Chapter 2

Hyeon-oh found himself staring at the woman’s eyes without meaning to. They kept blinking beneath her heavy makeup, but they looked so clean and innocent—almost too pure for someone doing this kind of thing in a club. The outer corners curved in a wavy shape that was unusual and beautiful.

Picturing the face of this “she” whose name he didn’t even know, Hyeon-oh spoke.

“So… she must be a stunning beauty, huh?”

The woman who’d been sitting demurely next to Jaegyeom suddenly hopped up, delighted. She seemed happy at the word “beauty,” even though he was really just talking about her eyes.

“Noona. Don’t kid yourself. He’s the type who’ll sweet-talk any woman.”

“…You always have to ruin the moment, don’t you?”

Her cheeks reddening, the woman frowned and took a cigarette from the table. Naturally, Hyeon-oh picked up a lighter and lit it for her. That seemed to perk her up again; she batted her eyes at him flirtatiously. Sure, her eyes were pretty, but Hyeon-oh had zero desire to stick his d*ck in a hole his buddy had just used. He wasn’t fond of that sort of thing.

“But if you like her so much, why aren’t you just sleeping with her instead of doing this here?”

Tilting his head, Hyeon-oh spoke as he accepted a piece of pineapple the woman had casually offered him. In response to the question, Jaegyeom frowned, looking tired.

“She won’t sleep with me.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. She just says she hates me.”

She hates Jaegyeom? That was an unusual girl. He was rich, good-looking, good at s*x, came from a great family… Sure, his personality was a bit shitty, but still, it was surprising that there was a woman on earth who’d turn down such a complete package.

“Ah, I see—so she’s a high-and-mighty beauty?”

Roughly, he could guess the kind of woman she might be: either a ridiculously pretty, smart, big-breasted older woman, or maybe a married woman with a successful husband. She’d have to be at least that level to put up a real fight against Lee Jaegyeom.

“She’s the daughter of their housekeeper… Uh, mmph.”  

“Shut it. Seriously, shut your mouth. It’s embarrassing.”

But the woman puffing away on her cigarette shattered his assumptions in one go. The daughter of a housekeeper?

Jaegyeom practically lunged to clamp a hand over her mouth. So he did have enough sense to feel ashamed. Judging from his behavior, he likely wasn’t much to look at beneath the face. No matter how pretty you are, so what.

“You’re pathetic, Jaegyeom… How did you end up like this?”

Hyeon-oh sneered at Jaegyeom. Gulping down whiskey like it was water, Jaegyeom slumped forward onto the cold marble table. Pressing his pale face against it, he stared blankly into space, as if he might burst into tears at the slightest tap.

But three years? In three years, you could go through dozens of women. Yet here he was, wasting his time, almost as if he was jerking off into thin air—somehow, Hyeon-oh felt sorry for him. What on earth had happened while he was flying back and forth between the U.S. and Australia?

“I don’t know. She won’t budge even if I die. Nothing works. Telling her I like her doesn’t work; telling her I love her doesn’t work. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck…”

“How about sleeping with her once and then tossing her aside?”

“She’s not that kind of girl.”

Well, well. Now Jaegyeom was even glaring at him, defending this unknown “her.”

“How do you know she’s not that kind of girl?”

“I can just tell. She’s different.”

“….”

“She’s on a totally different level than trash like me. She won’t be swayed by money, and even having s*x doesn’t work. Kim Yeo-hee is a bit unusual.”

She’s different from other women. Jaegyeom, talking nonsense, suddenly started chuckling to himself—maybe he was picturing her face. *Kim Yeo-hee.* Without realizing it, Hyeon-oh rolled the girl’s name around in his mouth. There was something subtly ticklish about that name.

Kim Yeo-hee, the object of Lee Jaegyeom’s unrequited love: eyes exceptionally beautiful, somehow fundamentally different from other women. Could that really be true? He found himself strangely curious.

“Hey, if I try to seduce her, what do you think’ll happen?”

Still imagining Kim Yeo-hee’s face, Hyeon-oh spoke up.

“…What?”

“You said she’s different. But honestly, I bet there’s nothing special about her.”

The woman sitting next to them gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. It was certainly a shocking proposal.

But once his curiosity was sparked, it only grew stronger. He wondered how someone who, from the sound of it, didn’t have much going for her could act so high and mighty. And if she *did* end up falling for him, that in itself would be entertaining.

He’d get to rile up Lee Jaegyeom and also sleep with her… Smirking, Hyeon-oh spoke again.

“She might just be playing hard to get so she’ll seem more valuable to you.”

“…”

“Right? It’s no fun if she’s too easy.”

“She’s not like that, you f*cking bastard.”

“That’s exactly why I want to give it a try.”

Hyeon-oh’s eyes gleamed with a dangerous sort of interest. By now, Jaegyeom had risen from the table and brushed back his disheveled bangs, letting out a deep sigh.

“Even I couldn’t get her. How the hell do you think you can?”

“I’ll get her. I’m not a pathetic sucker like *some people*.”

“…You won’t be able to, either. I know Kim Yeo-hee.”

“What do you know, when you haven’t even managed to stick your c*ck in her once in three years?”

“…”

“Maybe she just doesn’t want *you* specifically.”

Jaegyeom’s face went stiff in an instant, and Hyeon-oh, seeing that, began to snicker. He knew it was a trashy move, but he couldn’t help laughing at Jaegyeom’s crumpled expression—something he hadn’t seen in a long time.

After laughing for a while, Hyeon-oh reached over to the chest of the woman sitting across from him. The noona, the one who supposedly looked like Kim Yeo-hee, blinked and blushed. He abruptly plucked off one of the buttons dangling on her ample chest and flicked it onto the table like a coin. All three of them stared at the button as it rolled around.

“A button. Use this.”

“…Use it for what?”

Frowning at the random comment, Jaegyeom shot him a look. Baek Hyeon-oh stroked the stark white button with his index finger and grinned.

“Just give me three months. I’ll bring back *Kim Yeo-hee’s* button.”

That unexpected remark made Jaegyeom freeze. The button near Kim Yeo-hee’s chest… The thought of a button he’d never get to touch himself ending up in Baek Hyeon-oh’s possession made his vision swim.

“What are you going to put on the line, Jaegyeom?”

What if Kim Yeo-hee really did end up with some other bastard? What if she started liking some guy so much she spread her legs for him and drooled all over while sucking his c*ck? What would *he* do then?

And imagining that the lucky bastard could be Baek Hyeon-oh sent flames of anger surging up inside him. No—no way. Kim Yeo-hee wasn’t that kind of girl.

He was fine with her never liking him for the rest of his life. As long as she didn’t give her heart to another guy or spread her legs for someone else, he didn’t care. He was prepared to endure this shitty waiting game for as long as it took. He’d been telling himself that for three years.

He wanted to believe that Kim Yeo-hee didn’t hate him as a person—she just didn’t like men. He’d rather hold onto that delusion while continuing to love her.

But now, with Baek Hyeon-oh’s dangerous provocation, his resolve was shaking. He knew this was wrong, yet he wanted to know where Kim Yeo-hee’s heart truly lay. Picturing her pale face, Jaegyeom pulled the car key out of his pocket.

“My car. I got it three months ago.”

“Wow, that’s pretty hardcore. You guys are no joke.”

The noona sitting next to them lifted her glass with an intrigued expression. Jaegyeom decided he should stop sleeping with her. Unlike certain other people, she talked way too much nonsense. Steadying his thoughts, Jaegyeom looked straight at Hyeon-oh and spoke firmly.

“So, what are you putting on the line? You might fail to seduce her.”

Jaegyeom hoped with all his might that Baek Hyeon-oh would fail. Three months from now, when the bet was over, he wanted to look Hyeon-oh in the face and laugh at him. See? It’s not that she doesn’t like me—she just won’t go out with anyone…

“No, that’s never gonna happen.”

But Hyeon-oh smirked with the confidence of someone who had already seen exactly what would happen three months down the road. Jaegyeom tightened his grip on the car key in his hand. The dangerous bet had begun.

***

At two in the morning, Yeo-hee lay in bed, tossing and turning. She finally opened the eyes she’d been forcing shut when she heard signs of someone moving outside her door.  

*Step, step, thunk.* The sound of someone climbing the stairs and bumping into the wall. The sound of groaning. All of it came from Jaegyeom. Quietly, Yeo-hee approached the door. She gripped the doorknob tightly and pressed her ear against the firmly closed door.  

> “Ah, damn… this hurts like hell.”

Thank goodness. He’s back. She had spent the whole night worrying he might not return. Then the footsteps that had been dragging along came to a stop right in front of her room. Holding onto the doorknob, Yeo-hee held her breath.

> “Kim Yeo-hee, are you asleep?”

‘No, I’m not. I was waiting for you. I was anxious you might not come back, so I kept waiting.’

She wanted to say those words, but her throat stung so badly she couldn’t open her mouth. She listened as his footsteps drifted away and then sank to the floor against the wall.  

To tell the truth, she’d wanted to see him all day, but she forced herself to endure it. She even thought about texting him to ask when he’d be home, but held back from that, too. If she kept holding back, she believed, she’d get used to it eventually. She figured that someday she’d grow accustomed to both Jaegyeom’s confessions and her own repeated rejections of his unrequited love.  

Leaning her head on her knees, Yeo-hee blinked her eyes quietly.  

He probably slept with another woman again tonight, didn’t he? Every time she turned him down, Jaegyeom always released his frustration in that way. When she first learned about it, she’d been hurt beyond words.  

But it has been three years now. Back then, she would cry and make a scene, but these days, she felt more numb. It was strange and even frightening to realize how indifferent she could become to such things. People say that when unrequited love goes too far, it becomes an illness. Yeo-hee let out a bitter laugh at her own foolishness.  

She wanted to do the same as other women—kiss Jaegyeom, embrace him, share a bed with him. But she didn’t want to cling to a relationship that had no future. That’s why she felt she could never sleep with Jaegyeom, not in a million years.  

And it wasn’t just about s*x. She also couldn’t bring herself to say, ‘Just look only at me. Don’t sleep with anyone else.’

Yet she couldn’t stop her heart from sinking every time he came home late or whenever she caught a whiff of a new perfume on him.  

‘Jaegyeom, don’t sleep with other women. I’m jealous. Every time you do, it drives me crazy with jealousy…’

Those words she could never speak whirled around inside her chest. Still slumped in the corner, picturing Jaegyeom’s face, Yeo-hee slowly stood up. She walked over to her desk and absentmindedly ran her hand over the lamp Jaegyeom had given her. Then she pressed the round button.  

Click—instantly, the light that had been filling the room went dark.