SACCHARIN
CHAPTER 17

 

Even if we were to say we had sex in this car, it’s not like we were in a perfectly consensual situation, engaging in pleasure for its own sake. If an act is forced upon someone by an unwanted partner, wouldn’t it naturally be rough?

I pressed my lips together tightly and quickly moved my hands. My already messy hair—I deliberately tousled it even more.

I used my nails to snag and pull at the tweed jacket I was wearing for the mid-season, fraying the fabric in several places. Then, I grabbed the collar of the thin, short-sleeved knit shirt underneath and stretched it as much as possible.

With my hands in cuffs, my movements filled the car with the constant clinking of metal.

“You think that’s enough?”

“…Then what else should I do?”

“Come here. I’ll leave a mark for you.”

“W-what? A mark?”

“If you don’t like that, should I bite instead?”

Shin Chi-woo raised his right index finger and pointed at the left side of my neck.

I understood immediately what he meant—after all, I knew the theory of how physical intimacy worked between men and women.

It was just… the idea of offering my neck to a man I had only met today was embarrassing and unsettling.

“…Biting sounds better.”

Sucking felt like… too much. Too intimate, too indecent. Having his lips on my skin seemed… dangerous. A quick bite and getting it over with would be preferable.

“Should I go to you, or do you want to come here?”

“I’ll go.”

“No, I will.”

He motioned for me to expose my left side, making it easier for him to bite. I pushed my hair over my right shoulder, baring my neck. This needed to be done in one go—if we had to repeat it, I might die from sheer embarrassment.

But as he leaned in, I felt a heavy pressure. Maybe it was because our faces were getting too close—like people about to kiss.

“Hurry up and do it.”

“I’d rather take my time.”

“……”

“You want it hard or soft?”

“…Somewhere in the middle—ah!”

What the hell—why was he pressing his lips against me after saying he’d bite?

A soft sensation brushed against my neck, making my shoulders flinch. The hot, wet feeling—it was his tongue.

“J-just… bite… Bite me—no, don’t suck… Ugh… this….”

Instead of biting, his lips teasingly lingered against my skin. His thick, warm tongue traced lightly over my tensed flesh, sending a shiver down my spine.

I was so startled that I even forgot to push him away. Maybe he noticed my reaction because, thankfully, he didn’t take things any further.

“…Ah.”

After gently sucking on my skin, he playfully nipped at it with his teeth.

Being bitten—wasn’t this supposed to hurt? But instead of pain, a completely different kind of sensation shot through me.

“Hope that was satisfying enough.”

Tilting his head slightly, he looked at me with a lazy, half-lidded expression, his words dripping with suggestiveness.

My heart stuttered in my chest, and I tilted my head, trying to brush off the reaction.

“S-satisfied enough.”

“That’s all it took?”

“……”

“Let’s just say it is for now.”

Was he finding me cute, unable to meet his gaze with a flustered expression? Shin Chi-woo, seemingly caught off guard by my reaction, rubbed his forehead and smirked. For the first time, he looked more human, and I, too, smiled faintly in return—though I quickly averted my eyes as soon as we made eye contact.

Had I made a mistake asking him to leave a mark on my neck? A stronger wave of awkwardness crashed over me. I wasn’t sure how he felt, but I had definitely let my imagination wander in the wrong direction.

But really… no matter how spacious this car is, how could two people possibly have sex in here for an entire hour?

My mind suddenly flooded with every possible position and act.

Lying down wouldn’t work—would I have to straddle him? Or would he be the one on top of me?

The fact that I was entertaining such indecent thoughts in the middle of a crisis made me feel insane. But maybe because we had just had physical contact, I couldn’t stop myself. The worst part was that the man I was imagining was sitting right next to me.

Still, if I really thought about it, for someone who was playing both sides between my father and the chairman, Shin Chi-woo hadn’t resorted to anything cheap. Aside from helping me deceive the others, he hadn’t touched me inappropriately.

If he had wanted to, he could have easily used my father as an excuse to violate me. But he hadn’t. And for that, I was strangely grateful.

I fidgeted with the cuffs around my wrists, pretending to be distracted. It was humiliating to have my neck sucked by a man I had only met today—and even worse to be spiraling into inappropriate thoughts because of it.

Eventually, my mind circled back to the grim reality I had momentarily forgotten. Of course, I would feel miserable.

I had never been the type to experience extreme emotional highs and lows. My life had always followed a monotonous, predictable pattern. This entire situation was foreign to me.

One moment, I wanted to abandon my father; the next, I worried about him. I distrusted the man beside me, yet I kept clinging to his hand.

The whirlwind of emotions was exhausting—so much so that I felt mentally drained.

And apparently, Shin Chi-woo had noticed my sudden silence.

He leaned forward and picked up the blindfold that had fallen to the floor earlier—probably knocked down when we were moving around.

“Let’s use this next time.”

“…W-when exactly?”

“There’ll be plenty of times you’ll need to cover your eyes, won’t there?”

“Are we going somewhere worse than the factory?”

“Maybe. Or maybe something else.”

With an unreadable smirk, he slipped the blindfold into his suit.

I wondered just how important that blindfold was for him to take the trouble to keep it.

Wait—no. That wasn’t the real issue here.

It seemed my humiliation wasn’t over yet.

There was a next time.

I had thought all of this would end once I worked at the factory—until my father’s fate was determined. But now, I realized there was something beyond that.

And if I couldn’t even imagine what came next, how much worse would it be?

I didn’t want to dwell on it. But my mind wouldn’t stop racing.

 

 

 

Shin Chi-woo’s single comment had already started to weigh on me, and before I knew it, it dragged me even deeper. The tears that had barely stopped threatened to rise again.

“……”

Still, I didn’t cry too much this time. A few sniffles escaped, but I quickly pulled myself together. It wouldn’t be too late to give up after I had done everything I could.

Haa…

In the silent car, we both stared straight ahead. I hadn’t realized how hard it was to waste an entire hour doing absolutely nothing. Slowly, even my damp breath dried up.

Before I knew it, the windows were completely fogged up.

The small circle I had drawn earlier on the glass had already faded halfway. I reached out and traced a bigger one this time, watching as my touch cleared the fog.

Just then, Shin Chi-woo, who had been still the whole time, finally moved. The hour must have been up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pull out his phone and tap the screen. He was probably sending a message to let them know it was time to head to our destination.

“We’re leaving now.”

“Yes.”

He tucked his phone away and turned to me, locking eyes with me before giving a short nod. It felt like a silent warning to brace myself.

Knock, knock.

A sharp rapping sounded against the car door, and almost simultaneously, the driver’s and passenger’s doors swung open.

This time, the burly man took the wheel while the short-haired woman slid into the passenger seat. She was holding a black plastic bag in her hand.

The moment the engine roared to life, she turned toward me and handed over the bag—or rather, she simply placed it on my lap.

“Here.”

“Oh… thank you.”

Judging by the shape of the contents and the weight resting on my legs, it was probably bottled water.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t had a single sip of water since all of this began. The moment I became aware of it, my throat suddenly felt parched.

As soon as I reached into the bag, the car began to move—but I barely noticed.

Because inside the bag, along with the bottled water, was a loaf of bread—and a bottle of the pink carbonated water I always drank.

“……”

I turned my head and stared at Shin Chi-woo.

I silently questioned him—How did you get this?—but he ignored me completely.

I assumed it was because of the two people sitting in the front, but even so, I hesitated to ask him outright.

It was strange. The place where we had stopped didn’t seem like a rest area. Even if there was a convenience store nearby, it was unlikely they would carry all of these items.

Especially this pink carbonated water. Even regular convenience stores rarely stocked it.

But my curiosity quickly lost to my thirst and hunger.

The moment I saw the cream-filled bread, my forgotten hunger rushed back with full force.

Was there more?

I had barely taken a few bites, yet the bread was already gone. Disappointed, I rummaged through the bag, but there was only one.

Still, just eating something made me feel better, and feeling better made my thoughts clearer. My despair briefly faded, replaced by a strange optimism that everything might turn out fine.

And then came the embarrassment.

I bit my lip and screwed the cap tightly onto my half-empty carbonated water, placing it back in the bag.

I knew Shin Chi-woo had done this for me.

But even if I was starving, I shouldn’t have devoured the bread so desperately.

No matter how hungry I was, I should have maintained some dignity.

Now I regretted it.

The two people sitting in the front seat thought we had just had sex, and I had immediately stuffed my face afterward.

Even though nothing had actually happened, they had seen my disheveled appearance—my rumpled clothes, my flushed neck. The missing blindfold only made it more convincing.

They would assume I had exchanged sex with Shin Chi-woo for some kind of deal.

I especially noticed the way the burly man kept glancing at us through the rearview mirror, his gaze lingering on me and Shin Chi-woo.

His expression was unmistakable.

He was wondering how we had done it.

If even someone this close to Shin Chi-woo had been fooled, then maybe that was a good thing.

But at that moment, something else crossed my mind.