Sleep With Me
While quickly emptying two bottles of whiskey, the only side dish was ice water.
There wasn’t even any conversation passing between them.
She had drunk soju endlessly before, but this was her first time drinking such high-proof whiskey like this.
Maybe that was why.
Heat rose throughout her entire body, and her heart pounded as if it would burst. She couldn’t even tell whether this strange physical state was due to the alcohol or because of Yoon Jeha sitting right in front of her.
She had never gotten drunk before, nor had she ever met a worthy opponent—yet the first worthy opponent she encountered had to be Yoon Jeha.
When Jeha, still perfectly composed, ordered a third round, Juhee said she would step out to the restroom.
While cooling her flushed face with cold water at the sink, she could only let out heavy sighs.
At this rate, could she really win?
At the sound of the restroom door opening, Juhee turned around without thinking and immediately frowned.
It was Joo Haena again.
“What are you doing here? This isn’t a place for trash like you.”
Her surprise lasted only a moment before Haena began to sneer.
“If you don’t want your hair ripped out by trash like me, mind your own business and go do whatever it is you came for.”
“You think I’m just going to stand here? I’ll report you to the police.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to send an apology letter to the press. Sorry for ripping out the hair of Pine Technology’s granddaughter, even though I’m just a worthless nobody. I’m sure your family would love that, right?”
Haena glared at her with venomous eyes. She already knew from experience that Gong Juhee was the type to follow through on her threats.
“Just you wait, Gong Juhee. I’m going to make you cry tears of blood.”
The restroom door slammed shut with a sound that threatened to break it. Juhee shook her head slightly and followed her out, only to freeze in place.
In the middle of the hallway, she saw Haena and Taemin pressed tightly against each other.
Unlike Taemin, who hadn’t noticed her yet, Haena spoke loudly on purpose so Juhee would hear.
“Oppa, how was it in the car? It felt amazing, didn’t it?”
Haena’s hand slid down toward the front of Taemin’s pants.
“Wow, our oppa’s stamina is incredible. Look how he reacts just from me touching him.”
It was a betrayal she had already accepted, a heart she had already given up on. But witnessing a scene like this still felt impossible to get used to.
Whether it was their private room or a hotel, she just wanted the two of them to disappear quickly. As she stood there silently, Taemin suddenly swatted Haena’s hand away and turned around—only to spot Juhee.
“No matter how I think about it, oppa and I are just so perfectly compatible. Let’s go back to our room and—”
Haena couldn’t finish her sentence. Taemin slowly bent at the waist, cupped her cheek with his hand, and pressed his lips to hers.
Once they returned to the room, Taemin drank in silence. Haena snatched the bottle from his hand. With practiced movements, she filled an on-the-rocks glass with ice and poured the whiskey.
“Oppa, you’re surprisingly such a bad boy. Kissing me right in front of Juhee. Well, I enjoyed it, though.”
He hadn’t meant to hurt Juhee so openly. But Taemin had no choice.
If she truly had no lingering feelings for him, Juhee’s personality would have made her leave the company long ago. Yet she had stayed, and just as he had hoped, she had become Jeha’s secretary. The problem was that Juhee’s attitude had become completely twisted and reckless. It pained Taemin to see her acting in ways she never had before, all in a desperate attempt to change his mind.
The longer you refuse to give up, the more you’ll be the one getting hurt.
He had made her witness an unbearable scene in his office, but that hadn’t been his intention.
This time, however, kissing Haena right in front of her had been deliberate. He wanted Juhee to accept this reality as quickly as possible.
“Still, don’t push it too far. She takes out all the anger she can’t direct at you on me. You have no idea how vicious and ruthless Gong Juhee can be.”
The cold atmosphere and Taemin’s continued silence made Haena uneasy. She asked again.
“Oppa, you’re not regretting this, are you? You accepted a car from my dad. And we’ve slept together so many times.”
Just as Haena said, Taemin was experiencing regret for the first time in his life.
Everything had been going according to plan—except for Juhee, who kept deviating and twisting away.
That was what worried him.
He couldn’t predict how far she would go.
I only wanted us to stand at the very top in the distant future. I just wanted to spare our future children from the hell we went through. If only I could rip out my heart and show it to prove my sincerity.
“Regret it if you want. I have no intention of ever letting you go, and you can’t push me away anymore. If you back out now, do you really think Chairman Yang and my grandfather would let it slide? And what about you, oppa?”
“……”
“You said it yourself. It wasn’t easy to get this far. The moment this marriage breaks, you’ll lose everything you’ve built on your own.”
Joo Haena was right. It was too late to turn back.
Was the beginning what mattered, or the result?
He had agonized over it fiercely, but in the end, it was the latter.
Even if it meant giving Juhee, who must be hurting, tenfold the glory, he had no choice but to move forward. It would be painful and difficult right now, but imagining Juhee someday resting happily in his arms helped Taemin steady his shaken heart.
“You’re right. I do regret you right now.”
Taemin slowly reached out and cupped the distorted face of the woman before him. He captured her slightly parted lips and whispered into them.
“But I have no intention of backing out.”
For the sake of my princess, I will use Joo Haena as a stepping stone and climb to the highest place.
As Juhee sat on the sofa with a flushed face, Jeha said,
“I thought you ran away.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, so why would I?”
The word “run away” made something surge inside Juhee.
She hadn’t run away earlier, either. She had kept her eyes wide open and watched the two of them kiss with perfect composure. More precisely, she had watched Taemin’s eyes, which never once left her throughout the entire kiss.
The moment the kiss ended, Juhee had brushed past them and returned to the room. She hadn’t been shaken, and she hadn’t looked back even once.
In the silence, the glasses continued to pass back and forth.
One glass. Two glasses. Three. Four.
While Jeha maintained a steady pace, Juhee’s grew slower and slower. The alcohol spreading through her body was gradually paralyzing her reason and dulling her senses.
I can’t lose. I have to win somehow. Juhee blinked slowly. Through her foggy, misty vision, she saw the man sitting there without a single hair out of place.
I’m struggling so much… why are you completely fine?
“This is boring if we just keep drinking. Want to play a truth game? One drink if you answer, two if you don’t. How about it?”
“Whatever you want, princess.”
I told you not to call me that. When Juhee shot him a sharp glare, Jeha let out a low chuckle.
She hated how that laughter, vibrating from his throat, wrapped around her ears like sweet chocolate. It made her feel like she was constantly getting tangled up with this man.
“Why do you hate me, sunbae?”
“I don’t hate you. You just bother me.”
What’s the difference between hating someone and finding them bothersome? Jeha filled the lined-up glasses with whiskey as he asked,
“Why do you think I hate you?”
Her gaze was drawn, as if spellbound, to his large hand pouring the liquor into the shot glass without spilling a single drop.
Closely trimmed nails, long and strong fingers, the prominent veins on the back of his hand. She thought they were powerful yet beautiful hands.
“From what I remember, I was quite kind to you.”
His face was handsome, his hands were handsome, and his body was handsome too. His restrained, slow gestures captivated her gaze, while his naturally elegant movements created an inexplicable tension.
Maybe spending her first night with a man like this wouldn’t be so bad.
The fact that she was even thinking Yoon Jeha might be okay showed just how drunk she really was.
“You still are.”
Those words made Juhee’s gaze lift. As her eyes deepened, Jeha looked up. Their two gazes met in midair. The moment their eyes tangled, the heated air between them grew taut.
“It’s because you hate having me by your side, sunbae. Because you look disgusted even if our fingertips touch. Why?”
With a strange look in his eyes, Jeha let out a short laugh.
“Because if you knew, you’d run away.”
Before Juhee could ask what he meant, Jeha downed two glasses in a row. It was his way of saying he wouldn’t answer.
It was Jeha’s turn again. As Juhee waited calmly, he opened his mouth.
“Why do you want to stay by my side?”
His gaze was as sharp as a well-honed blade. Juhee pressed her dry lips together tightly as Jeha continued.
“Is it for revenge or something like that?”
It felt as if his knife-like eyes were mercilessly carving into her heart.
What would his reaction be if he knew she was using him as a tool for revenge? She couldn’t even imagine it, and she wasn’t confident she could handle it.
The die had already been cast. He wasn’t the type of man who would fall for lies, so maybe telling the truth was better. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
With trembling eyes, Juhee looked down at the table.
She slowly reached for the six untouched glasses of whiskey.
Jeha watched in silence as she emptied them one by one without a word.
By the time she finished the last glass, the rush of intoxication made Juhee bold. She felt like tonight, she could do anything and it would be fine.
“If I say it’s for revenge, would you help me, sunbae?”
Jeha’s eyes, which had been gleaming sharply, sank low.
“You said you wanted to lay me down on the bed, right? Then I’ll lie down.”
It must sound ridiculous and absurd. But I don’t have the luxury of caring about your feelings. That’s how desperate and earnest I am.
“…I was serious.”
Her voice trembled faintly as she whispered each word with sincerity.
“That offer to do anything you want.”
Every time she slowly closed and opened her eyes, the man before her blurred and sharpened again.
“So please…”
Keep me by your side.
Her throat tightened, and she couldn’t continue. She felt miserable, resentful, and angry all at once. Just moments ago, Taemin and Haena, kissing right in front of her, had looked so happy. It seemed they didn’t care at all that she was hurting.
Why only me? Why me?
Fearing she would cry, Juhee lowered her trembling eyelids.
How much time had passed like that?
“It’s a tempting offer, but I’ll have to decline.”
At Jeha’s calm response, Juhee felt her heart sink with a thud. When she slowly lifted her eyelids, she saw his indifferent eyes and expression. It felt as if the slender spark of hope that had been flickering like a firefly had been extinguished.
As her eyes wandered, lost and drifting, Jeha shrugged.
“I don’t have the bad taste to share a woman with a friend.”
“I’ll say it again—I’ve never dated Taemin oppa.”
“I know.”
Then why—
Her tightly clasped hands turned deathly pale and began to shake.
“Even if you didn’t date, you must have given him your heart. And if you gave him your heart, you would have given him your body too.”
At the absurd statement, the tears that had been about to spill suddenly retreated.
Where on earth was this ridiculous idea coming from?
“We didn’t sleep together. I swear on the heavens—the only thing we did was kiss once. I thought of him as someone I owed a great debt to for the rest of my life. I don’t know if that counts as giving him my heart.”
What was even more absurd was that she was answering such a ridiculous question with desperate sincerity.
“You expect me to believe that?”
It seemed like Jeha was asking even though he already knew.
Annoyed by that, Juhee glared at him and slowly blinked.
Was she seeing things because she was drunk? In the man’s dark eyes, light was gathering once again. Those eyes, filled with light, stared intently at her, and it was dazzling. No matter how many times she blinked, the light only grew stronger. As if it would be the only light in this darkness filled with nothing but despair. An intense urge rose within her to throw herself into that light.
What do I do? I think I’m really drunk.
She was tired of answering with words, and she realized this wasn’t something that could be explained with them anyway. Continuing the truth game was pointless, and she had no pride left to uphold.
Juhee slowly stood up.
“If you don’t believe me, check for yourself.”
It was only three steps to reach Jeha, yet it felt like she was taking thousands.
“It’s better not to say things you can’t take responsibility for.”
Jeha’s pitch-black eyes, looking up at her, held a strange heat.
Juhee met his gaze directly, placed her hands on his solid shoulders, and climbed onto his lap.
In this moment, Juhee desperately wished for one thing.
Yoon Jeha, I want you to desire me.
“Sleep with me, sunbae.”