[Are you a player, Yoon Dajeong?] [Managing a fishery? Don’t do that. No matter how many guys are in that water, I’m the best.]

What was he talking about? Dajeong didn’t fully understand his intentions but oddly felt excited.

Had she been waiting for a call from the man who took her number? She couldn’t understand her own heart these days. The heart was a liar and fickle.

[I do care about you.]

She sent a brief reply.

[Am I the only one?] [I care about you a lot. Being alone with a man. Being touched casually.]

Her arm holding the phone felt like it was falling into an abyss. As if her entire body was floating and plummeting endlessly. Fearing the end of the fall might be too comforting, it was a strange feeling.

The player is Lee Jaeho. A high-level one.

[I want to ring your bell.] [Should I come over?]

Startled, Dajeong opened the chat window to reply, her fingers twitching in hesitation.

“Hey! Yoon Dajeong. Why aren’t you answering?”

“Ah.”

Dajeong quickly looked up.

“Sorry. I was talking to a friend.”

She hurriedly turned off her phone and looked at Kyungjoon, who was holding scissors and tongs.

“Where are the charcoal and grill? I’ve been asking you.”

“Behind the building, in the shed.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

She opened the phone again, her heart racing. It felt like Kyungjoon would come back any moment and snatch the phone, asking who she was so engrossed with. Even though she knew he wasn’t that kind of friend, she was strangely nervous. This trivial act felt like a wrongdoing, making her heart race.

She wanted to reply but didn’t know what to write.

Her fingers moved towards the keyboard as if to create a text, but she couldn’t find the words to write. Replying to the man that she cared would give a specific meaning to their relationship, which scared her.

But not replying worried her that he might take it the wrong way. Especially since she really didn’t want him to come over.

She didn’t want the man in room 101 to find out that he was Lee Jaeho.

“Dajeong, it’s ready. Come out. Bring the beer.”

[I just let my friend stay over for the night.] Dajeong typed a somewhat dry reply quickly and stood up. She felt odd as she took out beer from the refrigerator and prepared to carry it on a tray. Glancing at her phone, Dajeong eventually sent one more line.

[Sorry.]

The man, sitting on the sofa with a somewhat fierce expression, lingered his gaze on the chat screen.

Sorry.

Those four plain words seemed to contain the woman’s awkward expression. Her cheeks, probably reddened unknowingly while being torn and spitting out her true feelings, came to his mind. Was she flustered?

Despite being angry, the fact that Dajeong felt sorry was quite a consolation for Jaeho. The fact that her friend was staying over had become something worthy of an apology to Lee Jaeho. He felt a tightness in his chest.

“She’s really concerned.”

A smirk escaped.

When Kyungjoon’s car arrived, Jaeho was on the second-floor terrace.

She smiles so prettily. He murmured to himself, capturing Dajeong’s movements in his eyes. Kyungjoon, who couldn’t hide his excitement, was hit by her carefree smile. He even reached out his cunning hand to tousle her hair.

Jaeho clenched his fists. When he reached out to put his arm around her shoulder and hold her hand, his head was so full he couldn’t think. He only realized later that he had turned halfway to pull them apart.

In that moment, what caught in Jaeho’s eyes was Dajeong’s glance, thrown awkwardly into the air while separating from Kyungjoon. Her heart was already heavily leaning towards him.

That’s why he could endure. It was a heart he had willingly desired.

[Sorry.]

This message was also an extension of that sentiment. The anger bowed its head like ripened rice. Despite his annoyance with the existence of Kyungjoon, Jaeho could still smile slightly.

“Should I bother more?”

Then a call from his manager, Byunghoon, came.

[Hyung! I’m going crazy.]

“Why?”

[Why? Hyung, how can you ask why? Locking me up in this countryside?]

Byunghoon’s image of bouncing around sprang to mind even without seeing him.

[It’s so dull here. At night, they even turn off all the lights. I’m tired of sea-gazing! Can I come over to you, Hyung? Please. Hyuuuuung.]

Jaeho chuckled.

[Hyung, hyung. Or tell me about your love life. Is your perfect destiny project going well? How was the first meeting? Was the plan a success?]

Was the plan successful?

The face with round eyes widening twice their size in front of the glowing sunset came to mind. That face, written with, ‘How could I meet Lee Jaeho here?’

Her eyes hiding the tremble.

Her hands suppressing the flutter.

Afraid to approach, despite meeting a man like fate.

He concluded that he still couldn’t say it was successful. Finally, Jaeho gave Byunghoon a task.

“Just do one errand for me, Byunghoon.”

Byunghoon seemed delighted to even do that, responding energetically before hanging up. The reddening sunset caught Jaeho’s eye, and he slightly opened the window.

There was a smell.

Were they preparing charcoal in room 102? The acrid smoke stung his nose. His heart twisted. It seemed like they had planned some cozy couple’s play.