Chapter 283: Sweet Eun-jung After Taking The “elixir”
Evening.
In the apartment living room where the sunset shone in, two figures were overlapping together, their voices overlapping as well.
“No wonder Ji-yeon and unnie and the others are so crazy about it. Xiuyuan, do you know about this effect of yours?”
“Is it my fault?”
“It’s my fault, so I’m saving it now.”
“…”
Another half an hour passed. Lin Xiuyuan, who had pulled up his pants, looked at Sweet Eun-jung.
His eyes carried a bit of redness as he looked at the other, indicating that he had to leave.
“Ah, you’re just leaving me here like this?” Sweet Eun-jung smiled slightly.
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan’s voice followed immediately, “Don’t mess around. If we’re talking about leaving someone, I left Soo Jung at the villa first before coming over to you.”
Then his heart tightened, and he continued, “Besides, calculating the time, Big Dragon Cub and the others’ filming should have ended by now. They might already be on their way. If we run into them at this time…”
He didn’t finish his words, but the “I’m doomed” expression on his face said it all.
Sweet Eun-jung looked at his appearance and seemed to think of something extremely amusing, so she couldn’t help but burst out laughing with a “pfft.”
Then, while laughing, she waved her hand, “Then hurry up and go.”
Lin Xiuyuan, who had received the special pardon, felt as if a great amnesty had been granted. He immediately tightened his belt again, quickly straightened his clothes, and looked at Sweet Eun-jung in front of him for confirmation, “I’m really leaving?”
“Go ahead. If you don’t leave soon, I might really regret letting you go.” Sweet Eun-jung smiled and chided coquettishly.
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan no longer hesitated. He turned around and prepared to leave the apartment filled with the lingering ambiguity and warmth.
And with the sound of his departing footsteps.
The living room, which had just been filled with laughter, instantly fell silent. The sunset’s afterglow slanted in from outside the window.
It shone on Sweet Eun-jung’s face. The originally playful smile was gradually converging, her gaze unconsciously following that figure, gradually becoming lingering and sticky.
A long-unfelt sense of longing, tinged with sourness and emptiness, suddenly spread without warning at this moment.
Although the few strands of rationality in her mind were desperately pulling, telling Sweet Eun-jung that these thoughts were merely physiological attachment produced after intimacy, and a brief illusion created by dopamine, not to be taken seriously.
However, emotion was like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, dragging her gaze all the way until that person’s figure completely disappeared behind the door.
Only then did she slump back powerlessly onto the soft sofa, looking up at the gradually dimming light and shadows on the ceiling.
Another feeling that was once extremely familiar but had been deliberately forgotten and suppressed for a long time, like a lurking beast finally breaking free from its restraints at this moment, clearly gnawing at her emotions.
It wasn’t simply longing; it was more like… the emptiness and restlessness after a thirst went unsatisfied.
Feeling these emotions that had not struggled free for so long, Sweet Eun-jung lifted her arm to rest it on her forehead and closed her eyes.
Letting them course through her limbs, ultimately turning into a long sigh of resignation, “Sure enough, it’s that familiar withdrawal reaction again.”
…
Meanwhile.
Lin Xiuyuan stepped into the last rays of the setting sun and returned to the quiet villa.
However, the living room was now empty, so quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat.
So he subconsciously looked up toward upstairs, lightened his footsteps, and went step by step along the stairs to the master bedroom on the third floor.
Soft light filtered in from outside the window, illuminating the familiar figure on the bed.
Soo Jung, whom he had carried back earlier, was lying quietly in the center of the large bedding.
She was still dressed as she had been that afternoon, her short skirt outlining her curves, thin black silk stockings covering her long legs.
She hadn’t even covered herself with the quilt, as if she had just lain down casually when tired and then fallen into a deep sleep.
Her sleeping face had shed its usual aloofness, appearing exceptionally soft and serene, like a child without any defenses.
Just like that, Lin Xiuyuan stood at the doorway and quietly watched Soo Jung for a while.
The thought of going forward to wake her quietly dissipated after seeing how peacefully she was sleeping.
His gaze involuntarily softened, with a trace of imperceptible heartache as he gently turned and went downstairs, deciding to let Soo Jung sleep a bit longer.
He didn’t know how much time passed, but the sky outside the window was completely dyed ink-black, and the city’s neon lights slowly lit up, like scattering a handful of shattered diamonds.
Soo Jung, who had slept the entire afternoon, had her eyelashes tremble slightly and finally slowly awoke from her deep sleep.
The bedroom was pitch black, but a faint, enticing aroma of food was wafting up from downstairs bit by bit.
The hazy sleepiness was instantly dispelled by the aroma. Realizing something, she suddenly opened her eyes wide, a flash of surprise in them.
She was so happy she didn’t even bother putting on shoes. With her little feet wrapped in sheer black silk stockings, stepping on the soft carpet, she ran downstairs like a light little beast.
When Soo Jung arrived at the living room on the first floor, her gaze immediately spotted the familiar figure she had been thinking about all afternoon in the brightly lit kitchen.
The other was currently wearing an apron, focused on busying himself at the stove, the spatula clashing with the iron pot to create a symphony that delighted her.
Then all the dissatisfaction and waiting from the entire afternoon vanished with this scene.
Soo Jung’s face bloomed with a dazzling smile. Without thinking, she joyfully rushed over, jumped onto Lin Xiuyuan’s back from behind, and precisely landed there, her arms tightly wrapping around his neck.
“Xiuyuan~ You’re finally back.” She buried her face in this familiar and solid back, her voice soft and full of longing from just waking up, “I had already decided that if you weren’t back when I woke up, I would bombard you with nonstop calls and blow up your phone.”
Lin Xiuyuan was pushed slightly forward by Soo Jung’s sudden “attack” and quickly steadied himself.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to turn his head to glance at her, only to see those two dangling jade feet clad only in black silk stockings without shoes.
He couldn’t help but chuckle and pretended to be disgusted, “Hey, Soo Jung~ Put on shoes. If you don’t wear shoes, you’re not allowed to step on me with these stockings later.”
The one on his back didn’t care and instead smugly dangled her feet.
She tightened her arms, rubbing against Lin Xiuyuan’s back like a coquettish kitten, and refuted in a somewhat overbearing yet very cute way.
“I don’t care, I want to~ I want to~ I insist on stepping~ Hmph!!!”
“So dirty.”
After a while, the clinginess in the kitchen finally came to a temporary end under Lin Xiuyuan’s “stern protest.”
He gently patted Soo Jung’s arm around his neck, “Alright, I’ve finished frying the last dish. Let’s eat first.”
Hearing this, Soo Jung reluctantly slid down from his back. As her bare feet touched the floor, she obediently fetched a new pair of slippers to put on.
Then she came in to help Lin Xiuyuan carry the prepared food to the restaurant, serve rice, and sit down.
Under the warm lighting, the two sat facing each other and began their meal.
But after just a few bites, Soo Jung seemed to suddenly remember something. She lifted her clear eyes to look at Lin Xiuyuan, her tone carrying natural care, “By the way, Xiuyuan~ How is Eun-jung unnie’s injury? Is it serious?”
Lin Xiuyuan, asked about it, didn’t pause in picking up food with his chopsticks and answered calmly, as if talking about something utterly ordinary.
“It’s an old ailment from before, nothing serious. I went over this afternoon to check on her and conveniently installed a support frame for her. It’ll be more convenient for getting out of bed or when she needs support in the future. Next, it’ll mainly rely on daily physical therapy and rest.”
Then, when he heard Soo Jung say she wanted to visit, he spoke up to dispel the idea, saying just send a message to ask, why run back and forth.
Soo Jung nodded to this, “That’s good then.”
But since there was no need to visit, with tomorrow being another day off, her thoughts immediately became active, “Then Xiuyuan, shall we go see a movie tomorrow?”
Lin Xiuyuan took a bite of rice and thought for a moment, “There doesn’t seem to be any particularly worthwhile new releases at the movie theater lately, right? Or did I miss it?”
“Not a regular movie theater,” Soo Jung’s eyes sparkled as she lowered her voice a bit, with a tone like sharing a little secret, “How about a private theater? We can choose the movie we want to watch.”
“Private theater?”
This location made Lin Xiuyuan raise his eyebrow slightly, and evaluations of private theaters instantly flashed through his mind.
Associations like “good soundproofing,” “private environment,” and “spacious sofas” all surged into his thoughts.
So his gaze couldn’t help but take on a mischievous smile as he looked at Soo Jung meaningfully, “If we go there, are we really going to watch a movie, or do you want to do something else?”
Soo Jung found his direct and teasing gaze amusing, but she also got interested.
“Originally, I just wanted to go watch a movie quietly, but since you brought it up like that, Xiuyuan, it feels like doing something while watching wouldn’t be impossible.”
Lin Xiuyuan, who didn’t expect Soo Jung to go along with it so easily, coughed a few times, “I was joking. There are probably cameras everywhere there. Might as well watch at home.”
“No fun at home.”
“Then should I set up a home theater here?”
“That works.”
…
At the same time, in Sweet Eun-jung’s apartment.
Big Dragon Cub, Lee Ji-eun, and Park Hyomin, having finished the promotional poster shoot, came over together.
“Eun-jung, we’re back. We brought you some good food…”
Park Hyomin, walking at the end, locked the door and changed shoes while habitually calling out. But before she finished, she sensed something was off.
Because Lee Ji-eun and Big Dragon Cub, the moment they stepped into the living room, froze in place like they had been hit with a body-bind spell, their eyes fixed straight on the sofa.
“What’s wrong? Why are you…”
Curious Park Hyomin, after changing shoes, puzzledly poked her head out from behind them, her gaze falling on Sweet Eun-jung, who was lazily leaning on the sofa watching television.
The next second, she also froze, her mouth slightly open, the rest of her words stuck in her throat.
The Sweet Eun-jung in front of them seemed no different from when they had seen her at the hospital the day before yesterday; she was still that person.
Wearing comfortable home clothes, long hair casually draped.
But looking closely, that face had undergone a subtle yet astonishing change!
Before, no matter how well Sweet Eun-jung took care of herself, her face shape and skin condition were already top-notch among peers.
But upon close inspection, they couldn’t escape the traces of time; the skin’s firmness and plumpness were slightly inferior to before, and the glow carried traces of deliberate maintenance.
However, now the woman on the sofa had delicate, firm skin radiating a healthy, inward glow.
Her cheeks were full and plump, her eyes clear and moist, her whole person infused with vibrant life force, emanating a captivating radiance near her peak period.
That state was absolutely not something achievable just by resting well; it was more like… reverse aging?
Amid the shock, Park Hyomin, being the one with the least information among the three,
Was actually the first to recover from the stunned state. Then, looking at Sweet Eun-jung, she blurted out almost involuntarily, her voice full of disbelief, “Eun-jung~ You… what’s going on with you?! Did you eat some elixir? How did you suddenly become… so radiant?!”
Lee Ji-eun and Big Dragon Cub, who had been through this process, finally snapped out of their daze amid Park Hyomin’s shout. Their gazes complexly focused on Sweet Eun-jung’s face, which seemed to have returned to her twenties peak, quietly waiting for her explanation.
Especially Big Dragon Cub, whose mischievous smile at the corner of her mouth was almost uncontainable.
Sweet Eun-jung, stared at by the three’s burning gazes and feeling a bit unnatural, subconsciously lifted her hand to gently touch her smooth cheek, her gaze flickering with a trace of imperceptible guilt and complexity.
She herself didn’t know how to explain it?
Was she supposed to say that this miraculous “rejuvenation” effect came entirely from that exhilarating, tangled intimate “treatment” with a certain man that afternoon?
So she quickly lowered her eyelids, avoiding the probing gazes from her sisters.
In a tone pretending to be casual yet carrying a subtle meaning, she equivocated, “What’s with what? Maybe it’s just sleeping from head to tail these past couple days, really making up for those naps. You saw that actress from Taiwan Bay talk about it before—sleep really works.”
But this explanation obviously couldn’t fully convince the three in front of her.
Or rather, even Park Hyomin, who had seen some “worldly opportunities,” couldn’t be fooled.
Not to mention those two who had “truly eaten more things than she had touched.”
Those two were now staring intently at Sweet Eun-jung, countless thoughts and scenes flashing rapidly through their minds.
Finally, Big Dragon Cub spoke first, “Unnie, have you tried how your leg feels now?”
That’s all for today. After starting work, the time for writing has really decreased a lot.
（PS: I only have three days of vacation!!! Resentment!!!）
