Chapter 11: Seventy-Two Hours

Even the languid voice seemed to echo in her ears, and Go Yi-jae hurriedly chewed and swallowed the macaron. It was a disaster that her eyes had begun to sting. She felt as though she might cry, so she quickly washed the sweetness from her mouth with coffee.

She had thought all those memories had disappeared, but they still remained this vivid.

Perhaps it was because they were memories from a time when she had been unbearably lonely and miserable. Because they had been the only warmth she had known while being battered from every direction.

“Try them all and vote for which one tastes best. Personally, I like the lemon one, but surprisingly, it’s not very popular.”

“Okay.”

Go Yi-jae barely managed to answer, hiding the tremor in her voice.

She filled her mouth with coffee again, trying to wash away the memories.

She couldn’t let something from so long ago still shake her like this. She couldn’t.

“So. Hurry up and tell me.”

Madam Yoon dragged Yi-jae’s chair closer to her own. Yi-jae set the swirling mug of coffee down on the worktable.

“What?”

“I told you to start dating, but I never imagined it’d work this fast.”

“Oh.”

“What exactly happened between you and the boss? Was it love at first sight?”

“It’s not like that. We’re not dating.”

“Yi-jae, you don’t have to pretend. Everyone knows.”

There was no way the people at the club wouldn’t know about that night. Yi-jae had come down the stairs the next morning holding her waist. Someone had opened the locked door for her, and she had expected that at least one of them would recognize her.

Besides, thirty million won had gone back and forth through the flower shop, and there had briefly been orders to prepare fifty million won in cash for delivery. There was more than enough material for rumors.

“Everyone knows that our Yi-jae picked the boss.”

“What?”

But she had picked him? Even Go Yi-jae was hearing this story for the first time.

“I never dreamed our Yi-jae had that kind of courage. I worried for nothing. You were the bulldozer type all along. You just hadn’t found anyone you liked until now, right?”

“What?”

Not understanding a word of it, Yi-jae tried to calm Madam Yoon down. She wanted to hear the whole story from beginning to end, but Madam Yoon was still far too excited.

“After I scolded Cherry that day, the club got crazy busy. We spent forever throwing out troublemakers, and by the time I was finally getting ready to leave, the staff were all whispering in front of the boss’s office. They said you and the boss had gone into his office and never come back out. Honestly, if it’d been anyone else, I’d have broken the door down, but as you know from the rumors, our boss is pretty… ‘safe.’ Compared to people in this line of work, he’s actually decent. So I figured nothing bad had happened.”

Then, as though she suddenly realized she might have been too careless about Yi-jae’s safety, she quickly added,

“Actually, the club didn’t close until four in the morning. Even if I’d known, it would’ve been too late. And when I asked those perverts eavesdropping outside the office if anything had happened, they just blushed. Ugh, degenerates. So I figured everything was fine.”

Yi-jae’s face burned. She hadn’t realized that everything happening inside had practically been broadcast live outside.

“Anyway, the next day I went to the office late, and the boss called me in. So I went. And do you know what he said?”

She didn’t know what he’d said, but judging by the expression on Madam Yoon’s face, it had to have been something ridiculous.

“He first checked whether I had another man. And when I said I didn’t, he looked completely satisfied. Then he suddenly started treating me like a rival. Like we were competing over you.”

“…What?”

“And that’s not even the end of it. If that had been all, I wouldn’t be this excited. A little later, he called in the entire staff and warned them that he’d kill anyone who treated his sister-in-law disrespectfully. Wow, it was terrifying. I’d only ever seen the good side of the boss before. Ha ha.”

As Madam Yoon said this, the light in her eyes died completely. She even broke out in a cold sweat, her face turning pale.

It was hard to imagine Chae Ju-han being frightening, but then again, everything about the current Chae Ju-han felt unfamiliar. From top to bottom, he seemed like an entirely different person.

“Oh, and Cherry confessed that she’d taken your money. She came back shaking and returned it. Maybe the boss knew all along and was just leading her on? Anyway, after completely destroying the atmosphere in the office, the boss left immediately to go see you. The rest of us were just left there stunned. So tell me. When and how did our Yi-jae become the boss’s woman? Did you really capture him in a single night?”

She’d heard too much to know where to begin denying things, but in the end, there was only one answer.

“We’re not really anything.”

“Our boss seemed pretty serious.”

“Maybe he’s just temporarily interested.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Madam Yoon clearly wanted to pry further, but decided to let it go this once. After that, they chatted about trivial things until she left.

Even after seeing Madam Yoon off, Yi-jae remained standing outside the flower shop. The freezing wind stung her skin. As if trying to freeze the turmoil she’d felt after hearing about him, she stood in the cold for a long time.

Chae Ju-han would continue doing whatever he wanted, and if she let herself get swept away even once, there would be no stopping it. So she had to endure like an old tree that refused to bend. Bare branches swayed in the icy wind. The cold seeped all the way into her bones.

“Waiting for me?”

The lazy voice came from somewhere she never would have expected. It was the black sedan parked across from the shop. She had noticed it sitting there for days, but she had never imagined Chae Ju-han was inside. The window rolled down, and Chae Ju-han waved.

“Why are you coming out of there?”

“I promised, didn’t I? That I’d spend those seventy-two hours thinking only about you.”

“…Then you’ve been watching me from there this whole time?”

“Why? Impressed?”

The word “impressed” suited a child, not a man as enormous as Chae Ju-han.

Crossing the street, she approached him. Once again, he was dressed like he barely owned any clothes. Was he really okay dressed like that in weather this cold?

Still, warm air flowed inside the car. In fact, Yi-jae found herself sticking her hands through the open window, hoping her frozen fingertips might thaw.

“Want to touch my chest?”

“…No.”

She withdrew her hands immediately, wondering what kind of misunderstanding had led him to that conclusion, and tucked them under her armpits instead. They weren’t warm after standing outside for so long, but that was better than being misunderstood.

Chae Ju-han clicked his tongue.

“Why not? You were staring at my chest.”

“It’s not time yet.”

Since it was true that she had been looking at his chest, she changed the subject. It was really just a plea for him to let it go, though she had no idea whether it would work.

He raised one eyebrow.

He looked displeased. Was he annoyed that she’d so obviously tried to dodge the question? Or maybe…

“Go Yi-jae, come here.”

“Hm?”

Click.

The car door opened, and suddenly her body was yanked forward. As the warmth hit her frozen body, pins and needles shot through her limbs. The heat wrapping around her felt so intense that her skin almost hurt. She struggled, but couldn’t get free.

Chae Ju-han held her tightly.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re cold.”

“…”

“Your lips are turning blue.”

The unnecessarily gentle voice seeped into her ears. Even his voice was warm, and Yi-jae felt as though her body might melt.

So she pushed him away.

The Go Yi-jae who had once lost herself in the warmth that man had offered was gone now. What she needed was the sting of cold. Warmth handed out like charity by someone else would only ruin her.

“It’s winter. Of course I’m cold.”

“Isn’t your shop cold too?”

“Flowers last longer in the cold.”

Smack.

At that moment, Chae Ju-han kissed her.

The sudden kiss left Yi-jae staring at him wide-eyed.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Flirting with you.”

“…That’s against our agreement.”

“What agreement?”

“…Are you pretending not to remember? If you’re just going to ignore our conditions like this, then forget it. Maybe that’s for the best.”

“You’re going to tear up the contract over one kiss? You’ve got big dreams.”

“Fine. Then tomorrow is off- ah.”

As Yi-jae tried to open the door and get out, she was pulled backward. This time, his body enclosed her from behind, erasing the last traces of cold. The man holding her a little tighter than before was warm.

“That’s a separate matter.”

“There you go again, saying ridiculous things.”

“We made rules about s*x, didn’t we?”

“…”

“You’re hurting, so I’m holding back. Think about it again. We never made a rule against kissing. The only rule we have is that for seventy-two hours, I think about you passionately. While desperately waiting for the moment I finally get to be inside you.”

His low voice nibbled at her earlobe.

Her entire body flushed hot, and she couldn’t think of a rebuttal. At the time, she’d assumed Chae Ju-han would reject her condition immediately, so she’d never bothered to make any other rules.

She had never imagined he would try to seduce her with his entire body like this.

Nor had she imagined the heavy weight beneath her, the undeniable presence of his e*ection pressed against her.

“Ah…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep our agreement. Though if you beg me to put it in, that might be a different story.”

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Feelings of love

darkHealinglove

Read Now →
Not interested