Chapter 24: Familiar Footsteps

The sedan stopped smoothly and silently.

As Seohee, who had been leaning against Leehyun’s shoulder, blankly lifted her eyelids, the door opened.

“There are quite a few stairs.”

Leaving only those brief words, Leehyun scooped her up, and her field of vision lifted significantly.

The mansion was grand enough to subdue the darkness of the pitch-black night.

“Is this place……”

Leehyun paused.

His black eyes, which had flickered with the thought that she might have remembered, quickly regained their composure.

“It’s our home.”

Our home.

Yours and mine.

What was this single phrase anyway?

What was it about just those words?

Excessively sentimental emotions left her no room to breathe.

Complex emotions shook her every single time, making her wonder if she had any rationality left.

She didn’t want to act like a child, but the feeling of constantly becoming one was… how should she put it?

Unable to explain it with words, Seohee put more force into her hands wrapped around him, and Leehyun pulled her close as if he had been waiting for that very moment.

“Whenever I climbed these stairs, I thought of nothing.”

His quietly murmured words were as emotional as a confession.

The only time he could erase his worries.

That was how Leehyun described the moments he spent mechanically moving his feet.

“That turned into one year, two years, three years—”

He had thought he had grown numb.

But at some point, Leehyun began to think of Seohee every time he climbed the stairs.

Her round face waiting for him.

Her snow-white skin.

Her lips as red as a morning apple.

That fresh, vibrant face that used to smile while wearing a pretty apron.

Even as he climbed the stairs after returning from his business trips, he habitually pictured Seohee’s face.

Would her hair be let down today, or would it be tied up neatly?

Would her apron be white or pink?

Would she be wearing slippers?

Would she run out barefoot to open the door in her haste?

He had walked like a madman, unable to cut off the invading visions.

And standing in front of the main house, Leehyun had realized.

He was the one who had shattered even those abnormal illusions.

Crushing his self-deprecating laugh under his dress shoes, he had opened the door and been cut by a chilling sensation unlike any other.

“I thought of you every day.”

“Because I climbed these stairs every single day, without fail.”

Don’t leave. Don’t be anxious.

Every time Leehyun poured out each syllable, Seohee swallowed hard.

Her heart trembled, and her fingers curled inward.

Deep enough to blow away words like arranged marriage to the wind, Leehyun’s voice slowly extended its roots into Seohee’s heart.

As she lay quietly in his arms, listening to his soft, murmuring words, a gentle breeze blew past.

“Wow—”

As a spectacular sight that prompted an exclamation of awe unfolded before her eyes, Seohee squirmed slightly.

Only when Leehyun set her down carefully, adding a single remark, did the vast garden finally enter her view properly.

The beautifully landscaped garden, the trickling pond, and the lush trees surrounding it resembled a small hill.

Her gaze was briefly stolen by the soft lighting, but Leehyun gently pulled her wrist.

“Let’s go inside.”

When Leehyun pressed his index finger, the door opened automatically.

Ah.

A short gasp escaped her.

The interior was so desolate that the exterior, by contrast, felt warm.

To put it nicely, it was minimalist, but to be frank, it felt cold.

Despite the vast square footage, there wasn’t much furniture.

Except for a few essentials, one would wonder if anyone even lived here.

The interior, where not even a single small flowerpot was placed, felt strangely comfortable, and Seohee quietly leaned against the door frame.

Glancing sideways, she saw a large mirror reflecting her form.

“What is is?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

As she stepped away in surprise, Leehyun’s gaze landed on her.

“I’m going to wash my hands.”

Leehyun quietly followed Seohee’s quickening steps.

Even as the sliding door closed and Seohee naturally entered the bedroom and walked straight into the bathroom as if it were the most obvious thing to do, Leehyun did not add a single word.

He simply kept pace with her quietly, in case she tripped or collapsed from exhaustion.

“Ah……”

The rushing sound of the running tap echoed in her ears like tinnitus.

Lifting her head while still in the middle of washing her hands, she saw herself standing in an unfamiliar space.

Only then did she realize she had walked here with complete familiarity.

‘I don’t even know the layout, so how?’

Seohee froze in embarrassment.

Her fingers holding onto the sink tightened forcefully.

“I really…… did live here.”

The white sink, the soft golden mirror, and the large bathtub against the dark gray walls.

It was her first time entering this place, yet it didn’t feel foreign, which made it even stranger.

Knock, knock.

“What’s wrong?”

Tears welled up at the quiet voice from outside.

Had this been their daily life?

Spending time together in the same space like this.

Feeling anxious at the prolonged sound of running water, Leehyun knocked on the door repeatedly.

“Because it feels strange……”

As Seohee murmured while holding the door, Leehyun quietly waited.

“Don’t you…… find it strange? That I’m acting so familiar with everything?”

“Not at all.”

Not a bit.

His bass voice, as always, never spoke empty words.

Hearing his low, steady voice made her feel as though that was indeed the case.

‘But somehow, it’s still strange.’

Feeling confused, Seohee closed the door under the pretext of washing up.

“Now it truly feels as if nothing had ever happened.”

Seohee.

Leehyun murmured to himself in front of the closed door.

‘Perhaps it’s for the best.’

‘Since you forgot the words that can never be taken back.’

‘Yes, it’s better not to remember such things.’

Leehyun consoled himself.

Hoping that Seohee’s memory would never return.

Hoping the wounds he had inflicted would be erased without a trace.

When Seohee came out after washing, Leehyun walked in with his hair damp.

“Are you finished washing?”

A natural question.

“Yes.”

An answer that followed as if waiting.

Seohee let out a faint laugh at the smooth, natural daily conversation.

“It’s late, so there are no employees here. Neither you nor I liked having too many people coming and going, after all.”

Adjusting the feather lamp beside the bed himself, Leehyun explained.

Because it was her first time seeing him without a shirt, wearing only a light nightgown, Seohee couldn’t take her eyes off him.

Drip, drip.

Even though water was falling to the floor, Leehyun didn’t seem bothered and kept speaking.

“I don’t think you can eat anything right now.”

Leehyun’s gaze swept over Seohee.

At that, her head nodded reflexively.

“If you are to eat something tomorrow morning, I suppose I should adjust the employees’ working hours.”

Hmm.

Leehyun picked up his mobile phone with a serious look.

His words were true.

Because both Leehyun and Seohee hated having multiple people coming and going, the employees’ working hours were unusually late to arrive and early to leave compared to other houses.

Even so, proper dining facilities were prepared in the annex, and the main house only had a bar where light meals could be brought in and eaten, so the employees never entered the main house except for cleaning times.

Even while Leehyun brought the phone to his ear, water droplets dripped down from the tips of his hair, drip, drip.

“……Yes, right, Chief Jung.”

While Leehyun exchanged a few words, Seohee brought a towel from the bathroom.

“Leehyun.”

The pupils of his eyes widened as he turned around, and he quickly hung up after saying his farewells.

“I’ll dry your hair. The water is dripping.”

Pfft.

The curve of Leehyun’s lips as they pulled up in a lopsided smile was beautiful.

To the point where she wanted to kiss him right then and there.

Her heart fluttered at that minor movement.

Her throat went dry and her cheeks flushed, causing Seohee to swallow hard.

Leehyun sat down on the bench bed and tilted his head up slightly, as if he had been waiting for this.

“Are you going to dry it for me?”

The man who didn’t even realize water was dripping a moment ago now acted as though he had been waiting all along.

As she only blinked her eyes, Leehyun gently pulled her wrist.

“Should I close my eyes?”

‘Why my eyes?’

“W-well, no……”

Seohee was flustered.

“The water is dripping, honey.”

Leehyun’s whispering voice made the fine hairs on her skin stand on end.

Did he really not know?

When water was dripping down like that.

Her mouth parted involuntarily.

As she shook out the towel, tiny droplets of water splattered.

“Ah!”

Just as she stopped shaking the towel and began to dry his hair strand by strand, Leehyun suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

“Seohee.”

His deeply lowered voice held her fast, refusing to let go.

L-Leehyun.

Even when she tried to push him away, he did not budge.

Haa, Seohee.

The hot words breathed against her chest made her breath catch.

A burning, overwhelming sensation momentarily swept over her.

It was a stimulus so strong she didn’t even realize she had dropped the towel.

“Shall we sleep?”

Her heart beat helplessly at those words.

Her hands tingled, and her face burned with heat.

When she regained her senses, she was on the bed.

With one of her wrists held by Leehyun, Seohee lay leaning against his chest.

She could feel his steady heartbeat, proving she wasn’t the only one whose heart was fluttering.

As Leehyun gently pulled her body closer, her cheeks flushed red.

“Aren’t you… busy?”

“Do you want me to be busy?”

Seohee was flustered when Leehyun rubbed his face against her neck as if feeling neglected.

Her gently wavering eyes froze, and her throat burned.

The tickling sensation near her stomach left her completely frozen.

She worried her heart might burst at any moment.

Astonished that she could react so intensely to just his breath falling on her neck, Seohee couldn’t close her parted mouth.

“Now that you’ve come home……”

His deeply lowered voice was completely thick.

“……”

“I like this.”

As if drinking in her scent, Leehyun took a deep breath with his nose buried in her neck.

Gently pulling Seohee’s body close, he closed his eyes.

I like sleeping while holding you.

At his simple and honest expression, Seohee swallowed hard once more.

Because he was so relaxed while she alone felt overwhelmed by dizzying sensations, a sudden wave of petulance rose in her.

Gently touching his weary-looking eyes and caressing his shoulders, her hand scratched Leehyun’s forearm playfully.

Ignoring his growling groan, she pressed her lips to his neck, making Leehyun flinch.

Before a small laugh could escape her lips, Leehyun pulled his body back and cupped both of her cheeks.

Her brown eyes and his black eyes clashed in midair.

Along with a tingling sensation, a tight tension rippled between them.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I, The Final Boss, Don’t Want To Be The Protagonist’s Mother

DramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested