The Kiss That Shattered Every Lie

“…A misunderstanding?”

“Mm-hmm. A misunderstanding. A big one. Seongwon and I are nothing. I’m everyone’s lover.”

As he said this, Weilin placed a hand on his chest. A very confident attitude. Well, from what I’d looked up about him, he was practically causing a syndrome in China. It made sense.

But still, it was absurd.

I had caught dozens of pieces of evidence of an affair between Weilin and Jeon Seongwon. A dating scandal had almost been reported in Korean newspapers. And now he wanted me to believe it was all a misunderstanding?

“Say something believable.”

“It’s true. Hmm, what would make you believe me?”

“Nothing would.”

After thinking for a moment with one finger on his chin, Weilin’s eyes sparkled.

“Ah, would this make you believe me?”

Weilin suddenly stood up and placed both hands on the table. The fur scarf draped over his arm brushed against my cheek—

“…….”

It’s said that when people are too shocked, their thinking stops……

I froze and couldn’t think anything for a while.

Weilin leaned down and kissed my cheek.

That is…… Weilin leaned down and kissed my cheek.

“……!”

I tried to scream without thinking, but Weilin covered my mouth with his hand and winked casually.

“Oh, I left a lip balm mark. Let me wipe it off.”

Then he picked up a napkin and rubbed my cheek. I could feel the sticky texture of the lip balm being wiped away as the napkin moved. Even then, I just sat there with my mouth open, dumbfounded.

I finally came to my senses while Weilin was sitting with his arms crossed, smiling and staring at me for a long time. I let out a short shriek.

“Shh, shh. Even with the partitions, you shouldn’t be too loud.”

Weilin put a finger to his lips as if he were a person of great common sense. I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak. When he smiled at my gaping mouth, he suddenly checked his watch.

“Oh, I’m almost out of time for my next schedule. I should go. Now that I know where you are, I’ll have to visit sometimes.”

“Don’t come!”

“Why not? You’ll miss me again.”

He blew a kiss, disappeared behind the partition, then suddenly popped his head back out and said.

“Oh, and Seongwon really works hard. The idea that he’s cheating with me is all a misunderstanding. Hmph…… If I tell you everything, it won’t be fun, so I’ll stop here. Really, Seongwon and I are nothing! Has this cleared up the big misunderstanding?”

Then Weilin disappeared, his fur scarf flying behind him. After he left, I sat still for a while, then dropped my head onto the table. The thud made my forehead hurt, but right now, the pain was welcome. At least it kept my dazed mind somewhat intact.

‘Why did he even come?!’

I screamed inside. He said he came to clear up a misunderstanding, but what Weilin had done was……!

‘Aaaaah! I got kissed by the omega who’s playing around with my husband!’

I screamed inside again and rubbed my cheek. I checked in the mirror on the wall—the lip balm mark was long gone—but I could still feel the touch of his soft lips.

Deflated, I slowly rose from my seat and returned to my room through a path where I wouldn’t run into anyone. After sitting blankly on the sofa for a while, I jumped up as if burned and ran to the bathroom.

At the sink, I turned the water on full blast until it splashed everywhere, and scrubbed my face—harder than I ever would normally, hard enough that my skin hurt. I washed the spot where Weilin’s lips had touched with soap three times.

“Huff…… Huff…….”

Only when my hair and clothes looked like a drowned rat did I finally calm down a little. I turned off the water, found a large towel, dried my hair, face, and whole body, then changed clothes. During this sequence of actions, I gradually became more composed.

“Hoo…….”

I slumped back onto the sofa. I sat there blankly for a while, then noticed my phone screen, set to silent, flickering. I dropped my gaze to it—it was Jeon Seongwon.

I didn’t have the presence of mind to reject the call or not. I just wanted to escape this situation of being alone.

“Hello.”

―……Ugh.

“What?”

When I answered, Jeon Seongwon made a strange noise.

―No, I didn’t think you’d answer…… I’m surprised.

“What do you mean you didn’t think I’d answer? You called me.”

―You didn’t answer almost 70 times.

“……Were you counting?”

―I don’t need to count—it shows up in the call log.

Never mind. Let’s not talk.
Pressing my hand to my forehead, I shook my head, then, before he could say anything, I quickly opened my mouth.

“Seongwon. Is Weilin always kind of a weirdo?”

―……What did he do to you?

“Ah, the fact that you’d ask that right away means he is a weirdo.”

―I asked what happened. Weilin is…… a bit of an eccentric personality. People meeting him for the first time have trouble adjusting.

What would happen if I told him Weilin kissed my cheek?
No, wait. If he does this to me, does that mean he does worse to Jeon Seongwon?

―So…… Was the misunderstanding cleared up?

I heard a hint of hope in Jeon Seongwon’s voice.
I clicked my tongue loudly enough for him to hear.

“Cleared up? He just said a bunch of weird stuff and left, acting all confident.”

―Uh, um.

He groaned, flustered.
He had hoped—no, sincerely hoped—that Weilin would clear up the misunderstanding.

―I asked what happened with Weilin.

“Why do you keep asking? Are you worried I might have grabbed Weilin by the hair or something?”

He fell silent.
To be honest, the incident of him grabbing Kang Chaehee by the hair in the hotel lobby would be talked about for a long time as an anecdote about the second son of Doseon Group. Even without going that far, it was probably already being gossiped about among the attendants.
I gave a snort.

“Weilin kissed my cheek.”

―What?!

“Is that just how he is?”

―Ah, no……

“So he’s done that to you too?”

―No!

I sank deep into the sofa and lay down, glancing out the window.
At some point, heavy rain had started pouring down like crazy.

―Please, Seyeon. Weilin and I are not like that.

“……Then what did you learn from Weilin?”

―That is……

Just then.
A beep—the sound of a key card—came from the door, and the door opened.

“Ah, Director……. You’re here? I’m sorry. I was passing by this hotel when the rain got so bad……”

It was Kang Chaehee.
For the first time, I felt his timing was bad.
I was in the middle of interrogating him about Weilin, and now my affair partner showed up.
Naturally, Jeon Seongwon’s voice on the other end dropped.

―Who’s that?

“Who else would it be? Kang Chaehee. You’ve been introduced now, so you know his name, right?”

I decided to be bold.

“You two know each other—want to talk to him?”

―Seyeon.

“Director…….”

Looking at Kang Chaehee, he was soaking wet, dripping water as if he’d just come out of a river. He must have had no choice but to come into the hotel. I pointed toward the bathroom with my finger. He bowed his head and went in.

―……Honestly, I really haven’t done anything with Weilin. But you have.

“Yeah. I have. Even on the day I came back from being with you, I was with Chaehee.”

―Chaehee? Why do you keep calling him Chaehee? You never call me that familiarly.

“Right. Weilin calls you familiarly, doesn’t he? I heard him call you Seongwon. How old is Weilin?”

―Twenty-two.

……That’s not why I asked his age. I know his age too. I couldn’t tell if my sarcasm went over his head or if he was sarcastic back.

“So why is a twenty-two-year-old calling you by your name?”

―He didn’t call you that? He should have.

“Ha, you seem to know everything. Did Weilin get a PhD or something?”

―Haa, Seyeon……. That’s not it. I told you. Weilin is……

“China’s muse, and you absolutely need him to enter the Chinese market?”

―Yes.

Maybe that story was true.
Then that would be such an anticlimactic ending.
It would mean I had been making a big fuss over a misunderstanding all by myself.
But……

“Fine. Then what about that?”

―What?

“s*x. You said you learned it from Weilin.”

―…….

Jeon Seongwon closed his mouth.
Not only his voice but all background noise had stopped, as if the call had been disconnected.
I tilted my head and checked my phone screen.
Still connected.

“Say something.”

―……I’ll tell you later.

“Ha.”

―It’s not what you think.

“Then what. Did you take a theoretical class?”

An image of Weilin teaching s*x theory to Jeon Seongwon flashed in my mind.
That wasn’t a pleasant image either.

Around then, the sound of water from the bathroom stopped.
I glanced toward the bathroom, then turned my attention back to the call.

“Anyway, I have nothing more to say. Goodbye.”

―Do we have to have something to say to talk on the phone?

Ha!
When has that ever been the case?
Really. Unbelievable.
Putting as much emotion as I could into my voice, I said:

“Yes, of course. It’s always been like that.”

The moment I hung up, Kang Chaehee came out of the bathroom.