CHAPTER 5

Taejun was momentarily frozen, surprised by his own actions.

‘Why does my hand keep moving on its own?’

The thin bridge of his thumb felt like it might snap with just a little pressure. Taejun furrowed his brow and pulled his large, gnarled hand away from Minhee’s slender shoulder.

Without saying a word, he passed by Minhee and left the room. Her cheeks and ears are red as ripe apples out of the corner of his eye. Once again, without any warning, Taejun’s lower stomach tightened.

‘Ugh. What am I doing with a woman who’s just turned twenty? And she’s Rose’s teacher, on top of that.’

He grimaced at the rising self-loathing and headed for the living room. Come to think of it, the last time he was with a woman was almost five years ago. Recently, due to a series of sudden events, he hadn’t even thought about resolving his s*xual desires.

‘Is it a lack of desire? Do I need to embrace a woman?’

He quickly dismissed the sudden thought. For Taejun, s*x with a woman was no different from m*sturbation. In fact, he believed that m*sturbation was a much more efficient and less troublesome way to deal with s*xual desire. He’d had enough of dealing with the crappy feelings he couldn’t get back.

While contemplating whether to increase his exercise routine, the weekend nanny came up to him shaking her butt and stroking his arm, blatantly rubbing her br*asts against his arm. Discomfort soared.

‘Annoying.’

[TJ, is there anything I can do to help? Let’s talk.]

[Where’s Rose?]

[She’s probably in the room.]

[… Probably?]

[She went to change earlier—]

[A six-year-old going into the room alone to change. Shouldn’t you check on her?]

[But if Rose sees me, she’ll throw a tantrum and cry—]

With a cold expression, he roughly pulled out her arm and took out his wallet from the back pocket, extending ten hundred-dollar bills to Chloe.

[Here’s two days’ pay, and the exit door is that way].

[TJ! Why are you suddenly like this? I’ll go to Rose now!]

He just furrowed her eyebrows slightly and made a frown, but Taejun’s face, which had been expressionless the whole time, turned into something creepy and threatening.

[Get out].

A few days ago, Mei-Ling, Taejun’s school attendant who had been staying at his house and taking care of Rose day and night during the rowdy two weeks following the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law, had informed him that she would now only be coming to work on weekday afternoons, as she had been doing before.

Chloe was the weekend nanny urgently hired by Taejun’s personal assistant, Luca Lopez. She was a young, energetic aspiring actress with plenty of babysitting experience, promising to engage Rose in fun activities.

As soon as she found out Taejun was single, Rose was left behind, and she relentlessly pursued only him.

As the days passed, Taejun felt the limits of his patience. When he compared how Minhee and Chloe treated Rose, he found no reason to tolerate Chloe anymore.

[Just think about it again. In fact, what I’m really good at is taking care of men, not children…….]

Chloe put her hand on his chest and patted his lower body. Taejun shook her off like a bug and without a word, he opened the front door, tossing the bills into the hallway with an expressionless face. Chloe’s eyes flashed as she hesitated to continue.

[You’re going to regret treating me like this.]

[Get out.]

Discouraged by Taejun’s menacing expression and threatening voice, Chloe grabbed her coat and handbag and headed out the door, calling out to him one last time.

[Call me if you change your mind, you have my number, right?]

Taejun didn’t even bother to reply, not even looking at her as he pulled the door close.

He didn’t understand women throwing themselves at him. The temptations from women that started as soon as he arrived in New York had reached a peak after founding the hedge fund. Nowadays, he was faced with aggressive flirting that felt like hand-to-hand combat everywhere he went.

He could understand why women flocked to his business partner, Junhee. Even through Taejun’s dull eyes, Junhee’s appearance resembled that of a glamorous movie star, and his good manners, along with his humorous eloquence, made him quite appealing.

Taejun thought he was objective about himself. When he looked in the mirror, he saw a face without expression, with empty, stiff eyes. He was aware that the scars on his face and his large physique made him look threatening.

Most men would flinch and avoid eye contact when they met his gaze. However, women were different. Initially, with a fearful expression, they would just cautiously hover around him, but at some point, they would approach and stick to him persistently.

‘If I have to find an appealing aspect to attract women, it’s probably my bank account balance.’

Taejun’s reasons for working in the investment finance industry were simple. As a kid, numbers and math formulas were his escape from reality. Even now, as an adult, it wasn’t much different.

By pouring himself into the ever-changing numbers of the stock market every day, meticulously analyzing them with algorithms he had created, he found that free time passed smoothly.

Pouring money into risky investments akin to gambling and feeling a slight thrill when making huge profits provided a brief escape for his mind, which had sunk into the sea of mundane life.

The money he invested grew exponentially as he reinvested it because he had nowhere else to put it. It was ironic that a byproduct of his survival tactics to keep from going insane was attracting women like a magnet.

Taejun sent a message to Luca Lopez.

< Fire the weekend Nanny. Lopez, have you forgotten the hiring rules? Recruit again according to the Second Chance Program criteria. >

The Second Chance Program was an HR rule prioritizing the hiring of married women whose careers were interrupted by childbirth and parenting.

It was created after an intern in her twenties sneaked into the boss’s office n*ked, and was caught by the janitor and fired.

< Yes, understood. I’ll select candidates and send them within this week. What about the new live-in tutor? Minhee Seol doesn’t meet the criteria for the Second Chance program either. Do you want me to find a new candidate? >

Taejun suddenly realized this fact and was slightly surprised.

< No. Miss Minnie is an exception. >

For a moment, Taejun imagined Miss Minnie clinging to him as Chloe had done. Unconsciously, his thighs tensed, and what had subsided stirred again.

‘Sh*t. I must be really losing it.’

[Miss Minnie! TJ!]

He heard plump footsteps and turned back into the living room to see Rose in a skimpy pink dress.

[TJ! Take a picture of me with my eyes!]

[…….]

‘Again.’

When he hesitated and squinted, Rose asked impatiently.

[Did you take them all? Am I pretty?]

[…… Mmm].

The door in the middle of the hallway was slightly ajar. Minhee’s round head peeked out next to the door. As soon as she made eye contact with Taejun, who looked up in recognition, she disappeared behind the door, leaving only her fluttering hair behind.

‘Is my face that intimidating?’

The door paused just before it slammed shut and slowly reopened. Minhee, who had changed into a neat ivory skirt and light apricot blouse, walked out with a thin file in her hand.

Seeing Rose twirling around in a dress, Minhee put one hand to her forehead and staggered as if she were about to collapse and leaned against the wall. Taejun, surprised, reached out to Minhee, but she corrected her posture, closed her eyes, and smiled gently.

[Rose! Did you see me faint for a moment? I thought a princess had jumped out somewhere because you are so pretty. Come here! Let me take a closer look!]

‘What’s this?’

Suddenly, his back itched. Taejun used the hand that had reached out to Minhee to scratch his nape vigorously.

Laughing and striking poses, Minhee, who was tidying up Rose’s tangled hair, lowered her head and met eyes with Rose.

[I have pretty sparkling colored paper I brought from Korea. I’ll give you three sheets, and while I talk with your Uncle, will Rose fold paper airplanes? We’re going to have an airplane race.]

[Rose doesn’t know how to fold an airplane].

[Uncle will teach you. Mr. Baek, do you know how to fold a paper airplane?]

[TJ, do you know how to fold a paper airplane?]

Taejun smiled sheepishly as Rose imitated Minhee like a parrot. Then realizing he was smiling foolishly, he stiffened with an unfamiliar feeling.

Without any response from him, Minhee, looking puzzled, alternately glanced at Taejun and Rose, awkwardly smiling.

[Mr. Baek, I’ll teach you how to fold a paper airplane, it’s very easy].

[…… I know how to do it].

Rose tugged on Minhee’s sleeve.

[Miss Minnie, TJ can take pictures with his eyes!]

[Huh?]

[Like this, like this!]

Rose stood still, mouth slightly open, eyes blinking a few times.

‘I’m like that?’

Taejun was embarrassed and ran his fingers through his hair, then looked at Minhee to explain. She nodded to Taejun as if she understood and winked playfully.

As he watched in a daze as Minhee’s large eyes shrank to the size of a crescent moon and then widened again, it occurred to him that she probably didn’t look all that different from Rose’s imitation.

[Rose, your uncle has superpowers, that’s cool!]

[Yeah. TJ is cool!]

[‘Samchon TJ’. Say ‘uncle’ in Korean. Try saying ‘samchon’.]

[Santon. Mom called TJ Santon too.]

‘Santon’

Minhee bit her lip to keep from laughing and glanced at Taejun. She could see his usually expressionless face subtly contort and his jaw twitch.

Minhee finally couldn’t hold it in and laughed out loud. Rose, who was looking up at her with a puzzled expression, inexplicably joined in the laughter.

Children were always unpredictable, and that’s what made them the funniest and most adorable things in the world.

Rose hugged her tightly until she collapsed in her cuteness, and when she stood up, she found Taejun strangely staring at her.