“……”
“……”
Silence flowed. Though Haeseong glared at him as if he would devour him, Euiju didn’t even spare him a glance. Rather, ignoring that gaze, he got up from the bed and personally opened the room’s door.
It was a blatant expression meaning to get out immediately.
Euiju was silently preparing for the outburst that would come from him. In any case, since this was the first time he’d gotten angry at Haeseong, he could predict what reaction would come from him. Things like he’d really fire him, how dare he treat him this way, asking if he was even qualified to be a manager, that he was incompetent.
Just as it had always been until now.
“……”
Haeseong’s appearance, his face flushed red as he chewed his lips, was literally on the verge of exploding. His appearance, looking like he would burst immediately if even slightly touched, was quite threatening.
But then.
“……I just need to leave, right?”
Contrary to Euiju’s expectations, Haeseong left those words behind, turned his body sharply, and left the room. Though his irritated steps and back view clearly showed he was angry, he turned around without any further rampage. Euiju, who had been the one to tell him to leave, looked at that retreating figure with a face full of questions.
“Haah……”
After closing the door, Euiju returned to the bed and picked up another phone from his bag. It was a phone he’d received from the company, but this was actually the first time he’d turned it on. Fortunately, he’d synced the contacts in advance so all the numbers remained intact. Euiju called Jang Yeonguk without hesitation.
[Who is this?]
“Sorry. The call suddenly got cut off.”
[Hyung? Euiju hyung?]
“Yeah. It’s me.”
[What did Jin Haeseong say? Ah, if I’d known he’d catch you, I would’ve called when you were alone, hyung. He was really pissed off, wasn’t he? Once that guy’s mood goes sour, he gets fucking scary.]
“……”
[Did he say something to you, hyung?]
“Yeonguk-ah. Don’t call me for a while. That’s why I’m calling.”
[…What does that mean? Why all of a sudden?]
“We have to stay together for four days, and I don’t want to clash over something like this again. If you understand, I’m hanging up now. Don’t call.”
[No, what do you……!]
Click. He pressed the call end button without lingering feelings. After tossing the phone onto the shelf, he neatly organized the clothes he’d spread out. After finishing organizing, he turned off the lights and lay down on the bed.
“Haah……”
Euiju, who had been blankly staring at the ceiling, let out a deep sigh. His chest felt extremely suffocating.
No matter how much he tried to adapt, he just couldn’t get used to that temper. Just when he seemed to be getting used to it, it would explode, and just when it became bearable, it would poke at him again. After the bicycle incident, he thought things had gotten a bit better, but here they were again, in this exact same state.
‘What even is this kid that you’re contacting him? This kid isn’t ahjussi’s friend, he’s my friend. It seems like you’ve been in contact for quite a while – how big is the age gap between you and ahjussi that you’re being so friendly with someone whose blood hasn’t even dried yet?!’
Jealousy. It was clearly jealousy. How could he not recognize such childish, immature jealousy when he himself had three younger siblings?
Euiju had directly witnessed Haeseong’s loneliness right beside him. Jin Haeseong was a lonely child he couldn’t help but care about. Because he cared, he looked after him wholeheartedly and ran to him whenever needed.
However, it would be troublesome if Haeseong opened his heart to him any further. No matter how much he’d lacked people who gave him affection, he didn’t understand how he’d already given this much attachment when all he’d done was give him massages to relieve his pain and treated him professionally otherwise.
Their relationship up until now had been the appropriate level. If it deepened any further from here, it would be troublesome.
There was only one reason for that.
‘Does Euiju hyung-ah like Prince Wonho hyung-ah more than Roun now?’
‘Oppa. Are you coming home late again today? …When are you coming?’
‘Sniff… You said you’d come to our class first today but what if you don’t come at all…. You promised to go to Euiseong’s class too! I really hate you, hyung!’
It was because of his younger siblings who had already been pushed to the back burner due to the time he spent on Haeseong.
His younger siblings were young. The eldest Euiyeon and the second-born Euiju, who had grown up receiving plenty of parental love, had an obligation to pass that love they received down to their younger siblings. Right now, he didn’t have the leisure to care about others outside his family. In short, it meant he had no spare space.
Even now, his younger siblings were crying because he’d been caring too much about Haeseong. It was also wrong to do this to their noona who had to look after those young children with an uncomfortable body.
‘I need to distance myself starting now.’
Euiju was in a position where he would eventually leave Haeseong. He’d started the work because of money, and he planned to quit as soon as he saved enough. Whether for Haeseong’s sake or for his family’s sake, there was only one answer.
To distance himself from Haeseong.
With his mind disturbed, Euiju tossed and turned until 2 AM unable to sleep, and eventually got up from his spot. Just as he was about to leave the room to at least drink some water, he heard a knock on the door at the same time.
Knock-.
Just once at that.
At that sound, he opened the door immediately.
As if he hadn’t expected the door to open right away after he knocked, Haeseong had the eyes of a surprised rabbit. He blinked his large eyes a few times, then quickly composed his expression and avoided the gaze of Euiju looking down at him coldly.
“What is it?”
“……”
Haeseong was silent.
Did he come to vent the resentment he couldn’t release earlier? Just as Euiju was about to turn his steps to carry out his original purpose of drinking water, before passing him, Haeseong’s forehead and clothes soaked thoroughly with sweat entered his view.
“……”
The pain in his hamstrings had flared up again, so he’d come to find Euiju. Haeseong’s complexion had turned pale white, unlike earlier.
“……”
Haah. Euiju, who had let out a deep sigh, said.
“Go in and lie down.”
Even at Euiju’s words, Haeseong didn’t go in and hesitated for a moment. As if he wanted to say something, he unusually hemmed and hawed before turning his body and entering the room. That action was extremely slow.
After drinking water and returning to his room, Euiju silently looked at Haeseong lying obediently face-down on his bed. Then he took lotion from his carrier and spread it generously on his hands.
A massage with familiar hands began. The room was filled entirely with awkward, heavy air. Haeseong’s body was also stiff with tension, unlike usual. Since Haeseong had already experienced this several times, he knew to relax his body and loosen his muscles when the massage started. However, now his entire body was rigidly stiff, just like the first day he received a massage.
Because his muscles were tense, it took longer than usual. After finishing the massage, Euiju wiped his hands on a towel and said.
“If there’s nowhere uncomfortable, please get up. It’s all finished.”
“……”
Haeseong slowly got up from his spot. Unlike usual when he would have fallen asleep during the massage, he had his head deeply bowed while biting his lower lip.
A voice that had lowered even more flowed out from him.
“…Are you angry?”
“……”
“I asked if you’re angry.”
Haeseong got up from his spot and raised his head. His mercilessly wavering pupils met with Euiju’s cold gaze.
“What does that matter right now?”
Haeseong’s face crumpled immediately upon confirming Euiju’s cold gaze.
“You’ve come to dislike me.”
“No.”
“…Fuck. What do you mean no! You got angry because I acted on my own. That’s why you dislike me now!”
Unable to contain his anger, Haeseong pushed Euiju. Though it was weak force, Euiju was pushed back as he was pushed.
“You said you wouldn’t dislike me! You said you weren’t the kind of narrow-minded person who gets hurt over something like this!”
At some point having gone off track, veins stood out on the neck of Haeseong who was screaming. Even though he had thrown such a tantrum, he looked at Euiju who wouldn’t even answer with a face of disbelief.
“Why won’t you answer? Really, really, do you dislike me? Have you come to dislike me?”
Euiju, who had been silently watching that appearance, let out a deep sigh. The child who couldn’t distinguish heaven from earth was thinking extremely just because he hadn’t answered.
Haeseong looked afraid, as if some ghost-like existence was chasing him from behind. He looked anxious that the person who had opened their heart to him after a long time might come to dislike him, and wanted a definite answer because he wanted to escape from this current anxiety.
He felt sorry for him. How long had it been since he’d decided to distance himself, yet seeing that appearance made his heart weaken. However, he couldn’t let Haeseong’s heart open any further than this.
Euiju, who had forced himself to turn around, opened his mouth with an indifferent tone.
“We have filming starting tomorrow morning, so we need to leave early. If there’s nowhere that hurts, please go and sleep now.”
At his cold words, the light disappeared from Haeseong’s eyes. It was a face that showed he hadn’t expected Euiju to be so indifferent to him.
He bit his lower lip. After roughly rubbing and wiping his eyes with his sleeve, he looked around.
Euiju, who had only turned his head to watch what Haeseong was doing, opened his eyes wide.
“What are you doing right……!”
CRASH-!
An ear-splitting shattering sound filled the room.
Haeseong had picked up the vase that was on the shelf beside the bed and thrown it hard onto the floor. Because of that, the vase shattered with a loud crash, glass shards flew in all directions, and the water inside splattered messily.
Euiju looked at Haeseong with a shocked face.
“Don’t dislike me. This is a warning.”
A strange gleam passed through those eyes. Haeseong, who had been glaring at Euiju, turned his body and left the room with quick steps.
