Chapter 11

For about thirty minutes, she blankly stared at the sky. Sticky sweat trickled down the back of her neck. Then, as if having made up her mind, Soyoon’s eyes flashed brightly.

She tapped the phone she had been gripping tightly and called him.

-Hello.

For some reason, his voice was low today.

“It’s me……”

-Mm.

“I thought it over……”

-Come down.

Come down? Did he think she was at the hotel?

“……”

When she lowered her eyes from the sky, as if by a lie, she saw his car.

How long had he been there? No, if he had come, he could at least have made some kind of sound.

Soyoon, who had been crouching, stood up and brushed off her backside. Then she came down one step at a time. He got out of the car and furrowed his brow.

“Are you trying to collapse, sitting out in this kind of heat?”

“I was just thinking for a bit……”

“If you think twice, you’ll be in trouble. Get in quickly.”

The moment she got in the car, she realized just how hot it had been outside. But only for a moment—when he opened the car door and got in, the hot air came rushing inside and made it hard to breathe. Once again, she found herself thinking that the air conditioner was really cool.

“Where are we going now?”

“Home.”

She was about to ask which home he meant, but instead turned her gaze out the window. She was tired. The world outside sped past quickly. Her body felt so heavy with fatigue that she wanted to fall asleep using the slightly slow sound of his breathing as a lullaby.

Unable to overcome the heaviness of her eyelids, like stones, Soyoon closed her eyes.

***

Do-ha stared fixedly at her sleeping face. He had arrived in front of the house a long time ago, but he did not want to wake her.

He wanted to look at Lee Soyoon, asleep with such a thoroughly exhausted face, for just a little longer. Once she woke up, he would no longer be able to see her this unguarded.

Tapping the steering wheel lightly with his fingers, he simply waited for her to wake.

How much time had passed? Seeing her eyebrows twitch as she stirred from sleep made Do-ha feel so regretful that he let out a small sigh. Blinking and looking around, the moment she noticed him, her face stiffened at once.

This was why he had not wanted to wake her.

He remembered how, when they were younger, she used to show him a fairly relaxed face, but from the time she became a high school student, every time she saw him, her face would turn red and freeze up.

“You’re awake?”

“Ah……! I fell asleep?”

Her flustered reaction was so cute that the corners of his lips almost twitched upward. Do-ha quickly turned his head away.

“Get out.”

“Yes……”

The moment they opened the heavy gate and went inside, all the lights in the house came on. One by one, lights lit up each time they walked through the garden. He could feel her marveling at it behind him.

“Your house is so pretty.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing.”

It was a relief that she thought it was pretty. From the time he had first planned and designed the house, he had made it while thinking of her, who liked little pretty things. So of course, it had no choice but to be pretty.

Without her noticing, Do-ha lifted the corners of his lips.

After being discharged from the military, he had searched for her like a madman. Because she had hidden herself away so completely that not even a single strand of her hair could be seen, at first he had been angry, and later he had been so worried that he could barely sleep properly.

Once she graduated, he had planned to confess his feelings. In truth, it had taken him a long time to realize what he felt.

Probably, the moment he had fully realized it was when she stole his lips in front of someone. Until then, he had forced himself to think of her only as Seohyeon’s friend, as just a little kid, not even as a woman. This was all Lee Soyoon’s fault.

He had been so angry that he could not sleep for several days. After stealing his lips and running away, what had she done so well that every time she saw him, Lee Soyoon was always busy fleeing?

Thinking back, there had even been a time when his friend teased him, asking why he could not say no so firmly to such a little kid. There had been countless women following him around asking him to date them. And yet, and yet. To think he had ended up liking a little kid five years younger than him!

He had acted like an adult in front of Lee Soyoon, but in truth, every night, every single night, he had bad thoughts. Thoughts so indecent he could not even dare say them aloud.

That I am far worse than you, the one who stole my lips and ran away.

He could not say it. If she ever found out what he thought in his head, then he would surely lose not only those clear eyes, but Lee Soyoon herself, who looked only at him and no one else.

He told her to sit on the sofa for a while. When he handed her coffee with ice in it, she drank it in great gulps, apparently quite thirsty. In her haste, a drop of coffee ran down the back of her neck.

Watching that, Do-ha’s Adam’s apple moved dangerously up and down.

Pretending he had not been looking at her as she set the coffee cup down on the table, he turned his gaze away.

“So, your conclusion?”

Ah. He had told himself he would approach her without rushing. But again, his heart became impatient.

This time, it felt as though he himself might die of thirst.

“…What is it that you want?”

Seeing traces of the struggle she had gone through, Do-ha felt guilty. But if he did not do this, Lee Soyoon would surely run away again. Telling himself that this was the only way, he steadied his wavering heart.

“I’ll get you a house.”

“……”

“I’d like to lend it to you for free, but you’d hate that, wouldn’t you?”

She had always been a child with strong pride, from a young age. Even now, seeing her sitting there with her back perfectly straight, without the slightest sign of wavering, made his mouth feel bitter. If only she would just say she needed help, that she was having a hard time, then he would not be this troubled.

Well, this side of her was exactly what he liked.

“So, I’m asking what you want.”

“Partner.”

“…What?”

“I’m saying let’s make a partner contract.”

Her eyes shook violently as she bit her lip hard, unable to say anything. But Do-ha had no intention of backing down like this.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking. I need you, and you need my money.”

“……That’s.”

“You still have quite a lot of debt left, and I’ll pay that off for you. If you really hate receiving it for free, then pay me back. There’s no interest, and it doesn’t matter if you fall behind. Isn’t that a pretty good deal?”

Please.

Just say okay.

Do-ha watched Soyoon carefully.

She would never imagine it, but there had been a time before when he had watched Lee Soyoon carefully too. In his life, it was the first time he had ever watched anyone’s mood, and the first time he had ever wanted anyone this much.

“When you say a partner contract……”

Gulp.

She swallowed dryly.

“If you know, then why ask?”

“What do I know?”

Her voice was definitely getting smaller and smaller.

Lifting one corner of his lips, Do-ha stared straight into her eyes.

“I’m saying let’s have s*x.”

Soyoon’s face turned bright red. Of course, she had thought of that side of it too. But still. To think Cha Do-ha would be the one to bring up s*x to her.

She remembered him asking to borrow a condom.

Come to think of it, had he used that condom well?

Naturally, she thought, there must have been another woman. And yet one corner of her chest still ached sharply. The chain of thoughts biting at one another suddenly came to a halt. Remembering the woman who had been smiling brightly beside him, she shook her head.

Now that it had come to this, she thought she should not say that she would be his first.

“So all I have to do is have s*x?”

When she spoke calmly about s*x, his brows twitched.

“We’ll have s*x too, but I need your body.”

“My body?”

Her face grew even hotter. She had thought it was already so red that there was nowhere left for it to heat up, but now she was worried her head might go pop- and burst at this rate.

“There are times when I have to bring a partner along with me for work, so come with me then. I’ve taken other women before, but they start getting mistaken ideas, like they’ve become something special. I hate troublesome situations. You’re smart, so you won’t misunderstand like that, right?”

He was asking, ‘You won’t misunderstand like that, right?’

“Why me? There are other women besides me who would……”

She was about to say there would probably be a line of them, but he cut her off.

“That’s why it’s you. Because I don’t think you’ll bother me after the contract ends.”

“……”

“Because I don’t think you’ll cling to me.”

Soyoon thought she did not know why those words felt sad.

“All right, let’s make the contract.”

“We’ll draw up the contract tomorrow.”

“Yes……”

“The driver will take you home. When you get there, most things you need should already be there, but if there’s anything else you need, send me a text.”

She nodded. Somehow, her heart felt at ease.

She knew she should not so easily reach out and take that man’s hand, but Soyoon was exhausted. After talking to Hayoon’s teacher, she had decided to take Cha Do-ha’s hand. Even if it was the devil’s hand.

“You haven’t eaten, right?”

“…No.”

“Let’s eat first.”

By the time she went into the kitchen, the table was already set with food. As if he had known she would come.

It left her feeling uneasy, but hunger came first. Now that the matter of housing had been resolved, the food tasted good too. The food that had felt so rough in her throat that it had been hard even to swallow now went down easily.

“You eat well.”

“I was hungry.”

“Eat a lot. You’re too thin right now.”

Even though it was not a s*xual comment, Soyoon’s neck turned red all the way down to the nape. He, who had talked about s*x so casually, felt unfamiliar to her and yet new at the same time. In the past, the old Lee Soyoon had lost sleep at night from just kissing him, but now that they were meeting as adults, they were even talking about s*x.

It made her realize just how much time had passed.

“Quit the convenience store. Come here during that time instead.”

“All right.”

Because he was sitting there, resting his chin on his hand and staring straight through her, Soyoon lowered her face into her rice bowl and began eating.