The First Meeting
“Saturday at 6 p.m. at XX Hotel.”
After the appointment was set, Taehyun let Seojin know the schedule he’d arranged for them.
Seojin, who had been reading on the sofa, lifted her head. Her eyes wavered uneasily.
“Okay...”
She answered in a low voice. The corner of the book she was holding trembled in her hands.
Watching her shaking fingertips, Taehyun felt his heart tighten.
It felt like hell to have suggested arranging a meeting that would shove the woman he loved into another man’s bed—and then receive a definite answer.
Seojin, too, was forced to confront the reality that they had actually made the appointment.
The next day, Yunsu called first. His voice was playful, but there was something cold hiding underneath it.
“Hey. Did you set it up all right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Nice. I saw Seojin at the reunion, and wow—she really is something else. A beauty like that would turn heads anywhere.”
Yunsu’s lewd chuckle scraped at Taehyun’s nerves, and irritation surged through him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Just saying, enjoy yourselves. If you’ve got questions while you’re at it, call me anytime.”
Yunsu snickered and hung up. Taehyun lowered his phone and let out a deep sigh.
Yunsu’s taunting only fed his anxiety.
After making the appointment, Taehyun kept collapsing inward even in the middle of ordinary life.
Every time he sat on the toilet at work and read the reviews on Open Sex Club, his palms grew damp with sweat.
The shameful confessions of wives who had been violated by strange men clawed through his mind as if they were his own future.
Then he found himself enlarging the photos of the other couple, Jeonghun and Juhui, over and over again—thousands of times. Every time he saw Jeonghun’s solid body and confident smile, jealousy made him want to go mad.
And his mind kept drifting to the image of Seojin naked beneath that same hard body on Saturday.
Would I be able to hear her crying out beneath that man?
It was miserable. He wanted to cancel right then and there. And yet, paradoxically, the fantasy made the part of him that had been dead for more than a year rise up obscenely hard.
Taehyun, drowning in self-loathing, grabbed himself tightly.
Seojin was living through an equally awful day.
Just imagining herself having sex with another man in front of her husband made her feel as though her mind was being dirtied from within.
And then, without pause, time dragged them to Saturday morning. A quiet silence hung over the breakfast table.
“Today... it’ll be okay, right...”
Taehyun asked in a trembling voice.
“We... trust each other, so it’ll be okay.”
Seojin smiled, but her eyes and hands were still shaking with unease.
The appointment time drew near.
Seojin went in to shower first. Warm water fell from the showerhead and wrapped around her, but her anxiety did not ease.
Can I really do this?
Just the thought of sleeping with another man tonight instead of Taehyun made her face feel hot.
Under the water streaming over her body, she scrubbed herself more carefully than usual, down to the last inch.
Just for today... I only have to endure one day... then I can come back.
Standing in front of the mirror, Seojin hypnotized herself. At the vanity, she took out body lotion and applied it with careful hands.
Each time her fingertips passed over her breasts and thighs, she shuddered at the thought of the stranger’s hands that would touch those same places in just a few hours.
After she came out of the bathroom, Seojin stood in front of her underwear drawer, choosing lingerie. Wondering what would be best, she picked something that wouldn’t stand out too much.
It was a black bra and panties set.
Then she opened the wardrobe. Her hand wandered aimlessly through the air for a long while. She tried to find a line that was neither too demure nor too vulgar.
In the end, she chose a tight black dress that laid her curves bare.
It was something Taehyun usually praised as pretty, but today, looking at herself in the mirror, she only felt as if the dress were turning her into merchandise. Seojin bit her lip.
When she finished getting ready and stepped into the living room, Taehyun sucked in a breath.
Seojin’s white nape and skin, exposed above the black dress, were unbearably sexy. The reality that another man would leave his marks on that flesh made Taehyun’s lower body feel pathetic and wrecked.
She’s so pretty... and someone else is going to...
At the front door, the two of them held hands in silence. Seojin’s hand was cold, despite the summer heat.
“It’ll be okay...”
“I trust you, too.”
It was a promise they made to each other. The air outside was hot and stifling, heavy enough to choke them, but even more suffocating was the weight of the betrayal they carried.
The two of them took a taxi to XX Hotel. As they rode, the sunset burned beyond the window. Seojin only stared outside.
Should we go home now...? Should I cancel?
Seojin was wrestling with the same thoughts.
If I cancel now, Taehyun will come right back... But maybe I’ll fall apart. I don’t want to see that again...
She wanted to go home right then, but she couldn’t.
They were having the same doubts, yet the taxi they sat in kept carrying them toward the hotel.
Taehyun and Seojin held hands tightly without speaking, but on the way, their hands stayed cold and silent in each other’s grasp.
The lobby of XX Hotel, where they arrived, was sleek marble and the sharp scent of white musk.
As they went in, Taehyun looked at Seojin and said,
“Today... you look unbelievably beautiful.”
For a moment, Taehyun regretted it. He couldn’t understand why he had brought such a beautiful wife to a place like this.
But at the same time, the thought that someone might covet her sent his heart pounding like mad.
At his words, Seojin gave a bitter smile.
“Thank you....”
“...Still... if you hate this even now, tell me.”
It was a cowardly question.
“It’s fine. I’ve already made up my mind, too. But promise me this—if I say I don’t want it, you stop right away.”
“Okay. I promise.”
Taehyun shared the meeting location through messenger. When they got the message that the other couple was waiting on the first floor, a man and woman sitting on a sofa stopped in front of them.
It was the couple he had seen in the photo. Their names were Jeonghun and Juhui. Even through the shirt he wore, Jeonghun’s body gave off the impression of dense, muscular strength.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jeonghun, and this is Juhui. You’re with OSC, right?”
Jeonghun greeted them with an easy smile.
“Your wife is absolutely gorgeous.”
At the sudden compliment aimed at his wife, Taehyun nodded as if tense.
With a soft smile, Jeonghun’s gaze lingered on Seojin’s face for a moment, then openly traveled over the lines hidden beneath her thin blouse, though not so far as to become outright rude.
But being looked at that long by a man she’d never met before was unfamiliar to Seojin—and uncomfortable.
It felt like being evaluated by a stranger.
What was even worse was how acutely aware she was of being looked at that way.
Why did it bother her? Why was her heart pounding?
Seojin forced her gaze away. She had only come here for her husband. There should be no other meaning than that.
And yet, the more this should-have-been-meaningless moment stretched on, the less she could deny that she was becoming increasingly conscious of the situation.
Meanwhile, Taehyun felt both disgusted and strangely stirred by that look.
“We’re Taehyun and Seojin.”
“Nice to meet you. Wow... Seojin, you really are beautiful. My husband can’t take his eyes off you, can he?”
Juhui, standing beside him, wore a slip dress cut deeply at the chest. She spoke in a teasing tone, trying to ease the atmosphere.
“My husband doesn’t usually compliment people first, either.”
“No, I mean it, though.”
Jeonghun replied with a laugh.
Seojin gave an awkward smile.
It was a sensation she had forgotten for a long time—that another man, not her husband, was looking at her as a woman.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she only grew more uneasy.
“Let’s head to the room I reserved. Everything’s ready.”
Following their lead, they headed to the room Jeonghun had booked.
Inside the elevator, Seojin could still feel Jeonghun’s gaze. It was a blatant look that landed on her like a touch.
As his eyes swept from her face to the valley of her breasts and down to her thighs, Seojin trembled with shame and secretly pressed her thighs together, keeping her eyes on the floor.
The fear of that brazen stare was something her mind rejected, and yet she could feel the inside of her panties already growing damp.
He hadn’t done anything in particular, and yet she felt as if she were being judged.
Seojin fidgeted with her fingers and looked away.
...I’m trembling...
Even as she trembled, she was horrified by her own reaction beside Taehyun.
The elevator doors opened, and she let out a breath of relief without meaning to. But the walk down the hallway only felt heavier.
Inside the room, a faint aroma candle was already burning. It was set up with a double bed.
Once they stepped inside, Seojin and Taehyun both wore even tighter expressions.
“Sit on the sofa, and I’ll get us something to drink. Beer okay?”
The four of them sat down on the sofa and were handed beers.
The hiss of the cans opening broke the silence.
The cold beer slid down their throats, but Seojin could feel the ember in her chest refusing to go out.
“You must be nervous. That’s only natural if it’s your first time.”
Jeonghun showed a kind of casual consideration.
“If you don’t like it, we can stop anytime.”
“Exactly. Just because you came this far doesn’t mean you have to do anything.”
Juhui added lightly from beside him.
“Everyone’s incredibly tense at first. I was the same.”
At those words, Seojin seemed to relax a little and took a sip of the beer in front of her.
At the very least, they didn’t feel as dangerous or rough as she’d feared.
Jeonghun watched her expression for a moment, then smiled quietly.
“Seojin, you’re incredibly alluring.”
Jeonghun lifted his glass and smiled at her. His low voice was far more solid and imposing than Taehyun’s.
His gaze lingered for a moment on Seojin’s lips, painted red.
Under that blatant appraisal, Seojin felt as though all the blood in her body had rushed upward.
She ought to have been ashamed, but being exposed before Jeonghun’s strong masculinity sent a chill down her spine.
Jeonghun set down his beer can and leaned back into the sofa, staring straight at her.
“Seojin, you kept rubbing your legs together in the elevator earlier. Were you just nervous... or are you already looking forward to it?”
At the shameless question, Seojin’s face flushed as if it might burst.
Her husband, Taehyun, was sitting right beside her, and yet this man was teasing her without the slightest hesitation.
“No, that’s not...”
“Taehyun, your wife is so honest. She says no with her mouth, but looking at how red her neck has turned, it seems her body can’t lie.”
Jeonghun’s low laugh scratched at Seojin’s ears.
She glanced at Taehyun, looking for his reaction, but Taehyun was breathing hard instead, watching the humiliating situation unfold.
“Well then... now that we’ve all introduced ourselves, shall we get to the main point?”
Juhui smiled sweetly and moved into the real conversation.
She stood and went over to Taehyun’s side.
“Seojin, you come over here too.”
They changed places. Juhui sat beside Taehyun and rested her hand on his thigh.
Her leg brushed lightly against Taehyun’s knee through the thin slip dress.
Taehyun inhaled sharply, and Seojin, watching the scene, trembled with nowhere to put her gaze.
“It looks like this is your first time doing something like this, Taehyun and Seojin? You’re both so tense.”
Juhui softly stroked Taehyun’s thigh and whispered in a low voice.
Taehyun’s shoulders jerked, but his gaze couldn’t leave Seojin and Jeonghun seated across from him.
“I see. So what brought you all the way to a place like this?”
Jeonghun took a hearty gulp of beer and set the can down on the table with a loud clack as he asked. His eyes were already shamelessly feasting on Seojin’s thighs visible beneath her short skirt.
“Well... our marriage has been growing distant. We thought we might need some new stimulation.”
“Same as us. You came to the right place. A marriage sometimes needs a little shock from the outside. How about you, Seojin? How did you honestly feel when this was first suggested?”
Jeonghun asked, pressing his body even closer to Seojin. The strong scent of his skin and overwhelming masculinity tightened around her throat.
“I was scared... and... terrified....”
“Right. That’s only natural. But I’ll make sure I don’t scare you.”
Jeonghun fixed his gaze on Seojin’s eyes and tossed out shamelessly seductive words.
“Seojin, you look really sexy today.”
Taehyun gripped the beer can in his hand so tightly it seemed it might crush.
Another man was shamelessly raking his greedy eyes over his wife and praising her openly.
It should have been the kind of moment that filled him, as a husband, with shame and humiliation—but instead, Taehyun’s mind was overflowing with the explosive pleasure of betrayal.