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Chapter 7
What was she thinking about him?
Taeo, who had been looking down at her with an expression that seemed like he might lower his head at any moment, saw Seokyung’s wavering eyes unable to find their bearings, let out a short chuckle, and pulled his body back.
“…What kind of expectant face is that?”
“Expectant? Who said I was expecting anything!”
“If that’s not it, then were you scared? Afraid I might eat you alive?”
Back in university days, when she had stuck close to him and done club activities together, she had been excited and happy.
But after his betrayal, all those feelings had vanished.
She thought all that remained now was hatred and a sense of betrayal.
And yet, why was her heart pounding like this?
Trapped alone together in a car isolated by the rain, even Taeo’s breath felt excessively vivid.
Seokyung lifted her chin to keep from revealing her tension, and as if reading her inner thoughts, Taeo let out a soft laugh.
“I won’t eat you, so don’t be scared.”
Then, with a meaningful expression, he added.
“At least not until you come to me first.”
“That will absolutely never happen!”
“Yeah?”
Taeo raised the corner of his mouth as if disappointed.
“That’s a shame.”
The taut tension dissolved in an instant, powerlessly.
While Seokyung struggled to hide her nervousness, Taeo took an emergency flashlight from the passenger-side compartment.
“Don’t come out—wait in the car. I’ll go check the situation.”
“The rain is too heavy…”
But before Seokyung could stop him, Taeo opened the car door.
Even in that brief moment, fierce rain poured into the car.
With a thud, the door closed, and Seokyung finally let out the breath she had been holding.
Outside the window, the flashlight beam wavered chaotically.
The sound of rain striking the car window grew fiercer by the moment.
Even with the wipers moving ceaselessly, the view was instantly wiped away.
Seokyung followed the silhouette of Taeo, staggering in the rain as he inspected the vehicle.
Is it really that bad?
He had told her to stay in the car, but being alone inside made her uneasy, and she could no longer just sit still.
In the end, she opened the car door.
Immediately, the heavily falling rain pelted her face.
Seokyung shielded her face from the rain with her hand and went toward the passenger-side wheel where Taeo was.
“Why did you come out when I told you not to?”
Taeo was scraping away the mud around the wheel, the lower half of his pants completely ruined with muddy water.
His usual relaxed expression was nowhere to be seen.
He roughly wiped the streams of water running down his face and furrowed his brow.
“Let’s do it together. It’s hard alone, isn’t it?”
“What if you catch a cold stepping out for nothing? I’ll do it, so get back in the car.”
“Worry about yourself, sunbae. I may not look it, but I have steel stamina—I’ve never even caught a cold once.”
“You really don’t listen.”
Taeo clicked his tongue once, then took off his jacket and draped it over Seokyung’s head.
Only when the pouring rain was blocked by the jacket’s fabric could she finally open her eyes properly.
When Seokyung looked up, her gaze briefly tangled with his worried eyes.
But this wasn’t the time to be distracted.
“What should I do?”
“Go pick up those thick branches and stones over there for me to put under the wheel.”
“Got it.”
Seokyung busily gathered branches as he directed.
Meanwhile, Taeo, who had filled the ground fairly well with large stones, brought over a large wooden board from somewhere.
“You’re going to put that under the wheel?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s do it together.”
As Taeo tried to push the wooden board under the wheel, Seokyung stuck close beside him and added her strength.
In the downpour so heavy it was hard to even open their eyes, the two of them, covered in mud from head to toe, grunted and pushed the board in.
“Now I’ll push from behind, so you get in the car and try starting it.”
“Okay.”
As Seokyung got in and grabbed the steering wheel, he shouted.
“Now, press slowly! Don’t floor it all at once!”
Seokyung carefully pressed the accelerator in time with Taeo’s signals.
The wheels spun in place, spraying mud in all directions, but Taeo placed both hands on the back of the car and put his full weight into it.
Vroom—! Squelch!
After several rounds of spinning, the car finally escaped the mud pit.
The moment the wheels touched solid ground, Seokyung hastily hit the brake.
“It worked! We’re out!”
Seokyung stuck her head out of the car with a flushed face.
Taeo stood there, shirt and all ruined with rainwater and mud, panting heavily.
But the joy was short-lived—another massive peal of thunder rang out.
Now the fog had settled so thickly that even the license plate of the car ahead was invisible.
“Hurry and get in, sunbae.”
Seokyung called to him as she moved to the passenger seat.
A moment later, the soaked Taeo got in.
Drops of rain falling from his hair plopped onto the leather seat.
“The wheels are out for now, but it’s dangerous to keep going like this. We need to find a place nearby to park the car.”
Taeo explained the situation to Seokyung.
In the midst of that, Seokyung, whose body temperature had begun to drop, started shivering.
As she tried to fasten her seatbelt, it wouldn’t go in and kept slipping.
“…Why is this.”
At that moment, Taeo turned and leaned his upper body close toward Seokyung.
“Here, let me. I’ll do it for you.”
As he turned toward her, the distance between them instantly narrowed to about a hand’s span.
A drop of rain fell from Taeo’s wet hair and plopped onto Seokyung’s chest.
Why didn’t it feel like rainwater?
As if his fingertips had brushed the area around her chest, that spot grew hot.
When Seokyung unconsciously raised her head, Taeo, as if feeling the same thing, was staring intently at her.
In his eyes, darkened further by the rain, a faint heat began to gather.
Seokyung cleared her throat awkwardly and pulled her body toward the car door.
Taeo leaned toward her and grabbed the belt.
In doing so, his firm arm barely grazed the area around her chest.
“…!”
Startled, Seokyung gasped and shrank back.
The narrow car was quickly filled with awkward air.
Their gazes tangled in midair.
Taeo’s eyes, darker than usual, held Seokyung’s wavering eyes entirely.
His gaze lingered on Seokyung’s reddened lips.
The metallic smell of rainwater and Taeo’s strong body scent mixed, numbing Seokyung’s reason.
The distance was such that if Taeo lowered his head just a little more, their lips would touch.
Seokyung’s heart was pounding louder than the rain striking the car window.
If she stayed like this any longer, she felt like she might do something as if bewitched.
Barely pulling her reason back, Seokyung pushed away the strange air filling the car and moved her lips.
“…Let’s go.”
“…!”
Taeo didn’t move even after hearing her, so Seokyung spoke again as if coaxing him.
“If we stay like this, I’ll freeze to death from hypothermia.”
At those words, Taeo finally clicked the belt into place.
But he didn’t pull his body away.
Seokyung’s gaze lingered on the firm chest muscles visible through his wet shirt.
“I can’t let you die in a place like this.”
Finally, as Taeo straightened up and pulled away, the breath Seokyung had been holding escaped in a small burst.
Taeo, back at the wheel, skillfully maneuvered and started the car.
The car shook roughly each time they passed over the winding unpaved road.
The fog grew even thicker, swallowing even the headlights, and even with the heater on full blast, the chill seeping from their wet clothes wouldn’t fade.
Seokyung, curled up in the passenger seat, was shivering so much her teeth chattered.
Taeo glanced at her and asked worriedly.
“You seem really cold?”
“I’m not at the point of dying yet.”
“Acting tough—the ghost who dies from it will look different, won’t it?”
“I’m not acting tough.”
“In times like this, it’d be much wiser to honestly say, ‘Oppa, I’m cold, please hold me.'”
Seokyung felt her stamina plummeting as she shivered with chills, but she didn’t want to show weakness in front of Taeo.
“Oppa, my foot. Rather than warming myself in Division Head Han’s arms, I’d rather freeze to death from hypothermia.”
“Is being held by me that bad…”
Taeo’s voice, which had been playful, suddenly dropped low.
Seokyung couldn’t answer right away.
Her head said there was no need to hesitate—of course it was—but strangely, her lips wouldn’t part.
Just as Taeo’s expression was turning chilly, a faint flickering light appeared beyond the car window.
Seokyung’s eyes widened.
“Look over there. Up above…”
Where she pointed, a small building with a few old light bulbs hanging stood in the darkness.
