TTD Chapter 7

When she opened her eyes, it felt like she had just risen from deep underwater. As if her consciousness had been scooped up with a strainer, it was a strange morning.

The most jarring thing was the sharp scent in the air and the sight of the man she saw when she turned over at the rustling sound.

“Why….”

The last thing her mind registered was that he was Ryu Iseok.

The moment her words trailed off, shattered fragments of memory surfaced like broken glass, sending a chill down her spine.

Every scattered piece of her broken recollections contained Ryu Iseok.

Shrinking away instinctively, Heeju pulled herself toward the corner of the bed.

How… how did this happen?

She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, only to realize the sensation of bare skin rubbing against her palm. Her breath hitched as she hurriedly buried her face in the sheets.

Peeking out cautiously, she swept her gaze across the sunlit hotel room.

She was sure she had entered the right room last night.

So why…?

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t piece together a reasonable explanation.

This was the bedroom where she was supposed to spend the night with Hyunsoo.

And yet, sitting there comfortably, occupying the space as if it belonged to him, was Ryu Iseok—smoking a cigarette.

Each time he exhaled a long breath, the loosely tied robe parted slightly, revealing the ridges of his sculpted chest muscles as they tensed and shifted.

“Um… ah…”

This wasn’t the time to sit in silence. She had to ask something—anything.

Her wide, dazed eyes blinked stiffly as she cautiously tried to sit up, only to wince as a dull ache spread from deep within her lower body.

“It… hurts…”

The unfamiliar sensation made her instinctively curl her toes. Heeju’s gaze once again landed on the man.

Her eyes, now filled with both uncertainty and accusation, demanded an explanation for the pain she felt.

That was when she noticed—he wasn’t looking at her but staring fixedly at a single spot.

Following his gaze, she turned her head.

A red stain had spread across the white sheets.

The sunlight illuminated the mark, making it impossible to ignore.

For a moment, she stopped breathing. Then, finally, she looked back at Iseok, capturing his sideways glance, which carried an ominous realization.

“……”

He flicked away the spent cigarette filter and lit a new one. A fleeting hint of discomfort crossed his face.

“Hee, Heeju slept with me.”

“We… we like each other now. I’ll take responsibility for Heeju, so Ryu Iseok, I suggest you find another match. I might not know you well, but I do know Heeju. And I know—I’m sure—that she needs me more than she needs you. So, Heeju—”

“Jung Hyunsoo, that bastard lied.”

“You met Hyunsoo?”

Their eyes met in midair—hers sharp with alarm, his unreadable yet slightly troubled.

“Hyunsoo—where is he?”

“I taught him a lesson.”

What do you mean? Hey, Ryu Iseok! The words raged inside her, pushing against her throat.

Meanwhile, Iseok lazily shifted his gaze, crossing one leg over the other. As if one cigarette weren’t enough, he pulled out another, holding it between his fingers.

After a brief silence, he spoke.

“I was planning to let it slide. Really, I was. But… sorry. I didn’t intend to take it all the way.”

His voice carried an unusual sincerity, one that didn’t suit the situation at all.

But it wasn’t something she wanted to acknowledge, let alone accept.

A breathy, disbelieving chuckle escaped her lips before she exhaled sharply, glaring at him.

If only… if only last night, the man clinging to her at the bar had been one of those pesky, sleazy guys. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel this sickening sense of betrayal.

If it had been that man, she could have just slapped him across the face and been done with it.

It wouldn’t have mattered who it was. Anyone would have been fine.

As long as it wasn’t Ryu Iseok.

Because now, like it or not, she was tied to him.

And that meant, like it or not, this wouldn’t be the last time.

Everything had been one-sided from the start. Every encounter with him had been strange, unsettling, and now—irreversible.

“……”

Tightly gripping the edge of the sheet, she clumsily wrapped it around herself and forced strength into her trembling legs. She climbed out of bed, her vision hot with unshed tears.

Then, she marched toward him and struck his shoulder.

“You were here the whole time? Why did you touch me?”

Her fist, small but determined, landed on him again and again.

Thud! Thud!

Like she was trying to leave a mark, to prove that he had done something irreversible.

Iseok allowed the blows for a moment before finally catching her wrist in midair.

“Touch?”

“Are you saying you didn’t?”

“I did.”

“Then are you joking right now?”

“I touched you, yes. But—”

He trailed off, his gaze dropping leisurely between her legs before dragging back up.

“I only meant to take care of you. But you…”

The way his words lingered, the way his gaze darkened—

“You rubbed against me, Yeon Heeju.”

The meaning sank in a beat too late.

Her face flushed with mortified heat.

With a sharp yank, she freed her wrist from his grasp, biting her lip hard to keep herself from lashing out.

A few seconds of tense silence passed.

Then, she turned away and reached for her scattered clothes.

Tears threatened to spill, but she held them back, clenching her teeth as she bent down.

She gripped a fresh set of underwear, but her fingers hesitated.

If she let go of the sheet, she would be exposed.

This isn’t why I bought these.

Frustration and humiliation twisted in her chest, making her voice tremble.

“I’m going to report you.”

“Hm.”

“It was… It was my first time….”

Judging by the pain coursing through her body, something had definitely happened.

Every sensation struck her like violence.

The more she became aware of how different her body felt, the more an unnamable feeling surged within her.

Injustice.

The tears welled up, threatening to spill over.

Something had happened.

No, to be precise, something had been done to her.

It felt far closer to being taken than anything else.

A deep, wretched confusion churned inside her.

From the moment she opened her eyes, her mind had been in disarray—so much so that reality itself felt blurred, ungraspable.

A mess of emotions swirled, tangled together, pushing only one thing to the surface—tears.

Covering her face with both hands, she tried to pull herself together.

“What the hell have you been doing all this time?”

The irritated click of a tongue cut through her thoughts.

“Not even managing to have sex once—until now.”

She lowered her hands from her face and turned her head.

He stood there, cigarette loosely hanging from his lips, another already burned out in the ashtray beside him.

And now that she noticed it, he had dropped all pretenses of polite speech.

His tone carried the kind of arrogance that made it clear he had no regard for her feelings.

It suited the look in his eyes.

“Whether you had group sex or clung to one guy all this time, I let you live however you wanted until twenty-five, didn’t I? Even if you got pregnant, I was prepared to take responsibility for that child.”

He took a deep drag of his cigarette before exhaling, his lips, reddened from the heat, curving as if teasing her.

“It was your choice to stay pure. So why are you blaming me for it?”

“Let me live how I wanted?”

“That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

“When did I ever say that?”

“Well, you can’t even remember last night’s sex, so—”

“Ha. And what about you, Ryu Iseok? Did you enjoy yourself? Then go ahead, keep enjoying your life. Live however you please—just leave me alone.”

Forget about marriage.

Live however you damn well want.

The tears she had been holding back spilled over the moment she finished speaking.

Too exhausted to even wipe them away, she just stood there, glaring at him.

He stood still, meeting her gaze head-on.

Then, slowly, he stepped toward her.

Not too far, not too close—just within reach.

As his hand lifted toward her face, perhaps to wipe away her tears, she turned her head sharply to avoid him.

His hand hovered in the air for a moment before he withdrew it.

“It’s a shame you don’t remember. But, well… I do feel a little sorry about it.”

Then, a pause.

“Next time, I’ll make sure you have nothing to regret.”

“Ha—next time? There won’t be a next time.”

He raised an eyebrow.

His expression shifted into one of quiet boredom, as if he couldn’t care less whether she meant it or not.

As if he was humoring her.

Then, without a word, he turned his back to her and shrugged off his robe.

For a moment, her eyes were trapped.

The powerful, sculpted lines of his body took over her vision, undeniable even through her rising disgust.

Even when he had been wearing a suit, it had been obvious.

Now, stripped down, the sheer solidity of him was impossible to ignore.

He bent over to pick up his pants, his every movement unfiltered before her eyes.

She knew now, whether she wanted to or not—

She knew exactly how firm his body was.

Her body remembered, no matter how much she wished it wouldn’t.

Realizing she had been staring too long, she quickly turned her head away.

But then—

A sudden, bone-chilling thought struck her.

Her face drained of color.

“…Hey.”

Frantically, she glanced around.

Her gaze darted to the floor, to the nightstand—

There was no sign of a condom anywhere.

A wave of dread swept through her.

Her wide, anxious eyes slowly found their way back to him.

“You… You used protection, right? You did… didn’t you?”

Leisurely buckling his belt, Iseok picked up the shirt lying near her feet.

His answer came casually, almost amused.

“You were crying so hard, begging me not to pull out. I had to comfort you somehow.”

Why?

His eyes seemed to ask the question before she could.

Heeju’s breath hitched.

Her mind went blank.

This man—he was unbelievable.

“Well, we’re getting married soon anyway. My family’s been wanting a grandchild. This works out perfectly.”

The languid voice cut through the haze in her mind.

Suddenly, a low, ragged groan echoed in her ears—

The sound of his hips pressing in deep, moving against her.

Her breath, gasping and broken, muffled against the sheets.

The relentless grip bruising her hips.

The moment she realized these were fragments of shattered memories, a pained whimper slipped from her throat.

So, everything… had happened without protection.

Ah.

What was she supposed to do?

What came next?

“I’ll take you home.”

Yes.

Yes, she had to get out of here.

First, she had to leave this place.

Moving on pure instinct, Heeju got up, her body bare, and desperately grabbed for her scattered clothes.

“Stay.”

“No.”

“It’ll hurt. Wasn’t it your first time?”

She weakly shoved away the hand reaching for her, but then, from somewhere deep inside, a sharp burst of strength surfaced.

Her eyes turned cold.

“Yeah. It was my first time. My memory isn’t all there, but I know one thing—it hurts like hell. And you didn’t even use protection?”

Her trembling palm struck his cheek before she could think twice.

“Ha… then you’ll understand, won’t you? I’m not in my right mind right now.

Come collect your payment when I am.”

Ah.

That wasn’t supposed to mean she wanted to see him again.

She had no intention of seeing him twice if she could help it.

What if he misunderstood?

Pushing away those thoughts, Heeju forced strength into her shaking legs and left the hotel room.

As if this was the only thing she had left to do.

As if the moment she stepped outside, everything could reset.