CHAPTER 94

The quick-witted Anton quickly returned to the driver’s seat. Taejun opened the door wide and reached out his hand towards Minhee.

[Get out.]

Minhee gathered the hem of her dress in one hand and got out of the limousine, ignoring Taejun’s outstretched hand. The sharp sound of her high heels echoed as she walked towards the revolving door without looking back. Taejun closed the limousine door with a loud thud and hurried to catch up with her.

The doorman who held open the revolving door tipped his hat upwards and paid compliments to Minhee in her dress. Even the doorman’s kindness made Taejun’s heart sink heavily.

Taejun felt a sense of déjà vu. 

After their first encounter with the guerrillas in the mountains of Afghanistan, a sense of defeat, of being in a war they couldn’t win, had settled over Alpha Company. A feeling of his feet being stuck to the ground, dragging along. The heavy steps you take when you know you’re going to lose, but you still drag yourself in.

With that, Taejun followed Minhee’s back into the lift. Upon arriving at the penthouse and opening the door for her, Minhee brushed past him, sending up a cold breeze without so much as a glance.

“Auntie, thank you for staying up so late. I’ll see you this weekend.”

Minhee exchanged a few words with the weekend nanny, who was dozing soundly on the sofa, and said goodbye. A silence fell over the living room as the weekend nanny walked past Taejun, bowed, closed the front door, and left.

Taejun watched in stunned silence as Minhee coldly turned and walked into her room, closing the door behind her without saying good night. A small hole burned in Taejun’s heart. He could feel something bitter and hot leaking out of it.

His steps took him to her doorstep, and on that snowy day, when he thawed her frozen feet, she told him she loved him again. It was the second time already. From that day until tonight, he had never held her in his arms.

He felt like a drug addict going through withdrawal symptoms. A mix of bursting desires, anxiety, and a sense of defeat dragged Taejun down into the cold abyss.

Since meeting Minhee, for the first time in decades, he had surfaced and taken a breath, but now he was sinking again. Taejun felt like he would give anything to turn their relationship back to the way it was.

‘But what should I do…?’

Taejun raised his fist to knock on the door, but let it fall helplessly. In fact, he already knew what she wanted.

Minhee wanted what a broken man like him couldn’t give her in its intact form. She was a woman who had been loved and nurtured, a woman who knew how to love bigger than the love she had received.

If he let her into his world, a world so twisted from so deep within that she could feel darkness spreading to her soul just by being near him, she would be unhappy.

Taejun turned on his heel like a defeated soldier. The hallway leading back to his room, with the light behind him, felt like a long, dark tunnel. The end was pitch black darkness.

Taking off his tuxedo, Taejun stood in front of the cold stream of water from the shower and thought back to the image of Minhee with his first love. The man who had approached her, calling her ‘Min’, when she had called him ‘Noah’. All of a sudden, as if gravity had multiplied, every organ in his body fell with a thud.

Noah Brown’s subtle glances and careful touches to Minhee. Their dance on the stage, like a couple in a movie. Minhee’s shy smile as she looked up at him – all these images swirled in Taejun’s head. With her ‘first love’, Minhee looked so comfortable… and happy.

The man, six years younger than Taejun, reminded her of Kim Junhee at that age. Relaxed in his manner, upright in his posture, sharp in his gaze, and seemingly self-assured with every step.

Taejun had to reluctantly admit that Noah Brown was objectively a pretty decent guy. He suited Minhee well. That man, who had no qualms about loving and being loved, could easily give Minhee what she wanted, unlike Taejun.

A grotesque image of Noah Brown and Minhee embracing nakedly and kissing passionately vividly appeared in Taejun’s mind.

“Ugh……!”

Taejun struck his stomach with his fist, drawing in a painful breath as he endured the rejection that twisted his gut.

The cold water from the shower head pierced his chilled body. Shivering, Taejun steadied his breathing.

After turning off the shower, he walked out of the bathroom without drying off, leaving small puddles with every step. But he stopped in his tracks at the sight of an almost illusion-like scene. Minhee was standing in the middle of his room.

*

Minhee looked over her shoulder at the mirror, examining her backside. With her hands behind her back, she searched for the zipper location in the mirror. Wriggling her body, she finally found the tiny zipper pull hidden in the seam allowance and slowly pulled it down.

Her white, smooth back was revealed through the parting dress. Her eyes met hers in the mirror. Lost in thought, she chewed on her lips, then swept her gaze over her reflection again.

Minhee pulled up the dress that had slipped down her chest and zipped it up again with a grunt.

Tonight, Taejun was his unusual self. His usually cool, detached gaze was shaking uncontrollably, and his composed, indifferent attitude crumbled. When he caught sight of her with Noah, the jealousy in his expression was palpable and raw.

[You might think it’s cliché, but jealousy is the easiest way to test love. And if this method doesn’t work, just give up. And meet another man!]

‘Luca, you were right.’

Luca’s plan, which she thought was lame and clichéd, works much better than she expected, thanks to the unexpected arrival of Noah.

But it’s all for nothing if Taejun doesn’t admit that he loves her, so Minhee decides to give him one last chance, one last time. 

‘This is the last time. The very last!’

Minhee let out a long sigh at her own foolishness. But it was the first love she had ever experienced in her twenty-five years. It wasn’t like the crushes and unrequited love of her childhood, so she didn’t want to leave any regrets behind.

‘I’ll do my best until the end, and if it still doesn’t work…’

Minhee shook her head lightly, shaking off the negative thoughts.

She wondered if she was being overly self-conscious, but no matter how many times she thought about it, Taejun’s behavior today was undoubtedly that of a man deeply in love.

‘That stupid stubborn person doesn’t admit and accept the fact that he loves me.’

So today, she planned to utilize all the techniques she had learned while practicing with him to seduce Taejun. And she would make him admit that he loved her.

Minhee hesitated as she was about to confidently leave the room.

“What if Taejun doesn’t admit it until the end……? 

Her blood ran cold to her fingertips. Minhee took a long, even breath and squared her shoulders.

‘If that happens… I’ll move out of this house and get a cat.’

*

Minhee stood in the middle of Taejun’s room, looking around. He was not there. The faint sound of water indicated that he was still in the shower.

Desperately trying to keep her gathered courage from dissipating, Minhee diligently encouraged herself. Confessing to someone you love with all your heart and then being ignored is mentally shattering, even for someone who specializes in unrequited love.

Her heart was pounding like someone who had just finished a short-distance sprint. Minhee tried to calm her racing heart by rummaging through her thoughts.

‘Would Miho approve of me having a cat in the house? She has a cat, too, so if I brought another cat home and she developed some kind of sibling rivalry…’

Just then, the bathroom door burst open and a n*ked Taejun walked out.

‘Holy macaroni!!’

When he spotted Minhee, he stopped dead in his tracks like a man who’d seen a ghost, his hands wiping the water from his face and brushing his hair out of his face.

Minhee stared at Taejun, unable to breathe. Water dripped from his hair, from his chin, from his fingertips, and pooled on the floor.

A thin stream of water trickled down his firm chest, hesitating at the scarred area before flowing smoothly down his clearly defined abs. Minhee’s gaze followed the trail, down and down, letting out a stifled gasp.

Taejun’s body always reacted to her much more honestly and immediately than his words, and today was no exception.

Minhee’s face flushed instantly. Her knees felt weak, and the room seemed to sway. She lowered her eyes and stood with her back to Taejun, flustered.

“What’s wrong?”

A low, deep, resonant voice echoed in the large, high-ceilinged room. Minhee flinched at the sound, which was closer than she’d expected. She blurted out, her fingers interlaced tightly.

“The zipper…”

“What?”

“Could you please lower the zipper? I can’t reach it.”

As the wet footsteps stopped, a long, drawn-out breath was heard right behind her. The fine hairs on Minhee’s neck stood on end. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with her labored breathing.

“Huh…”

Minhee shivered, arching her back. Taejun’s wet fingers were ice-cold against her bare skin, sending goosebumps down her spine.