“It’s just playing house like you said. So why are you refusing?”
“……”
“Playing at being married with a kid like me won’t change your mind, will it, Dowon-ssi? We’ll end up divorcing anyway.”
Yeohwi laughed self-deprecatingly.
“Right. Just think of it as playing with a brat. It’s just going along for a bit. With that, you’ll get the Seong family inheritance and even KD Group, the whole vine and all.”
Dowon stood there as if nailed in place, glaring fiercely at Yeohwi.
To think that what he was begging for, even throwing away his last card, that tremendous inheritance, was merely a place by his side.
Was that idiot really stupid? Or did he have a talent for driving people crazy?
For a moment, a hot lump of fire slowly surged up from inside him.
This wasn’t pity or worry or anything like that.
Even though he knew he would pay a price someday if he stayed by his side. Nevertheless, the foolish brat who came rushing in saying he would burn up even his last flame—he was so angry he couldn’t stand it.
“What are you trying to gain by going that far?”
Dowon roughly threw the documents onto the bed.
The bundle of papers scattered and fell weakly onto Yeohwi’s lap.
“Playing house? If you wanted to play with fire, I would have told you to look into an affair.”
Dowon’s voice rumbled low and threatening like a beast’s growl. Dowon suppressed the unidentifiable rage boiling up inside him and spat out even more coldly.
“Well, I’ll praise the idea of buying people with money. It was the most realistic of all the nonsense you’ve spouted so far.”
“I wonder. It’s not nonsense.”
Yeohwi confronted Dowon with a pale face, but with unyielding eyes.
“If you refuse to the very end, I’ll take those documents as they are and go find President Do Jingyu.”
“What did you just say?”
Dowon’s brow furrowed deeply. Yeohwi sneered self-deprecatingly and curved his eyes.
“How I spend my money, who I give it to—that’s my choice, isn’t it?”
“Seong Yeohwi…”
“Anyway, I want to spend it on playing house with Dowon-ssi. For now, that’s all I need.”
For a moment, it seemed as if some fierce gale was blowing through that place. A hurricane that swept away all the neatly laid roads and solidly built structures, turning the earth and sky upside down and mixing them together. It was the ominous appearance of a disaster that would ruin the meticulously calculated equation.
An uncontrollable blaze surged up from Dowon’s stomach.
It was the moment he was about to open his mouth to condemn Yeohwi’s recklessness even more strongly.
Bzzt. Bzzt.
Breaking the tension pulled taut as if it would snap at any moment, the cell phone vibrated noisily in Dowon’s jacket pocket.
That sound cut off the flow in the room that seemed to have been struck by a storm.
Dowon shot Yeohwi one look with sharper and more chilling eyes than ever before, then answered the phone irritably.
“What.”
—Director! Where are you right now?
The secretary’s urgent voice flowed from the receiver. His usual composure was nowhere to be found.
—The final legal team review meeting time is approaching. The attorneys and law firm officials have all arrived and are waiting. But you’re not here… Has there been some kind of accident?
Tsk. Clicking his tongue viciously, Dowon answered briefly without taking his eyes off Yeohwi.
“I’ll be right there.”
After hanging up, Dowon roughly turned his body and left the room, slamming the bedroom door hard enough to break it.
Yeohwi quietly watched the firmly closed door for a long time, then looked down at the crumpled documents on his lap.
The letters looked blurry and smeared. Yeohwi sniffled alone and rubbed his reddened eyes here and there. Then he soon lay down on his side with a pillow and pulled the blanket over himself up to the top of his head.
The IV solution dripped slowly through the line connected to the vein in his forearm.
His blurred eyes closed smoothly before he knew it.
***
The morning sunlight pouring through the window was dazzlingly white. In that transparent pillar of light, dust particles danced slowly like flying gold dust.
Seong Yeohwi rubbed his cheek against the fluffy bed sheet and let out a pleasant moan at the scent of freshly brewed coffee tickling his nose, the smell of fabric softener, and the smoky cedarwood fragrance.
“Mmm.”
“…Are you awake?”
The languid voice coming from the head of the bed was as warm and affectionate as the sunlight.
When Yeohwi rubbed his eyes and raised his head, he saw Dowon. Instead of the stiff suit he always wore, he was dressed in a soft cream-colored cashmere knit, leaning against the headboard reading a book.
His lowered eyelashes cast long shadows in the sunlight. His smooth forehead was visible between his defenseless, tousled bangs.
“Hyung? Is it Won-i hyung…?”
“Yeah.”
Dowon closed his book and turned his head. Spring-like leisure greeted Yeohwi on a face where his characteristic cold expressionlessness had melted away.
He reached out and gently stroked Yeohwi’s disheveled light brown hair.
“You should have slept more. We have plenty of time today.”
“No. I had something like a nightmare.”
“A nightmare?”
“Yeah… Well, it was kind of a weird crazy dream. You and I were having a huge fight.”
Yeohwi wrapped his arms around his waist like a puppy wagging its tail and burrowed into his embrace. Instead of pushing Yeohwi away, Dowon wrapped his arms around his back and patted him.
The regular sound of his heartbeat could be heard from his chest.
“Fighting. How come.”
“I don’t know. Something about us not using the same bed? And then out of nowhere about playing house…”
“Playing? We’re married, so why would it be playing?”
“That’s what I’m saying. I thought I’d die of frustration.”
Yeohwi raised his head and looked at Dowon’s face.
A breathtakingly handsome face. The sharp nose bridge and jaw line sharp enough to cut were the same, but only the eyes looking at him were the most affectionate in the world. And of course, Yeohwi’s eyes looking at him also sparkled smoothly and luminously like pearl beads that would roll off if tapped.
“We should just say ‘honey, I’m sorry’ to each other and kiss. Why be so stubborn? I would never do that to you, hyung.”
Yeohwi rubbed his cheek against his chest, acting spoiled. Dowon laughed low. That resonance was transmitted directly to Yeohwi’s chest.
“Right, me too. I won’t do that to you.”
“Hehe, right? But hyuuung… Are you really not going to work today?”
“Yeah. I should rest today.”
“Ha, I wish you’d never go. I want to stay like this together forever.”
“Do you really want to do that?”
“Yeah.”
“Then shall we? Shall we stay together until you want to?”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll only be by your side.”
Dowon’s hand cupped Yeohwi’s cheek. At the cool but gentle touch, Yeohwi closed his eyes and kissed that palm. Dowon’s thumb slowly brushed Yeohwi’s lips.
“Honey.”
“Yeah?”
“What do you like about me?”
Dowon playfully paused, then lightly bit the tip of Yeohwi’s nose.
Affection directed only at Yeohwi rippled in the black eyes that had been dry and lightless.
“Because you’re pretty.”
He whispered. Yeohwi raised the corners of his mouth and grinned broadly as he pulled Dowon’s neck into an embrace.
“Even though I’ve gotten bigger than you, hyung?”
“You’re still pretty.”
“Even though my hands got bigger, my feet got bigger, and my dick got bigger?”
“Yeah.”
“Then in your opinion, honey, I don’t have any flaws? Not even one?”
“I suppose that’s the case.”
“Haha.”
“Come here. Closer.”
Dowon slowly lowered his head.
The moment their lips touched, all the noise in the world disappeared and only the sound of the two people’s breathing…
“……”
Seong Yeohwi’s eyes flew open.
The sweet sunlight, the cozy feel of the knit, the voice whispering that he was pretty—all evaporated in an instant.
Instead, only the smell of disinfectant stabbing his nose and the cool air of the bedroom immersed in darkness greeted him.
The IV needle still stuck in his arm throbbed.
‘…Ah.’
No way. His heart sank.
What he thought was a nightmare was reality, and what he thought was reality was a cruel dream. Yeohwi swallowed his bitterness and stared at the empty void.
But in the darkness, he saw a shadowy figure at the foot of the bed. Someone was standing beside Yeohwi.
Yeohwi sucked in a breath and stiffened.
The shadow of a man standing with his back to the window. Because of the backlight, his expression couldn’t be seen, but just from his presence alone, he could tell who it was.
It was Dowon.
He wasn’t Yeohwi’s affectionate husband from the dream. In his usual suited appearance, with his arms crossed, he was silently looking down at Yeohwi, who was caught in sleep.
As if casting a fishing line and waiting. Without the slightest movement.
