Please Take Care of Me
“Huh? This is…”
“You said it was your favorite.”
On the living room table sat a familiar box—the cake box from the shop Yuju loved most. As if drawn by an invisible thread, she drifted closer and pulled it tightly into her arms.
“You have to wait in this insane line forever to get one… and if you go late, they’re sold out.”
“If you want it, just tell me. I’ll bring it for you.”
The same man who had been so intimidating only moments earlier had suddenly turned kind. She doubted he had stood in line himself. If he wanted something, he simply ordered a subordinate to fetch it. Still, the question of why Seo-won was showing her this kindness lingered. Separate from that mystery, the long-missed taste of her favorite treat had her practically bouncing on her toes.
The thought that he might have asked her older brother what she liked only made her more excited.
Kids will be kids.
She had been tense, yet a single treat was all it took for her to bounce right back. Having seen for himself what kind of person she was, Seo-won finally felt ready to bring up the matter he had been putting off—the one that had tangled his thoughts all day, the problem that began with last night.
“About yesterday…”
Yuju, who had been checking inside the cake box, flinched hard at the words. Just as he had warned earlier, she assumed the scolding was about to begin. Strictly speaking, she didn’t think she had done anything wrong. She had started it, but in the end they had done it together. Even so, she steeled herself to take the reprimand with grace.
Yet after opening his mouth, Seo-won fell silent for a long while. Even after thinking about it all day, he still seemed unable to reach a conclusion; his expression was complicated and hard to read.
“……”
“……”
The easy atmosphere that had filled the living room only moments ago sank at once. They could suddenly hear each other breathing.
The only thing that had changed since yesterday was that they had slept together. And yet looking at each other felt strangely difficult, and a thirst rose between them.
Lust.
That was how Seo-won defined the feeling. He kept replaying last night and letting every kind of fantasy run wild. Even in this moment of supposed reflection, that urge kept flaring, and it was enough to drive him mad. Late-learned thievery really was the most dangerous kind.
“Doing it every day might be a little hard.”
He had been carefully censoring what he meant to say when Yuju, unable to wait any longer, spoke first. The eyes that had been full of nerves now held steel.
Seo-won sensed an unusual energy and stayed quiet.
“It was harder than I expected…”
Yuju was certain the reason lay with Seo-won—he was not average. It wasn’t that she had no experience; she had at least seen adult videos before. Simply turning the memory over again made her cheeks burn, but she forced herself calm. From the complicated look on his face, she could read exactly what he was fretting over.
“I don’t know how it was for you, Oppa, but for me it wasn’t a mistake. Neither of us had a single drop of alcohol.”
For Seo-won it had probably been an impulsive night. For Yuju, every step had been deliberate. That was why she corrected him so firmly—yet Seo-won took it in an entirely wrong direction. He still believed the accident had happened because of his joke, and he read her insistence as another attempt to shoulder a burden that wasn’t hers.
“You don’t have to make any weird efforts.”
“It’s not a weird effort.”
Yuju answered just as firmly again. The stranger his expression grew, the more puzzled Seo-won became. He had thought he could read every corner of her heart; suddenly he couldn’t. Sensing his confusion, Yuju added,
“I have no intention of half-assing this marriage.”
Right after the wedding she had never thought that way. She had planned to end it the moment a good chance appeared. But once she learned what keeping this marriage meant for her older brother, she completely changed her mind. Since things had come this far, she wanted to maintain the marriage properly. So that nothing would be twisted, she stated her will clearly, word by careful word.
“I don’t want us to use separate bedrooms. When I said I wouldn’t divorce you, I also meant I want us to live like ordinary married couples.”
Because she had grown up under constant pressure, Yuju had a passive streak.
But at times like this she doesn’t seem all that innocent either.
To Seo-won she was truly impossible to pin down. He had thought he understood her completely, only for her to become difficult again in an instant. Still, even when something was hard, there were things that had to be done. Seo-won held out his hand to her.
“I’ll be counting on you from now on.”
It was a greeting he should have offered much earlier. Yuju stared at his hand as if the decisive woman from a moment ago had never existed. He waited for her. Only after a long time did she take it. The feeling was different from when they had held hands in front of her father.
I’ve held this hand before.
A forgotten memory surfaced. She had believed their only connection was the occasional chance meeting, yet quite a lot had happened between them.
At her mother’s funeral procession, her older brother had clutched the portrait and wept, but she herself had nothing to hold. While she clenched her fists and let the tears fall, Seo-won had taken her hand and held it tightly. Even though they had known each other for years, that was the first time their skin had truly touched.
Back then she had thought it was only because she hadn’t finished growing yet. But then and now, Seo-won was solid and dependable.
“I’ll… be counting on you too.”
Answering his words took her almost as long as taking his hand. Yet just as before, Seo-won simply waited until she was ready to accept him. It was a tenderness she had never expected to find in him.
Turning that discovery over in her mind, Yuju felt an emotion she could not name. Then her gaze settled on their joined hands. She had once sworn she would never hold this person’s hand again. Realizing that was no longer true made her heart pound.
Yuju sat silent among her chattering friends, saying nothing for a long while. Lately campus life had started to feel dull. She had never been the type to throw herself into university life, but she had still managed to get along with her friends in small, ordinary ways. All of this, she decided, was Seo-won’s fault—he kept stirring up her heart at the slightest opportunity.
“……”
She opened her palm. The sensation of holding Seo-won’s hand not long ago was still vivid. Her cheeks heated. They had done far more intimate things, yet the simple act of holding hands left her flustered. It was a feeling even she couldn’t identify. Everything he had shown her afterward only made the feeling stronger.
She had thought he was the furthest person alive from tenderness. Yet Seo-won had a quietly gentle side.
The careless things he says and does are actually careful, in a way.
Because he was busy they didn’t see each other often. But every brief meeting made it clear he was paying attention to her—suddenly bringing her favorite things, or asking what she needed. Gestures she would never have associated with him.
Whenever she faced this unfamiliar side of Seo-won, Yuju would sigh for no reason and feel heat rise inside her chest. She was spacing out, thinking of him again, when a sharp gaze pricked her skin. Following it, she spotted a familiar face—and before she could stop herself she made a sound.
“Wha—?”
Her sudden reaction pulled every nearby eye toward her, but Yuju’s own gaze was locked on one place only. Beyond the open car window sat someone who had been watching her for some time—someone who did not belong on a campus like this. Someone she had only ever seen on economic news.
Seo-won’s grandfather. Chairman Choi Jae-gyun.
Why he had come to a university like this, she could not understand. No—she understood too well, and that was what terrified her.
She swallowed dryly.
Was this the so-called aura of a successful man? He was only looking at her steadily, yet the atmosphere alone crushed her. More frightening still was the certainty, from the way his gaze stayed fixed on her, that he had come all this way specifically to meet her.