Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 30

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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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30.
Only then did Liam caress her with a touch so tender it made her breath catch.
His fingers traced the curve of her jaw, slipping down along her neck, lower, lower still. His index finger outlined her collarbone before drifting further down.
His lips followed, soft and warm, brushing against her collarbone in the same meandering path his fingers had traced.
Each touch forced Hui-ju to clench her teeth. If she didn’t, a sound—something shameful—would escape.
Her stomach fluttered. Her lips grew dry. It felt as though someone were tapping at her heart, each tap sending a jolt through her.
She was restless, anxious, giddy with a weightlessness that made it impossible to think clearly.
Slowly, Hui-ju raised both arms, reaching to pull him closer—
“Achoo!”
“!”
A sneeze from beyond the door yanked her back to reality. Snapped into awareness, she pushed against his shoulder with the hand that had been about to embrace his neck.
“We have a minor in this house. I nearly forgot.”
Liam clicked his tongue softly, clearly displeased that she’d regained her composure just when she seemed on the verge of surrendering completely.
She would stand by what she’d said. No matter how sweetly he whispered, no matter how tenderly he touched her.
As long as Noel was in this house.
“Well, I can hardly throw out the homeowner.”
Liam withdrew without protest. He didn’t recklessly charge into fights he couldn’t win. He’d learned that it was far more efficient to retreat quietly and wait for the next opening.
He settled back against the sofa, one hand still holding hers, absently playing with her fingers. He found he could do this indefinitely without growing bored.
Her body temperature, which had been burning hot, gradually returned to normal. Part of him found it a shame; part of him found it amusing.
“The floor is cold.”
At her words, Liam kept his eyes closed but let a smile play at the corners of his mouth. He asked in a tone of mock innocence.
“Isn’t the sofa too narrow for us both to lie down on?”
A sharp reply came immediately.
“No one asked you to lie down with me. I meant you should go back to your chair.”
Liam let out a quiet chuckle. In that moment, Hui-ju murmured in a flat voice.
“Besides, you’re not sincere with me anyway.”
He fell silent, as though struck directly in a vital spot.
Hui-ju stared into empty space with a calmness that suggested she’d anticipated his reaction. Suddenly, her heart ached. As if his silence had wounded her instead.
After a moment, he spoke in a voice laced with laughter.
“You stake your life on someone who isn’t sincere with you? How cruel. You don’t understand people at all.”
“It’s not that I’m completely indifferent. I suppose I feel some interest. But as for sincerity—well, is there really anyone I’m truly sincere with?”
Another sting. Her heart throbbed painfully. Her own words had drawn blood from her own wound.
Even if he’s interested in me now, how long will that last?
His sincerity toward her always seemed so convenient. Easily withdrawn at any moment.
So I should respond with equal caution. I mustn’t let myself be sincere.
“What do you mean by that?”
Liam’s voice dropped slightly. His gaze fixed on her right cheek as she stubbornly stared at the ceiling.
“This situation is just entertaining, isn’t it? Someone threatening your life, keeping you on edge. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been someone other than me.”
“Are you trying to imitate Sherlock Holmes now?”
His voice dropped noticeably. It carried a coolness that felt almost eerie—as if he’d peeled away one layer of the mask he wore.
Hui-ju slowly closed her eyes. Faint light from the streetlamps filtered through the curtains, casting her silhouette in shadow.
A long silence followed—the kind of silence where it wouldn’t have been strange for her to fall asleep.
“If I become sincere.”
His drowsy voice stirred the night air. Hui-ju, eyes still closed, listened intently.
“Could you handle it?”
…….
Hui-ju didn’t even breathe loudly, but Liam knew she wasn’t asleep.
“Then even if you cried and begged, it would be no use. Even if you wanted to run, you couldn’t. Are you still fine with that?”
…….
“So why do you make promises you can’t keep? Hmm? Hui-ju.”
Hui-ju swallowed slowly. Her heart clenched tight. Her muscles tensed as if ready to leap up and flee.
A soft laugh escaped Liam’s lips, and the air seemed to tremble.
But Hui-ju couldn’t move. His words lingered in her ears.
‘If I become sincere, could you handle it?’
‘So why do you make promises you can’t keep? Hmm? Hui-ju.’
His voice, seemingly gentle on the surface, carried the chill of a predator’s fangs. All Hui-ju could do was pretend to sleep.
Hoping the beast would lose interest in its motionless prey and turn away.
…….
Another silence descended. The air in the living room seemed to evaporate by the handful. Though her eyes remained closed, his gaze felt unmistakably present.
Just as she thought she couldn’t endure it any longer.
“Sleep well.”
Liam pressed a light kiss to her forehead, then returned to his own place. As if nothing had happened.
Hui-ju released her held breath in slow, measured exhales. The tension gradually drained from her body. A profound exhaustion washed over her.
Whether it was relief or the aftermath of the kiss, she couldn’t say, but sleep claimed her anyway.
Until consciousness faded completely, his words echoed in her mind.
‘If I become sincere, could you handle it?’
‘So why do you make promises you can’t keep? Hmm? Hui-ju.’
She had the eerie premonition of having touched a nerve she should never have exposed.
***
Though the calendar still showed late November, Christmas Wreaths adorned the entrances of scattered houses throughout the neighborhood.
Many yards had trees pruned into neat shapes, intended to serve as Christmas trees.
The wind was chilly but gentler than Seoul’s brutal cold. At least it lacked that biting ferocity that seemed to draw blood from your skin.
Walking through the streets, Hui-ju often found herself seized by an odd feeling. The unfamiliar landscape, the unfamiliar language, the unfamiliar people—she felt jarringly out of place among them all.
If she was honest, it wasn’t an entirely foreign sensation. She had always been out of place. An outsider who belonged nowhere.
It wasn’t her family’s fault. Her adoptive parents had been kind to her, and her older and younger brothers loved her in their own ways.
Yet that place never felt entirely like hers. She’d always thought of herself as a traveler, destined someday to leave.
So she kept a perpetual travel bag packed in one corner of her heart. So that she could never be hurt by departure.
Hui-ju lowered her gaze and looked down at her feet. Her two feet stood planted on the ground.
Yet they seemed precarious, ready to be swept away by the slightest breeze.
…….
Then she felt it—a gaze upon her. She slowly lifted her head and met Liam’s unwavering stare.
There were moments like this. When he seemed to look straight into her abyss.
That was the part of herself she most wanted to hide, the shame she could never let anyone discover.
Even noticing her discomfort, Liam didn’t look away. Rather, it felt as though he couldn’t. If he turned away even for a moment, she might disappear entirely.
Realizing how absurd that thought was, Liam’s brow furrowed slightly. It defied all logic.
And yet she seemed so distant. Or perhaps hungry. Maybe what appeared to be indifference was actually longing.
Without thinking, Liam’s hand clenched into a fist. She might need him. Absolutely.
“That she might need me…….”
The moment those words formed in his mind, something deep in his chest surged violently. It was a dangerously sweet temptation. The very thing he’d spent his whole life wanting.
The existence of someone who needed him—not as a replacement for someone else, but completely and entirely.
Could that someone be Hui-ju? Could she be the one to fill the hollow place in his heart?
“The kids are starting to come out.”
She tapped his arm lightly and turned her attention to her mobile phone screen. Finding Marsha on social media was child’s play.
A simple cross-reference of the name Marsha with the name of Noel’s school yielded exactly one result: Marsha Bailey.
In the photos, Marsha wore heavy makeup and tight clothes, her cheeks pressed together with friends.
In the next photo she was drinking; in the one after that, she was kissing a boy.
Cultural differences aside, shouldn’t a high school student maintain some boundaries?
Hui-ju shook her head at herself.
“Look at me, turning into a prude.”
She carefully examined the faces of the children moving together in a group.
Before long, she spotted the person she was looking for. Even without comparing her to the photo, she would have recognized her instantly. She looked like a queen, attended by three other girls like ladies-in-waiting.
Hui-ju knew this type well. She understood how little their influence amounted to in the wider world, yet how enormous it loomed within their peer group.
Hui-ju returned her phone to her pocket and glanced back at Liam. He raised his eyebrows lightly.
“Should I go?”
“You, Liam?”
“Would she obediently follow just because you asked? Unless you’re some kind of pretty-boy magician.”
The fact that he’d said something so immodest disqualified him on principle. Anyone who knew he was good-looking had no luck whatsoever.
But since he made no objection, it clearly was an undeniable truth.
“No, I’ll lead the way. You follow from behind.”
Though she knew he was too striking a presence to be left out of sight, Hui-ju said it anyway. Liam followed after her with an amused smile playing on his face.

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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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