CHAPTER 99 

“No, it’s too much. You’ll get hurt.” 

“No, no, f*ck me hard…hmph…… please.”

Minhee pleaded, wrapping her arms around his neck and awkwardly grinding her hips against his hands.

“F*ck…”

Taejun shook his head and muttered a silent curse, his c*ck throbbing from the base, growing larger inside Minhee. His mind went white as his self-control, stretched taut like a thin thread, snapped with a ping.

He tore off the waistband from his wrist and gripped Minhee’s hips. Then, without any control, he plunged into her relentlessly.

He was vaguely aware of Minhee’s screaming, the way her body convulsed and trembled at various points as he thrust into her over and over again. Scared she might break, he still rutted into her like a starving beast. 

Sweat dripped down his jaw, and tears streamed from Minhee’s eyes. He heard her sob something, but the sound seemed distant as if he was underwater. It took time for her voice to register in his brain.

“I love you…ah!”

The moment her inner walls clenched him, the muscles that had been painfully swollen relaxed all at once. Taejun arched his back, embracing the shuddering Minhee. Then he shuddered with the pleasure of a painfully long, brain-melting, sharp, heavy org*sm.

“Ahh!”

Minhee went limp in his arms, unable to open her eyes, and smiled lovingly at him. Taejun buried his lips in her earlobe and repeated as if chanting a mantra.

“Minhee, I love you. I love you, I love you…”

*

Taejun bolted upright, reaching out.

“Minhee!”

“Taejun? I’m here. Taejun!”

Taejun’s eyes fluttered open as he heard Minhee’s voice, shaking his arm. Unlike the dream, he was sitting on his own large bed. The clock on his bedside table read 5:30 a.m. It was still dark outside.

“Taejun, did you have a nightmare?”

Taejun whipped his head around. The woman whose voice he had desperately called out in the dream was lying half-reclined on his bed, looking up at him with concern in her large eyes.

Minhee was wearing one of Taejun’s t-shirts as pajamas, and she looked up at him with concern in her wide eyes. Her hand came up and wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

“Bad dreams are all fake, you know? That’s what my mom used to say.”

Minhee repeated the words she had once used to console Rose when the child had a nightmare.  She closed her eyes and gave a small yawn.

“Are you okay? What was your dream about that made you call out to me so sadly?”

Taejun pulled Minhee into his arms and laid back down on the bed. Minhee nuzzled his shoulder and patted his chest soothingly.

“Do you remember how my father died?”

“…Yes.”

“In the dream, I was lying on my father’s bed. A dirty bed, with liquor spilled on it, stained with filth and smelling horrible. I was lying there, holding a bottle of alcohol in my hand, and I realized that you…… weren’t there, you weren’t there, you seemed to have disappeared from the world, and so I called out to you, like a madman, just like my father used to do……. You couldn’t move, and your voice wouldn’t come out.”

Taejun’s breathing grew ragged, and he pressed the heel of his palm against his breastbone, exhaling sharply. As Minhee burrowed into his embrace, he rolled onto his side, wrapping his limbs tightly around her.

“Minhee. I… I’m just like my father…”

Taejun choked out each word with difficulty. It wasn’t until he met his mother’s family that he understood. He now understood the environment his mother had grown up in, and how loved she had been.

He could imagine the feeling his father, who had been a lonely orphan, must have had when he met the radiant, warm-hearted mother. After her death, even his own child failed to become the reason for his father’s survival.

Taejun could now fully empathize with his father.

“Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

Minhee shook her head from within his embrace.

“That I want to tie you up and lock you in this house, in this room, on this bed. So that no one can hurt you so that nothing bad can happen to you. And I want to imprint myself into every cell of your body.”

“…”

“I’m terrified that I might actually do that to you.”

In the dark, pre-dawn hours, Taejun’s voice was desperate as he hugged her tightly, as if he wanted to be one with the woman he loved.

“Hmm, is that so? I think I could handle that for a few days.”

Minhee’s affectionate voice, laced with amusement, murmured against his chest. Taejun’s chest heaved with a hysterical laugh at her absurd answer.

“Ugh, you’re going to drive me crazy.”

Minhee had pulled Taejun out of the dark, damp abyss with just a few words.

‘”If you knew that you were my salvation, my light, my life, my death, would you be scared?’

After admitting that he loved Minhee, Taejun became extremely anxious because his feelings for her were so vast and frighteningly deep. He loved her so much that his heart ached.

Within minutes, the color of the darkness turned bluish and a faint light crept through the blinds. Minhee, lost in thought while cradled in his embrace, suddenly spoke.

“Taejun, let’s do it like this.”

In a voice as sweet as melting, Minhee tapped Taejun’s left chest gently. Taejun’s heart, intoxicated with sweet agony, throbbed once again. 

His eyes squeezed shut and opened.

As always, no matter what she wanted or desired, he had no choice.

Taejun took the waistband and wrapped it around his own neck, then handed the end to her slender fingers. He knew that he would anxiously hover around her like a starving, obedient dog, terrified of that fragile thread snapping or her letting go of his leash.

His slightly superior intellect, slightly stronger physique, and slightly greater abilities would all be poured out to earn and maintain her love.

***

“Minhee, is it really necessary to go this far?”

“Yeah. It feels right to me. I don’t want our relationship to be based on contracts and financial transactions anymore.”

A look of desperation crossed Taejun’s face as he tried desperately to convince Minhee.

“I understand that. But can’t we just live together in my house—”

Minhee firmly shook her head, raising both her palms.

“For now, I’ll have Anton drive me to and from work. That’s the most I can compromise on—”

Suddenly, Taejun’s bedroom door burst open. With a patter of footsteps, Rose came running in, wearing a two-piece unicorn pajama set.

“Santon! Miss Minnie is missing! Oh? There she is!”

Instantly, Taejun and Minhee froze on the bed like statues. Taejun regained his composure first.

“Good morning, Rose.”

He greeted her cautiously.

“Hmph. Rose, did you sleep well?”

Minhee also steadied her voice, trying not to show her flustered state, as she greeted Rose. 

As she was nestled in Taejun’s embrace on the bed, Minhee released his hands from her waist and subtly moved them down from her thighs.

“Miss Minnie! Why are you in Santon’s bed?”

“…Uh, Uncle’s bed is…wider.”

Minhee blurted out whatever came to mind in her embarrassment, and behind her, there was suppressed laughter. She whipped around, glaring at Taejun, who bowed his head and covered his face with his hands as if rubbing his forehead.

“Miss Minnie, hug time with Santon?”

“Uh-huh, hug time!”

Wobbling on her knees, Rose approached the bed. Glancing at the clock, it was already 7 o’clock. It was usually the time Rose woke up. 

As they discussed their plans for the future, time had passed without them realizing it. Looking around, Minhee noticed that the previously dark room was now brightly lit.

Fortunately, Minhee was wearing the large t-shirt Taejun had put her in before bed, and Taejun was also wearing lounge pants. Relieved that the worst-case scenario was avoided, Minhee let out a breath.

Minhee carefully got off the bed. Her legs were shaky, and she felt muscle soreness, not to mention a pain in her lower back, but falling here would be disastrous.

Rose tilted her head, glancing back and forth between Minhee and Taejun.

“Miss Minnie? Did you and Santon make love?”

“…Uh?”

Minhee blinked rapidly. She glanced at Taejun, but he had his fist covering his mouth, eyes downcast, his shoulders trembling – a sight that irked her.

Rose seemed to get stuck trying to continue in Korean, so she switched to English.

[Yesterday, Miss Sherman read us a book. She said that when mommy and daddy lie on the bed and make love, a baby is born.]

‘Oh, right. Of all days, it had to be yesterday when there was nursery s*x education.’

Miss Jess Sherman, the health teacher, had read an age-appropriate s*x education picture book, then patiently and accurately answered the six-year-olds bizarre questions, sweating profusely.

It had been fine from an educator’s perspective, but now that it was her own situation, Minhee was truly flustered. However, as a teacher, lying or ignoring the child’s questions was unacceptable.