The days were slipping by, each one blurring into the next in a haze of longing and frustration. Sooah was becoming more desperate, her heart aching with each passing moment she spent in the house, trying to get Jaemin's attention. Every time he walked past her, it was as if she were invisible. His coldness wrapped around her like a thick, suffocating fog, and no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to break through it.
It was late one evening when Sooah's patience finally snapped. She had tried everything—talking, crying, pleading, but Jaemin had remained unyielding, unaffected by her desperate attempts to get him to open up. He had his routines, his workouts, his cold, calculated detachment. And she had nothing but the fragments of a man she once knew, a man who seemed to be fading further away with every passing day.
She was in the living room when he entered, his presence commanding the space, his posture rigid, his eyes focused elsewhere. Sooah felt her chest tighten as she watched him, her throat dry with the words that she had been holding back for so long.
"Jaemin," she said, her voice shaky with emotion. He didn't stop, didn't even acknowledge her presence. He continued walking, heading toward the door. But Sooah couldn't just let him go again, couldn't stand to watch him shut her out one more time.
"Jaemin, please," she said again, this time with more force. "I need you. I need you to be with me. Please. Just… just for a little while."
He paused but didn't turn to face her. "You have me. I'm here, Sooah."
"But it's not enough!" she cried, her voice cracking. She could feel the tears threatening to spill again, but she wouldn't let them fall this time. Not yet. She needed him to understand. "I don't just need you to be here physically, Jaemin. I need your affection. Your attention. I need to know that you still care about me."
Jaemin stood still for a long moment, his back to her, before he finally turned to face her. His expression was unreadable, but there was a coldness in his eyes that made Sooah's heart skip a beat. She didn't care. She couldn't care anymore. She had to make him understand.
Without thinking, she rushed to him, her hands trembling as she placed them on his chest. "Please," she whispered. "I can't keep living like this. I need you, Jaemin. I need you to love me again."
Jaemin looked down at her, his gaze piercing. There was something in the way he looked at her—something that sent a chill running through her spine. "You'll regret wanting affection from me," he said, his voice low and detached, almost as if he were warning her.
Sooah's heart raced as she felt her body heat up with a desperate, almost frantic need for him. She couldn't take it anymore. The emptiness, the loneliness—it was unbearable. She had to make him feel something, even if it meant crossing a line.
She grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him toward her. Her lips crashed against his before she even realized what she was doing. It was desperate, frantic, a kiss born out of need rather than love, but as soon as her lips touched his, she felt an electric jolt shoot through her.
Jaemin didn't kiss her back at first, his body stiff, unmoving. But Sooah refused to let go. She clung to him, her hands tangled in his shirt, forcing her lips against his. The longer the kiss lasted, the more she could feel the tension in his body, like he was fighting against her, but he didn't push her away.
When he finally pulled back, Sooah felt a rush of satisfaction and confusion all at once. She had kissed him. She had forced him to feel something, to break through the coldness that had kept them apart for so long. But there was no warmth in his eyes. Only emptiness.
"You wanted this," Jaemin said, his voice even, yet there was a dangerous edge to it. "You wanted me to give you affection, but now you'll regret it. You'll regret asking for more than I can give you."
Sooah stood there, breathless, her heart pounding. She hadn't expected the words to hit her as hard as they did, but they did. There was a deep, unsettling weight to his statement, as if he was warning her that what she had just asked for would come at a heavy cost.
And somehow, in that moment, it felt like a truth she couldn't escape from. She had crossed a line, and she wasn't sure if she could turn back. The intensity of the kiss, of the emotions that had surged through her body, left her feeling disoriented. And yet, as she stood there, trembling, she couldn't shake the feeling that this was the beginning of something much darker.
Jaemin turned away from her, his back to her once more. "You don't know what you've just started, Sooah," he said, his voice colder than before. "You've awakened something in me that you can't control."
Sooah stood still, her mind racing as she tried to process what had just happened. She had kissed him. She had begged him for affection. And now she was more entangled in him than ever before. She could feel the pull of something darker, something almost dangerous, starting to form between them.
A part of her realized that what she had just done wasn't love—it was desperation. And yet, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she couldn't stop herself. She was in too deep, caught in a web of her own making.
Jaemin had warned her. He had told her she would regret it. And in that moment, as she stood there, still trembling from the kiss, Sooah wondered if she already was.