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Chapter 35
“….”
For a moment she wondered if she was hallucinating because she’d zoned out, but that familiar low voice brushing past her ear wasn’t an illusion.
Her darting eyes finally calmed.
Juyoung let out a faint, incredulous laugh.
He really said ‘darling’… Even now, Bae Seonghun was playing his part perfectly.
“You’re laughing?”
This time, it was Seonghun who let out a short, disbelieving chuckle.
“Hey, President Choi Juyoung. If you’ve truly lost your mind, that puts me in a very difficult situation here.”
The irritation in his tone snapped her fully back to reality.
Figuring out how Seonghun even ended up here could come later.
Chance or not, he’d just caught her at her absolute lowest, crawling on the ground like this.
Damage control came first.
“Sorry, I just… the umbrella—”
“You forgot it again? By coincidence? Again?”
“…”
“Do I look like some fool who’d fall for that ridiculous excuse?”
Come to think of it, the last time too—back when they were at the hotel with Choi Kwon-yong and she heard about giving Hye-na the summer villa—she’d done the same thing.
She had run into the rain like a lunatic.
And Bae Seonghun had covered her with his umbrella.
“I just wanted to get a little wet. Clear my head.”
Instead of making excuses, Juyoung decided to be honest.
There was no point lying to him anyway.
Besides, she had already shown him her worst moments more than once; one more wouldn’t change anything.
Seonghun already knew exactly how low she could fall.
“You weren’t clearing your head. You were gone.”
“That’s why I needed the rain. To tell my runaway sanity to please come home.”
“…So? Has your runaway sanity safely returned home yet?”
“Not sure about that, but… I’m kind of cold.”
Right then, her vision went dark and strength drained from her body.
Her legs gave out and she collapsed forward.
Thud.
Fortunately, before she hit the ground, Seonghun caught her.
No—more accurately, she collapsed straight into his arms.
“So warm… you…”
Like a child searching for its mother, Juyoung instinctively burrowed into the warmth of his embrace.
Their chests pressed together.
Thump, thump—she didn’t know whose heartbeat it was, but the sound echoed through both of them.
As her consciousness blurred, Juyoung wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes.
Only Seonghun’s hands floated awkwardly in the air, unsure what to do.
“Nngh…”
Juyoung frowned and tried to move.
Something was pressing heavily on her body.
So heavy…
What on earth was weighing her down like this?
Her mind slowly resurfaced—then she suddenly shot upright with a scream.
“It’s heavy!”
Something slid off her. A blanket.
No, not one. Three blankets, two throws, and even a men’s suit jacket.
She picked up the jacket buried among the blankets.
“Why is this here… Ah.”
Right. She had met Bae Seonghun.
Remembering belatedly, she pressed her forehead with her hand.
“So I collapsed in front of him, huh?”
What had she even said before fainting?
She vaguely remembered muttering something to him right before losing consciousness, but couldn’t recall what.
This jacket was definitely his.
She looked at all the “culprits” that had been suffocating her.
Had he taken all these blankets and throws out of the closet himself?
And layered them neatly over her like filling in a kimbap?
She checked herself. She was still wearing her pajamas, same as when she’d gone out.
Her fingertips brushed the bed sheets—they were damp.
He must have brought her home while she was unconscious and laid her straight on the bed.
Just as she was finishing piecing things together—
Knock, knock.
The bedroom door opened.
Leaning against the wall, Seonghun looked at her.
“You’re awake?”
He had his shirt sleeves rolled up, and with his arms crossed, the veins stood out along his forearms.
A few buttons were undone too, the shirt slightly open—revealing firm upper-chest muscles beneath.
“Why…?”
Normally, he always buttoned his shirts all the way up—neat, disciplined.
But the man standing before her now looked entirely different.
More relaxed. And with a mood far too… suggestive to describe simply as sexy.
“Stop shooting an R-rated movie with me in your head.”
“…!”
Her eyelashes trembled.
How did he know?
No—she had never filmed an R-rated movie of him in her head!
Maybe some harmless observation… perhaps a critical review at most.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Whether it’s nonsense or not, you know best.”
“I’ve never filmed any R-rated fantasy starring you. Anyway, why are you still here? And how did you even find this place?”
“So you’ve been ignoring not only my messages but Secretary Shin’s too?”
She had no reply.
It was true—ever since coming to the Oido summer villa, she hadn’t checked her phone.
It had vibrated several times yesterday, but she figured if it was really urgent, Secretary Shin would call—so she ignored it.
She climbed off the bed, went to the phone tossed in the corner, and checked her messages.
[I’m sorry, President. President Bae Seonghun persistently asked, so I gave him the address to the Oido summer villa.]
Oh… Secretary Shin had texted.
She scrolled through the rest.
Most were from people wishing her a quick recovery after being told she was “sick.”
But among them… not a single one from Choi Kwon-yong.
“There’s no way he hasn’t heard about me… Wow. You really stand out, you know that?”
If only people like Choi Kwon-yong were the only kind of parents that existed in this world, it might have hurt less.
Unfortunately, she had also met Bae Sungwon and Min Yooyoung—parents who proved that good ones existed, too.
And that made it hurt more.
Made it feel that much more bitter.
As she kept scrolling, she finally reached Seonghun’s messages.
Several unread.
The most recent—yesterday.
[Are you busy?]
…Why was he even asking that?
If someone doesn’t reply for a week, you just assume they’re busy and move on—why keep texting?
She turned back to look at him.
He was still standing in the same spot, staring at her.
“If you’re done checking, wash up and come out. We’re eating.”
“Eating?”
“I went grocery shopping and cooked while you were unconscious. I’ll be making rolled omelets, so hurry and wash up.”
With that, he left the room.
Click.
The door closed and she just stared blankly at it.
What… did he just say? Rolled omelets?
Bae Seonghun… cooking rolled omelets?
Not ordering delivery.
Not making someone else cook.
He was personally going to make them?
Impossible.
No one would believe that combination, yet the man himself had said it like it was nothing.
Still dumbstruck, she headed through the dressing room into the bathroom and started filling the tub.
She stared into the rising water.
Bae Seonghun…
A man gentle yet cruel, attentive yet utterly inconsiderate.
“Always like this… which rhythm am I supposed to follow?”
Shaking off useless thoughts, she undressed and slipped into the tub.
Water spilled over the edge in an instant.
