He shifted forwards, his trousers straining across his solid thighs. Then he took both her hands in his again. Large hands. The hands of a guy who probably mowed his own lawn. Made his own dinner. Washed his own underwear. It wasn’t the hands of some pampered idol who had stylists waiting to look after it. His wide flat thumb pads ran back and forth across the backs of her knuckles. And with each soft, slow, soothing she felt her headache ebb away. Even if the last thing Jongdae could be described as is someone warm and fuzzy, right now, in that moment, as he held her hands and held her gaze, again she could have sworn she saw clouds of concern across his face. Something was very wrong here.

“Hyojung, do you remember coming to me to check on the problem regarding the will?”

“Yes. And?”

“You fainted because I told you that the reason why none of his assets have been deferred to you since he died is that he had none. It took an inordinate amount of time for all of his debts to be settled since he lived much of the year overseas. And, once that was done, he was found to be insolvent. It’s all gone. Every last bit."