Prologue
“Check the amount that was deposited.”
A tablet displaying the bank transaction screen was placed beside the woman.
A stone wall rose as high as a man. A cool, humid breeze rustled the dry leaves of the palm trees, while the pale blue sea of Jeju Island rippled in the distance.
Sitting with her feet immersed in an outdoor bath slightly larger than a bathtub, she had been staring at the camellia blossoms floating on the water. She raised her head.
Squinting as she looked up at the man standing with the light behind him, she watched as he sat down on a nearby chair after removing his jacket and tie. He pointed at the tablet again.
“Check it first.”
There was weariness in the man’s voice.
Only then did she look at the amount displayed on the screen. Her lips parted slightly.
“That’s enough.”
“Then clean up everything—from your past to the present. All of it.”
“Sure.”
She nodded indifferently, stretched, and pulled her dress a little higher.
The part that had touched the water was already wet and beginning to hang heavily. Her legs were so pale that even the veins could be seen beneath the light.
The man had been staring at her as she playfully moved her long, slender legs in the water. He approached, stepping on the sheet music scattered across the floor.
For an instant, her expression hardened when she noticed the sheet music beneath his dress shoe.
“Sonamu.”
The light coming from the west side of the building cast long shadows across everything.
A teak tea table for two, wooden sun loungers covered with soft linen, and granite ornaments created an exotic atmosphere that made her feel strangely excited.
“Hmm?”
Her fairly long hair swayed in the breeze, revealing her slender nape.
The man silently watched her. Perhaps his throat was dry, because he picked up the chilled green tea beside her and drank it all at once.
“Nothing to say? Like thank you, or that you helped me, or that you worked hard? Anything along those lines.”
“Ah….”
The ice in the glass he set down clinked softly.
He touched her small earlobe before gently cupping her tiny face in one hand.
The woman, apparently unable to understand what he was doing, looked up at him and placed a hand against his chest.
“Would you like to take it off?”
That was very much like her.
Looking down at the hand resting on his chest, he replied with a faint laugh.
“Here?”
“Because I want to see.”
There was something about her calm words that made him tense, even though she herself showed no particular desire.
“I can take it off if you want… but then you’d better be prepared.”
She smiled sweetly.
With a smile that had become quite familiar by now, she looked up at him as he began removing his shirt.
He took off his smooth, wrinkle-free shirt and tossed it onto the floor. Soon, he had removed his formal clothes and stood before her in minimal clothing.
She playfully moved her feet in the water.
The man entered the bath, his neatly pomaded hair becoming disheveled, and knelt before her. The water reached only around his waist.
She did not take her eyes off him. His physique was strikingly beautiful, as though it had been carefully sculpted.
When she carefully removed a red camellia petal clinging to his skin, he suddenly caught her hand.
She was pulled forward, causing her upper body to bend and the ends of her long hair to dip into the water. For that brief moment, she had to calm her suddenly racing heart.
The corners of his lips seemed to lift slightly.
“So, what should we do now?”
He moved closer, becoming increasingly affectionate. Startled, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
He did not stop.
“Tell me. What do you want me to do now?”
His voice had become low and quiet.
She cooled her warm cheek with the back of her hand before leaning toward him and kissing his face.
The two exchanged affectionate kisses, and she noticed the tips of his ears turning red.
A salty sea breeze drifted over the stone wall. Goosebumps appeared across her exposed neck.
She caught his wrist and guided his hand toward her chest.
Whenever she behaved this way, he was the one who struggled to maintain his composure. His breathing became heavier, while her gaze remained remarkably calm.
“Gwon Seung-jo.”
The man named Gwon Seung-jo lifted his shoulders before exhaling slowly and tightening his hold on her.
“Yeah.”
“Do it for me.”
“Do what?”
He wrapped an arm around her slender waist and moved closer.
Sonamu gently touched his roughened jaw before wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering:
“The things you don’t do with your fiancée. Something more than a kiss.”
