Chapter 1 — Forbidden Orbit - Episode 1: The Intruder on Line 2 (1)

The Line 2 subway on the way home felt like the belly of a massive hunk of scrap metal. Damp body heat, the sour scent of someone's sweat, and a mechanical drone filled the air. Leaning against her husband David Kim, Grace Kim barely managed to stay upright.

"Grace Kim, just hang in there a little longer. It'll ease up after Sindorim."

David Kim whispered gently, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He pressed her between his body and the wall, forming a protective barrier around her.

Grace Kim breathed in the familiar scent of his cologne and felt a wave of relief. Even in this hellish crowd, David Kim's embrace was her only sanctuary.

But that comfort lasted less than a minute. As the train lurched sharply around a curve, something hard and foreign pressed against the lower curve of her buttocks.

At first, she thought it was just a backpack or someone's belongings. But the warmth pulsed unnaturally, like a living thing, and then pressed insistently between her thighs.

Ah…

Her pupils widened. Someone pressed tightly behind her had begun to grope her hips with both hands, kneading them as if claiming ownership. Through the thin fabric of her slacks, she could feel every knuckle of the stranger's fingers—each ridge and joint—so clearly it sent chills down her spine. The fingertips dug into the softest flesh of her buttocks, tracing bold, obscene circles.

She wanted to tell David Kim immediately. But when she looked at his face, her voice vanished. He was gripping the overhead strap with his free hand, bracing himself to shield her from the swaying crowd.

What if he finds out?

David Kim had a fiery temper. If he knew, he'd surely cause a scene, hunting down the offender in the cramped train.

They say even a cornered mouse will bite a cat. What if the attacker has a knife? Or what if David Kim gets charged with assault?

Horrible scenarios flashed through her mind. But more than anything, the shame of having to admit—before all these people—that she was being violated held her tongue.

"Haaah…"

As the fingers traced upward along the most private seam between her buttocks, a stifled moan slipped through her lips.

"Grace Kim? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

David Kim lowered his head in alarm. Grace Kim clutched his shirt tightly and managed a reply.

"No, it's nothing. Someone stepped on my foot. I'm okay."

It was a lie.

And as if mocking her deception, the assailant now pushed his hand deeper, slipping fingers beneath the waistband of her pants.

The coarse hairs on the back of his hand brushed against her lower back. Grace Kim trembled all over, burying her face deeper into David Kim's chest.

Then something strange happened. At the peak of her terror and humiliation, a sharp electric current surged from the base of her spine.

The safety of being held in her husband's warm embrace—and the obscene violation from behind, mocking that very safety—this extreme asymmetry awakened something inside her that had lain dormant her entire life. Disgust had quietly transformed into a thick, simmering heat, pooling between her thighs.

The bolder the man's touch became, the faster her breath grew. David Kim's steady heartbeat against her ear played like a soundtrack, fueling her arousal.

I shouldn't… Why am I like this?

Her mind rejected it, but her body betrayed her.

Without realizing it, Grace Kim arched her hips slightly backward, opening herself, guiding the hand behind her to invade even deeper.

When David Kim gently brushed the sweat from her forehead with concern, Grace Kim felt the man slide his fingers deeper into the cleft of her buttocks, pressing into the most intimate crevice.

Shameful pleasure burned white-hot through her mind. She tightened her arms around David Kim's neck, swallowing her moan. To her husband, she was just a tired wife leaning on him for support. But in truth, she was crumbling, surrendering her body to the secret violation happening behind her.

The train still had eight stops to go. This hellish, yet intoxicating torment had only just begun.