Side story 1. Ch 1.2

CEO Jang stood on the terrace wearing nothing but his pants, smoking a cigarette while talking on the phone. As I followed him out of the room, I slowly looked around the house. There were no traces of life in the place where he had been staying alone.

I dusted off the rug, knocking the dust into the air, and meticulously wiped down the dust on the display case with a cloth. While vacuuming, I suddenly felt a gaze on me and turned toward the terrace. The man was looking this way, his phone still pressed to his ear. His lips were still moving, so he seemed to still be on the call.

On his back, the nail marks I had left were still visible. It looked as if some feline predator like a lynx had scratched at him with its claws. Carrying those kinds of marks on his back, he tapped the window with his middle finger. The taps grew faster and rougher. The gesture was evocative of s**, and heat rushed to my cheeks. I avoided his gaze and pulled the vacuum cleaner toward the kitchen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his face contort into something vicious. Suddenly, a harsh scraping sound reached my ears, and I turned back to the terrace. The cigarette b**t had been crushed against the window. A dark burn mark was left on the glass. Just for avoiding his gaze for a moment, he was taking it out on something else. I cursed under my breath. …Crazy b**t**d.

The food from the day I had left was still sitting in the fridge, untouched, as if the housekeeper hadn’t come by. I threw everything into the food waste bin.

As I was doing so, I felt the man enter from the terrace and press up against my back. His large shadow loomed over me. The sheer weight of his presence was overwhelming, but I swallowed discreetly and asked,

“Has the housekeeper not been coming?”

The man standing close to me smelled of bitter cigarette smoke mixed with his deep, natural scent. Unlike usual, there was barely any trace of cologne—only the scent of his body.

“I told her not to come for a while. I didn’t like the idea of someone else touching what’s mine. I already felt disgusting enough, so I couldn’t stand it.”

Of course. He had glared fiercely when Park Jingyeong had touched me before, too. Even though the man was his client, he hadn’t hesitated to show his displeasure. Back then, I had wondered why he was acting like that. But looking back now, the reason was obvious. His possessiveness over what was his was extreme. Since he had built everything he had with his own hands, he seemed to have an even stronger sense of ownership.

The man buried his nose in the nape of my neck and took a deep breath as if he were inhaling my very soul. I felt as though I was being s**ked into him. His deep breaths against my skin made my knees tremble slightly.

“There’s no shampoo in this house that smells like this.”

“……”

“What exactly are you hiding under your skin?”

He bit down on my skin, as if determined to tear it open with his molars to check inside.

“CEO, the only thing I know how to make is bean sprout soup.”

I deliberately changed the subject to lighten the mood, but the man was completely engrossed in teasing my body. He toyed with my chest and grabbed my a*s as if to crush it. The way his lips curled into a wicked grin made him look like a pervert through and through.

“I think we should eat lunch….”

“Of course, we should eat lunch.”

He muttered against my nape and tapped his phone screen a few times before handing it to me.

“Tell them what you need.”

I took the phone in confusion and held it to my ear.

“Bean sprouts and some meat would be nice.”

— Yes, understood.

Thirty minutes later, Kim Jungdeok entered the house, both hands full of shopping bags.

“Hello.”

He grinned, lifting the large, swollen bags before setting them down on the floor. His smiling face was unsettling in a way different from CEO Jang’s. I started unpacking the bags one by one. One, two, three… there were seventeen packs of bean sprouts. Then, I opened another bag. It was packed full of red-tinted meats—Korean beef, pork, and even fresh chicken. Altogether, 11 kilograms. Another bag contained various kinds of alcohol, five boxes of c**doms, and an assortment of stockings.

I pulled out the last item, puzzled.

“Why this…?”

“What the f**k is this?”

The man swept everything off the dining table with his arm and cursed dryly as he kicked the stockings on the floor.

“Why did he bring those?”

“I don’t think you’re really asking because you don’t know.”

CEO Jang narrowed his sharp eyes. At that strange smile, I feigned ignorance and opened a bottle of wine. I poured some into the frying pan before placing a well-marbled steak on it. The sizzling sound filled the kitchen. Since it was premium meat, the juices oozed out effortlessly, even without any special technique.

The man sat at the table and cut a large piece of steak. The sharp knife sank deep into the meat, slicing it into several portions. He put a piece into his mouth and chewed, his sleek cheeks moving. It felt like offering food to a carnivorous beast.

“I didn’t know you could cook.”

After being insulted for not knowing how to do anything, this was one of the rare compliments I’d heard from him. Seeing him eat made me feel hungry for the first time in a while. I took a spoonful of the bean sprout soup I had just made. I had only mimicked what I had seen my mother do a few times, but it didn’t taste too bad. As I continued eating, the man suddenly remarked,

“You ignore all the expensive things placed in front of you.”

Come to think of it, it had been a while since we had sat face-to-face like this for a proper meal. Unlike before, when it felt like chewing on warm sand, I felt surprisingly comfortable now. Eating together with him no longer felt awkward.

There were still a few bottles of wine left. He drove a corkscrew deep into one and twisted it open. Red wine filled the glass he had taken from the shelf. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. After he emptied the glass, he set it down on the table and wiped his lips with a napkin.

Silence settled over the table. It was time to talk about what was left unsaid.

“They conducted an investigation at the greenhouse where Im Seoncheol and I were.”

At his unexpected words, my brows furrowed.

“The people who were with him testified that he owed me a huge gambling debt. That made things a little bothersome.”

As he continued, my fingers curled inward on my lap.

“…So what happened?”

When I asked how he had cleared the suspicion, his voice remained even as he responded.

I was stunned by what I was hearing. Meanwhile, the man nonchalantly took another bite of steak. He only continued speaking after washing it down with wine.

“They determined that, given the circumstances, Im Seoncheol killed his brother-in-law to extort ten million won, spent all the money, and then committed suicide. It’s true that I psychologically pressured him into taking his own life, but that was only an indirect influence. There was no direct connection, so I was released.”

His expression remained unchanged. Anyone listening would have thought he was talking about someone else’s affairs.

“But I still need to lay low for now, which is why Seo Yeowon was sent away.”

“……”

“So Seo Yeowon was the only one who got to be happy all this time.”

CEO Jang smiled leisurely. The way his lips stretched into a long grin made it clear that much had been left unsaid. It must have been a grueling process, yet he said nothing more.

I, too, fell silent. In the end, what mattered was that he had returned to my side. That was enough for me.