Chapter 5

“What’s your home address?”

The sound seemed to echo louder in the damp air. Without looking at the driver’s seat on purpose, Yaein replied:

“You already know it, don’t you?”

“My knowing your address?”

“You know which hospital my grandmother is in, so it’s hard to believe you wouldn’t know where I live.”

He clearly hadn’t shown up by coincidence. She could easily imagine this man tracking her footprints, hunting her down in the forest like a disappearing deer.

A low chuckle escaped Taeheon.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

He started entering Yaein’s address into the navigation system. Apparently, he didn’t just know her address—he had it memorized. Maybe he had an excellent memory or was simply persistent. Probably both.

“No.”

Watching him key in her address so casually, Yaein gently placed her hand on the back of his. Taeheon paused and looked at her.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“Then where?”

“…”

“My place?”

He spoke the words as if joking, yet he didn’t laugh. Nor did she.

Her blouse was soaked through and felt cold against her skin. She craved warmth—any warmth, even from this ice-cold man.

Taeheon reached out.

His palm, pressed against her cheek, felt scorching hot—no doubt because she’d lost so much of her own body heat in the rain. She knew his temperature wasn’t really that high, but still…

“All right.”

Closing her eyes, Yaein leaned her head into Taeheon’s hand. The droplets gathered on her eyelashes slipped down her cheek and pooled on his hand.

***

This house feels like an extension of the man himself.  

Inside the spacious home, there was almost no furniture—it felt bleak. Did he really live here? Every item looked brand-new, devoid of any sense of everyday life.

“Why don’t you shower?”  

Taeheon spoke as he took off his coat. Standing near the living room, Yaein shook her head.  

“No, I’m fine.”  

“If you stay like that, you’ll catch a cold.”

He sounded as if he couldn’t understand why she was being stubborn. The way he looked at her made goosebumps rise on her right arm. In truth, if she stayed in a soaked blouse clinging to her skin, it wouldn’t be surprising to come down with a fever by tomorrow.

“Are you afraid I’ll jump you or something?”

He must have found her reluctance ridiculous, for there was a hint of teasing in his voice. Compelled by a sense that she needed to explain, Yaein chose her words carefully.

“There’s no spare underwear here…”

Her voice trailed off. Taeheon let out a brief, low laugh. It made her ears heat up.

“You sure talk like a nun, even though you don’t look it.”

Yaein glared at his mocking comment.  

“Meanwhile, you’re not exactly talking like you look, either.”  

“So how am I talking? Unlike how I appear… like some playboy?”

That was exactly it. For someone who looked like he was carved from marble, devoid of desire, his words were startlingly crude.

“When you said you’d come over, I figured you wanted to, you know.”

Obscene words.  

Yaein swallowed a gasp. Taeheon stood right in front of her now, tie already loosened. He still smelled of the rain, yet it wasn’t unpleasant—mixed with his own scent, it formed a different fragrance.  

The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Her heart raced. When she was near him, she felt as though she might lose her composure. She hurried past him and sat on the sofa.

“I heard you contacted my father.”

Taeheon slowly turned toward her, like a hunter watching prey that had slipped away before he could catch it. Even his kindness felt like a trap, making it impossible to let her guard down.

“Maybe I should’ve contacted you directly?”  

“I already know your answer, Mr. Kwon Taeheon. No matter what I say, you plan on marrying me, right?”  

“I told you: it’s a good deal for me.”

Taeheon walked toward the sofa. Perhaps because his legs were long, he crossed the distance in an instant. Yaein tipped her chin up to look at him.

“You called it a transaction, didn’t you?”

She had to crane her neck to meet his gaze. With his coat removed, the tight stretch of his shirt across his chest was all the more apparent. Through the open collar, she could see his straight collarbone.

She found it intriguing—everything about him seemed so upright and perfectly formed, as though he had gathered every enviable quality for himself. Beyond that neat collarbone and neck, she saw Taeheon’s cold eyes—and the sneer on his lips.

That was all Yaein could hope for.

Taeheon, who had been listening silently, undid the final button. Without hesitation, he slipped her blouse off.

“You talk as if you’ll vanish any moment. You’re a strange woman.”

With the blouse gone, only her bra covered her chest. Seeing the plain white bra, the corners of Taeheon’s mouth curved up slightly.

She expected him to reach behind her back, but instead Taeheon hooked his fingers under the lower edge of her bra and lifted it up. Her n*pples were revealed beneath the half-raised cups.

“Ah.”

Yaein let out a small gasp and drew back. There was nowhere to run, so all she managed was pressing against the sofa’s backrest.

Breathing heavily with her back buried in the sofa, Yaein felt Taeheon’s gaze roaming over her chest, as if he were licking it with his eyes. He bit into her snow-white br*ast and licked around the *reola. When he began sucking on her n*pple, a moan escaped.

“Ugh… mm…”

It was a sound she had never made before. She quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. With his face buried against her br*ast, the man looked oddly satisfied.

Lewd, wet noises filled the air. Heat pooled in her lower abdomen. As Yaein shook her head and tried to push him away, Taeheon grabbed her arms and pulled them down. With both arms pinned and his mouth on her br*ast, her breathing became increasingly labored.

“My conditions are two.”

Taeheon pushed Yaein back onto the sofa and kissed every inch of her chest. He spread her legs, previously hidden by her skirt, and her ankles brushed against his sides.

“First, you’ll do your absolute best to fool everyone with this marriage.”

Settling between her knees, Taeheon whispered,

“Since it seems you’re utterly incapable of telling a lie, you’ll have to try even harder than ‘your best.’”

She tried to cover her exposed br*asts, but Taeheon quickly removed her bra as well. Her n*pples, now upright, tingled uncomfortably.

“What’s the second?”

She forced herself to speak, trying to stave off the embarrassment.

“You won’t have s*x with any man but me.”

He gave his order while expertly pushing her skirt up.

Her father had been the same. He never showed any concern whether Yaein was even born, yet when her mother ran away with another man, he was furious and lashed out in a rage of insults.

Was this man similar to her father?

“Once we’re married, I have no intention of sleeping with any other woman. You’re to do the same. Don’t even think about another man.”

The words that followed sharply severed her lingering doubts.

Kwon Taeheon was demanding a relationship in which the two of them were exclusive. Yaein looked at Taeheon. She hadn’t meant to stare so intently, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

“What?”

“It’s… unexpected.”

“What is?”

“We’re just in a transactional arrangement. I assumed you wouldn’t care whoever else I—ah.”

If he meant what he said, then at least physically, this wouldn’t be any different from a normal married couple, would it? Taeheon didn’t give Yaein time to think further. He yanked her underwear down in one motion. Deprived of anything to cover her private parts, Yaein held her breath.

“It’s dirty, so…”

He said this even as he lowered his head between her legs, an apparent contradiction. His tongue licked the soft skin of her inner thigh. He placed his lips on her now fully exposed l*bia.

“Ah—!”

Impossible. Yaein covered her mouth.

Maybe annoyed at her thighs closing in on him, Taeheon grabbed the backs of her knees and pushed them apart. Her legs spread wide. Naturally, the closed vertical line opened a bit as well.

His pointed tongue pressed into the opening. She had never even tried inserting a finger there before, yet now he was probing inside with his tongue. She couldn’t believe the sensation of him licking her inner walls, and her hips jerked.

Her body moved on its own faster than her mind could process. She tried to scoot her b*tt away, but Taeheon was quicker. He clamped down on her soft b*ttocks, holding her firmly in place so she couldn’t budge.

Her body grew so hot she felt dizzy. She prayed that the liquid dripping toward her perineum wasn’t hers—but the moment he rubbed her hardening cl*toris with his tongue, teasing it with his lips, she could feel w*tness rushing from deep inside.