Tears like transparent beads fell streaming down his cheeks. He tried biting his lip, but the sobbing breathing sounds were transmitted as is to Ganghyuk.
“Heu-euk…”
“Oh my, why are you crying?”
Okjeong hurriedly brought tissues. Ian pressed the tissue firmly against his eye sockets and tried to calm down. But it wasn’t easy.
-Yeon Ian.
Ganghyuk’s voice dropped a tone. Only then did Ian recall that this man seemed affectionate yet was indifferent. At the thought that Ganghyuk, now finding him bothersome, might hang up the phone, he began haltingly explaining what happened today even while choking up.
“Strange, huk, people… came to the shop…”
-Mm.
Fortunately, Ganghyuk didn’t rush him even though Ian was mumbling incomprehensibly. He only gave short answers as if telling him to continue speaking.
“They scared, huk, the other customers…”
-Mm. What did they do to you?
The gazes that had scanned over his face and body, the hands that had freely groped his buttocks, the men who had harassed him until the end. Not knowing what to say first, he talked about what had been most shocking.
“My, my butt…”
-Butt?
At that moment, Ganghyuk’s voice dropped to a chilling degree. Even though he wasn’t being scolded, Ian became intimidated and couldn’t continue his next words, only fumbling with his lips.
-Baby, keep talking.
He thought he could even hear the sound of a low, hollow laugh. Ian, who had been firmly biting his lips, explained in as much detail as possible what he’d suffered from the men.
-…
Ian, who finished talking, switched the hand holding the cell phone. Ganghyuk’s silence strangely made Ian tense. He rubbed his palm beaded with cold sweat on his pants to wipe it.
-I’ll be right there.
Before Ian could answer anything, the cell phone abruptly disconnected. When he took the cell phone from his ear, his earlobe was hot. 21:02. The call time displayed on the screen was longer than expected.
The time they’d conversed wasn’t that long, but he’d wasted precious time crying while holding the cell phone. Now that he’d finished crying, he felt awkward.
It was even more so because Okjeong was watching from beside him with an indescribable expression. Feeling embarrassed, he rolled his eyes around.
“Ian-ah, you really rely on that person a lot.”
At Okjeong’s words, Ian blushed and nodded. Thinking of Ganghyuk made the inside of his chest tickle while feeling reassured.
Though he’d never directly shown frightening behavior in front of Ian, he’d been sensing it implicitly. That perhaps he might be a more cold-hearted person than Hongdo.
Ian had already experienced how cruel this world was to the weak. Ian’s life after his guardian disappeared had instantly rolled through the mud.
If Ganghyuk hadn’t rescued him from the club, or if they’d met quite some time after that, he absolutely wouldn’t be able to spend his days pretending to be fine and smiling brightly like he was now.
Because even what he’d suffered from Hongdo still occupied a corner of Ian’s mind, and whenever he was about to forget it, it would resurface and make his insides churn.
“Still, don’t give your heart too much. That guy also does dangerous work just the same, doesn’t he?”
Okjeong said a word out of worry. Feeling like his insides had been seen through, Ian answered in a small voice, “Yes.”
But Ian didn’t know. That the heart was something you couldn’t control by your own will, and especially that feelings of liking someone were like a ship with a broken rudder.
While sniffling at the feeling of Okjeong patting his back, Sucheol returned with a face that looked even more haggard.
“Ah, I must have eaten something really wrong. This is crazy, seriously. Did the call with hyung-nim go well?”
Ian silently held out the cell phone. Thanks to Sucheol, he’d talked with Ganghyuk and poured out everything that had upset him, so he felt a bit grateful.
“What did he say?”
“Um… He said he’s coming soon.”
“Don’t tell me you blabbed everything?”
When Ian, who didn’t understand the dialect, only blinked both eyes blankly, Sucheol said with a somewhat pale face:
“Ah, did you spill every single detail?”
“…Yes.”
“This is crazy.”
At Ian’s answer, Sucheol grabbed his head with both hands, pulling at hair that wouldn’t even come out. Ian just fidgeted with his fingers, feeling unnecessarily self-conscious.
But thinking about it, he felt a bit wronged. It was Sucheol who’d thrown him the phone telling him to make a call before leaving. Ian’s only crime was being honest. Of course, Sucheol had told him to make up something appropriate, but if he wasn’t going to say anything, he wouldn’t, but he didn’t want to lie.
“……Will you get scolded a lot by the Executive Director?”
Still, he was worried. Seeing him keep being scared when he looked like he’d fear nothing in the world, Ganghyuk must be really frightening.
“Scolded? You’re being ridiculous.”
Though he said that, Sucheol kept shaking one leg and stealing glances at the shop door. Just as Ian was becoming anxious too, a black car stopped in front of the shop.
Jaehyun, whom Ian had also seen before, got out of the car first and opened the back seat door. Watching Ganghyuk gradually reveal himself, Ian swallowed dry saliva.
Though he was seeing him for the first time in days, his chest swelled inside as if they’d been apart for a very long time and were now reuniting.
As soon as he learned something had happened to him, he’d sent Sucheol, and seeing how he himself came quickly too, Ian realized that even if Ganghyuk didn’t like him, he cared enough.
Their eyes met through the translucent glass. At the gaze that seemed to see through him, Ian stood from his seat and just looked at his face.
Ganghyuk didn’t avoid Ian’s gaze and took out cigarettes from inside his jacket. Then he pulled one cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth, lit it, and slowly exhaled white smoke.
A dreamlike atmosphere flowed. For a moment, feeling like only Ganghyuk and himself were here, Ian quietly clenched both fists.
“Are you two filming a movie or something?”
It was Sucheol who broke the strange atmosphere. He looked back and forth between Ganghyuk’s and Ian’s faces with an expression of incomprehension.
Then Ganghyuk, who’d been throwing the half-burned cigarette on the ground and grinding it firmly with his shoe, gestured with his chin at Ian. Ian, who cleared his throat softly, went outside the shop.
Along with the faint cigarette smell, Ganghyuk’s gaze came over. Jaehyun bowed his head lightly to Ian, then entered the shop.
“Come closer.”
Ganghyuk spoke with an inscrutable face. Ian hesitantly moved his steps. One step, two steps, three steps. He got close enough to count Ganghyuk’s eyebrows one by one.
A cool gaze swept down over his puffy eyelids and the deep redness around his eyes. Ian just looked up at Ganghyuk’s face with both hands clasped together.
There were shadows under his eyes, and his jawline had become a bit sharper. The whites of his eyes were also faintly bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept properly.
Thinking that Ganghyuk hadn’t been doing well during their time apart, he childishly felt his mood wanting to improve a little. It probably wasn’t for the same reason as himself, but still, it comforted his heart.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
At some point, their eyes met—those pitch-black pupils. It wasn’t a reproachful tone. A voice as indifferent as a passing breeze flew to his ear.
Ian understood Ganghyuk’s words a beat late. Ganghyuk was now asking Ian why he hadn’t contacted him right away when gangster-like people came.
“…I thought you’d be busy. I didn’t want to bother you.”
I didn’t want to seem like a child.
He thought it better not to say the latter part and swallowed it. However, since he’d already cried profusely while talking to Ganghyuk on the phone, it was already a pointless effort.
“It’s not a bother, so from now on, if something like this happens, contact me right away.”
At the following words, Ian’s eyes widened. Not long ago, drunk Ganghyuk had drawn a line with words saying he absolutely hated bothersome things, in response to Ian’s question about who he’d drunk so much with.
That’s why he’d been more careful too. Which was his true feelings? Ian’s eyes, which had become a bit confused, trembled finely.
“……Even if nothing like this happens, can I contact you?”
He asked, mustering courage. After receiving the phone as a gift, Ian had sent everyday messages to Ganghyuk going to work. But there had never once been a reply.
Even before realizing his feelings of affection, Ian had wanted to get a little closer to Ganghyuk. He wanted to repay his kindness, and wanted to share daily life with him who’d newly taken on being his protector.
After realizing his feelings, greed arose wanting him to think of himself throughout his day just as he thought of Ganghyuk all day long.
