An eerily heavy silence descended. Dominic didn’t immediately understand what he had just heard.
〈I’m getting married.〉
Clearly, there wasn’t a single word he didn’t know, and it was a simple sentence with no room for misunderstanding.
Did I hear something wrong?
For the first time, he doubted himself. Juliet, standing in front of the coldly hardened Dominic, was steadfastly staring at the wall. Having detonated a nuclear bomb, as if it had nothing to do with him. Dominic, watching him, slowly moved his lips.
“…What?”
Did he perhaps know that I was going to propose?
Maybe he wanted to propose first and took the initiative. Because he must feel the same way as Dominic.
Absurdly, he came up with a ridiculous thought. Otherwise, how could this make sense? Juliet is getting married, so the other person has to be me. We must have had the same thought by chance. If not, it doesn’t make any sense…
“I’m getting married, next month.”
Juliet shattered all of Dominic’s expectations with a stiff tone. There was no more denying it. Juliet was getting married. With someone other than Dominic.
Juliet, averting his gaze from Dominic’s face, which had completely lost all emotion, continued to speak.
“So, I’m very busy these days preparing for the wedding. I came out to tell you that.”
Even though the food hadn’t even started to come out properly, Juliet hurriedly prepared to get up.
“Today is the last time I’ll see you. It’s been fun. Take care, goodbye.”
He arbitrarily blurted out what he had to say and tried to leave. But that was an absurd thing to do. Dominic had no intention of letting him go so easily.
“Wait.”
Juliet, who was about to get up, paused. Hesitating, he awkwardly sat back down, but he still didn’t try to look at Dominic. Dominic stared intently at Juliet, who was stubbornly averting his face, and opened his mouth.
“What did you just say? Married? To whom?”
Juliet shrugged his shoulders and answered with a sigh.
“To the daughter of the H&J Representative’s lawyer.”
Dominic frowned and opened his mouth, but couldn’t speak right away. After spending a few seconds looking elsewhere, he turned his gaze back to Juliet.
“…Since when?”
Dominic asked, shaking his head as if he couldn’t understand at all.
“Didn’t we sleep together until recently? Since when exactly?”
Juliet turned his hesitant gaze to Dominic for the first time. There was no need to deceive him anymore. Because he had gotten everything he wanted.
“I slept with you to marry her.”
Finally, he confessed. His true feelings.
“You asked me too, didn’t you? What did I agree to receive in return that I was working so hard for? This is the reward. Marrying the law firm Representative’s daughter.”
Juliet now looked very relieved to be able to reveal the secret he had kept hidden. His face towards Dominic was stiff with tension and guilt, but that didn’t last long.
Juliet, who closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, was different. Unlike before, he began to look Dominic straight in the eye.
The change was so stark that he felt like he was acting.
His eyes sparkled with a desire he had never seen before.
“As time passes and the Representative retires, I will take over the company. H&J will be mine. For that, sex is nothing.”
He paused deliberately before adding.
“It’s no big deal, right?”
Nothing came to Dominic’s mind. No, it was more accurate to say that so many thoughts rushed in at once that everything evaporated completely.
“What about when you told me you loved me?”
After a long time, Dominic opened his mouth. Juliet chuckled at the question, which he couldn’t tell whether it was to cling to the last hope or to blame Juliet. As if it was a trivial question.
“Because it was the last sex.”
It was indeed a trivial answer. Was that all? Dominic still couldn’t believe it.
“As a memory?”
He asked in a low voice. It seemed to tremble faintly.
“No.”
Juliet paused before adding.
“I thought it would make me more excited.”
Dominic seemed to have stopped even breathing. Juliet continued to speak as if giving up.
“Since it was the last time, I wanted to make it the most enjoyable. And it turned out that way.”
He winked playfully and asked.
“My guess was right, wasn’t it? That day’s sex was really the best sex ever, wasn’t it?”
He asked jokingly, but of course Dominic didn’t laugh. Juliet, who was trying to change this difficult situation somehow, quickly turned his gaze away. Dominic stared at Juliet’s profile, who was avoiding him again.
Why does he keep avoiding my gaze while pretending to joke around?
He thought he knew everything about other people’s inner thoughts, but it didn’t work on Juliet in front of him.
The way he avoided his gaze and the way he seemed to be joking around with ease.
He had no idea which one was acting.
But above all, one thing was clear.
Juliet had deceived him. No, it would be more appropriate to say that he had toyed with him.
The presence of the ring he hadn’t taken out yet felt like it was strongly suppressing Dominic. He didn’t want to admit reality, but he had to ask.
“Do they know? That you slept with me to become the Representative’s son-in-law.”
It was a fact that could easily become a weakness, but Juliet wasn’t flustered at all. As if it was a question he had already expected, he turned his gaze to Dominic.
“No. But you’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”
Dominic looked back at Juliet without even blinking and asked.
“Why?”
Juliet answered with a smile.
“Because you wouldn’t want to let the world know that you’re a fool who was seduced by sex and moved law firms.”
Silence fell again. After a while, Dominic, who had been silent, opened his mouth. It was after that that he made a sound.
“Why, why?”
He distorted his face and asked.
“Why go so far?”
The expression disappeared from Juliet’s face. That face, which didn’t reveal any emotion, seemed to say even more.
“I told you.”
He smiled, distorting the corners of his mouth.
“My parents are greedy.”
They wanted too much from their only child. A life of running and running to fulfill those desires. Without any means or methods, ruthlessly eliminating rivals, even sleeping with professors for grades.
It has come this far.
“I’m not really sorry.”
Juliet said stubbornly.
“You’ve been stepping on countless people to get where you are, haven’t you? It was just your turn this time.”
That was true. But Juliet’s words sounded like desperate self-justification.
Juliet, noticing Dominic’s quiet reaction, revealed the truth as if he didn’t care anymore.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll just tell you everything. It wasn’t a coincidence that we ran into each other at the hospital that day. I knew you were there and went to find you.”
And he told him another one of his secrets.
“I put a GPS tracker on your car.”
Juliet, adding a light wink, muttered to himself.
“It was a bit of a struggle to collect it from the damaged car without getting caught. Well, anyway. Is there anything else you’re curious about? Tell me, I’ll answer everything. It’s your last chance.”
Juliet took a deep breath as if he was relieved. His smiling face looked very relaxed. That’s because Juliet would be the only one who has ever made Dominic Miller a fool.
Dominic, who had been silently quiet, finally opened his mouth after a long time.
“Was it worth risking your life? Didn’t you think you could mutate because of my Pheromone?”
Juliet narrowed his eyes at the quiet voice and stared at him.
“Of course, there was no need to risk my life, I have a strong Pheromone resistance.”
Then he laughed as if he was dumbfounded.
“There’s no way I would have done something so stupid as to have sex with you without that confidence.”
Everything was a scheme. Dominic was completely fooled by Juliet’s calculations. The reason was simple. He never imagined that someone would play with him like this, and that arrogance tripped Dominic up and made him fall.
So absurdly.
Juliet, who had been looking at Dominic across the table for a while, prepared to get up.
“I’ve said everything I need to say, so I’ll be going now. Wedding preparations are a lot of work, I’m busy every day.”
“What if.”
Dominic called out to Juliet, who was hurrying to run away, and stopped him. He asked Juliet, who had no choice but to wait, in a voice as low as the heavy silence.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t fallen for your trap?”
Juliet let out a hollow laugh like a deflated balloon.
“But you did fall for it.”
Dominic didn’t say anything more. Juliet didn’t wait any longer and headed for the door. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, but stopped as if he had remembered something and looked back at Dominic. He gave a refreshing greeting to Dominic, who was still looking at him.
“Goodbye, Dominic. I hope you do well at your new law firm. You’re not an executive, so you won’t see me again.”
Leaving those last words, he left the private room. And Dominic was left completely alone. With the proposal ring in his suit pocket.
The Harpsichord performance, which filled the music room, had a more grand and ominous atmosphere than usual. The cigar smoke that clouded the room also contributed to it.
There were already several smoked cigar butts piled up in the ashtray, but Dominic ignored them and took out a new cigar and lit it.
He took a long drag of the cigarette, exhaling the smoke deep from his lungs into the air. He slowly brought the cigarette to his lips, his mind replaying every moment with Juliet, from their first encounter onward. As vivid as if it were yesterday.
‘Classics are the best, aren’t they?’
Come to think of it, he had declared it confidently from the start. That all of this was intentional.
From the way he innocently bumped into him, to the day he came to his office and moved the chess piece, piquing Dominic’s interest; to shamelessly showering and appearing before him flushed, claiming there was a risk of mutation; to stubbornly insisting on playing chess even while bleeding from being hit by hail.
…And even the way he sweetly called his name on the bed.
‘Don’t you want to try a new experience?’
Yes, he had definitely said that. Is this the new world you were talking about? If screwing me over is the new world you’re showing me, then yes, you’ve succeeded perfectly.
〈I slept with you to marry her.〉
No matter how many times he mulled it over, the result didn’t change. Juliet had used him and discarded him once he was no longer of use. That was all there was to it.
He lowered his gaze from the empty air and stared at the object in his palm. A pink diamond ring resembling cherry blossoms. It was a ring made for Juliet, but now it was just a lump of stone.
Dominic stared at it for a while before slowly clenching the ring. He squeezed so hard that his knuckles turned white, and his purple eyes quickly turned golden. When he slowly opened his hand, the ring was mercilessly crushed, its shape gone.
The answer was clear. Like this pathetic object left in his hand.
You played with me.
Suddenly, Dominic’s face twisted hideously, and he threw the ring away. The worthless piece of stone hit the wall with an unpleasant sound and fell onto the carpet. The harpsichord music was racing towards its climax.
“What? He wants to meet?”
Juliet, startled, repeated Dominic’s words. He hurriedly turned around to see his fiancée talking to a staff member about some items. He quickly hid himself so they wouldn’t hear. Soon, Dominic’s familiar voice came from the other end of the phone.
-Yes, because I still have business with you.
“What business?”
Dominic replied to Juliet, who was frowning, in his usual indifferent tone.
-Your wedding. I didn’t get to properly congratulate you last time.
It was an unexpected remark. Congratulations? From this man? To him?
“Um… no, it’s okay. There’s no need to go that far…”
-No, I have to.
Dominic’s tone wasn’t particularly strong, but it made him feel a strange sense of intimidation. As Juliet fell silent in confusion, Dominic continued.
-Anyway, I signed a contract with H&J, and we’ll be working at the same company. I’m not an executive now, but who knows? My mind might change. It’s best to avoid uncomfortable situations. It would be strange if our relationship seemed awkward, people might think it’s weird.
That wasn’t wrong. Besides, this man could become an executive whenever he wanted, just by saying the word. He was always the man who said he didn’t need such things, but people’s minds could change at any time.
However, he couldn’t just nod his head. Was this man really thinking about his social reputation? That couldn’t be. Could he have some other ulterior motive?
Juliet hesitated, unable to answer easily amidst his serious conflict, when Dominic blurted out.
-It wouldn’t be easy to guess that you even lobbied me with your body to marry the Representative’s daughter, would it?
Juliet’s face instantly hardened. What was this man suddenly saying?
“What… what are you talking about…”
He managed to get the words out with difficulty, then hurriedly looked around before whispering, after confirming that his fiancée was standing far away, talking to a staff member.
“Are you threatening me?”
-Don’t be silly. You know I wouldn’t say something stupid like that myself, right? And.
Dominic denied his words with a straight face.
-Didn’t I say that no one would guess that far?
It was just a nasty word game. But how many people would not take this as a threat?
The faces of the Representative and other executives flashed through his fearful mind. The image of his fiancée getting angry, the employees despising him, himself being fired from the company and not being accepted by any law firm, and finally, his parents roaring and weeping, made Juliet close his eyes.
What a fucking…
Barely suppressing the curse that was about to come out, Juliet bit his lip and glared at the ceiling. No matter how much he thought about it, there was only one conclusion. He had nowhere to run. He had no choice but to listen to this man’s demands.
But what if he threatened him like this again?
Did he have to live like this forever? For the rest of his life?
At that moment, Juliet realized what he had done.
He had fearlessly provoked someone he shouldn’t have touched.
As if he could see Juliet’s pale face right in front of him, Dominic spoke.
-Juliet, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but what I want is clear. I just want to properly congratulate you on your wedding.
“Why is that so important?”
-It’s important to me.
Juliet asked impatiently, but the answer that came back was futile. What was he trying to do? Juliet, anxiously distorting his face, had no choice but to ask in a hushed voice.
“All you want is to congratulate me on my wedding, right?”
Juliet, who had asked after hesitating, deliberately added.
“Properly.”
Dominic reacted to the word he emphasized.
-Yes.
Juliet tried to interpret those words as favorably as possible. Maybe Dominic was regretting that he had just been embarrassed at the time. As a proud man, he might think he had made a fool of himself.
Yes, maybe that’s it.
If he was going to harm Juliet in any way, he wouldn’t use such a cumbersome method. Dominic knew dozens, no, tens of thousands of ways to legally ruin him in a conspicuous way. There was no reason to go to such trouble.
Juliet had seen many people who didn’t care about other people’s feelings but couldn’t tolerate their own dignity being damaged, and their commonality was that they were incredibly upper class. They can’t stand doing anything ‘out of line’. The kind of people who have to smile and talk about the weather even when they’re facing someone they want to stab in the neck. And Dominic Miller was one of them.
〈My first love was my nanny.〉
Suddenly, his words came to mind. And the next words too.
〈Isn’t that the case for everyone?〉
From the fact that he had a nanny, it was already unusual. Juliet made a dissatisfied expression, but soon calmed down. Anyway, he had no choice. So, the wisest thing to do was to think about what he could gain from this situation.
And in fact, he felt a little sorry. After all, it was true that he had deceived and used him. Even if the other person was a villain.
…Was he that much of a villain?
His conscience raised its head again. Objectively, Dominic was definitely a bad person. A man who destroys other people’s lives as a pastime, even though he doesn’t lack money. Just as a pastime in his boring life.
But he had been kind to Juliet.
It wasn’t right to say that someone who commits evil acts against others is a good person just because he is kind to me, but that didn’t mean that Juliet could blame him. Even though there was a difference in degree, Juliet had done the same thing as him, hadn’t he?
He recalled the things that had happened between them one by one, but strangely, only pleasant memories came back to life. Especially his words and actions that were kind to him.
I shouldn’t have said I loved him.
Juliet sighed deeply, regretting it. If he hadn’t said those words, he wouldn’t have felt so guilty. Why did he say those words back then? It’s not like him to do such impulsive things. Things that wouldn’t benefit him in any way.
Feeling a headache coming on, he closed his eyes. He had to finish what he had started. With a deep sigh in between, he opened his mouth.
“Okay, then. Where and when?”
As Juliet asked, having made up his mind, Dominic said in a businesslike tone.
-Come to the villa where you last fucked me.
Juliet frowned at the vulgar expression that didn’t match his tone, and Dominic sneered.
-Perhaps you’ve ‘lobbied’ too many people to remember?
He emphasized one word, dragging it out. Juliet wanted to grit his teeth. It was true that he had used his body for his purpose, so even if this man treated him like a whore, he had nothing to say for now, did he?
That didn’t mean he had to acknowledge the word. Juliet ignored his sarcastic words and deliberately replied more coldly.
“Okay, then, at that place.”
Falling for such provocations was only for 5-year-old children. Juliet, pretending to be mature, brushed off the provocation and added.
“Goodbye, Dominic.”
After saying a short greeting, he hung up the phone first. Whew, he sighed and tilted his head back, when he saw someone approaching in his field of vision. He straightened his posture and turned around, and she walked straight towards him.
“Ashley, what’s wrong? Was it a call from the Representative?”
Juliet smiled at his fiancée. As if to reassure her.
“It’s nothing, you don’t have to worry about it. Did you find anything you like?”
Juliet immediately changed the subject and asked, and his fiancée seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head with a smile.
“I want to see some other things. Is that okay?”
They were already going around the fifth shop. Juliet almost made a bored expression, but quickly pulled up the corners of his mouth. Seeing him like that, his fiancée made a sorry expression.
“I’m sorry, I originally don’t even look at things that I don’t like. I go around all the stores until I find something that’s perfect for me. Sometimes I go around all day and don’t buy anything.”
She continued in a sweet tone, as if singing a song.
“I don’t care if it’s used. No matter how many owners it’s been through, I don’t know anyway, right? Then it’s as good as new to me.”
Why was she saying this? When he felt something meaningful, she said.
“However, if I find out who the previous owner was, I throw it away. I thought it was new and cherished it, but it’s just something that’s been rolling around on its own, I get tired of it.”
His fiancée smiled at Juliet. Juliet also smiled back. As if he 100 percent agreed with her words.
As if she liked his reaction, his fiancée changed her tone and asked.
“Why don’t we have dinner first? I’m hungry.”
“Of course, may I guide you? I know a place that’s good at seafood dishes.”
While nonchalantly guiding her, Juliet felt a cold sweat running down his back.
〈It wouldn’t be easy to guess that you even lobbied me with your body to marry the Representative’s daughter, would it?〉
Dominic’s words from a moment ago flashed through his mind.
It’s okay, she doesn’t know.
Juliet comforted himself. She was just giving a warning. No matter what happened in the past, just don’t let her find out.
The only basis for suddenly saying these words was the mumbled phone call. Whether she had a good sense or was just making assumptions and threatening him, what was certain was that the matter with Dominic should not be known to her.
Absolutely not.
Juliet moved his steps, repeatedly vowing. For some reason, he felt an uncomfortable feeling as if someone was constantly pulling at his ankle.