CHAPTER 9
Looking at him again in the morning, it was astonishing enough to make her wonder how she had managed to accept him the night before and the night before that.
“Oppa, wait a moment… I’m still…”
Even though her body was ready, her heart was not.
he moment she saw his body, her mind cleared completely.
But Seo Jae seemed unable to wait even a moment and immediately entered her.
Ha-eun let out short, broken breaths as she wrapped her arms around Seo Jae’s back.
Her vision turned white, and her legs trembled.
Just accepting him was enough to leave her breathless, and the sensation that kept surging through her made her hold her breath several times.
Fortunately, there was no longer the excruciating pain she had felt the first time.
Rather, the deeper he went, the more intense the pleasure became.
She bit her lip at the overwhelming sensation, but Seo Jae gently sucked on her lips.
“Don’t bite it, or you’ll hurt yourself.”
“You’re too… ah…”
A sudden wave of pleasure washed over her again, leaving her mind blank.
She could no longer remember what she had been about to say.
Whenever she turned her head to avoid his persistent gaze, Seo Jae caught her chin and made her look at him again, telling her to look at him.
Whenever Ha-eun could no longer withstand the pleasure and her face contorted, his movements became faster and more intense.
“Mm…”
Erotic moans continued to escape her lips, and every muscle in her body tensed as she twisted beneath him.
Seo Jae skillfully controlled his pace.
Whenever it seemed too fast, he slowed down, and whenever it seemed too slow, he increased the pace again, shaking Ha-eun from head to toe.
A storm-like climax swept over her.
The climax was so overwhelming that tears spilled from her eyes.
Seo Jae wiped away her tears with his lips and tried to soothe her, but she resented him for pushing her all the way to the edge once again.
But that was not the end.
Before the languid sensation spreading through her entire body had even subsided, Seo Jae turned Ha-eun over and embraced her again from behind.
A completely different sensation shook Ha-eun.
Seo Jae held her chin and kissed her from behind, moving slowly yet deeply and repeatedly.
And so Ha-eun could not leave the bed for the entire day.
Whenever she fell asleep from exhaustion after they were intimate, room service would arrive, and after satisfying her hunger, she would once again be held in his arms and forced to endure the endless waves of pleasure.
She had no way of knowing how much time had passed or what was happening in the outside world.
She knew she had to go find Ha-jun, but her eyes kept closing and her body sank deeper and deeper into exhaustion.
For the most part, Seo Jae was the one doing the moving, while Ha-eun merely lay there, yet her body was completely spent.
Before she knew it, night had fallen, and then morning came again.
She could not even remember how many days had passed or how many times she had been held in his arms.
There was no clock in the room, and she could not even see where she had left her phone.
Except when she was eating, it seemed that almost every waking moment had been spent in Seo Jae’s arms.
She did not even have to wash herself.
Seo Jae either wiped her down with warm towels or carried her into the bathroom and washed her himself.
Her mind remained hazy throughout the day.
“Is it really okay for me to be like this?”
“I need to go find Ha-jun, but my body won’t move.”
“Oppa, you haven’t heard from Ha-jun, right?”
“We need to go find him, but I can’t even get up.”
After Ha-eun finished eating, Seo Jae cleared away the tray and wiped her lips with a napkin.
“We’ve been staying at this hotel for several days now.”
Seo Jae stopped Ha-eun as she tried to get up.
“In a city as large as New York, we won’t find him by searching blindly.”
“So I hired a private detective.”
“A private detective?”
“He’s very capable, so I’m sure he’ll find him soon.”
“It’ll be faster and more effective than the two of us searching on our own without any useful information.”
“I see.”
“So don’t worry about anything and go to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep if you won’t let me.”
When Ha-eun muttered sulkily, Seo Jae chuckled and kissed her forehead.
She must look a complete mess after not washing properly or putting on any makeup.
“I need to wash up.”
Embarrassed that Seo Jae had seen her in such an unpresentable state, Ha-eun got out of bed.
“Oppa, my phone.”
“I’ll get it.”
When Ha-eun took her phone, she discovered a message from Seo-guk International informing her that she had passed and cried out.
“Oppa, I passed!”
“They’re telling me to register within three days and get a health checkup!”
Seo Jae checked the message and nodded.
“Congratulations.”
“I knew you’d pass.”
“What day is it today?”
When she checked the date, she realized that tomorrow was the day they were supposed to return.
He had already booked their flight so that they could return in time for her acceptance notification and registration period.
“Tomorrow is already our return date.”
“We haven’t even found Ha-jun yet.”
“Leave Ha-jun to the detective, and let’s go celebrate your acceptance.”
“We can eat something delicious and go shopping.”
“Is it really okay to do that?”
“Of course it is.”
“We came all the way to New York, so we can’t just leave like this.”
“If there’s anything you wanted to do, tell me.”
“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
“Thank you, Oppa.”
“For everything.”
Ha-eun wrapped her arms around Seo Jae’s waist and buried her face against his chest.
He smelled so good.
I’ll never forget the time we spent together in New York for as long as I live.
I’ll treasure it forever as a beautiful memory.
Take care, Oppa.
—
One Month Later
She had overslept, on her very first day at work.
This was all because of Seo Jae.
Of all days, why did he have to appear in her dream on such an important morning and do such shameless things to her?
Just like those nights they had spent together in New York, he had persistently touched and kissed every part of her body in the dream.
The dream had been so vivid that it had even left traces on her underwear.
Ha-eun let out a long sigh, got out of bed, grabbed a fresh pair of underwear, and went into the bathroom.
She shook her head vigorously as though trying to drive Seo Jae out of her mind and turned on the water.
It seemed that the aftermath of the nights she had spent with him had been far greater than she had realized.
The harder she tried to drive the image of him from her mind, the more stubbornly it clung to her.
But she had no time to leisurely dwell on the dream.
With her toothbrush between her teeth, she returned to her room and took out the bag Seo Jae had given her as a congratulatory gift in New York.
Besides that bag, the closet was filled with luxury-brand items Seo Jae had sent her as birthday presents every year.
She swept the cosmetics she needed into the bag, brushed her teeth, put on the black suit hanging by the door, and tied her hair back.
“I’m off!”
When she went downstairs, her mother, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, called out.
“Ha-eun, you should eat breakfast before you go!”
“I’m late.”
“Eat at least a fried egg before you leave.”
“I even cut up some apples.”
“It’ll take five minutes, no, just two minutes.”
“It’s your first day at work, so you can’t go hungry.”
Ha-eun checked the time, hurriedly swallowed the fried egg, and bit into a slice of apple.
“Why am I the one getting nervous when you’re the one going to work?”
Her mother looked much brighter than before.
That was because they had recently heard from Ha-jun.
It had only been a short phone call telling them not to worry because he was doing well, but it had been enough to ease his mother’s worries.
The private detective Seo Jae had hired had eventually found Ha-jun after making inquiries everywhere.
Apparently, he had passed along Seo Jae’s not-quite-a-threat that Ha-jun would be in serious trouble if he did not contact his family immediately.
After getting to her feet, her mother had put the house up for sale through a real-estate agency.
She planned to sell the house and pay off the debts so that Ha-jun could return to Korea.
“I’m off.”
After leaving the house, Ha-eun stopped for a moment and looked back at the beautifully maintained garden and the two-story house, which had been modernly reinterpreted by incorporating the best features of both traditional Korean and Western-style homes.
Selling the house her architect father had built with all his expertise and overflowing affection for his family was not an easy decision.
Still, they had no other choice, so they had to sell it.
She walked out to the main road and hailed a taxi.
Seo Jae had not contacted Ha-eun at all since they parted in New York.
And Ha-eun had not contacted him either.
They had decided to bury what happened in New York there as a memory belonging only to the two of them, so she was not particularly hurt by it.
Strictly speaking, Seo Jae belonged to a completely different world from Ha-eun.
He was someone she would never have met or become involved with if not for Ha-jun.
Spending several nights together did not change that.
Whenever she missed Seo Jae, she comforted herself with the thought that he had his own life and she had hers, and that it was enough for them to simply live their separate lives.
Fortnately, she arrived at the company without being late.
As she stepped out of the taxi, a fairly warm breeze tousled her hair.
It seemed spring had arrived.
