Masquerader Chapter 17

Seol-ah rubbed her eyes and sat up when she recognized the man’s face. She had no idea when he had arrived, but he had let her rest on his lap while leisurely browsing a tablet.  

 

Lounging there with a relaxed poise, he looked like he naturally commanded this space. Well, technically, Seo Tae-shin was the actual owner of this officetel, so that made sense.  

 

But since he had lent it to her as a temporary residence, even Secretary Yang always rang the bell and waited to be let in. This man, however, had no intention of acting like a guest.  

 

“You’re awake.”  

 

Seo Tae-shin glanced at Seol-ah, who had just woken up, then casually turned off the tablet and set it aside.  

 

“Did I talk in my sleep?”  

 

Seol-ah asked, just to be sure. She didn’t remember dreaming and felt well-rested, but just in case—she didn’t want to twice embarrass herself by crying in her sleep in front of someone.  

 

“Yeah.”  

 

“…What did I say?”  

 

“Let’s see.”  

 

Seo Tae-shin put on a thoughtful expression, as if recalling something.  

 

“You kept moaning, ‘Tae-shin oppa, Tae-shin oppa,’ like you were having the time of your life.”  

 

That was ridiculous. Seol-ah frowned in disbelief. Unbothered, Seo Tae-shin simply tilted his chin and asked,  

 

“So, is that how you’re planning to address me from now on?”  

 

“No way.”  

 

“I liked the way it sounded.”  

 

“……”  

 

“Thanks to that, I got quite an entertaining show.”  

 

“What nonsense… You’re spouting lies without a second thought.”  

 

“If you need proof, your drool on my thigh should be enough.”  

 

Seol-ah’s gaze dropped downward. She had assumed he was bluffing again, but his tailored suit pants, snugly wrapping his left thigh, were indeed marked with a small, round stain of moisture—clearly her doing.  

 

She wiped her mouth hastily with the back of her hand. Drooling in her sleep? She was really showing him all sorts of unsightly sides of herself.  

 

“When did you get here?”  

 

“I came back when this place was practically a rabbit hole.”  

 

Seo Tae-shin gestured toward the side table. His gaze briefly swept over the scattered cigarette butts before his lips curved into a faint smirk.  

 

“Had a good time?”  

 

At his question, Seol-ah shook her head honestly. Calling it an indulgence felt exaggerated—it had just been a child’s foolish play with fire.  

 

“Not really. It was too strong.”  

 

“You smoke for the strength.”  

 

Saying that, Seo Tae-shin reached out a hand.  

 

Seol-ah watched as his long, elegant fingers approached her, yet she didn’t avoid them. No, she couldn’t avoid them in time.  

 

His neatly manicured fingertips brushed against the corner of her mouth.  

 

“Not a habit I’d recommend to a kid.”  

 

His thumb pressed gently against her lips before gliding over her skin. Had she missed some drool?  

 

Seol-ah pulled her head back to escape his touch and grumbled as she wiped her mouth again with the back of her hand.  

 

“You said you’d wake me up last time..”  

 

Since she had moved, his large hand lingered momentarily in the air before effortlessly shifting its course.  

 

Like one would with a child, his palm ruffled her hair before sliding down to the nape of her neck.  

 

But unlike before, there was an unfamiliar weight in his touch.  

 

His hand was so large that merely cradling the back of her neck made her feel entirely ensnared.  

 

Yes. She was caught in his grasp.  

 

The warmth wrapping around her nape sent a peculiar shiver through her senses, putting her on edge.  

 

Why, at this very moment, did the image of a wild beast gasping for its final breath beside Seo Tae-shin come to mind? What kind of expression did Seo Tae-shin have back then?  

 

“You burrowed your face between my legs while sleeping, so I felt sorry for you.”  

 

At the very least, it must have been a different expression from now.  

 

To an outsider, his face might always seem the same—cold and expressionless. But now, Seol-ah felt she could recognize the subtle differences in his expressions. His jaded, ash-gray eyes gleamed with primal curiosity, and his languid lips carried an unusually playful smirk.  

 

“What kind of chaebol lies every time he opens his mouth?”  

 

Listening to Seo Tae-shin, it sounded as if she had been the one to rest her head on his thigh. But that couldn’t be true. No matter how deeply she had been asleep. In fact, the very idea that she had slept so deeply was strange—unlike her usual self lately.  

 

“Yeah. That’s the kind of people they are.”  

 

Seo Tae-shin’s lips curved into a soft smile at her words, as if he had no intention of denying that he was one of them.  

 

“So keep your guard up, baby.”  

 

The hand gripping the back of her neck slithered downward like a snake. In the blink of an eye, he seized her arm and pulled her toward him.  

 

“Don’t be so naïve.”  

 

Her body was abruptly yanked forward. Even though the IV drip from earlier had somewhat restored her strength, she was still powerless against a man whose monstrous strength could likely snap her ankle with a single hand.  

 

Seo Tae-shin leaned back comfortably against the sofa and pulled Seol-ah onto his lap. She could feel his lower body beneath her hips and thighs, while the solid muscles of his chest pressed against her back.  

 

“What are you doing?”  

 

Seol-ah turned to look at him, her body awkwardly pressed against his. In all her life, she had never once sat on someone else’s lap like this.  

 

“I told you to eat properly since they’ll be coming to examine you.”  

 

The firm arms encircling her from behind gripped her waist like iron claws.  

 

“Baby, I warned you.”  

 

He whispered right beside her ear. The deep, cavernous tone of his voice seeped into her ear like dampness, sending chills down her nape. Their bodies were so close that the sound seemed to travel through her skin rather than her ears.  

 

“I said I’d feed you by force if I had to.”  

 

Seo Tae-shin murmured as he rubbed her flat stomach. The intimacy of his touch made her shoulders flinch, but Seol-ah scoffed quietly.  

 

“That was ages ago.”  

 

The man who had promised to return in two hours never came. In the meantime, Chi-wook had visited the officetel multiple times. She hadn’t counted the days exactly, but at least half a month had passed. And now, suddenly, he was bringing it up again.  

 

“Were you worried I might not have eaten anything all this time?”  

 

“Does this feel like a stomach that’s been fed?”  

 

His hand, which had been stroking her belly as if inspecting it, suddenly slid under her T-shirt. Like a cunning serpent, it invaded without permission, gliding smoothly over her bare skin.  

 

As Seo Tae-shin’s hand roamed freely over her stomach and waist, the fabric of her T-shirt bunched up and settled back down with each movement. Watching this with quiet eyes, Seol-ah murmured,  

 

“That’s none of your business.”  

 

Her voice came out colder than she had expected. Seo Tae-shin smirked, his face still pressed close to hers. As if he had just heard a child’s tantrum, he let out a low, rumbling laugh and tightened his grip around her waist.  

 

“If I didn’t care, do you think I’d waste my time watching you sleep? I’m not that free of a man.”  

 

“Then why are you doing this to me?”  

 

Seol-ah turned her head slightly, and their gazes met instantly. Their eyes were so close that she could clearly see the peculiar shade of his dark, ash-gray irises—tinged with a deep, almost luminous blue.  

 

“When I woke up in the hospital, my wrists were cuffed. But the moment your secretary showed up, everything changed. It was strange from that point on.”