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Chapter 27
Somang couldn’t bring herself to avoid Hangyeol all the way until the next day, so she hesitated before stepping out of her room.
As expected, Hangyeol had worry plastered all over his face.
“You had a nosebleed ye—”
“Let’s talk in the car.”
Somang quickly covered his lips with her palm.
Siwon was still asleep inside the room.
If Siwon found out what happened yesterday, there would be a whole storm of overprotective nagging ahead of her. Just thinking about how she had suffered a combo of scolding recently—stomach cramps and staying out overnight—made her shudder.
“Be quiet and hurry.”
She grabbed Hangyeol’s wrist and rushed him out of the house.
Once they stepped into the elevator, side-by-side, Hangyeol gently took her hand that was holding his wrist.
Her hand fit securely inside his big one.
He’s doing something nosebleed-inducing again.
Somang shook his hand off and stuffed her hands into her jeans.
She climbed into the car faster than ever, buckled her seat belt, and straightened her back.
As the car escaped the dark parking garage, morning sunlight poured through the windshield.
“Now talk. Why did you suddenly get a nosebleed?”
Hangyeol looked like he was about to explode in frustration.
His heart had already dropped when she told him she’d developed stress-related stomach spasms after joining the company—and last night she suddenly had a nosebleed out of nowhere.
When the image of his mother’s life slowly fading away in a hospital overlapped with Somang, a dull ache throbbed in his temples.
“Let’s tell Siwon and get you a full checkup. It could be an early sign of something serious.”
Somang still said nothing.
Is it something she can’t talk about? He turned to look at her tiny face, which looked even paler than yesterday.
“You didn’t eat breakfast, did you? I’ll take sick leave today. Let’s go to the hospital first.”
He switched lanes to make a U-turn and dialed Siwon’s number.
“It’s not that. Don’t call Siwon.”
She grabbed his hand.
“Before that… can I ask you something?”
“Yeah. I’ll answer anything. But you have to tell me the truth too. If you’re sick, I need to know.”
After hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a tiny voice.
“Oppa… did you date a lot in America?”
“That’s what you’re curious about?”
Somang twisted toward him, stretching her seat belt.
“Yes. It’s a really important question for me.”
That kiss was definitely not his first. How could a kiss strong enough to make someone’s nose bleed be a first?
She could tolerate maybe around five past relationships. One a year—he wouldn’t be the casual dating type then.
“I didn’t. I’ve never dated, never went on a blind date.”
Somang’s expression grew even more serious.
Then… he only had physical encounters? Sexual relationships without dating? And that’s why he kissed her the moment he came back to Korea?
Everything clicked too perfectly, and she let out a sigh.
Still, she should know her future husband’s past. Or maybe ignorance was bliss.
She thought hard.
In the end, she decided to ask.
The only part of his life she didn’t know was the five years he spent in America.
“Then… how many people have you slept with? No—how many people have you kissed?”
“…”
Hangyeol almost slammed the brakes and stared at her in disbelief.
“Baek Somang, what are you talking about?”
“So many you can’t even remember?”
Well, no woman would leave him alone, right? Somang muttered with a serious expression, then asked cautiously:
“More than ten?”
“Baek Somang.”
“Then t-twenty?”
She squeezed her face into an even more distressed frown as she raised the number.
“None.”
“What?”
“Say it again?”
The car stopped at a red light.
Hangyeol turned her face toward him and gently pressed his thumb against her lips.
“I said — I’ve never dated, never been on a blind date, never kissed, never had sex.”
The explicit words coming out of his mouth made her eyes widen.
“That doesn’t make sense…”
“Now tell me. Are you sick somewhere?”
“No. I’m healthy.”
Too healthy, actually.
When she continued hesitating, he finally turned the car around.
Seeing that, she had no choice but to confess.
“The kiss! It’s because you’re too good at kissing. That’s why.”
“…What?”
Even as he asked what kind of nonsense that was, his fingers were dialing Siwon and searching for major hospitals at the same time.
“It’s just… when I thought about kissing you… I suddenly got a nosebleed…”
With a completely shrunken expression, she continued sincerely:
“You kept saying it was your first time, but you’re so good at it. It didn’t feel like a first kiss, so I asked.”
The tips of her ears poking through her wavy hair turned bright red.
God, what am I supposed to do with this girl?
Hangyeol covered his face with a veiny hand.
Hearing that her nosebleed was because his kiss surprised her made a laugh escape him—and something tightened uncomfortably low in his body.
Like some kind of pervert.
He wanted to grab her pretty pink lips and swallow them whole.
“Then… we should practice more often.”
“Huh? I must’ve misheard, right?”
Her eyes desperately begged for clarification, her voice trembling.
“You can’t get a nosebleed every time we kiss. We’ll be doing more once we’re married anyway.”
His mind was already racing to find a secluded spot.
The car sped up and reached an empty lot far from the office.
Click.
The sound of his seat belt unfastening made Somang’s shoulders flinch instinctively.
“I’m not going to eat you.”
…Not yet.
Bracing himself on the console, he tugged on her seat belt.
Unable to control the excitement overflowing even before they began, he pulled her waist closer.
His breath was thick with desire.
“At least let me mentally prepare—”
“Mm,” he hummed, pulling her face to his and kissing her.
He had replayed the moment in his head countless times on the way, imagining their tongues tangled and more—so he was impatient.
He gently wrapped around her tense tongue.
Her head tilted, noses brushed, breaths mingled—and suddenly her mouth was filled with heat.
Even while they kissed, he could feel her little pointed ears growing redder and redder. Her innocent reactions made him tilt her head and deepen the kiss.
“Mm—”
As the kiss grew deeper, her pretty nose was crushed mercilessly against his cheek. Wanting to melt her, he sucked at everything his lips touched.
Heat spread from her lips to her fingertips and toes. Only then did her tension dissolve, and she slowly wrapped her arms around his neck.
He pulled away briefly, pushed his seat back, and lifted her onto his lap.
Her eyes widened and darted wildly—definitely not expecting this.
“Why are you good at everything?”
He brushed her eye area with his thumb. Even the feel of her soft eyelashes against his fingerprint was adorable.
“Do I look good at it?”
Contrary to her words, the part of him that wasn’t experienced in the slightest was losing its mind at the smallest movement from her.
His hand slid behind her neck, holding her firmly. Her thin, overheated nape made the corner of his lips curl.
“Not at all.”
His other hand wandered to her round hip and pulled her closer.
“Ah—!”
Feeling the hard pressure beneath her, Somang’s thighs tensed.
For a moment, guilt pricked his conscience as she looked up at him with those big round eyes—but it was too late to slow down now. Their bodies were too hot.
“I don’t want to go to work.”
Hangyeol leaned down, nuzzling her nose with his.
It was a different kind of soft compared to her lips.
“We… w-we still have to go.”
Ignoring that, he kissed her again.
Her now-softened lips made wet sounds faster than before, and their breaths merged into one.
He stroked the back of her small head and savored her lips evenly. Her soft warmth and the faint breaths she let out felt unreal.
“Mmm—”
Overwhelmed by how perfect she felt, he held her tighter. As her chest pressed against him, blood rushed downward sharply.
He didn’t let her go until the air inside the car felt used up.
