Chapter 16
On the surface, she betrayed no agitation, the picture of composure, but whenever she sized up a situation, she had this habit of slowly and gently rubbing her thumb against the ring finger of her other hand.
She definitely hadn't been wearing a ring that night.
Now, in the middle of their conversation, she kept fiddling with the engagement ring from Tae-ju on her finger, adjusting it as if it irritated her, only to toy with it again moments later. It was suspicious enough that she seemed unaccustomed to having it there, but even before that...
For someone who'd come to pay respects at her fiancé's family home, didn't she seem a little too absorbed in their game of psychological chicken?
As he swirled the wine the housemaid had poured and fixed his gaze on Ha-jin, their eyes met just as he lifted his glass. Joo-heon stared her down like he wanted to devour her whole, just as he had that night, while slowly tipping the blood-red liquid down his throat.
"......"
A subtle shift rippled across the woman's serene face, still and silent as a sheet of glass. When he set his wineglass down after swallowing the sharp, sweet burn, he caught her discreetly tucking in her lower lip.
...Fuck.
A dull heat surged through him, and for a moment, he nearly forgot this was a family dinner with his high school niece at the table, his mind veering into the gutter.
She had a knack for driving people insane even at the poker table, but now, peeking subtle flickers of emotion through her feigned poise—it ignited a savage urge to rip her open and expose every secret she was hiding.
Since that night, he'd cycled through woman after woman, bed after bed, trying to douse the fire she'd lit, but the thirst refused to be quenched no matter what he did.
Pent-up frustration and irritation twisted together, ready to explode. She'd evaded him like a ghost, impossible to pin down, and now here she was, right in front of him, wearing Baek Tae-ju's engagement ring. It was infuriating.
What the hell kind of bullshit is this?
He just wanted to twist that infuriatingly pretty, unflappable face into something raw.
He didn't give a damn what shady motives Tae-ju was harboring. One thing was certain: their engagement wasn't built on some pure, noble love. Joo-heon was convinced of it.
So, that encounter at the casino had been nothing but cold calculation too? The thought made his blood boil instantly.
"Sister-in-law."
Tae-ju's fiancée. The words tasted like shit, roughening his tone. As her clear eyes met his, Joo-heon stretched his lips into a smile and asked,
"That ring doesn't seem to sit right on your finger. You keep fiddling with it."
Her pure white hand, marred pink only where she'd been toying with it, looked delicate enough that even that light touch had marked it. The sight stirred other associations he couldn't shake.
"...Ah."
Ha-jin let out a small sigh, neatly placing her fidgeting hand back on the table as she replied.
"I just like it. The ring Tae-ju gave me."
Glancing at Ha-jin, Tae-ju shot her a smile that turned Joo-heon's stomach. He'd never seen that expression on his brother's face before.
Joo-heon slowly interlaced his long fingers atop the table, staring straight through her as he asked,
"Where in the States did you say you lived? Near Naples, right? Your family's place."
Red liquid filled Joo-heon's empty glass again. Ha-jin tightened her grip on her own glass before answering.
"Yes. In Port Royal."
"Must've been too quiet there. Boring, huh."
Joo-heon lightly swirled his wineglass, peering deep into her eyes.
"Gotta hit up places like Vegas now and then to clear your head. That's where the real fun is."
He pressed on with a sly grin.
"The night air's great there. Dry and hot."
"......"
"Places everywhere where you wouldn't regret betting it all."
Ha-jin's brow furrowed ever so slightly. It was a blatant probe, a deliberate scratch at old wounds.
"I prefer quiet spots. Shame I don't know those places."
How impressive. You 'don't know' them.
Her face practically screamed it. Ha-jin gritted her teeth, lifted her glass, and stared him down directly.
"Seems like you have a taste for that sort of thing, young master. Reading and walks suit me better."
"...Ah, walks."
What walks? Late-night strolls?
Suppressing the urge to sneer, Joo-heon let out a low chuckle. The woman held her rigid posture throughout, tempting him to shatter it.
"Maybe I should take you sometime, sister-in-law. I know some fun spots."
You bastard.
His tone was sharp now, like a predator who'd locked onto prey. Swallowing a curse, Ha-jin fixed him with icy eyes.
Payback for the hands she'd won that night? Or...
Gazing at his wine-stained lips, Ha-jin felt a strange warmth bloom below her sternum—not mere annoyance.
No. That gaze was unmistakably one of recognition. Possession. Hunger. The blatant urge to dismantle her, peer inside, plunder her—a decadent, base desire.
"Baek Joo-heon."
Tae-ju's quiet voice sliced through the charged air between them. He sensed the words Joo-heon tossed at Ha-jin carried more than idle curiosity—some conviction, some attack.
He had no idea what had passed between them, but he wasn't about to let anyone toy with his woman, nominal or not.
"If you're still adjusting to the time difference, go crash in your room. Cut the bullshit."
"Harsh. I was just trying to bond with my future sister-in-law."
Joo-heon shrugged and drained his glass. But under the table, the tip of his shoe brushed her instep with a deliberate tap. Goosebumps erupted across Ha-jin's skin. It was nothing short of a declaration of war.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Joo-heon didn't push it further with overt provocations or cryptic barbs meant just for them after that.
Tae-ju seemed to harbor a sliver of suspicion but didn't dig deeper, while Chairman Baek and his wife chalked it up to their younger son's playful teasing toward his new almost-sister-in-law.
The dinner wound down amid a tense shuffle between thin ice and a cozy greenhouse. Nothing had been exposed, thank God, but Ha-jin felt clogged up inside, desperate to purge it all.
***
The meal wrapped in the eerie calm before a storm. Chairman Baek and his wife excused themselves first, and Tae-ju followed after being summoned.
As Ha-jin stepped into a hallway corner, claiming she wanted to peek at the study, a strong arm blocked her path in the blink of an eye.
She barely swallowed a sharp yelp, then looked up to find Baek Joo-heon right in her face. She jolted back in shock. That devouring gaze from the dinner table pierced straight through her.
"Why so jumpy?"
His eyes were pitch black, but the raw emotion radiating from him created an illusion of them blazing dark fire.
"Like you've got something to hide."
Ha-jin schooled her expression to hide her fluster and called out quietly,
"Baek Joo-heon-ssi."
But a faint tremor lingered at the end of her words, unbidden. Catching it, Joo-heon's eyes narrowed subtly. His sleek lips curved into a mocking smile.
"Yes, sister-in-law?"
"Move aside."
"Can't do that."
He stretched his arms out to either side of her, trapping her against the wall instead. Drooping his gaze lazily, anger toward her seeped from every line of his face.
Like a beast cornering its prey, Joo-heon tilted his head slowly, methodically imprinting every detail of her face into his mind. That was the one. The unflinching face that never betrayed her hand.
The insolent woman who'd taunted him, promising her name if he won.
Never imagining he'd learn it this way, Joo-heon pronounced the woman's name deliberately, drawing it out.
"Yoo Ha-jin."