Chapter 3
Imprint
Just before their lips met, her hand came up and covered Kangwoo’s mouth. The unexpected coolness jolted his senses awake. Through the palm pressed to his lips, he could clearly feel her trembling.
Her shaking voice added to it.
“Just a moment.”
“……”
He took her hand off his mouth and lifted it above her head.
Without realizing it, he frowned as he looked down at her. It wasn’t something he expected from a woman who had been the one to seduce him.
“Why?”
His voice dropped lower after being stopped mid-action.
At a distance of only a few centimeters, too much was being conveyed through their gaze—it felt oddly new. Without thinking, he leaned in, driven by instinct, wanting to know more.
Kangwoo pressed her back against the door, trapping her restless body. It felt like pinning a butterfly for display.
“I want to wash first.”
She stated her request clearly, not avoiding his eyes.
Though nothing had happened yet, she exhaled deeply, her chest rising and falling. Kangwoo didn’t mind how sensitively she reacted to his movements and gaze.
With wavering eyes, she pushed lightly against his chest and looked up at him.
Her flushed, aroused expression was more appealing than the resolute look she’d shown earlier.
“I’ll go wash first.”
She spoke calmly, but it was obvious she was trying to escape the situation. Since she’d said it was her first time, he should be considerate.
Still watching Chaekyung, he stepped back two paces.
Kangwoo couldn’t take his eyes off her disheveled state. He suppressed the urge to scoop her up and carry her inside.
“I don’t mind… if you want to skip it…”
“……”
“The first door on the left.”
Chaekyung lowered her eyes, flustered by his comment that she didn’t need to wash. She smoothed her messy hair and slipped past Kangwoo, who stood blocking her way, then hurried toward the bathroom as if fleeing.
Only then did Kangwoo realize—
He’d been holding his breath.
Once Chaekyung disappeared, he finally let it out.
“Ha…”
Running a hand through his hair, he tried to steady himself. He was tense like a man having his first experience. The absurdity made him mutter to himself.
“Idiot.”
Loosening his tie, Kangwoo glanced at the bathroom she’d entered, then headed to the bathroom beside the bedroom.
Annoyed at how worked up he was over something so trivial, he took a cold shower.
Even after he came out, she still hadn’t left the bathroom.
Kangwoo took a glass filled with ice and whiskey and went to the window. Wearing only a robe, he perched against the back of the sofa. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d idly admired a night view like this. By the time he’d drained the glass, she still hadn’t emerged.
Click.
He heard the cautious sound of a door opening, but nothing after that. With his back turned to her, curiosity stirred.
What is she doing?
He tossed the last mouthful of whiskey back and turned around.
Chaekyung stood in the center of the living room, wrapped in a robe. Her hair, not fully dry, still held moisture. Her freshly washed, flushed cheeks and lips looked like ripe peaches.
“Took you a while.”
“I guess I lingered in the shower.”
“Want a drink?”
Trying to ease her tension, Kangwoo offered her alcohol.
“Yes, please. One glass.”
He went to the bar attached to the suite and filled a glass with ice and whiskey.
Chaekyung took the glass he handed her and gulped it down in one go.
She acted composed, but he could tell how nervous she was.
The hastily swallowed liquor spilled slightly over her lips.
Kangwoo raised his hand and wiped it away.
“If you’ve changed your mind, say it now. You still have a chance.”
She shook her head with a tense expression.
“It’s okay.”
As Kangwoo approached slowly, her taut nervousness stimulated him. The familiar scent of body wash mixed with her natural scent kept scraping at his nerves. His desire was already far ahead, but he maintained a languid pace, exercising patience. The hand that had wiped the liquor brushed over her red lips.
“I gave you your last chance.”
He stole her lips.
That was the end of his patience. Like Adam giving in the moment he reached for the apple, he couldn’t afford any more restraint.
Kangwoo pulled her waist toward him and claimed her mouth deeply.
Her face tilted up to match his height. As he sucked hard enough to hollow her cheeks, her muffled moan disappeared into his mouth.
“Mmph.”
Her flushed face, eyes squeezed shut, filled his vision. His hand dropped to untie the robe’s belt. At that moment, she snapped her eyes open, and their gazes met.
Frowning, Kangwoo pulled his lips away and stepped back, looking her over.
Between the parted robe, she was properly dressed in underwear.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“You sure you’re the one who seduced me into having sex?”
“……”
“Fully dressed underneath like some virtuous lady.”
“It’s awkward.”
Her face reddened.
Grabbing her wrist, Kangwoo headed for the bedroom. Chaekyung hurried to keep up with his long strides.
Soft, low lighting set the mood.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kangwoo released her wrist. Chaekyung stood before him.
“Take it off.”
“…What?”
“Isn’t this the night you wanted?”
“……”
He leaned back, bracing his hands on the bed behind him, clearly willing to wait. Kangwoo watched her with relaxed confidence.
After steeling herself, the robe slipped from her hands and fell to the floor. Her flawless skin and slender waist caught his eye. For her small frame, her curves were surprisingly full and beautiful.
His mouth went dry—he couldn’t wait any longer.
Kangwoo grabbed her narrow waist and pulled her in.
Her body tilted into his arms.
“Ah.”
He embraced her roughly, holding her close. The feel of her beneath his hands was maddeningly soft, enough to send shivers up his spine.
The more relentless his movements became, the more flustered Chaekyung grew, squirming in his grasp. If this had been an impulsive decision, he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t regret it.
“You know what you’re doing is really provocative, right? If you don’t want it, say so.”
At his words, she stilled.
“…Keep going.”
That was it. Kangwoo’s patience snapped. He grew frantic, like the thirst of a man discovering a woman for the first time. His lips began to explore every part of her.
She bit her lip, but a restrained moan still escaped.
“You’re sensitive.”
“…Do you have to talk? Mm…”
When he nipped lightly at her collarbone, she trembled. He didn’t miss a single movement, tremor, or change in her expression.
“Very lewd, too.”
He looked down at Chaekyung’s disheveled face as her breathless moans grew hotter.
It was strange. It was supposed to be just a one-night stand, yet he wanted to brand her with the name Ji Kangwoo. Just for tonight, he wanted to become something deeply engraved in her.
Her innocent reactions pushed his reason past its limit. Like a sweet poison drunk without knowing it would kill him, his rationality shattered.
He tried to be patient and considerate, but it was too much for someone experiencing this for the first time.
The closer they got to the peak, the more impatient he became.
“Damn it.”
The surging sensations made his head feel light, floating. She was so intense it left him nearly delirious. To delay his own climax, Kangwoo paused and looked down at her. Beneath him, Chaekyung’s chest heaved. Her hot breaths scattered against him. Tears slid down from her unfocused eyes.
“I’m trying to be considerate. Try to follow me.”
Her scent and heat drove him mad.
He’d always prided himself on maintaining composure in relationships with women. But now, his patience emptied and refilled over and over again.
With his movements, Chaekyung’s body swayed as if enticing him. Her eyes traced his face dreamily in time with the motion. That expression had caught his attention back at the bar.
As the stimulation continued, her hands clawed at his back and arms.
Even that sensation scraped along his nerves.
At her climax, her back arched like a bow, fingers clutching the sheets before her body went limp. Kangwoo, on the other hand, felt vividly alive in the aftermath.
When he stimulated her again, Chaekyung pushed at him. Kangwoo frowned.
“You’re the one who asked to spend the night together. You already missed your chance to run.”
Instinct overtook reason. Like a warning, Kangwoo spoke as if he couldn’t resist a temptation he’d already tasted.
She called out to him urgently, but it was useless.
“Wait—just a moment.”
Once ignited, their bodies didn’t cool easily. Even a single spark made them flare up again.
Her softened, pliant body reacted to even his simplest touch.
Only after Kangwoo took her again and again through the night, sharing several climaxes, did it finally end. Chaekyung fell asleep in his arms first, as if she’d passed out.
Kangwoo couldn’t take his heated gaze off the nameless woman lying exhausted beside him.
Her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, messy hair, and pale skin covered in marks he’d left behind… It all felt unreal, like a midsummer night’s dream.
“Who are you, really…”
He didn’t fall asleep easily, but eventually drifted off around dawn. For the first time, sleeping in the same bed with someone after sex didn’t feel unpleasant.
Near daybreak, Kangwoo woke up. He was alone on the rumpled bed.
He got up, searching for any trace of her, but like a dream, nothing remained. Leaving the bed faintly scented with her, he went looking for her—until something unexpected on the table in the center of the living room caught his eye.
He reached out, eyebrows lifting as he frowned.
Eight 50,000-won bills.
“…Ha.”
It was absurd. She would probably be the only woman in his life to ever give him an experience like this.
Money left after sex… Ridiculous, yet strangely obsessive.
Her expression at the height of pleasure, the sensations that had driven him mad, the unreadable look she’d given him.
Is she trying to make sure I never forget her?
Kangwoo’s eyes sharpened.
He had to find this woman—no matter what.
