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chapter 001
Prologue
When Yeon-seo faced him again, she was swept up in a surge of intense emotions.
The moment she was drawn into his dark eyes, the firmly locked gate of her heart shattered to pieces.
Yeon-seo looked at him, hoping her own tormented feelings remained hidden.
“Wooyeon-seo.”
Hearing that voice after such a long time wrapped around her ears. He stood among a cluster of lily-of-the-valley flowers.
“You even changed your name and disappeared—I had my hopes up.”
“……”
“Is this the kind of thing you like? Or are you just foolish?”
He shifted his gaze toward the house.
It seemed he was referring to the old wall with peeling paint and the rust-covered door. A slightly shabby place, yet a house she had started to feel attached to.
“How did you get here?”
Doheon trampled the wildflowers in the garden with his shoes. Knowing that she cherished even the smallest bloom, he did it as if to show off.
The limp, crushed flowers tore at Yeon-seo’s heart as they fell.
“If you were running away, at least you should’ve indulged yourself.”
“……”
“Or was that money not enough? Did you follow your brother and gamble it away or something?”
He smirked crookedly. The mention of her brother, whom she had tried to forget, made her stomach churn.
“I guess I’ll have to find somewhere to run to again. Since you’ve come here.”
Her calm voice returned in an unnatural echo. Doheon’s brow furrowed.
“Is that supposed to be a threat?”
“I tried so hard not to be noticed by you, but it was all in vain.”
He stepped closer, standing at a distance where she could feel his breath. In that instant, Yeon-seo’s tense body stiffened even further.
“…You must think I’m a fool. Wherever you go, I—”
“……”
“I’ll find you, Yeon-seo.”
“……”
“Don’t even think about running anymore.”
Doheon snatched her wrist abruptly.
Heat surged where they touched. Yeon-seo clenched her fists tightly, trying to ignore the warmth of this man and the emotions rising within her.
“Go. Don’t come looking for me again.”
Yeon-seo snapped her head to the side as she spoke, afraid that if she held on any longer, tears would spill.
It was just as she tried to pull away.
“Ungaeh—”
From inside the house came the cry of Yoon-woo, a child who rarely slept soundly.
Doheon’s eyes flickered. Ripples spread as if a stone had been thrown into a lake. He strode toward the door, furious, and entered.
The narrow living room was filled with the metallic smell of milk and the scent of the baby. On one side was a nursing chair, next to it a leaf-shaped bouncer, and a trolley packed with diapers.
Yoon-woo lay in the bouncer. Strangely, as Doheon approached, the baby’s crying stopped.
Doheon stared endlessly at the struggling, cooing baby. His hands trembled in the air, unable to touch the child.
Yeon-seo stepped in front of him.
“This is trespassing. Leave immediately.”
“Hah, trespassing?”
His lips twisted.
“If that child is mine, don’t I have every right to see him?”
“Because he isn’t your child.”
“Then whose child is he if not mine?”
Yeon-seo took a step back, drawing a clear line.
“After the divorce, I met another man, but we’ve broken up. The child was premature.”
“And you expect me to believe that now?”
She never expected him to believe her instantly. After all, the child looked so much like him. She recited the lines she had practiced hundreds of times with a calm expression.
“I was painfully lonely throughout my marriage, both as a human and as a woman.”
“……”
“I found comfort in the biological father, and after a few encounters, I became pregnant. We were casually involved, broke up, and I raised the child alone.”
He was not easily satisfied. His deep eyes seemed to pierce through her very thoughts.
“Really? Should I confirm it right now?”
Yeon-seo’s pupils trembled. From the start, trying to deceive him was a ridiculous game.
He grabbed her chin and turned her toward him.
“How do you see me, Wooyeon-seo?”
Doheon’s sharp jaw tilted slightly.
His tongue slipped between her teeth, dominating as if to swallow her whole. The peculiar sensation was still unfamiliar. He licked her delicate inner mouth as though he knew her intimately.
Yeon-seo twisted her shoulders, trying to escape his hold, but it was useless. Over time, the familiar scent gradually enveloped her, as if under anesthesia.
It was too sweet to resist. Even a kiss from him awakened sensations she had long forgotten.
“Ugh.”
Breath flowed between them. Her expression gradually fell apart.
“Let go!”
Yeon-seo pushed his shoulder sharply. Doheon looked down at her with a crooked expression.
“When did you beg when it felt good?”
“……”
Yeon-seo parted her lips, trying to suppress the lingering excitement.
“You seem excited from the looks of it.”
“Don’t judge so recklessly.”
“You always have this habit of twisting your fingers.”
Yeon-seo tucked her wriggling fingers behind her.
Doheon reached out, lifted her fingers, and gently kissed them twice. Yeon-seo shivered.
He wrapped her waist and pressed close, licking her teeth. Pushed against the wall, Yeon-seo yielded to him.
Tears running down her cheeks were mixed with heat.
Soft friction echoed as he traced from her neck to her collarbone, savoring the marks.
“I wanted to smell you, your scent.”
“……”
“I love it so much.”
He lifted Yeon-seo and laid her on the master bed. With skilled hands, he lifted her T-shirt. The front of his pants bulged impossibly. Yeon-seo’s earlobes flushed red.
As he pulled down one side of her light green underwear, her firm flesh was revealed. He eagerly took it into his mouth. As the pressure in his mouth intensified, Yeon-seo’s slender waist twisted and swayed.
The indulgence continued like a waterfall. They poured their pent-up desire into each other. They were like paper burning away in each other’s hands.
Even pressed together, their skin meeting, they could not endure the longing. They tried to touch more intimately, capturing every fleeting expression in their eyes.
“Tell me, Yeon-seo. What happened to you?”
His gaze was burning.
“If you tell me, I won’t let whoever it is go unpunished.”
“……”
“If you want, I could make them disappear.”
With those words, the rough breathing of the two mingled.
Yeon-seo sobbed beneath him, struggling to escape yet inevitably succumbing to desire again.
Before fleeing from Myeongseonjae, memories of the past—excruciatingly sweet and cruelly piercing her heart—rushed back in a storm.
