MBFWM 10

Chapter 10

The hand that had been caressing her lips slipped into her hair and wrapped around the back of her head.

Kang Hyun moved so close that it seemed as though he might devour her lips at any moment, then spoke.

“Let’s make sure again. You can push me away if you don’t like it. Or hit me.”

“No, but how—”

Before Lee Jin could finish her sentence, Kang Hyun caught her lips between his.

It was an incredibly swift movement, as though he wouldn’t allow even a moment of hesitation.

“Hng…”

A heated breath escaped between Lee Jin’s lips. The sensation of their soft flesh mingling and the heat spreading through her body made her feel as though she were melting.

It was a kiss completely different from their first.

The first kiss, during which he had carefully drawn her lips in while making sure she could breathe properly, was now something she could barely remember.

This kiss was like a midsummer downpour—overwhelming her senses and sweeping everything away.

Whenever she tried to escape, he pursued her relentlessly, entwining his tongue with hers until the strength gradually drained from her legs.

Kang Hyun had no intention of stepping back simply because her strength was fading. He had come here today with precisely that purpose.

He was going to shake Seo Lee Jin to her core. If he couldn’t slowly seep into her heart, then he would become a torrential downpour accompanied by lightning and thunder.

Kang Hyun grasped her waist and effortlessly lifted her onto the worktable. With their eyes now roughly level, it became much easier to kiss her.

He greedily swallowed her meltingly soft lips and stirred against her delicate flesh.

Her ragged breathing, trembling body, the occasional brush of their noses, and her glistening eyes drove him on, pushing him endlessly toward a dead end.

The desire he had kept buried layer upon layer was slowly revealing its true face.

The raw desire he had hidden so carefully until now urged him forward as though it had never been concealed at all.

“Oppa, stop now…”

Finding it difficult to breathe, Lee Jin pushed against his chest.

Her touch was incredibly weak, but Kang Hyun obediently allowed himself to be pushed away, as though he had never been consumed by desire in the first place.

Lee Jin repeatedly drew in and released deep breaths, as though trying to replenish the air she had lost.

Each time, the rise and fall of her chest somehow caught his attention.

Heat gathered deep within him, but his expression remained as composed as ever.

“See? You don’t do this with your real brother.”

At his obvious statement, Lee Jin glared at him accusingly for a moment.

Her eyes seemed to say, None of this would have happened if you hadn’t kissed me in the first place.

Kang Hyun enjoyed that look.

Her flushed cheeks and slightly swollen lips were deeply satisfying to him.

“You push me, and I pull away this easily. But you didn’t push me away right away.”

Under his penetrating gaze, Lee Jin’s shoulders flinched.

She felt somewhat unfairly accused, but what he said was true.

If she had really hated it, she would have done whatever it took to escape.

“So…”

His voice came out hoarse and rough.

Lee Jin cleared her throat.

“Hmm.”

The little gesture seemed strangely adorable to Kang Hyun, and he let out a small laugh.

“So what?”

Her voice was slightly sulky, but because she had cleared her throat beforehand, the confrontational edge had been softened.

Especially since Kang Hyun was already smiling.

“Seo Lee Jin, you’re pretty cool about this. What, are you one of those women who doesn’t refuse men who come to you and doesn’t chase after men who leave?”

“Why are you suddenly treating me like some kind of flirt?”

Unable to hold back, she shot him an annoyed look.

Kang Hyun gave a low chuckle and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against him.

At the firm pressure against her thigh, Lee Jin’s eyes widened before trembling slightly.

“You’re not the only one feeling it.”

She hadn’t expected him to say it so bluntly, and her earlobes immediately turned bright red.

The unmistakable evidence that he desired her left her completely flustered.

When she avoided his gaze, Kang Hyun brought his face even closer and persistently sought her eyes.

“Let’s date.”

“What?”

Lee Jin jerked her head up in surprise.

“I said, let’s be in a relationship.”

Why on earth is this man acting like this?

Lee Jin couldn’t get her thoughts in order.

He and I… dating?

It was something she had never once imagined, so her mind creaked as though something inside it had broken.

“Why? Am I not enough for you?”

He lowered the end of his eyebrow and asked somewhat gloomily.

Lee Jin knew his usual appearance very well.

A perfectly sculpted face that looked as though it had been carved by an artist, a height and physique larger than most men, and an aura that made him seem almost untouchable.

And yet this man was deliberately making such a sorrowful expression.

She was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t even form a proper response.

While she remained frozen in a daze, he kissed her again.

He slipped through her slightly parted lips, then lightly nipped at them again and again before whispering in a somewhat teasing voice.

“Do you need more proof that I’m a man?”

No, that’s enough.

Startled, Lee Jin quickly shook her head.

Kang Hyun finally lifted the corner of his mouth into a satisfied smile and released her.

But he showed no intention of stepping away.

Lee Jin realized that she probably wouldn’t be allowed down from the worktable until she gave him the answer he wanted.

She took a deep breath.

Fine. There’s no reason I can’t date Moon Kang Hyun.

She had known him for so long that, at the very least, she could be confident that his personality and character met her standards.

“Okay.”

She slowly nodded.

She didn’t really know what was happening anymore, but she didn’t think there was any reason she couldn’t date him.

“Good decision. What a good girl, Seo Lee Jin.”

His tone sounded as though he were praising a child.

Lee Jin let out an annoyed breath through her nose.

But that feeling didn’t last long.

The moment she saw Kang Hyun smiling so brightly that the corners of his eyes crinkled, her heart began pounding rapidly.

For some strange reason, simply looking at his face made her breathing become uneven.

Because he genuinely looked happy.

As she struggled to settle the strange fluttering in her stomach, he kissed her cheek.

He kissed her several times, as though stamping little seals across her cheek, before taking her earlobe into his mouth and gently nibbling it.

“Hng…”

Apparently pleased by the breath that escaped between Lee Jin’s lips, he whispered into her ear.

“I look forward to being with you.”

Moon Hee-chan, the former chairman of Moonseong Group, was remarkably healthy despite being close to ninety years old.

Although he had retired from the position of chairman and was officially unemployed, many people still sought him out, so he was actually leading a fairly busy life.

“Father, are you going somewhere this evening?”

Jin Ae-ran noticed him and spoke to him.

Although her son had died, his wife had not left the large mansion.

Hee-chan had suggested that she could live separately if she wanted, but Jin Ae-ran had stubbornly refused to leave this house, which was practically a symbol of the Moonseong Group owner’s status.

Officially, she was regarded as a devoted daughter-in-law caring for her father-in-law.

But in this enormous mansion, where live-in employees handled virtually all the household chores, there were actually few occasions for the two of them to run into each other.

“I have an appointment with Kang Hyun.”

“Kang Hyun?”

Jin Ae-ran’s eyes widened for an instant.

Ever since she had sent her youngest son to the blind date without properly explaining things to him, he hadn’t been answering her calls.

She didn’t show any of that and simply replied,

“What has gotten into him? Is he finally doing something commendable?”

“He seems to have finally decided to show me Cheongjukje.”

“Oh, really?”

Jin Ae-ran tried to figure out what her son was plotting, but there was no way to immediately understand what was going through the mind of her willful youngest son.

“Be careful on your way.”

So she merely smiled and saw her father-in-law off.

“I’ll be back.”

Once Moon Hee-chan left, Jin Ae-ran’s expression hardened as though she had never smiled at all.

“He really is my own son, but I have no idea what goes on in that head of his.”

Kang Hyun still hadn’t shown Cheongjukje to anyone.

He had been so excessively secretive about it—as though he had hidden gold and jewels there—that even Jin Ae-ran had thrown up her hands in exasperation.

And now he was inviting Moon Hee-chan there.

What on earth is he plotting?

Jin Ae-ran narrowed her eyes and thought for a while, but she couldn’t figure out what her son was thinking.

In the end, she could only let out a long sigh.

“So, does he like the woman he met on the blind date or not?”

She walked back inside irritably.

She felt as though her youngest son was giving her more wrinkles by the day, which only made her mood worse.

When Moon Hee-chan arrived at Cheongjukje, Kang Hyun greeted him as though he had been waiting for him.

The two of them slowly looked around Cheongjukje.

“What do you think?”

At Kang Hyun’s question, Moon Hee-chan stood with his cane and slowly looked around.

“You worked hard. It must have been difficult building it using traditional methods without using nails.”

The lights throughout the garden and the house blended beautifully with the wood, creating an even warmer atmosphere.

It was completely different from the main family residence, which was made of marble floors and cold concrete.

“Grandfather, do you like it?”

Moon Hee-chan looked at his grandson suspiciously as he smiled.

“Does it matter whether I like it or not?”

“It does, of course. I built this house for you, Grandfather.”

Normally, hearing such words would move a grandfather, touched by the thoughtfulness of his grandson.

But Moon Hee-chan didn’t feel that way in the slightest.

“This is a bribe.”

His grandson must be planning some serious lobbying.