CHAPTER 22

After walking at a slightly faster pace, Minhee pressed a few buttons on the treadmill’s instrument panel, and the sound of the motor revving up became louder, accompanied by a sharp mechanical whine. Minhee sped up her pace to match the speed of the treadmill.

Taejun scanned Minhee’s back from head to toe in the mirror, then shook his head. He straightened the jump rope and started jumping lightly again.

Less than five minutes later, the beeping sound of the machine caught his attention again. Minhee slightly reduced the treadmill speed and continued walking quickly while taking off her jacket.

As her rounded shoulders were revealed, Taejun’s breathing became ragged and the jump rope got tangled again. Taejun stood still, unable to tear his gaze away from Minhee’s backside.

One arm slipped out, and the other arm followed suit as she hung the jacket over the handle. Her bare back, leading to smooth and round curves down to her lower body, was exposed without any hiding places.

He could feel his heart pounding in the veins of his temples, and he was out of breath.

‘I can’t believe I’m out of breath with this level of aerobic exercise.’

On weekdays, Taejun spent two hours exercising with a combination of aerobic and weight routines, and on weekends, he used to spend about three hours doing kickboxing. He understood that it had been a while since he couldn’t exercise regularly after taking care of Rose.

As his heart rate increased, he moved to an all-in-one trainer to do anaerobic exercise. While following his usual routine of weight training, Taejun’s eyes unknowingly kept turning to the treadmill.

Although it didn’t seem like she was running at a very fast pace, Minhee was breathing heavily.

“Haah, haah…!”

The sound of Minhee’s breathing, reminiscent of something in his dream, pierced Taejun’s ears. His head snapped up as he tensed his muscles with the barbell, and a chill ran down his spine.

With his muscles relaxed, Taejun hurriedly put down the barbell. A loud clang of metal hitting metal resonated. Startled by the sound, Minhee quickly turned around and slowed down the treadmill speed.

When the treadmill came to a complete stop, she stood on it and hesitated for a moment before carefully stepping off the treadmill. Taejun gave up stealing glances and watched her movements from the trainer, wondering what kind of exercise she would impulsively choose next.

When their eyes met, Minhee hesitated and wavered as if she were going back to the treadmill. Eventually, with curiosity filling her big eyes, she approached, shivering slightly. His eyes took in her cleavage peeking out of her sports bra, her exposed navel, and the curve of her waist to her hips.

This woman seemed soft and tender to touch anywhere. Without bones or muscles, she looked as if she were made of elastic and sweet jelly. An impulse to touch and squeeze anywhere with force surged. As his body temperature rose, sweat trickled down his spine.

‘Darn it. I shouldn’t get aroused right now.’

[Wow, it’s like a torture machine, making me want to spill whatever secrets I have right now.]

Suddenly, an image of a n*ked Miss Minnie, her eyes covered by a red cloth, hanging from the trainer bar with her wrists tied, flashed in Taejun’s mind.

‘Ha. Looks like I’m the one being tortured.’

Taejun exhaled sharply, wiping the sweat forming on his forehead with the wristband. Shaking his head once to clear the images from his mind, he pushed himself off the bench and moved to the punching bag next to him.

[Ah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just curious about how to use this complicated equipment…]

Minhee stammered, her eyes widening as she noticed Taejun partially obscured by the large sandbag.

As she fumbles around and tries to get back on the treadmill, Taejun steps out from behind the punching bag and grabs her by the forearm. 

It was a purely physical reflex, not a thought-out action. Taejun’s large hand squeezed Minhee’s forearm tightly.

“Ah…?!”

Round, clear eyes blinked up at Taejun, questioning. He mumbled something, then released her forearm from his grip.

[…No torture here.]

[What??]

[Torture machine. I’ll show you how to use it].

[Oh, no, it’s okay, I’m just stretching-]

[Which muscles will you focus on exercising?]

[Muscles……? I mean, uh, uh……. arms? Right here].

Minhee pointed to the arm that Taejun had grabbed. His eyes followed her gaze, still observing her muscle state sharply, and noticed Minhee involuntarily tensing her shoulders.

‘I should have some muscles.’

Taejun slowly walked over to the trainer and stretched out his long arm toward Minhee. He clenched his fist and squeezed his arm, causing the tendons in the back of his hand to bulge. The muscles in each arm rose up like a hill.

Minhee’s eyes widened, and she unconsciously muttered.

[Holy macaroni!]

In response to Minhee’s unique exclamation, Taejun glanced at her face and then lowered his eyes. He pointed a long finger at his own biceps and recited the name of a muscle that bulged out of control.

Obviously, it is a muscle name that even Minhee, who is not interested in exercise, knows because it is ‘bicep’ or ‘triceps’, but it was followed by a long list of Latin-sounding names.

‘No, I’m not a doctor or an athlete, so what’s the point of memorizing muscle names with scientific names like that?’

Aside from that, Taejun’s arms are a wonderful combination of thick muscles and fine muscles… …. It was incredibly sexy.

’So, I like muscular men!’

Minhee had thought she preferred delicate flower-like pretty boys rather than muscular men, but now she realized that it must have been because she had never seen such artistic muscles with her own eyes before.

[Which muscle exercise would you like to see?]

Even though the scientific names of muscles had evaporated from Minhee’s mind like dew, she nodded enthusiastically toward Taejun.

[Biceps, triceps, and del… what was it? Anyway, all of them! Show me all!]

Despite Taejun appearing intimidating and rough at first glance, Minhee already knew he had a softer side. Even though he had achieved success as a young Wall Street banker, you’d expect him to be self-conscious and egotistical, but he was anything but.

He was earnest, serious, and diligent in everything, fulfilling all of Minhee’s requests until now. She wished all her students were as good listeners as him.

‘So please show me this time too!’

Taejun’s chin lifted slightly as he stared at Minhee as if he’d heard her desperate inner cry. He seemed to be trying to gauge her thoughts, and there was a suspicious gaze as he looked down at her.

Looking up at him, Minhee’s eyes widened, her pale pink cheeks puffing out, and she crossed her hands in front of her chest.

‘Ha……. I want to grab those cheeks with my fingers and pull them out. What kind of desire is this?’

Taejun’s fingertips twitched and he had to clench his fist, remembering Jaehee’s advice to use everything you have if you have to.

‘If she wants to see it, I’ll show it.’

Taejun lamented himself for trying to appeal to Minhee with his physical abilities, not his intellectual abilities. It made him feel a little self-deprecating to think that, no matter how far males had evolved, they hadn’t gotten any further than peacocks, who flaunted their colorful feathers to attract females. More shocking than that, though, was the realization that he was a fairly instinctual male. He laughed at himself for laughing at men who do seemingly foolish things to impress the woman they like.

Under Minhee’s expectant gaze, Taejun stepped inside the all-in-one trainer and demonstrated a few arm exercises that he thought Minhee might be able to do.

She watched in fascination as his forearm muscles tensed and relaxed with each movement, and when he came down from a series of pull-ups with both hands on the handles, she wanted to shout “Bravo!” and give him a standing ovation.

‘I should have signed up for a gym membership just to see this. Coming to exercise today was a great decision!’

Taejun stepped out of the trainer, gesturing for Minhee to come in.

‘What the hell, even his fingers are sexy.’

[Now, then—]

[No!]

Minhee blurted out urgently. Taejun stopped and stared at Minhee in confusion.

[…?]

[…Abs! Six-pack! I want to see ab exercises!]

[Six-pack…?]

[Yes!]

Taejun tilted his head, squinting at Minhee’s stomach exposed through her leggings. It was a body language anyone could recognize. 

Minhee understood his reaction well. She had a lean waist, but it was smooth and lean with no muscle definition.

‘Yes, I know, even if I die and come back to life, my stomach won’t magically have a six-pack. But that’s not the point right now, is it?’

Sighing lightly, Taejun roughly pointed to his stomach with the palm of his hand and said.

[For the abs, there’s the rectus abdominis and external obliques—]

Minhee raised one arm, palm outstretched, like a kindergartener asking a teacher a question. Taejun raised an eyebrow as if to ask what was going on.

[I don’t see it!]

[…?]

After blinking a couple of times and hesitating, Taejun shrugged his shoulders. Then, with one hand, he grabbed the bottom hem of his tight sleeveless T-shirt and yanked it up. Minhee sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with her hand. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.

‘Holy macaroni, a sizzling hot body!’]