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Chapter 04
Barely regaining her senses, Somang quickly raised both hands to block her view.
“Oppa…! Are you crazy?”
The familiar term slipped from her mouth before she could stop it, and heat surged across her face.
Her throat burned too, and she hurried to wet her dry lips with the tip of her tongue.
“Why? Why don’t you pretend not to know me again, like earlier?”
The fact that he spoke so casually—like nothing had changed despite five years apart—made her chest feel unbearably tight.
Watching Somang freeze in shock, Hangyeol stopped unbuttoning his shirt. Then he stepped directly into her line of sight, uninvited.
“So you don’t like Oppa anymore, is that why you won’t even look at me?”
That smile—his eye-smile—was dangerous.
Somang squeezed her eyes shut and jerked her head back.
“N-No… I don’t like Oppa anymore.”
“I doubt that. You still like me.”
His low voice sounded as if he were demanding the truth. Somang slowly opened her eyes again.
His black eyes wandered across her face, searching, as if he didn’t believe her.
“Put your clothes on properly!”
Despite the cool autumn weather, both her cheeks were burning hot.
She absolutely did not want him to see her flustered like this, so she jumped to her feet and turned around.
“And I really don’t like you. Really.”
Her jaw ached from how hard she bit each word.
“You sleep with people you don’t like?”
“What are you even talking about?!”
Her voice rose as she glared at him, unable to understand a single word coming out of his mouth.
But—
“I only share a bed with someone I like.”
At that outrageous statement, Somang spun back around and glared as if asking if he’d lost his mind.
Has he seriously gone insane?
What kind of place was America anyway? Did people become this shameless after living there? Stripping anywhere, saying anything…
Her gaze involuntarily drifted downward, following his body—landing exactly on the glimpse of exposed skin visible between the loosened buttons of his shirt.
His straight collarbones and firm chest looked no different from what she had imagined in her dreams.
Even his body was… indecent.
“I think my body’s your type.”
Hearing the playful whisper scatter above her head, Somang snapped her gaze away.
She refused to be dragged around by his low-quality teasing.
“If you called me here because you were bored, I’m leaving.”
She didn’t want to respond to him anymore. She turned to head for the door—
But Hangyeol grabbed her waist and pulled her back to face him.
With one decisive tug, her body was drawn toward his.
Close—so close their knees brushed.
“W-What are you doing…”
“Who knows?” he said with a laugh, stepping backward and sitting on the edge of the table.
He spread his legs, trapping her between them. The closeness, the matching eye level—it was suffocating.
She tried to turn her head away, but he wouldn’t allow it. He cupped her cheeks with both hands, holding her firmly in place.
“Somang, last night we were in the same bed. All night. You’re really going to pretend you don’t remember?”
His large but gentle hands stroking her cheeks, the black eyes digging persistently into hers—there was nowhere to look, nowhere to escape.
“W-We… me and Oppa…?”
Seeing her bewildered reaction, Hangyeol frowned as if offended. He resumed unbuttoning the shirt he’d stopped earlier.
One button, then another—until all were undone.
He leaned back, bracing his hands behind him on the table.
The movement revealed his broad chest—no longer teasingly hidden, but completely bare.
“What are you saying, that’s nonsense—hup.”
Her words died in her throat.
Her eyes widened at the sight.
His chest was covered in reddish marks—like blooming pink flowers scattered across his skin. And along his sides were clusters of small bruises, shaped unmistakably like fingernails.
<Yoo Hangyeol, that bastard…>
<I hate you. I hate you so much.>
Everything she thought had been a dream… wasn’t a dream.
Her world tilted into darkness, like sinking into deep, pitch-black water.
“How are you going to take responsibility? Hmm?”
His black eyes—too unreadable to tell whether he was being serious or just teasing—made her breath tangle in her chest.
Say I don’t remember. Just say I don’t remember—
“You’re not seriously going to say you don’t remember, right?”
Hic. His words landed too precisely, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.
He only smiled, lazy and unsurprised—like he knew she’d react that way.
Her first love had returned.
And he’d become a wicked, seductive fox…
* * *
Five years ago, Korea University graduation ceremony.
“Oppa! Hangyeol Oppa!”
Far away, she spotted him holding a bouquet of her favorite yellow freesias.
“Don’t run, you’ll fall.”
“Oppa! You really came to see me?”
“Of course.”
His lips curled in that small, familiar smile, and she lowered her head with a shy laugh.
“Oppa, your favorite junior graduated top of the class. Don’t I get a gift?”
Instead of answering, he straightened the graduation cap on her head.
“I heard Sion asked for a foreign car. Should I get you a private jet?”
Just his laughter near her ear made her heart flutter.
“Nooo… Oppa, not something like that…”
After hesitating, she fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve.
“A one-day date.”
She hid her flushed face behind her bouquet.
“How about next week?”
His easy acceptance made her bounce on her toes in excitement.
“R-Really? So I’m allowed to misunderstand this however I want?”
Winning a date with him made her feel like she floated through the days.
Finally, the long-awaited day arrived.
“Today… I’m going to settle this once and for all.”
Somang had arrived at the café near their meeting spot two hours early, muttering shyly to herself.
“O-Oppa… marry me!”
Her throat tightened with nerves. Her hands trembled.
Cherry blossoms fluttered outside the window, and the sky was impossibly bright blue.
Her carefully done makeup, her new frilled dress—the weather—everything was perfect.
Naturally, that was exactly when her phone rang.
[Hangyeol Oppa]
“Oppa? Are you here? Did you arrive?”
—Somang.
His hesitant voice made her freeze, her hands stilling in midair as she rushed to grab her bag.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
Her voice, trembling with excitement moments ago, sank with dread.
—I think… I think I have to fly to America. Urgently.
“A-America…?”
Her heart—so swollen with anticipation—popped like a balloon in a single instant.
—Yeah. Sorry.
His voice was full of guilt, lost and unsure. Tears spilled down her cheeks silently.
“W-Wow… good thing! I… I overslept and was just about to leave.”
She quickly added more words, forcing a casual tone.
“Then… Oppa, I’ll go see you off at the airport.”
Her lips bore deep tooth marks where she bit down, trying not to cry.
She arrived at the airport in Sion’s car. Staring resentfully at the small carry-on in his hand, she asked:
“When are you coming back?”
She hadn’t liked him expecting anything in return. She wasn’t mad because she wanted compensation. She was just… disappointed.
The ruined date. The wasted makeup. The expectations that crashed.
“Will you even come back? You aren’t leaving for good, right?”
“I’ll come back soon.”
“Then my graduation gift… is my date just over like this?”
“I’ll send you something expensive. As soon as I arrive in the U.S.”
A gift?
That wasn’t what she wanted.
“No! That’s not a date!”
For the first time ever, she raised her voice at him, gripping his suitcase so tightly her knuckles turned white.
“That’s not what I want from you. I only want Oppa. Just Oppa. Why are you pretending not to know? You know everything…!”
Her dammed-up feelings finally burst. Tears streamed down uncontrollably.
Hangyeol panicked, hugging her, comforting her—but the accumulated sorrow couldn’t be soothed by his warmth.
In fact, his gentle kindness—kindness that confused her—felt even worse.
“Don’t do this! You don’t even like me… you won’t marry me…!”
She pushed herself out of his arms, biting her lip until it bled.
“Somang…”
“J-Just go! Fine! Just go and never come back!”
Her voice cracked as she said something she didn’t mean. Tears fell in four messy streams, blurring her sight.
Humiliating. Pathetic. Even the small bit of pride she had left was crumbling.
She turned away—
“Let’s get married.”
