Chapter 18: Because You Chose Me

“Because you chose me.”

The flat, uninflected voice was honest.

Not a shred of deceit lingered within it.

His black eyes calmly held Seohee’s gaze.

“Because I… chose you?”

Doubt clouded Seohee’s face.

She had thought of answers based on conditions, on mutual need.

She believed that if it wasn’t that, then love was the only other answer.

‘Is it not love……?’

Seohee looked into Leehyun’s eyes.

A longing surged in his pitch-black pupils.

A desperate, urgent, and earnest wish, like searching for an oasis in the desert.

With his emotions boiling over like this, how could it not be love?

Seohee’s eyes shook, losing their direction.

Fear crept into her clouded brown eyes.

“Yes, because you chose me.”

Leehyun’s lips, lightly brushing her forehead, passed the tip of her nose and touched her lips.

Leaning down, he pressed in deep and slow.

‘Are you curious about us? Can’t you tell how deep it goes?’

As if asking her in return, Leehyun pushed her roughly and urgently.

His movements were thirsty, enough to push her head back and leave her breathless.

Before they knew it, Leehyun’s upper body collapsed over her as if climbing onto the bed.

“Seohee.”

Leehyun swept his thumb over her lips, which were slick with his saliva.

As he pressed her lower lip gently, Seohee looked up at him.

Leehyun, who had been teasing her red lips as if to swallow them whole, moved past her chin and sucked strongly on her fair neck.

“Ugh!”

Seohee’s back arched.

“I…….”

Letting out a tightly suppressed groan, Leehyun muttered in a half-raspy voice.

“I must not have earned your trust, honey.”

“Mmm.”

Seohee rustled at his decadently deep voice, which made goosebumps rise on her skin.

It was a proof so powerful that words like trust me or we are closer than you think could never hope to describe it.

Everywhere his lips descended, red marks bloomed like brands.

Her entire body burned as if melting away.

She felt completely out of control from head to toe.

As the dizzying, sweeping sensations hit her repeatedly, her focus grew hazy.

She gasped for breath, but Leehyun swallowed even that with his own lips.

Before she could even process the crude intimacy of his lips licking hers, his tongue tangled with hers.

When she tried to escape because she couldn’t keep up with his pace, he would give her a brief opening before immediately wrapping her back in.

Gentle, then burning hot.

Coaxing, then provoking.

In the end, she had no choice but to wrap her hands around the back of his neck.

Even if it had started as an arrangement, surely it wasn’t anymore.

There could be no emotion more certain than this.

As if to burn away all the remaining traces of her anxiety, she swept, bit, and swallowed Leehyun’s lips.

Over the next few days, Seohee’s morning sickness reached its peak.

“Let’s take some morning sickness medicine, Seohee.”

Watching Seohee slump exhaustedly in the bathroom, Leehyun raised his eyebrows fiercely.

He was clearly furious with the situation, yet his voice toward Seohee was soft and gentle.

“No, I’m fine.”

‘Fine, when you can’t even support your own weight.’

A vein pulsed on Leehyun’s forehead.

When Seohee dry-retched again in that split second, Leehyun clenched his fists tightly.

The touch of his hand rubbing her back was infinitely tender, but his black eyes swirled with displeasure.

“What are you going to do if you keep this up, Jin Seohee?”

Leehyun’s voice dropped to its absolute lowest.

He finally couldn’t hold back and called her by her full name, including her surname.

“The professor said this much is fi—”

She couldn’t even finish saying the professor had said it was fine.

Even with her eyes brimming with painful tears, Seohee stubbornly endured.

‘You are not fine. You’re clearly not okay.’

Swallowing the words that threatened to spill out, Leehyun gripped the sink tightly.

Knock, knock.

“Representative, it’s Seungho.”

At the call from afar, Seohee raised her hand and pushed Leehyun away.

It was a sign for him to go out.

“Representative, the presidents’ meeting is scheduled to…”

It likely meant they were running tight on time.

Leehyun hugged Seohee from behind without even checking the clock.

“The morning sickness medicine.”

His characteristically overbearing nature slipped out once again.

Leehyun stared at Seohee as if he had no intention of backing down.

“No.”

She shook her head side to side.

The tears hanging from her lashes fell drop by drop.

‘Stubborn as always.’

‘Jin Seohee.’

One or two veins bulged on Leehyun’s forehead.

“I said no. N— ugh.”

Her body was already suffering, and with him constantly coaxing her, Seohee felt annoyed.

It felt as if her emotions were fluctuating randomly; tears welled up at the slightest thing.

Tears fell when she was angry, tears fell when she was depressed, and her nose stung constantly.

“Please, Seohee.”

Seeing her continuous shaking of the head and utter rejection, Leehyun bit his lip and murmured against the nape of her neck.

‘Just once. Let’s try taking it just once.’

Though he teased her with his red lips and whispered to her, Seohee stubbornly resisted.

Haa.

Leehyun let out a heavy sigh against her neck.

The reason for her resistance was obvious.

Even though they said it would have no effect, the fact that she had undergone surgery while pregnant must have been weighing on her mind all this time.

Because of that, Seohee steadfastly refused to do anything that could potentially affect the baby.

“Representative.”

As if they could delay no longer, Seungho’s voice turned anxious.

Seohee pushed him hard, but Leehyun didn’t budge.

“Let’s take the morning sickness medicine.”

When Seohee turned her head with tears clinging to her eyes, Leehyun naturally wiped them away with the back of his hand.

“I told you, you shouldn’t keep crying like this.”

Seohee, blinking through her tears, bit her lower lip hard.

At that, Leehyun gently rubbed her lips with his fingers.

“Chief Jung seems to be in quite a hurry.”

Leehyun knew only too well that Seohee was always worried about being a hindrance to his work.

The Jin Seohee before her memory loss had been sensitive to his schedule, and the current Jin Seohee was no different.

No, because she didn’t know exactly what he did, she was even more on edge.

“When you are suffering this much, how can I possibly go to something like a presidents’ meeting?”

Hmm?

As Leehyun licked the corner of her eye, Seohee shivered.

“It’s my first meeting after skipping the inauguration ceremony anyway, so delaying it isn’t a bad idea.”

His casual tone was entirely serious.

There was no lie in his neat eyebrows and calm eyes.

Seohee shook her head, telling him not to do that, but Leehyun didn’t even blink.

“It’s going to be a long meeting, Seohee.”

It was a meeting that wouldn’t end until the newly risen sun, which burned hot enough to scorch anyone, finally traded places with the moon.

‘Will her pale face lose even more of its color? Will she stumble and ultimately collapse?’

‘That is all I’ll be thinking about. How could I possibly endure sitting through that meeting?’

Unlike his near-threatening words about how he would just storm out anyway, his touch as he caressed her cheek was sweet.

“If you take just one IV drip, I’ll go.”

Is that alright, honey?

Leehyun whispered against her ear.

‘I wish he would just yell at me for being foolish. Tell me he hates seeing me ruin my own body. If he said it that way, I could have refused. I could have gotten angry, telling him not to speak so lightly when he doesn’t even know my heart.’

But how could she say no when he spoke like that?

When he was saying he wouldn’t even go to the presidents’ meeting because of her.

Seohee’s stubbornly closed lips slowly relaxed.

“Seohee.”

His red tongue brushed over Seohee’s lips as if to soothe her.

Her attempt to shake her head was blocked by his act of gently biting and releasing her lips.

“You’ll do that, right?”

When her brown eyes, filled with a mix of disappointment and resentment, looked at Leehyun, he gently captured her red lips as if understanding everything.

Even though Seohee recalled her vomiting state and pushed him away with both hands, Leehyun did not yield.

Instead, he pressed closer the more she pushed him away.

His long tongue roamed inside her mouth, drinking in even the base of her tongue.

As Leehyun held the back of her head and pressed in deep and slow, as if to steal her morning sickness away, her mind went hazy.

Her mind and body became so relaxed she couldn’t even remember when she had been nauseous.

Because she liked his scent, she clutched his shirt collar, and Leehyun pressed his body completely against hers.

As the strength slowly left Seohee’s clinging hands, Leehyun noticed it like a ghost.

“Leehyun.”

Scooping Seohee up, he walked carefully.

Placing her on the bed, instead of adjusting the motion bed, he stacked two pillows together.

How did he know?

Seohee’s eyes shook like a lake swept by a breeze.

Raising the motion bed and stacking pillows felt different.

Her stomach churned so much that she couldn’t lie down, but stacking the pillows made it somewhat bearable.

“I’ll be back.”

The warmth of his lips that lingered on her forehead before vanishing was so tender that Seohee’s eyes turned red.

Right before leaving, Leehyun picked up the intercom and called Jiyeon, the OB/GYN professor.

He didn’t forget to call Aram as well, ordering her to set up an IV drip within a safe limit.

Seohee received the IV drip only after asking several times whether it would be harmful to the baby.

“Since Representative Yoon personally made the request before leaving, I will also prescribe morning sickness medicine.”

Jiyeon added an explanation that for the morning sickness medicine, she should take two pills before going to bed.

“Yes.”

Quiet settled in after Jiyeon left.

Turning onto her side, Seohee curled her body up small.

What broke her deep sleep was the arrival of Jin Heeyoung.

“Jin… Heeyoung?”

As she rubbed her heavy eyes and sat up, Aram carefully supported her.

“Yes, Madam.”

Aram looked at Seohee with embarrassment.

And with good reason, as she was a permitted visitor, she couldn’t simply turn her away, but since Leehyun was in a meeting, she couldn’t confirm his wishes.

‘What should we do?’

When Aram asked cautiously, Seohee pondered.

“My aunt…? The person currently serving as the interim CEO of J International?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Aram added an explanation that since Representative Yoon had permitted the visits, her wishes were absolutely the most important.

Seohee pulled her legs close and curled up her body.

‘Why me?’

‘For what reason does she want to see me?’

She looked at Aram with those questions in mind, but Aram seemed not to know either, failing to offer a proper answer.

“Does she happen to know that I have no memory?”

“No, Madam. The Representative has kept it strictly secret.”

Seohee realized they might not have a typical relationship between an aunt and a niece.

Because if they were a loving family, he would have explained her memory loss and sought their help instead.

“……I’ll meet her.”

The moment the door opened, Heeyoung rushed in.

“Seohee.”

Entering hastily, she held Seohee’s hands tightly and leaned down.

“I heard you were in an accident?”

She gripped so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

“……Yes.”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Sigh.

The touch of her hand caressing her cheek was not pleasant at all, so she pulled her body back.

Heeyoung did not back down and moved closer.

“Excuse me…….”

Heeyoung now grabbed her shoulders with both hands.

With a small groan, her brow furrowed.

At that, Aram stepped forward warily.

Seohee shook her head, indicating she was fine.

“Seohee.”

Heeyoung’s gaze, which had been meticulously scanning her from head to toe to see if she was injured anywhere, suddenly changed.

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