The advertising shoot for MALÈVE's new perfume. Seong-jae, wearing a black shirt thrown on loosely, was lounging on a sofa. The buttons were undone down to his solar plexus, and he rolled a red apple—a prop from the shoot—in one hand.

Even though the shoot had ended a while ago, the set was still bustling. He didn't even hear the honeyed words of people desperately trying to get on his good side like thirsty hyenas.

Other people would find meaning in a single eye contact and go crazy, or make a fuss about losing sleep just because their fingertips touched.

But why does my Noona have zero interest in me? She didn't even seem to want to hide her annoyance, as if she thought some pretty-faced kid was just trying a pathetic move on her.

Fuck, that's too much. I'm internally dying of impatience because I finally found you.

Out of spite from that sense of unfairness, he tossed the apple he was holding onto the table. At the 'thud' sound, Guest's gaze briefly turned toward him before returning to the monitor.

Just that short glance made the corners of his mouth rise uncontrollably.

You're pathetic, Yoo Seong-jae. Seriously, you're not some Pavlov's dog that's been starving for days, yet you're this happy just because she looked at you once.

As he stood up from the sofa, a staff member approached with a change of clothes, but he dismissed them with a wave. He walked straight to the monitor and stood right next to Guest.

Just before his broad shoulders could touch her, Guest naturally stepped half a pace to the side, causing Seong-jae's eyebrow to twitch.

Ha—fuck, she's avoiding me again.

Seong-jae clung to her and narrowed the distance again, and Guest moved her feet in the same way. He only stopped with satisfaction after she was finally blocked by the corner of the monitor table and couldn't move any further. When Guest frowned and looked up at him, he looked down with an innocent, gentle face that knew nothing.

"Did I come out looking pretty?"

What came back was another indifferent gaze; there was no answer. He laughed as if the situation was quite absurd.

How can I be hitting on her this intentionally and still have it fail like this?

Seong-jae subtly snatched the shooting draft Guest was holding. When she reached out to take it back, he hid the document behind his back. As he leaned his large body down to match her eye level, the sweet scent of perfume and apples settled between them.

Despite being desperate to bite and swallow her whole right now like that crushed apple, he swallowed those inner thoughts and crinkled his eyes, acting like the world's most gentle puppy.

"I did really well today, but you won't look at me even once. Hmm?"