An unknown desire was intertwined in his jet-black pupils. Cheon Geon-young cupped her face in his rough, firm palms.

“Different?”

At his sarcastic tone, Yoon Tae-ha just blinked innocently. Seeing her reaction, Cheon Geon-young’s insides twisted again.

Even after receiving a mission where they had to live in the same car, she was endlessly nonchalant. Would it be okay if only the two of them moved? When he probed, she replied that it would be safe because the car had expensive shields. For Yoon Tae-ha, the most dangerous scenario was a monster crashing into their car.

Alone in a confined car for almost a week. It didn’t matter that the car was a camper van big enough for four adults to sleep in.

The problem was the space where the wall that had separated them had disappeared. The problem was that she was too nonchalant. Every time the events of dawn came to mind, the maddening thirst he felt alone dampened his spirits.

Cheon Geon-young touched Yoon Tae-ha’s lips with his finger. As if knocking on a door. Even giving her this much time felt like a waste.

“I don’t want to be disturbed either.”

The only light was a small lamp she had turned on by the bed beforehand. Cheon Geon-young chuckled at the sight of the divided bed.

What difference would dividing it make?

If she believed that they could have lips wet with each other’s saliva and then sleep reverently apart, that was cute in its own way.

Just as Yoon Tae-ha’s breathing, which had been rapid like someone who had been running, returned to normal, he overlapped their lips again. Her hand, which had been holding Cheon Geon-young’s tensed forearm, awkwardly moved behind his neck. He didn’t use his tongue at all, just sucked on her lower lip with his own.

“It tickles...”

Yoon Tae-ha said, taking advantage of the brief separation of their lips. Her wet voice was so sensual it sent shivers down his spine. If he could, he would have licked even her voice.

“You don’t like being tickled?”

Cheon Geon-young slipped his tongue between her lips, which she had parted to answer. Yoon Tae-ha wrapped her arms around his neck. The distance closed seamlessly. The soft sensation of her breasts was directly conveyed. It was maddeningly intoxicating. As he ran his hand down her waist, the curves of her body, different from his, wrapped around his hand.

The woman, unaware of her own allure, gently stroked the back of his head. The fingers touching his neck were burning hot, and the inside of her mouth was moist. Cheon Geon-young lifted Yoon Tae-ha again.

And still embracing her, he moved and laid her down on the narrow bed. It wasn’t a space where both of them could lie side by side comfortably. It was a width where one had to be on top of the other.

As the hard mattress touched her head, Yoon Tae-ha slowly backed away. While moving like that, she almost slipped off to the side and rolled onto the floor. He didn’t let go because he was holding her waist. Seeing her almost get hurt, Cheon Geon-young said disapprovingly,

“Why did you divide this?”

“......I thought it might be uncomfortable.”

“Kissing is uncomfortable.”

She strongly corrected the fact.

“Sleeping!”

“Wouldn’t sleeping be even more uncomfortable?”

Why? Yoon Tae-ha habitually tried to ask but immediately shut her mouth. If she had asked why, she would have had nothing to say even if he treated her like an idiot. She was a twenty-three-year-old esper who had received sex education.

“You didn’t even think of that, did you?”

Cheon Geon-young said nonchalantly. The desire of the man looking down at her in the darkness was clear. It was longing for her.

She reached out and traced his face. The first man she had seen, perfectly dressed and appearing in the conference room, seemed like a completely different person from the man now. The time when his painted smile and polite consideration seemed to be all of Cheon Geon-young felt like a long time ago.

Yoon Tae-ha lightly stroked Cheon Geon-young’s face. His handsome nose and lips. A little lower was his firm jaw. Soon, as her fingers passed his neck, she saw his body tense. Like someone wanting to pounce at any moment.

This situation was unfamiliar, but she had fought enough to be calloused to it. She could read the intentions her body expressed. When she poked between his taut chest muscles, Cheon Geon-young frowned.

“Yoon Tae-ha.”

He called her name like a sigh.

“Why?”

She asked, pretending not to know. She only wanted to return the embarrassment he had caused when he bit her finger on the day of their first kiss.

She increased the one finger to two. As they moved down his chest, she felt the well-defined muscles of his abdomen. Even though she had only brushed them, she could tell how much strength was in his body. His steady breathing became erratic. Before her fingers could cross halfway, he grabbed them.

“It tickles.”

“You don’t like being tickled?”

He got up and silently took off her shoes. Then he put the divided beds back together. As soon as the beds clicked together, Cheon Geon-young climbed onto the bed.

Unexpectedly, he lay down about a hand’s breadth away. They looked at each other for a few minutes without saying anything. It was quiet all around. Yoon Tae-ha cautiously opened her mouth.

“Are you upset?”

“About what?”

“Me touching you.”

He laughed hollowly.

“You’re direct at times like this.”

“Then what should I say? That I tickled your stomach with my fingers? That’s even stranger. I’m not a cat.”

As she spoke with a puzzled voice, he suddenly kissed her. Lightly, with a soft ‘smack’ sound. As if he couldn’t bear it any longer. Yoon Tae-ha’s heart fluttered again.

Every time he looked at her with longing eyes, every time he lost his self-control and tried to touch her. She kept panting. She wanted to reach out.

She wanted to see him again, so blindly focused on her. It was the first time she had been so intensely captivated by an emotion other than hatred for someone.

Defeated by her own desire, Yoon Tae-ha wrapped her arms around his waist. And lightly pulled him towards her. Cheon Geon-young took a deep breath for a moment. Before their lips could touch, he tensed his body.

Cheon Geon-young said like a sigh,

“I’m different from you.”

“Huh?”

“I’m different from you.”

“Of course you are......”

Cheon Geon-young, sighing, touched the lying woman’s body. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lightly stroked her slender abdomen with his thumb.

His Adam’s apple moved at the sight of the white skin visible between her rolled-up short sleeves. If he had followed his desires, most of the clothes she was wearing wouldn’t exist now.

“I can’t be as comfortable as you are.”

Cheon Geon-young gathered his patience and continued in a gentle voice,

“I have other thoughts.”

It was too long an act to shorten to the four letters ‘other thoughts’, but he omitted the rest.

He desperately wanted her. But Yoon Tae-ha had a face that didn’t think about or imagine what would come next. Just looking at her diligently studying without even being aware of him on their way here. He really thought she would be sucked into the tablet back then.

He wanted to touch her, but he didn’t want to force her into his pace. He had only kissed her because he was dissatisfied that she wasn’t aware of him.

Cheon Geon-young got up. He put on his shoes and took out a blanket. Yoon Tae-ha curled up and remained still until he placed the blanket and pillow on the bed.

“I’ll wash up first.”

Even after he said that, she didn’t move. He went into the shower with his still feverish body.

*

When he came out after washing up, Yoon Tae-ha was holding clothes to change into with a sulky face. He shook his wet hair and told her that the hot water was good. She went into the shower without replying.

While she was showering, Cheon Geon-young activated the car’s shield and spread the blanket on the bed. He was satisfied with the clean sleeping arrangement without a single wrinkle. He also neatly placed new slippers to change into in front of the shower room.

He opened the refrigerator and checked the ingredients. From tomorrow, the two of them would have to properly divide the ingredients and cook for themselves. Fortunately, Yoon Tae-ha was quite satisfied with her own cooking. She didn’t hesitate to say it was delicious.

She wasn’t one to hold back compliments and thank yous. It seemed like more than half of the thank yous he had heard in his life had come from Yoon Tae-ha. A woman he had only known for about half a year.

Having finished locking up, he spread out the map and sat on the sofa in the camper van’s living room to check the route for tomorrow. At that moment, the shower room door opened.

His heart plummeted at the clicking sound. He busily moved around, chasing other thoughts, but his body reacted to the sound of the door opening.

It was a car with expensive soundproofing material added all around for safety. He had thought it was fortunate that he couldn’t hear the shower, but there was an unexpected hidden enemy. All his efforts to back off were in vain.

He tried his best not to turn his head towards where Yoon Tae-ha would likely be. Whirring. The sound of her drying her hair and the scent of shampoo attacked at different times. But he endured it. He stared at the map with the intensity of someone trying to memorize the intervals between contour lines.

A little while later, the mechanical sound stopped. He could hear the sound of Yoon Tae-ha putting on slippers and going to the back of the car. Only then did Cheon Geon-young fold the map.

When he went to the bed, Yoon Tae-ha was already quietly under the blanket. He could see the tips of her feet sticking out from under the blanket.

Should he sleep on the sofa? His resolve from a moment ago felt like a tower built of sand. He almost thought it would be better to fight the lizard that was after his life again.

Cheon Geon-young, who had sighed deeply without making a sound, approached the bed. Yoon Tae-ha turned to lie on her side and patted the spot next to her.

Before taking off his slippers, Cheon Geon-young created a thick boundary like a fortress between where he and she would lie with an extra blanket. Seeing this, Yoon Tae-ha made an astonished face.

“Is that what they only talked about...?”

“What did they only talk about?”

“Don’t cross the line, is that it?”

“You know it?”

At his nonchalant reply, she abruptly sat up. Cheon Geon-young went to the other side of the boundary and lay down quietly, pulling the blanket up to his chin. It looked very annoying to Yoon Tae-ha’s eyes.

“How old are you?”

“How old are you? Count. We’re the same age.”

She almost laughed at the word “we” but bit her tongue and endured it.

“Even when I was in kindergarten, I didn’t do things like this?”

“Don’t be prejudiced. You do it when you need to. Does the constitution say you can only draw lines until you’re seven?”

“Wow.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had suddenly become shameless, lay flat on her back.

“So you’re coming out like this...”

“Tae-ha-yah. Let’s sleep quickly.”

“You only drop the honorifics from my name when you need to.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never been conscious of it. So Yoon Tae-ha, close your eyes quickly.”

Cheon Geon-young still didn’t seem to know her.

Having heard from childhood not to do things, she had a strong tendency to bounce back like a springy ball when pressed. It was one of her acknowledged flaws.