Chapter 193.2

Chapter 193.2

When his rough palm brushed over her realistic-looking face, even her heart, which had been frozen like ice, began to show cracks. When his hot hand softly cupped her neck, her body temperature seemed to spike instantly. Her mind went blank.

‘I suffered so much because of you. And yet, whether you’re here or not, it hurts all the same… When you disappeared, and even when I found you again. Some days I hated you with bone-deep disgust. Some days I hated you so much it made me cry. What is this endless, never-ending hatred?’

Seoryeong scowled with self-loathing.

If this isn’t poison, then what is it?

Their mouths met, clumsy and desperate, and the taste in her mouth turned sharp. As if trying to break free from the overwhelming closeness, Seoryeong bit down on his tongue.

She tasted something metallic. Maybe blood. But Lee Wooshin didn’t flinch. He only held her closer.

She tried to pull away, but his hand behind her neck made it hard to move.

“…Just listen to me.”

He pleaded as he gently sucked her lips. Though his eyes were hidden behind bandages, they pierced her with burning intensity.

As she gasped for breath and glared at him, his lips descended in a frenzy on her forehead, eyelids, the bridge of her nose, the tip of her chin.

Even when she shook her head like swatting away flies, he persistently grasped her face again. The breath scattering across her skin felt so starved it made her stomach contract in sympathy. She nearly reached for him without thinking.

‘You bastard… I don’t know if you’re really a NIS agent or the real Solzhenitsyn.’

Either way, Lee Wooshin was still not someone she could trust. That hadn’t changed.

“It’s all my fault. I’m the bastard here.”

He gripped her shoulders tightly as he spoke. Seoryeong’s body stiffened.

“…Now I understand. I know I shouldn’t have left Han Seoryeong all alone like that.”

“…”

“You were right there in front of me, and I still couldn’t hold you. Every time I wanted to embrace you, I only said cruel things.”

“…”

“Because of me, you suffered things you didn’t have to. I even threw Kim Hyun’s death in your face… I hurt you so badly, and I regret it more than anything.”

Seoryeong looked up at him with hardened eyes.

“I’m sorry. It’s all… my fault.”

It was the first apology she’d ever heard from him. Lee Wooshin, who had always spoken coldly and rigidly, now gasped with his lips disheveled. Her mind felt like mush, nothing came to her.

“I’ll never leave you behind again.”

He grazed her wrist with his teeth.

“So please… even just for one day. No, even for one hour. Just let me explain myself.”

He trembled like a rain-soaked animal.

“…I’ve been to every hellhole you can imagine, but life without Han Seoryeong was the worst. When I really lived without you…”

His voice strained like it was being wrung out.

“The world… has never been so fucking miserable.”

He twisted his face and let his forehead fall against her shoulder.

“I don’t need anything else. Just Han Seoryeong.”

…Her ears rang.

“Leave all the heavy stuff to me. Just come back.”

“Come back, Seoryeong.”

Like a broken parrot, he repeated that phrase over and over again. The heat from his body where it touched her shoulder blazed like scorching metal.

Come back, Seoryeong…

The weight of Lee Wooshin leaning into her pressed in like a thorn. Seoryeong bit her lip silently as pain flared in her sternum.

It was just as she reached to steady his swaying form by placing her hand on his solid shoulder blade.

Suddenly, pop!

The sprinkler above them burst, drenching them in seconds.

“…!”

Infrared sensors began to blare from every direction due to the cascading water. A sudden chill swept over her scalp.

‘What was I just about to embrace?’

Seoryeong clenched her teeth and shoved him away.

Pushed aside, Lee Wooshin staggered, his expression dazed as he glanced around in confusion.

“Seoryeong… Seoryeong…”

His back hit the wall, and his body slowly slid down. Heat rose off him in faint, wavering wisps, like steam.

Seoryeong turned and stumbled away on trembling legs, fleeing with every ounce of strength she had left.

She wanted to look back but couldn’t. Leaving him behind again felt like ripping her own skin away.

She ran straight ahead, seized the doorknob, and behind her, glass shattered. A heavy crash followed, echoing through the corridor.

Her shoulders jerked, but she forced the handle to turn.

We’re no good for each other. I don’t even remember what it means to trust someone. I don’t know how.

As she stepped outside, the air hit her lungs all at once, and the breath she’d been holding escaped in a ragged exhale.

Kia stood there in a crisp black cassock, spinning a cross lazily around his finger, arms spread like he was greeting an old friend.

“Pretty intense, huh?”

Smack.

Seoryeong’s hand connected with his cheek before he could say another word. The sound cracked through the silence.

The tears she had been holding back finally spilled down her face.