TO 6

Chapter 6

Taehyuk’s eyes narrowed. The text had been sent around the time he was in his meeting—late at night, long after the flower shop’s delivery window would have closed. For no clear reason, an urgent restlessness took hold of him.

“Didn’t you say you sent the flowers today?”

“Yes, sir. I did. I even received a photo confirming the delivery.”

“Were there… roses?”

At Taehyuk’s question, the secretary flusteredly pulled out his phone.

“Never mind.”

Taehyuk raised his hand, halting his secretary.

“Cancel dinner for today. Head home.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

“Before that…”

Taehyuk looked down at his left wrist. As he checked the time, his brow furrowed slightly.

10:00 PM.

Displeased, he shoved his left hand into his pocket.

“If there’s a flower shop still open, stop by.”

“Pardon?”

Just then, the elevator doors slid open. Taehyuk didn’t reply and stepped inside, a sense of anxiety lacing his stride.

Taking the bouquet of roses Taehyuk offered nonchalantly, Seo-ah’s cheeks flushed a soft red. Her lips curved faintly into a delicate crescent moon.

“Thank you.”

Taehyuk glanced at the massive flower basket resting on the living room table.

Created under his order to get ‘the finest and most expensive,’ it looked less like a gift and more like a grotesque floral fountain.

Excessive gestures only breed discomfort.

“Shall we have dinner first? Or…”

Swallowing the rest of her sentence, Seo-ah lowered her head shyly. Taehyuk stole a quick glance at her.

Or… What would follow ‘or’ was likely what Seo-ah truly wanted to do.

What could it be?

Soon, however, Taehyuk turned his head away, the image of that monstrous flower basket flashing through his mind.

Don’t overdo it.

“I’ll shower first. I’d like to wash up.”

Taehyuk turned to head toward the bathroom.

“Um…”

Right then, Seo-ah softly grabbed the hem of his shirt. Seeing the clear tension on her face made Taehyuk unconsciously feel a dry swallow catch in his throat.

Without a word, Taehyuk turned back toward her. It meant she wanted something more from him.

Sure enough, a bold proposal followed.

“I-I was hoping we could greet each other. Starting today.”

Starting today? Including a premise like ‘starting today’ meant this wouldn’t end with their usual routine of ‘You’re back?’ and ‘Yeah.’ A greeting different from usual.

“What…”

Taehyuk was thrown off. Seo-ah had tightly closed her eyes and thrust her face forward toward him. Slyly, her plump, red lips were aimed straight at him.

“A greeting.”

Seo-ah spoke with her lips pouted outward. Embarrassed by her own actions, she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

Her red lips were turned toward him, clearly asking for a kiss. Just a few days ago, Seo-ah was a woman who felt uncomfortable both touching him and being touched by him.

Though Taehyuk’s eyes remained unreadable, something hot seemed to rise from within him. As the wait dragged on, Seo-ah scrunched up her face like a child, causing her lips to push out a little more plumply.

Knowing the taste of those lips, saliva pooled at the base of Taehyuk’s tongue.

The sensory cells in his mouth still clearly remembered the exact taste and texture of holding her.

“Can’t you even do this much for me? You said you’d do whatever I wanted…”

Seo-ah couldn’t finish her sentence. Taehyuk’s lips had covered hers, sealing her words. It wasn’t an intense kiss like the night before, but a tender, affectionate one. The light pressure of Taehyuk’s lips felt as hot as if melting directly into hers.

As Taehyuk’s lips parted slightly to softly suck her lower lip, Seo-ah’s eyes fluttered open—like a princess breaking a spell under the prince’s kiss.

A-Ah, no. I can’t let myself get swept into Senior’s pace again like yesterday.

“Nnh…”

Seo-ah pushed against Taehyuk’s firm chest. Because she was holding the bouquet of roses in her hands, a rich floral scent drifted between them. Though the arrangement of the flowers shifted and space opened between their bodies, their lips remained glued together.

“Ha… ah.”

Seo-ah twisted her body, letting out a small sound. Yet that only seemed to provoke Taehyuk further. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he pulled her even closer into his chest. He seemed entirely unbothered by the bouquet wedged between them.

Ah, the flowers…

Seo-ah hurriedly pulled the bouquet out from between their chests. Taehyuk didn’t miss the opening, pulling her deeply into his embrace once again.

Her hand holding the bouquet hovered awkwardly in midair. But right now, Seo-ah didn’t even have the leeway to care where her hand was.

The kiss deepened by the second. Taehyuk’s tongue was coaxing and sweet-talking her lips to open wider. Seo-ah felt as though the floor beneath her feet had suddenly dropped away. She staggered as if about to collapse on the spot, but the place she fell into was Taehyuk’s waiting arms.

“Haa.”

No… my legs are losing strength.

Taehyuk’s kiss was sweet and scalding hot. It was like a freshly baked pastry—light and airy on the outside, yet bursting with sweet, rich cream that filled her entire mouth with a single bite.

At the same time, it was a kiss that left one feeling utterly starved.

Is it because it’s an illusion? Because I know this kiss will never truly belong to me?

That was right. Seo-ah could never truly possess Taehyuk. That was why every touch he gave her was nothing more than a passing breeze.

Reminding herself of this, Seo-ah held on with all her strength. Yet Taehyuk’s kiss was far too hot, far too deep to be called a mere illusion.

Senior… how can you be this good at kissing…?

No one could possibly be this good at kissing from birth, so he had definitely shared kisses like this with someone else before.

He had never given her a kiss like this until now. Then who was it with?

At that moment, a face flashed in her mind.

Fair, translucent skin, large clear eyes, a sharp nose, and vivid red lips. A sophisticated face paired with a slender, model-like figure.

Seo-ah bit down firmly on her lips just as they were about to part. Taehyuk’s invading tongue bumped against her teeth. That alone was more than enough to convey her refusal.

Taehyuk lifted his heavy lips slightly and opened his eyes. Seo-ah was staring straight at him, her eyes wide open. Facing each other, the two were cautiously feeling around the edges of one another’s hidden thoughts.

Seo-ah moved first, taking a step backward. This time, Taehyuk let her go without resistance, looking as if the heat from moments ago had never existed.

Seo-ah lowered her gaze to steady her breath, her long downcast eyelashes fluttering faintly.

“It seems the greeting was a bit excessive.”

Taehyuk muttered the words softly, uncertain to whom he was speaking.

“Y-yes.”

She panted, her voice breathless.

Taehyuk’s eyebrow arched quietly. He hadn’t intended for things to go this far. At first, he simply meant to go along with Seo-ah’s cute provocation. But the moment their lips touched, he felt as though he had lost control of his own willpower.

As Seo-ah gasped in his arms, trembling and flushing soft pink, he was overtaken by a sudden urge to push her just a little further.

“I-I’ll prepare dinner. Secretary Kim mentioned you hadn’t eaten yet.”

Seo-ah hurriedly turned toward the kitchen as she spoke.

“I’ll wash up first.”

Taehyuk replied bluntly before making his way toward the bathroom. As the two disappeared into their respective spaces with their backs turned to each other, a single rose petal—fallen during their deep embrace—lay abandoned on the floor where they had stood. Like a fragment of a heart someone had failed to gather up.

Cold water poured over his marble-smooth skin. Under the icy spray, his muscles contracted and stood out in sharp relief.

While Taehyuk appeared lean when dressed in a suit, his body was in truth solidly built with sharply defined muscles. The sight of his rock-hard back muscles rippling beneath the cascading water was intensely sensuous.

“Haa.”

Taehyuk ran a hand over his wet hair, the slick black strands clinging smoothly to his head.

What on earth am I doing?

He couldn’t fathom what she was plotting.

Was she trying to get back at him for refusing to grant her an easy divorce?

Looking at Seo-ah now, she didn’t look like a wife seeking a divorce at all.

If anything, it was the exact opposite.

‘I-I’ll work hard. I’ll do my best to become a wife worthy of you, Senior.’

It was the day she had accepted his proposal.

With her face pale as rice water, Seo-ah had expressed her bold ambition despite her shy demeanor.

What had he said back then?

‘No, don’t work too hard. Just do what’s reasonable.’

His stance remained unchanged even now. Going overboard only created a burden for both sides.

Taehyuk frowned as he recalled Go-eun, who had been obsessively attached to him to an excessive degree.

‘How could you do this to me?!’

Go-eun, who was supposed to leave for the United States, hadn’t boarded the plane that day. A month before the wedding, she sent a single text breaking off the engagement and went completely off the grid until three days before the ceremony. Then, belatedly realizing that Taehyuk was getting married to Seo-ah instead, she showed up and threw a massive scene.

The wedding hall, the dress, the hotel she had so painstakingly selected…

They had all become Seo-ah’s. Even Go-eun’s family couldn’t say a word, as the broken engagement was entirely due to Go-eun’s unilateral disappearance.

‘You were the one who cut this tie. Don’t act like this now.’

At Taehyuk’s cold words, Go-eun had ground her teeth. On the day of Taehyuk and Seo-ah’s wedding, she made a point of attending as a guest dressed in a white one-piece dress.

‘Um… Senior, could we perhaps ask your ex-fiancée to leave?’

Before the ceremony began, Seo-ah had pleaded with Taehyuk.

‘Ignore her. You only need to look at me.’ ‘But…’

Back then, Seo-ah looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

There was no way Seo-ah could have been comfortable with Go-eun glaring at her as if she were about to pounce and tear apart her dress and veil.

Wearing a flashy wedding dress tailored entirely to his mother Seung-hee’s taste—a style that didn’t suit her at all—Seo-ah had looked like a young girl playing dress-up in her mother’s oversized clothes.

What was it that I said back then…?