Episode 26
Seorin still remembered it. The image of her father sitting empty, with dead eyes, on the day her mother died. Yet, her father carried on with life. He had Seorin to protect, and Nongyoung Foods to manage.
That’s how people are. They can live on just by having something to protect.
Seorin was the same. She also had something to protect. If she just killed her feelings, watched them, and lived each day, she would eventually get by.
Decades later, perhaps she would even laugh sometimes, reminiscing about such times.
Seorin quickly wiped her tears with her hand and looked at Taeyoon.
“I’m so tired. Tired of being caught between you, your mother, and Jaehee. It’s too much. I don’t have the strength to endure it anymore, no, I don’t want to endure it.”
Seorin pounded her chest with her fist.
“Why me of all people? If I had never met you in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this much pain.”
“That’s why I resent you. That’s why I hate you.”
“So go to Jaehee. Please, go to Jaehee.”
Seorin, who had been hitting herself, now hit Taeyoon’s chest with her hands. Her small fists had no strength, so it didn’t hurt, but every time Seorin’s hand touched him, Taeyoon’s insides felt as if they were being dyed black.
“What I want is for me to marry Yoo Jaehee.”
“Yes.”
“You really want me to go to another woman?”
Taeyoon’s eyes slowly turned darker as he listened to Seorin’s now pleading words.
His gaze was taking on a similar hue to when his father lost his mother, but Seorin, her vision blurred by tears, didn’t notice.
“Alright, Eun Seorin.”
At his finally affirmative answer, Seorin lifted her head.
“I’ll marry Jaehee as you wish.”
A soft sigh of relief escaped Seorin’s lips. It was the words she had longed for. For Taeyoon to meet Jaehyuk, truly.
However, the moment the next words left Taeyoon’s mouth, Seorin’s relieved face contorted.
“Instead, you, stay by my side.”
“What do you mean? You’re marrying Jaehee, so why me…?”
Taeyoon’s lips twisted into a strange expression. At times it seemed pleased, at others, sad.
“If I can’t have you, then no one else can.”
He had always treated Seorin with care. Since she was already his, he hadn’t tried to be more possessive. But now, if he couldn’t have Seorin’s heart, he needed something to hold onto.
Even if it was just a shell, an empty vessel, if it was Eun Seorin and only for him, not for anyone else, it didn’t matter.
“If I can’t have your heart—”
Taeyoon, his eyes locked with Seorin’s, slowly lowered his head towards her.
“—I’ll have your body, at least.”
Having finished his words, Taeyoon pressed his lips to Seorin’s and kissed her.
He parted her surprised, opened lips, and his tongue ruthlessly explored her mouth. Seorin gasped for breath, unable to breathe from the intense kiss that wrapped around her to her core.
“Ugh, huh!”
As Seorin floundered as if drowning, Taeyoon parted his lips, giving her a moment to breathe. After a short breath, the suffocating kisses continued to follow, again and again.
It was a violent kiss that seemed to devour her whole. Seorin was completely disoriented by the series of actions, her teeth clashing together, rubbing against each other.
Even with the fierce kisses, her body grew hotter and hotter. Feeling a hazy pleasure accumulate in her lower abdomen, Seorin squeezed her eyes shut.
If all Taeyoon wanted was this empty body, and if the price of him taking this body was that she could be abandoned by him…
After all, it wasn’t the first time with Taeyoon.
One spring, when they were much younger. On a day when all the adults who had gone on a trip together were out of the house. Sitting with their shoulders against the bottom of the bed, the two, swept away by pure curiosity and passion, shared their first time without either taking the lead.
Since it was both their first times, it was clumsy and awkward, but they treated each other with more serious focus than anyone else.
Seorin suddenly felt sad recalling that day, filled with thrill and euphoria.
On that innocent day, did we ever think we would change like this?
Could we have imagined that we would be pressing our lips and bodies together with different intentions?
Seorin’s heart became complicated. She felt like this shouldn’t be happening, but on the other hand, another conflict arose.
If she could just throw away this wretched body, just this one thing, and end everything.
The strength in Seorin’s hands, which had been pushing away Taeyoon’s chest, gradually faded.
Realizing Seorin’s resistance had weakened, Taeyoon slipped his hand inside her white t-shirt. His movements were fluid as he traced his way up her back to unhook her bra.
Taeyoon grasped her firm flesh that had sprung out of its restraint with one hand. A soft moan, “Ah,” escaped Seorin’s lips.
Continuing the kiss, Taeyoon’s lips slid down to her neck, nibbling. His breath tickled her skin, and the wet touch of his tongue on her flesh made her belly boil with heat.
When she came to her senses, Seorin was already lying on her back on the bed. Her pants were pulled down to her thighs, and the hem of her t-shirt was bunched up to her shoulders, exposing her bare skin to the air. The hem of her t-shirt was pushed up to her shoulders, exposing her bare skin to the air.
Through Seorin’s dazed eyes, she saw Taeyoon kneeling, unbuttoning his shirt. Click, click. With each button unfastened, Taeyoon’s firm, rippling chest muscles were visible through the opening of his shirt.
After shedding his clothes, Taeyoon slowly descended onto Seorin’s body.
“Relax.”
But even with his words, Seorin remained tightly curled up, unable to relax.
“I said relax. I clearly warned you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Taeyoon firmly pressed his lower body against Seorin’s. Along with it, immense pain surged like a wave, and Seorin’s eyes widened.
“Ah…”
Even though a path had been opened once before, accepting him was not easy. It felt as if her body was being stretched to its limits, tearing apart, just like the very first time.
“St-stop!”
Seorin, unable to bear the pain, struck his words, but Taeyoon stubbornly forced his way into her body. Seorin bit her hand to endure the moment.
“Hmph.”
Finally, having pushed his body all the way in, he let out a long breath. Seorin’s splayed legs trembled in the air.
He half-rose, holding her delicate ankles with his fingertips and resting them on his shoulders. Then, he slowly began to thrust.
Slowly, or quickly. Each time, Seorin felt as if her body were being torn in half.
“Haa. Ugh.”
Amidst the pain, a terrible pleasure bloomed, and Seorin continuously tried to swallow the moans that escaped her.
Caught in the raging storm, Seorin could do nothing. The only thing she could do was to stubbornly swallow the moans that pushed up to her throat, lest anyone hear.
After a while, Taeyoon leaned close to Seorin’s ear and spoke in a slow tone.
“Eun Seorin.”
“…Ahhh.”
Instead of an answer, a faint, wet sound escaped Seorin’s lips. The sound was pleasing to him.
It felt as if he possessed Eun Seorin, whom no one else could have. As if, for this moment, it was only Seo Taeyoon, not others, who could truly have her.
Indulging in that twisted and malicious possessiveness to his heart’s content, Taeyoon wore a faint, wry smile at the corner of his lips.
He whispered in a low voice,
“You can never escape me.”
Never.
With those words, Taeyoon’s thrusts grew fiercer. The constant squeaking of the mattress springs sounded like screams.
“Ah, ugh!”
The moment Taeyoon thrust his lower body forcefully, a sharp cry burst from Seorin’s lips.
