Their tongues tangled in a sensual, heated rhythm. Yuhyeon’s ragged breath pressed against her, raw and real.

Soo-min’s shoulders tensed – but at the same time, her heart was pounding with excitement and a bittersweet ache.

Yuhyeon slowly ran his fingers down her back, then slid them under her shirt. A dizzying, electric pleasure surged through her.

His fingers caressed gently along her spine while his lips ravaged her mouth with rough intensity.

Even in the breathless tangle of their tongues, his touch was incredibly gentle.

Her shoulders trembled.

“Mmgh…”

Yuhyeon spread her thighs with his knee. When he pressed down hard on her sensitive spot, her cl*toris was stimulated. Her body trembled instinctively and the area under her panties became damp with *rousal.

Yuhyeon skillfully undressed her.

Soo-min watched quietly as he undressed her.

Despite his earlier words about wanting s*x, his gaze was not the same as before – it was not wild or bestial. His earlier claim that he wanted her now seemed strangely untrue.

What is it that he really wants from me?

The more time passed, the more questions she had about him—nothing but growing curiosity.

Then, suddenly, he thrust into her roughly. In that moment, she couldn’t think at all.

“Ugh…”

With each relentless thrust hitting her most sensitive spot, it was all Soo-min could do just to catch her breath.

‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to be…’
‘I want to understand him more…’

After moving his hips for a while, Yuhyeon suddenly stopped. Staring intently at her face, he gently traced her features with his fingers.

‘Who… did I really marry?’

Just then, he started to move again.

Soo-min bit her lip, anticipating the pleasure that would follow.

***

She thought she would be exhausted like the night before – but she wasn’t. She felt fine.

Well, Yuhyeon had stopped in the middle.

‘Aren’t men supposed to go all the way once they start? Although… Yuhyeon is unusually self-controlled…’

Still, the bed felt empty.

Soo-min quickly took a shower and went downstairs.

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“Where is he?”

He didn’t seem to be in the study, and the living room was quiet as well.

“He left for work a little while ago.”

“Already? It’s only 7:30…”

“He said he had a breakfast meeting this morning.”

“Ah… I see…”

It was uncomfortable to hear about her husband’s schedule from a member of the house staff.

Soo-min kept her eyes on her bowl as she ate. She knew he wasn’t particularly interested in her, but a wave of disappointment washed over her.

“It’s different from how I felt about my ex-husband…”

She hadn’t cared when Yedo cheated or drank, but with Yuhyeon she found herself wanting his attention – and that surprised her.

***

Eunhyuk was surprised to receive a call from Yuhyeon early in the morning.

“I thought my sister would join us?”

“I thought it would be good to have dinner with my brother-in-law, just the two of us. To clear up any misunderstandings between us.”

Eunhyuk was reminded of the tension that had built up. Even though his sister was married now, there was still a certain awkwardness between her and Yuhyeon.

“Ah, that was my mistake. I didn’t realize that you two had become so close.”

“I have seen and heard enough to know how much you care for your sister. But from now on you don’t have to worry.”

“Yes, I’m happy as long as she’s happy.”

“It is nice to see siblings taking care of each other. Soo-min worries a lot about you too.”

“She must see me as a child or something.”

Since his sister had taken the place of their parents, Eunhyuk saw her as a mother figure. And most likely, she thought of him almost like a son.

“From what I can see, you’re still quite inexperienced in many ways.”

“Yeah… I guess that’s true.”

It was a fact, so he couldn’t argue.

“I don’t say this to upset you, but I heard that you were scammed just six months ago. It almost put the hotel in jeopardy, didn’t it?”

“M-my sister told you that?”

Eunhyuk paused, his spoon floating in the air.

“Where else would I have heard it?”

“Ah… no, it’s just that she doesn’t usually talk about such things…”

“When it comes to someone you love, there’s nothing you can’t say. I’m not an outsider – I’m family now.”

“That’s true. It’s comforting to have someone like you around, brother-in-law.

Acknowledging his own mistakes, he didn’t feel the need to hide them. He had paid a high price for them, and he was determined not to repeat them in the future.

“So here’s what I’m thinking – if we want Soo-min to worry less about you, maybe it’s time to consider a new direction for the hotel business.”

“Our hotel?”

“Have you thought about expanding into the wedding business?”

“W-wedding business? Our hotel is a business hotel. It’s nowhere near equipped for weddings – completely different scale.”

“Well, the scale can be expanded, can’t it?”

“Sorry?”

Eunhyuk tilted his head in confusion.

“I did a little research on the hotel. From what I saw, you could completely restructure floors two through five. If you remove the unnecessary rooms and remodel them, I think you could build a decent wedding hall.”

Eunhyuk was surprised – he couldn’t believe that his brother-in-law had found the time to look into all this, especially when he seemed so busy with the wedding itself.

Of course, as he said, remodeling would allow for structural changes. But it would require an enormous amount of money – perhaps even more than building a brand-new hotel from scratch.

“I-It would cost a lot of money…”

“Well, the money is right here.”

Yuhyeon pointed at himself.

“B-Brother-in-law…”

“I want Soo-min to stop working. I just want her to live comfortably on the money I make. And for that, shouldn’t you be able to show that you can stand on your own – without relying on her?”

Eunhyuk felt a sting on the tip of his nose.

His sister had devoted herself to her mother and him for so long – to see her live comfortably without worrying about money was something he wished for as well.

“Brother-in-law, you must love my sister very much.”

“I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. That’s how much I want to take care of her.”

Tears threatened to fall. Eunhyuk nodded.

“Alright. I’ll go along with your plan. Thank you.”

***

Today, Soo-min went to work alone.

She was sipping coffee at her desk when Jeong-ah rushed over to her.

“Boss, did you see that article?”

“What article?”

“Look – your husband is in the headline of this morning’s news.”

Soo-min looked at the phone Jeong-ah handed her.

[Korean headline]

Russian investor Beom Yuhyeon chooses Jaewon Group as his investment partner in Korea, aiming to make a mark in the country’s bio-industry…

“I know.”

“Bio-industry, huh? That sounds impressive! There’s already news of a thousand pyeong factory being built in the countryside.”

“That’s fast.”

It was clear that Chairman Go had been scouting out factory sites ever since he suspected their relationship.

“Looks like it’s only a matter of time before your family becomes one of the top ten conglomerates! I’m jealous!”

Soo-min smiled awkwardly. When Jeong-ah scrolled down and turned off her phone, Soo-min held out his hand.

“Wait a minute, Jeong-ah. Can you show me the article again?”

“Why?”

Soo-min quickly scrolled through the article she had just seen. She was shocked.

[KTN reporter Jo Dong-sik]

‘What… What is going on?!’

Could it be that the reporter she met at the hotel yesterday was Jo Dong-sik?!

‘How could this happen…?’

‘It’s like they hijacked my appointment and did an interview with the reporter!’

Her heart was pounding like it was about to burst through her skin.

This is strange. Too weird!

Soo-min couldn’t sit still, she felt restless, like she was on the edge of her seat. Unable to contain her curiosity, she rushed to the suite.

Today the elevator seemed unusually slow. It was crowded because it overlapped with checkout time.

The elevator’s LED display stopped at the 10th floor and didn’t go down any further.

Impatiently, Soo-min stamped her feet before deciding to take the emergency stairs. With a sense of urgency, she climbed the stairs two at a time.

By the time she reached the top floor, she was out of breath. As she entered the office suite, a secretary greeted her.

“Where is he?”

“He’s in a meeting.”

“Then I’ll wait in the room.”

She felt like she wouldn’t be able to stand it if she didn’t confirm it right away.

After a while, Yuhyeon entered the room, apparently informed by the secretary.

“You forgot to say goodbye when you left in the morning.”

“…….”

“Why are you looking like that?”

It was Soo-min who had more questions.

“Did you happen to have an interview with Jo Dong-sik yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“When did you make the appointment with that reporter?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s very important. Please tell me.”

Yuhyeon stared at Soo-min intently.

“I don’t know what brought you here in such a hurry, but to be precise, it wasn’t Jo Dong-sik. I agreed to an interview with the head of the KTN news office.”

“…What?”

“Sigh… wait a moment.”

Yuhyeon walked over to his desk, pulled out a thick stack of documents, and dropped them on the table. Even at first glance, there seemed to be dozens of pages.

The titles of the official documents were all requests for permission to conduct formal interviews.