When I Reach You

Eun-jae, wearing a bathrobe over her still wet body, left the bathroom.

After taking only one step, Eun-jae, who bumped her forehead against the bare chest of a man as hard as a rock, looked up at the tall man who was standing there with eyes the size of a lantern.

How long has this man been standing here?

He tilted his head as far back as possible, and only then did his well-placed and well-placed gorgeous features come into view.

“why… … .”

I was going to ask why I was standing here, but I changed the question because I was afraid of the answer that would come back.

“When did you come?”

“now.”

It was the same eyes as last night. Even in the dark, I could feel the meaning of his eyes.

With his lustful eyes, the man swept across Eunjae’s body as if he were sweeping every nook and cranny.

“dinner-“

“no.”

As if he knew what he was going to ask, Eun-jae couldn’t keep his mouth shut at his impatient reply that fell before he even finished speaking. Gulp, dry saliva went down his throat.

From the beginning, he seemed unwilling to answer my question.

Because it doesn’t seem like dinner is important to him right now.

“That, put something on it.”

Eun-jae, who felt as if he had been stripped naked by his blatant gaze, lowered his gaze and gripped the front of the robe so that it was crumpled.

I need to get out of here quickly, that was all I thought.

As I silently took a step to the right, he blocked Eun-jae in the same direction.

Then take a step to the left again. As if he had no intention of giving way in the slightest, the man once again stood in front of her. This time, it narrowed the distance and made it even more suffocating.

The man’s hand reached out in an instant and touched the side of Eunjae’s face. He must have been well aware that that alone was a threat to her.

Feeling the heat, the man’s fingers slipped between the collar of Eunjae’s wet robe, traced along the slender collarbone, and quickly reached the top of her shoulder.

As I touched the bare shoulder with the palm of my hand, as if I was rubbing it in a circle, the front of the robe opened little by little.

The breath he took in his sudden action was swallowed up before he could even run out.

My head was dizzy, as if things from last night were happening again sequentially.

Eun-jae, who held her hands together as if to prevent them from moving any further, opened her moist lips and bit them.

He couldn’t hide his trembling emotions in his voice.

“… … Please get out of the way.”

Contrary to the resolute hand, the man responds as if he is interested in her trembling eyelashes as if they are flapping their wings.

The corner of the mouth slightly raised, the eyes half-closed. There was a deep desire there.

“It was just a glass of wine.”

“…….”

“There’s no way you could have just drank that and got drunk.”

Such turbid eyes that contain a terrible possessive desire in even a small gesture.

“You and me too. yes?”

“…….”

The man fiddled with Eunjae’s flowing hair and followed his gaze tenaciously.

“Ji Eun-jae, we are a married couple.”

“Are we just a couple?”

It’s a sign that’s worse than others.

I felt like my heart would burst at any moment, but I didn’t want to show it.

“It’s nice to hear that we are.”

A smile as sweet as cotton candy permeated the man’s lips.

Last night, drunk.

In an atmosphere that has matured.

The intense kiss that they shared as if they were being led to it was playing countless times in their heads.

As he said, it wasn’t a mistake.

A skinship that was extremely emotional.

It was the day when I was the most honest about my feelings while living in the same house with him.

If it goes on like this, today it might turn into something worse than a kiss.

Even if you would hug me like this, I wouldn’t even resist.

It wasn’t my own thoughts, but his eyes looking straight at me were telling me that.

As the man took a step closer, Eunjae took a step back. My back touched the bathroom door, which was still warm.

Now there is no place to be pushed out anymore, but the man kept narrowing the distance.

Seonwoo, who was about to fall down, grabbed Eunjae by the chin and looked at him warmly, as if asking him to look at mine.

In the wind, the towel wrapped around Eunjae’s head fell to the floor. Her long, straight hair cascaded down her white shoulders.

“That kiss last night—”

My heart warmed at the man’s hand gently tucking through my tangled wet hair.

“Did you just faithfully fulfill the contract?”

No, it’s because you’ve gotten better.

“Does Ji Eun-jae want me to accept that?”

I don’t think I should go any further here.

Is this hotness that is about to burn up in flames at any moment, you or me?

“Is this a breach of contract?”

His face, which had been bent at an angle, finally touched Eunjae’s lips hotly without a chance to push it away.

“Four hours, I will live.”

The breath sucked in in an instant makes me more and more lose my mind.

“Everything, give it to me.”

As soon as I closed my eyes, I began to picture that day clearly in my mind.

That day three months ago when I first met you.

***

There has never been a single quiet day in my life.

My mother, who has been bedridden for years, and my father, who gambled until he died and left the debt on me.

“Where have you been? Find them scattered.”

There are days when the sun will shine even in the hole of a mouse, someday the sun will shine on my life too.

Yes, Ji Eun-jae, let’s hold on a little.

27 years to believe and live like that.

My mouse hole is so deep that even the sunlight is hard to reach. By the time I realized that, it was all too late.

The debts that have grown beyond my ability to handle, and the loan sharks who can’t afford to wait for me anymore.

“You couldn’t have gone far, search all over.”

Inside a large general hospital.

How shockingly she knew the day her mother’s hospital bills were settled, she was caught by the moneylenders who were lurking in the hospital early on.

They were frantic to catch me hiding dead against the cold wall.

The already dry lips were cracked and blood was seeping out. It was poised to burn up to the few minutes left.

It feels like standing at the crossroads of life and death.

At the edge of a precipice where there is nowhere to set foot.

***

After the rounds, Seonwoo, clearly exhausted, was returning to the professor’s office, rubbing his neck.

From behind, Hyeji, a fellow doctor, came calling Seonwoo.

“Professor Yoon, what’s wrong with you these days?”

“I guess it’s time to die.”

“So, get some rest. Do you really believe in being young and go hooked?”

When Hyeji’s hand brushed against his, Seonwoo’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

Yoon Seon-woo. Youngest Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Yeonlim Hospital.

His good looks also played a part, but unlike his good-natured face, rumors spread around the hospital because of his vitriol and excessive mysophobia.

“sorry. Didn’t reach, didn’t reach.”

Hyeji, who flinched at his sharp eyes, stretched out her hand and asserted her innocence.

“It’s okay, because I’m wearing gloves.”

Sunwoo, who spoke rather sharply, put his hand in his pocket.

What kind of doctor are you going to do for that? That’s why you’re still single.

Even though they clicked their tongues, everyone’s gaze toward him was hot 365 days a year.

A tall man that most adult men have never looked up to, a man with pale skin and red lips, enchanting eyes and a gracefully raised nose.

I hate to admit it, but Yoon Seon-woo was a creature that was envied by men and women of all ages. He was such a near-perfect man.

The face of such a man seems to be in a lot of pain these days. His lips, which were always bloody, seemed to be losing their vitality.

“You say you start taking care of your health in your 20s?”

Seonwoo stopped walking and narrowed his brows.

“What is your intention?”

“Say it when you are even a little closer to your 20s, when you are at least a year younger!”

Seonwoo, not at all shaken, strode into the wide open professor room.

A tree standing by the roadside will not be treated like this. Hyeji made a disapproving expression and pushed the final sound through the crack in the slowly closing door.

“We are already thirty-three! It’s not too late, take care of your health, man!”

As soon as the door closed, Hyeji’s voice was completely blocked.

“Even if that Jaesu-taeng is really worried.”

In the end, Hyeji rolled the fatigue reliever in her hand for a long time in her pocket that she couldn’t deliver, then moved to the other side.

***

Inside the professor’s room, where the door was tightly closed, there was silence itself.

Seonwoo slumped down on the sofa, put his hands on his forehead, and took a deep breath.

“ha… … .”

I couldn’t even sleep.

Because only yesterday, the 24th meeting was ruined in a good way.

“Looks like I’ll fill it up 30 times like this.”

Lately, there has been a big concern that threatens his health.

That’s right, marriage.

The next director of Yeonlim Hospital. It was an extreme measure taken by the grandfather when the grandchildren quarreled over the position.

“I will give it to the one who gets married first.”

Grandpa’s voice buzzed in my head like an ultimatum.

Other than that, he’s not the type to tremble so neatly, but to him who reacts sensitively to the touch of others, marriage was like a terminal sentence.

When the skin was touched, goose bumps all over the body and dizziness occurred. It was a severe mysophobia, in which he would quickly panic if he did not wash his hands quickly.

Now, with the help of medication, he is in a good condition. No, rather than improving, it was to the extent that it became tolerable.

Even so, the unpleasant feeling of someone else’s hand touching her bare skin did not ease easily.

Out of misfortune, fortunately, he did not react very sensitively to indirect contact, such as wearing gloves. Thanks to that, I guess I’m living while serving as a human being.

“Absolutely no, Yeonrim can’t be taken away.”

It was an unwanted marriage, but Seon-woo would do anything to get the hospital.

For Seon-woo, Yeon-lim was the reality of a dream he had grown up watching since he was a child.

It was barely within reach, and for this reason it could not be taken away. To Yoon Tae-gyu, not to anyone else.

Yoon Tae-gyu was the son of his uncle.

Yoon Tae-gyu, who enjoys a promiscuous private life, was clearly not a person who could live bound by the institution of marriage.

So I felt a little reassured.

Until you find a woman you can touch, it will buy you some time.

Shouldn’t you be able to hold hands, whether you’re pretending to be like that or really falling in love?

wait, love?

Unknowingly, the thought flashed by me for a moment, and I wrinkled my face, revealing my displeasure.

“What are you thinking?”

Suddenly, in the mirror, Seonwoo, who was looking at his already chapped face from a distance, stood up quickly, sweeping his face with his large hand, as if he had made up his mind.

“Calm down, Yoon Seon-woo.”

***

There was not even a drop of blood on his wet face. Just as he was about to come out after washing his face in cold water, wanting to come to his senses, Seonwoo realized the absence of his cell phone and headed to the last bathroom where he had stayed for a while.

It was just when I went back into the compartment and picked up my phone.

Tak tok tok.

I heard the sound of my sneakers hitting the tile floor quickly. When I turned my head at that sign, there was already a young woman who was breathing heavily, and the door was closed.

For a moment, I wondered if I had entered the wrong place.

what is this girl?

“What… … town!”

Seonwoo couldn’t finish his words.

His small, white hand blocked his mouth.

A woman pleading with a voice that seemed to take a break at any moment was quickly captured in Seonwoo’s eyes.

“help… … .”

Who would listen? Desperation was evident in her eyes as she spoke in a whisper.

I should have been able to shake off that hand and stay, even after the pressure came and I couldn’t even breathe.

Even that was a problem now. The circuit got twisted and everything stopped.

Strangely, without permission.

Her hand resting on her lips was impossibly warm.

How long have you been feeling this?

It was the warmth I hadn’t felt in a long time, and I even felt that my body, which was in danger of collapsing just a moment ago, was recovering little by little with that little touch.

Why are you okay?

How could this be?

This small, soft hand that touched a part of my body unilaterally, far from being unpleasant, was so warm that it brought me to tears.

“please… … .”

Seonwoo quickly glanced at the woman covering her mouth.

Except for the white skin that revealed the neckline over the round T-shirt, the woman dressed in dark clothes from head to toe seemed to be being chased by someone.

In this situation, if I get swept away for no reason, I think I’ll be in danger too.

Words that were different from my heart came out.

“If you help-”

If there is such a thing as fate, is it like this?

As soon as I thought about it, an absurd, stupid laugh leaked out.

“What can you do for me?”