After spending a long while savoring her lips and tongue, Ihyun finally released her and buried his face in the curve of her neck. Wherever his lips lingered, red blossoms bloomed across Juhee’s skin.

The red marks trailed from her neck down to her shoulder, then to her chest.

His large hand closed over her br*ast and he let out a breath of pure admiration.

“D*mn, it’s so soft I think I’m losing my mind.”

Then he drew the peak of her br*ast fully into his mouth.

“Hah!”

Juhee’s back arched sharply off the bed as a m*an escaped her.

“I never imagined Cha Juhee would have such a sensual body.”

“Stop teasing me. That’s enough……! Hng!”

“Everywhere I touch is so soft I feel like my hands are melting away.”

Juhee felt her mind go completely blank under the pleasure bursting like fireworks across every inch of her body.

She gasped for breath, twisting and shuddering under the pleasure his hands and lips delivered. Strange, breathless sounds she had never made before kept spilling from her lips.

Her lower belly clenched on its own, stirring an indescribable pleasure and heat deep inside her.

His lips, which had been trailing down past her chest, finally pressed a mark onto the deepest, most hidden part of her.

“N, no. Not there…… Hah!”

Juhee sucked in a sharp breath, startled. Sensing that sounds unlike any she had made before were about to tear free, she pressed both hands over her own mouth.

“S, stop. Hng!”

Juhee’s muffled m*ans tangled with the wet, slick sounds filling the room. The pleasure beyond words made her twist and shudder.

The stimulation was unbearable, and every part of her wanted to push him away and flee, but Ihyun’s grip on her thighs held firm and made it impossible.

After tormenting her for a long while, Ihyun lifted himself up with a mischievous smile. The sight of him dragging the back of his hand across his glistening lips was unbearably provocative.

“How was that? Did it feel good?”

This is insane. What are you doing? I’ve never had anyone do that to me before.

A torrent of protests rang out inside her head. But every one of them was swallowed up by her ragged breathing, and not a single word made it out.

Seeming to find it endearing that Juhee was still breathlessly panting, Ihyun cradled her cheek gently and pressed several soft, sweet kisses to her lips.

By the time her breathing had settled, Ihyun spoke up with a slightly sheepish expression.

“I’m sorry, but bear with me on just this one thing.”

“……?”

“You’re my first, Juhee-ssi.”

Juhee blinked. Then, once the meaning of those words sank in, her eyes went wide.

His first? Don’t tell me this is his first time ever? How? Why? A man this stunning has never spent a night with a woman?

“W, what you just said……. You mean tonight is your first time?”

“Yes.”

Ihyun’s calm, easy acceptance of it left Juhee as the flustered one.

The way things had unfolded, she was the one who had asked ‘do you want to go up to the room,’ which now felt like she had robbed an innocent man of his first time, and she was genuinely mortified.

“That can’t be. H, how……?”

“I might be clumsy and end up hurting you, Juhee-ssi.”

Juhee’s eyes went even wider. She tried to sit up.

“No, that’s not even the point. Wait! This is……!”

But Ihyun firmly stopped her from moving.

“Don’t think about backing out. I can’t stop now.”

Pinning both her wrists down so she couldn’t move, Ihyun’s expression looked dangerously charged.

The way his heated gaze swept over every inch of her face, the way he eyed her lips like something he wanted to devour, was almost frightening.

His face, lips curving into a smile with excitement written all over it, looked exactly like a wolf with its eyes locked on its prey.

He slowly lowered his face and dragged his tongue up along her earlobe. At the same time, he pressed his body flush against hers.

“Hng!”

Juhee had to hold her breath again. The massive presence she felt below was the reason. The unexpected size and firmness of it made her swallow hard.

“So right now, in this moment, focus entirely on me.”

Ihyun growled low and began to move against her slowly.

Every time his hot, heavy center grazed past the entrance of her most intimate place, Juhee had to hold her breath. A burning, restless urgency began to take over her body.

Afraid that the embarrassing word ‘hurry’ would slip out on its own, Juhee bit down on her lip.

“Forget that piece of trash. Forget revenge. Look only at me.”

“Director……”

Ihyun’s voice, low and tickling against her ear, muddled her head like a magic spell.

“No. I’ll make sure of it myself. Until my name is all that fills your mind.”

Her breath began to run short. Her heart began to pound furiously.

“Director……! Hng!”

“I will make it happen. I promise!”

Ihyun finally pushed inside her. Unable to hold back, Juhee cried out.

A deep, aching pain flashed through her and her vision went white. The presence filling her completely sent a tremor through her, raising every hair on her body and making her hips twist.

The heat and tingling sensation spreading to the tips of her fingers and toes felt nothing like reality.

Not even two months ago, Juhee never imagined a moment like this would come.

That a man named Woo Ihyun would look at her with such burning, feverish eyes and desire her body. That she, too, would want him just as eagerly and willingly. No one could have imagined it.

Those days had been the most hellish moments of her life.

***

Two months earlier.

Sweeping music filled the room as the history of Jangwon Trading scrolled across a large screen in neat lines, and dazzling animation effects drew the eyes of everyone gathered in the banquet hall.

While the crowd focused on the screen, stirred with company pride and a sense of belonging, a woman slipped quietly into the hall. The employee badge around her neck read clearly: Cha Juhee, Jangwon Trading Housing Construction Division.

But swallowed up by the dim lighting and the grand swell of music, no one paid any attention to her entrance.

Aside from the large shopping bag in her hand, she looked no different from the many other employees attending the Jangwon Trading anniversary celebration.

The woman moved quietly along the wall, keeping out of sight, searching for her target.

The target was easier to find than she expected.

The man she was looking for sat at the table closest to the stage.

To his left, Jangwon Trading Chairman Ma Wonjae was patting him on the shoulder with a pleased expression, murmuring something in his ear. To his right sat Ma Jinkyung, head of the Planning and PR team, draped in a flashy red dress and layers of expensive jewelry, watching them with a smile.

Several other people sat at the same table, but Juhee had eyes only for those three, her gaze burning.

The promotional video, made to stir company loyalty and employee pride, came to an end, and only the spotlight on the stage remained bright.

The emcee took the microphone again and continued.

“To all the distinguished guests and employees joining us for the Jangwon Trading anniversary banquet, we extend our sincerest congratulations and gratitude. Before we begin the main reception, we have a few words from Chairman Ma Wonjae. Please welcome him with a round of applause.”

Applause broke out at the emcee’s introduction. Chairman Ma rose from his seat with a generous smile, stepped up to the stage, and stood before the microphone. His distinctively husky voice carried through the microphone and spread across the hall.

“Twenty years ago, we were nothing more than a small civil engineering company. But after our merger with Hyunju Trading, we grew beyond recognition, and today we stand as the number one brand in the Republic of Korea. No one can surpass us now. We are this country’s finest company, and the world will cheer for what we produce.”

Applause and cheers erupted from all around. Chairman Ma savored the response for a long moment, and once the applause died down, he resumed his speech with an expression full of pride.

“Right on the eve of our anniversary, a piece of news arrived that felt like the most wonderful gift. The ‘Chang The One Palace,’ designed by Park Doyun, lead designer of the Housing Construction Division, has won the Asia Design Prize. I would like to introduce to you the man who has brought us the honor of winning three consecutive years: lead designer Park Doyun.”

A spotlight fell on the table in time with the chairman’s introduction. Amid thunderous applause, the newly introduced Park Doyun rose with a confident bearing and bowed to the audience.

But the applause suddenly turned to gasps and screams. The cause was a sudden shower of food waste that came pouring down over Doyun’s head.

Amid the screams, the people seated at the table leapt up and scrambled back, and in the commotion, the spotlight caught a woman holding the now-empty container that had been full of food waste moments before.

“You f*cking bastard! Does it feel good, winning awards with something that isn’t yours? Aren’t you ashamed?”

The one who had hurled the food waste bomb at Doyun was Cha Juhee, the same woman who had slipped into the banquet hall moments ago. The elegant shopping bag she had brought lay scattered around her, its purpose served.