“You must be drunk.”
Dowon roughly swept back his hair and stood up from his seat.
Prolonging the conversation would only be a useless waste. It was proper to end it here. Because he shouldn’t exist in the brilliant future given to Seong Yeohwi.
“I’m going to wash up. You sleep first.”
Dowon tried to head to the bathroom. His figure turning his back was as resolute and cold-hearted as always.
At that moment, Yeohwi sprang up and blocked his path.
“You heard it.”
Dowon’s footsteps stopped.
“What?”
“The fund name, ONE.”
Yeohwi looked straight into Dowon’s eyes as he spoke.
“Don’t you remember? What I said here. That I would be first in line.”
“……”
“That means my inheritance, my heart, even my body… I’ll only bet on you alone, Dowon-ssi. I won’t give even one won, not a single piece of my heart to anyone else. I’ll absolutely never fall for anyone else.”
Yeohwi’s voice came out slightly trembling. However, his fierce gaze didn’t waver at all. His eyes were dripping with desperation.
“I’m the first. Just as you are to me, Dowon-ssi, you are to me too. You’re the only one.”
Then the air in the living room stopped for a moment. A taut tension flowed that seemed like it would snap if touched. An even more viscous and precarious unspoken atmosphere continued throughout.
Dowon stared at that young beast looking at him as if to devour him with calm eyes.
“…I thought it would come to this.”
A chilling sneer flowed from Dowon’s lips.
“You’re the one who clung. You said you wouldn’t misunderstand. You said you wouldn’t mistake it for giving you a chance.”
Dowon took a step closer and shot back intimidatingly. He thought he needed to give Seong Yeohwi the most cruel and clear answer in this place. Whoever or whatever it was for.
“Really? Did you really kiss me without any emotion at all? You were just acting because I was clinging to you?”
Yeohwi ground his molars and growled fiercely. Dowon’s eyes sank coldly.
“If I’d known you’d be annoying, I wouldn’t have done it. I hate whining.”
“Was it really nothing at all? To you, Dowon-ssi, am I… nothing? Just to accomplish your goal, and that’s all?”
“Ha… It’s all over, so stop being clingy.”
Dowon pushed past Yeohwi with his shoulder and entered the bathroom. A thorough line drawn. A business-like answer without a grain of emotion mixed in. That was Dowon’s unchanging position. Even if there was an opportunity to waver, he shouldn’t give in to it.
“Right. To you, Dowon-ssi, I’m just a source of money. A brat you want to get rid of because I’m annoying.”
“You asked for it yourself. Are you changing your mind now?”
“No. I won’t change. But you, Dowon-ssi… seemed to have changed.”
“What the hell did you see in me?”
“Then… Just answer this one thing. Did you hate it?”
“……”
“Was it disgusting, just terrible, made you want to vomit, did you feel like a pedophile yourself?”
Dowon didn’t respond and tried to close the bathroom door. But.
Bang!
Yeohwi violently struck the bathroom door as it was closing. The door hit the wall with a loud explosive sound. It was loud enough that the tiles inside the bathroom rang.
“…What do you think you’re doing?”
Dowon furrowed his brow and slowly turned around. Displeasure formed in his eyes.
“Answer me.”
“That’s not a question worth answering.”
“Answer me!”
Yeohwi pressed strongly.
Both eyes were bloodshot red, and his fists were clenched white, but there was no sign of backing down at all. It was an almost completely changed appearance, as if he had become a different person.
“Get out. Don’t talk nonsense.”
“You can’t answer. Then that’s enough.”
Dowon ignored him and tried to close the bathroom door. At that moment, Yeohwi, who hadn’t received a clear answer, walked purposefully to the living room table.
And he picked up the bottle of top-grade whiskey Dowon had been drinking, which was still half full. It was a 45-year-old Dalmore.
What is he going to do with that? Is he going to drink it? Dowon swallowed a hollow laugh as he watched the angry Yeohwi. But the scene unfolding before his eyes was far beyond his expectations.
Glug glug glug.
Yeohwi poured the whiskey onto the sofa without hesitation.
The dark brown liquid poured down onto the leather sofa, soaking it thoroughly. The strong smell of alcohol instantly reverberated through the room.
Dowon’s eyes widened slightly. It was as if he could hear the sound of his composure breaking.
Yeohwi didn’t stop. Not only the long four-seater sofa, but also the single armchair and stool—he thoroughly emptied and poured the whiskey on every piece of furniture in the room that one could lie or sit on. As if pouring out his suppressed emotions.
After the bottle was completely emptied and the last drop fell, Yeohwi slammed the empty bottle down on the table with a thud.
“I’ll pay the cleaning fee.”
Yeohwi turned his head to glare at Dowon and declared.
“And since there’s nowhere to lie down except the bed, I’m sleeping in the bed tonight.”
A declaration of war. The bell had rung.
“Sleep with me. Go wash up.”
And again, bang!
This time Yeohwi shut the bathroom door. With Dowon trapped inside the bathroom. Yeohwi’s rough breathing could be heard from beyond the door. Dowon stood dumbfounded, staring blankly at the closed door.
The pungent whiskey smell stinging his nose. The living room in complete chaos. And just moments ago, those audacious and aggressive eyes that had bared teeth and growled at him.
Huh, an empty breath escaped. It was absurd, outrageous.
“…Has that bastard gone crazy?”
Dowon muttered quietly as he swept back his disheveled black hair. His back reflected in the bathroom mirror looked blurry.
***
The bathroom door opened, and the trapped white steam poured out like billowing clouds. Parting through the thick fog, Dowon walked out. The time was already close to midnight.
He silently looked down at the disaster spread before his eyes.
The top-grade beige leather sofa was thoroughly soaked with dark brown whiskey, still damp, and even the single armchair and stool were without exception drenched in alcohol. The entire suite was filled with the strong smell of liquor. Each time he breathed the pungent and stuffy air into his lungs, it felt like intoxication was seeping in.
“……”
Dowon’s gaze slowly moved to Seong Yeohwi, who was sitting with his back against the headboard in a posture of determined resistance.
“Reflect on yourself.”
Dowon gestured with his chin at the chaotic sofa. His voice was low and dry, but suppressed anger was coiled within it.
“Is this the way of dealing you talked about?”
Dowon’s appearance was dangerously provocative. His wet black hair gleamed darkly like black silk, and the shadows of his sharp forehead and nose bridge looked even deeper. Moreover, the ties of the shower robe he’d thrown on were loosely tied, exposing the outline of his sunken chest muscles and collarbone.
Each time he moved, his tightly woven pectoral muscles and the deep curves of his collarbone stood out.
“You talked big about becoming a source of money. Is all you can do pour filth on a place to sleep?”
At his sarcastic tone, Yeohwi bit his lip hard. The fishy taste of blood came from inside his mouth.
“…It’s not filth, it’s my will.”
Yeohwi answered, trying to hide his trembling voice.
“I told you that where you’ll sleep tonight, Dowon-ssi, is next to me.”
“Ha.”
Dowon burst into a hollow laugh as if incredulous. A water droplet that fell from the tip of his hair ran down his sharp jawline and wet his Adam’s apple.
“The honeymoon act should have ended long ago. Are you still in method acting mode?”
“Dowon-ssi.”
“Get out.”
Dowon declared coldly. As if he no longer felt any value in continuing the conversation, he strode toward the nightstand placed beside the bed. A telephone was placed there.
“I’ll contact the front desk and get another room, so disappear from my sight immediately. It’s common for newlyweds to fight and sleep in separate rooms.”
“I don’t want to. I can’t do that.”
Yeohwi shouted, clutching the bed sheet tightly. His knuckles were white.
“And if you’re really going to kick me out, I’ll take all my money and run away too.”
Still, Yeohwi didn’t yield and fought back. His eyes were red.
“I’ll take all the bonds and stocks I have and disappear. I’ll quit the fund and everything else like crap. Then our plan will be completely ruined too.”
“Well, well.”
Dowon’s eyes narrowed. For Yeohwi it was a bold move, but it seemed to provoke Dowon’s anger instead.
“Go ahead and try. There’s no reason to do business with someone who’s all talk and throws tantrums like this.”
“Business?”
