An Unlucky Day (3)
His lips were parched dry and trembling. He’d hurled abuse at Jaehyuk, telling him to disappear from his life. It was just venting at the exam and job that weren’t going as planned, and at Woohyun. Yet when he himself became needy, he rubbed his filthy body and satisfied his pleasure.
Though he didn’t remember, he’d definitely dumped dealing with Baek Sangmin on Jaehyuk too. There were limits to shamelessness. To cling to him without hesitation like that.
‘Filthy. Disgusting. I’m trash.’
However, beneath all those emotions, the feeling at the very deepest place was just one thing.
Relief at being alive.
The distant terror he’d felt in Baek Sangmin’s grasp. He’d thought his life would fall into an irreversible abyss. Into the gutter. To a darker, more terrible place. But he’d been able to return home like this, to normalcy. It was all thanks to Jaehyuk.
‘Why does Yoon Jaehyuk go this far for me…?’
Jeongbae hugged his knees and curled up. The room was quiet, and from outside the window, only the sounds of dawn air could be heard distantly. His body was trembling faintly.
At that moment, the door opened quietly. There was no sound of footsteps. It was Jaehyuk. The dim light of dawn added depth to his face. His usual expressionless face. Whether he’d stayed up all night, dark shadows were cast under his eyes.
“You awake?”
That question was so ordinary that Jeongbae’s heart pounded harder. Jeongbae couldn’t raise his eyes. He still didn’t have the courage to speak, embarrassed and ashamed. Jaehyuk held out a cup of water.
“Drink some water.”
Jeongbae was thirsty but couldn’t even raise his head. Jaehyuk put the cup down on the table and slowly looked at Jeongbae.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
“……”
Jeongbae’s hands flinched and curled inward. His heart beat violently.
“I’m sorry… I, yesterday, I.”
He was out of breath and couldn’t continue. Jaehyuk slowly stroked Jeongbae’s forehead with the back of his hand.
“Nothing happened yesterday.”
“……”
Those words strangely gouged at his chest. Jeongbae covered his face with his hands and curled up small.
“I said it’s okay.”
With those words, it felt like the lump of shame, anger, and pain that had formed heavily in his chest melted away in an instant. Jeongbae’s fingertips trembled as Jaehyuk turned and left.
Now it was really serious. It seemed like he couldn’t do without Yoon Jaehyuk. His protection and affection were too sweet and warm. It started as just a one-night stand for tutoring. But his daily life gradually became soaked with Jaehyuk, and in the most critical moment, he’d cried out his name.
‘Keep staying with me. Keep liking me. Don’t leave me.’
“I like you, Yoon Jaehyuk. Really, a lot.”
After Jaehyuk left, Jeongbae, left alone, said it aloud. He wanted to say it like that. Because…
He slowly got up. This absurd greed, his presumptuousness, shouldn’t cause Jaehyuk any more harm. What he had to do was too clear. His mind snapped awake and his tears dried.
The moment he admitted he liked Jaehyuk and didn’t want to be apart, reason and intelligence slowly returned clearly.
‘I have to. I have to do it. I can do it.’
This is my love. This is how I protect you. Jaehyuk.
***
“Fucking hell.”
Pyeonghwa Apartments flower bed. Dogyeom kicked the trash can in front of him hard. There was a clanging sound and he felt impact in his foot, but it didn’t hurt. That’s how heated Dogyeom was. His first love, like foxtail grass and dandelion flowers, was being violated by a crazy alpha bastard.
‘And I had to just watch while sucking my fingers…’
Belatedly, the top of his foot tingled, but there was a bigger problem. He kept getting hard below. While imagining Kang Jeongbae being taken by that viper bastard. Pheromones. Naked body. Kisses. Caresses. Genitals. His head was complicated.
Reddened cheeks, sweat-soaked forehead, tear-filled eyes looking up at him with hazy vision. When that innocent, mischievous face was stained with lust, he became a completely different person. The weak hip thrusts while sobbing, unable to control his body. It was an incredibly lewd and immoral scene.
Clang!
When he kicked the trash can once more, his big toe hurt. He was an omega anyway. Even if not, it was obvious that Kang Jeongbae wouldn’t see him as anything more than a younger brother. The small, rough hands that patted his head. The bright, good-natured smile. The kind voice. That viper bastard had swallowed it all whole. He felt like he’d die of frustration.
“Damn it. Damn it.”
With his doll-like pretty face, Dogyeom kept spewing curses when another guy who complicated his head came to mind. It was the night Jeongbae stayed out with Jaehyuk.
‘Dogyeom, I like you.’
‘Fuck off. Why would you and I commit incest? Disgusting.’
‘You like Jeongbae hyung too.’
‘So what about it?’
And just like that, he was pulled in and got headbutted on the lips. He called it a headbutt because his lips really collided and split.
‘That damn bastard Ada. Can’t even kiss properly.’
Dogyeom anxiously picked up his phone and called Sejin’s number.
―He’s not answering the phone…
Since that day, Kim Sejin couldn’t be reached. He didn’t appear at the orphanage either, and when he went to his workplace, he wasn’t there. He’d evaporated just like that—in other words, he’d gone into hiding.
“Ah, fuck, really!!!”
Clang!
Dogyeom kicked the trash can once more. Nothing was going his way. Dogyeom sat down on the spot with his pretty face covered by both hands.
***
The moment he stood in front of the building, Jeongbae hesitated for a long time. A high-rise building made of glass. The marble floor and chandelier visible beyond the revolving door. People in suits busily coming and going.
‘Still, I have to go.’
He forced his trembling legs to move and went inside.
[Hanju]
It was the law firm where Jaehyuk’s father worked. At the expensive Korean beef restaurant Jaehyuk had taken him to, he’d stopped him from trying to pay and mentioned this place’s name, putting the meal cost on the tab.
‘Father won’t know even if I just put it on.’
Jaehyuk’s face as he spoke casually came to mind.
‘It’s okay. Just quickly state your business and leave.’
His shabby appearance was reflected as is in the pillars finished with luxurious black marble. A t-shirt with a stretched neckline, worn jeans, sneakers with soles so worn they’d become flat.
The reception staff looked Jeongbae up and down. He felt obvious contemptuous gazes.
“Deliveries are over there.”
It seemed like they took him for a delivery person.
“I…”
Jeongbae barely opened his mouth. He had something in mind to say, but would it work?
“I came because Yoon Jaehyuk’s father works here. As a lawyer… I came to meet him.”
“You don’t know his name?”
“Yes.”
“What about his title?”
“Just that he’s a lawyer…”
An annoyed look appeared on the pretty female employee’s face.
“You didn’t make an appointment either?”
“Yes.”
Jeongbae was intimidated but added.
“It’s urgent. I really must meet him and have something to say.”
Then the guard next to the female employee added a word, perhaps feeling sorry for Jeongbae.
“The CEO’s surname is Yoon. Might he be an acquaintance of his son?”
“I wonder.”
The female employee’s tone was still lukewarm, but when the word “CEO” came up, her expression subtly stiffened. It seemed she didn’t want to be marked for poorly handling the CEO’s guest.
“I’ll check for a moment.”
While the female employee made a call with the phone, Jeongbae’s fingers curled on their own from tension.
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
The female employee, who finished the call while even bowing to the air, turned to look at Jeongbae with a surprised expression.
“…He says to come straight up to the CEO’s office.”
Her voice trembled slightly at the end. The earlier lukewarm attitude disappeared, replaced by both caution and bewilderment.
Jeongbae’s heart suddenly pounded hard.
CEO’s office.
The weight those words carried was too great.
He was guided by an employee who came to meet him and headed to the CEO’s office located on the top floor of the building. A refreshing view of the city visible through the panoramic windows. The law books filling the wall were as neat as if cut with a knife, and the documents on the large desk were organized without a single angle out of place. Jeongbae was overwhelmed by the space where nothing was out of place.
[CEO Yoon Moohyun]
A classic nameplate with mother-of-pearl on a black background indicated who the owner of this position was. There was a luxurious glossy brown leather sofa, but Jeongbae couldn’t even sit down and just stood blankly looking around.
“What would you like to drink? The CEO will be here soon after finishing his meeting.”
“I-I’m fine. I’ll be leaving soon…”
Clunk.
At that moment, the door opened and the air changed first.
A large silhouette slowly entered the CEO’s office. Height and broad shoulders reminiscent of Jaehyuk. A precisely tailored suit, a hairline that fell in straight lines, too neat. A man with tremendous pressure stood before Jeongbae.
“Please sit.”
A low, firm voice. The neat, masculine face seemed both similar and not similar to Jaehyuk.
“No. I’ll be leaving right away, so I’m fine.”
The man’s eyes sharply fixed on Jeongbae for a moment.
“Then let’s be quick. What’s your business? You mentioned Yoon Jaehyuk’s name…”
