Chapter: 10
The Cold-Hearted Woman
After going down to the underground parking lot, Hushin drove his midsize sedan out. As he entered the city roads, where traffic congestion had already begun, he let out a short sigh.
“Whew… This is hopeless.”
He found his own impulsive behavior, which had never been part of his plans, utterly ridiculous, yet his body had already been heading toward her.
He called Yuri through his phone connected via Bluetooth, but she did not answer even after the long ringing tone ended.
Hushin found the address he had saved in her contact information and immediately entered it into the navigation system.
He had developed a strange stubborn determination: if she contacted him while he was on his way, that would be fine, but if she didn’t, he still had to go all the way to her house and see her face.
As he drove leisurely, he recalled what had happened between them the previous night.
The woman who had boldly seduced him had been inexperienced once they were in bed. Yet seeing her desperately trying to endure without letting it show only made Hushin more aroused.
It was the first time he had ever held a woman in his arms while still feeling such an intense thirst for more.
Even without her saying anything, he could tell from the way she reacted that it was her first time. That only intensified his desire to conquer her, and unlike his usual self, he had even pushed her somewhat hurriedly.
His urge to keep teasing her whenever she seemed overwhelmed grew so strong that controlling himself was not easy. As a result, it seemed to have taken quite a long time before they finally became one.
When the sensations that had been tangled together between them reached their peak and climbed to their highest point, she lost consciousness.
Part of it was because Yuri’s stamina could no longer keep up with his, but looking back, Hushin also felt sorry because he thought his own inability to restrain himself and his hurried pace had been the greater cause.
He had been terribly disappointed that their union, consumed by passion, had ended after only one time.
But there was no way he could continue indulging himself with a woman who had collapsed unconscious and was whimpering in discomfort.
He held the struggling woman in his arms, gently patting her as he tried to force himself to sleep.
Honestly, he wasn’t confident he could fall asleep properly.
Suppressing his heated desire, Hushin tried to sleep, taking comfort in the faint scent of her skin. Unfairly, Yuri never woke up even once, completely unaware of how he felt.
Regardless of what time he went to bed, Hushin naturally woke up at six in the morning every day without an alarm.
Today was no different. After opening his eyes, Hushin stared intently at Yuri sleeping in his arms before carefully slipping out of bed.
He didn’t want to wake her while she was sleeping so peacefully, looking almost like an innocent child.
After showering, Hushin was about to leave for work when he suddenly remembered how painfully thin her body was, and it bothered him. So, he personally prepared breakfast for her, even though he rarely bothered to take proper care of his own meals, and left….
Thinking about how he had gone so far as to prepare food for her under the guise of consideration—a gesture completely unlike him—he suddenly felt strangely hurt.
“I was worried about just sending her home on an empty stomach, so I made sure she had something to eat, and she doesn’t even contact me. Really, what a cold-hearted woman.”
Hushin had never experienced even this kind of emotion with the women he had dated before. He had usually seen them only once or twice and had rarely met them again.
It had been the same whether he had met someone through a formal introduction or had been seeing someone casually. The woman had always been the one to contact him first.
Maybe it was because there had been a few women who had bothered him so persistently that they had practically crossed the line into stalking. He hated that kind of clinginess, which was why he had never met any woman more than twice.
But Yuri hadn’t even contacted him, let alone thanked him.
Screech.
Hushin hurriedly stepped on the brakes at a red light, and words full of complaint escaped his mouth.
“Ha! Come to think of it, even back then, I saved her and she ran off without even thanking me. Isn’t this basically a habitual offense?”
Hushin remembered the time ten years ago when he had saved Yuri from nearly being subjected to something terrible by her stepbrother, Baek Young-soo, at Seol-ah’s birthday party.
It was understandable that she had been too shocked and confused to know what to do, but even afterward, she had never said a single word about what had happened.
In retrospect, after that day, Yuri’s indifferent attitude had pricked Hushin’s pride and become the reason he began keeping an eye on her.
Rrrrr.
While Hushin was reminiscing about his past with Yuri, he heard the ringing tone through the Bluetooth connection and immediately shifted his gaze to the monitor.
[Secretary Jin Yuri]
After seeing the caller’s name, one corner of Hushin’s mouth lifted slightly. He cleared his throat several times before pressing the call button, deliberately saying nothing.
“……”
—Vice President, did you call?
“Can’t you tell from the missed call?”
—Pardon? Yes. Is there something wrong…?
Wow, Jin Yuri really has no manners.
They had spent the night together, and all she could say was, “Is there something wrong?” Hushin’s mood was gradually turning sour, and before long, his pride was hurt.
It wasn’t as though he had simply used her for one night and disappeared. He couldn’t help wondering whether his existence meant so little to Jin Yuri.
“Before asking what it’s about, isn’t it basic courtesy to at least say thank you for the breakfast?”
Honestly, he hadn’t prepared the food just to boast about it, but Yuri’s complete lack of reaction eventually brought out this childish emotion in him.
—I was so flustered that I forgot. I’m sorry.
Only then did Yuri remember the food he had prepared for her. Hearing her answer, Hushin found it so absurd that he simply let out a hollow laugh.
“Forget it. I should’ve expected better from someone capable of appreciating it. Where are you now?”
—Pardon? I’m at home.
“Why are you taking so long to answer?”
—No, it’s just that you suddenly asked me the exact same question as yesterday.
Come to think of it, Hushin had asked her the same thing when they spoke on the phone the previous night.
‘Where are you now?’
Because the same situation seemed to be repeating itself, Yuri got a strange premonition.
“Did I? Then you’re probably right in front of your house now.”
Hushin also remembered their conversation from the previous night, when Yuri had said she wanted to meet him to give him the contract.
—Ah, no. Today, I’m at home.
“That’s a relief. Come out to the parking lot in front of your house in fifteen minutes.”
—Pardon? What do you mean all of a sudden…?
“You ran off after breakfast, so it’s only polite that I buy you dinner. Don’t you think?”
—No, Vice President. I don’t think I’ll be able to today.
Yuri couldn’t help but be flustered by Hushin’s sudden call.
Her entire body was aching in various places from the aftermath of the previous night with him, and her head was still throbbing because of Seol-ah, who had stormed into her house just a few hours earlier and caused an enormous scene.
“If you feel even a little sorry toward me, come out.”
—I can’t….
Before Yuri could finish her sentence, Hushin hung up first.
He wondered whether last night had only been enjoyable for him. Her indifferent attitude hurt his pride, yet at the same time, he wanted to see her as soon as possible.
“I would’ve let it go if you’d at least answered sincerely, but if I leave without seeing you today, I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep properly. So I can’t do that.”
After muttering to himself, Hushin finally seemed to feel a little better, and the corners of his lips rose.
Yuri called Hushin several times after he unilaterally hung up on her, but he never answered.
In the end, Yuri had no choice but to put on her coat.
There was no way to force him to turn around when he was already on his way, so she decided to go downstairs, at least see him face-to-face, and talk to him.
Yuri went outside at the time he had told her to come down.
After spotting Yuri waiting for him in the distance, Hushin stopped his car directly in front of her and lowered the passenger-side window.
“Get in.”
“Vice President, I’m sorry, but today I’m really not in a condition to meet anyone….”
“I’m not asking you to do anything. Let’s just have a meal.”
“I don’t feel like having dinner.”
“There’s something I absolutely need to check, so get in for now.”
“Pardon? Yes….”
At his firm tone, Yuri had no choice but to open the door and sit in the passenger seat.
Strangely, there was an undeniable force in his way of speaking that made it difficult to refuse him.
Just like last night.
She had a feeling that even if she resisted any further, she would eventually have no choice but to obediently do as he said.
Only after Yuri fastened her seat belt did Hushin start the car.
Hushin glanced at Yuri, who was sitting perfectly straight beside him and staring straight ahead, and suddenly his lips went dry and his throat felt parched.
Images of the previous night, when they had lost themselves together in bed, came rushing back to him.
Even while working at the office all day, memories of their night together kept surfacing without warning, leaving him painfully tense with desire. In the end, he had impulsively come all the way here because he wanted to see again the pale face of the woman beneath him, trying to suppress her moans while tears welled in her eyes.
Hushin opened the bottle of mineral water sitting in the cup holder and took several large gulps.
Watching him from the corner of her eye as his Adam’s apple moved with each swallow, Yuri’s mouth also went dry from tension, and she quietly swallowed.
An awkward silence filled the car.
Hushin was the first to speak.
“Are you feeling all right?”
Startled by the unexpected question, Yuri instinctively answered.
“…Yes. I’m fine.”
It was a lie.
Fine? She wanted nothing more than to crawl under the covers right away and stay there without moving….
“Did you eat all the food I made for you?”
In the end, unable to stand the uncertainty any longer, Hushin asked first.
“Ah…. Thank you. Thanks to you, I ate well. I’m sorry I didn’t thank you earlier.”
“It’s enough that you know now. Good job.”
What?
Was this what he had said he absolutely needed to check?
Yuri turned her head and briefly looked at his profile.
He was a man whose true intentions were utterly impossible to read.
It was suspicious enough that he had suddenly contacted her and asked to take her out for a meal, but now he had even gone out of his way to confirm once again whether she had eaten the breakfast he had made himself.
Surely he hadn’t gone this far simply because he was offended that she hadn’t thanked him.
Could it be that Hushin was conducting some kind of behind-the-scenes test to evaluate her?
The thought even crossed Yuri’s mind.
The confusion made her head ache even more as she tried to figure out what was going on in his mind.
She was already going crazy with embarrassment because the moment she saw Hushin, she couldn’t stop remembering what had happened the previous night.
And now, having an unexpected and sudden meeting with him in such an enclosed space made her extremely uncomfortable.
Unaware of Yuri’s inner turmoil, Hushin continued speeding toward somewhere.
