Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#7

Sui winced, her brow creasing sharply.
“It hurts, Beom Jin.”
Beom Jin’s pupils dilated suddenly, then contracted back to their normal size.
“…Ah.”
“Really, what is this.”
Sui cast him a sideways look and tried to pull her hand free.
But Beom Jin only loosened his grip slightly; he didn’t let go of her wrist.
“Just… let me go.”
“A blind date?”
His low, gravelly voice cut through her words like a blade, and Sui flinched, nodding timidly.
“Well… yes.”
“With who.”
“I don’t know the details yet.”
Sui drew a deep breath.
Even through the haze of alcohol, his gaze was crystalline—cold and settled in a way she’d rarely seen.
She found herself understanding what the other students used to say back in school.
When Beom Jin turned his expressionless face on someone, their spine went rigid with cold, their body seized up.
They’d said no one could withstand that sharp, chilling stare.
‘With eyes like that, he really could…’
His heavy voice, thick with subdued intensity, cut into her thoughts.
“Who.”
“Hm?”
“Who agreed to set you up.”
“Ah… Team Leader O.”
Beom Jin pictured Team Leader O—approachable, kind-faced—and his brow narrowed.
He’d thought the man was fine, devoted only to his family with no disqualifying faults.
Never imagined he’d stab him in the back like this.
“People in our line of work need somewhere safe to fall back on, he said.”
“…”
“Said that no matter how accustomed you think you’ve become, there’s always a moment when everything crumbles.”
Sui’s head sank lower.
“Today almost was that day for me.”
The moment the words left her mouth, something bitter rose from the depths of her chest—the same sensation she’d felt on the way to the mortuary.
“Team Leader O called while he was out on fieldwork. Said an unidentified corpse that came in today looked like my father. When I heard that… my heart just dropped.”
Deep down, she still hadn’t admitted it to herself.
That she was alone in this world.
“I thought I’d prepared myself for it. I hadn’t. Honestly, I was terrified. The thought that there was nowhere left for me to come home to…”
Talking about it only pulled her deeper into the morass.
She wanted to drown the feeling in alcohol, but Beom Jin still wouldn’t release her wrist.
“Beom Jin. Just let go, would you? I’ve had such a rough day.”
“You already have one.”
“…What?”
“Somewhere safe to fall back on.”
Blink. Blink.
Sui’s long lashes fluttered slowly up and down.
What is he saying right now?
“The only woman I want to kiss is you.”
Beom Jin gripped her jaw and tilted her face to meet his eyes.
“The only woman I want to have sex with, too.”
Sui’s eyes and mouth opened slowly, silently.
The word kiss alone felt like the world had stopped—shocking enough—but then what did he mean? What else did he want to…?
As if reading the panic in her mind, Beom Jin spoke again.
“Kiss, sex—”
“…”
“Only with you, Sui.”
Beom Jin’s eyes deepened as he watched her go rigid.
Her light brown irises trembled faintly.
Her soft cheeks flushed a rosy pink.
Her small, red lips parted slightly, quivering.
Her long, pale neck exposed where she’d tied her hair back.
Drunk, Sui was intoxicating.
More than necessary. Too much, even.
It was only because the hour was early and the place empty that no one else had approached her—sitting alone, drinking like this, she would have drawn them in. There would have been at least one, maybe more.
The thought sparked irritation in Beom Jin’s chest.
Sui had always depreciated herself—’who’d look twice at a woman in no makeup and dark clothes?’—but.
Whenever he watched her from afar or walked beside her on the street, men’s inappropriate eyes clung to her like flies. Wanting eyes, lustful eyes. Eyes just like his own.
Eyes gleaming with desire.
“Why would you have nowhere to go.”
Beom Jin pulled the hand he still held and pressed it against his chest.
“I’m right here.”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart hammered fiercely beneath her palm, its rhythm so powerful it felt like it might break through her skin.
Facing his unblinking, relentless gaze, Sui felt a parched thirst bloom in her throat.
“Come on, stop joking around. You’re serious.”
Sui yanked her hand away in panic and quickly reached for the bottle, refilling her glass.
This was how Beom Jin had always comforted her.
He’d redirect her focus away from her worries and problems, give her breathing room for a moment.
Laugh at his ridiculous teasing, chatter away—and somehow the weight pressing down on her would lighten.
But even so. How could he say things like that?
Kiss? Sex? Between us?
‘Stop it.’
Just thinking about it made her head spin.
The moment Sui raised the glass to her lips.
Beom Jin pulled her hand forward and tilted the drink into his own mouth instead.
“What—what are you doing.”
The way his thick throat moved, bobbing visibly as he swallowed—why was that so striking?
It was strange.
She’d watched Beom Jin drink countless times before.
So why was something deep in her lower belly burning up now?
“Didn’t you call me over to drink?”
Below his dark brows, his even darker eyes slid downward as he held her gaze.
“Can I drink something else instead?”
A profane thought bloomed in Sui’s mind.
That the ‘something else’ he meant wasn’t another kind of alcohol or drink at all…
But her lips—which he was staring at so intently right now.
“Just—do whatever. Let go, would you? Your glass is right there.”
“Drink slowly. You’re almost at your limit.”
“I’m not. You’re the weak drinker anyway, what do you know.”
And then Sui felt a flash of indignation.
Her face reddened as she glared at him prettily.
“You’re lucky. You just forget everything the next day.”
Kiss, sex—whatever it was. If he remembered saying those things, he’d never be able to act so confidently around her again.
It was truly a shame.
‘One day I’ll definitely make Beom Jin fumble.’
Resolved, Sui reached for the bottle—then stopped short, blinking.
Wait. Wasn’t Beom Jin still not drunk?
“Sui.”
His sudden voice shattered her thoughts.
“Why are you drinking alone when you called me here.”
“…Why do you keep holding my hand?”
Beom Jin cupped her hand as she reached for the bottle, keeping hold of both.
“Because I want to.”
Sui sealed her lips and quickly turned her head away.
‘Did I seem too desperate?’
Is that why he was comforting her in such an intense way?
Her heart was pounding, both her cheeks burning hot.
In the meantime, Beom Jin refilled her glass.
Glug glug—
Clear, transparent liquid filled the glass halfway.
“Don’t rush it.”
His thumb brushed across the back of her hand.
“The night is long.”

***

Sui, who’d had her head against the wall with her eyes closed, tilted to one side.
Her head met something as hard as the wall itself, and then a deep woody scent enveloped her.
“Mmm…”
Without thinking, Sui turned toward the source of the fragrance and leaned into it deeply.
The thing she was leaning on stiffened, becoming even harder.
What is this? It almost seemed to be moving.
‘But it feels nice.’
Solid and muscular like a grain sack, yet she felt as if she were wrapped in a soft blanket.
As her body began to float, weightless, Sui found herself smiling dreamily.
“Sui.”
“Mmm…”
“Feel good?”
Nod, nod. Her small head bobbed forward and back.
“Like I’m on a cloud. I want to stay like this forever…”
“Is that so?”
As Sui was nodding again, she suddenly realized the voice near her ear belonged to Beom Jin, and she struggled to open her heavy eyelids.
Blink. Blink.
The fragmented face coming into focus left her breathless for a moment.
Then she slowly turned her head, noticing the air had changed, and looked around.
Strange. She’d definitely been inside the bar—when had they come outside?
The familiar street and its lined trees came into view.
And the moment she realized she was cradled in Beom Jin’s arms.
“Put… put me down.”
Sui pushed weakly against his shoulder.
“I don’t want to.”
Beom Jin deliberately tightened his embrace.
Their bodies pressed closer, deeper together.
Soon their breath mingled between them.
Close enough to see their own reflections in each other’s eyes.
“Sui.”
At his voice, the mild night air turned sharp and oppressive.
“Want to kiss?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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