AGR 05

[Jeong Ga Won-i]

It was Won-i calling.

Thinking she might have found her scarf, I-seo answered immediately.

“Did you find it?”

“No, it wasn’t there.”

It wasn’t there? That couldn’t be right.

“Tell them to look properly. I definitely left it on the sofa.”

“I went and looked myself, and it really wasn’t there.”

Why wasn’t it there?

I-seo mentally retraced her every step, carefully going over the situation from earlier.

She had returned to her seat, gathered her bag, and picked up her jacket and coat. Then Kwon Jae-eon had barged in.

I-seo was usually calm, but Jae-eon’s sudden appearance had certainly caught her off guard.

She had assumed she’d been so preoccupied with leaving that she’d forgotten to collect everything, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

“Then I must’ve dropped it somewhere on my way out of the club. Could you have them look again when they clean up?”

“Okay. But anyway, I-seo, you…”

Won-i paused for a moment before lowering her voice.

“Are you, by any chance, with Kwon Jae-eon?”

For an instant, something stirred uncomfortably in I-seo’s chest.

“No? Why would I be with that man…?”

“I didn’t even see Kwon Jae-eon arrive, but people said that as soon as he showed up, he locked eyes with some woman and left with her.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Apparently, the woman left first, and Kwon Jae-eon followed right after. Since things ended with Siena earlier than expected, the spot in Monthly Girl was suddenly vacant. So the big question was, who would fill the rest of this month?”

Then Won-i started chattering away, filling her in on more news about Kwon Jae-eon.

Apparently, one woman had even shed tears after watching him leave with another woman.

“Anyway, you got to see him too, right? That divine, heavenly face of his.”

She had seen it, all right.

But could a man whose very existence was steeped in decadent allure really be described as divine and heavenly?

A fallen angel so beautiful that he’d wanted to become a god himself.

No, rather than divine and benevolent, he was wicked and seductive.

A perfect failure of God’s creation, made solely to tempt people.

“I didn’t see anyone like that.”

“Oh, really? Then I guess Kwon Jae-eon arrived after you left. So who the hell did he leave with?”

“Haah, I’m jealous. By now, she must be on her way to a hotel with Kwon Jae-eon.”

“Or maybe they’re so horny they’re already having car sex?”

Won-i’s words made I-seo feel strangely uncomfortable.

He’d suggested a threesome because one spot was vacant, and now it seemed he’d already found himself a partner and left with her.

He really was a filthy slut, a piece of trash, and a womanizer all rolled into one.

Ridiculously enough, an inexplicable sense of betrayal stabbed her right in the solar plexus.

I-seo had stopped walking. She stared blankly at the traffic light as it turned green, only belatedly moving again.

Somewhere nearby, a car horn blared harshly.

“Won-i, I have to get on the elevator now. I’m hanging up.”

“Okay. I’ll call you if I find your scarf.”

Her mind in turmoil, I-seo used the elevator as an excuse to end the conversation and hurried across the rest of the street.

Please, let the name Kwon Jae-eon appear only in documents from now on…

Holding the scarf in his hand, Jae-eon left the club and looked around for the woman, just in case.

He checked the parking lot, wondering whether she’d brought a car, then glanced around again to see if she might be waiting for a taxi.

But the woman was nowhere to be found.

“Haah, damn it.”

A laugh slipped through his lips.

“So that’s how it is?”

He’d wondered whether it was some old-fashioned, painfully obvious trick: openly insulting him to get his attention, then deliberately leaving something behind so he’d follow her out.

But that wasn’t it?

If it had been, she would naturally have been waiting outside.

Whether she was waiting for a taxi or a designated driver, she could have come up with any number of excuses to linger.

So she really wasn’t interested?

He’d gotten his hopes up for nothing?

A flicker of irritation rose within him, followed by an unfamiliar competitive urge that surged up from deep in his gut.

And now his opponent had already disappeared.

That annoyed him more than it should have.

Jae-eon crooked a finger at the parking attendant, signaling for him to bring the car around.

Perhaps because he’d lost the chance to indulge his competitive streak, he’d lost all desire to continue the party as well.

No, in truth, he’d never wanted to enjoy the party in the first place.

He’d never been one to enjoy these kinds of gatherings, nor was he fond of being surrounded by the overpowering scent of expensive perfumes.

The only reason he attended such glamorous events was to stir up scandals.

But now, he couldn’t even be bothered to do that.

The parking attendant hurriedly brought his car around.

Having had even a glass of champagne, Jae-eon couldn’t drive himself. And since he couldn’t be bothered to wait for a designated driver, he handed the attendant several fifty-thousand-won bills and asked him to drive.

The excited attendant bowed deeply and enthusiastically promised to get him home comfortably.

As soon as Jae-eon climbed into the car, his luxurious sports sedan glided away from the club.

Sitting in the back seat, Jae-eon lowered his gaze to the scarf clutched in his hand.

The scarf still carried that peculiar, alluring fragrance.

A scent of skin that reminded him of flowers.

When he lifted the scarf to the tip of his nose, the fragrance reached him with startling intensity.

He’d been in a bad mood ever since he entered Club Ryun earlier.

Word had quickly spread that the seat beside him was vacant, and the women’s gazes had begun clinging to him with almost painful intensity.

Monthly Girl was the derogatory nickname given to his women because none of his relationships lasted longer than a month.

Ridiculous as it was, there was no shortage of women eager to claim that position.

Watching them sway and writhe like boneless mollusks, throwing themselves at him with flirtatious glances as though every bone in their bodies had melted away, had nearly turned his stomach.

Even so, he curled his lips into a smile and met each woman’s eyes one by one.

Just as his women had been given a derogatory nickname, he needed one of his own.

Something like womanizer or trash.

That was the reason he dragged himself to these parties despite having absolutely no interest in them.

A few days ago, a post-race party held in Jeju had made its way into the stock market gossip columns.

Conveniently, Siena had also managed to tarnish his private life just a little, so all he had to do today was play the part of a party animal.

His plan had been to have a little fun and disappear just as casually.

He’d intended to cause only enough commotion to make things slightly noisy at the family headquarters and keep the public relations team a little busy.

That was all.

And then he saw that woman.

She first caught his eye just before he reached the fourth floor.

Amid the clusters of people standing around and staring at him as though some spectacle had broken out, there she was.

It was a party, after all, yet the woman wasn’t dressed particularly glamorously.

Gray trousers and a white shirt blouse—in fact, her outfit was rather plain.

And yet she stood out.

Perhaps it was her strangely captivating face.

Her features were clearly defined against her small, pale face, making her the sort of woman anyone would glance at at least once.

He’d looked at her without thinking much of it, but the way she abruptly turned away had amusingly caught his interest.

She was unusual.

Everyone else was practically scrambling for another glance from him, yet the moment their eyes met, she turned away.

And it wasn’t as though she’d simply looked away out of shyness.

Her eyes were so composed, so utterly indifferent, that they made her lack of interest unmistakable.

Following her to her seat instead of going to the place he’d been shown had been almost instinctive.

And when Jae-eon reached her space, he briefly held his breath.

The first thing that caught his eye was her buttocks.

A small, pert apple-shaped ass.

Watching her bend over to gather her belongings, her hips pushed up and her rear beautifully shaped, made something deep in his lower abdomen itch.

The narrow waist flowing from her hips, the slender lines of her lower back, her delicate shoulder blades.

He slowly took them all in as he stepped inside and dropped heavily onto the sofa.

The next thing he noticed was the generous curve revealed through the opening of her blouse as she bent forward.

The deep valley formed by her soft, pale flesh was, ridiculously enough, enticing.

He swallowed slowly, then turned his attention to her face.

Her light brown eyes, widened in surprise; her neatly shaped nostrils, delicate as the tip of a traditional Korean slipper; her full lips, parted in astonishment.

He liked her face far more than he had from a distance. It was much more beautiful up close, and her expressions were wonderfully animated.

And then there was the faint fragrance drifting from her.

Was it roses? Or lilacs?

The scent made his groin tighten painfully, heat gathering low in his body.

Suddenly, he wanted to have sex.

He’d never once been sincere when making advances toward the countless women he’d pursued.

But in that moment, he genuinely meant it.

And the answer he got was…

Slut.

Jae-eon tightened his grip on the scarf and let out a quiet, incredulous laugh.

Slut?

He could accept being called trash or a womanizer, but a slut?

It was so blatantly wrong that it made him laugh. And the fact that her answer made him even harder made it all the more amusing.

An unsavory thought grew in his mind: he wanted to make her push her hips up just as she had while gathering her bag, then take her from behind and tease her until she could barely stand it.

At that very moment, amid the crowds on the street outside his car window, he spotted a woman who seemed to shine all on her own.