“Why the rope…”
I whispered softly, and Hajin answered.
“Are you thinking of tying me to your bed?”
“Gasp! What should we do?”
“What do you mean? I’ll just untie you. You worry about the strangest things.”
Hahyun, who had approached us closely, looked at us whispering together with an expression of disbelief.
“I knew this would happen. Since when?”
Hahyun said while pulling the rope with both hands, making a tapping sound.
“What… since when what?”
“Since when have you two been sticking to each other like this at all hours?”
“No, you’re misunderstanding.”
Yes, I know. No matter how much I deny it, Hahyun’s ears won’t hear anything once he starts spinning his delusions… But what can I do when it’s really not true?
“Hajin-ssi, say something. It’s not true, right?”
Hahyun’s glare shifted from me to Hajin. Normally, Hahyun would have been stubborn as a wall, not listening to anything we said, but now he turned his gaze to Hajin as if willing to hear an explanation. Just when I felt hopeful that I wouldn’t have to be tied up with that rope if Hajin explained well, my hope crumbled as the trusted Hajin began spouting nonsense.
“Well… it’s hard to say exactly when it started. Was it in the company waiting room? Or the dressing room?”
I stared at Hajin with my mouth hanging open. I couldn’t understand why he would say such things when he should have been calming and soothing Hahyun.
Anxiously, I turned my head to check Hahyun’s reaction. Hahyun was trembling, unable to contain his anger. His face had turned so pale he looked like he might collapse at any moment. The rope fell to the floor with a thud.
I quickly approached Hahyun and rubbed his back to calm him.
“That’s not true. Hajin-ssi is just lying to make you angry.”
“…”
Unfocused eyes turned toward me. That made it even more frightening. It would be better if he just got angry and cried.
“It’s really not true… You called Hajin-ssi a fox. He’s lying right now. You’re smart, why are you acting like this?”
The focus in his eyes started to return gradually.
“So, you’re saying it’s not true?”
“Of course. I think I’ve always been fair with skinship.”
“Lies. I can’t believe you. You always tell me ‘absolutely not’ but with Hajin hyung… *sob* You’re planning to run away together, aren’t you? It’s obvious you’ll escape while I’m busy. If I had known this would happen, I should have forced you to run away with me first.”
“No. Hahyun, absolutely not. It’s not true even if I die.”
Hahyun looked at me and asked, “Really?” but then looked back at Hajin and his expression hardened. Then he tried to pick up the rope again. I moved my hand behind my back, pointing to the stairs, trying to signal Hajin to go upstairs.
“Ha… this is tiring.”
Saying that, Hajin went up to the second floor.
Hahyun’s heaving chest calmed down. I pulled Hahyun’s arm and forced him to sit on the sofa.
“Hey, Hahyun…”
“…”
Hahyun, who had been so desperate to talk to me before, wasn’t answering when I called him. I was afraid of provoking him further, so I stayed quiet. A suffocating silence ensued.
Suddenly, Hahyun stood up, picked up the rope from the floor and brought it to the sofa. Is he going to tie me up? I instinctively shrank back, but fortunately, he didn’t tie me up, just held the rope tightly as if it were a lifeline.
“Hyung.”
After a long silence, I was happy to hear his voice and quickly replied.
“Yes, yes, Hahyun.”
“Is it really not true, even if you die? That you weren’t conspiring to run away together without me?”
“Of course it’s not true. Absolutely not. Not even if I die.”
Hahyun, who had been staring intently at the rope, raised his head and met my eyes. His eyes glinted eerily, making my heart shrink.
“If that’s not the case, then is it okay if I tie you up on my bed?”
“…”
I was so taken aback that I closed my mouth, and Hahyun’s hands holding the rope began to tremble.
“Why? You don’t like it?”
“Nobody would enjoy being tied up.”
“See? I knew it. You are planning to run away.”
“How many times do I have to tell you it’s not true!”
I had been trying to be patient because the kid wasn’t in his right mind, but I reached my limit of patience and ended up shouting. Hahyun spoke while tears dripped down his face.
“If you’re not running away, you could let yourself be tied up. If it’s really not true even if you die, as you say. I’m not asking you to die, so why do you just say no? You could consider it once.”
“Hey!”
“…What?”
Usually, when I made a scary face or got angry, Hahyun would watch my reactions and say he was sorry and ask me not to hate him, but now he was glaring at me with his lips pressed tightly together. Seeing his expression of unwillingness to yield even an inch, I was at a loss for words.
“If hyung doesn’t want to be tied up, I’ll just stay beside hyung. I think I’ll only feel at ease if I monitor you directly.”
He was saying he wouldn’t go to work. If I hadn’t had any connection with these people, I would have absolutely refused to be tied up, but now wasn’t the time for that. It was my responsibility that Hajin had to leave his position as CEO. If Hahyun didn’t protect that position instead, Hajin’s situation might get even worse.
I tried to appear calm as I spoke.
“But you know I hate it. One of you needs to be in the CEO position…”
“No matter what I do, hyung will never like me anyway. So why should I do things I don’t want to do?”
“What are you talking about? I care about these things because I do like you.”
“If you like me, you could let yourself be tied up.”
By this point, I just wanted to give up on this stubborn argument. Hahyun was trapped in the delusion that I would leave, and he would close his ears to whatever I said, so there was no use in trying to soothe him.
Rather than continuing this futile argument with Hahyun who wouldn’t listen to reason, it would be simpler to just let him tie me up and have Hajin untie me later, as Hajin had suggested.
“Fine, tie me up. Tie me up. Fuck. As if you didn’t know about me and Hajin-ssi… hah…”
“Really, hyung?”
“Yeah, do whatever you want!”
Hahyun hugged me tightly, beaming with joy.
“I love you. I love you so much I feel like I’m going crazy.”
I swallowed the words ‘you’re already crazy’ and let myself be led away by Hahyun’s hand.
* * *
When I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again, the day was already bright. My throat was so dry that I tried to get up, but a sound of surprise escaped me. “Huh!” My ankles were tied to the bed, and I couldn’t move.
I remembered drowning my sorrows with strong soju last night and passing out…
“You’re awake?”
It was Hajin’s voice.
He must have come to untie me. It was so simple, and I laughed at myself for resisting unnecessarily yesterday.
“I’m dying of thirst. Please give me some water.”
“Oh, wait a moment.”
Hajin took water in his mouth and brought his lips to mine. I thought he could have just untied me first and handed me a cup, but I didn’t dislike the romantic feeling, so I obediently opened my mouth.
As the cold water went down my throat, I regained my senses somewhat.
“Did Hahyun go to work?”
“Yeah, he left in a good mood.”
“…Then why am I still tied up? You should untie me.”
“About that…”
Hajin looked me up and down with a bewildered expression. Following his gaze, I looked down at myself. My feet were tied to the bed, but my hands were bound with handcuffs.
Hajin continued with a sigh.
“I can untie the rope, but I don’t have the key to the handcuffs.”
“What?”
I felt like my breath was cut off.
“Aren’t these just toys? I feel like we could force them open…”
“They’re not police handcuffs, but they’re sophisticated, so it seems only the person who locked them can unlock them.”
“…”
“That kid, he’s thorough, I’ll give him that.”
“So what do I do?”
“What else can you do? You’ll have to stay with the handcuffs on.”
I felt like I’d been sucker-punched, and my head was spinning. Well, Hahyun wasn’t a fool, and he must have known that Hajin would untie me once he went to work…
Hajin untied the rope on my legs.
“What was he so afraid of? That you’d run away? It’s all a scam.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
Hajin threw the rope aside and climbed onto the bed.
“Don’t you get it? That kid Hahyun didn’t tie you up because he was afraid you’d run away in the first place.”
“Then why?”
After asking the question, I thought about it for a moment and got the idea.
“You don’t mean…?”
“Yes, since he knew I wouldn’t be going to work from today, he put handcuffs on you so we couldn’t fool around together. If he was worried about you running away, would he have been satisfied with tying you up so loosely? With Hahyun’s personality?”
“…”
I hadn’t even recovered from the shock of the handcuffs, and now realizing this was all Hahyun’s scheme made my head throb again.
“Hah…”
As I sighed, Hajin sat me up.
“You need to eat.”
“I have no appetite. How am I supposed to eat with my hands like this?”
Hajin looked at the handcuffs on my hands and smiled mischievously. While I was feeling extremely frustrated, Hajin somehow looked quite pleased.
