The jet-black hair that hung over his straight forehead and his skin that was so white that it was almost transparent were also moist and soaked with water. The water droplets that ran down his cheeks, which were as rosy as apples, flowed down his chest. They clung to his bulging pink skin and fell to the rugged floor with a pitter-patter.

My heart started beating loudly for some reason, so I swallowed dry saliva. I felt like I was secretly looking at something I shouldn’t have. I quickly lowered my eyes, and this time, Chase’s waist came into view. A white towel was draped over his waist, which was in an inverted triangle shape from his thick chest.

The towel loosely tied around his slender waist had a shape that bulged out in the middle, and its volume was definitely unusual. What is that? What is that… What is that!

“…What are you looking at?”

“I can’t see anything!”

I quickly covered myself with the blanket and shouted loudly. I couldn’t see anything, so it must be true that I didn’t see anything.

No, but why is the outline like that? That day, you did that to me… No, that day must have been much more brutal than that. This black panther, does he have a conscience or not? Even in the darkness under the blanket, my eyes opened wide on their own. I almost died that day, didn’t I?

But no matter how long I waited, hiding under the covers, there was no sign of Chase coming up to bed. It seemed like there was nowhere else to sleep, so where did he go?

Only then did I peek out my eyes and glance around the room. Then I saw Chase, his large body hunched over on the small sofa next to the bed.

-“What are you doing there?”

-“What are you doing? Are you trying to sleep?”

-“Are you serious? Are you breathing properly?”

“I’m completely serious. Just breathe.”

-“No. I’ll just sleep on the sofa. I’m so small I think I’ll fit in there…” 

-“That fits me perfectly.”

“Your arms, legs, and shoulders are all twisted…?”

-“It will be released tomorrow.”

Honestly. I thought I would be kicked out of bed right away, but it was unexpected. Still, I grumbled and asked, feeling uneasy about pushing the landlord to the sofa and taking over the bed.

“Let’s just sleep together in the bed. It’s spacious here…”

“Turn off the lights. It is enough.”

Chase pretended not to hear and quickly turned off the stand. The old blanket covering his waist looked unusually thin even in the dark. I stared blankly down at my fluffy white quilt, then glanced at Chase’s wide back again, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

But the problem was that my sleeping habits were very bad. In my previous life, I would wake up upside down while sleeping on the narrow single bed in the goshiwon, and sometimes I would fall down and roll around on the floor and wake up under the desk. The more I slept comfortably and deeply, the worse my sleeping habits became. I didn’t know that it would be today.

“Leoruka.”

-“Wow… It’s warm…”

“Open your eyes, Leoruka.”

-“I hate the cold… Ice sheds… lakes…”

“…Are you cold?”

-“Sleep more… Be kind…”

“Who are you calling kind right now… Leoruka. Are you not going to let this go right now?”

-“Ahh… Why can’t I sleep… Ugh!”

It was early in the morning, I don’t know what time it was. I woke up on the cramped sofa, with Chase hugging me like a body pillow. And for some reason, the position of my hands was a little……..

“…”

“…”

Why is this hand groping Chase’s bare chest?

When a person is too scared, their limbs tremble, and they can’t move or open their mouths. That’s exactly what I felt like right now, having had my whole head stuck in the mouth of a black panther.

I had no idea what to say, and my whole body felt weak. I was so scared of Chase, who was staring at me like he was going to eat me up at any moment.

Still, I opened my mouth hesitantly, fearing that I would really get chewed out if I continued like this.

“Hey…”

“okay.”

It was as if he was telling me to leave a will. I barely managed to get out “Excuse me.” and my heart sank. I had nothing to say since I was caught assaulting a black panther while pretending to be asleep. So I just… stayed still.

Then Chase asked urgently.

“Why are you stopping talking? Don’t you have anything to say?”

“yes…”

But when I thought about it, it was a little unfair. I glanced at Chase’s naked upper body with sad eyes. His chest looked firm and seemed like it would pop out if I pressed it with my finger. The dense muscles were thick and bulged out in gentle lines. The way it swelled and sank every time Chase exhaled was elegant.

Beneath that chest were well-toned, finely sculpted abs. Any man would be envious of a body like that.

So, I’m saying that you’d like to touch it at least once. So, isn’t this Chase’s fault for sleeping with his shirt off on this cold day? No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem to be my fault……. Or not?

“You have nothing to say? So, you’re saying you didn’t do anything wrong?”

“I’m sorry for harassing you!”

No. It was entirely your fault. Chase’s sharp gaze, as if he had read my mind, made me immediately abandon my resentment. Now was the time to apologize unconditionally.

“I have a bit of a bad sleeping habit…”

“It’s not just that you have bad sleeping habits: it’s that you’re sleepwalking?”

“I had sleepwalking too. I didn’t know…”

“Amnesia, sleepwalking? What else do you know that you didn’t know? Tell me everything now.”