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Psst! We're moving!
Same place, same season. And the same person.
Soohyun’s face tilted slightly towards Haein.
“Yoon Haein.”
The moment Soohyun’s face came very close, Haein froze completely.
Perhaps it was the warm breeze tickling her ear, or perhaps it was because they were sitting on the steps of their alma mater, sharing old memories.
Her heart fluttered as if it were her first kiss. Her whole body tingled. It was a strange feeling, as if someone was tickling her entire body with a feather.
The day was warm, and Soohyun’s lips that grazed hers were sweet.
‘...I thought it would be nice if we fell in love at first sight and loved each other without wasting unnecessary time.’
Haein closed her eyes and repeated Soohyun’s words in her mind.
They were words that left a lingering feeling.
Was it because Soohyun’s eyes looked so deep when he said those words, or was it because it was a sweet fantasy even just imagining it?
If he hadn’t been the heir of Taeseong, and if her younger sibling hadn’t been sick.
Things that hadn’t happened floated in her mind as if they were real.
Meeting as an ordinary campus couple, taking classes together, doing assignments together. Exchanging flowers at graduation, studying for jobs together, celebrating getting hired together...
“Ah...”
The sigh that unintentionally escaped her lips was fully conveyed to Soohyun.
Soohyun inhaled the breaths Haein exhaled, one by one, and carefully kissed her.
It was a soft, slow kiss, as if he were kissing someone for the first time.
Flustered breaths scattered.
Haa.
Her lips felt sweet, and she didn’t want to let go.
The spring breeze tickled her forehead with her hair. Just like the feeling of his cheek tickling hers sometime ago, Haein’s hair fluttered near Soohyun’s face.
When she half-opened her closed eyes, Haein’s flushed cheeks, accepting him with her eyes closed, came into view. The sight of her cheeks tinged with a blush was unbearably lovely.
“Ah, Haein-ah.”
His heated breath swallowed Haein’s name. His blood was boiling as if his whole body would explode.
“Ah...”
Just as the kiss was about to deepen slightly, Haein remembered that they were sitting in a public place and gently pushed Soohyun’s cheek to pull their faces apart slightly.
“...What if someone sees us?”
“Who would see us?”
“Students might come suddenly.”
“Are you uncomfortable?”
Soohyun stood up first and offered his hand to Haein. As soon as she took his hand, she was pulled up. Even after Haein stood up, Soohyun didn’t let go of her hand, holding it tightly as they walked.
“This feels strange.”
Walking back the way they had come, Soohyun murmured to himself as if talking to no one in particular.
“Like I’ve gone back to my university days.”
“Me too.”
As Haein finished speaking, Soohyun squeezed her hand even tighter.
Like freshmen who had just started dating, the two left the path without letting go of their clasped hands.
***
Soohyun didn’t let go of her hand even in the car on the way home. The two looked out their respective windows and didn’t speak, but their tightly clasped hands firmly connected them.
When they arrived home, the servants had already left, and no one was there.
As soon as they entered the front door, Soohyun roughly pushed her against the wall and began to kiss her urgently.
On her forehead, her cheeks, and her lips and neck.
Breathlessly, Soohyun’s lips traced her face.
His hot breath, as urgent as his kisses, made her face flush. He seemed unable to wait even a moment longer, and Haein could feel the impatience in Soohyun’s touch.
The end of her shoe, which she hadn’t taken off, caught on Haein’s toes.
“Sunbae, just a moment. Just a second...”
Haein waved her arm to try and take off her shoes, but Soohyun didn’t even give her that much space.
Her arm, which had been groping in the air, was eventually caught and pinned against the wall, and Haein, who had been trying to push off the other foot to take off her shoe, lost her balance and staggered.
“I feel like I’m going crazy. I’ve been holding back wanting to hold you the whole time.”
Hot breaths mingled, and heated flesh rubbed against each other.
Thud.
His coat fell to the floor, and soon after, her skirt lay sprawled out. Their legs tangled as they walked, and they stumbled several times, bumping against walls in various parts of the house.
Finally, when they reached the bedroom door, sunlight filled with the colors of the sunset poured in through the window facing the setting sun. Soohyun’s sturdy body, silhouetted against the window, glowed red in the sunset.
Trapped under the large shadow that covered her entire body, Haein looked up at Soohyun, who stood languidly watching her.
‘If we weren’t Yoon Haein and Jung Soohyun...’
The question Haein had inadvertently asked Soohyun shook her heart.
Soohyun stared intently at Haein, as if to capture her gaze fixed on him.
The eyes of a man lusting after her shone black.
She remembered Soohyun’s face in the crowd during their university days. Dangerous eyes, a lonely back even when he was always surrounded by many people.
‘Even if Sunbae hadn’t been Jung Soohyun, if he had come to me with those eyes, I definitely wouldn’t have just passed him by.’
Haein took Soohyun’s hand in front of her and pulled him towards her, saying,
“Hold me.”
She intertwined her fingers with Soohyun’s and pressed her cheek against his chest. Then Soohyun hugged Haein and fell onto the bed as if collapsing.
Breaths mingled between their parted lips, creating a wind sound. It felt like a spring breeze between their lips.
That breeze she had felt on the university campus still lingered in her heart.
If we could go back to being twenty.
Sweet imaginings continued endlessly.
Soohyun lightly kissed her lips, like a child’s pecking kiss, and then gently kissed her cheeks, forehead, and entire face.
The room was filled with the red light emitted by the sun just before it set.
Soohyun, with the brilliant sunlight behind him, lifted his face for a moment and quietly looked down at Haein.
Without a word, he held Haein’s face in both hands and gently stroked her forehead with his thumbs.
Soohyun’s gaze was so sweet that Haein felt like she would be endlessly drawn into it. It was such an unfamiliar feeling that Haein, who had been biting her lip, asked absently,
“Why?”
“Just, I feel strange.”
“How so?”
“It’s like I’ve gone back to being twenty. A strange feeling, like someone in their first relationship.”
“Ah...”
He felt the same way as her; Haein’s heart warmed.
“Me too.”
Haein wrapped her arms around Soohyun’s neck and tilted her head up slightly. Then she lightly kissed his lips.
“Haa...”
And as her lips slowly moved away again, this time Soohyun lowered his face to catch them.
***
Soohyun hugged Haein in his arms, recalling something from a very long time ago.
It was when Soohyun, who had encountered Haein a few times on campus, visited the department office to find out more about her.
‘Haein? She’s a top student who diligently receives the scholarship from your foundation.’
The teaching assistant, busy trying to please Soohyun, spilled everything he knew.
He clicked his tongue, calling Haein a tough girl, saying that she had entered as valedictorian and lived a life filled with academy and tutoring schedules outside of classes, yet never missed a single scholarship.
‘By the way, Soohyun, even Yoon Haein couldn’t beat you.’
‘Why?’
Soohyun, having heard the general information about Haein, was about to leave the department office when the teaching assistant spoke from behind him.
‘It looks like she might lose this semester to you.’
‘I don’t need the scholarship. Give it to Yoon Haein.’
‘I wish we could, but we can’t just use scholarship funds like personal pocket money.’
‘Hmm.’
After hesitating for a moment, Soohyun asked the teaching assistant again.
‘Hyung, the scholarships from the Taeseong Scholarship Foundation are transferred to the foundation’s account, right?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Just a moment.’
Soohyun went out into the hallway and immediately called Secretary Seok.
‘Secretary, there’s a favor I’d like to ask.’
Secretary Seok, after hearing the whole story, immediately took measures to Soohyun’s satisfaction.
What Soohyun had requested was to select Yoon Haein as a special scholarship student and provide her with additional scholarship funds. Haein’s tuition fees would be directly withdrawn from Soohyun’s account, bypassing the foundation’s account, thanks to his clever planning.
Of course, to hide the fact that she was receiving a scholarship from his personal funds, he attached the condition that she had to maintain grades above a certain level.
It was also a condition he attached because he believed that Haein, who had maintained top grades throughout the year, would be able to do that much.
In just ten minutes, Soohyun had solved Yoon Haein’s four years of tuition fees with a single phone call.
A few days later, the Taeseong Scholarship Foundation would call Haein, and they would lie that she had been selected for a newly created scholarship program.
Then, Haein would be somewhat freed from her tight schedule of overlapping tutoring sessions, he thought. It was an alternative he had prepared so that even if Soohyun took the top spot from her, she wouldn’t have to worry about tuition fees.
He didn’t know at the time that he would be pouring money into her hospital bills as if pouring water into a bottomless pit.
‘Haein-ah, you don’t know, do you? You probably never will.’
Why had he cared so much about her, a woman he had never even spoken to?
Of course, it wasn’t a huge sum of money for Soohyun, but it was too large to simply call it a whim. It was four years of tuition fees, so it couldn’t be called a small amount.
‘You were then and you are now, always making people worry about you.’
As Soohyun gently stroked her hair, Haein wiggled in his arms. She liked the feeling of his large hand pressing down on her head and stroking it.
The place where their bodies touched was warm and cozy.
“Sunbae.”
Haein quietly called Soohyun.
“Why.”
It was a short and blunt answer, but it didn’t feel cold at all. Haein decided to be a little braver than usual.
“...You told me before that if I got pregnant, I should just confirm it and then get rid of it.”
“......”
Soohyun’s hand, which had been stroking the top of her head, stopped. Haein didn’t have the courage to look at Soohyun’s face, which must have changed expression, so she placed one finger on his chest and slowly continued.
“That thought... hasn’t changed, has it...?”
“Haa...”
A long sigh replaced his answer.
Even without him saying it in words, Haein could fully understand his answer.
“...Still, it’s a life...”
Haein slowly parted her lips, watching Soohyun’s reaction, but the arms that had been holding her loosened.
“...It would be better not to talk about that anymore.”
Soohyun jumped up and went into the bathroom. Soon after, the sound of running water could be heard.
Haein clutched the blanket tightly and curled up like a shrimp.
‘I can’t even give up my own sibling, so how can I give up my own child...?’
The question that had been constantly rising in her heart since some time ago began to churn in her chest again.
‘But...’
How could she protect the life growing inside her?
There was no refuge from Soohyun, who said he didn’t need children, or from the devilish Chairman Park.
Even if she somehow opposed Soohyun and gave birth to the child, it didn’t seem like there would be a way to escape Chairman Park’s grasp afterward.
‘Isn’t there a way for everyone to be happy?’
Was there no way to save both her sibling and her baby? Worry deepened on Haein’s face as she pondered.
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