Chapter 47
“If it feels good, you should live, not die. Live with me.”
“What? Live together?”
Hahyun asked in surprise. I was confused since we were already living together, so why was he suddenly acting like this?
“Hearing those words from you… I can’t believe it. My wish was to receive a proposal from you.”
Proposal? No, I didn’t ask you to marry me…
“I’m so happy…”
Eventually, tears burst from Hahyun’s eyes.
“Hahyun-ssi, stop crying. If you’re happy, why are you crying?”
Hahyun spoke with a choked voice.
“I can’t help the tears. Do you want me not to cry?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Then speak to me informally.”
At this sudden request, I tried to turn my head, but I couldn’t move because he was holding me so tightly. Hahyun stared at me with narrowed eyes.
“Why? Don’t you want to?”
“I’m more comfortable using formal speech, so why do you want me to drop the honorifics?”
Hahyun frowned.
“Are you really asking? You use formal speech with Hajin hyung, so I want you to use informal speech with me. I want something to be different.”
Hahyun narrowed his eyes again.
“Why? Don’t you want to?”
I was about to refuse, but after thinking about it, I realized that if I could appease him just by dropping the honorifics, it might not be so bad. After all, I was older.
“No, who said I didn’t want to? I’ll speak informally. Now let go…”
Before I could finish my sentence, Hahyun tightened his arms around me and crashed his lips against mine.
Ugh, kisses at every opportunity.
I was too tired to resist and just relaxed my body when I heard the sound of an engine turning off outside. Thinking Hajin had arrived, I quickly pushed Hahyun away.
“I think Hajin-ssi is here.”
“So what?”
I knew he would react like this. Sighing, I firmly pushed away Hahyun, who was pressing his body against mine again.
“It’s not good if we’re caught.”
I sat as far away from Hahyun as possible and pretended to be busy organizing the Go stones. Hahyun approached me again. Right, he wouldn’t give up that easily.
“What’s wrong with getting caught? I’d rather we were caught.”
The more I refused, the more likely he seemed to cling. So I whispered intimately in Hahyun’s ear to soothe him.
“Hahyun, I want to enjoy the thrill with you. Behind Hajin-ssi’s back.”
Hahyun looked at me with a shocked expression.
“Don’t you like that?”
Hahyun shook his head vigorously as if to say absolutely not. After calming him down like this, I moved away and pretended to be busy organizing the Go stones when Hajin came in.
I sighed in relief at the perfect timing.
“You’re back earlier than expected.”
Hajin looked around as he entered the hallway. Hahyun said sharply to him.
“There’s nothing weird to see. We were just playing Go.”
I awkwardly laughed and agreed.
“That’s right. We didn’t do anything else.”
However, Hajin’s expression turned seriously stern. It was the scariest expression I’d seen on him yet. Why? What is he angry about this time…
Hajin came closer and looked at the clothes I was wearing.
“Before I left for work, you were wearing your clothes properly. Did they somehow flip themselves inside out?”
Shocked, I checked my clothes and found they really were inside out. Hahyun must have deliberately dressed me inside out. If I had been more careful, this wouldn’t have happened…
I glared at Hahyun, who turned his head with a meaningful expression.
I looked back at Hajin and laughed awkwardly.
“Y-yeah, why am I wearing my clothes inside out? Haha, that’s so strange.”
“Are you joking with me? Tell me the truth.”
Anger was evident in Hajin’s voice. When I didn’t open my mouth because I didn’t know what to say, Hajin’s gaze grew increasingly fierce.
“Well, you see…”
While I was stalling and trying to find an excuse, Hajin, as if he couldn’t stand it anymore, turned and walked over to Hahyun. He looked like he might hit him at any moment.
“Did you undress him?”
“Hmm… did I undress him?”
No, saying that will make Hajin misunderstand even more. He should just say it was a penalty!
I felt like I was going to go crazy with frustration.
Hajin ran his hand through his hair as if trying to cool down, then suddenly grabbed Hahyun by the collar. Not wanting to witness another bloodbath, I ran to Hajin and grabbed his waist.
“Hajin-ssi, you’re misunderstanding. I’ll tell you the truth. Yes, I took my clothes off and put them back on, but not for the reason you think!”
In my urgency to explain, my words came out jumbled. Hajin’s fist, which had been raised in the air, shook a few times before coming down.
He shook off my hand and said:
“Then? Tell me what you two did behind my back that made you put on your clothes like that.”
This wasn’t the first time Hahyun had done something like this, and I couldn’t understand why Hajin was so fixated on something he would normally have let slide.
“We played a game where the penalty was taking off an item of clothing, and then I put them back on. We ended the game before everything came off. I’m sorry we played without you, but there’s nothing to worry about, so please understand.”
Hajin stared at me intently, as if suspicious. I didn’t avoid his gaze. After a moment, Hajin returned to his normal expression and sighed.
“My hand hurts, so I’m a bit on edge.”
I took his wrist and examined it from different angles. Even though it was wrapped in bandages and there wasn’t much to see, I wanted to show concern since he’d been injured while fighting because of me.
“Does it hurt a lot? Should we go to the hospital now?”
Hajin slumped down on the sofa without even taking off his coat.
“No, that’s not necessary. I’m just tired because I’ve had a lot of annoying things happen today. But…”
Hajin looked straight at Hahyun and then turned his gaze back to me.
“Come here. Let me hold you.”
Grateful to Hajin for quickly letting go of his suspicions, I approached him, and he sat me on his lap.
Even as I worried Hahyun might suddenly charge at us, Hajin’s breath on my neck felt hot. Hajin rested his chin on my shoulder and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Ha… I was really tired.”
The sincerity in his voice, which tickled my ear, was palpable. Since we’d been playing while he was working alone, I felt sorry for him and placed my hands on his arms, sitting quietly.
“Fuck!”
Hahyun, who had been glaring at us, cursed and went upstairs. When I tried to get up to follow him, Hajin pressed down firmly on my shoulder. Only after Hahyun had disappeared did Hajin speak.
“Leave him be. How long are you going to accept everything unconditionally? It’s because you’re like this that he thinks he can get away with anything.”
“But you said his pain is because of me?”
“Haa.”
Hajin’s breath against my ear was rough. It wasn’t a good sign. As if I had never intended to leave in the first place, I turned my body and wrapped my arms around Hajin’s neck. Then I whispered:
“Don’t you overprotect Hahyun too?”
“…Well, I admit that.”
“I feel the same way. Because I feel sorry for him.”
Hajin deliberately held his hand up in front of my eyes.
“But who needs protection right now?”
I pressed my lips tightly together.
Hajin, who had been reasonable and open to compromise, had somehow transformed into someone even more unreasonable than Hahyun.
It was childish regression.
***
Once in his room, Hahyun took out his frustration on an innocent pillow. With each punch, dust flew up. The floating dust seemed just like his own situation.
One thing Hahyun had learned while being with Juwon was that when you want something, you should ask for something even more difficult. Since the newly reborn Yoon Juwon was unnecessarily kind, Hahyun had predicted that if he said “let’s run away” instead of “let’s play a clothes-stripping game,” Juwon would agree to the easier option, and his plan had been progressing smoothly.
If he had directly suggested going all the way, Juwon would obviously refuse. So his plan was to give Juwon pleasure first, then approach slowly after lowering his guard by pretending he wouldn’t go further.
But why did Hajin have to come in right at that moment!
‘He was raging like a madman, then suddenly pretended to be pitiful, raising his injured hand. Despicable…’
Thinking of Hajin, with his mismatched blue eyes looking down and entrusting his hand to Juwon, anger surged to the top of Hahyun’s head.
“Fuck! I should have been the one injured. How can I get injured?”
Hahyun immediately got up and opened the desk drawer. Just as he was about to take out a box cutter, Juwon’s voice flashed in his mind.
<If anyone deliberately hurts themselves, I’ll hate them forever.>
Having heard that, if he injured himself where Juwon couldn’t see and claimed to be hurt, he’d only receive suspicion instead of sympathy. It might be better to get injured right in front of Yoon Juwon.
Having found a way to counter Seo Hajin’s despicable tactic of playing the victim, Hahyun ran downstairs with a lighter heart.
‘Everyday dangers aren’t far away, and there just happen to be stairs here.’
He ran down the stairs, taking three steps at a time and crossing his feet, but falling on purpose turned out to be more difficult than expected. Trying to pull off a Hollywood stunt would only make him look foolish.
‘Why is my athletic ability so good?’
Now he even resented Chairman Seo for passing down his exceptional athletic abilities.
