**Sunshine's POV**
The photoshoot had been going on for hours.
I stood off to the side, watching Kael pose for a luxury watch brand. The photographer kept shouting directions—"Chin up!" "Look at the camera!" "More intensity!"—and Kael delivered every single time.
God, he was beautiful.
The lights caught the sharp angles of his face. His jaw. Those eyes that could go from cold to burning hot in seconds.
"That's a wrap!" the photographer finally called. "Great work, Kael!"
Kael came over to me, loosening his tie.
"How'd I do?" he asked.
"You know exactly how you did." I straightened his collar even though he was about to change. "You're impossible."
He grinned. "Want to get out of here?"
"Don't you have a dinner thing with the brand executives?"
"I'm canceling." He pulled out his phone and texted his manager. "I want to do something fun. With you. No cameras. No schedules. Just us."
"What did you have in mind?"
His eyes darkened. "Let's go dancing."
---
**Kael's POV**
We ended up at a club in Gangnam. Not one of the fancy VIP places where idols usually went. This was underground. Dark. Pulsing with music so loud you could feel it in your chest.
Nobody recognized me here. The lights were too dim. Everyone was too drunk to care.
Perfect.
Sunshine and I slipped into the crowd. She was wearing a short black dress that hugged every curve. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
"Drink?" I shouted over the music.
She nodded.
We got shots at the bar. Vodka. Clean and burning.
One. Two. Three. Four.
The alcohol hit fast on an empty stomach.
The bass dropped. Bodies moved around us.
Sunshine grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor.
---
**Sunshine's POV**
The music was so loud I couldn't think. Could only feel.
The bass vibrating through my body. The heat of the crowd. Kael's hands on my waist as we moved together.
The alcohol made everything softer. Warmer. More intense.
His hands roamed my body. My hips. My waist. My thighs.
I arched back against him, feeling every hard plane of his body pressed against mine.
We danced for what felt like hours. Lost in the music. Lost in each other.
Every touch sent heat through me. Every brush of his lips against my neck made me gasp.
"Another drink?" he breathed in my ear.
We stumbled back to the bar. More shots.
I was already dizzy. The room spinning pleasantly.
His hands never left my body. Possessive. Hungry.
"We should go," he finally said, voice rough.
"Where?"
"Home. Now."
---
**Kael's POV**
I called my driver.
Somehow we made it to the car. Stumbling. Laughing. Touching.
I pulled Sunshine into the backseat with me. Couldn't stop touching her.
My hands slid up her bare thighs. Her breath hitched.
"Sir," my driver said carefully, "seatbelts."
Right. Seatbelts.
We buckled up, but I kept my hand on her thigh the entire drive.
She shifted closer, her hand sliding higher on my leg.
I groaned. "You're killing me."
"Good."
The fifteen-minute drive felt like an eternity.
Finally, we pulled up to my house.
I threw money at the driver—way too much but I didn't care—and pulled Sunshine inside.
---
**Sunshine's POV**
The door slammed shut behind us.
For a moment, we just stood there in the dark hallway. Breathing hard. Staring at each other.
Then Kael moved.
He crossed the space between us in two strides, hands cupping my face, mouth crashing into mine.
The kiss was desperate. Hungry. All the tension from the club, from the car, from weeks of waiting finally exploding.
I grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer, needed him closer.
His hands slid down my body, gripped my hips, lifted me up.
I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried me toward the stairs.
We didn't make it.
Halfway up, he pushed me against the wall, grinding into me, and I gasped at the feeling of him—hard and wanting—pressed against me.
"Kael—"
He kissed me again. Harder. One hand tangled in my hair, the other sliding up my thigh, pushing my dress higher.
His fingers brushed against my underwear and I nearly came apart right there.
"Bedroom," I managed. "Please."
He carried me the rest of the way.
**Kael's POV**
I kicked open my bedroom door and laid her on the bed.
For a moment, I just looked at her.
Hair spread across my pillows. Dress hiked up. Lips swollen from kissing. Eyes dark and wanting.
Mine.
I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it on the floor.
She sat up, reached for my belt.
Our eyes locked as she undid it. Slid it free. Unbuttoned my pants.
I kicked them off.
Then I was on her. Kissing her like I'd die without it. My hands everywhere. Learning every curve. Every soft sound she made.
I found the zipper of her dress. Slid it down slowly.
She lifted her hips and I pulled the dress off, tossed it aside.
Black lace underneath. Barely covering anything.
"Fuck," I breathed.
She smiled. Reached behind herself. Unclasped her bra.
It fell away and I forgot how to breathe.
I lowered my head slowly. My mouth hovering just above her left breast. So close she could feel my breath on her sensitive skin.
She was shaking.
I looked up at her. Her eyes were squeezed shut. Her lips parted. Her chest heaving.
"Look at me," I commanded.
Her eyes flew open. Met mine.
I held her gaze as I lowered my head even closer. My lips barely brushing against her nipple.
Her thighs tightened. She was panting now.
I lowered my head, my mouth hovering just above her breast.
She was shaking. "Please—"
I took her nipple into my mouth.
She cried out. Her back arched.
I sucked harder. Used my tongue. My teeth.
She was writhing now, gasping, making these desperate sounds that drove me insane.
I switched to the other breast, giving it the same attention.
"Kael—please—"
---
**Sunshine's POV**
His hands were everywhere.
His mouth followed. Hot and wet and perfect.
I gasped, hands tangling in his hair, holding him there.
He kissed down my stomach. My hip. The inside of my thigh.
His fingers hooked into my underwear. Pulled them down. Slowly.
I lifted my hips, helped him, needed them gone.
Then I was completely bare in front of him.
He looked at me like I was art. Like I was everything.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "So fucking beautiful."
His fingers traced up my inner thigh. Closer. Closer.
When he finally touched me, I cried out.
"So wet," he breathed.
He circled slowly. Teasing. Building.
I was already close. The alcohol. The weeks of wanting him. All of it crashing together.
"Kael, please—"
He slid one finger inside me.
I gasped, hips lifting off the bed.
He added another. Curled them just right.
His thumb found my clit. Circled in perfect rhythm with his fingers.
The orgasm built fast. Too fast.
"Come for me," he murmured. "I want to watch you come."
That did it.
I shattered. Cried out his name. Saw stars.
He worked me through it, fingers still moving, drawing out every last pulse of pleasure.
When I finally came down, I was shaking.
He kissed up my body. My stomach. Between my breasts. My neck.
"You're so beautiful when you come," he whispered against my lips.
I pulled him into a kiss. Tasted myself on his tongue.
My hand slid down his body. Found him hard and ready.
I wrapped my hand around him and he groaned into my mouth.
"Your turn," I breathed.
---
**Kael's POV**
Her hand on me was exquisite torture.
She stroked slowly. Learning what made me gasp. What made me thrust into her touch.
"Sunshine—"
She squeezed just right.
"Fuck. Yes."
She smiled. Kissed me. Kept stroking.
I wouldn't last long like this.
I grabbed her wrist gently. "If you keep doing that, this is going to be over way too fast."
"Then stop me."
I kissed her. Rolled her beneath me. Settled between her thighs.
We locked eyes.
No words needed.
She nodded.
I entered her slowly. Inch by inch. Watching her face the whole time.
Her mouth fell open. Her eyes fluttered closed.
"Look at me," I said.
She opened her eyes. Met my gaze.
"I want to see you," I said. "All of you."
I pushed in deeper. Felt her stretch around me. Take me in completely.
"Oh my God," she breathed. "You feel—"
"Perfect," I finished. "You feel perfect."
I started to move. Slow at first. Deep strokes that made her gasp.
Her nails dug into my back.
"Faster," she breathed. "Please, Kael, faster."
I obliged.
---
**Sunshine's POV**
Nothing had ever felt like this.
The way he filled me. The way our bodies moved together like they were made for this.
Every thrust sent pleasure radiating through me.
I wrapped my legs around him, changed the angle, and we both groaned.
"Fuck, Sunshine—"
"Don't stop. Please don't stop."
He didn't.
He drove into me harder. Faster. One hand gripping my hip, the other braced beside my head.
I could feel another orgasm building.
"Kael, I'm close—"
"Me too. God, me too."
His rhythm faltered. Got more desperate.
"Where—" he gasped. "Where do you want—"
"Inside," I breathed. "I'm on the pill. I want to feel you."
That undid him.
He drove in deep one more time and I felt him pulse inside me.
The feeling of him coming, combined with everything else, pushed me over the edge.
I came with a cry, clenching around him, drawing out his orgasm.
We collapsed together, breathing hard, covered in sweat, completely undone.
---
**Kael's POV**
I rolled to the side, pulling her with me so she was curled against my chest.
Neither of us spoke for a long time.
Just breathed. Existed. Came down from the high.
She traced lazy circles on my chest. "That was—"
"Yeah."
She laughed softly. "I love you."
"I love you too."
We lay in comfortable silence for a moment. Then she sighed.
"I can't believe you leave in a week," she said quietly.
The tour. Right.
That emergency meeting with Director Han earlier had completely slipped my mind in the chaos of the club and... this.
"One week," I confirmed. "Seoul first. You'll be there, right?"
"Of course. I'm coming to the first few shows." She pressed a kiss to my chest. "Then I have to come back. Law school prep starts."
"I know." I tightened my arms around her. "Three months feels like forever."
"We'll call every day."
"Every single day," I promised.
She tilted her head up to look at me. "Are you nervous? About the tour?"
"A little. It's been a while since I performed this much. And now with everything that happened—the scandal, the public knowing about Min-ho—I don't know how people will react."
"They'll love you. They already do. You saw the responses after your mother's statement. After the press conference. People understand."
"Some people."
"The ones who matter." She touched my face. "And I'll be in the front row for those Seoul shows. Cheering louder than anyone."
I smiled. Kissed her. "What did I do to deserve you?"
"You were yourself. That's all you had to be."
God, I loved this woman.
More than I'd ever loved anyone.
I wanted to wake up next to her every morning. Wanted to come home to her after every show. Wanted to build a life with her.
I wanted to marry her.
The thought hit me suddenly. Intensely.
Marriage.
Was it too soon? We'd only been officially together for a few weeks. Most people would say that's insane.
But I knew.
Deep in my bones, I knew.
She was it for me. Forever.
I wanted to ask her right now. Wanted to propose with her naked in my bed, her hair messy, her lips still swollen from kissing.
But no.
She deserved better than that. Deserved a real proposal. A ring. A moment she'd remember forever.
Not some impulsive question after sex.
I'd wait. Do it right.
Maybe after the tour. When I came back. When we'd proven we could survive the distance.
Then I'd ask her to be my wife.
The thought made me smile.
She noticed. "What are you thinking about?"
"You," I said honestly. "Us. The future."
"Good future or scary future?"
"Good. Really good."
She smiled and settled back against my chest.
Within minutes, her breathing evened out. She'd fallen asleep.
I held her and stared at the ceiling, my mind drifting.
The future with Sunshine. Marriage. Maybe kids someday. Growing old together.
Then, unbidden, another thought crept in.
That car.
The black Mercedes I'd seen outside my building earlier. Before the emergency meeting with Director Han.
I knew that license plate.
My stomach twisted.
Why was she here? After all this time? She'd moved to Paris for work eighteen months ago. We'd ended things cleanly. Mutual. No drama.
So why was her car parked outside my house?
What did she want?
I tried to push the thought away. Focus on Sunshine. On the warmth of her body against mine.
But the unease wouldn't leave.
I shifted slightly, and Sunshine stirred.
"Kael?" Her voice was sleepy. "You okay?"
Shit. I'd woken her.
But she was more awake now, propping herself up slightly. "You okay?"
"Yeah." I forced a smile. "Just can't sleep. Thinking about the tour."
"Nervous?"
"A little." The lie came easily. Too easily.
She studied my face for a moment, then settled back down. "You'll be amazing. You always are."
"Go back to sleep, Sunshine."
"Mm'kay." She pressed a kiss to my chest and her breathing evened out again.
I kissed her forehead.
---
I must have dozed off.
Because one moment I was holding Sunshine, and the next—
BANG BANG BANG.
Loud knocking jolted me awake.
I sat up, heart racing.
What the—
BANG BANG BANG.
Sunshine stirred beside me. "What? What's happening?"
The knocking came again. Harder. More insistent.
"Kael!" A woman's voice called from outside. Muffled but unmistakable. "I know you're home! Open the door!"
No.
No no no no.
I recognized that voice but no it can't be Hana can't be here...
Sunshine turned to look at me. "Kael. Who is that?"
I closed my eyes.
**END OF CHAPTER 17**