Bound by a Ruthless Contract - Chapter 49
Si-heon reached for the cufflink on his wrist.
At his gesture suggesting he might remove it, Ga-eun hastily spoke.
“I’ll sleep. I’ll sleep.”
“Is that so? What a shame.”
Si-heon slowly removed his hand from the cufflink. However, he didn’t move back.
Their proximity remained intimate.
Close enough to read each other’s thoughts through their eyes.
Under Si-heon’s intense gaze, Ga-eun felt her throat burning.
As if something pooled in her eyes bothered him, Si-heon focused without blinking once.
“Why… are you looking at me like that?”
“It seems like you’re asking me not to leave.”
“…”
“I’m trying to see if I’m right.”
…She had momentarily forgotten this man was like a beast.
How did he always manage to detect the feelings buried deep inside her?
Hiding her emotions had become second nature to her.
Yet this man noticed accurately every time. Almost frighteningly so.
“You must have been scared. Today.”
“…It’s not something I’m used to.”
“True. Domestic violence and street violence are different breeds.”
Si-heon watched with interest as Ga-eun flinched at the mention of domestic violence.
Suddenly, he was curious.
What would her bare face look like, stripped of the mask she wore so well?
He’d never been curious about anyone else’s true nature before.
She was truly a remedy that captured his attention in many ways.
Since she had his attention, he decided to stay longer.
This moment of psychological vulnerability was an opportunity to delve deeper into her mind.
She was the woman who held his leash.
Though she didn’t know it herself.
Still, Si-heon felt somewhat uncomfortable with the sensation of having his weakness exposed.
Though they had agreed to marry, Si-heon wanted to make Ga-eun more dependent on him, need him more, and ultimately believe she couldn’t properly live without him.
That way, he could prepare for the possibility of not finding another cure for his insomnia besides sleeping with her.
If being by her side could increase that possibility, he could do it as much as needed.
That was all. There was no other reason.
“I’m thinking of staying beside you until you fall asleep. If you want me to hold you, I wouldn’t mind.”
“…Sitting there is enough.”
At her response, Si-heon’s expression turned amused, as if saying ‘if you say so.’
Ga-eun quietly swallowed at his weight still distinctly felt beside her.
When they start sharing the same bed… she’d always feel this weight, wouldn’t she?
“May I… ask one thing?”
“If I say no, will you not ask?”
“…If that’s what Mr. Kwon Si-heon wants, I suppose I must.”
Si-heon chuckled. Pleased at the thought of how well she could be trained, he nodded.
“Ask away.”
“You said you went to the gallery.”
“Is that the question?”
After hesitating, Ga-eun spoke.
“Did you… meet mother too?”
As soon as she said it, she bit her lip.
Every time she called that woman ‘mother,’ she felt nauseated and disgusted with herself.
When she carefully raised her eyes, Si-heon nodded slightly.
“Ah…”
Ga-eun, suddenly at a loss for words, squeezed her eyes shut.
She could vividly imagine how Ji-hyang would have treated Si-heon.
She would have showered him with exaggerated praise, her tongue oiled with flattery.
While subtly revealing what she wanted.
Perhaps she had already hinted at her dark desire for investment from Hwanhee Group.
These thoughts made it impossible to look Si-heon in the face properly.
But what worried her more was—
‘Did he think I look like that woman?’
When Ji-hyang introduced her as her youngest daughter, people would often say, “Oh my, she’s as pretty as the director, no wonder.”
Even knowing it was mere pleasantry, she hated hearing it.
Every time someone said she resembled that woman even slightly, her whole body would shudder.
“I have something to ask.”
At Si-heon’s voice, Ga-eun spoke with a somewhat resigned tone.
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Did our Ga-eun undergo adoption?”
“…Pardon?”
“You must have heard this often. No matter how I look at you, I can’t find any resemblance to your mother.”
When Ga-eun slowly blinked and looked at her own face, Si-heon raised an eyebrow.
