Episode 3 - The Rules of the Night
“Driver, please pull over.”
At the words she’d blurted out in a rush, a puzzled look crossed Taehun’s face.
“Why? Without even going home….”
“There’s somewhere I need to stop by.”
The desire that had been tightly constricting her entire body was gone now. But she felt she would only be able to put her mind at ease if she confirmed that he wasn’t there.
“Take your time. I’ll wait.”
It was a promise made on impulse. Yet, strangely, she couldn’t shake the thought that he would be waiting there.
“You drank a lot. How could I go off by myself leaving a drunk girl in the middle of the road?”
“I’m not drunk.”
“Jian.”
When Taehun didn’t seem to be listening, Jian turned toward the designated driver.
“Just drop me off at the crosswalk up ahead.”
As soon as the car stopped, she opened the door without hesitation.
“I’m sorry, sunbae. I’ll contact you later.”
“Then I’ll take you. Let’s go together.”
Leaving behind Taehun’s urgently shouting voice, she hurriedly crossed the crosswalk. Beyond the quickly passing cars, she could see Taehun yelling something, but she couldn’t make it out.
I’ve come quite far.
It was well past midnight. The subway and buses had just stopped running, and every passing taxi was without exception carrying a passenger. Afraid that Taehun might follow if she stayed put, she started walking blindly in the direction she had come.
What the hell am I doing right now…
As her reason, which had retreated, gradually returned, the impulse she had felt earlier felt like a complete lie. Now she couldn’t even tell whether she wanted him to still be there, or whether she wanted him to have disappeared.
How long had she walked? The bar came into view in the distance. Before she knew it, the watch on her wrist pointed to two o’clock.
He must have left. There’s no way he’d still be waiting at this hour.
But the moment she turned the corner and looked into the alley, she couldn’t help but stop dead in her tracks.
“You’re late.”
The man’s low voice reverberated against her eardrums. Seeing his languid face, so unsuited to the midwinter weather, her heart began to beat like crazy.
“Why are you still waiting? It’s been over an hour….”
“You said you’d come back.”
“That could’ve been empty talk. I could’ve changed my mind on the way and not come.”
Quiet eyes turned toward Jian.
“But you came.”
“I didn’t come to sleep with you. I changed my mind. I came to tell you that.”
The man scoffed.
“How very kind of you.”
He reached out and pulled Jian toward the outdoor AC unit he was sitting in front of. Firm thighs pressed in from both sides like bindings.
“I’m not joking. On a very bad day, drunk with a man I just met, the maximum I can do is a kiss. Now I’m much more sober than before, and reason comes before emotion.”
Even as she enunciated each word clearly, the hand resting on her waist bothered her unbearably. The thighs confining her, the arrogant eyes looking down at her, the hot breath touching her collarbone were all maddeningly stimulating.
Gazing at Jian’s faintly trembling eyes, the man spoke.
“You must be good at holding back.”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Good. Then do that.”
“Do what?”
“If the maximum you can do with a man you just met is a kiss, let’s stop there…. In exchange, stay with me until morning.”
Jian’s pretty eyes contorted fiercely.
“Do you really think I’ll believe that?”
“I never touch a woman who doesn’t want it.”
“How can I believe that?”
“Even beasts do that much. It’s only natural.”
The man’s voice was firm, leaving no room for compromise. That resolute voice strangely inspired trust.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve waited for a woman for over an hour. And in a dirty alley like this, at that…. So won’t you at least grant me that reward?”
Jian desperately replayed Taehun’s words in her mind. But the moment she tried to spit out words of refusal, the man’s fingers touched her earlobe. As the soft flesh was teased between his index finger and thumb, her mind went blank and her entire body tingled.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know. I just really wanted to touch it.”
“I clearly told you….”
“Isn’t this something less than your maximum?”
“…….”
“It’s less than a kiss.”
Jian closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. The desire she thought had completely cooled was surging up to her chin once more. The touch she could feel even with her eyes closed and the breath against her bare skin were so stimulating that they were impossible to refuse.
“Let’s go. I’ll make sure you don’t have any painful thoughts until morning.”
He knew exactly what she wanted. She knew this kind of impulsive behavior was dangerous. There was no guarantee in a promise made by a man she’d just met. But the reason she was agonizing was clear. She wanted to create a crack in her life that had been as straight as if measured with a ruler. She wanted to escape, if only for one night, from the heavy reality that would come again tomorrow. The man probably needed the same thing, and that was likely the reason for his proposal.
After remaining silent for a while, she finally lifted her eyelids.
“Fine. But let me ask just one thing.”
“Sure.”
“Are you an office worker?”
It was quite far from the school, but the affiliated hospital was nearby. The man’s relaxed demeanor and attire were not something a student could have no matter how you looked at it, but she still needed to check. The man’s eyes looking down at her moved slowly.
“That’s a strange question?”
“I’m asking because I wondered if you might be a college student.”
“Why? Is it not okay if I’m a college student?”
Unable to reveal her identity, Jian made up a lame excuse.
“I don’t do kids who are too young.”
He smiled slightly and furrowed his brow.
“What are you talking about? The younger and prettier, the better.”
“So are you a college student?”
“No.”
“You’re not lying?”
“Yeah. Want to see my business card?”
As the man pulled out his wallet from his pocket, Jian grabbed his arm.
“Forget it. As long as you’re not, don’t show me anything.”
“…….”
“And don’t ask me anything about myself either. Age, name, phone number—don’t be curious about anything and don’t tell me anything either.”
“…….”
“That’s my condition for being with you today.”
The heat that had been making her body burn since earlier filled the man’s eyes.
“Fine.”
* * *
The place they arrived at in the man’s car was the Luxury Collection Hotel in Yeoksam-dong, which had been completed less than a year ago. After parking and heading up to the 25th floor, a luxurious lobby unfolded before their eyes.
“We’re just going to sleep. Why come all the way to a place like this?”
The man laughed at Jian’s words.
“Then what should we be doing to warrant coming to a place like this?”
A desk clerk at the front greeted them with a kind smile.
“Hello, do you have a reservation?”
“We don’t.”
The staff member checked the monitor and spoke.
“We currently have two room types available, a State Room and a Grand Master’s Suite. Which room would you like?”
The man pulled a card from his wallet and spoke without hesitation.
“We’ll take the suite.”
Startled, Jian grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing? Just get something reasonable.”
“I’m choosing a room where fewer people have stayed. Don’t worry, it’s for me, not for you.”
There were usually things revealed to some extent through words and actions even without saying anything, but the man was completely unpredictable. He looked like he was in his late twenties, yet his behavior was so skilled and natural that it was hard to gauge his age. The car he had brought her in was clearly expensive for someone young to drive, but not quite to the extent of being a chaebol heir’s or venture entrepreneur’s car. Yet his ability to nonchalantly pay for a room that cost well over a million won a night was no ordinary matter. With his eye-catching appearance, he could have been a celebrity, but he didn’t seem to care about others’ gazes enough for that. He was full of contradictions.
As the elevator moved, Jian fixed her gaze on the floor indicator and opened her mouth.
“I’ll pay half the hotel bill.”
“No need.”
“Why would you pay for all of it? I have plenty of money.”
“I’m the one who clung to you and brought you here.”
Jian stared at his face.
“Are you calling that much clinging?”
“To me, it was clinging. And very desperately at that….”
“Just what kind of life have you lived that you’d call that desperate clinging?”
“A life where people attach themselves here and there without me even trying.”
A hollow laugh escaped her.
“You’re really obnoxious.”
“I know.”
The man smiled slightly. When he opened the hotel room door, the luxurious interior divided into a living room and bedroom came into view at a glance. Jian quickly looked around the room and asked as if interrogating.
“Are you going to sleep on the sofa?”
“No.”
“Then are you saying I should sleep on the sofa?”
“Why sleep on the sofa when there’s a bed?”
“We agreed not to sleep together.”
“Does ‘not sleeping together’ mean something different from what I understand?”
Jian frowned.
“So you’re saying you’ll hold back while sleeping in the same bed?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you kidding?”
“I’m confident.”
The man didn’t bat an eyelash. Looking at his face, Jian felt a surge of pride for no reason and put down her bag, taking off her coat.
“You said it. Keep your promise.”
“Don’t worry.”
When she finished her shower and came out, he had already washed up first and was sitting on the sofa, neatly dressed.
“You’re going to sleep like that?”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll be uncomfortable to sleep in all your clothes….”
It was half out of pride, half out of mischief. She had been about to mock him, asking why he bothered putting his clothes back on if he could really restrain himself that well. But the man’s beast-like gaze fixed on her nape as if to cut off her breath.
“Don’t say that if you’re not going to seduce me.”
“…….”
“Come here.”
He seated Jian on the sofa and pressed his lips to her neck. As hot breath burrowed inside her top, Jian trembled without realizing it.
“Is this more than a kiss? Or less?”
The inside of his lips rubbed against her tender skin, making a wet sound. As the hand gripping her nape tightened and relaxed, bringing pleasure close, she rested her head against the sofa.
“Don’t go below my neck.”
She drew the line with difficulty, but this time his lips moved upward.
“Then this is fine.”
He lightly bit her earlobe, then licked it with his tongue. Every place his lips touched burned unbearably, as if scorched by fire. Were it not for her gradually clearing mind, or if she had been even slightly more drunk than she was now, his movements and breathing were so provocative that she would have completely succumbed. Her lower abdomen itched as if desperately waiting for something.
“You must have done this a lot?”
Though she knew it wasn’t something to say to a man she’d just met and kissed, she struggled to resist the approaching pleasure.
“I haven’t. You’re the first.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t. Whether you believe me or not isn’t very important to me.”
“Then what is important?”
“The fact that for the first time in my life I’m feeling this kind of impulse. Isn’t it the same for you? You followed me because you were drawn by the impulse you felt.”
His words pierced through her inner thoughts, even making her boundaries precarious. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled. With his every movement, every cell in her body stood rigidly on edge.
“I like your scent. I feel like I’ll go crazy smelling it.”
Fingers that would never go below her neck dug through her hair. As if replacing an act he couldn’t bring himself to do with a kiss, he urgently thrust his desire between her lips. The movement of occasionally retreating to explore her lips before pushing in again soon after somehow evoked another act. Because of the man’s presence felt inside her mouth, her lips became drenched as if she were approaching climax.
“Wait….”
Feeling like she would end up lying down on the sofa like this, she slightly raised her body. But the moment she reached her hand forward, hard and heavy muscles pressed blatantly against the back of her hand. It pounded heavily, as if a heart were beating in that pressed place. The man furrowed his brow and chewed on the words inside his mouth.
“Ha… I’m going crazy.”
The desire born from the taboo swelled as if it would burst at any moment.