It was a mistake due to drunkenness, but their lips had definitely brushed. He should have been displeased. With a man, and not even someone he’d known well normally. No, even if it were someone he’d known for a long time like Gu Daeyoung, if their lips had touched even by accident, he would have thrown a punch at that bastard’s face. But strangely, Kyungwoo was more curious than displeased.
‘The feeling of his lips… was softer than I thought.’
He’d thought a man’s lips would feel filthy and disgusting just from imagination. Kyungwoo was different. Rather, they were elastic and smooth. Perhaps because they’d been rinsed dozens of times with luxury whiskey, they even felt fragrant.
“I’m crazy. What the hell.”
Jaeha shuddered at his own thoughts. Since breaking up with his last girlfriend, he’d been so absorbed in work that it had been a long time since he’d satisfied physical desires. So maybe he’d gone a bit mad.
The guy who’d come to his bed at dawn was also greatly to blame. He should have just crumpled up and slept on the sofa, but what was he doing coming to his side in the bedroom when Jaeha had gone there in surprise? And then annoying him by whining because he couldn’t undo his belt.
Even if the other forgot the memory of the sharp steel pipe and acted shamelessly, Jaeha clearly remembered crushing the other’s hand. There was annoyance in unbuckling his belt, but that reason was also there. But he should have turned away afterward. That’s what normal men would do. But Jaeha had embraced Jung Kyungwoo.
It was a distinctly different build from the girlfriend in his memory. Hard and uncomfortable. The firm shoulders and neatly cut short hair proved he was a man.
While the arm he’d casually draped wrapped around his waist, Jaeha slowly inhaled a deep breath and exhaled.
The other could have pushed him away. But Kyungwoo didn’t. He just remained still with his back turned.
Until falling asleep, Jaeha breathed in the scent of luxury liquor along with Kyungwoo’s faint cologne smell. It was a scent he’d become familiar with as they’d become entangled several times.
Before he knew it, Jaeha, lying stretched out on the sofa, covered both eyes with the back of his hand. When his vision was blocked, the feeling of the body he’d been pressed against last night came back to life even more vividly. Heat somehow began gathering faintly. Before the absolutely unacceptable physical reaction became clear, Jaeha bolted upright.
“I need to meet a woman.”
Jaeha, who got up in a fluster, headed to the dressing room. He dressed in a suit he’d prepared recently and grabbed his car keys. He planned to go to a club or at least a bar to find someone thirsty for a relationship like himself.
Tap.
“Phew.”
Kyungwoo, sitting at the VIP bar of a hotel he occasionally used, placed the empty glass he’d just drained on the marble.
“It’s been a while.”
The bartender, who’d become familiar over several visits, spoke as he filled the glass.
“Has it?”
Kyungwoo answered like that while slightly tilting the amber beverage. It was rare to drink alcohol two days in a row. But today was an exception.
This late morning, he’d left Seo Jaeha’s house as if fleeing. After briefly thinking about calling Choi Dohyun, he changed his mind and took a taxi.
While being hit by hot water, he realized his body was unusually light. Thinking about it, despite drinking so heavily, he had hardly any hangover. Moreover, he’d slept too comfortably. That point tormented Kyungwoo.
“Are you here alone?”
The person who spoke this time wasn’t the bartender. The other, elegantly dressed in a cocktail dress, was the jazz vocalist who harmonized with the hotel bar’s atmosphere. Perhaps because mid-20th century trends were coming back, classical hospitality seemed to be part of the job duties.
“That’s how it turned out.”
“Should such a wonderful person spend a weekend night alone?”
While saying that, the singer sat down next to him and started small talk. He wanted to be alone, but not to the point of refusing such a lovely woman’s company.
“I’ve developed a new hobby. I do French embroidery. When I was in school, I really hated being given needles just because I was a woman, but now I’m holding them myself. Isn’t that amusing?”
The person he’d never met before spoke casually as if they were old friends.
“People change.”
“That’s right. You don’t know how peaceful my mind becomes when embroidering small flowers. Hobbies are really important. Do you have anything you’re absorbed in these days?”
“Rather than something I’m absorbed in… there’s someone I’m concerned about.”
“Perhaps the opposite sex?”
“Regrettably not.”
“Ah.”
The meaning of the short exclamation wasn’t clear. Whether it meant it was unfortunate because it wasn’t a woman, or whether she regretted asking, mistakenly thinking he was homosexual.
“They interfere and meddle in my business at every turn. It’s a bad connection work-wise.”
“I see.”
The elegant jazz singer’s ambiguous smile suddenly brightened. She’d clearly misunderstood the latter.
“It’s hard to meet good people these days. Everyone is selfish and uncomfortable. But I sometimes try to change my thinking.”
“How so?”
“Something like realizing I shouldn’t become like that after meeting such a person? Or thinking that I’ll become stronger by getting rid of bad luck like this.”
“That’s self-deception.”
“Otherwise, it’s hard to live in this harsh world.”
While saying that, the other smiled elegantly. Then hotel guests who appeared to be lodgers came rushing in. She smiled at Kyungwoo with her eyes and went over there.
‘Meeting such a guy makes me stronger?’
Kyungwoo took a sip of the remaining alcohol in his mouth. The rich liquor’s scent made his mind dizzy.
What the singer had just said had some merit at first glance. The memory of the old incident still held onto Kyungwoo and wouldn’t let go. Because of that, he detested adult men. Especially if they were coercive young Northeast Asian men, he’d shudder. That was also the reason Jung Taeho distrusted him.
Seo Jaeha.
He was right in the middle of the type Kyungwoo detested most. He’d fainted in front of him, and also cried unsightly. But yesterday was different.
They’d been alone together in the same car, and though they’d borrowed the power of alcohol, they’d spent time in one house and ultimately lay down and slept in the same bed.
‘Is it forced adaptation due to continuous shock therapy?’
Maybe Kyungwoo was in the process of developing trauma recovery in order to survive after encountering a human disaster he couldn’t do anything about.
‘Is it worth testing?’
He had to keep seeing Seo Jaeha from now on anyway.
If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.
While chewing over the catchphrase of mental victory, Kyungwoo fell into thought.
Then, the bartender passed Kyungwoo and went toward the entrance.
“Welcome.”
“I’d like one drink, bartender’s recommendation, please.”
“Shall I prepare it dry?”
“Of course.”
The two people’s conversation struck Kyungwoo’s ears like thunder. Not because the conversation was surprising. It was because the voice was familiar.
“Here… huh?”
The person who ordered the cocktail froze just like Kyungwoo, who had stiffened while holding up his glass.
“Are you a stalker?”
He fully displayed his displeasure. Then Seo Jaeha furrowed his straight forehead.
“Look who’s talking. Damn it.”
While saying that, he took out a card from his wallet.
“Please charge it.”
“Pardon? We haven’t prepared it yet.”
“My luck is bad, so today doesn’t seem to be the day. Please settle up.”
“Since you didn’t drink, we’ll consider there was no order.”
The bartender politely returned the card. Then Seo Jaeha briefly thanked him, glared fiercely at Kyungwoo, and turned around.
Suddenly, anger surged.
“Seo Jaeha. Stop right there.”
Kyungwoo took out his wallet and threw down a card. While the bartender slyly pulled the card away, Seo Jaeha tried to stride out of the entrance with big steps.
“Hey, I said stop right there.”
When he raised his voice even more, other people’s gazes gathered this way. That singer, who had been entertaining the group of lodger guests, quickly caught Seo Jaeha.
“Are you in a hurry?”
“Well, yes.”
“That customer over there is calling you.”
Having finished the payment and received his card back, Kyungwoo approached Seo Jaeha’s direction. She smiled kindly.
“You do know each other, right?”
“This is that annoying person I mentioned earlier. He won’t even give me time to drink alone.”
“Ah, I didn’t know he was such a wonderful person. Then.”
Withdrawing cleanly, she went toward the bartender. At the same time, Kyungwoo grabbed Jaeha’s arm.
“Follow me.”
“What are you doing?”
“You’re not thinking of making a scene here, are you?”
There were many young customers around watching this side with interest. What could be more fun than two well-dressed men bickering in a hotel bar?
“Let go and talk.”
“If you won’t run away.”
“Running away is your specialty.”
After glaring at Jaeha, Kyungwoo made him stand in front of the elevator at the bar entrance, then went to the nearby front desk and received the card key he’d left there.
They took the elevator up to the high floor where the suite room was. When Kyungwoo, who had opened the door, looked back, Jaeha, standing at a distance, stared blankly.
“Why here when you have a perfectly good house?”
“It’s for entertaining company buyers. It’s good for having a quiet conversation right now.”
“That’s true.”
A subtle irritation was buried in his sarcastic tone. Was he showing off his chaebol status? However, Jaeha didn’t continue with a second verse. Instead, he stood far away with both hands stuck in his pants pockets and played dumb. He felt like he was deliberately turning his gaze elsewhere too.
“Seo Jaeha.”
“Speak.”
“There’s some kind of reason behind what I’m about to do, so I hope you won’t misunderstand needlessly.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“It’s not assault or threats. You just need to endure for a moment.”
The eyes of Jaeha, who turned to look at Kyungwoo, were full of distrust. Even by Kyungwoo’s own reckoning, it was a statement with zero credibility.
“Whew.”
After taking a long breath, Kyungwoo stood with a resolute posture toward the tall man standing before him. His pulse gradually quickened and he felt his head floating slightly.
Young man. Hotel. The two of them.
The three keywords were a precursor calling forth a seizure. But with Seo Jaeha, it might be a little different. If it’s Seo Jaeha.
After exhaling another short breath, Kyungwoo walked with big steps. Seo Jaeha was slightly surprised and pulled both hands from his pants pockets.
“Mm?”
Before he could properly speak, Kyungwoo put into practice what he’d decided. He suddenly embraced the standing Jaeha with both arms.
