Chapter 10
“What?”
Seorin heard it clearly with her own ears.
A crazy situation, he had said.
His thick lips muttered it under his breath, but in the silence of the large space, even the softest sound echoed clearly to her ears.
Still, she had to ask again, thinking she must have misheard.
His beautifully shaped lips twisted distinctly.
Neither Seorin nor Jiheon had any intention of facing each other.
He had merely opened the door out of habit after finishing his shower to get a drink of water, even though he knew she was in the same house.
But he couldn’t even remember what he had said.
“What did I say?”
“Wouldn’t you know better than I would, Director?”
Looking at her lips as she retorted clearly, he realized something.
An illusion.
Even if they existed in the same space, it was as if they didn’t. Even if they accidentally ran into each other, they should just pretend not to see and go about their business.
Yet her eyes kept scanning him.
His face.
His upper body, firm with lean muscles.
When her gaze reached below that, she quickly closed her eyes and then opened them again.
Jiheon furrowed his brows.
Thankfully, at least the important parts were covered.
Still, he scoffed again at how he couldn’t even dress freely in his own home.
Then again, they had already seen everything.
Even without recalling the details, their bodies remembered all too well. Her lips remembered every moment of the previous night.
He didn’t feel like going to his room to get dressed.
“You should stop staring.”
“Ah… yes.”
Seorin quickly turned her head but didn’t move toward her room.
She hadn’t planned to seek him out, but now that they’d run into each other, she felt she needed to say something.
“About last night…”
“It was a mistake.”
Seorin looked at him again.
She had tried to rationalize it as something that happened because they were drunk.
Maybe she’d been upset, overwhelmed, and ended up revealing her inner feelings to someone—maybe even to him.
She’d told herself it was a mistake, just like he had. But hearing it directly from Seong Jiheon didn’t make it any easier.
It felt like a confession—a definitive declaration that it was a mistake.
“I wasn’t thinking straight. Besides, you were drunk too, Chaeserine.”
She had expected this, but accepting it was another matter entirely.
Even though they were married, divorce was inevitable.
“You were practically begging for it, so I doubt you’re feeling regret.”
Seorin’s lips pressed together.
“You enjoyed it enough. Maybe you don’t even remember it.”
She hadn’t wanted it, truly.
Telling the truth now would only sound like an excuse.
She understood why he kept scoffing.
“I compensated you more than enough.”
“Yes, I received the clothes. And I understand my place now.”
She didn’t know how much they were worth, but they were things she could never buy with her own money.
She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for his generosity.
Still, paying her for her first time—that was something to be angry about.
It wasn’t easy to judge, so she couldn’t bring herself to say thank you.
If only he had let her go home, they wouldn’t be in this awkward position now.
“I think I should go home, at least briefly.”
“Why?”
“I need to bring some of my work and a few of my belongings.”
She didn’t know when, but she couldn’t just spend every day locked in a room doing nothing.
Even though they were married, she didn’t see them as a real couple. It was just a formality. Everything would vanish once they got divorced.
She hadn’t even taken Joomi’s words about securing a payout seriously.
“I know the terms of the contract well.”
They had written a contract even before submitting the marriage certificate, so their relationship was clearly hierarchical rather than romantic.
“I won’t bother you with unnecessary talk again.”
Especially not with incidents like last night.
Looking at him made it all the clearer.
It had just been a night of indulgence.
No emotions were involved.
Her body had simply responded, but nothing remained.
“So now…”
His voice reverberated through the living room, lower and darker.
The hairs on her skin stood up.
“Are you telling me not to cling pathetically like some desperate woman?”
“…What?”
How did the conversation end up like this?
All she had said was that she would stay out of his way for his sake.
It was Jiheon who seemed irritated just by the sight of her.
He clearly didn’t like her presence in his space, yet he kept her in view.
“What the hell is this?”
He muttered enigmatically, almost to himself.
He closed the distance between them in a few large steps and stopped right in front of her.
The scent of his skin and body wash mixed and lingered at the tip of her nose.
She could barely breathe.
“You were a virgin, weren’t you?”
Maybe he hadn’t believed her until he experienced it himself.
Her body remembered more clearly than her scattered memories.
Her fingertips, even the tips of her toes, curled with tension.
“Then why are you so damn good at seduction?”
“…Seduction?”
“Look at you now. You’re still pulling me in.”
Seorin couldn’t understand.
Even after everything that had happened, all she had done was express what she wanted from him.
She had promised to be like a shadow, silent and invisible.
Even after all that, he didn’t seem convinced.
“Coming to me on your own and tying me down wasn’t enough for you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
She was the one trapped in his space, her feet tied down.
“You said you had no clothes, so I bought you plenty. Now you want to go get your things?”
She hadn’t expected to move in with nothing.
And she didn’t think he didn’t know that either.
His slanted eyes flickered with confusion, unusually restless.
“Is there some reason I’m not allowed to go home?”
“No.”
“Then why won’t you let me?”
“Because it’s obvious.”
Her mother had only one reason to call her back.
She didn’t believe in their marriage.
Seorin wasn’t unaware of the fallout that could cause.
It was a hurdle she had to overcome—something only she could face.
And it was clear that Jiheon wasn’t saying this out of concern for her.
He probably just didn’t want to deal with the hassle.
She knew he saw their relationship as one of contract, not love.
He took a deep breath.
Even in such a natural moment, Seorin couldn’t even blink.
They weren’t truly husband and wife.
Their relationship was transactional, yet the air between them felt oppressively heavy.
“Write a list of what you need. I’ll send someone to get it.”
Ah…
Without her, the house always turned to chaos.
She worried how things had become in a house with just her and her mother—and now without her at all.
“You don’t like it when I touch your things, right?”
“That’s why you insist on going?”
“Yes. I don’t even want my mom touching my stuff.”
Even if he was someone she would soon be divorced from, she didn’t want to show him that side of her.
Even knowing he wouldn’t go himself, it still bothered her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
When she answered confidently, he let out a dry chuckle.
“If you say so… but you sure gave in easily when I touched you.”
Even she didn’t understand it.
How had she ended up in bed with Seong Jiheon?
No matter how much she searched her memory, she couldn’t find any moment where she had pushed him away.
She couldn’t deny it.
And she didn’t want to blame it on being drunk.
“Even if it was just lust, you laid there under me, soaking in the pleasure.”
Her lips stuck together.
Her mouth felt parched with a fierce thirst.
“See this?”
There was a faint scratch on his otherwise flawless chest.
“What do you think it is?”
It was clearly a fingernail mark—one left intentionally.
No way…
“Yeah. You left that on me, Chaeserine, clinging to me like that.”
Seorin clenched her jaw to keep it from dropping open.
Even seeing it, she couldn’t believe it.
No—she didn’t want to believe it.
Unconsciously, she swallowed dryly and bit her lower lip.
There was a flicker in his eyes before it vanished.
Suddenly, Jiheon turned his body and showed her his back.
“Do whatever you want.”
He hurriedly walked to his room, grabbed the doorknob, and went inside.
Bang.
The sound of the door closing was harsh and loud.
Left alone, Seorin let out a long breath and whispered quietly,
“I won’t make that kind of mistake again.”
She returned to her room and shut the door firmly.
