She needed to gather her clothes and slip out of the bright room, but when Yunjoo tried to move, she drew in a sharp, audible breath. It was the heavy, dull ache she felt below. Thinking her breath had come out too loud, she was trying to quiet herself and blink and turn her body when a hand reached over and took hold of her br*ast. Her startled eyes met a pair of dark eyes gone dangerously low. The man’s voice, thick and heavy from just waking, made her heart tremble.

“Blinking at me like that is your way of asking to play, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about…”

“Sleep well?”

“Yes, but I need to…”

When Yunjoo squirmed trying to get up, Kangwook pulled her in tighter, took hold of her br*ast, and rolled his fingers.

“I need to…”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to move right now.”

“Why not? Let me go for a second.”

“Yunjoo.”

That voice. The feeling of dark chocolate. She lifted her face, which had been turned away, and looked at the man. She had a feeling that for the rest of her life, she would be helpless whenever he called her name like that. It was devastatingly s*xy.

Kangwook’s lips came down and made her drunk. Alcohol wasn’t the only thing that could intoxicate. The man’s voice was a stronger drink. His kiss wrapped around her, bittersweet, and while his lips busily consumed her, his other hand worked even more eagerly, pouring out its greed.

He moved across her smooth back, touching each rib one by one, then swept his hand from her waist down to her hips. He left her hazy, unable to think straight. The woman sent a flowing m*an into Kangwook’s mouth and arched her waist.

“Mmh, Kangwook…”

Kangwook’s hand found its way naturally inside her. The warmth of her, even hotter in the morning, drove Kangwook out of his mind, and his fingers working their way in and moving made the woman sob. When she sobbed, Kangwook grew more urgent.

He took her br*ast in his mouth, licked up to the peak, and dragged his teeth across the raised, pebbled surface.

“Ah!”

She startled at the sound that came out of her, and her wide eyes found the man. His eyes, full of heat, burned bright with desire. That look from her was enough to drive him mad. Kangwook, holding her gaze, covered her lips and stirred inside her entrance with two fingers.

She shook her head at the pleasure the man sent through her, pressing in harder and moving. Already drenched in pleasure, Yunjoo felt something close to fear at the change happening inside her. This man was turning her into someone different. The grip clenching around his two fingers began to make Kangwook lose his reason.

He couldn’t hold back any longer. Kangwook withdrew his hand and buried himself in her in the same motion. Against the fierce, burning tightness, Kangwook drove forward in a hard rhythm. With his movements, Yunjoo’s m*ans turned to sobs and then to cries that filled the room.

The two of them, racing toward the peak, were falling into a pleasure like a deep abyss. The man drove into her with everything he had, and the woman clenched and took him in. Had anything ever felt like this? Yesterday he had held himself back out of consideration for her, but now restraint was gone and he could not stop.

He had never had so little control. Cha Yunjoo had become a drug to him. Something he could not cut off at will. Kangwook looked at Yunjoo catching her breath, kissed her forehead, and met her eyes. Yunjoo had no strength left to move a finger.

Was I always this kind of woman? I screamed like mad and clung to him, gasping. Is Choi Kangwook doing this to me? Even as she struggled to adjust to this version of herself, her eyes wavered at the way Kangwook was looking at her.

“Yunjoo, you’re so beautiful. Our Yunjoo.”

“……”

“You don’t know how beautiful you are when you come undone for me, do you? Seeing you like that makes me want to lose my mind.”

“Mr. Kangwook.”

What is he saying? Why is this man doing things he’s never done before? He was saying things she couldn’t say while looking someone in the eye, saying them like it was nothing, and Yunjoo thought Choi Kangwook had lost his mind.

“I think I’m going crazy over Cha Yunjoo. What do I do?”

See, he’s saying it himself. She couldn’t get used to a man who said things like that without a moment’s hesitation.

“What are you even saying…”

“I’m saying I don’t want to go to work. I’d love to stay in bed holding you all day.”

Kangwook’s words snapped her back to her senses. Work. He was a man who had to go to work. If they kept on like this, the housekeeper would be coming too.

“Oh! Work. Mr. Kangwook, get up quickly, you’re already late.”

Kangwook pulled Yunjoo back down as she startled and tried to leap up. By any normal measure, it was well past the time he should have already left for work. And yet unlike her, Kangwook was perfectly unhurried, even leisurely.

“I can call in.”

That was absurd. Not a single day late, not a single day off schedule. A man like that was still lying in bed, and on top of that he was this calm?

“What’s gotten into you, acting like this. And today is the day the housekeeper comes.”

“So what. Call her right now and tell her not to come.”

“Mr. Kangwook!”

The reminder that the housekeeper was coming made Yunjoo even more anxious. The thought of the housekeeper seeing her in Kangwook’s room was mortifying, and she was worried about Kangwook not going to work. But then she heard Kangwook’s voice, completely at odds with how she was feeling.

“Yunjoo.”

He pulled her in tighter as she wriggled trying to get up somehow, buried his face in her nape, and caught a bit of skin between his lips, and the tickling made her burst out laughing.

“Eek! That tickles!”

“Making a sound like that is turning on the warning light, Cha Yunjoo.”

“Stop it, seriously.”

Yunjoo’s giggling and Kangwook’s teasing went on for quite a while. When they finally managed to get up, Yunjoo said she wanted to wash up and started heading to the second floor.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to shower.”

Kangwook’s expression sobered at Yunjoo’s words. He didn’t know what to make of the woman who had spent the night with him, skin to skin, laughing just moments ago, now trying to go to her own room.

“This is Cha Yunjoo’s room now.”

“But you need to shower too, and change…”

Kangwook’s words as he held her back gave Yunjoo a lot to think about. There had been a small, very small doubt in her mind that he might just want to share a bed once in a while, and if he hadn’t held her back, she would have had to hide the heaviness that had settled in her heart on her own.

“Move everything over today.”

“I’ll just leave things as they are and sleep here.”

“Ask the housekeeper to take care of it when she comes. Starting today, wherever I am is where Yunjoo is. No exceptions.”

“Honestly…”

Looking at the man making such a serious statement with that playful expression, she kept wanting to laugh. The first time Kangwook smiled it had felt remarkable, and while it no longer did, the things he said still surprised her from time to time.

“Was Choi Kangwook always this kind of person? Honestly, I wonder how you kept such a straight face when you wanted to be like this all along.”

“There’s exactly one person who makes me like this.”

“Was I really that capable?”

“Don’t get too full of yourself.”

“Let me have this one.”

Everything Kangwook said lifted her self-worth. It was teasing, lighthearted words, but her heart floated.

“Go ahead. What can I do, it seems like I’m the one who made you this way, so do as you like. I’ll take full responsibility.”

“Cha Yunjoo just got herself one incredibly solid backer. You shouldn’t say things like ‘I’ll take full responsibility’ so lightly, though. You know what it means if it bounces, right?”

“What’s a bounced check? I don’t know anything about that.”

“Well, I suppose you wouldn’t.”

“That’s right. So trust me. Trust me unconditionally, and carry around a designer bag that money alone can’t buy.”

“Wow, if you’re really my bag, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“You’re only figuring that out now? Foolish Cha Yunjoo.”

Kangwook had come to realize he loved these childish little moments with Yunjoo. He could say silly things, and he had found a place to rest where there was not a trace of tension. Being with Yunjoo brought out a different face in Kangwook, one he showed only to her.

They ended up showering together too, and by the time they were done it was nearly noon. Yunjoo fretted and stamped her feet over what they were going to do, but Kangwook found that side of her all the more endearing and moved even more slowly, savoring the time.

This playfulness of Kangwook’s was what made Yunjoo enjoy the time she spent with him. The two of them showed each other their truest selves and built their own private language together. 

One thing at a time.