Lights Don't Go Out in the Annex - Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Hastily, Leeseo went to the kitchen and opened the windows wide. As she pushed the sliding door in the living room leading to the yard, refreshing breeze swept through the house, dispersing the stagnant air. Breathing became easier.
She secured the door to prevent it from closing and took a look around the living room. The living room was just as bad as the courtyard.
Scattered bottles of alcohol and snack crumbs, shattered furniture, it was the gloomy side of a flashy home party. As she surveyed the cluttered room with a sigh, Leeseo started by cleaning up the fruits and chips that had spilled under the sofa table.
After roughly clearing the large chunks, she finally fetched a vacuum cleaner. Even that was operated at a lower volume, for fear of waking Kwon Tae-gyeom who might be sleeping on the upper floor.
While cleaning the kitchen, someone stumbled through the open front door. She assumed it was Mrs. Seo coming back, but the face that greeted her was someone unexpected.
“Are you cleaning up?”
A middle-aged man with a neatly combed hair came to the kitchen, looking around the now clean house. He was Hwang In-cheol, who had once served as Chairman Kwon’s secretary. Leeseo hadn’t seen him in years, and he now had a few gray hairs around his temples.
He’d been by the Chairman’s side for so long that he was practically in charge of the actual management of the mansion, so there was no one here who didn’t know him. There were many instances when Leeseo, as a child, spotted him from a distance and pretended not to see, running away from him.
He worked his way up through the ranks, starting as the Chairman’s assistant, and is now the head of strategic planning at GK Group. Recently, it was rare for him to appear directly at the mansion. Instead, Gong, who served as Hwang In-cheol’s secretary, took over the responsibility for managing the mansion.
Leeseo stopped the vacuum cleaner and greeted In-cheol with a bow. He checked the time on his wristwatch and casually asked her.
“Where did the owner of the annex go?”
His tone was quite informal for someone addressing the Chairman’s son. It caught Leeseo slightly off guard, but she wasn’t sure about the actual relationship between the two, so she calmly replied.
“He’s still sleeping.”
“Still? Oh, that’s troublesome.”
In-cheol frowned, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“Today is his first meeting with the company executives. I told him to get ready for work in advance, but I didn’t know he would still be sleeping. Please go upstairs and wake him up for me.”
“What? Me?”
“Well, then who else? Do you want me to do it?”
At In-cheol’s words, Leeseo reluctantly put down the vacuum cleaner. She glanced at the front door to see if Mrs. Seo would come in, but alas, there was not even a shadow of any person.
Seeing Leeseo hesitating, In-cheol tapped her on the back of the head and said.
“Go and bring a glass of water. After a night of heavy drinking, the first thing you need is water when you wake up.”
Turning around, she saw In-cheol placing two glasses on the kitchen island and took out a bottled water from the refrigerator. He filled the glasses with water, then picked up one and drank it down before gesturing to the remaining one for Leeseo.
“Go upstairs and wake him up. We don’t have much time, and I need to get him ready for work.”
“Yes.”
Leeseo took the glass. The surface of the glass that touched her palm felt chillingly cold.
* * *
As she climbed the stairs step by step, the water inside the glass swayed. Her fingers holding the glass tightened.
“Oh, wait a minute. Let’s postpone the schedule for about thirty minutes. It seems like we might leave a bit later than planned.”
From the first floor, she heard In-cheol speaking to someone on the phone. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Kwon Tae-gyeom. It felt as if an invisible force was prodding Leeseo’s back.
When she reached the top of the stairs, the second floor came into view. Similar to the first floor, the living space had a large TV, reclining sofa, and wing chair, along with a simple kitchenette to the side.
Fortunately, it seemed that they hadn’t thrown a party on this floor, as it was spotlessly clean, unlike the mess downstairs. In fact, it was eerily empty, with little sign of human habitation. All the furniture and appliances were shiny and new, creating a showroom-like atmosphere.
Finding the bedroom wasn’t difficult. The dressing room and study had their doors wide open, making it easy to see inside, and there was only one closed door, presumably leading to the bedroom. Leeseo stood in front of the bedroom and knocked softly.
Hoping that Kwon Tae-gyeom would come out on his own, she listened for any movement inside, but there was only silence. Given that he had been drinking and partying all night, it was possible that he had just fallen asleep in the early morning hours.
“Excuse me.”
She sighed softly, wondering how she had ended up here. She reached for the doorknob and turned it.
Contrary to her expectations of darkness, the bedroom was surprisingly well-lit. She wondered if he’d fallen asleep without turning off the lights due to intoxication. With the unexpected brightness, Leeseo squinted her eyes.
She could see his bare back, sprawled across the wide bed. The man’s silhouette was illuminated not only by the light from the ceiling, but also by the sunlight streaming through the large window on one side of the bedroom.
His lower body was covered by a blanket, and his shirtless upper body moved slowly up and down with each steady breath, as if he was in a deep sleep. Leeseo walked over to the bed and looked down at the slow rise and fall of the man’s muscular back.
“Excuse me.”
The man slept soundly and didn’t wake up even at the sound of her calling. Leeseo gazed at Kwon Tae-gyeom’s half-buried face on the pillow. Despite drinking all night and passing out in an unbecoming manner, his face appeared serene and calm.
His sleeping face was quite handsome. With his sharp eyes closed, he looked so different from yesterday when he seemed fierce and arrogant, pushing people away and looking down on them.
He was a good-looking man, that much she knew, but up close, he was surprisingly striking. Exquisite features, sharp jawline, dense eyelashes, and straight bridge nose. Every detail seemed carefully crafted, like a finely sculpted artwork.
Under the soft sunlight streaming in, his radiant skin looked so immaculate that it gave her a strange impulse to touch it. It was astonishing to see that someone who enjoyed drinking so much could maintain such skin.
The very person who had caused so much noise beyond the walls, keeping her tossing and turning all night, was now peacefully sleeping like an angel right in front of her. It left her feeling a bit dumbfounded and amazed.
“Mr. Kwon Tae-gyeom, Sir.”
Pronouncing the man’s name for the first time felt unfamiliar. The staff at the mansion usually referred to him as ‘Young Master’. Perhaps she should call him that as well, but she didn’t think it mattered.
Similarly, she had never used such an awkward title when addressing Jin-gyeom, Kwon Chairman’s second son. In fact, she preferred not to call him anything at all if possible.
“Mr. Kwon Tae-gyeom, Sir.”
Leeseo called the man again, but there was no response. She reached out her hand intending to pat his bare shoulder. Suddenly, his hand shot up and grabbed hold of her wrist, pulling her down towards him.
“……!”
In the blink of an eye, her body lost balance and her vision spun. By the time she realized what had happened, she was already sprawled on the bed, her back pressed against it.
“What the…….”
“You again?”
Kwon Tae-gyeom said in disbelief as he pinned both of Leeseo’s wrists down on the bed sheet. She struggled to free her wrists, but she couldn’t budge an inch. The threatening sharpness in his gaze, along with his posture hovering over her, felt intimidating.
As she lay there, pinned to the bed, she felt a water droplet fall from the man’s chin and trace a path down onto her cheek, leaving a wet trail. Her shoulders tensed up.
Surprised by his unexpected grab, Leeseo accidentally dropped the glass of water she was holding. The water splashed onto Kwon Tae-gyeom’s hair, face, and bare shoulders and the glass had fallen to the foot of the bed.
Tae-gyeom frowned harshly and asked in an irritated tone.
“What’s going on? You’re a bother since yesterday.”
“…… I was told to wake you up. You have to go to the company.”
“And you decided to splash water on a sleeping person?”
The water droplet that clung to his dark hair fell right onto Leeseo’s lips. She could feel Kwon Tae-gyeom’s gaze lingering on it.
“No, no. I brought the water in case you were thirsty. But you suddenly grabbed me, so I got startled.”
“Of course, who wouldn’t be startled when a stranger enters your room where you’re sleeping and tries to touch you?”
Leeseo was dumbfounded at how someone who claimed to be startled could suddenly grab and subdue a person in the blink of an eye. His firm and calm gaze looking down at her was anything but startled.
Moreover, what’s this about her sneaking into his room where he was sleeping and suddenly trying to touch him? She felt incredulous and resentful that he was treating her so badly.
Leeseo looked up at Tae-gyeom and said.
“You didn’t wake up when I called you, so I went closer……. I didn’t have the intention to touch you, please let go of me.”