Chapter 42
Isabel Maria Kim. Twenty years old.
Since childhood, she had been unable to tolerate men after developing androphobia when her adoptive father attempted to sexually assault her.
This was her first time seeing a man's bare skin from this close, and her first time reaching out to touch it herself—everything about it was new to her.
Isabel was kneading Lee Seonho's forearm beneath her fingertips, sinking into a strange thrill.
‘So this is what Mr. Lee Seonho's arm feels like….’
Neither too thin nor fat, and certainly not bulky, it had a moderate amount of muscle.
Under normal circumstances, Isabel would have been too afraid even to look directly at him simply because he was a man. But the buff he'd given her had eased that fear, allowing her to observe him more closely.
‘During the practical exam, he held me in these arms and rescued me. I was too preoccupied then even to notice what Mr. Lee Seonho's arms felt like, though.’
Thinking of it that way, they even felt quite reassuring. Perhaps his forearms were like this because he had been able to carry her and Cha Eun-joo away while protecting them.
In a sense, she owed him a debt of gratitude because of these arms, so if anything was wrong with them, she had to treat them properly.
-Knead.
“Hoo, hhoo….”
-Knead, knead.
“Hh, hoo…. Hoo….”
…Therefore, this was nothing more than treatment.
It wasn't as if she was particularly interested in a man's body, touching its contours, or kneading it because she was curious how firm his muscles were.
She was only circulating holy power evenly through his entire arm to find which areas were most damaged. …The process was taking a little longer than her usual treatment, but it wouldn't seem strange to say she was simply being more thorough.
‘There doesn't seem to be anything particularly wrong, but if Mr. Lee Seonho is uncomfortable, it would be polite to check him anyway.’
If she stroked his forearm gently while pretending to treat it, wouldn't that reassure him?
Treatment wasn't limited to curing illnesses and injuries. Calming an anxious mind was part of treatment, too.
-Swish….
“…Hoo….”
-Stroke, swish….
“Hhoo, hoo…. Hhoo….”
Supporting Lee Seonho's arm with one hand, she stroked his forearm from top to bottom with the other, letting only a very faint trace of holy power flow through it. With each fingertip, she discreetly felt the places where his muscles separated.
Since this was a somewhat different way of treating Lee Seonho, anxiety briefly sprouted in Isabel as she wondered whether he might find it strange.
‘But if it's Mr. Lee Seonho, he probably won't suspect anything….’
He trusted her completely where holy power was concerned, so he wouldn't find it strange. Rather, if she touched his forearm this slowly, wouldn't he think she was paying even more careful attention?
She felt a little guilty about doing something resembling sham treatment by taking advantage of Lee Seonho's kind heart, but she didn't want to stop.
…Now that she also knew Cha Eun-joo wasn't Lee Seonho's girlfriend, she had no reason to hesitate or hold back.
‘I do feel a little sorry toward Ms. Cha Eun-joo, though….’
That didn't mean she wanted to give up.
He was the first man she had been able to trust, and the only man she could talk to even when they were alone together.
All the more because he was the only member of the opposite sex in the entire world with whom she could communicate.
She already knew that Cha Eun-joo liked him as more than a mere friend, and that Cha, lacking courage, needed him.
But Lee Seonho was just as essential to her, and she, too, felt her heart flutter for him, however faintly.
A different kind of fluttering, one that bloomed not from fear or dread.
“…It's finished, Mr. Lee Seonho.”
“Really? How was it?”
“There doesn't seem to be any major problem. …It took quite a while because I examined you a little more carefully, though.”
“Thanks. And sorry for making you go to the trouble, Isabel.”
“…No. If there's anything I can do for you, Mr. Lee Seonho, I ought to do it.”
She probably wouldn't care even if the person she was with weren't Lee Seonho.
She was beautiful enough that even Isabel had to admit it, and she was quite skilled at handling her ability.
But Lee Seonho was her only option; she couldn't help it.
“Mr. Lee Seonho.”
“Yes?”
“Just in case… may I check your other arm as well?”
“The left one too?”
“Yes. I thought it might be good to find out what condition it was in compared with your right arm….”
In other words, she didn't want to give way.
The fact that he had no girlfriend meant that, at any rate, she still had a chance.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
After Isabel had thoroughly examined both my right and left forearms.
Maybe because the physical contact had gone a little too far, she fled at a sprint as soon as the suggestion wore off. If she hadn't been wearing a face covering, I surely would have seen her blushing bright red with embarrassment.
The face covering did have its advantages, though. Knowing that her expression couldn't be seen, Isabel could approach me more assertively.
The direct physical contact had been a somewhat bold attempt, but it probably wouldn't make her feel awkward around me.
Even Isabel wouldn't let a little forearm touching completely erase the goodwill she'd built up or her growing comfort around me.
‘Just because she had androphobia didn't mean she was incapable of making an objective judgment about men.’
If I'd really gone along with the mood and had her touch something like my dick, it might have been dangerous. Even if she were the one who touched it, she might well question how she'd done something like that despite being afraid of men.
Or she might simply have touched a man's private parts and suddenly found her past trauma resurfacing. For that reason, it was best to take sexual matters as slowly as possible.
The forearm was a safe enough choice. It let her touch a man's body naturally, and afterward she wouldn't feel that she'd touched it merely because of the buff's side effects. If anything, by now she might be remembering how carefully she'd traced my forearm with her fingers and feeling guilty.
Honestly, even I found it too blatant to pretend I hadn't noticed—especially since she'd kneaded it this way and that and traced the muscles with her fingers.
Even I hadn't expected her to say she wanted to examine the other arm for comparison. The Heart of a Succubus may have been important in several ways, but even so, a single suggestion couldn't have made her become that assertive.
I guessed it was the result of the assertive personality hidden beneath Isabel's androphobia.
That meant her feelings for me were gradually approaching romantic attraction, so next time….
‘Next time I receive treatment, it might be okay to take a slightly bolder risk.’
I'd already laid enough groundwork for trying a new kind of physical contact.
A plan that would be worthwhile if it succeeded, and that I could brush off with a suitable excuse if it failed.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“Ha, haa…. Haa….”
Late that night, in Isabel's bedroom.
Though she'd finished her bedtime prayer long before, Isabel still couldn't sleep. Sitting on the bed, she covered her flushed face with both hands.
She was only now realizing how shameful what she'd done to Lee Seonho earlier had been.
“W-why did I do something like that…? Ahhh….”
Her hand touching Lee Seonho's forearm was understandable; he had been the one to roll up his patient-gown sleeve and ask her to treat him.
But when she asked herself whether she'd focused solely on treatment, she couldn't possibly nod.
No matter how much she denied it, she couldn't escape the fact that kneading and feeling over his forearm under the pretense of treatment had been indecent.
“Ahhh, what should I do…. Even if it was Mr. Lee Seonho, I-I did something like that….”
Although the buff had made her forget her fear of men, it did not absolve her of the lewd act she'd impulsively committed.
Even with her fear gone, she'd examined and toyed with his body out of curiosity. Worse, she'd even prepared to hide behind the excuse that it was treatment if he became suspicious.
So much so that after coming to her senses, she found it even harder to forgive herself.
‘I need to be careful…. Even though I learned that Mr. Lee Seonho doesn't have a girlfriend, I still haven't become his girlfriend….’
Though he had said they weren't dating now, if Cha Eun-joo gathered just a little courage, the two of them could develop into lovers at any time.
In that sense, she was still a latecomer. Worse, Lee Seonho didn't even know what her face looked like yet.
To win his heart, she had to become useful to him, as Cha Eun-joo had been, but losing herself and playing with his forearm muscles was, no matter how she looked at it, far removed from becoming that kind of person.
The one consolation was that Lee Seonho had trusted her to the end, allowing her to get away without arousing suspicion… If things had gone wrong, she might have destroyed all the trust she had built with him in an instant.
“Ugh, ugggh….”
Maybe it was because of the sense of security she kept feeling while under the buff. Whenever she touched his body, her fingers kept moving on their own, driven by curiosity.
The firm contours of his chest muscles, his moderately defined—not bulky—abs, his manly arms that had held her body, and so on.
Normally, ‘manly things’ had always been objects of fear to her… but when it came to Lee Seonho, that was absolutely not the case.
That was proof: even now, long after the buff had worn off, she could feel her face heating up whenever she recalled the sensation of him beneath her hand.
‘I need to pull myself together. At this rate, I might actually end up doing something improper to Mr. Lee Seonho myself.
Until now, I was the one who feared him for no reason, and if I start committing an act like sexual harassment the moment that fear disappears, then even Mr. Lee Seonho will surely despise me.’
So tomorrow, even while buffed, I'll do nothing but treat him and stop there. No matter how much the buff makes me feel attracted to Mr. Lee Seonho, I'll show some self-restraint.
With that resolve, Isabel lay her tired body down to sleep. But it was destined to collapse less than ten hours later.
“It seems I'm getting used to treating you while under the buff. How about trying treatment today while touching my bare skin directly, Isabel?”
“……Yes?”
The next morning, all because of the suggestion Lee Seonho had casually made to her.