CHAPTER 23 – Tangerine-flavored Snack (Part 1)

A week before the opening of the Hanseong B&B Mapo Branch, it was time for the final inspection. After reviewing the remaining items to be supplemented over dinner in the meeting room, it was already 9 p.m. Dojun leaned his aching neck back against the elevator wall.

“You’re going to the hotel, right?” 

Secretary Kang, who had pressed the 1st floor button, asked Dojun. He said this since Dojun had been staying at the hotel after returning from the Jeju trip.

With the March move approaching, Dojun had been busy overseeing and wrapping up the duty-free store, B&B, and Jeju hotel renovation projects he had been spearheading.

In between, there were executive meetings at the headquarters, various event schedules, and regular work at the Seoul headquarters, making an already grueling schedule even more packed for him.

“I’m going home today.”

Dojun canceled the 1st-floor button and pressed the button for the basement parking lot. Seeing this, Secretary Kang pulled out his phone and searched for Driver Kim’s name in the call log. Dojun gave him a look that said it wasn’t necessary.

“It’s okay, don’t call him.”

At those words, Secretary Kang lowered his phone and looked at him. Noticing Dojun’s eyes were quite strained, he saw Dojun tilt his head back to apply some eye drops. Watching him close and open his eyes, Secretary Kang said:

“You must be tired to drive.”

“I’m fine. I have my lenses in.”

Secretary Kang nodded. He sometimes wondered if there were really colors Dojun couldn’t distinguish, as he had never known Dojun was color-blind before being told.

“Ah, right.”

Secretary Kang suddenly remembered and handed a shopping bag to Dojun.

“These are some traditional Korean sweets, I think. My wife liked them, so I brought some extras back to the office. You should try them.”

It was a perfunctory offer. Since Dojun never seemed to take anything, Secretary Kang expected him to decline as usual. But instead of the expected “It’s fine”, Dojun silently stared at the shopping bag.

“Are you… going to take… them?”

Secretary Kang knew Dojun would occasionally pop a candy or chocolate, but this was the first time he had seen him look at the packaged gift snacks.

“Don’t give me all of them, just one.”

In Jeju, Dojun hadn’t even glanced at the many they had. Secretary Kang quickly reached into the bag and pulled out one of the twelve packs, handing it to Dojun.

“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As the elevator stopped, Dojun, holding the traditional snack in one hand, stepped out. The snack in the hands of Dojun, dressed in a sharply tailored suit, looked like a chic clutch. Watching his retreating back, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Secretary Kang’s lips.

* * *

Dojun placed his hand on the smart lock to open the front door. The numbers lit up as the code screen appeared. He entered the four-digit password and pressed the asterisk. As he pulled the door handle to open it, the sight in the entryway was different from usual.

A pair of flat shoes neatly arranged, the sliding door to the living room wide open, and the lights on.

“Are you here?”

Seoyeon, who was sitting on a stool at the island in a straight line from the front door, turned to look at Dojun, her handbag next to her, a disposable coffee cup with a coffee brand’s logo on it, and an open book on the island.

“I thought I told you to make yourself comfortable.”

Dojun said as he took off his shoes and stepped inside.

“I did make myself comfortable.”

Seoyeon replied with a polite smile.

“When did you get here?”

“A little after 8 o’clock.”

“Did you have dinner?”

“I ate before coming.”

Seoyeon closed the book as she answered. 

She left work at 6:00 and arrived around 6:30 p.m., after receiving Dojun’s text to make herself at home as he wouldn’t be home until after 8:00.

Unable to just sit around, she had driven out again after waiting in the parking lot for a while. She had bought a kimbap roll from a nearby kimbap shop and picked up a novel from a bookstore she had passed by on the way.

She had spent time reading the book at a coffee shop, then drove back to Dojun’s house at 8:00, but it was still an hour before she heard him walk in the door.

Dojun ran his hand through his hair as he went into the kitchen area behind the island. As he went, he tossed the citrus-scented traditional snack onto the island. After taking a drink of water, Dojun set the cup down and looked at Seoyeon. He stared for a moment, then smiled sheepishly.

“It’s been a while.”

In moments like these, Seoyeon felt like a goldfish just opening and closing its mouth, unable to say anything. She wanted to respond, but with her mind frozen in front of Dojun’s unwavering gaze, all she could do was twitch her lips.

“How was your business trip?”

She managed to ask, putting on the polite smile she wore when dealing with clients. Well, Hwang Dojun was also a VVIP customer of Heritage.

“As if you’re even curious.”

Dojun replied nonchalantly. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Seoyeon didn’t wipe the smile off her face. If she did, she’d be at a loss for what to do.

Seeing the obvious path ahead, well, let’s just get started then. This couldn’t go on like this. 

Thinking back, she had never initiated things with a clear mind before. The spark was always there and then Dojun would push forward.

“I’ll go wash up.”

Seoyeon said as she stepped off the stool, thinking it was the most neutral thing to say.

“Use the guest bathroom from now on. Feel free to bring anything you need.”

It was his way of saying that the bathroom was for her exclusive use during her visits. She understood the implication that she could even leave feminine products there if needed, but she doubted that would be necessary.

“Okay.”

She went into the bathroom, took out the disposable toothbrush, and brushed her teeth. Deciding to just leave her makeup on, she only washed her body.

As she changed back into her clothes, she felt a complex mix of emotions about this routine for bedtime. Consciously pushing aside those complicated feelings, Seoyeon stepped out.

Click.

Just as she opened the door, Dojun was also coming out of the master bedroom, wearing only a bathrobe. Seeing Seoyeon, he gestured towards the room and said:

“Go in.”

She knew Dojun’s nonchalant gaze and words were expected, and she’d hoped they would be, but strangely enough, a part of her felt a twinge.

The sight of a large, neatly made bed in a dark room made it even more so. She exhaled deeply, but the dull ache below her chest didn’t go away.

This dry, matter-of-fact flow was to be expected. She had wanted a relationship that was purely physical, but not emotional.

As she was trying to calm her mind, the door opened again. Dojun came in, carrying a glass of water with ice cubes.

He set the glass down on the nightstand and sat down on the bed. Seoyeon’s gaze followed the glass. Dojun looked at Seoyeon wordlessly. Counting backward, it had been ten days.

Dojun opened the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a condom. Unfastening the front of his robe, he said to Seoyeon.

“Take off your clothes.”

At his indifferent words, Seoyeon’s eyes wavered. Though the room was dimly lit without the lights on, the faint light from the window revealed Dojun’s body. The prominent bulge was starkly visible in the darkness, causing Seoyeon to turn her head.

Dojun, having unwrapped his robe, rolled the condom onto his engorged m*mber. The thin rubber stretched with a crackling sound. Looking up, Seoyeon’s fingers started toying with the buttons of her blouse.

Letting out a short chuckle, Dojun stretched his arm back and gripped the bed. As he stared at her wordlessly, she undid the top button. He watched her until she undid one, then another, then another.

“You’re slow. I’ll take it off for you.”

Dojun asked, taking a sip of the iced water. As he put the glass down, the ice cubes clinked against the glass.

Embarrassment, tension, anxiety, trembling. One by one, the emotions bubbling beneath the surface showed on Seoyeon’s face, but Dojun just rolled the ice around in his mouth.

“No, I can do it.”

Seoyeon replied, putting force into her fingertips as she worked on the buttons. She couldn’t be as nonchalant as Dojun, though, so her throat was tight and she kept chewing on the inside of her lip.

Hearing the crunching sound of ice, Seoyeon slowly finished unbuttoning her blouse. The silk blouse fell open, revealing the bare skin underneath. Dojun’s eyes leisurely traced the exposed flesh, his gaze feeling like it was piercing her skin.

The blouse fell to the floor, and Seoyeon’s torso clad only in a bra was revealed in the dim light. Unable to bring herself to remove the bra yet, Seoyeon’s hands went to the skirt waistband.

Biting her lips tightly, she unfastened the button just as Dojun called out:

“Come here.”

Unlike his swollen m*mber, Dojun’s tone was calm. Instead of going to him, Seoyeon unzipped her skirt. The pleated, flared skirt hung loosely around her waist.

With just a slight push, the skirt slid down, spreading out in a circle around her. Feeling a mix of embarrassment and shame, Seoyeon’s vision tinted red, but she reached back with her hands.

This was a choice she had made willingly. She didn’t want to stop. Unclasping her bra, she shrugged her shoulders to let it fall. The sound of it dropping made Dojun’s gaze deepen.

Where the skirt had fallen, the bra followed. Standing in the center of the pooled skirt, Seoyeon reached for her last remaining underwear.

Though she had to bite her lips painfully to wriggle out of her last piece of underwear, when Seoyeon looked up at Dojun, she had returned her bitten lips to their original state.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

The low, slow-speaking man annoyed her. Seoyeon knew that Hwang Dojun was showing her firsthand what this “just sleeping together” deal was really like.

He would reach out to her whenever his desires overwhelmed him, but the power would remain in his hands – his confidence and nonchalance in this were both enviable and irritating.

And yet.

She didn’t want to turn back.

She remembered the way Dojun’s hair had shone in the sunlight when they had unexpectedly crossed paths at lunchtime. The indifferent, direct gaze that had swept over her. The electric current that had trickled down her spine. The fist she had clenched for no reason tingled throughout the afternoon.

She had gripped her phone so many times, wondering if she should contact him. She thought if the timing was right, she would be rejected and put off for another day. If Dojun hadn’t reached out to her first, she likely would have given in to the internal conflict and sent a message.