J smiled and called me as if he’d been waiting for that answer. He spread his arms wide. As if telling me to run into his embrace.
“I knew we’d meet again eventually.”
I didn’t know though.
Unable to digest the situation beyond the realm of understanding, I reflexively stepped back. The smooth touch of the metal railing touched my waist, then a cool wind brushed my back. J, who had been quietly watching me with nowhere left to go, licked his lips and lunged.
“Holy shit! You got sexier.”
“Don’t move!”
I urgently stretched out my arm and stopped J.
“If you come any closer from there, I’m reporting you.”
J blinked with a bewildered face.
“Since when is making love a crime?”
“I have no intention of sharing, so it’s sexual harassment! Just me calling the police will fuck up your life right here. Got it?”
You’re famous, you know. However, far from being scared, J let out an ecstatic sigh.
“That’s really sexy. I want to get fucked with you.”
“I don’t want to. More than that, why are you here?”
“It’s a smoking area.”
J tilted his head back toward the sky. His white neck, exposed as bleakly as his ankles, showed a prominent Adam’s apple. J, who blew out breath—the kind you can barely see these days in this weather—said.
“Actually, I got the floor wrong.”
“No, I mean why are you here in the first place! …Never mind. I’m not even curious. Live well.”
“Dan called me to come. I didn’t hear there’d be a surprise though.”
I ignored him and tried to open the door and leave, but he naturally followed along.
“Hey, you come out later.”
“Why?”
“It’s awkward for me.”
It’s less than 2 meters from here to that room. I didn’t want Kang Ikwon to catch me with my ticking time bomb of an ex-boyfriend. J tilted his head to the side.
“Is it because of Eden?”
“Who’s that?”
I snapped irritably and stuck my head outside the door to check the corridor. Empty and quiet.
“Who else.”
A familiar breath suddenly touched my defenseless nape.
“Your gentle-ass Kang Ikwon.”
—He could be a stranger.
The moment J whispered a name that shouldn’t come from that mouth, my phone rang as if it had been waiting. At the same time, something hard touched my butt. Whether because of any of the three, the fine hairs on the back of my neck bristled sharply. Kang Ikwon? Why is that name coming out here and now? I saw long, white hands pass before my eyes and push the slightly open iron door closed.
“—you gave a second glance,”
J hummed along with the lyrics of the ringtone. A slightly husky beautiful voice layered over Sam Smith’s soft voice.
“trophy of a one night stand… Anyway, aren’t you going to answer?”
“Move your dick away. How do you know Kang Ikwon?”
“Is this sad song Eden’s taste?”
J put weight on me and naturally pressed my body against the door. The cold metallic smell and sensation clung unpleasantly. J, trapping me, moved below slowly, lewdly.
“He’ll never love you like I fuck, fuck, fuck.”
He changed “can” to “fuck” and breathed it into my ear while laughing.
“This is more my taste.”
Ugh, fuck, damn it.
The moment I tried to twist my wrist, I remembered this bastard is a pianist with talent inversely proportional to his personality. Tsk, I clicked my tongue, completely relaxed my strength, and stuck to the door. Then, before J could catch my intention, I immediately straightened my elbow and used that momentum to forcefully lean back my body. His body, suddenly supporting my weight, staggered. A sensation of something hitting the back of my head rang out.
“Ah!”
J grabbed his jaw and staggered.
“A pianist’s face!”
“As long as it’s not your hands, it’s fine, you bastard. Do you play piano with your jaw?”
The phone that had stopped rang again. I ignored it and kicked his shin in succession.
“—!! Shit! Why again!”
“As long as it’s not your hands, it’s fine.”
I sneered and grabbed his arm and twisted it. If he wants to get out, his shoulder will hurt a bit.
“Now it’s your hand, so don’t mess around and answer. Why is Kang Ikwon Eden? No, do you know Kang Ikwon?”
“More than just knowing. Don’t you know?”
Would I ask if I knew? But instead of retorting, I glared at J and put strength into my hand. Even with his livelihood held hostage, J was calm. J, who had been looking at me with deep eyes, stroked my cheek.
“It’s already been two years since our sad breakup.”
“It was last year, you idiot.”
It wasn’t even sad. I firmly swatted that hand away. J stared intently at me, then suddenly opened his mouth.
“How would you feel if breaking up with you was because of Kang Ikwon?”
“—What?”
“Do you think you’d hate Kang Ikwon?”
I don’t know if it’s because of J’s characteristic skipping manner of speaking, or if my head just isn’t working. J’s words didn’t make sense at all, like a foreign language.
“Or do you think you’d hate me?”
I stared blankly at J, then said “what are you talking about” like an idiot. He stretched out his uncaptured arm and slowly swept my hair back, but I couldn’t swat it away. Even when he grabbed the back of my head and gently pulled me. My body was buried as if embraced in J’s arms, and lips touched my ear. Clearly this was outside, cars were passing down below, people were walking, birds were flying, but all around was quiet as if someone had pressed a volume mute button. So J’s whisper rang out loudly like the sound of metal dropping and colliding.
“……”
J removed his hand, but I didn’t lift my body from his embrace. It was natural that I didn’t understand what he said this time—it was in English. The only thing I understood in the sentence he spat out was “fuck buddy.” “Fuck” is a curse meaning go to hell, and “buddy” is friend. But strangely, “fuck buddy” doesn’t sound like it means “friend who should go to hell.” Whether because of my uselessly sharpened intuition or because of J’s meaningful intonation when pronouncing those words.
The persistent phone rang again and the surrounding noise returned, but I was still frozen blankly with an empty head. So when I heard the distinctive metallic sound of the iron door opening behind me, my heart made the same clattering sound and dropped down. Only then did I realize I’d been holding my breath. J looked over my shoulder and smiled.
“Welcome. We were just talking about you.”
When I slowly turned around, I saw a chest rising and falling steeply. The hand clutching the phone and the blue veins standing out forcefully too.
“Kang Ikwon…”
That hand slowly moved and touched his phone screen, and my ringtone that had been persistently ringing stopped. Only our breathing echoed in the silent staircase. Unlike his appearance as if he’d run breathlessly, Kang Ikwon’s face was pale like someone whose breathing had stopped. I called him once more.
“Kang Ikwon.”
This time it came out faintly like a whisper.
Instead of answering, Kang Ikwon strode forward and snatched my waist. The hand that had been holding J’s arm released and transferred to Kang Ikwon’s embrace, colliding. The chest we touched was wearing only a thin shirt without even an outer garment. Through my ear and back, I felt breathing frighteningly quiet as if asking when he’d been running around. Conversely, the anxious heartbeat pounding so loudly it drummed through my body too.
“Kang Ikwon.”
At my call, his heartbeat became louder and faster.
“You… know him?”
“—I followed you out.”
Kang Ikwon deliberately ignored my question. Strength entered the arm embracing my waist.
“You weren’t in the parking lot either, and the lobby said you never came down… you didn’t answer your phone.”
“I guess you heard I came too? Looking at you like that.”
J suddenly interrupted from behind.
“Did you run up to the 4th floor?”
Instead of answering, Kang Ikwon smiled savagely toward J. For the first time, I realized Kang Ikwon’s canines were sharp like a beast’s.
“You just now…”
I stared at his mouth in surprise.
“Did you just curse…?”
It’s really an extremely harsh curse. I can’t even repeat it.
Kang Ikwon’s cold eyes that had been fixed on J slowly turned toward me.
“Did that bastard say something?”
“What?”
“What were you two doing stuck together with the door closed? No,”
Kang Ikwon, who had been pressing, lifted me up while still holding my waist. Then he turned his body like that.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
“Wait, wait!”
I shouted loudly. I was surprised even myself by the voice that came out louder than expected, but Kang Ikwon didn’t care.
“I’ll explain once we’re out.”
“No, explain here!”
When I kicked my legs, my toes kept stabbing Kang Ikwon’s shins. It must hurt since it’s a hard area with almost no flesh, but Kang Ikwon didn’t blink an eye and opened the door.
“What’s your relationship with him… with Jed Park!”
“I just told you, Jin.”
J said.
“We’re in a sexual relationship.”
