How Far?

Min Chae-yoon was the biggest eater of anyone I knew. Every time a new plate arrived, she emptied it with an elegant smile. Looking at her face alone, you'd never guess she ate so much. Her table manners were impeccable—no unsightly noises, no gaping mouth. You'd wonder if anything had even gone into that small mouth, those slender cheeks. But the moment she'd given the server a kind smile and he'd vanished from sight, she snatched my untouched plate right out from under me.

"If it's not enough, just order more."

"Don't say something so tactless. It's embarrassing."

What was wrong with ordering a lot? The restaurant would be happier selling more, wouldn't they?

"And stealing my food isn't embarrassing?"

"It's fine as long as no one notices. Besides, you weren't going to finish it anyway."

She let out a short laugh and added,

"Who do you think you are, some celebrity? You're thirty-three. You'll collapse if you don't eat."

"You sure have a way with words."

"No matter how nasty I get, could I ever hold a candle to our Princess? I learn from the best every day."

"You never let anyone have the last word, do you."

"Having a difficult friend made me stronger."

Give me a break. As if she'd ever been easy herself.

From the moment we first met, Min Chae-yoon had never lost a single round. She might have been struck speechless now and then, but she'd bounce right back and start chattering away again.

Stories I'd never asked to hear. Her best friend at school, her classmates, fights with her parents, worries about her grades. Everything except the old hag and dating.

Was she sharp, or just oblivious...?

Come to think of it, Min Chae-yoon had changed a great deal since then, too.

The girl who'd once been taller than me, dark-skinned and tanned—her head had grown so small it only reached my shoulder when we stood side by side. Even though she was over five-seven, I'd grown even more. Her neck and limbs were still long, but that tomboyish air was gone. She seemed calm and mature now—a grown woman. Well. We were thirty-three, after all.

I found Min Chae-yoon strangely unfamiliar all over again. The server brought dessert, and she gave the person serving her a smile full of genuine warmth. The server, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, flushed red to the tips of his ears. I frowned.

Catching my scowl, Min Chae-yoon asked with a puzzled look,

"What?"

"Were you always that..."

I regretted it the instant I opened my mouth. But there was no taking the words back.

"Always?"

"Such a smiler?"

"Me?"

Min Chae-yoon let out an incredulous little laugh and swept her palm across her chin. Covering that wide-open mouth of hers made her look a bit better. Those single-lidded eyes of hers gave off a rather cold air when she wasn't smiling. If that server had seen that face, he wouldn't have flushed. He'd have been terrified.

No—if he'd come here to earn a living, he ought to just do his job. Was getting worked up over a customer's face the right thing to do? This restaurant needed to start by training its staff properly.

"I guess I was just in a good mood from eating something delicious."

"Don't smile. I don't like looking at it."

Min Chae-yoon's face went stiff. But only for a fraction of a second. She snapped back at me, flaring up.

"If you don't like looking at it, close your own eyes. How self-centered do you need the world to be? Whether I smile with my own face or not."

"That was out of line. I'm sorry."

The moment I admitted it, her eyes went wide with shock. She pushed her upper body back, covering her mouth.

"What? Who are you?"

"Don't exaggerate."

"No. This is a major event. So you do know how to apologize..."

"......"

"Look at you, all grown up, our Princess. That's why people need to experience being the one who needs something for a change."

I couldn't help a dry laugh.

Min Chae-yoon would know, too. Why I'd had to visit the house of that old hag who despised me every week.

Since I was seven, I'd been in a position of need every single day. The weaker party. I'd never once been in a position where I didn't need something from someone.

But, well.

I'd never apologized to Min Chae-yoon.

Not when I unilaterally broke a promise, not when I left her a single message three hours late, not even when we finally met after a long time and I had to get up within ten minutes. I figured that was fine.

She was the one who'd asked to meet, after all.

I'd always said I was busy, and it was Min Chae-yoon who'd told me it was okay to be late, okay not to show up at all, to just come whenever I had time. She'd said she was carving out scraps of time to come see me anyway.

So there was no reason to feel guilty or to apologize. But this time I'd clearly been in the wrong, so I apologized. That was all.

I set down my fork, and Min Chae-yoon asked,

"Done eating?"

"No appetite. You?"

My trainer had advised me to put on weight, to pay attention to my diet. I tried to get protein in however I could, but the appetite just wouldn't come.

"I'm full now. Then come over here."

"The one with business should come over."

"Oh? You sure about that?"

Min Chae-yoon grinned, sly and knowing.

I glared at her, a sudden unease making me wary, but she was already on her feet, dragging her chair right up against mine. Wait. The square table was small, and with the chairs pushed together, the distance between us was even smaller.

"Hey, don't sit so close."

"Why not? I have to show you."

The server assigned to our room glanced our way in passing and startled visibly. It was the same one who'd flushed at the sight of Min Chae-yoon. Ha. Feeling slightly more generous, I decided to endure it for now.

"Your learning curve is worse than I thought, isn't it? It's only been a few hours since I got you."

"Don't say 'got me.' Over a kiss. Like you said, even kindergartners do that."

"Is that so."

Playfully glittering dark eyes came right up under my chin. I clenched my teeth, swallowing down the urge to scream.

"Hey. Get off."

"How far can you go?"

A sweet scent washed over me. I held my breath without meaning to.

It wasn't nauseating or unpleasant. Not a strong perfume—just a faint mix of Min Chae-yoon's own scent and a warm, floral note. I registered a beat too late that she'd pressed herself against my arm as if wrapping herself around it.

"Hey.... Min Chae...."

Min Chae-yoon.

"Your hand."

A thin hand covered the back of mine where it rested on the table. She pressed down with the faintest pressure on the prominent knobs of my knuckles, then slipped between my fingers. The hard tips of her nails hooked in like claws.

It was an utterly indecent touch. She wasn't simply holding my hand—she was rubbing against my skin in a way that called sex to mind.

My heart hammered. Sweat beaded beneath my scalp from nerves pulled taut. My stomach clenched.

This was different from usual. I should have been nauseous. But this—

Min Chae-yoon looked into my terrifyingly twisted face with a faint smile, then deliberately brought her lips to my ear.

Her breath touched my skin.

In that instant, even the fine hairs on my body stood on end, and blood rushed downward.

"How about this far?"

"......"

"Princess?"

That innocent voice, as if she had no idea what she was doing to me, poured over the top of my head like ice water. My mind snapped clear—but my already-hard cock showed no signs of going down. I—

What the hell is this.

My lower abdomen pulled taut, aching. A cock that had never even gotten hard, not even when a woman stripped in front of me, was now standing at attention over this—over nothing more than a held hand and a breath against my cheek....

I tensed my whole body and clenched a fist.

Only the hand she wasn't holding. That paper-thin back of her hand—what was it even supposed to be—and yet the hand she'd covered couldn't move at all. I couldn't open my mouth. I couldn't breathe. No. No. Something was wrong with this. But I couldn't open my mouth. If I did, I would swallow that sweet breath of hers.

"Is this unpleasant too?"

"......"

"Just bear with it. If we're going to sell this properly, I need to know how far you can handle, don't I? You've got to at least tolerate holding hands and linking arms."

"...It's fine."

Thank god Min Chae-yoon was a reasonable human being. If she'd been a dirty-minded pervert like most women, glancing between someone's legs at the drop of a hat, she would have caught on to this situation already and then some.

"You don't look fine."

Still leaning against me, Min Chae-yoon's hand drifted toward my forehead. The moment the short, rounded tip of her nail grazed my ear—flushed burning red—ah, no. I couldn't take it anymore. I pushed her off.

Goddamn it.

"Ah. So touching is off-limits?"

"That's not it. It's not that."

The smell of a woman, the nauseating give of soft flesh, the kind of gaze that looked ready to strip you naked, and breath warmer than my own body temperature—hot, lukewarm. All of it should have been disgusting. Unpleasant. That was how it was supposed to be.

And yet, why.

"You're fine. I can handle it."

"Treating a person like some hardship you have to endure is rude too, you know."

"That's not what I meant. I'm fine—ah, just get away from me for now."

Afraid her eyes might drop between my legs, I unfolded a napkin and covered myself. Even then, my senses had grown sharper. The press of her flesh against my arm, the damp tips of her fingers rubbing the back of my hand....

All of it heightened every sensation.

My body had gone wrong.