Chapter 5.4

The basket, which had been teetering precariously, eventually toppled over.

With a thud, the oranges spilled out, and the wine bottle cracked open with a splitting sound.

Though the wine bottle had shattered, thanks to the cushioning effect of the oranges and the basket, the situation wasn’t dangerous.

The rich aroma of spilled wine quickly filled the storage room. Even to someone like her, who didn’t know much about wine, the scent was that of a well-aged vintage.

“Are you okay?”

He barely glanced at the spilled wine, instead focusing on her. His eyes scanned her intently, as though assessing her safety, and his tone carried genuine concern.

“…I’m fine.”

She nodded curtly, her expression slightly sour.

“That’s a relief.”

The sweet scent of the wine lingered. Cutting through it, his voice was intoxicating—more so than the wine itself. Somehow, she felt like she was getting drunk all over again.

The air seemed to grow denser.

“But… that wine—it seemed really expensive.”

Suddenly feeling suffocated, she blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you pay for every last bit of the wine you broke.”

“Me, me…?”

“Yes, you. I’ll make sure to get every single penny from you.”

Jeong-hyeok moved, and in an instant, the underground wine cellar lit up.

As he moved assertively, the sensor lights in the wine cellar turned on in a row, illuminating the space as he pushed Eun-sol against the far wall of the storage room.

With a firm grip, he seized her waist and pressed his lips against hers. As her lips parted in shock, he slipped his tongue inside, savoring the sweet moans that escaped her.

“…Haah!”

Eun-sol squirmed in his grasp. The more she struggled, the deeper and more fervent the kiss became. The limited oxygen in the confined underground space was consumed, and their gasping breaths burned against each other’s tongues.

A sudden, irrelevant curiosity crossed her mind: in a sealed space with limited oxygen, 

How long could we keep going like this?

Of course, that thought didn’t last long. A mind that had lost focus couldn’t possibly proceed rationally.

“…Haahp!”

Even as he fervently sucked on her tongue, he deliberately loosened his grip from time to time. Each time, he found immense pleasure in chasing after her gasping moans and devouring every sound she made.

“Ah, just let me go for a moment…!”

But he didn’t want to let her go. Instead, he held her even tighter, as though he wanted to crush her in his arms. He thought about controlling his strength, but it remained just that—a thought.

It had been so long since he last held Kim Eun-sol, since he last inhaled her scent so deeply. This was his first kiss with her since his memory loss.

The unbridled desire that had been unlocked was not easily controlled. His pants bulged aggressively, as if a wild beast were trapped inside. The restraint Kwon Jeong-hyeok had shown all this time, even with Kim Eun-sol right in front of him, now seemed like it had belonged to someone else entirely.

***

“Heh…!”

Her senses swirled like a screw being twisted. She couldn’t regain her composure. His kiss was rough and dizzying, like being caught in a hurricane.

Everything was being sucked in and tangled together. She couldn’t even tell if the breath she exhaled was hers or his. It felt as though her breath was being split apart, and even the cells in her body were being torn asunder.

“Ah, just let me go for a moment…!”

She thought he might at least loosen his grip on her waist, even if he didn’t let her go entirely. But instead, he hugged her even tighter, as if he intended to crush her.

It felt like she was a maiden sacrifice caught in the massive claws of a medieval dragon. There was no way she’d escape tonight without being devoured.

But something felt strange.

Though it was she who was being held, it felt as if he were clinging to her. As though her waist were his lifeline, he held onto her desperately. His body was hot. It was hard to believe this was the same man who was always so cold and composed.

She felt faint. His movements, his warmth—it was all overwhelming.

Inside her panties, heat and dampness gathered. It felt as though someone had poured burning liquor into her underwear.

“Huhh!”

He pushed her back with his weight. Unable to withstand his solid frame, she stumbled backward.

Even as she teetered, unable to find her balance, she didn’t fall to either side. He was pushing her, but at the same time, supporting her so she wouldn’t collapse.

Her back hit the wall. The cold, hard surface of the stone wall jolted her back to reality. That’s when she remembered—they were in the wine cellar.

“Wait, this place is…! Let’s go to the bedroom, the bedroom.”

“You’re not saying no.”

He let out a low chuckle. Unlike the cool underground air, his laughter was laced with a heated intensity.

“If we go to the bedroom, can you hold back your voice? The servants aren’t asleep yet.”

Now that he mentioned it, he was right. It wasn’t that late at night yet.

“Can you handle it? I think I’ll be a bit rough tonight.”

It was a provocative warning. While it scared her, the walls of her inner muscles contracted tightly, releasing a sudden gush of *rousal.

Jeong-hyeok pressed against the wall beside her. A door opened, revealing a secret staircase that looked like something straight out of a medieval movie.

At the top of the staircase was a small room. It was a wine room that had been built into the house from the time it was designed.

He grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs. For a moment, she thought it felt a bit romantic.

“Where are we… Where are we going?!”

But perhaps it was just her imagination. Her frightened expression reminded him of the nature of their relationship up until now.

“What, are you worried there’s some underground prison here?”

He wasn’t offended. Her distrust was neither new nor unjustified. In fact, he felt a sharp, almost genuine desire that there really was an underground prison he could use.

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“If there were a prison, I would’ve locked you up in it long ago.”

“……!”

Eun-sol froze. Why did this man always make such terrifying jokes?

Her hesitant steps couldn’t keep up with his long strides. Growing impatient, he simply hoisted her over his shoulder.

Her vision flipped, and blood rushed to her head. At the top of the secret staircase, there was another door.

When the door opened, it revealed a small room. It was a cozy space with a table and a sofa.

He soon placed her on top of the elegant mahogany table.

“Where is this?”

“This used to be where my father tasted wine. Now, it’s like my secret hideout.”

There was a wine rack in this room as well. In one corner, there were several boxes that seemed untouched for a long time. Inside the boxes were various items.

“What’s in those boxes?”

Trying to calm him down a bit, Eun-sol glanced at the boxes and asked. The secretive space and the dusty boxes stirred her curiosity for some reason.

“Who knows. Things I can’t throw away but don’t really need to keep, either.”

What could those things possibly be?

She was a little curious, but not enough to dwell on it.

“I haven’t been here in years. You’re the first person I’ve brought here.”

“I’m the first?”

“Yeah. You’ve never been here before, even before your memory loss.”

For some reason, those words made her heart flutter uncontrollably. Knowing that she was the first to enter this private space of a man with such a distinctly closed-off nature gave her an inexplicable sense of accomplishment and intimacy.

Soon, the scent of soap wafted closer. As she inhaled the fresh, clean aroma, the waistband of her skirt was suddenly grabbed.

In an instant, her skirt slid down to her ankles.

Her smooth legs gleamed like white snow in this dim, moonless space.

Jeong-hyeok pressed his hands firmly against the area between her thighs, covered by white panties. Eun-sol let out a sharp gasp, her hips instinctively jerking forward.

As her ragged breaths filled the room, she tried to lean her body back from her position on the table. But she couldn’t actually move, as her thighs were already tightly gripped.

“Don’t look away from me.”

His flushed eyes locked onto hers as his hands carelessly kneaded her gr*in. Beneath his touch, her heated flesh felt soft and pliant, as though it would melt.

“Ahh, Jeong-hyeok…!”

His palm quickly became damp, soaked by the fluids seeping through her underwear.

“Do you know what amazes me every time? Where do you even hide all this moisture?”

He pulled her panties slightly aside and plunged his finger into her swollen, heated opening. Eun-sol’s body trembled violently, like an electric device plugged into a socket.

“Ahh, w-wait…!”

She clung to his forearm, her voice trembling with tears.

“Why are you crying? It’s my finger that’s being devoured.”

“Ahh, p-please take it out!”

He hesitated. If he pushed just a little further, her fluids might soak his shirt sleeve. But today wasn’t the day for such indulgence.

He began to undress.