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He knew immediately that it was Jiyu. Hamiltons never knocked quietly like that.
Hunter turned around and strode toward the door. He had intended to go to her, but since she had come to him of her own accord, there was no reason to refuse. He flung the door wide open.
Her hair was damp, as if she had also just finished bathing. Her makeup-free face was pale, but the redness and swelling around her eyes suggested she had cried quite a bit. She always looked like that on the days she visited Ae-jeong in Brooklyn.
His heart throbbed a couple of times.
[Where is your mother?]
[She's okay now. She was discharged this afternoon and went back to Brooklyn.]
He stepped aside, making a silent vow.
Once you step inside, you'll never get out until I let you go.
[Come in. I thought you wanted to break up. You left me as if we'd never see each other again.]
Jiyu flushed as Hunter spoke in a slow, sarcastic tone.
[Why are you here? Do you have more to say?]
He pressed her back as he walked toward the bar in the corner. He pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator and drank it on the spot. He pretended to be relaxed, but his throat felt parched.
Jiyu closed her eyes tightly and then opened them.
[I… I need money.]
Ha. He hadn't expected this.
The hot, pounding heart in his chest cooled instantly.
[How much?]
[One hundred thousand dollars.]
It wasn't a large sum for him.
However, it was larger than the amount he expected to come from the mouth of the timid Jiyu.
The Hamiltons were "old money," their names etched into history textbooks. They had no need to flaunt their wealth and status by spending money like water, as the nouveau riche did.
Such strict Puritan traditions and customs had been passed down unconsciously, and Hunter had been thoroughly educated from a young age not to waste anything carelessly.
Since she had known him for a long time, she must have been aware of that.
[What do you need it for?]
[…I have an urgent use for it.]
[If you're borrowing money from me, tell me the reason.]
Separate from his foul mood, curiosity piqued.
[I'm not asking to borrow it. Just… give it to me.]
[…What?]
Hunter let out a short laugh at the bold request, which was unlike Jiyu.
Was she planning to openly use him now that she'd already been caught?
Me, for a mere purpose like this?
[Tell me in a way that makes sense why I should do that.]
[I can't pay you back if you lend it to me anyway. You know that.]
[And?]
Swallowing hard, Jiyu slowly lifted her head and gazed at him with her large brown eyes.
Hunter had once wondered if she was hypnotizing him with her eyes.
His world flowed at a violent and stimulating pace. In contrast, Jiyu's world flowed peacefully at a quiet and calm pace.
When he looked into her eyes and listened to her whispering voice, the lines that rose and fell sharply like seismic sonograph waves would soften into the curves of rolling hills, and his mind would settle. It had been that way since they were children.
But he had once seen those peaceful eyes shaking desperately, like someone drowning. It was when her father passed away.
The eyes looking up at him, asking for money with a face pale as a ghost, were shaking just like they had that night.
[I'm not saying I'll never pay you back. Instead of money… I'll give you whatever you want.]
[And how do you know what I want? How fearless of you,] he sneered.
Should he set a condition for her to scrap the idea of going to California and stay in New York?
Thinking about it, that didn't seem like a bad idea.
Just as he decided and was about to present the condition, Jiyu beat him to it.
[How should I not know? You said you wanted to sleep with me. You said a kiss isn't enough to win anymore. For the four years of college, I'll be your Jinx whenever you want.]
He froze coldly.
This was… a new form of insult.
He felt that being slapped across the face hard enough to make his head snap would have been less shocking than this.
Are you telling me to be a shameless man who buys you with money?
Without realizing it, he took a step closer. He saw her flinch visibly, but he had already lost the reins of his anger.
[Do you realize what you're saying right now, Jiyu Parker? You just sold yourself to me for a hundred thousand dollars.]
She lowered her gaze, avoiding his eyes.
[Think whatever you want. This is the only way I can pay that money back right now. I didn't want to… to you….]
He cut her off, spitting the words through his teeth.
[Was a mere hundred thousand dollars your price? If you were something that could be bought with money, you should have said so sooner. I didn't even need to wait until I became an adult for that amount.]
At those words, Jiyu lifted her head and glared at him.
Tell me it's not like that. Jiyu Parker. Hurry.
But she only bit her lip, unable to say a word.
Hunter took a checkbook from his desk drawer. He tore out a check made out to Jiyu for a hundred thousand dollars, held it between his fingers, and approached her.
[If I had known it wasn't your heart, but the money you weren't prepared with, I wouldn't have waited so foolishly. Take it.]
Fearing that she might break if he touched her with his rough hands, he had suppressed his instincts and waited again and again for the first time in his life. Even though he felt like he was going crazy with an urgent thirst, he had intended to wait until she gave herself to him.
He had considered that waiting a sweet torture.
And yet… it was this easy.
Trembling fingers took the check from his hand.
In that moment, a small dam broke inside Hunter's heart. A wave of hot anger swept through the debris.
[Take it off.]
Jiyu, her lips now pale, stammered.
[R-right now? H-here?]
[You've already received the money. And the condition was 'whenever I want' for four years. Isn't that right?]
He pulled back the curtain that loosely separated the bedroom and the living room. Then, he sat at the foot of the massive bed custom-made for his height and glared at her.
[What are you waiting for?]
Jiyu looked at him with a face that seemed on the verge of tears, then slowly approached.
Hunter cursed inwardly.
Fuck. Even so, please, just refuse. Tell me that no matter how you think about it, this isn't right, that you hate it this way. I'll just give you the money, so just hit me or curse at me instead.
He was aware that his feelings for Jiyu were something grotesquely twisted—a mixture of irrational obsession and long-standing desire.
It was an emotion too self-destructive to be called by a soft word like "love." Far from being joyful or happy, he frequently felt self-loathing.
Among those complex emotions, two stood out clearly: the desire for conquest over something that wouldn't go his way, and the possessiveness over something familiar and old.
He didn't know what love was, but there was no way this kind of wretched emotion was love.
I've waited too long, I've endured too long. Once I have her, all these distracting thoughts will disappear.
Jiyu slowly pulled up the hem of her t-shirt.
Hunter closed his eyes and opened them again. Until the very end, he was shaken by ambivalent emotions.
Part of him wanted to see this through, while another part wanted to grab Jiyu by the shoulders and shake her, telling her that this wasn't what he wanted.
He was confused. He no longer knew what he even wanted.
While he was in the midst of a fierce internal conflict, the t-shirt dropped to her feet. Then, her pajama pants slid down. Her white skin, which had not seen the sun, looked flushed under the stark light.
Hunter wanted Jiyu.
The fact that his lower body was reacting faithfully even in this situation was proof. And for the first time in his life, he loathed himself for it.
Jiyu Parker had finally driven Hunter Hamilton insane.
Wearing only her underwear, she had been keeping her head down as if to hide her bright red cheeks, then she slowly lifted her head. What permeated her shimmering brown eyes was resignation.
You acted like a timid idiot with other kids, but you were haughty with me, shouting and getting angry. Why have you given up already? You should have been more brazen.
Her clear, calm eyes had lost all movement, like water stagnant in a swamp.
Hunter could not stand that silent stillness.
He wanted to break it.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled. While Jiyu, pulled as lightly as a paper doll, gasped in surprise, he knocked her down onto the bed and pinned her with his body.
It was a damn irony that the moment he had waited for so long arrived in this manner.
He lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers.
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