Coming out of the bathroom, Siwoo saw Evan sitting on the bed and swallowed the saliva pooled in his mouth. While drying his wet hair with a towel and showering, he recalled again what he’d been thinking.
“Stay here. I’ll go and come back.”
Standing in front of the vanity applying toner, Siwoo opened his tightly closed lips at Evan’s words.
“It’s my business, so I should clean it up. And let’s sort things out between us too.”
He felt Evan’s gaze, but Siwoo touched the hair dryer without changing his expression. The noise pouring out along with the hot air covered everything.
“Kim Siwoo.”
Evan’s firm voice and pheromones that penetrated through the noise from the hair dryer contained all his emotions, but Siwoo pretended not to know and continued drying his hair.
Evan, who approached in a single stride, turned off the hair dryer and turned Siwoo around. Siwoo didn’t avoid Evan’s gaze. Seeing those wavering eyes, his chest, which had been stirring even more, gradually settled down.
“…Let go. I need to go quickly and sort it out. With things like this, it’s instantaneous how the talk grows the more you drag out time.”
“I said I’d solve it.”
“Why would you solve my business? I told you. Get involved moderately. Every time you do this, it suffocates me.”
Evanie, you know what? Having been hurt a lot means knowing that much about how to hurt someone. The problem is knowing too well what way makes the other person hurt and struggle. I just have to recall what hurt me and do the same thing.
“This is why I can’t leave you alone even for a moment. If I give you even a little breathing room, you think of running away first no matter what. Kim Siwoo, you can’t live without me.”
At Evan’s confidence, the corners of Siwoo’s lips rose crookedly.
“Why do you think I can’t live without you? Have some moderation with your arrogance.”
“Let’s finish drying your hair before you catch a cold.”
When the hair dryer that had entered Evan’s hand before he knew it spewed out hot heat and his hair flew in that wind, Siwoo hardened his expression. He could see Evan’s prominent jawline as his large hand brushed through his hair and dried it.
Siwoo intentionally swatted away Evan’s hand and escaped from in front of him.
“Let’s break up, let’s sort everything out.”
“Siwoo, you’re being too emotional right now. If you want to go to the agency, let’s go together.”
At Evan’s calm words and actions, Siwoo ran his hand through his hair. He could feel he was angry, but the emotions hidden behind that were unknowable.
“That deal back then, I’ll use it now. This is the first and last favor I’m asking of you. Let’s sort everything out.”
I can’t roll in the gutter with you. I can’t drag you down here. Since it’s come to this anyway, before it gets deeper, before it gets harder. So that time is now.
At Evan’s expression that crumpled oddly, Siwoo’s crooked corners of his lips rose even more. You’re hurt. In the end, I hurt you. Before I say words that will hurt you more, words that wound you…
“Coco, why are you saying such things with that expression? Since it’s not good to drag out time as you said, let’s stop talking about us.”
Siwoo unknowingly grabbed the wrist of Evan, who put down the hair dryer and turned around, then quickly let go as if he’d grabbed something dirty.
The warmth and pheromones transmitted the moment he grabbed his hand wrapped around his whole body. And fear came rushing in with a thud. Can I really go on thinking of all this as if it never happened? Can I go on calmly while sharing the same time and same place with Evan in the same group, accumulating unspeakable memories alone?
“It would be better to sleep a bit more.”
Before closing his eyes.
He didn’t know what Evan’s last expression was, but it definitely wasn’t a smile.
Evan pulled Siwoo’s collapsing body into his embrace before it could touch the floor. There were too many things he couldn’t say to Siwoo. There would be even more things he couldn’t say until the end. It wouldn’t be that he didn’t know—just as Siwoo felt his emotions, he would know that Evan also felt his emotions.
He couldn’t grasp what to do after hearing the cry of Siwoo’s heart, who spat out harsh words pretending to be indifferent with a cold expression. It was Siwoo’s heart that was crying while cruelly spitting out words to hurt him.
Because he seemed to know the reason why he wanted to sort things out even by doing that, he couldn’t give the answer he wanted to the words asking to break up.
Even if everything Siwoo said now was the truth, he shouldn’t have shown this appearance before him, who had no intention of letting go. Why does he contain so many thoughts in this small head?
What Siwoo would have thought during that short time showering was obvious.
Siwoo, who hated being a nuisance to others, would have thought he’d left a stain on Ocean and himself because of this scandal. And he had to take responsibility and solve it. And for that, a breakup with him would be absolutely necessary. In a situation where even this absurd article came out saying there’s no smoke without fire, he must have decided it was only a matter of time before a scandal with him broke out.
He could confidently shout loudly that the scandal with MBX wasn’t true, but he couldn’t do that with a scandal about himself. If he said what’s the problem with going around like that with a member of the same group, who could refute it?
But Siwoo wouldn’t be able to do that.
“You telling me about breaking up doesn’t hurt at all. More important is how painful you were until you said this and that you’re hurting while saying words contrary to your heart.”
Evan, who laid Siwoo down on the bed and covered him with a blanket, kissed Siwoo’s forehead and left the bedroom.
“Even if Siwoo shows up in front of the agency, it’ll just cause chaos. Let’s stop.”
Daehwan looked at the back of Evan coming out alone, but he blocked the question behind by closing the door.
Evan, who grabbed the steering wheel of the sports car instead of the van to draw a little less attention from people, glanced at Daehwan sitting next to him and started the car.
“What are they saying again?”
“What?”
“They must have contacted you while I was talking with Siwoo. Show me your hand. Then I’ll decide for sure too.”
At the obvious words Daehwan laid out after hesitating for a moment, Evan just laughed. Because of this matter, Siwoo spoke of an unwanted breakup and cried so much in his heart. He was crushed by that stuffiness without beginning or end and, as if proportional to it, an enormous love too great for him to contain.
But those who only chase profit are thinking of accepting the deal. Thinking coldly, the deal with MBX, though it may seem like poison at first, has a high probability of being beneficial. If used well, that is. But if that becomes the story of him and Siwoo, it changes.
MBX’s thoughts were clearly readable. They must have already noticed Hwanhee’s dirty relationship, and at the very least, they were thinking of dealing with this side and depicting a beautiful romance with Siwoo to cover all of that up.
“What about the other members?”
“Chan and Yechan are at the dorm, and Sangjun is still at the studio. I told them all not to come out and stay there as is for now.”
“Ah… You pick your side well when the storm blows. The price for giving me information.”
Evan winked playfully toward Daehwan, who was looking at him with an anxious expression. As expected, in Evan’s eyes looking at the reporters stationed near the agency, neither laughter nor playfulness could be found.
He’d already finished contacting the lawyer while Siwoo was washing. Since the heads sitting in the agency were rotten, he had no intention of making a deal with them. He was going to the agency in person simply to clean them out. Since they were people placed there out of necessity, he had to personally go through the trouble of replacing them.
[MBX Acknowledges, Ocean Denies. What’s the Truth?]
[Ocean’s Siwoo Never Met MBX’s Hwanhee Personally?]
[Who Accompanied MBX? A Civilian?]
[Ocean’s Side. Preparing Legal Lawsuit Against Reporters and Media Outlets That Wrote False Articles]
Just a few hours later. News with opposing content covered the internet.
If Ocean had acknowledged and MBX denied, it might have easily died down, but at the opposing stances that went against popularity, the news that could have passed by quietly began to burn even hotter.
Evan, who was checking the news being posted while burying his body in the sofa, slowly raised his head and looked at those still keeping their seats. Everyone had displeased and dissatisfied expressions, but no one could easily open their mouth.
“I gave you time. Why hasn’t anyone left their seat? If you’re dissatisfied with my opinion, you can leave. I’m giving you a generous severance package.”
Sometimes the power of money is absolute. The old people gathered under the pretense of a meeting all looked for Siwoo first when Evan, not Siwoo, entered the conference room.
Since they were people who already knew the relationship between the two, the dirty speculation contained in their gazes was too transparently visible.
‘I’ll put out a rebuttal article right now and prepare a lawsuit. I’ll do all at once even what we’ve been dragging our feet on, just saying we’d punish malicious commenters about Siwoo until now.’
‘I already finished talking with MBX’s side. We agreed to go out with it matched up to break up around three months from now when the mini-album comes out. Tell Siwoo not to come out for a while and lay low.’
‘You don’t know unless I say it outright. Did you forget where this company’s capital came from? Then let’s withdraw all the investment money this time and disband Ocean. Sangjun hyung can be pushed toward the director side, Chan hyung is getting love calls from the acting side even now so he can set his direction that way. Yechan has so much talent he’ll do well even going solo. If you want to watch Ocean maintain like this and grow, shut up and stay still doing as I say, and if you’re dissatisfied, you can open the door and leave. I’ll give you time until the article I want goes up.’
Recalling the conversation they’d just had, Evan gestured toward the door with his chin, but those still keeping their seats were unmoved. And in Evan’s eyes looking at them, there was no such thing as mercy.
