ORC 04

Chapter 4

 I’ll Take Them Off for You

Seo-yoon didn’t call Driver Choi. Instead, she hailed a taxi.

Rather than disturbing Driver Choi, who was probably relaxing at home after finishing work, it would be faster to call a nearby taxi.

The taxi arrived within five minutes, and with the bartender’s help, Seo-yoon got Seo Ji-hyuk into the cab.

Seo-yoon climbed into the seat beside him and told the taxi driver their destination.

The taxi began speeding down the nighttime streets.

Seo Ji-hyuk was slumped over like any man who had drunk far too much, his eyes half-closed.

In contrast, Seo-yoon sat upright with perfect posture.

Sitting right beside him in the cramped, enclosed space made her increasingly tense. The back of her neck stiffened, and every muscle in her body tightened.

A strange scent seeped into the tip of her nose.

The sweet aroma of whiskey mixed with the refreshing scent of his cologne, making Seo-yoon feel almost intoxicated herself.

Her lips kept drying out, so she repeatedly ran her tongue over them to moisten them.

Then, something suddenly occurred to her.

Oh, right. I need to give him the wedding invitation.

Seo-yoon carefully slipped the wedding invitation into the pocket of his jacket.

At that, his languid, alcohol-dulled dark eyes focused on the invitation peeking slightly out of his jacket pocket.

He gazed wistfully at it and muttered bitterly, his words slurred.

“If I hadn’t acted so spoiled, noona wouldn’t have ended up marrying another man……………….”

A completely unexpected word had come from his mouth.

Noona? Spoiled?

So the woman had been older than him?

Seo Ji-hyuk as a younger man who acted spoiled toward an older woman was something Seo-yoon simply couldn’t imagine.

“I really loved her……………….”

“She was my first love…………..”

Every single word he uttered was a shock.

Not merely someone he had loved, but his first love.

Her heart ached, and she suddenly felt small and insignificant.

A jumble of emotions crossed through her.

She felt a surge of envy and jealousy toward his special woman. At the same time, she was relieved that the woman was getting married. And then she felt pathetic for making such a fuss when, whether that woman got married or not, this man would never see Seo-yoon as anything more than his secretary……………….

Seo-yoon turned her head and looked out the window.

As she secretly sighed, something suddenly dropped onto her shoulder.

She turned her head again to check, only to find that the thoroughly drunken Seo Ji-hyuk had fallen asleep with his head resting against her shoulder.

Seo-yoon stared silently at his sleeping face.

The orange glow of the streetlights illuminating the night filtered through the window, casting a romantic glow over his features.

His long, neatly arranged eyelashes looked almost poetic.

His full lips seemed as though they held some secret, while the rhythmic sound of his breathing playfully tickled her ear.

Seo-yoon’s pulse began racing.

She resented this cold man who didn’t see her as a woman in the slightest, but whenever she looked at his handsome face like this, her resentment melted away like snow, and her heart went into a frenzy as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I’m such an idiot……………….

Even though she was fully aware that her love was foolish and unrequited, she couldn’t shake her feelings for him.

She still hadn’t found a way to stop loving him.

The taxi stopped in front of a luxurious villa.

Seo-yoon vigorously shook Ji-hyuk’s shoulder to wake him.

“Director, we’re here. Please wake up.”

Seo Ji-hyuk slowly opened his eyes. But because his mind was still hazy, he couldn’t easily move his body.

In the end, Seo-yoon got out of the taxi first.

She grabbed his sturdy wrist and pulled him out of the cab, then supported him.

When his tall, heavy frame leaned against her slender body, the pressure was so overwhelming that a gasp escaped her.

But Seo-yoon summoned every ounce of strength she had and managed to lead him all the way to the front door.

“Director, I’ll enter the door-lock code.”

It seemed faster for her to enter it than for someone who was drunk.

Having worked as Seo Ji-hyuk’s secretary for a long time, Seo-yoon had visited his villa several times before, so she was familiar with the place.

Naturally, she knew the passcode as well.

Seo-yoon entered the passcode with a series of beeps and opened the door. Then she took Seo Ji-hyuk to the bedroom and laid him down on the bed.

Seo-yoon took several deep breaths and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.

She had gotten quite the workout in the middle of the night.

She had struggled and strained so hard trying to support a muscular man who was thirty-two centimeters taller than her all by herself.

After catching her breath, Seo-yoon looked around the bedroom.

I’ve been to the villa a few times, but this is the first time I’ve ever come inside his bedroom……………….

The thought of stepping into his most private space made her troublesome heart start beating again.

Seo-yoon looked around his bedroom curiously.

Hanging on one wall was a jersey from the New York Rangers, a North American hockey team.

The number 7 and his English name, “Lusty,” were printed on the back of the jersey.

A long hockey stick lay on the bed like a cherished possession.

She had heard that he had played ice hockey until high school.

Apparently, he had been skilled enough to have been selected first overall by the prestigious North American hockey team, the New York Rangers.

Seo-yoon looked back and forth between the hockey stick on the bed and Seo Ji-hyuk, who lay beside it, slowly blinking his eyes.

Seo Ji-hyuk and ice hockey.

They seemed like a good match, yet somehow they didn’t.

His strong bone structure, massive physique, and uniquely fierce, ruthless aura suited ice hockey, a sport for tough guys, perfectly.

But his immaculate suit, worn in the most classic fashion, seemed completely out of place with such a rough sport.

He wore a particularly well-tailored classic black suit.

Not only was he wearing the jacket, but a vest as well, and his tie was still properly fastened.

Just looking at him made Seo-yoon feel uncomfortable on his behalf.

Didn’t he think to loosen his tie and take off his jacket while drinking?

“Director, please sit up for a moment and take off some of your clothes.”

Seo Ji-hyuk didn’t even move, apparently too bothered to comply.

He simply lay there, blinking slowly as if someone had put him on slow playback.

“Come on, sit up.”

When Seo-yoon grabbed his wrist and pulled, he slowly raised his body.

But he didn’t seem particularly inclined to take off his clothes.

“Then I’ll take them off for you.”

Clicking her tongue lightly, Seo-yoon removed his jacket and vest and loosened his tie.

She turned toward the bedroom chair to neatly arrange the clothes. At the same time, Seo Ji-hyuk collapsed back onto the bed as if his strength had given out.

Seo-yoon carefully draped his jacket, vest, and tie over the bedroom chair.

Then she approached him again and undid two of the buttons on his dress shirt, which had been fastened all the way up to his neck.

“I won’t take off your shirt.”

She was curious about what his bare body looked like, but she shouldn’t cross the line.

“Director, then I……………….”

Putting her disappointment aside, Seo-yoon was about to ask, Then may I leave now?

But Seo Ji-hyuk murmured quietly in his half-conscious state.

“I’m thirsty.”

“Oh, you’re thirsty. I’ll get you some water. Please wait a moment.”

Seo-yoon answered sweetly and hurried into the kitchen.

She filled a clear glass completely with water and returned to the bedroom.

“Director, I brought you some water. Please sit up for a moment.”

Seo-yoon grabbed his thick wrist again and strained as she helped him sit up.

He sat with his back against the headboard, snatched the glass, and began gulping down the water.

His prominent Adam’s apple moved sexily with every swallow.

Seo-yoon watched the sight intently and swallowed dryly.

Even his smallest actions felt intensely stimulating to her.

Because Seo Ji-hyuk was a man who was sexy simply by existing.

He drank every last drop of water in the glass without leaving a single drop behind.

He must have been terribly thirsty.

He casually wiped the water from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and took a deep breath.

Then he stared blankly at Seo-yoon through his heavily unfocused eyes.

“Do you feel a little more clear-headed after drinking some water?”

“Assistant Manager Yeon. This is the first time I’ve seen you like this.”

Seo Ji-hyuk answered in his husky, lowered voice, completely missing the point.

“What? Like what?”

“Casual. It’s the first time I’ve seen you like this.”

“Oh, yes.”

Seo-yoon understood what he meant and gave a small nod.

She was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt right now.

Since she normally went to work in a pencil skirt and blouse, practically like a school uniform, this casual style must have been unfamiliar to him.

“Oh, now that I think about it, it’s not the first time.”

“What? It’s not the first time?”

Seo-yoon’s eyes widened.

Had Seo Ji-hyuk seen her dressed casually before?

With his drunken eyes, he slowly looked her up and down from head to toe and gave her an enigmatic smile.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t the first time.

Thirteen years ago, on the rooftop of a certain hospital, she had also been wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.

The only difference was that back then, she had been wearing a huge hair roller in her bangs.

Just like young girls with no sense of shame about their appearance tended to do.

“You’re pretty.”

Seo-yoon’s light-brown irises widened as though they might burst from their sockets.

The voice resonating softly in her ears sounded utterly unfamiliar.

No—more precisely, it was the content of what he had said that was unfamiliar.

Pretty? Who? Me?

Seo-yoon wondered if she had heard him correctly.

Although he occasionally praised her work, he had never once complimented her appearance.

As mentioned before, he saw her only as his secretary, not as a woman.

There’s no way Director Seo just called me pretty……………….

He’s not the kind of man who knows how to say sweet things like that. I must be hearing things.

But as if to prove that she wasn’t hallucinating, he said it again, clearly.

“You’re pretty. You.”

He grabbed the back of Seo-yoon’s neck.

Before she even had time to react, his lips came toward hers.

“Mmph……!”

In the blink of an eye, her lips were taken.

As he gently caressed the pale nape of her neck, he boldly claimed Seo-yoon’s lips.