Chapter 59

Chapter 59

While he didn’t talk about himself, Gukhyun wanted to hear Heeju’s stories. Why she dropped out of school, why she pushed herself so hard to study, what her college life was like, what she liked so much about corpses that she became a forensic pathologist, and when Kim Yeongshin started hitting on her like that—trivial things like that.

“Gukhyun doesn’t talk much about himself, does he?”

There were moments when Yoon Seokchan’s occasional words unintentionally stabbed her in the chest, but it wasn’t a big problem. For Heeju, the real issue—if it could even be called an issue—was that she had become far too accustomed to falling asleep in the same bed with him, eating meals together, and sharing frequent kisses, rather than just sucking his c*c!k and having her p#s.sy eaten.

“Mmm…”

While half-asleep, Heeju felt someone’s presence and slowly opened her eyes. It was early dawn before sunrise, and the bedroom was still very dark. Gukhyun, who had been quietly getting out of bed, bent over Heeju and lightly pressed his lips to the round back of her head.

“Are you awake?”

“Mhm.”

“Go back to sleep.”

Heeju rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up in bed.

“What time is it?”

“Five o’clock.”

“You’re leaving this early?”

“I have to go down to the provinces for work.”

“Then you should have gone to bed earlier. Even on a day like this…”

Heeju frowned. Of course they slept together again last night. When she last checked the clock, it had already been around two, which meant he had slept less than three hours again today.

If he keeps living like that… At this rate, he might die from lack of sleep before he even gets stabbed to death. Yet the man himself wasn’t worried at all.

If she had known he had an early schedule, she would have told him not to do it, but this was the kind of man who received reports on every single one of her movements while rarely telling her anything about his own schedule.

“You’re busy, so you won’t eat? You still have to do what needs to be done.”

Gukhyun sat down beside her and took Heeju’s hand. His moist lips brushed against her fingertips, then immediately put her finger into his mouth. Letting him suck on her finger, Heeju spoke as if sighing.

“Meals and s3.x are different. If you don’t eat, you die, but you won’t die if you don’t have s3.x.”

“I felt like I was going to die.”

Gukhyun lifted his eyes while keeping his head lowered, and met Heeju’s gaze.

“Am I the only one? That hurts my feelings…”

His bright red tongue licked suggestively between her fingers. Heeju flinched, curling her fingers, and pulled her hand back. Even after going at it so intensely last night, she was already getting worked up just from sucking on her fingers at dawn and it left her with a faint sense of self-loathing.

Was I always this weak to temptation?

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I’d rather roll around in bed with you more, but I have to leave now.”

Gukhyun, as if to make do with what he could, pulled Heeju by the nape toward him and gave her forehead a short kiss.

“Go back to sleep. Your eyes look even cuter when they’re all puffy.”

He brushed Hee‑ju’s eyelid with his thumb.

“I thought you were a cat, but today you’re a goldfish.”

“What…”

Gukhyun chuckled and got up from the bed. Then he sauntered toward the dressing room.

A short while later, Gukhyun walked out fully dressed in a suit. While fastening his wristwatch, he raised an eyebrow at Heeju, who was still sitting on the bed like a doll.

“Why are you sitting like that? I told you to sleep more.”

“I have something I’m curious about.”

“Right now?”

Gukhyun smiled as if amused and walked over to the bed. He looked down at her while buttoning his suit jacket. His deep eyes shone vividly even in the dim twilight.

“What is it? Tell me.”

“I was just wondering why you work so hard. Is owning the company your goal?”

At Heeju’s question, Gukhyun’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“Climbing even higher than now?”

Heeju’s clear eyes were filled with pure curiosity. Her face was so innocently unaware that any man looking into those eyes would instantly get hard. Gukhyun let out a helpless laugh that he couldn’t control.

Had anyone ever asked him something like this before? It seemed like no one ever had.

Why do you go so far? To him, it was only natural. To survive, he had to trample someone, plunder, dominate, and force submission. He had thought of it as a matter of survival, not a goal.

Then what about now?

Gukhyun stared at the wall still shrouded in darkness for a moment, lost in thought, then, at some point, he looked back down at Heeju again.

“There was a time when that was the case.”

Gukhyun fiddled with Heeju’s cheek. He had a subtle expression on his face.

He didn’t look angry, but his face was slightly stiff. Nevertheless, his gentle gaze carried a deep affection. He furrowed his brow slightly and spoke in a languid tone.

“Now, my goal is to protect.”

Then he cupped the underside of Heeju’s chin with his palm, leaned down, and gently captured her lips. The kiss felt almost reverent, and Heeju froze, unable to move.

Chu, chok. Soft and tender sounds filled the quiet bedroom. After slowly savoring and releasing her lips, his tongue suddenly slipped between them and gently licked the base of her tongue.

Every time it touched the wet mucous membrane, her shoulders twitched. Around the time a needy moan escaped from Heeju’s throat, Gukhyun pulled his lips away and straightened his upper body.

As if chasing the tongue that had suddenly withdrawn, Heeju’s lips parted slightly. Gukhyun looked fondly at her dazed eyes and whispered softly,

“Don’t wait for me tonight. Just sleep.”

“Will you be late?”

“Are you upset?”

“…Of course not.”

“But your face looks upset right now.”

“Funny, really. Don’t frame an innocent person.”

Gukhyun grinned and roughly kneaded Heeju’s cheeks.

“Aah, I don’t want to leave now. I want to suck on these sticky rice cake cheeks a lot.”

“Go already. I’m going to sleep.”

Heeju pushed Gukhyun’s hand away and rubbed her reddened cheeks. The soft cheeks already bore clear handprints exactly where he had squeezed them. Seeing Heeju’s pouty expression, Gukhyun held back his laughter and left the bedroom.

“Sleep well.”

After Gukhyun left, Heeju got up from the bed and went to the window. Yunam, who had parked the car in front of the entrance, bowed politely as Gukhyun came down the stairs.

Then, suddenly, it seemed like Yunam glanced in her direction. Heeju quickly hid behind the curtain. Was the faint smile she had glimpsed on Gukhyun’s lips as he left just her imagination?

Leaning her back against the wall, Heeju listened to the sound of Gukhyun’s car pulling away from the entrance. In the early dawn before sunrise, her heart throbbed painfully, as if she were suffering from a one-sided crush.

***

In the living room, logs crackled and burned in the fireplace. Heeju was sitting on the recliner sofa facing the fireplace, reading a book.

The tips of her toes were warm, and the sofa was soft. Thinking that she was living quite a comfortable life, Heeju turned the page.

The book Heeju was reading was a mystery novel in which at least one corpse appeared per chapter. Gukhyun had sharply teased her about her reading taste, saying it was quite morbid.

“You really are the opposite of how you look. It’s not enough that your job is hanging out with corpses every day—you even pick books like that to read.”

Even as he said that, every time he came home from work, he would bring an armful of the latest mystery novels. The books piled up in the study had already reached the point where one bookshelf was about to burst.

“Who reads this kind of thing as actual books these days? Just read it on your phone.”

It really wasn’t even funny.

Just as Heeju let out a small laugh, the housekeeper who came out from the kitchen approached and said,

“I made sujebi. Would you like some?”

“Aah…”

No wonder the rich aroma of broth had been floating in the air for a while. The housekeeper smiled gently at Heeju with a slightly unfocused gaze.

“It tastes best when it’s eaten warm. Come and sit down.”

“Yes.”

Heeju wasn’t particularly hungry, but she reluctantly went to the dining table and sat down. The housekeeper placed a steaming bowl in front of Heeju.

“It’s hot. Be careful.”

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

Compared to when she was first dragged into this house against her will, her appearance had become much more human-like, and it was largely thanks to the housekeeper’s effort. In front of the housekeeper’s warm smile, the words “I don’t want to eat” would always slip back down her throat.

They say eating is half of health, and thanks to eating three proper meals a day, the baseless nausea and headaches that felt like her skull was splitting had decreased significantly.

The housekeeper said as she poured barley tea into a glass,

“I made kimbap for you, so have it for lunch. I’ll be going to the main house this evening to help prepare food for the party, so I probably won’t be able to make lunch for you.”