Chapter 9
Until You Become Used to My Touch
While she was thinking over the meaning of his words, Jeonghyuk’s fingertips moved from Isu’s wrist down to her palm.
Wherever his fingers brushed, a ticklish sensation spread out like paint spreading on paper.
Isu tried to pull away while clenching her fist, but Jeonghyuk was faster. His fingers slipped between hers.
Like locking a door, the man’s hand intertwined with hers. His hand was incomparably larger than Isu’s.
“Tell me.”
Jeonghyuk asked with calm eyes like a quiet lake.
She knew she had to answer something, but her lips, which were touching his, would not move.
“How far am I allowed to go?”
When Jeonghyuk pulled her hand closer with more strength, their distance instantly shortened.
His face came close enough that they almost touched.
When Isu lowered her gaze, she saw his red lips slowly part.
“Or what I shouldn’t do.”
Just as Isu turned her head in embarrassment—
Baaang—
The loud sound of a car horn brought Isu back to reality.
Isu pulled her hand away from Jeonghyuk and stepped back, creating distance between them.
When she turned toward the direction where the sound came from, she saw Taegang’s car quickly disappearing.
“He left now.”
She said it because she thought Jeonghyuk had held her hand to create the affectionate atmosphere she requested.
However, Jeonghyuk continued to demand an answer.
“You still haven’t answered.”
“Just… appropriately.”
Isu tried to answer vaguely, but Jeonghyuk stared at her persistently, waiting for a proper answer.
“Do you know that ‘appropriately’ is an extremely subjective answer? How do you know what ‘appropriately’ means to me?”
At his words, Isu remembered Jeonghyuk’s dressing room.
The women’s clothes hanging there, filling the room.
A man who easily met many women.
‘So this level of skinship means nothing to this man.’
After reaching that conclusion, Isu decided to properly explain what she meant by “appropriately.”
“Depending on the situation, we can go as far as hugging.”
The moment she finished speaking, Jeonghyuk reached out and held her hand again.
Isu was startled and pulled her hand away.
“What are you doing?”
“Are you going to flinch every time I touch you? If someone had seen us from the side, they would have immediately realized we weren’t a couple.”
“……”
“I don’t like doing things halfway. Whatever it is. I’m going to do it properly. That’s my way.”
“……”
“If Han Isu also plans to do this properly, then hold my hand.”
Isu stared at Jeonghyuk’s large hand reaching toward her.
Then she grabbed his hand herself and properly intertwined their fingers.
His words made sense.
Taegang only failed to notice because he saw them from far away. If he had seen them from close by, he would have immediately realized they were awkward with each other.
If he started to suspect something, everything would become meaningless.
At least until they no longer looked suspicious, she needed to become closer to Jeonghyuk.
“Let’s go.”
Isu took the lead and began walking through the crowded people while pulling Jeonghyuk along.
Actually, skinship with a man other than Taegang was something Isu had never experienced before.
Because she moved around according to Manho’s overseas construction schedules, she followed a different education path and had few chances to meet people her age. After starting her own company, she only focused on work.
Isu decided that the strange feeling she had from simply holding hands was just because it was unfamiliar.
“How long are you going to keep holding my hand?”
Because of the hot and humid summer weather, she asked while thinking their hands might start sweating.
“Until you become used to my touch.”
The answer that came back made her face burn.
Thinking that she should just arrive at their destination quickly, Isu hurried her steps.
Then the heel of her shoe caught on a sidewalk block.
At the moment she was about to fall awkwardly, Jeonghyuk firmly tightened his grip on their joined hands and only made her stumble slightly.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to wearing high heels…”
“They don’t suit you. Just wear something comfortable.”
Isu was speechless at the sudden blunt comment.
She knew it herself.
She knew this style did not suit her.
But why did he have to point it out so directly?
“I didn’t wear them to look pretty in your eyes, so don’t worry about it.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t look pretty.”
“What?”
There was a limit to playing around with someone.
Her brows furrowed in irritation at his meaningless wordplay, but Jeonghyuk’s next words, spoken in a calm voice, left her unable to respond.
“You’re pretty.”
Baaang— Baaang—
Taegang angrily pressed the horn repeatedly.
He could not believe what he had just seen with his own eyes.
‘Han Isu makes that kind of expression in front of another man?’
The Isu he knew had never shown interest in men.
Because she was always obsessed with work, he never needed to worry about her while they were together.
She acted as if he was the only man in the world.
But now she had even changed her style for another man?
From the beginning, Taegang had never cared about Isu’s appearance, so he never interfered.
He misunderstood that as accepting her exactly as she was.
Until now, Isu had never been a woman to Taegang.
She was simply someone he needed to seduce.
But the Isu he saw today was completely different.
And the fact that she was different because of another man bothered him unbearably.
Besides, the man Isu met looked quite impressive even in Taegang’s eyes.
He had expected her to meet some old-fashioned, boring man with glasses who matched her level.
But the man he saw today was the complete opposite.
When their eyes met, that man glared at him with such sharp eyes that it looked like he wanted to bite his neck off immediately.
“A bastard who tries to steal another man’s woman.”
Remembering the moment that man brushed Isu’s hair aside, Taegang felt disgusted again.
When he saw them holding hands, he had pressed the horn without even realizing it.
‘Where did she meet a man like that?’
The man who was supposedly Isu’s ex-boyfriend made Taegang feel both discomfort and a sense of crisis.
After returning home, he took a shower in freezing cold water and called Yeonhee.
He intended to tell her to subtly badmouth that man to Isu.
But her phone was turned off.
“Damn it!”
Actually, this was something that happened often.
Whenever Yeonhee was with people connected to Manho, she always turned off her phone.
But today, for some reason, his anger rose to a level he could not endure.
At that moment, he felt that he was also second place to Yeonhee, just like he was to Isu.
Crash.
Taegang threw the glass on the table against the wall.
Broken glass pieces scattered across the floor.
“Han Isu, you shouldn’t do this to me.”
A quiet bar.
The liquor bottle placed in front of Isu and Jeonghyuk was half empty.
As much as the alcohol entered their bodies, the atmosphere became more relaxed.
“Is your revenge going well?”
“Thanks to Mr. Moon Jeonghyuk, it’s going quite smoothly.”
“My value keeps increasing day by day. I believe Han Isu will treat me well too.”
Jeonghyuk mentioned the contract marriage that would begin after the six-month period of pretending to be her ex-boyfriend ended.
“Even now, do you not want to ask for something else?”
“Something else?”
“For example, information that could help your business, something like that.”
She could not remember exactly like she had taken a picture, but she knew enough to know which companies would bring profits if invested in.
That information alone could bring Jeonghyuk enormous wealth.
“When you were desperate, you offered me a blank check. Are you trying to change your words now?”
“A blank check? When did I ever say that?”
Isu widened her eyes in frustration at Jeonghyuk’s words.
“Isn’t saying you’ll do anything different from giving me a blank check?”
“I was only trying to make a better offer.”
“Whether it is a better offer or not is my decision to make.”
Jeonghyuk did not seem curious about what kind of information it was.
“Even if you could earn hundreds of billions or trillions of won, you still wouldn’t change your offer?”
“What I need is marriage.”
She had intentionally mentioned a rough amount of money, but Jeonghyuk did not move at all.
No matter how much she tried to persuade him, it did not seem like he would change his mind.
At that moment, Isu’s phone placed on the table vibrated.
The name displayed on the screen was Taegang.
In the past, he had never contacted her when she was meeting someone else.
Because he said he did not want to interrupt her meetings, she thought he was considerate.
But seeing him call repeatedly like an impatient person now, she realized it was simply because he had not cared before.
With a cold expression, Isu pressed the reject button.
Immediately, a message arrived.
[Contact me when you get inside.]
What should she do?
She did not think she could reply.
Because she would not be going home tonight.
