CHAPTER 10
Hye-joo covered her open mouth in surprise and rubbed her eyelids with the back of her hand several times.
“Could you open this for me?”
“……W-What are you doing?!”
As if she could not believe her eyes, Hye-joo shook her head from side to side several times, undid the safety chain, and looked at Muhyuk.
As though he had been waiting for that moment, Muhyuk took one step closer.
“What are you really doing here? Without even contacting me?”
Something caught Hye-joo’s foot, so she lowered her gaze slightly.
A suitcase was sitting beside Muhyuk.
“I have nowhere to go.”
“Even so, you can’t just barge in like this…….”
“I really have nowhere to go.”
Although the door was finally open, he made no move to come inside and simply stood there, looking quietly at Hye-joo.
As if he were waiting.
As if he knew for certain that he would naturally be allowed inside.
There was no sign of impatience, nor did he look as though he was worried about her reaction.
If anything, Hye-joo was the one holding the door open so that it would not close.
“……You said you would help me find a place to live.”
Hye-joo shook her head again, her face filled with a mixture of bewilderment and embarrassment.
She even blinked several times as though she simply could not believe this was happening.
“We’re not in a public relationship right now, but a private one, remember? Hmm?”
Muhyuk leaned his handsome face closer and smiled.
Hye-joo let out a sigh, thinking that there was absolutely no way to figure out what was going on inside his head.
‘Why does he have to be so handsome at a time like this?’
She had never been this conscious of someone’s appearance before, but that harmless smile somehow made her lower her guard without realizing it.
She had always seen him dressed in suits, but he somehow looked just as perfect in casual clothes.
Jeans and a white T-shirt—the most basic outfit imaginable, yet he somehow made it look incredible.
‘……Get a grip!’
Hye-joo was startled all over again by Muhyuk’s appearance and lightly slapped her own cheek.
“No, I’ll help you look for a place.”
“I don’t think two fully grown adults should be living together.”
“I have nowhere to go.”
“You said you were staying at some lodging place or something.”
“Just go back there.”
“I can’t go there anymore.”
At Muhyuk’s words, Hye-joo stared blankly and merely blinked.
Muhyuk nodded toward the suitcase at his feet once more.
“I packed up my things and came here.”
“I really have nowhere else to go now.”
Hye-joo had never expected things to take such a sudden turn.
Her feelings swung from one extreme to the other dozens of times within a single second.
“So what exactly do you want me to do……?”
“Even if you’re going to kick me out eventually, take care of me for a few days first.”
Muhyuk smiled brightly with such a harmless and handsome face that Hye-joo simply could not bring herself to be cruel to him.
In the end, Hye-joo let out a deep sigh and, as if she had made up her mind, gestured for him to come inside.
Then she abruptly turned toward Muhyuk and spoke.
“But you have to promise me one thing.”
“What promise?”
At that moment, Muhyuk’s dark eyebrows twitched once as he was about to take off his shoes before settling back into place.
“Even though things ended up like this, the company must never find out.”
Muhyuk nodded as if telling her not to worry about that.
As he tried to come inside, Hye-joo stopped him and continued in a solemn tone.
“Th-There’s something else!”
“And?”
Muhyuk repeated her words in a gentle voice while meeting her gaze.
“I-I mean…….”
Under Muhyuk’s unwavering gaze, Hye-joo blinked awkwardly as though she did not know what to do with herself.
After a moment, she took a deep breath, trying her best not to show how nervous she was, and spoke.
“……No physical contact.”
“What are you banning?”
Muhyuk asked again as if he had not heard her properly because she had mumbled.
Hye-joo suddenly shouted.
“Physical contact! I mean nothing like what happened that night!”
With that, she quickly disappeared into the living room.
Muhyuk gave a quiet chuckle at the sight.
After leaving his suitcase by the entrance, he gently wrapped an arm around Hye-joo’s shoulder and stopped her.
“You said we were going to keep business and personal matters separate.”
“……W-What about it?!”
“Here, Kwon Hye-joo and I are in a private relationship, aren’t we?”
“Not a public one.”
Hye-joo raised her head and stared at Muhyuk as if asking what exactly he expected her to do about that.
Muhyuk met her gaze and continued.
“Okay.”
“…….”
“Why are you so nervous?”
“You’re cute when you are.”
“I-I’m not nervous.”
“Then why are you stammering?”
A mischievous smile appeared at the corners of Muhyuk’s lips.
Thinking that she had worked herself up for nothing, Hye-joo shook her head.
“Besides, I have no intention of living under the same roof with a woman I’m interested in while trying to keep things strictly private, so don’t worry.”
“……!”
Embarrassed by his words, Hye-joo opened her sweaty hands, looked down at them, and then clasped them tightly together again.
The sound of slippers approaching from behind grew closer with every step.
Before she knew it, Muhyuk had come right up behind Hye-joo and was looking down at her.
The tips of his slippers soon touched the ends of hers.
‘What’s going on? Why is he suddenly…….’
Just as Hye-joo took another step forward to put some distance between them, Muhyuk wrapped an arm around her waist and reached his other hand around to the front.
He slowly loosened Hye-joo’s tightly clasped hands at her waist and gently took one of them in his own.
“It’s wet.”
“…….”
“It’s damp.”
Standing behind Hye-joo and holding her close, Muhyuk idly played with her hand.
Even though she knew he was clearly talking about something else, a strangely sensual atmosphere seemed to settle over them in an instant.
“……I-It’s sweat.”
“Don’t touch it.”
“You ate something else too, so what’s a little sweat?”
Hye-joo’s cheeks and even her earlobes instantly turned bright red.
“W-What are you talking about?!”
Hye-joo shouted at Muhyuk in a flustered voice.
Muhyuk gently took the finger she was pointing at him with and lowered her hand.
“Kissing.”
“……Huh?”
“Every time we kissed, there was at least some saliva.”
Muhyuk ran his index finger slowly from his own lips down to just beneath his Adam’s apple.
“……Oh, oh.”
“What were you thinking?”
“Did Kwon Hye-joo eat something else?”
Hye-joo lowered her head, shoved Muhyuk hard on the shoulder, and quickly disappeared into her bedroom.
A moment later, Hye-joo cautiously poked her head out and looked toward the living room to check on Muhyuk.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Aah!”
Hye-joo screamed and nearly lost her balance against the door.
Muhyuk caught the door as it swung open, allowing Hye-joo to regain her balance.
Embarrassed, she spoke.
“The bathroom is over there, so you can wash up and come out.”
“For work, let’s try to get ready ahead of time so we don’t overlap as much as possible.”
“Hmm, okay.”
“Since I’m the landlord, you can at least make sure our bathroom times don’t overlap, right?”
“What?”
Muhyuk nodded as if it were nothing important.
Hye-joo closed her bedroom door with a loud thud and disappeared, as though she had said everything she needed to say.
Not long afterward, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.
‘He must be washing up.’
The apartment itself had originally been a moderately sized studio that had been divided into a two-room layout, so the soundproofing throughout the place was not particularly good.
Just thinking that she could reach the bathroom where Muhyuk was staying by walking exactly twenty steps made her ears grow hot.
“What on earth am I thinking, Kwon Hye-joo?”
Until the sound of the water stopped, Hye-joo lay on her bed and thought about the unexpected houseguest who had suddenly appeared in her life.
‘I absolutely cannot let the company find out.’
‘Especially if Manager Yang finds out, I have no idea what kind of story he’ll make up again.’
‘My chances of getting married will be ruined.’
While she was thinking about that, the sound of the water stopped.
Hye-joo perked up her ears and cautiously pressed them against the door.
She heard wet footsteps heading toward the living room.
After about ten minutes, Hye-joo figured Muhyuk must have gotten dressed and finished getting ready by then.
She quietly opened her bedroom door and shifted her gaze toward the living-room sofa.
There, she saw Muhyuk sitting on the sofa with his shirt off, a white towel draped over his head as he dried his hair.
A large towel was wrapped around his waist.
“Oh, why did you take your clothes off?!”
“To dry off.”
Muhyuk looked at Hye-joo with an unconcerned expression.
Moisture glistened over the muscles covering various parts of his body.
His abdominal muscles were so defined that the water seemed trapped between them, unable to do anything but trickle downward.
Hye-joo shook her head and asked again.
“No, I mean, why are you shirtless just because you’re drying your hair…….”
“Because I don’t like getting my clothes wet?”
Hye-joo stole a glance at Muhyuk’s solid, sculpted upper body before hurriedly looking away.
“Anyway, dry yourself properly, put your clothes on, and go to sleep.”
“I might be startled if I see you half-naked first thing in the morning.”
Hye-joo moved to close the door again, but Muhyuk slowly shook out his hair and rose from the sofa.
Then, using his long legs, he strode toward the bedroom door.
“W-Why?”
With an indifferent expression, Muhyuk pushed open the bedroom door that was about to close and slipped one foot over the threshold.
“……What are you doing?”
“Why are you coming in?!”
“…….”
Without answering, Muhyuk stared straight at Hye-joo and brought his other foot over the bedroom threshold.
His entire body had now crossed into Hye-joo’s bedroom.
“I clearly told you that you can’t do this…….”
Hye-joo swallowed hard and glanced at Muhyuk.
Whether or not he noticed the slight tremble in her voice, Muhyuk continued walking toward her, one slow step at a time.
“How far are you planning to come in?”
“Why do you keep getting closer?”
“You should at least say something…….”
Hye-joo kept backing away until her leg suddenly caught against the bed frame with a sharp knock.
Muhyuk gently wrapped an arm around her waist to support her and immediately leaned his body over hers.
