if she had been beaten. The most uncomfortable place was between her thighs.

Memories she didn’t want to recall came rushing back.

Their heated kisses. And on the bed, things had been far hotter than that.

The aftereffects of her “perfect rebellion” lingered throughout her entire body.

If she stayed any longer, she would inevitably run into him. She wanted to avoid that embarrassing situation at all costs. Forcing strength into her legs, she got up and hurried to where her clothes were hanging. Glancing at the still-running shower, she quickly dressed.

She couldn’t find her stockings and gave up, slipping her bare feet into her heels instead. She grabbed her bag from the living room table. Her wallet and phone were still inside.

“Ha…”

Just as she let out a sigh of relief, the sound of running water stopped abruptly. Instinctively lowering her body, she slipped out of the room.

Fortunately, the hotel he had brought her to wasn’t the Raon Hotel. At least she didn’t have to worry about running into her friend Junyoung.

Still, she couldn’t fully relax. She moved quickly.

She barely remembered getting into the elevator and down to the lobby. Her mind was blank except for one thought—don’t run into him.

The chilly morning air brushed against her bare legs without stockings, but she didn’t have the capacity to care.

She climbed into a taxi that had just pulled up.

“Cheongdam-dong Hill House, please.”

“Yes.”

Only after the taxi began moving and exited the hotel entrance did she finally release the breath she’d been holding.

“Phew.”

With the most urgent problem behind her, fragments of what she had done last night came back to her one by one.

Her memory cut off at the moment she kissed him.

And then—she had seen rain pouring down freely. It had felt like good rain.

“I think it rained…”

“Rained?”

The taxi driver, sharp-eared, responded.

“Yes… It rained last night, didn’t it?”

“If only it had. The drought’s been terrible since winter. Farmers are having a hard time.”

So it hadn’t rained.

Through the window, she saw dry, parched roads.

Then had it really been an illusion?

“A dream…?”

She had felt as though she were standing in a forest in the rain.