TCDBL 01

Chapter : 01

Heavy.

The weight pressing heavily down on her caused Yoon Seol’s eyelids to slowly lift from sleep.

The dim interior, tinged blue by the light of dawn, was unfamiliar.

This was… that man’s room.

Then, when she saw the thick arm resting across her chest, her sleepiness vanished completely.

“……!”

The owner of the room was sound asleep behind her, holding her tightly in his arms.

Ah. That’s right.

Last night, carried away by the atmosphere and captivated by the man’s irresistible charm… she had slept with him.

[Did you know? The executive director is… gentler than he looks.]

[Just how much of a bastard have you thought I was all this time?]

[Hmm. Not a bastard. More like a prickly little bit of fluff?]

[Fluff, huh.]

[Your expression and words are scary, but you’re really just fluff on the inside.]

She had casually judged that terrifying man to be nothing more than fluff.

[Wow, this is amazing. It’s my first time touching a man’s muscles. I thought they’d be hard, but they’re so soft and warm!]

[Keep fooling around. You’re going to regret it later.]

Ignoring his warning, she had continued touching his body…

And then things had gotten out of hand.

I’m crazy. I’ve completely lost my mind.

She hadn’t even been that drunk, so why had she done it?

Her first man. Her first experience.

In an unfamiliar land called Italy, where she had fled as though running away from reality, she had been swept away by an impulse and done it with a man whose name and face were all she knew.

It was the greatest act of rebellion in Seo Yoon Seol’s life.

What am I supposed to do now?

What would happen between them from now on?

…Looking at her friends, sleeping together for one night didn’t necessarily mean they became lovers.

Naturally, there was no way this man would think of her as his girlfriend, either.

Then what were they?

Just two people who had shared their bodies?

And yet, at the same time, his deep growl from last night kept echoing in her ears.

[Yoon Seol. You’ve really been bitten by a crazy bastard.]

[I don’t want to let you go anymore.]

[Run away, rebel, cry and beg. Do whatever you want. No matter what you do, you can’t escape my grasp anyway.]

He had burrowed into her without end, obsessively leaving his mark on her.

Because of that, little by little… ever so slightly… a warm, fluffy expectation had begun to bloom inside her.

But then reason abruptly raised its head.

Get a grip, Seo Yoon Seol. You promised yourself you’d never trust a man again!

It had only been a few months since she had been miserably betrayed by the bastard who had been her boyfriend.

Did she really still have room in her heart to rely on someone or feel excited about them?

Besides, what was she imagining with a man who was obviously involved in dangerous work?

Yoon Seol bitterly mocked herself inwardly, shook her head, and ignored the ticklish feeling in the pit of her stomach.

I need to get out of this man’s arms as soon as possible.

Perhaps the fact that they were still pressed closely together was making unnecessary emotions keep creeping into her mind.

Yoon Seol carefully turned her head.

The deeply sleeping man looked peaceful.

“…….”

It annoyed her that after tormenting her so thoroughly, he could sleep so peacefully by himself.

Ugh.

Even the slightest movement sent aches throughout her body, which had been exhausted by the beastlike man all night.

His body, presumably that of a gangster, was astonishing.

Perhaps because of the rough life he led, his entire body was intricately sculpted from muscle without a trace of fat.

It reminded her of the perfect nude statue she had seen with him at Milan Cathedral a few days ago.

There was no way she could be fine after being pushed to her limits by a man with such a massive, sturdy physique.

And yet, when she had been consumed by the hot, dizzying sensations he gave her, she had actually enjoyed it.

For a while, she had forgotten both the misery that had come crashing down on her in an instant and the complicated reality she had left behind in Seoul, devoting herself entirely to those sensations.

Because he was the only warmth she had encountered in the cold world she had been left alone in…

By the end, Yoon Seol had even become more proactive, burrowing deeper into his hot embrace.

Ah.

Remembering last night made her thighs tingle again. Yoon Seol bit down firmly on her lip and moved her toes restlessly.

That was when—

Brrr. Brrr—

The cellphone sitting on the tea table by the window vibrated.

It was Yoon Seol’s Korean phone, which she had turned on for the first time in a month since coming to Italy.

“Ugh, heavy.”

Struggling, Yoon Seol finally slipped out from under his arm and headed toward the window.

Afraid the vibration might wake him, she quickly picked up the phone.

She scrolled through the messages that had accumulated over the past month and checked the ones that had just arrived.

Several consecutive messages had come from an unknown number.

“……!”

Yoon Seol’s eyes widened as she stared at the screen without much thought.

The contents were completely unimaginable.

They were enough to make even the soul that had sunk into darkness because of that incident tremble.

Yoon Seol remained frozen for a long time, unable even to breathe, before tapping the screen with trembling fingers.

〈Who are you?〉

〈How am I supposed to believe what you’re saying?〉

She deleted and rewrote her reply several times before finally sending it.

She waited anxiously, but no answer came.

“I have to go back to Korea. Right now.”

She had to find out whether what the message claimed was true and who the sender was.

If she could uncover the truth, perhaps… she might be able to pull her life back up from the abyss it had fallen into.

Clutching the unanswered phone tightly, Yoon Seol turned around.

While gathering the underwear and clothes scattered across the bedroom floor and putting them on, the man remained asleep.

“…….”

Bathed in the gradually brightening sunlight, the man looked perfect.

Dark eyebrows, long, sharply drawn eyes, a high nose, red lips, and a sleek jawline.

Yoon Seol committed to memory the handsome man who would be her first—and last—rebellion in life.

I’m sorry.

She considered leaving a note, but decided against it.

There was no point. Their relationship was ending here anyway.

Perhaps it was for the best.

Rather than becoming awkwardly entangled with him, it might be better to keep this as nothing more than a wistful, happy memory of one night.

“…….”

Perhaps sensing Yoon Seol’s gaze, he shifted in his sleep, slightly furrowing his brow.

I need to leave before he wakes up.

Walking quietly past the bed, Yoon Seol crossed the spacious bedroom.

Click.

She opened the heavy door.

There was no one outside.

On the first day she had arrived, intimidating men had been stationed everywhere to keep watch over her.

Yoon Seol briefly glanced at the beautiful lake visible through the window before quietly running toward the exit.

One month.

The short yet seemingly endless time she had spent with a man in the unfamiliar Italian countryside had come to such a sudden end.

Three Months Later

The gloomy gray sky visible between the buildings drizzled down an early-winter rain.

“…….”

Yoon Seol blankly watched the few remaining leaves on the roadside trees flutter precariously in the wind, briefly lost in thought.

The sky that had always been clear.

The dazzling blue lake.

And the handsome man who had stood before it.

The memories of Italy, etched into her mind as vividly as photographs, came back more often whenever the weather turned bad.

“Attorney, here. Use this.”

Tap, tap.

At the sensation of someone tapping her arm, Yoon Seol returned to early-winter Seoul.

“Ah… thank you. I should have prepared one myself. I really didn’t think ahead.”

The woman standing beside her had handed her a disposable hand warmer.

“Don’t say that. You brought this.”

The woman gave a weak smile as she shook a large thermos.

White breath spread through the heavy raindrops.

“You’re cold, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine. I really have to meet that bastard today.”

“Yes. It’s almost quitting time, so he should be coming out soon. We have to meet him!”

Yoon Seol glanced at the signboard bearing the elegant name Hyunsin Construction on the front of the building and pulled the front of her yellow raincoat tighter.

Raindrops rolled down the protest placard she was holding.

〈Manager Kwak OO of Hyunsin Construction’s Finance Team! Why aren’t you answering my calls? Did you ghost me? Did you leave me for someone else?〉

〈While I was carrying your child, were you carrying another woman?〉

The contents of the placard were quite provocative for two petite women to be holding.

At the bottom of the placard was the logo of the law office Yoon Seol had opened.

〈Seol Law Office — Your Lawyer, Fighting by Your Side. Specialists in Affair-Related Cases〉

“I… thank you, Attorney. I never imagined you’d go this far as to protest with me.”

The woman suddenly bowed deeply.

“You’re the only person who took my side, Attorney.”

“Not at all. Of course I’m on my client’s side! I’m the one who should be thanking you. You trusted a rookie attorney with no experience.”

Yoon Seol comforted the teary-eyed woman.

Her gratitude was sincere.

This woman was the first client of the law office she had hastily established.

As soon as Yoon Seol returned from Italy, she had slammed into the towering wall of reality.

Rather than finding the truth behind the suspicious messages, she had to worry about making a living first.

The driving force that would allow her to pursue the truth to the very end wasn’t stamina or determination.

It was money.

She needed money to hire someone to trace the sender of the messages and to verify, one by one, the claims made in them.

All Yoon Seol had was a brand-new attorney’s license.

So she chose to open her own practice.

If she joined a law firm or a major corporation, she could make more money, but she would have to remain tied to the organization.

Even if it meant struggling financially, she chose the freedom to pursue the truth.

She sincerely hoped that her very first client, who had come to the office she had so recklessly opened, would succeed.

“It’s almost quitting time, so you’ll definitely be able to talk to that bastard— I mean, your ex-boyfriend—today.”

She had become so emotionally invested that she accidentally let the harsh words slip out.

The client chuckled.

Her expression looked much better.

That was when—

A very familiar scent drifted through the damp air and brushed against the tip of Yoon Seol’s nose.

“I was actually looking for you. So you were here.”

A sexy combination of calm, heavy woods and a faint sweetness.

And a deep voice as heavy as the perfume itself.

“You specialize in affair cases, huh? Then, legally speaking, how should I deal with a woman who spent one hell of a night with me and then ran off with my money?”

At the familiar scent and voice, Yoon Seol’s heart reacted violently.

Thump. Thump.

“……!”

She slowly turned around and froze.

“My money, and my virginity. You made good use of both before running away, Attorney.”

A man as cool and piercing as the brilliant blue sky of Italy.

The man she had intended to keep as nothing more than a wistful and happy memory of one night.

Han Do-geon.