DM Chapter 79
His eyes were hungry.
His eyes narrowed, and a faint trickle of blood seeped back from the still-irritated wound. Seeing this, Sarin snapped back to attention, causing Owen’s hand to lose its destination.
“Sit down.”
She patted the spot on the sofa.
However, where Owen sat was where she had dropped the ice cream. It was easy to reach him as he sat with his head slightly raised. If he’d sat on the couch as she’d said, she’d have to get up to treat him.
Sarin took out antiseptic from the first aid kit, applied it to a gauze, and pressed it against Owen’s forehead. It stung, but he made no protest. His steady gaze stared at her observantly. He watched her so closely that he could count each eyelash, so closely that he couldn’t look away.
“It’s strange.”
Owen said, almost to himself.
As calmly as she could manage, Sarin replied as she removed the antiseptic-soaked gauze.
“What is?”
“It feels like you’re looking at me quite nicely right now. It feels like I’ve become quite a handsome person, all of a sudden.”
His eyes, which had shown no sign of grimace, softened as if they would melt. Sarin’s throat gulped again. Deep inside her ears, she could hear her own heartbeat. Unsure whether Owen would hear the sound, she couldn’t decide whether to suppress her heartbeat or block his ears.
“It’s done.”
Her voice trembled. After she closed the first aid kit, he didn’t persist in questioning her further. It might have been a teasing remark in the first place, considering he was someone who found amusement in her reactions.
Owen reached out to push aside the first aid kit and instead placed the cake box she had opened earlier on her lap.
“I said, eat it.”
The cake sitting on her lap was too beautiful. It was adorned with gold leaf, matching the color of Owen’s eyes looking up from below. However, she hesitated to spoil its extravagant appearance by digging in.
Even though the treatment was over, he remained seated beside her on the floor, absentmindedly tapping her thigh with his fingers as if urging her to move.
Meeting Owen’s gaze after realizing her feelings was more difficult than she had thought.
“It’s delicious.”
Using the wooden fork enclosed with the cake, she took a bite. The sensation of the cake melting on her tongue was dizzying. As she barely managed to say it was delicious, she sensed Owen silently smiling. Whenever she turned her gaze away, the faint veins on her cheek from the remaining scars caught her eye.
“If you’re that worried, you can lick it off.”
He lifted her chin a little higher with his hand. Meeting his affectionate gaze, she almost bit her tongue. His hand moved upward, stealing a bit of cream from the corner of her lips.
“May I ask why you were hurt?”
“Why not?”
He gave her a sweet look, as if that was what she wanted to know.
It dawned on her that maybe Owen’s line was wider than she’d realized, and she was the one who’d tried so hard not to cross it. She thought it was very close, and she was careful no matter what.
Feeling like she had to do something, Sarin mechanically teased her fork. A small piece of white cake disappeared from her small lips.
“I thought you were supposed to tell me all about what you and Yuri talked about before that.”
In the end, she couldn’t avoid Owen.
“…He told me to leave. If I wanted to save the child, he said Nikolai told me to leave.”
“And?”
The child thought it would be better for her to stay here than by her side, and she felt it would be okay if she never thought about this place again. So, she agreed to do as Gayeon suggested.
But….
“I hesitated.”
Her heart, which had been pounding fiercely, felt like it might leap out of her mouth. Sarin spoke with a trembling voice, but without hesitation.
She had found her answer now..
“How long did you hesitate?”
“I thought it was because of the child, but in the end, it was because of me. The reason I kept hesitating was…”
Sarin’s words quickened gradually. Setting down the fork unconsciously, she met Owen’s gaze without avoiding it and continued speaking like a sigh.
“I thought we would reach a point where we could talk about parting ways.”
“Your passport was quietly sitting there, so I didn’t realize you were thinking such thoughts.”
This small and pretty head was filled with too many thoughts. Owen had given her countless opportunities. No matter what choice she made, he would never let it slip by, but he had set a trap for what he wanted to keep by his side and watched. Each day, hoping she wouldn’t fall into the trap, became a day for him to confirm Sarin’s feelings.
“Owen….”
“Talking about parting ways. You describe it so nicely, as if it’s something sweet and lovely.”
For some reason, he sounded angry. He twisted Sarin’s words into a clear and disdainful tone.
Sarin realized that there were stages to anger. Her hand over Owen’s face had been impulsive. His lips, which had been spewing cold words, froze for a moment.
“I didn’t want to say that. I thought we would reach a point where we could talk about parting ways, but I didn’t want to say it aloud. I just wanted to stay by your side a little longer.”
“Do you realize what you’re saying right now?”
“You’re wild and fierce and ferocious. So, when I’m by your side, I don’t have to make any choices, I don’t have to think about anything, and I fall asleep. Somehow, I’ve developed a strange trust in you.”
Sarin remembered her thoughts from earlier.
What kind of relationship are we in?
The cheek she held with her hand remained motionless. As she looked into Owen’s eyes, Sarin felt her heart gradually settle. It seemed as if her heart, exhausted from beating, had become silent.
“…Do you trust me?”
For the first time, Sarin felt Owen hesitate to ask a question.
Sarin nodded without hesitation at the innocuous question, asking if she trusted him.
“You trusted me first. You trusted me first. You said you’d give me things I didn’t even need to give, remember?”
Once she realized all of this, speaking out was easy.
Eden City called to her. So now, she couldn’t be afraid to choose. The worst possible outcome of her choice had always been entirely her own. Sarin knew that the choice she was making now was the worst one in her life. But she had to throw herself into it.
No more bet.
The betting was over. It was time for Sarin to stake her life as if she were testing her luck with all the 500 dollars the man had given her.
Sarin’s answer to his question came out loud and clear.
“Owen, I trust you.”
As Sarin spoke, looking painfully at the scar that kept catching her eye, Owen smiled dazzlingly. The corners of his mouth slowly rising created a sophisticated smile she had never seen before.
The words she heard directly from Sarin’s lips were kinder and more affectionate than any combination of the most beautiful languages in the world.He gently brushed Sarin’s palm, which was holding his cheek, with his lips turned slightly to the side. The feeling of being at rock bottom after meeting Kirill had now been perfectly restored.
He gently brushed Sarin’s palm, which was holding his cheek, with his lips turned slightly to the side. He nibbled on her startled fingers for a moment before releasing them.
The air clearly began to flow in a different direction. Even after Owen removed his hand from his face, the warmth of his fingers, which had been on his lips, lingered.
“You’d better eat fast. I don’t really plan on waiting until they bring whatever we ordered.”
Bending down to him, she straightened the slightly crumpled and twisted cake box on her knee, speaking in a low, gruff tone.
“I’m…done…eating.”
There was no more cake left to eat. Owen’s gaze found the most appetizing part of the cake, the sugar-soaked cherry on top. The fact that she didn’t touch it, just ate the one next to it, spoke volumes about Sarin’s character.
“You don’t dislike cherries, do you?”
“Oh, it’s just a habit.”
“What kind of habit?”
“I save the best for last.”
It was the opposite of her sister. They didn’t always understand each other because she ate the best things first, and he would only eat the best things after he was full.
So that’s how she ate the cake. He saved the prettiest and tastiest for last, so he could enjoy it last.
Upon hearing her response, he picked up the cherry with his thumb. Sarin soon opened her own lips, savoring the last of the sweetness as it came in.
“Then.”
As he gently pushed the cherry into her mouth with his thumb, he uttered words of unknown meaning.
“Mmm….”
“Am I saving the best for last too?”
It’s the best thing.
Owen slowly rose from the floor, whispering those words with his lips. As soon as he realized the sexual implications behind them, his face turned crimson. He leisurely gazed at Sarin’s neck, now flushing with the same color he had fed her, as the box on her knee crashed to the ground.
Thanks to the dogs that had gone down to check on them, Owen effortlessly climbed onto the sofa.
He wrapped his knees around Sarin’s body and pressed down gently. In an instant, the angle shifted, with the man towering over her, much higher than eye level from the ground.
“Ah…. I guess that’s what they say.”
As his massive body bowed over her head, the sofa met her back. A supple beast climbed up, completely covering Sarin, and sank its teeth into her tender neck.
“Hmph.”
His knees dug between Sarin’s legs, then slowly parted them.
Tsk. Tsk.
Unabashedly, Owen left his mark in a place that couldn’t be concealed, for everyone else to clearly see. As he voraciously marked her flesh, leaving his imprint like a grotesque brand, Sarin grabbed onto the lapels of his coat.
