The Preview of a Promise

He was prepared to do whatever she commanded. If she told him to kneel, he would kneel; if she told him to beg, he would beg. But in that moment…

“……”

What brushed against his tear-stained lips and pulled away—that soft, fragrant warmth that made him forget the surrounding noise and the midsummer heat.

“That’s a preview of your reward.”

“……”

It wasn’t an illusion. Taerin had kissed him. Though it was brief, that single contact was enough to brand her onto Jae-hwi’s soul forever.

“Keep your eyes closed, don’t speak, and answer me. Have you ever been kissed before?”

Despite his dazed state, Jae-hwi focused on her voice. To answer her question faithfully, he shook his head vigorously.

It was his first. No one had ever kissed him—not since he was abandoned shortly after birth. Such an intimate and tender act had never belonged to him.

“You’ve never even had a peck, yet you’re asking for a kiss? And here I thought you were innocent.”

“……”

“Goo Jae-hwi. Looking at you now, you’re quite the bold one, aren’t you?”

“……”

“Little brat.”

He swallowed hard at the undeniable teasing. Jae-hwi’s face, which had turned pale from shock, began to burn bright red again. He wanted to say something, but his throat felt clamped shut. He had no excuses. Besides, Taerin had told him not to speak, so he couldn’t even defend himself.

“Interesting.”

“……!”

“It’s no fun if you’re just innocent.”

“……”

Only then did Jae-hwi realize Taerin was playing with him. The kiss that felt like a glimpse into heaven granted by an angel was, to her, merely a joke.

A touch of hurt bled into his shame-flushed face. Just as his nose began to tingle again and he struggled to hold back fresh tears of sorrow, he heard her clear her throat softly, as if telling him to pay attention.

“When you go to Germany…”

“……”

“Live with everything you’ve got. Then, come back later once you’ve claimed everything that is yours.”

“……”

“Don’t make me regret giving you that preview. Understand?”

With his eyes squeezed shut, Jae-hwi nodded fervently. He kept his lips, where her warmth had lingered, pressed tightly together.

His life had been aimless, a path where no light was visible, but she had handed him an assignment. Die, or live as if dead. To him, who was agonizing between those two, she told him to live hard and seize everything.

It didn’t feel like a burden or an ordeal. Rather, it felt like receiving a brilliant ray of light. It was the hope that would lead him down a new path.

“Have confidence. Don’t be discouraged. You’re actually quite decent. Like I said, I don’t give my time to just anyone.”

To him, who viewed himself as worthless, she was saying he was a “quite decent” person. She told him to be confident because she—someone who was picky about her company—acknowledged him. With those words alone, Jae-hwi felt as though he had become a great man.

Tears threatened to spill once more. Then, a voice that seemed to have softened its edge tickled his ear.

“Don’t cry. Only weaklings cry.”

“……”

“I don’t like weaklings. I don’t want to be someone who kissed a pathetic man.”

“……”

“So. Don’t cry. No matter where you are or what you do.”

At that moment, Jae-hwi was seized by a desperate urge to open his eyes. He wanted to look Taerin in the face. For the first time, he wanted to call her by her name, not “Noona.”

But he didn’t. He had to do his best to obey her command not to open his eyes or speak. Because of that, he couldn’t even dare to imagine what her next words would be.

“Next time you come for your reward, leave the glasses behind. They’ll get in the way of the kissing.”

“……”

“Grow up well before then. Don’t you dare turn out like your sisters. If you grow up to be handsome, I’ll teach you the difference between a peck and a kiss.”

“……”

“If you’re curious, eat well, sleep well, and grow tall. You know you’re about the same height as me right now, right?”

“……”

Her teasing voice was melodic. Jae-hwi knew Taerin saw him as a child. He knew her feelings were different from his. It was likely a lighthearted gesture, like one would show a cute younger brother.

But at her words, which painted a specific picture of his future receiving her praise, Jae-hwi’s breath caught in his chest.

“Count to twenty starting now.”

“……”

“Don’t open your eyes.”

“……Yes.”

It was a mysterious instruction, but Jae-hwi followed it. He wanted to please her by listening well. He was ready to do whatever she asked, gladly.

“Start.”

“One… two…”

“Slowly.”

“Three…”

Gradually, the whirlpool of emotions that had shaken him subsided, and his breathing stabilized. Jae-hwi counted the numbers calmly and slowly.

“……Nineteen. ……Twenty.”

And finally, having reached twenty, he opened his eyes slowly.

“……”

The intense sunlight distorted his vision. Jae-hwi rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses, finally clearing the lingering afterimages of light, but…

“……Won Taerin.”

Taerin was nowhere to be found. Her name, which he had spoken aloud for the first time, remained only in his ears, burrowing deeper and deeper inside. The three syllables that had been floating through his nerves and making his heart flutter finally settled in one place.

“Won Taerin.”

It was his pounding heart. With a sensation of pleasant pain, Jae-hwi called her name once more. Resting his hand on his aching chest, he thought of the woman who had become the master of his heart. Within the scent she left behind, he sensed he would suffer from a long, feverish pining.

How long had he stayed like that? Eventually, Jae-hwi turned and headed toward Goo Kwang-hyun’s room. Knocking on the door of a room he had never dared approach during his time in this house, Jae-hwi stood with his back straight.

“Grandfather, it’s Jae-hwi. I have something to say to you.”

A moment later, Jae-hwi stood before the old man, who was picking up his glasses with a puzzled look. A soft smile spread across Jae-hwi’s face as he bowed politely in greeting.

He wasn’t afraid. For the first time since he was born, he had something he wanted. He had something he had to do.

That was the last day Jae-hwi saw Taerin before leaving for Germany. It was also the day Jae-hwi was reborn as a man who would obsessively crave her.

Tracing back his old memories, Jae-hwi let out a languid sigh. His bluish-gray eyes, thinking of Taerin, sparkled in the dark.

“’I don’t see you as a man.’”

That’s what Taerin said. That even if she broke up with Jeong Se-hyun and met someone else, it wouldn’t be him. She said such hurtful things so easily with that ice-cold face.

“That’s not what I saw.”

She lowered her gaze to avoid his eyes and bit her lip to hide her fluster. Sometimes she glared at him with a flushed face before turning away coldly to shut him out.

But Jae-hwi hadn’t missed the slight tremor in her pupils. He saw the faint curve of her lips at his jokes or his flirting. He couldn’t let even a tiny stir of emotion pass him by.

Looking down at her eyes, which were turned up as if looking at the boy who used to be her height was unpleasant, Jae-hwi was certain: Taerin did see him as a man. He saw the edges of her eyes redden after her gaze traveled along his face, his Adam’s apple, and his shoulders.

It was a reaction clearly different from the past when she only saw him as a cute younger brother. Money, power, ability, looks—he didn’t know which one Taerin would value most, so he smiled to himself, remembering how he had worked himself to death to miss nothing.

It seemed his polished appearance had at least caught her eye, which was a relief. To shake her further, to be adored by her… to receive the praise they promised and be recognized as a man worthy of her, he had to make her crave him.

“To do that… I’ll have to work even harder.”

Thinking of what he could do before sleep, Jae-hwi reached for the nightstand drawer. A moment later, lying flat on his back with a high-end mask pack on his face, he quietly closed his eyes.

Near the fingers twitching lazily atop his stomach, where finely chiseled muscles sat, the stiffness in his lower body was a daily occurrence.

It was bearable. For now.

“I have something to look into. You all go ahead and have lunch.”

As lunch hour approached, Taerin’s eyes remained fixed on her laptop monitor, dismissing the staff of Gallery <One>.

The exhibition was a great success. Most of the works had been sold on the first day, and having finished organizing the lists, Taerin was currently debating what small gift to send to the buyers.

She had been working with intense focus since the morning. However, it wasn’t long before she had to look up with a sigh. It was after she came face-to-face with the kimbap that Han So-yeon, the General Manager, had bought for her, worried she would skip her meal.