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LOZ 88
Hunter was miserable.
Until now, he had only had a vague suspicion, but tonight, that suspicion became a certainty.
At 6 feet 4.5 inches and 195 pounds, the athlete Hunter Hamilton had a low tolerance for alcohol.
The alcohol from a single glass of champagne, downed in one gulp, seemed determined to take him down, racing wildly through the veins of his entire body.
His pride was wounded, but he couldn't deny that he was weaker with alcohol than Jiyu, who sat opposite him, sipping champagne with a beaming smile.
Drinking the glass of champagne in one go had been a sort of experiment. To prevent a disaster like the one at prom from happening again, he needed to know his approximate limit. Losing complete control over his body had been a horrific experience, and once was enough.
As the alcohol entered his system, his reaction speed—which he had honed to be as sharp as a needle—began to slow down noticeably. The accuracy of the fine motor skills in his extremities also dropped significantly. His head felt dizzy, the back of his neck felt heavy, and his pronunciation began to slip.
He had to struggle with all his might to avoid showing a drunken spectacle in front of Jiyu. Pretending everything was fine, he sat up straight and mechanically chewed and swallowed food, not even knowing what he was putting in his mouth.
He tried to drink some water, but the taste was strange; upon closer inspection, it was champagne.
‘Why the hell do people drink this stuff?’
Losing control of his body was, indeed, fucking awful.
And yet, in the midst of this, Jiyu, who was chattering incessantly with sparkling eyes, looked damn beautiful.
Hunter had spent the entire day suppressing the urge to drag her to bed. He felt a sense of guilt after seeing her unable to walk properly, wondering if he had pushed her too hard last night.
It was common sense to relieve the fatigue accumulated in the muscles through stretching and rest after an intense match. Therefore, she needed time to recover. The problem was that he was on the verge of snapping the thin thread of patience he was barely holding onto.
Last night's sex had replayed in his head at least dozens of times. Every time it did, his body reacted instantly, forcing him to row for an hour and swim back and forth across the pool countless times.
Jiyu lingering before his eyes in that damn blue bikini hadn't helped cool him down at all.
Hunter scanned every inch of her with a thick, lingering gaze. Her cleavage was barely visible through the narrow, deep V-neck of her dress.
He spread his palm wide and then clenched his fist. The feeling of gripping her soft, bare breast was vivid.
When he first saw Jiyu appear in the lobby wearing that dress, he had grit his teeth to keep from grabbing her wrist and dragging her straight to his bed.
His throat felt parched because of her smooth legs, which were tantalizingly revealed with every step she took.
If he could, he wanted to pull Jiyu onto his lap right now, embrace her as if binding her, and nibble on her from her cheeks down to her pinky toes. Just looking at Jiyu made his molars itch.
Brown hair disheveled on the pillow, a hazy, unfocused gaze, cheeks flushed red.
Jiyu's face, flushed from the alcohol, looked strangely similar to the face she made on the bed, letting out thin moans through lips that parted as she trembled.
Hunter felt as though he would never forget the shock of the moment he first pushed inside Jiyu.
Even as he ruthlessly pierced through her hot, soft, and terribly tight interior, he feared she might split in half before his eyes. Yet, he couldn't stop.
The strange guilt he felt then, and the chilling pleasure that raced down his spine.
Fuck.
He really is a pervert.
Hunter shifted his position, crossing his legs.
To imagine her face on the bed while looking at a girl with a clear expression, munching on fried pumpkin blossoms... he felt as if he were committing a wicked act all over again.
‘Stop. Think of something else.’
‘I think she was trying to tell me something important during dinner.’
Not only his reaction speed but also his thinking speed had slowed. He felt as if he were missing something. His mind was a complete mess.
Hunter traced back through the fragmented thoughts popping up.
‘Why did I come here again?’
He looked around. This was the place where the Hamiltons had their romantic dinner dates every summer.
Looking at the sunset from here felt like looking down at the spectacle from an island floating in the sky. That was why this place came to mind first when Jiyu said she wanted to have dinner somewhere with a view of the sunset.
As a child, on nights when his parents left him with Nanny for a dinner date, Hunter used to lean against the third-floor terrace railing and watch them. At the time, he never dreamed that he would one day have dinner here with someone.
And yet, seeing Jiyu sitting in the seat where Lauren always sat felt quite natural.
Only then did Hunter remember what he had been trying to say.
Officially, the two of them were still broken up.
But everything had changed after last night.
It was true that he hadn't been able to trust Jiyu as much as before since she asked for money in exchange for becoming his Jinx.
‘Anyone can make a mistake once. There must be a reason she borrowed money that way.’
So, he decided to give her one more chance.
If someone asked if he had suddenly become generous after sleeping with Jiyu... he didn't feel the need to make excuses.
So what.
The Jiyu that Hunter knew couldn't lie and couldn't act. She wasn't the type of person who could fake the look in her eyes as she gazed up at him from the bed, or a shy smile.
Since he had never looked carefully into other people's emotions, it was hard to explain in a single word, but the attitude she showed last night instinctively knocked on his heart.
That was why he decided to trust his gut.
The idea of becoming a Jinx in exchange for money was insulting bullshit, not just to him but to her as well. It was no different from defining their relationship as mere sex partners.
Perhaps that was why he had been even angrier. Because his high pride had been scratched.
Hunter was honest about his desires. The fact that he wanted Jiyu remained unchanged. However, he didn't want to have her in such a cheap way.
‘Why the hell should I do that? What am I lacking?’
He was the one who held the power and initiative in this relationship. Therefore, it was entirely up to him which direction to take this.
However, the experience of being rejected every time he pushed for a relationship in the past made him cautious. This time, he wanted to properly know not only what he wanted, but also what she wanted.
‘Something like a sex partner doesn't suit Jiyu Hamilton.’
‘Wait, something's a bit off.’
‘Ah. Right. Not Jiyu Hamilton, but Jiyu Parker.’
‘Anyway. The last name isn't important at all.’
As Hunter was lost in thought with a blank expression, Jiyu's strangely excited voice drifted into his ears.
[Hunter, how about you? Have you ever had a drink? Of course you have, right?]
Alcohol?
It's not like he hasn't. He nodded.
[Oh, I see. When was the first time you drank?]
[Prom.]
[Prom...? With who? Did you drink with Sienna by any chance?]
The person who had handed him alcohol instead of water was none other than that damn Sienna Reed.
[I suppose so.]
At that time, after witnessing Jiyu and Joshua Yoon slip out of the party like runaway lovers, Hunter had been caught by Sienna on his way to chase them. She had handed him a glass of water with a secretive smile.
[Drink up.]
Feeling parched, he took the glass and gulped it down. Only after pouring the transparent liquid down his throat did he realize it wasn't water, but alcohol.
He grimaced and slammed the half-empty glass onto the table with a loud thud.
[What is this?]
Most of the seniors attending the prom were adults, but drinking was still illegal.
[It's vodka. Eli smuggled it in.]
She giggled and whispered in his ear. Perhaps because of the pungent scent of perfume that stung his nose, he felt nauseous and even dizzy.
[Hunter, do you want to go upstairs with me? I've got a suite.]
Sienna, blinking her eyelashes with a long stretch of her lips, stroked his chest.
Hunter was bitterly regretting his impulsive decision to accept her prom date proposal. He hadn't known that a single moment of poor judgment would lead to such an irritating result.
When he pushed away the hand clinging to his chest, Sienna whined that it hurt.
Hunter looked down at his hand. He couldn't tell if his hand was shaking or if his head was spinning. He clenched and unclenched his fist. His reaction speed was slow, like slow motion, and he couldn't control his strength well.
Why is this happening?
[Don't... touch... my body...]
His pronunciation was strange, as if his tongue had stiffened. Then, the world spun. Before everything went black as if the lights had been cut, the last thing he vaguely saw was the backs of his friends, who were supporting him from both sides, grumbling that he was heavy as they dropped him onto an unfamiliar bed and turned away.
He woke up when someone shook him awake in a coquettish tone.
[Hunter, wake up. Are you just going to keep sleeping like this? Wake uuuup...]
Even before he could lift his eyelids, which felt stuck together, he knew it was Sienna clinging to him like a leech, signaled by the scent of her perfume.
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