CHAPTER 24

‘What’s this? She’s too light.’

Taejun couldn’t control his strength, probably because Minhee was lighter than the barbell he was lifting. Minhee’s upper body hovered over the pull-up handles, her arms gripping them with both hands and her legs dangling underneath. She looked at him with wide eyes and burst out laughing.

[Mr. Baek. What kind of muscle exercise is this?]

Minhee’s legs flailed as she laughed out loud like a child. Taejun watched her for a moment, unperturbed by the attention, and then, a little sarcastic, he crossed his arms and took a step back.

Minhee’s laughter stopped.

The corner of his mouth twitched as he took another step back. This was the woman who’d come n*ked in his dreams, who’d made him have a wet dream at thirty-two, who became the subject of teasing from the brothers Junhee and Jaehee and it was somehow unfair that she showed no romantic interest in him, not even as much as the length of Rose’s fingernail.

[Well then, I’ll go to the sandbag—]

The arm that was supporting Minhee’s weight backed away. Her face turned pale and she urgently called out to him.

[Mr. Baek!!!]

“Taejun.”

[What?]

In fact, every time she called him Mr. Baek, it bothered him. Taejun, who had conversed with Minhee in English so far, responded in awkward and slow Korean.

“Mr. Baek is what people used to call my father. My name is Taejun—”

An agitated Minhee interrupted in Korean.

“No, what are you talking about after putting someone up here!”

Taejun chuckled and turned around without saying anything. Minhee called out to him in a desperate voice.

“Mis— Taejun!”

“Miss Taejun?”

Taejun turned around, raising his eyebrows. The realization that he was playing a fairly childish prank, something he hadn’t done even as a child, flashed through his mind. But he couldn’t resist the urge to tease Minhee and see her embarrassed. This was also an unfamiliar feeling for him.

“Taejun…sir!”

“Sir?”

“Taejun-ssi! Taejun! Taejun! Help—Agh!”

While struggling to support her weight, Minhee’s slender arms suddenly gave way. The moment her upper body dropped, Taejun quickly wrapped his arms around her.

‘Ah. I didn’t mean for this to happen.’

Minhee’s lips accidentally met Taejun’s as he caught her. While pulling her in, he unintentionally gripped and pressed just below her neck with one arm.

‘Ugh. F*ck.’

A desire that he could not express out loud ran through his mind. Taejun wrapped his other arm around Minhee’s thigh. Their bodies pressed closely together.

A faint scent of sweetness hovered in the air as Minhee passed by and grazed his nose. Startled, Minhee stiffened her body. As she tried to pull her lips away from the pressed ones, Taejun tightened his grip on the nape of her neck.

“Ahh!”

Tilting his face slightly to angle their lips, he caught Minhee’s slightly parted bottom lip between his own and pressed lightly, drawing in a surprised breath. He slyly slid his tongue between their lips. It was sweet. Sweet enough to make the back of his throat tingle.

He wanted to take Minhee right then and there, and his heart throbbed with the urge. He couldn’t believe that a s*xual urge that had barely existed until now could shake his self-control so much. At this moment, Rose was the only thread of reason that held back the urge to lay this woman down.

‘Rose needs Miss Minnie. If I act recklessly using my d*ck and something goes wrong, I could lose her. Remember how annoying and insignificant I thought of the women who approached me with their bold s*xual tricks.’

Minhee stiffened in Taejun’s arms for a moment, then began to squirm.

‘Ugh, don’t do this. It’s already hard to endure.’

“Stop.”

Minhee froze at the sound of Taejun’s voice with their lips still pressed together.

“I’m going to put you down, so don’t move.”

He whispered against her lips in a low, husky voice, and in sync with the movement of his lips, her lips crushed against his. Taejun loosened his grip on the nape of Minhee’s neck and pulled his lips away and there she was—still holding onto the pull-up handles with both arms stretched out and Minhee’s visible pale face.

Her eyes fluttered uncontrollably as they met his, and in an instant, a blush spread from her face to her exposed chest. Tajun couldn’t even guess what kind of gaze and expression he had on as he looked at Minhee. It felt like his facial muscles were pulled tight.

“Let go of the handles and hold onto my shoulders.”

Lowering her eyes and biting her lower lip, Minhee gently let go of the pull-up handles and gripped his shoulders with both hands. Taejun’s muscles twitched under her palms.

He slowly exhaled, bent down, and carefully placed Minhee on the floor, then turned around and turned his back to Minhee. His angular shoulders rose and fell with his rapid breathing as he ran a rough hand through his hair like an angry man.

As soon as Minhee saw Taejun’s back, she staggered and hesitated before sitting down on the bench. Her head was spinning.

‘What just happened?’

Her pounding heart felt like it would leap out of her throat.

She couldn’t believe that he played a mean joke on her by asking her to call him by his first name instead of addressing him formally and that she couldn’t believe that Mr. Baek, no, Taejun’s lips touched her and she felt his hot breath.

‘Even a little bit of tongue, haha……. Oh my gosh!’

Minhee placed her hands on her chest as if trying to press down a heart that seemed to be jumping out.

“Wait, calm down. It was an accident when he touched my butt last time. It’s probably the same this time. Don’t overreact, just let it go. Look, that guy is exercising again as if nothing happened.”

Minhee stole a sideways glance at Taejun as he kicked the punching bag.

‘Is he angry? He’s going to burst that punching bag.’

She couldn’t muster the courage to apologize to Taekjun for the accident that just happened. As she recalled the moment his lips touched hers, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her lower lip tickled and she pressed it with her teeth.

If she said a word, she felt like it might lead to an unexpected confession of unrequited love. Minhee decided to escape for now, stood up with trembling legs, mumbled a good night, then slipped out of the room, stumbling as she went, lest anyone catch her.

* * *

A white, lustful n*ked body squirmed, blindfolded by red lace, wrists tied to the bars of an all-in-one trainer. Taejun already knew this was a dream. Since the images that had just flickered in front of his eyes before he fell asleep were now playing out in his dream.

He slowly approached Minhee, who was breathing heavily through half-open lips. Taejun was also undressed, just as he had been when he lay down. He glanced down at his lower half, and to his surprise, his p*nis was hard and rising up to his navel.

Smooth and white skin, like milk pudding, formed a coveted mound, and atop the mound was a small, pale pink peak that jutted out as if begging to be lapped up, sucked, and swallowed. As his gaze descended along the dizzying curves hidden below the thin waistline, transparent liquid flowed long along the inner thigh from where it had been secreted as she crossed her legs.

Taejun was well aware that this was a product of his imagination. However, he didn’t care.

‘It’s my dream, so I’ll do whatever the hell I want.’

Cupping her face with his hands, Taejun pushed his tongue into her half-opened lips.

“Aaah!”

A horrendously sweet moan escaped her throat. However, despite that, there was no sensation in his hands, lips, or tongue.

Taejun, impatient, released her lips and pressed them firmly with his thumb. Sure enough, her lips popped open, revealing her sharp teeth and red tongue, but there was no sensation in his fingers.

Frustrated, Taejun squeezed Minhee’s chest and traced her peak with his finger. The responsive br*ast, conforming to his touch, was sensually stimulating enough to take one’s breath away, yet he couldn’t feel the texture.

He hugged Minhee as tightly as he could and she let out a shaky moan. The lust had dwindled after climaxing.

‘I can’t let it happen even in a dream!’

He couldn’t feel her, but she was clearly responding to his embrace. Even though he knew it was useless, he rubbed his body against hers. He felt pathetic and self-deprecating as he stewed in his unmet need.

Taejun wrapped his arms around Minhee as she clung to the bar and kissed him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He pushed his c*ck into her soaking wetness, and even as he wiggled his hips, it felt like he was f*cking in the air.

The more distressing part was that even this alone was enough stimulation for him. Soon enough, Taejun was gritting his teeth as his ej*culation surged.

In the wee hours of the morning, he pushed himself out of the soaking wet sheets and washed his face dry. He let out a long sigh that felt like it would sink into the earth.

His brain, which was still teetering on the edge of normal and abnormal, felt like it might actually explode if he didn’t figure this out soon. Thinking that it wouldn’t be that bad, Taejun let out a hollow laugh as he stared blankly into space.

* * *

“I said you don’t have to pay rent! What’s this money coming into my bank account?”

Miho glared at Minhee with her long, cool eyes.

“Oh, there’s no such thing! I got an early bonus. Haha…… For a while, I was rich as hell. I’ve never seen so much money in my bank account in my life, though it’s shrunk back down since I paid off my student loans. Let’s go, Miho. I’ll treat you to brunch.”

“It feels like smuggling in black market organ trafficking. You do realize that I’m the 7th granddaughter of a mid-sized XX company, right?”

“I know, I know. But what’s with the black market organ trafficking?”

“Oh, that. There’s something like that. Let’s go, our smuggler.”