AOA 145

I lost consciousness many times after having sex with Baek Mugyeong. Sometimes it felt so good that my mind went blank, and sometimes I threw myself at him like an animal and collapsed in exhaustion at the end.

But it was the first time I opened my eyes and saw Baek Mugyeong lying naked beside me.

My eyes were swollen from crying too much, and through my sore, blurry vision, I saw Baek Mugyeong asleep.

We lay on our sides under the same blanket, facing each other. Because of that, I could see his face well as he breathed evenly with his eyes closed.

A handsome man looked good even in his sleep. The man whose aura made it hard to approach now had his mouth slightly open without any guard, and that sight looked a little cute.

Maybe I was completely blinded by infatuation, but I didn’t care.

Was this the first time I had ever watched him sleep?

I looked at Baek Mugyeong’s face for a long time and I tried to recall everything carefully. After sex, he always got dressed and went back to his own room. Or, when I came to my senses after fainting, he was gone. It had always been the same, even when things were going well between us.

I never thought it was strange, because it had been that way from the start.

So when I saw Baek Mugyeong sleeping beside me now, I felt strange. It also felt new that this was how I was confirming what I had said when I told him I wanted to try to get along with him.

I started to feel happy. Then I suddenly wanted to touch his smooth face and my fingers twitched.

Would it be alright if I touched him just a little?

I didn’t want to wake him while he slept, but my impulse won. I carefully touched his jaw with the tip of my index finger.

He didn’t react, so I caressed his jaw again and pulled my hand back.

No matter how long I looked at his handsome face, I didn’t get tired of it. I snickered to myself about how powerful the effect of a good-looking man was, and then his eyelashes trembled.

Even the moment a handsome man woke up looked like a scene from a movie, so I stared at him. After blinking a few times, Baek Mugyeong looked a little startled. Then he smiled.

“How’s your body?”

His slightly husky voice sounded sexy.

“I’m fine.”

Between my buttocks felt sore, deep inside my belly throbbed a little and my body felt heavy. But my head was clear and the heat had subsided.

There was no trace of bodily fluids that must have covered me during sex. He probably wiped me clean.

“What time is it?”

“I just woke up too, so I don’t know.”

Right after I woke up, I had spent my time only admiring his face. Baek Mugyeong reached back and picked up his phone, murmuring that it was a little past six. Then he said there was still some time left, and he suddenly pulled me into his arms.

I froze like ice because it was so unexpected. His soft but strong arms wrapped around me, and my back tingled.

It was the first time he had ever held me like this. It felt unfamiliar and awkward. I hesitated then rested my face against his chest.

The pheromones scent coming from his body made me smile without thinking.

I told myself that we were allowed to be like this and my face grew warm. Sex felt good but staying together like this without doing anything also felt good.

Honestly, it was funny too. We had planned to have sex after lunch, but I hadn’t expected it to turn out like this.

Then I suddenly realized it was almost dinner time.

“Ah…”

“What’s wrong?”

When I exclaimed shortly, he reacted. I raised my head and looked up at him.

“Didn’t you say you had an appointment for dinner? Aren’t you late?”

“I canceled it. More than that, aren’t you hungry? You probably haven’t eaten all day.”

“I do want to eat something… but I like being like this right now.”

It was an embarrassing confession, so I lowered my head again and avoided his gaze. I had skipped both breakfast and lunch. When I realized it was already dinnertime, I suddenly felt hungry. But I didn’t want to get up because I liked being in his arms. I liked lying together under the blanket.

I could feel him laugh against me.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because I like this moment. I’m happy, so I laughed.”

“It is nice.”

After that, we stayed silent again for a while. I tried to think of what I should say at a time like this, but nothing came to mind.

I decided to just stay like this, but then Baek Mugyeong spoke.

“Is there a problem with your heat cycle?”

“Maybe? I’ll have to get checked to know for sure, but the doctor said pheromone imbalance leaves a lot of aftereffects.”

“I’ll make an appointment for an early consultation at the hospital tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

I had planned to see Baek Jinseok and then go back to America, so I had booked a flight for tomorrow afternoon. But getting a morning appointment wouldn’t be a problem.

Baek Mugyeong’s arms that held me tightened a little more. I enjoyed his warmth, and then I suddenly felt curious. It didn’t suit the mood, so I hesitated for a moment, wondering what I should do.

I moved my body, adjusted my posture, and opened my mouth.

“I’m curious about something.”

“Yes.”

“I saw the news. It said my father’s company is under police investigation. They’re getting a tax audit too. Did you do that, Mugyeong-ssi?”

I asked carefully because I felt like I would forget if I didn’t ask now. If it really was Baek Mugyeong’s doing, I needed to thank him.

“I didn’t do it directly. I only helped a little.”

“What?”

I lifted my head in confusion. Baek Mugyeong had a strange smile on his face.

“The one who actually moved the police and the tax office was my uncle.”

“Why? Because of the divorce?”

As far as I knew, my biological father behaved toward Baek Jaehan like he would lick his shoes. He called him a snob behind his back, but he was always careful in front of him. Because of my arranged marriage with Baek Mugyeong, he had received plenty of support from Baek Jaehan.

If Baek Jaehan went as far as mobilizing the police and the tax office, it meant my father must have seriously offended him. I couldn’t think of any reason other than the divorce.

“The divorce was one reason, but my uncle also found out that Chairman Jeong made a lot of careless remarks.”

“Careless remarks?”

“He went around saying that Baek Yeongseop was finished and that Daesong Group would be inherited by his son-in-law. When my uncle heard that, he was furious.”

“Ah…”

It was understandable that Baek Jaehan would get angry enough to deal with my father personally. Someone like him was very sensitive to hierarchy.

No, that couldn’t be right. My father was a cautious man. How did Baek Jaehan even hear that? My father wouldn’t have said such things in front of him. He wouldn’t have said them even in front of people who could tell him.

As soon as that thought came up, I remembered what Baek Mugyeong had said about helping.

“Mugyeong-ssi, you said you helped earlier. How did you do it?”

“It’s a little complicated.”

“I’m fine with complicated.”

“To put it simply, I used someone who could pass Chairman Jeong’s words to my uncle.”

I couldn’t help but admire his skill. Getting Baek Jaehan to act without stepping forward himself was no small feat.

“How is that even possible?”

“You just need to do it well.”

His half-joking, half-serious tone caught me off guard, and I laughed. He had a serious look too, but he laughed with me.

“Did you do that because of me?”

“I hoped it would help you.”

I had suspected it, but hearing it confirmed made me emotional. It was something he had done even before we made up. I could tell how he had felt about me.

“Thank you. I feel relieved.”

“It’ll deal a pretty heavy blow.”

Honestly, I wanted to live without caring about what my biological father did. But I still couldn’t relax even with the forged paintings as leverage.

Right now, he was only being cornered with that fatal weakness. But knowing his nature, he would likely hold a grudge and find a way to strike back. Like Jeong Guhyeon, he could hire someone to threaten me.

I had prepared several things with Aunt Soyeon, wishing my father would be ruined to the point he couldn’t do anything bad again.

The weakness I knew about him wasn’t only the painting. I planned to expose him for embezzlement and scholarship fraud too.

Baek Jaehan had simply used that. To be precise, Baek Mugyeong had set things up that way.

My biological father owned a lot. A scholarship foundation, an education business, a workbook company, an art museum, and plenty of real estate. Because of that, he had ties with powerful people.

He wouldn’t be completely ruined by this, but as Baek Mugyeong said, it would cause serious damage.

I thought about how to make him suffer even more, but I stopped. I wanted to focus on Baek Mugyeong right now.

“Mugyeong-ssi, there’s something I want to discuss.”

“Go ahead.”

“We’re going to be in a long-distance relationship.”

“Yes.”

When I suddenly changed the subject, Baek Mugyeong raised his eyebrows a little and then nodded. He looked curious about what I was going to say.

“When we contact each other, how about setting a fixed time?”

Before falling asleep last night, I had searched on my phone for “how to manage a long-distance relationship.” Out of all the stories and advice, the most important point was regular communication.

Everyone said the same thing Aunt Soyeon had told me, that when bodies are far apart, hearts grow distant too. If contact becomes less frequent, the relationship grows cold.

The best method was to decide on a specific time to contact each other at least once a day.

Neither of us was the type to keep in touch often. Even when things were good, if there was nothing special to say, we didn’t message. So this was important.

Do it, I told myself.

Instead of saying it out loud, I looked straight at him with a firm gaze. Baek Mugyeong smiled.

“I’ll do as you say.”