Deal Breaker - Chapter 58

Lying wasn’t one of Noh Hyeji’s fortes.

She’d made up the excuse that her grandmother was getting disc surgery, and now she was stuck. Kanghyeon kept asking which hospital, which doctor would perform the surgery, sending her messages about which professor at which university hospital was the best for that procedure.

‘Did he do this with Nuri-ssi too?’

If the other party weren’t such a needlessly good person, lying would have been much easier. Somehow, she’d managed to improvise lies on the spot and get through crises day by day, like living paycheck to paycheck.

Now, a week later, Kanghyeon hadn’t asked her a single thing about her grandmother. Not that he had the time.

Tomorrow was already the day of departure for Libya. Hyeji had been so busy helping him prepare for the mission as his secretary that she hadn’t had a single moment to breathe.

The hardest part had been finding a Guide to replace her. There weren’t many Guides who were compatible with Kanghyeon to begin with, and most of those few weren’t willing to be dispatched to a danger zone. After much effort, she’d finally managed—just two days ago—to secure a male, radial-type C-rank Guide. Of course, they’d had to pay him a hefty bonus.

Feeling guilty, she’d said she wouldn’t take her Guide’s pay for this month, but Kanghyeon told her to take it anyway. That only made her guilt worse.

‘I’ll make sure to guide him well tonight.’

Not that Hyeji could control the quality of guiding at will, but she had come determined nonetheless.

Hyeji sat at the edge of the bed, glancing around the spacious bedroom. It had been a while since she’d been in Kanghyeon’s home. She remembered that early last year, his bedroom was the one in the opposite corner of the apartment, but it seemed he’d changed it since then.

That other one had two walls of windows, and the view had been incredible.

This bedroom had a single floor-to-ceiling glass wall, but the view here was still stunning. Through the half-open curtains, she could see the Han River glowing golden in the sunset.

‘Oh, I can see my house.’

From this angle, her apartment building was perfectly visible. Of course, with the wide river between them, there was no way he could see inside her home, but the realization still made her feel strange. At that moment, the sound of running water from the bathroom stopped.

As she twisted a lock of hair over her left b****t for the tenth time, Kanghyeon emerged from the dressing room, towel-drying his wet hair. His lean waist was wrapped in a white towel.

His abs looked tighter than usual, almost about to burst. Proof of an intense workout.

Kanghyeon had been training every week with domestic agents who would accompany him on the mission, making sure their teamwork was flawless. Today, the day before his flight, he’d just finished the final simulation and returned home.

Though he hadn’t pushed his ability to the point of backlash, the accumulated fatigue from weeks of training had left his waves unstable. He needed to be in top condition for the mission, so he’d scheduled a guiding session with Hyeji for tonight, the night before departure.

He dried his hair just enough to stop it dripping, tossed the towel into the laundry basket in the dressing room, and strode straight toward Hyeji, who sat perched at the edge of the bed. She licked and bit her lips nervously.

It had been a long time since they’d done this at his home. And this would be her first time guiding him while pregnant, which only made her more nervous.

“Is it really okay to guide in this condition?”

According to the Center, it was. She’d called their anonymous counseling hotline and was told that guiding during pregnancy had no change in effect and posed no harm to the baby or the mother.

“Alright, guiding is fine… But what about s*x in this condition?”

That too, apparently, was fine. When she’d asked her OBGYN if she could have s*x during early pregnancy, the doctor had laughed knowingly and told her not to overexert herself, adding with a chuckle.

“Your libido is high, isn’t it?”

Yes.

“That’s because of hormones.”

…What?

Usually, she was practically a celibate monk, detached from all s****l desire, until a guiding session started. And then, lust would rear its head out of nowhere. But lately, even outside of guiding, her s*x drive had been skyrocketing as if she were guiding all the time.

Last week, she’d nearly pushed Kanghyeon down and jumped him while removing his suppressor in the office. Luckily, he seemed to believe her excuse that she’d just lost her balance.

And now it turned out it was all because of those damn hormones.

Hormones were turning her into a pervert.