“So you came to threaten me?”
“I came to escort you personally, so I’d be hurt if you thought of it that way.”
“Forget it. Tell them we won’t be seeing each other again.”
Jaeha rolled up his window and backed up his car, not caring whether they blocked him or not. Then he turned the wheel to switch to another lane.
“Huh? You gonna hit us? Gonna hit us?”
The thugs started threatening him while blocking the car with their bodies. Jaeha alternated between pressing the accelerator and the brake, trying to shake them off, but it wasn’t easy.
That’s when a strong light came from behind. It was a quiet road, but there was some traffic.
The thug who had been knocking on Jaeha’s window suddenly started shouting “Fender bender. Fender bender,” and began directing the other car to the side lane.
Another thug quickly pulled out a temporary sign from the van and set it up a few meters ahead. Their teamwork was seamless—these guys had clearly done this before.
“Get your car out of here before I lock you up for extortion and threats. This is being recorded on dashcam.”
“We’ll just remove the dashcam then. Why don’t you just come along nicely? Who’s gonna eat you alive? Have some good drinks, play some golf, get a fat envelope. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”
Who would go when they were openly offering bribes? Well, plenty of prosecutors would, but Jaeha wasn’t one of them. He was too valuable to get tangled up with these punk-like bastards.
A few cars just passed by. But one car stayed parked in the distance, showing no intention of leaving.
“What’s that?”
The thug talking to Jaeha was about to walk over when suddenly that car started revving.
Vroooom. Vrooooom.
The sound of a large engine mounted on a big sedan echoed through the night road, unmistakable to the ear. The car flashed its headlights a few times, then suddenly accelerated toward the person walking toward it.
VRAAAAM.
“Huh? Hey!”
The startled thug stumbled around before throwing his body to the side.
SCREEECH.
The car that had passed Jaeha and gone ahead suddenly stopped, then started reversing like crazy.
THUD.
The tail lights smashed into the side of the van. Even so, the sedan was fine except for a slightly scratched bumper. It was truly befitting of a luxury sedan worth over three hundred million won.
“Are you crazy?”
The thugs, flustered by the car that had intervened out of nowhere, left Jaeha’s car and went toward it. Not missing that moment, Jaeha also immediately reversed, turned the wheel to set his direction, and stomped on the accelerator.
Whoooosh.
As he cut through the wind and moved forward, he looked at the driver’s seat of the black car. The tinting was so dark he couldn’t see inside.
“Hey! Hey!”
The thugs started running after them. Behind them, the black sedan took off again.
“Aaaagh!”
The startled thugs scattered in all directions. The van thugs just watched the two cars getting farther away. They seemed to have lost the will to follow.
The black car followed right behind Jaeha. Jaeha considered going somewhere else but just headed home. As soon as he entered the apartment parking lot, that car followed right in. There were plenty of empty spots in convenient locations for easy parking and exit, but the other car went to an inconvenient corner spot.
Jaeha first removed the dashcam memory chip, then got out of his car. Then he stood in front of the black car’s driver’s side window and knocked on it, similar to what the thug had done earlier.
“Hey. Get out.”
There was no response.
“Get out while I’m asking nicely.”
Jaeha grabbed the driver’s side door handle and pulled. The unlocked door opened easily. Soon, the face of the guy looking at him with a pale complexion was revealed.
“If you’re going to stalk me, can’t you do it more quietly?”
“…Earlier looked dangerous, so I had no choice.”
“Not that. The branch office parking lot, when Daeyoung came, here. How many days have you been following me?”
At those words, Kyungwoo’s eyes wavered as if slightly startled. The hand that had been gripping the steering wheel tightly slowly loosened, and his two hands settled obediently on his thighs clad in the finest suit.
“You knew?”
“Of course. A car this expensive stands out even in the middle of Gangnam, let alone here.”
“This black one was the only one I had, so I drove it.”
Jaeha let out a deep sigh. There was no need to mention that he’d memorized the license plate even though he’d only seen the car a few times.
“Where are you hurt?”
“Hm?”
“You rammed into them while reversing earlier. Don’t you have any bruises or anything? Your neck?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Get out.”
Jaeha grabbed his arm and pulled. Kyungwoo, half-dragged out, looked at Jaeha somewhat bewildered.
“Is this okay?”
“What?”
“You said you wouldn’t see me for a while.”
At those words, Jaeha let out a hollow laugh.
“Just not seeing your face is enough? When you’ve been following me around this whole time.”
While he was pondering how to deal with this, Kyungwoo spoke again.
“You opened the car door and saw my face first, so you’re the one who ended the cooling-off period.”
Kyungwoo argued seriously. Then Kyungwoo grabbed Jaeha’s sleeve.
In less than a month since they’d last seen each other, Kyungwoo’s face was a mess. The area under his eyes was sunken and gaunt, and his skin was rough. His cheeks were quite hollow too. His lips were chapped white.
“When it never even cooled down in the first place.”
Jaeha let go of the hand that was only holding his sleeve, then properly grabbed it. As he interlaced their fingers strand by strand, he clearly felt how thin the fingers had become.
“It’s unfair to get this gaunt and skinny after being the one who said to keep distance first.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not even my fault, so don’t apologize when you’re making me feel needlessly guilty.”
Saying that, Jaeha pulled him along into the apartment. Kyungwoo closed his mouth and obediently followed. The hand they held together was hot.
As they rode the elevator up, Jaeha suddenly spoke.
“Thanks for earlier. I survived because of you.”
“I’m going to kill all those bastards.”
“Don’t do that. Having a murderer for a boyfriend is a bit scary. And…”
Jaeha, who had paused for a moment, squeezed his hand.
“You can’t do it if you go to prison.”
“I see.”
The elevator had already stopped. As soon as they entered the house, Jaeha ran hot water in the bathtub. It wasn’t a major accident, but still, a hot bath seemed like a good idea.
As soon as he came out of the bathroom, uncomfortable in his suit, he took off his jacket and pulled down his tie. Kyungwoo was looking around the house.
“It’s smaller than the last place. I got it in a hurry.”
“They’re both small, so I can’t really tell the difference.”
“You sure know how to put things nicely.”
When he pouted, Kyungwoo went and sat on the sofa.
“Did that person sleep over here too?”
“Who?”
Jaeha answered while hanging the tie he’d pulled off along with his jacket on a dining chair and unbuttoning his shirt collar and cuffs.
“That guy who came two days ago.”
“Daeyoung? Mm. He slept on the sofa.”
“Ah, I see.”
The way he nodded as if secretly relieved was really strange.
“What… don’t tell me, Daeyoung?”
As soon as he grasped the implication in the attitude, Jaeha exploded like thunder.
“Are you crazy? How can you link that bastard? No, what do you think of me… No, before that, that bastard is a married man, and I’ve never once thought of him that way. And no, what must you think of me… Seriously, you’re an impossible bastard.”
“I thought it wasn’t the case. I just asked.”
“Sure you thought it wasn’t.”
The tenderness was gone, and irritation slowly crept up. He struggled to suppress the urge to hit him.
“Go take a bath before your body stiffens up.”
He pointed to the bathroom and ordered. Then Kyungwoo obediently got up and took off his clothes. The way he slowly unbuttoned while looking at Jaeha, as if expecting something, was seductive, which made it even more annoying.
“Your attitude of wanting to solve everything with your body all the time is completely screwed up.”
Jaeha turned away from him and went into the bedroom to change clothes. Then as he came out, he grabbed a t-shirt and training pants for Kyungwoo to change into.
“Don’t parade around naked and hurry up and wash.”
He tossed it toward Kyungwoo’s chest. The guy who had mastered playing pitiful nodded and headed to the bathroom. His spine and shoulder blades protruded more than before. He seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight.
“He probably hasn’t been eating properly either.”
While the sound of water came from the bathroom, Jaeha rummaged through the refrigerator. In the empty fridge, there were only eggs. He took out the instant rice he always kept stocked and made egg porridge with it.
Not much time had passed when Kyungwoo came out with hot steam. It would be better to soak longer, but seeing how flushed his face was, given his poor physical condition, he might pass out, so Jaeha didn’t say anything.
Instead, Jaeha ladled out a bowl of egg porridge and set it down on the table.
“You haven’t eaten, right?”
“Can’t I eat something else?”
“Is egg porridge too humble for the young master’s taste? What do you want to eat? Should I order abalone porridge?”
Jaeha asked while opening the essential delivery app for people living alone.
“Not that.”
Kyungwoo snatched the cell phone from Jaeha’s hand and put it on the table. He buried his still-warm cheek against Jaeha’s nape and whispered.
“Seo Jaeha, I want to eat you first.”
This temptation was quite strong. At the whisper mixed with hot breath, the desire that had been lurking exploded. After just two temptations. Instinct trampled over reason.
Jaeha pulled Kyungwoo into a strong embrace and kissed him.
Smack.
The red tongue tasted sweet. Thin fingers gripped Jaeha’s neck, and the other hand slipped under the t-shirt he’d changed into.
The hand groping his chest was urgent. With one hand, Jaeha pulled up his own shirt that Kyungwoo was wearing and stroked his back. Meanwhile, his other hand went inside the training pants. Since he wasn’t wearing underwear, he felt the lean muscle directly.
Smack. Smooch. Smack.
Lips that had separated to breathe urgently pressed together again. The two moved haltingly. His lower body felt painful with the pressure building up.
“The… so… fa… mmph.”
Kyungwoo wanted the nearby sofa. But they definitely wouldn’t be able to do it properly there. A spacious bed was better. No matter how much it was pent-up desire bursting out, brutishly devouring his lover’s body wasn’t Jaeha’s style.
“Wait… hold on.”
He barely managed to pry off the clinging Kyungwoo. Anger flashed in eyes boiling with lust. Kyungwoo, roughly pushing back his dripping wet hair, bit his lips.
“Do you still… need time… alone…”
“Follow me instead of talking nonsense.”
He dragged the guy who only misunderstood things to the bed.
