“Are you embarrassed?”

He looked into her tear-filled eyes and asked her. He clearly intended to shame her. Ironically, however, he was the one who looked insulted, his jaw clenched tight.

“You were the one who said I should sleep with you once and then leave.”

His tone was as cold as ice. Lian remembered everything Hailla had said after Miar left.

“I—I never said that…”

Despite her sniffles, she spoke clearly and without hesitation, as if her frustration had reached boiling point. But Lian had no intention of easing up his aggressive approach.

“You said you liked me. You wanted to sleep with me, but as soon as you left, you wanted to end things. Am I wrong?”

His voice, which had previously been stiff, now carried emotion. The sound of molten bubbles popping — pop, pop — seemed to echo in Hailla’s ears like a hallucination.

“With eyes like that…”

In an instant, he grasped her cheek in his hand, cradling her entire face. Although her lips parted slightly under the pressure, Lian kept his eyes fixed on her golden irises. Although she understood his anger, Hailla also felt a surge of sorrow. She bit the inside of her cheek. She hated him for misinterpreting her feelings and hated herself even more for being unable to explain them properly.

Nevertheless, she didn’t want to take her words back. She wanted to be Lian’s first woman. It was selfish, but it was true. Their time together was coming to an end, and if they parted on bad terms, she would be forgotten. As her sister said, nothing lasts forever. A man like Lian, who had so much to offer, would inevitably find a good woman and build a happy life with her one day. This was too obvious and inevitable, and it made her feel pathetic.

So it had to be this way. Even if only through intimacy, she wanted him to remember her.

“I want you to be happy… but I don’t want you to forget me.”

It was deeply contradictory and shameless. She knew that, yet she still asked him. The desire she felt was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. The fleeting longing stirred in her by Miar had come between her and Lian in the most effective way possible.

“You’re right.”

“I’m right?”

He sounded like a growling beast offering one last chance.

Still held in his grip, Hailla nodded slowly.

“I want to sleep with you. I… want to.”

“…”

“Just once. I want to do it and then never see each other again.”

“Let’s not see each other after that.”

The quiet addition left her squeezing her eyes shut. Her chest, hidden beneath a thin layer of fabric, rose and fell with each trembling breath.

“Fine.”

After a long silence, the answer came. Hailla’s heart pounded uncontrollably. She couldn’t tell whether she was happy or devastated. Opening her eyes, she looked at him, determined not to look away for even a second during their time together. She wanted to remember every moment.

But Lian’s eyes… they looked a little…

Lian settled himself between Hailla’s hips, placing his knees on either side of her concave stomach. Taking care not to press down on her fragile frame, he raised himself slightly and began unbuttoning her top, one button at a time. His demeanour was far more gentlemanly than it had been just moments ago. The strange sense of dissonance that Hailla had briefly felt quickly faded from her mind.

“If that’s what you want…”

“Hhht…”

“Then I’ll do it. I’m pathetic like that.”

‘You know that too, don’t you? ‘

Lian murmured as he slowly traced the curve of Hailla’s slender neck with his tongue. Hailla’s trembling form was completely overshadowed by his frame and barely visible from behind — it looked as though she was being consumed entirely.

“But once we start, I won’t be able to stop. Is that okay?”

Hailla wanted that, too. Today, she wanted to possess all of Lian — his body and his heart — completely and utterly. Innocent and inexperienced, she believed that would make him truly hers. She had no way of knowing that Lian’s inability to stop didn’t just refer to this one time; it went far beyond anything she could currently comprehend.

Nevertheless, when she boldly replied that it was OK, Lian responded with a gentleness that bordered on pity. He stroked her hair and forehead for a long time, as though trying to comfort her. As she felt his touch, Hailla struggled to suppress the guilt gnawing at her heart.

When they started again, Hailla was completely undressed. Compared to earlier, when only her skirt had been lifted, she was in a far more vulnerable position. Her fair skin was so pale that it seemed translucent, and the soft curves of her shoulders stood out strikingly. Lian’s eyes travelled across her exposed body, lingering on every part she had tried to conceal modestly. His gaze felt the most intense — almost overwhelming — more so than touch or kisses.

“Move your hands.”

It was as if he were emphasising how stubborn she had suddenly become. Without hesitating, Lian took off his shirt and threw it on the floor. He gently pried away the small hands covering her br*asts. Hailla trembled, unable to process what she was seeing.

“Wow… You’re incredible.”

The chill in the air should have made her tense up, but her n*pples remained tucked within the softly pigmented *reolas instead. Feeling Lian’s gaze focused entirely on her br*asts, Hailla’s eyes flushed with heat. It felt as if a deeply personal part of her — one she’d been sensitive about since childhood — had been laid bare.

“Beautiful.”

When Hailla tried to cover up again, Lian stopped her abruptly. He was clearly in a bad mood, seeming annoyed by her unintentional charm. Carefully, he reached out and ran his hand across her skin. Gently cupping her br*ast from underneath, he lightly traced the centre with his thumb, causing her to arch her back slightly in response.

“Mm… I don’t… like that…”

However, Lian paid little attention to her faint protest. He slowly massaged the area around her n*pple, which remained shyly hidden, soft and unraised. With quiet reverence in his gaze, he traced the edge of the *reola and then leaned down and pressed his lips to it without a moment’s pause. Hailla gasped in surprise.

“Ah…!”

He sucked her flesh without hesitation. A heat surged to her sensitive peak and a tight sensation coiled low in her abdomen. As he continued, messy sounds filled the space. Then, still with her br*ast in his mouth, he looked up at Hailla. Their eyes met.

His cloudy eyes curved with subtle satisfaction.

Then, as if pleased with himself, he slowly pulled away, running his tongue across the skin he had just been savouring. Helpless to look away, Hailla followed his movements with her gaze.

“It’s even prettier when it comes out.”

Having finally coaxed her shy n*pple to stand up, he gently tapped it with his index finger and asked, sounding half sincere and half teasing.

“Should I do the other side too?”

Hic!

A hiccup escaped her lips before she could stop it.

‘This feels so strange.’

She tried to speak, but her throat tightened and only a faint, broken sound came out. Hailla had never imagined that intimacy could be like this. To her, s*x had always just been about penetration, a little movement, and then it was over. The saliva pooling in her mouth mirrored her confusion.

“Alright. I’ll get to this part a little later.”

‘What?’

Before she could gather a single coherent thought, he was already upon her. Her lips parted in shock, and he claimed them without a moment’s hesitation. One large hand cradled the back of her head, holding her still. There was no softness in his kiss—none of the gentle pecks she’d known before. It felt as though those had merely been a prelude. Now, his lips devoured hers, deep and unyielding, tugging and nipping with a hunger that left no room for doubt.

By the time Lian finally pulled away, Hailla was gasping for breath, tears streaming freely down her cheeks. She collapsed onto the pillow where he had laid her, chest rising and falling with desperate breaths, her voice lost in the whirlwind of what had just happened. Her lips were slick with saliva, her eyes swollen from crying, and one bare br*ast lay exposed—reddened and tender from his earlier attention. Only one of her n*pples, teased to attention, stood firm in the cool air.

The disheveled sight of her, so vulnerable and flushed, only stoked the fire in him further—a silent warning that this was far from over.

Lian ran his tongue slowly across his upper lip, a flicker of raw heat smoldering in his eyes.

***

Lian uncorked a bottle and poured a thick liquid onto his hand with graceful ease. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together and, as he slowly pulled them apart, the viscous substance stretched between them with a soft, sticky sound. Watching from below, Hailla shuddered, her expression resembling that of a frightened small animal.

“Wh-what… is that?”

“Oh, this?”

He didn’t elaborate. Instead, he looked down at the part of her he had exposed a long time ago. Before she could close her legs, Lian reached for her left thigh and gently pulled it towards him, positioning himself with practised ease.

Her legs were spread wide open. He stroked her fluffy p*bic hair once, and Hailla mumbled at him to stop.

“It’s okay. I’m just trying to make it less painful.”

It was the way she soothed a child before giving her bitter medicine. Kind but not very trustworthy.

“Huh, uh…….”

Lian placed her hand on the woman’s thigh, spreading her v*gina open with her thumbs. The thick flesh parted to reveal the slightly moist flesh inside. He lost his mind for a moment, focusing on what he could see.

“Don’t look at her like that…”

Hailla, who was new to all of this, simply gave in, although she was trembling with shame. Seeing her ears turn red and hearing her sob aroused his sadistic tendencies. He was reluctant to lick her soft flesh.

She cried so hard that she could have been suffocated by her own tears.

Lian suppressed her impulses and desires. There were many days to enjoy, so there was no need to rush. Rather than kissing her, he rubbed lubricant onto Hailla’s bright red v*gina.

“Haa……!”

His fingers moved slowly and gently, tracing the small hole before moving upwards to squeeze the protruding lump. Startled by her own moans, unlike anything she had ever experienced before, Hailla quickly covered her mouth, but to no avail. His deft fingers located the sensitive area without entering the hole.

“Drip, Hailla.”

“Hmph, no, no…… ahh!”

“It’s a shame. It’ll be really delicious.”

Lian, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the slick, squelching heat between her legs, finally looked up at her. It was a silent request—an unspoken plea for permission. Hailla quickly shook her head, attempting to close her legs in protest. In the end, it was Lian who relented with a faint smile, stepping back.

He was clearly struggling to restrain himself. The rigid tension in his lower body had turned to a cold ache, a stark contrast to the fire that had built up moments before. It had been a while since the pr*cum had started to seep out, leaving the front of his pants damp and clinging to his skin.