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Chapter 12
“Ugh…”
Yoo Jong-min pressed the back of his hand to his forehead and tossed on the wide bed. The strong smell of alcohol weighed heavily in the hotel room.
“J-Jo, Chief… water. With lots of ice.”
Half-opening his eyes, Jong-min spoke, and Chief Jo inserted a straw into a cup full of ice water and brought it to Jong-min’s lips.
Sip. Slurp.
Jong-min sucked the straw so noisily that his cheeks hollowed, and soon the cup was empty.
“Ah! I feel alive! Chief Jo, this stays between us, okay? Just meant to have one or two drinks, and it turned into a big deal. But yesterday, I didn’t even take medicine, I just drank.”
As he pulled back the blanket and got up, kiss marks covered his extremely thin body, with ribs showing here and there.
In Korea, the people Jong-min hung out with were mostly celebrities or children of high-ranking officials. He must have thought he could have fun without trouble, but things had escalated over time.
“Haah… Chief, what’s Yuhan-gyeol doing these days?”
“Mr. Yoo Han-gyeol is the head of the Clover Electronics TF Team.”
“Ah~ handling the aftermath of the appliance explosion I couldn’t manage?”
Boom! Jong-min made an exaggerated explosion sound as he slid into his sweatpants.
“Why do I hate him so much? Even though he’s cleaning up after me, I still hate him! Look at him coming to see Dad without knowing his place. So full of ambition, I tell you.”
As he got dressed, Jong-min stood still and narrowed his eyes.
“Master, how long do you plan to stay in Korea?”
The yellow light of the setting sun streamed through the fully opened floor-to-ceiling window.
“Hmm. But Dad’s acting strange these days too. He told me to get along with that hybrid guy?”
Jong-min punched the pillow.
“Our chairman became like a toothless tiger after that woman died. Or do men go through menopause or something?”
“Master.”
Chief Jo, in a polite tone, warned him to watch his words, and Jong-min laughed and patted his shoulder.
“Let’s go to my office. We need to cheer for our admirable hybrid while he’s cleaning up the mess.”
Downtown Bar
A beer pub playing some unknown pop song was unusually quiet for a Monday.
“Baek-so!”
Ye-won raised her hand at the innermost seat, with her fiancé Dong-ho sitting next to her.
“Sorry, sorry. The subway was packed, so I missed a few trains and got here late.”
“You had a hard time. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?”
Somang ordered a few snack dishes that could pass as a meal and some draft beer.
<Somang, do you want to leave early today?>
<Ha, really? I never planned to go with you anyway.>
Earlier, she’d been nagging via messenger to come down to the parking lot ten minutes before leaving work.
How important could this appointment be?
Somang downed the freshly poured draft beer, feeling frustrated.
Her life was shaken just by Yuhan-gyeol’s presence, and her mind was flooded with thoughts of him.
“Hey, Baek-so. Drinking on an empty stomach? You’ll pay for it tomorrow. Take it slow.”
“You need to go to work tomorrow.” Despite Ye-won’s concerned words, Somang drained the rest of her beer and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.
“I’m living with Yuhan-gyeol. Same company, and he’s my team leader.”
As if her words alone weren’t enough, her eyes glistened with barely restrained anger.
“What?”
Startled, Ye-won dropped her piece of chicken, which rolled under the table.
After a short silence, Somang continued talking when the second beer arrived.
Living together. Landlord. Carpool. And the first-love incident at the office today left Ye-won jaw-dropped.
“Somang, why don’t the three of us just live together? You move out of that place. Quit your job and manage our café?”
“Ugh, that’s too much, isn’t it?” Ye-won scratched her head nervously, then turned sharply to Dong-ho.
“Babe, is first love always that intense? If so, even if I marry you, you won’t forget your first love, right?”
“Hmm…”
Dong-ho, careful by nature, calmed Ye-won like a teacher.
“What’s the definition of first love?”
“The first person you liked. Isn’t that it?”
“I think it’s the first person with whom your feelings were mutual. So Ye-won, you are my first love.”
Ye-won lightly punched his chest in response to his perfect survival answer.
Watching the two flirt, Somang realized living together with them was out of the question.
She mixed some soju into her beer, taking a bitter sip.
“Then Somang, your first love hasn’t come yet either, right? You’ve never had mutual feelings with anyone.”
Was she drunk? Ye-won’s words felt like discovering a new law of the universe. Her head buzzed.
Back at the Apartment
The door lock clicked, and Han-gyeol, who had been reviewing documents on the sofa, got up and headed to the entrance.
Leaning against the wall near the door, Han-gyeol looked down at Somang, who staggered while taking off her sneakers.
“I think we need a curfew.”
“You’re being overbearing to your friend’s younger sibling.”
Somang, struggling to remove her shoes, shoved Han-gyeol with her shoulder and moved into the living room.
“Come here.”
Somang’s tipsy, playful tone made her wave her hand.
“Give me your hand.”
Han-gyeol extended his hand, and Somang pulled something out of her pocket.
“You don’t need a curfew, you know?”
Somang dropped a bunch of orange earplugs into his large palm.
Even overflowing with the spongy earplugs, Han-gyeol chuckled.
“Ah~ so I can sleep quietly with earplugs in?”
“Yes. I kept my promise, so you keep yours.”
Somang flicked her hand and glared fiercely at the “Housemate Rules.”
“Knock. Undress. No abuse of power!”
She scanned the sleeveless Han-gyeol with blazing eyes.
“And put some proper clothes on. Too much skin is showing!”
The muscles on his arms outside the white sleeveless shirt were well-defined and appealing.
Somang almost felt compelled to touch him. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single unremarkable part about him—that’s why she couldn’t forget Yuhan-gyeol.
Suddenly overwhelmed by frustration, she tried to go to her room but turned sharply.
“Oppa, just so you know…”
She pointed her index finger at Han-gyeol.
“You’re not my first love.”
It was a desperate, one-sided crush.
“So don’t get the wrong idea.”
“What if I do?”
“Why would you? We’ve never done anything. One-sided feelings aren’t first love.”
A pitiful crush, indeed.
The alcohol was fading, but her mind became sharper.
“You and I are just… a friend’s younger sibling and an older friend. That’s it. Just like it’s been for fifteen years.”
Even saying it aloud hurt her heart. One-sided love was painful, and admitting it herself hurt even more.
“I’ll sleep now. You wear the earplugs and sleep comfortably too.”
Somang grabbed the doorknob, but her body spun, facing Han-gyeol.
“Somang, we kissed, slept in the same bed, even held hands. Isn’t that enough?”
Pressing close, Han-gyeol slowly stroked her from shoulder to elbow to hand.
The sensation of his thumb rubbing her skin made her straighten her back and curl her toes.
“Th-That was an accident! And the kiss… it was just a brush.”
Han-gyeol’s brows furrowed slightly, then he waved two fingers in front of her.
“Baek Somang. How many?”
“T-Two. I wasn’t that drunk, you know?”
Han-gyeol smiled satisfactorily and closed the already small distance between them.
Her sharp eyes, crooked smile, and glimmering lips seemed like they could cause trouble, and she instinctively went on guard.
“Why? If you have something to say, say it from a distance. I’m sober now and can hear everything clearly.”
“Good.”
In this house with no rival Si-won, it suddenly felt dangerous—why only now did she realize?
“I-I’ll come home early next time.”
Trying to retreat, she said.
“You can’t call it an accident tomorrow. This was deliberate.”
Han-gyeol lowered his head.
Up close, she noticed the slow-motion flutter of his thick eyelashes.
“Somang, close your eyes.”
His delicate lips moved closer as she turned her head.
