By the time Su-Jin leaned over to check him, Ji-Won's face was already covered in cold sweat. His clothes were all crumpled due to all the squirming, especially the white shirt. The knot of his tie was loosened and the lapels were pulled apart, revealing his collarbone.
Su-Jin's eyes moved away from that patch of unblemished patch of skin and traveled up along Ji-Won's neck. Her eyes lingered on his Adam's apple, staring as it bobbed up and down. Every time he tried to swallow, his neck would contract, highlighting the lean muscles.
At that moment, Ji-Won let out another groan, his mouth twisting slightly.
The sound attracted Su-Jin and her eyes instantly moved towards Ji-Won's lips. They were even paler than before, and slightly curved downward in a grimace of pain.
Still, the paleness of his mouth, combined with the light pink of his flushed face added an air of vulnerability to Ji-Won's appearance. That, in turn, made his already handsome features appear even more attractive.
Compared to that moment earlier when she was left inside the car with him, Su-Jin now felt infinitely closer to Ji-Won. The atmosphere, everything around them felt much more fragile and also... intimate.
As though a charm had been cast on her, Su-Jin stared at him in silence unable to shift her gaze away. Her eyes were drinking in his beauty until her mind, ultimately, became muddle-headed.
For a long, sweet moment, Su-Jin forgot all about why she was even there to begin with. All she knew and cared about right now was looking at the man in front of her, taking note of every single detail of his features,1 as though she wanted to engrave them in her heart.
Every gasp Ji-Won made, each shuddery breath that came from his mouth, every rustle of fabric that was made every time he squirmed, all this represented a mesmerizing music to Su-Jin's ears. The sounds had a strange pull, hooking Su-Jin's heart and forcing it to beat faster and faster.
At this point, even if she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. There was no doubt she had been enchanted by this person. Somewhere along the way, at an unknown moment, Su-Jin had begun looking at Ji-Won differently. It was unclear when exactly it had happened first but, the fact of the matter was, Su-Jin couldn't take her eyes off of him.
'Ah, how can this person be like this? Even in this state he still looks so handsome. Is this even fair?!' Su-Jin wondered dazedly.
Along with that thought, her body moved on its own. She kneeled next to the bed, leaning forward until she was closer to Ji-Won's upper body. Then, she stretched out a hand, her palm hovering over his face.
Attracted by the deep frown Ji-Won currently wore on his face, Su-Jin moved to brush her fingers over his forehead, smoothing the skin with her fingertips. In spite of all the sweating, Ji-Won's skin felt unexpectedly cool to the touch. The sensation under her fingertips was so nice that it pulled a soft gasp out of Su-Jin's mouth.
In a daze, Su-Jin allowed her hand to roam free. She guided her fingers over his forehead, gently and soothingly caressing the area between Ji-Won's eyebrows, moving all the way to his temples.
After pushing away the drenched hair and revealing his smooth forehead, she then slowly traced the line of his eyebrows. Her fingers stopped at the corners of his eye to sweep away a small bead of sweat. For a moment, her hand lingered in that area, then slowly brushed along Ji-Won's thick, long eyelashes.
All of a sudden, Ji-Won seemed to have choked on his own spittle. Due to the state he was in, his body was ravaged by a series of terrible coughs, causing him to jerk and tremble violently. The movement was so wild that it almost threw him over the edge of the bed.
This effectively snapped Su-Jin out of her blank state of mind. Her eyes instantly widened, showing a mixture of shock and disbelief. At the same time, an unexpected wave of warmth rose to her face and her throat suddenly contracted. She swallowed hard a couple of times, trying to get rid of the saliva that had been pooling inside her mouth.
But despite all these attempts, it took her a long while before she finally regained some semblance of composure.
There might not have been anything unusual with her outer appearance. However, inside her mind, Su-Jin berated herself for acting like a beast.
'Park Su-Jin, you'd better get a grip. This person right here is your boss. YOUR BOSS, dammit! He is not just some hot guy you can be allowed to salivate over. Not to mention Director Kang is currently feeling sick. During a situation like this, how can you ogle him in such a lustful manner? Do you still want to call yourself a human being?!'
Feeling both guilty of her thoughts and ashamed of her own behavior, Su-Jin made to leave. But she barely pushed herself against the side of the bed, when her wrist was suddenly grabbed. Five long fingers wrapped themselves around her slender wrist, tugging at it forcefully.
At the same time, a hoarse sound came from the bed.
"Don't… leave…"
Due to the unexpected movement, as well as the position Su-Jin was in, the vigorous pull almost caused her to topple down over Ji-Won's body.
Su-Jin froze, her brain momentarily blanking out. For a long, horrifying second, she believed Ji-Won had woken up. But when she looked down, she realized that he was still unconscious. Yet, the strength applied on her wrist was definitely not that of a weak, unconscious person. And there was also that thing he just said.
Soon, her shock turned into puzzlement and she, once again, decided to try and get up. However, just like before, the moment she tried to pull away in the slightest, Ji-Won's hand acted instinctively and yanked her back towards him.
"Don't… leave… me… please…" Ji-Won's ragged voice was once again heard.