“We went to the same school for a little while. You probably don’t remember me, Mr. Go. It was back in high school…”

Wooyoung lounged back in his chair, curiosity filling his eyes. A long, slender finger drifted lazily along his jaw before brushing the end of his eyebrow. He caught his moist lower lip between his teeth, then let a dazzling smile spread across his face.

“Ah…”

The woman sitting across from him flushed at that captivating smile and lowered her gaze.

“I really never thought we’d meet again like this.”

At that moment, Wooyoung’s brows drew together slightly.

Not because of anything the woman in front of him had said.

It was because of the conversation behind him.

He hadn’t been listening to the woman across the table in the first place. Every ounce of his attention was fixed on the man and woman seated behind him.

One woman had caught his eye the instant he stepped into the lounge.

Even after more than a decade, she looked so much the same that he had recognized her at once.

Still, just in case he was mistaken, Wooyoung quickly began searching for the details he remembered.

The deep dimple in her left cheek.

The beauty mark just beneath her right eye.

And the long scar above her left eyebrow.

It really is you, Na Yoonseul.

He hadn’t forgotten her even once since they parted.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to see her again here, at this hour, in this place.

Then the man sitting with her said her name, confirming beyond any doubt that she was the Na Yoonseul Go Wooyoung knew.

“I’m sorry, Yoonseul. I honestly didn’t mean for this to happen, okay? But I can’t keep dating a woman who won’t even sleep with me.”

Sleep with me.

The phrase lodged sharply in Wooyoung’s ears.

He tuned out the woman in front of him completely and focused even harder on the conversation behind him.

“It took us a whole year just to kiss. Fine. Whatever. I could live with that.”

The man even let out a long, aggrieved sigh.

Wooyoung wondered what expression Yoonseul was wearing right now.

He had wanted to sit at the neighboring table, but the only seats left had been directly behind her. With no other choice, he had taken the table at her back.

“How am I supposed to marry a frigid woman? Try putting yourself in my shoes for once.”

The man sounded thoroughly wronged.

“And that somehow justifies cheating on me?”

Unlike him, Yoonseul’s voice remained calm.

So the bastard cheated on her.

On Na Yoonseul, of all people.

Wooyoung’s brows furrowed even deeper.

“Of course it does. If we were already married, this would be more than enough grounds for divorce. That’s why I wanted to make sure we were sexually compatible before getting married. Do you have any idea how important that is?”

Is this asshole insane?

He was talking loudly enough for everyone at the neighboring tables to hear. Wooyoung glanced around and saw several other guests stealing looks in their direction.

“Why don’t you stop making excuses and just admit you like that woman? These excuses are getting pathetic.”

Yoonseul delivered the words in a dry, perfectly even voice.

Listening from behind her, Wooyoung finally let out a quiet snort of laughter.

“You look even more handsome when you smile.”

The woman across from him spoke again.

Wooyoung’s dark eyes shifted back to her. She was staring at him as though completely entranced.

“You were already handsome before, but when you smile…”

Her cheeks turned bright red.

How much longer am I supposed to keep up this pointless conversation?

Wooyoung studied her for a moment, then lifted one corner of his mouth.

“Let’s call it a day.”

“A-already?”

Her eyes flew wide as though she had heard something unbelievable.

Wooyoung glanced down at the watch on his right wrist.

Fifteen minutes since the blind date had begun.

That was plenty, wasn’t it?

He hadn’t intended to come in the first place. But the moment he landed in Korea, his father’s secretary had taken him straight from the airport to the hotel, practically forcing him to at least show his face.

“I heard we were supposed to have dinner together too.”

“I came straight from the airport. I’m a little tired.”

“Oh…”

Disappointment crossed the woman’s face.

But if he was simply tired, there wasn’t much she could say. She pressed her lips together.

“It was nice meeting you.”

Wooyoung stood and buttoned his jacket.

The gesture made it perfectly clear that the blind date was over.

The woman stared at him blankly before reluctantly rising as well. After a moment’s hesitation, she asked carefully,

“Aren’t we leaving together?”

“You go ahead. Take care.”

His impeccable politeness only made her reluctance to leave more obvious. She finally walked away, disappointment written all over her face.

Only after she was gone did Wooyoung sit back down.

At last, he could focus entirely on the conversation behind him.

******

“Now that we’re talking about it, let me tell you something. Yeah. That kind of thing really hurts a man’s pride.”

Yoonseul curled the hands resting in her lap into fists.

He had never really been her type, nor had she liked him all that much in the beginning.

Still, she had to give him credit for one thing—persistence.

He had pursued her for two full years starting from her freshman year, and he had a good reputation around campus. Eventually, his unwavering devotion had moved her enough that she agreed to date him.

Then, three months ago, after they took a trip together, something about his behavior began to change.

More precisely, it had changed after what happened that night.

And apparently this idiot she had once considered her boyfriend truly believed she knew nothing.

Nothing about who he was seeing now.

Yoonseul had discovered the truth by accident a few days ago.

“You turned me down so many times, and then we finally went on a trip together. Do you have any idea how much I was looking forward to it? But you wouldn’t let me do anything.”

“What do you expect me to do? I didn’t want to.”

“See? This is exactly why I got sick of you. Ask your friends. They’d say this isn’t normal too. No—wait. Not us. You’re the weird one.”

“Watch what you say.”

Unable to stomach any more, Yoonseul finally spoke through clenched teeth.

Her fists trembled in her lap.

If she had known he was the kind of person who couldn’t show even the bare minimum of respect to someone he had once dated, she never would have gone out with him.

No.

Maybe she should consider herself lucky that it was ending now, before she wasted any more time.

But she knew exactly who he had cheated on her with.

That was why her anger refused to die down.

“You should see a doctor. If you’re frigid, it could still be a problem even if you meet another guy after me—”

“That’s strange. She was perfectly fine when she did it with me.”

A low male voice abruptly cut between them.

At the same moment, a familiar scent brushed past Yoonseul’s nose, and someone sat down beside her.

Startled by the sudden intrusion, she turned her head.

“…!”

Wooyoung smiled at her stunned expression.

“What the hell is this?”

Jicheol leaned forward and pointed at Wooyoung.

Wooyoung’s pitch-black gaze shifted to him.

“Ever consider that maybe Yoonseul isn’t the problem?”

“…What?”

Jicheol’s face flushed crimson.

Watching him stammer, Wooyoung continued in an easy, almost indifferent tone.

“Maybe you just weren’t attractive enough as a man. I’m telling you, she wasn’t like that with me. No technique, no sex appeal… Blaming a woman for your own shortcomings is pretty pathetic, don’t you think?”

“Hey, Na Yoonseul. I thought I was your first… I thought I was your first man. Wait. Did you cheat on me?”

Yoonseul didn’t even get the chance to answer.

She was too stunned and confused.

She stared blankly at Wooyoung, unable to make sense of what was happening, while he sat beside her looking perfectly at ease.

Across from them, Jicheol was too busy fuming, apparently convinced that she had been cheating on him.

“You cheated on her yourself, didn’t you? From what I heard, you’re pretty good at talking bullshit too. No reason Seul can’t do the same.”

Wooyoung reached out with his right hand and wrapped it around Yoonseul’s left.

Warmth seeped into her cold, trembling fingers.

“So I suggest you get lost while I’m still asking nicely.”

Wooyoung smiled as he murmured the warning in a low voice.

“Wow. Na Yoonseul. Are you seriously not going to say anything? Say something!”

“Stop talking to Seul. I told you to get lost. Before I kill you myself.”

He was still smiling.

His eyes, however, were murderous.

At the hard edge in Wooyoung’s voice, Jicheol looked back and forth between him and Yoonseul before slowly rising from his seat.

“Wow. So that’s how it is. Acting all innocent with that pretty face while sneaking around behind my back… Just you wait.”

Still seething, Jicheol stormed out of the hotel lounge.

Too bewildered to react, Yoonseul simply stared after him.

Then she felt the strength of the hand gripping hers, and her gaze dropped to their joined hands.

From his right hand to her left, the long scars across their skin met as though they had always belonged together, completing a single work of art.

“Crybaby. Look at you.”

At the hand ruffling her bangs, Yoonseul slowly lifted her head again.

He was looking at her with a gentle smile.

Her eyes began to tremble.

“Been a long time, Na Yoonseul.”

The corners of his mouth curved beautifully upward.

Na Yoonseul’s whole world.

Na Yoonseul’s everything.

The one person who had always been on her side.

Her first love, Go Wooyoung, had come back.

After fifteen years.

Chapter 1

Comments