I know I don’t deserve this.
Honestly, I’ve been treating it like a joke until now.
But—
“Guess how I feel right now, what I’m thinking as I say this.”
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
Su-jin’s words hit me, making it clear that I couldn’t brush this moment off as a joke.
Then I noticed her slightly trembling fist.
‘She’s mustering up courage right now.’
To turn this playful situation into something real.
I could see how much of a leap this was for her.
Being honest with your emotions, and moving forward with that honesty—
I knew just how difficult and brave that could be.
So I decided to respond to Su-jin’s feelings sincerely.
Gently.
I saw Su-jin standing on tiptoe, her eyes closed.
And in that moment, something deep inside me surged forward—possessiveness.
‘Admit it. You don’t want to let anyone else have her.’
It was an emotion I had never felt before—not even once in my past life.
Back then, I had nothing, and I could enjoy nothing freely.
Surviving without giving up had been my only source of pride.
I had never wanted to have something for myself.
But now, it was different.
I had people I cared about.
And here was someone who was facing me with everything she had.
And at the same time—
‘I don’t want her doing this with anyone else.’
Jealousy flared up inside me.
Yeah, maybe I hadn’t been joking from the start either.
From the moment I told her not to shoot a romantic comedy—
From the selfish wish that she’d only film with me—
It was probably all an unfiltered, messy truth.
Otherwise—
“W-Wait... Ah... Mmph...!”
There’d be no reason for me to kiss her this deeply.
Our tongues tangled, saliva mixed, and breaths interlocked.
It was my first kiss, clumsy and rough.
The only thing I could rely on was the raw force of my emotions.
Sticky, desperate feelings—
I laid them bare and pushed them straight into her.
That was all I could do at this moment.
“Haa... Haa... At least give me... huff... a second to breathe...”
We pulled apart briefly, right before our bodies completely overheated,
right before we were out of breath.
Close enough for our noses to touch.
With our height difference—
“W-Why... Why do you look like you’re about to eat me alive?”
“Hm?”
“You were... you were pressing down so hard... You scared me a little.”
Maybe my posture had been a bit much.
‘What do I do now?’
That thought was short-lived.
I had a great idea and lifted Su-jin straight up.
“Kyaa! W-What are you doing?!”
“I mean... This way, our eye levels match perfectly.”
I sat her down on top of the shoe cabinet by the entrance.
The height difference disappeared instantly.
“This should be better, right?”
I barely finished speaking before—
“Kim Donghu, you... you’re insane!”
Su-jin crossed her arms over her chest and shouted, her face flushed red.
‘Huh? What’s wrong?’
Wasn’t this better?
I thought I’d solved the problem.
“You... You’re trying to kiss me more, aren’t you? That’s why you put me up here!”
Her accusation made me realize my mistake.
‘Oh... right. I never actually asked if she wanted to keep going.’
I had been too focused on making the kiss more comfortable.
The real issue was whether she wanted to keep kissing.
But—
“Yeah, I did it because I want to kiss you more. Is that a problem?”
Now that things had come this far, I was being completely honest too.
That first kiss had tasted like sweet lemon—
and I couldn’t get enough of it.
“Y-You’re insane, Kim Donghu...!”
Even as Su-jin said that, I saw her slowly uncross her arms.
She kicked her feet nervously against the cabinet, parting her knees just slightly, leaving space for me to step closer.
Her head was tilted shyly, her lips slightly pouted.
Her gaze flitted around nervously, and her twin braids hung loose, slightly undone.
I memorized every inch of her in that moment and leaned in.
Drunk on sensations I had never experienced before—
I pressed forward, tangled my tongue with hers, and shared my breath.
*****
A chill breeze spread quietly through the room, accompanied by the faint sound of cicadas outside.
Inside the house, there wasn’t a single sound.
As our kiss deepened, every noise that should have filled the space—
vanished into the silence shared between our lips.
“Haa... Hngh...”
Only the occasional sound of breathing escaped.
Kim Su-jin’s legs wrapped around my waist as she perched on the shelf.
It felt like she might fall at any moment, even though I knew she wouldn’t.
Her arms stayed locked around my neck, and we kept exchanging breaths.
Deeper. And deeper.
Reaching into each other’s depths to expose everything—
shoving aside restraint and pushing forward with raw desire.
To make this first moment unforgettable—
we mixed everything, our very firsts, into one.
Tasting her teeth, sometimes even accidentally biting her tongue,
we fumbled through the clumsiness.
Then, almost instinctively, my hand started to wander downward.
“Ah... Aaah...”
The moment my hand brushed against her waist,
Su-jin shuddered.
Rough, but tender.
The warmth of my hand touching somewhere other than her face—
sent a shiver down her spine for reasons neither of us could explain.
‘Just a little more... just a bit more...’
As our lips stayed locked, continuing to trade breaths,
even as our bodies felt like they might be devoured—
Su-jin wished this moment could last forever.
When our chests pressed together,
Su-jin suddenly became aware of her own body.
‘I-I’m standing up straight...’
Her entire body stretched out instinctively.
And at that moment, my hand slid back up her body.
From her waist to the middle of her back—
right where her bra strap was.
And then—
Click.
The hook of her bra met my fingers.
‘W-Wait! My underwear... it doesn’t match today!’
Like lightning, that embarrassing fact struck Su-jin’s mind.
Sure, she knew most guys didn’t care about mismatched underwear.
But still—there were limits to what could be considered acceptable.
‘Not today! It’s way too old!’
If it had been a new mismatched set, she might have let it slide.
But the problem was this set was from high school.
‘I-I didn’t expect this to happen!’
Smack.
The brief break in their kiss left behind a thin string of saliva.
Su-jin bit her lip and quickly broke the silence.
“P-Put me down! I, uh, I need to go! I have an emergency!”
“...Right now?”
Donghu looked at her, completely thrown off.
But Su-jin twisted and scrambled off the shelf in a panic.
“An e-emergency! A super urgent one!”
Su-jin was panicking too, fumbling through her words as she tried to explain.
“I need to go turn down that romantic comedy offer! Y-Yeah! I have to go settle that!”
Of course, there was no such emergency.
All she had to do was tell them no.
Besides, as the daughter of Kim Yuryeon, the Queen of Dramas,
she didn’t need to ‘settle’ anything.
“R-Right... that’s important.”
But Donghu, still flustered and fired up,
couldn’t think straight and simply nodded along.
“I-I’ll head out now! Let’s just... call it a day for now!”
For now?
‘Call it a day?’
What exactly did she mean by that?
And what did ‘for now’ imply?
‘Damn it, I’m picturing things.’
Donghu’s mind turned red as heat rushed to his face.
But just as Su-jin reached the door—
“Mmph!”
She paused, as if it was too hard to leave like this.
Grabbing his cheeks, she planted two quick kisses on them.
Smack. Smack.
They’d already kissed so much,
but for some reason, the finishing touches were two light pecks.
Her face flushed red as she hung her head low.
“O-Okay! I’m really leaving now!”
And with that, Su-jin bolted out the door.
The only evidence left behind—
was the smudged red lipstick on Donghu’s lips.
That night—
for the first time in her life, Su-jin turned her bed into an igloo of blankets.
*****
The morning after that intense kiss—
“Donghu, did something good happen to you?”
“Huh? Me? Uh, no. Nothing.”
The moment I stepped into the gym, Sangha-hyung greeted me with an out-of-the-blue compliment.
“Really? For someone with nothing going on, your face is practically glowing.”
“G-Glowing?”
“Yeah, like all shiny and smooth. You know, the kind of glow that...”
Sangha-hyung trailed off mid-sentence as if something clicked in his mind.
Then he suddenly clammed up and just stared at me.
“Donghu, I failed, but I think getting married early might actually suit you.”
“What?”
“I mean, you don’t even have to get married. If you can afford it, you could even—manage multiple households.”
“Wait—what? What are you even talking about?”
“Who knows? What if the government goes nuts and legalizes polygamy for a short while? You might just jump at the chance.”
What the hell is this guy saying?
I quickly tried to stop him before he spiraled even further.
“No, no, no—Hyung, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Please, just explain—properly!”
“You know that famous saying, right? ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Well, a good-looking face like yours? It comes with certain... responsibilities too.”
Then, completely unprompted, Sangha-hyung stretched out his arm and flexed his bicep in front of me.
“And you’re built like this, too.”
“Hyung, please stop!”
What exactly does “like this” even mean?
“I’m just messing with you.”
And with that, Sangha-hyung finally dropped the jokes, and we dove straight into training.
Time flew by, and before I knew it, it was mid-July.
“It’s about time we head out.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Since Olympic boxing matches usually happen early in the schedule,
we started preparing to leave for Rio de Janeiro to adjust to the time difference.
But this time, we had way more people tagging along compared to our last training trip to the U.S.
“Redhorn and Adihez are tagging along too.”
“They must really want to capture more footage of you.”
The three-documentary crew, plus teams from Adihez and Redhorn.
It was enough to feel like we were chartering an entire plane.
“Wow, thanks to you, Donghu, I’ve flown business class so many times now! Living the dream!”
As the plane was about to take off, Sangha-hyung suddenly turned toward me like he just remembered something.
“Oh, right. You know what’s super famous at the Olympics?”
“Huh? What is?”
“They hand out condoms. Olympic condoms.”
Wait—what?
“Apparently, athletes hook up a lot during the Games.
You know, young people with insane energy levels. Makes sense, right?”
Sangha-hyung burst into laughter at his own joke.
“What the hell even...”
I brushed him off, looking flustered, but right at that moment—
‘Olympic sex rates increase... “It’s natural for adults, nothing to be ashamed of.”’
No way, Kim Donghu! Don’t even think about it! Got it?!
A text popped up from Su-jin, who clearly still hadn’t calmed down since our kiss.
Sending me something like this after that heated moment?
‘Seriously, what’s going through her head?’
And if that wasn’t enough—
If the Olympic village is uncomfortable, just let me know.
I can book a separate room for you. Don’t hesitate to ask.
Or maybe... we could stay in rooms next to each other?
Evelyn’s text hit me out of nowhere.
Not you too!
‘I’m losing my mind here.’