The worst image I’d been picturing the entire way to the hospital was playing out right in front of my eyes.
Inside the luxurious hospital room, the figure lying in the bed with a peaceful expression looked almost like a painting at first glance — but precisely because he looked so still, so much like a painting, a sharp jolt of fear hit me.
My mind went completely white and blank, yet my body lurched straight toward the bed.
“Huh— Kang Jaeho…… Babe. Hic.”
Eyes closed neatly shut. Lips pressed together in a firm, still line. I didn’t even know where he was hurt, so I pulled back the hand I’d reached out, afraid that touching him might make things worse. He wouldn’t wake up no matter how many times I called — and at that, the tears that had been welling finally spilled over and fell.
“Hey— Hic, stop messing around and wake up already!”
The fear made words slip out that I hadn’t called him since we started dating. But for some reason, no matter which name I tried, there was nothing but silence. I just kept gnawing helplessly at my own innocent lips. Everything had been fine just this morning……
Maybe this was punishment for three years of lying to him. That I worked at an ordinary company. That I’d never so much as uttered a swear word in my life. That I grew up in a warm, loving home!
If I’d known it would come to this, I should have just told him the truth and let him walk away. That I’m actually a thug piece of trash and all I’ve got going for me is this stupid face. At least then I wouldn’t have had to see this man lying in a hospital bed.
Ah, but I really have been behaving myself lately. This is so unfair! When I used to beat ten people, I cut it down to five. When I was going to kill someone, I let them off with a breath left in them. What more do I have to do to be a better person?
A little guilt, then a wave of blazing indignation — and then came a grief bigger than both of those combined. Overwhelmed by the surge of emotion, I reached out again and grabbed my boyfriend by the collar and wailed. Oh no, oh babe, oh no— where does it hurt, where does it huuurt—!
No, wait. This isn’t the time for this.
I’d been shedding tears nonstop, but I shot to my feet. I didn’t forget to smooth out the hospital gown I’d crumpled in the process. The calculation was simple — rather than sitting here dredging up an endless sea of my own wrongdoings, it would be faster to go deal with the guys standing guard outside the room. They dared to touch my boyfriend? You fucking pieces of shit. You’re all dead.
I scrubbed the tear-soaked corners of my eyes with my sleeve and turned to leave — and that’s when I noticed, along one side of the spacious VIP room, five large men standing in a line.
What the — when did they get there?
I stared at them with undisguised bewilderment, and they all turned their heads away from me in unison. They looked exactly like cornered rats. They were holding their breath so completely that even though I was looking right at them, for a split second I wondered if they were some kind of hallucination.
“What the f—. You guys, what—”
I glared at them with eyes still red from crying just moments before. My hands reflexively clenched into fists — and then a familiar warmth wrapped around my wrist, and my head whipped around.
“Babe!”
The eyes I’d been sure would never open again were looking at me, carrying just a trace of exhaustion. The moment our eyes met, the tears that had barely stopped began welling up again. The venom drained out of my glare and the tension left my shaking hands all at once.
“Mm. Gang?”
Even with that sick, pale look on his face, his handsomeness wasn’t the least bit hidden. His features were elegant yet unmistakably masculine, and now with a fragile, melancholy beauty added on top — he looked like someone I wanted to pull into my arms and shield from everything. In short, he was the kind of face that could wring out that sort of ridiculous thought even while I was going out of my mind with worry.
I nodded again and again at that low, cracked voice and collapsed over him. Yeah, yeah. Gang’s here. I wrapped both arms around his neck and buried myself in him, sobbing.
“Huh— hic, why didn’t you — hic, pick up— sob, your phone— hic—”
I’d wanted to be a mature partner befitting this man, but that was a complete failure. Snot and tears everywhere, I clung to him instead and cried about how he hadn’t picked up my calls, how worried I’d been — mixing tears with complaints.
“So you were upset about that.”
“Mm— hic, I really — huh— I thought you weren’t going to wake up — hic, I was scared— hic!”
My boyfriend, somehow managing to understand words completely mangled by hiccups and tears, just leaned his upper body back against the headboard and held me close. I pressed my forehead into his chest and wiped my tears and snot on him, grateful for that warmth. I was taking slow, deep breaths to stop the crying, breathing in his familiar scent, when——
“Mm?”
What’s this smell?
Buried within the scent I breathed in every single day was a fragrance I had never smelled before in my life. I started sniffing at him like a dog, pressing my nose into the side of his neck and drawing in a long breath. And then that faint, elusive scent played hide-and-seek with me — just barely within reach, almost there, almost gone, tantalizing. For a split second I thought it might be a pheromone, but as a beta, I shouldn’t be able to smell pheromones.
Am I imagining things……? Hic.
I wondered if someone else’s perfume had rubbed off on him by chance — but before I could think on it any further, the unfamiliar scent vanished cleanly, as if it had never been there.
The small lingering question dissolved away under the hand that gently stroked the back of my head, combing through my hair and tickling my scalp.
“My phone died, so I couldn’t reach out. Were you very worried?”
“Hic, your battery……?”
At my question, he answered with a simple mm like it was nothing, then tilted his head to the side as if to say, why do you ask? I stared at that face blankly — and he ran his thumb over my wet eyelids in a soothing stroke, then smoothed down the hair he’d just been raking through.
His battery died……
Why is he lying?
Wasn’t that too strange? The question that had melted away came back to life. The tracking app had been pointing precisely to this location even after I arrived at the hospital. If his phone had been off, I wouldn’t have been able to find this place in the first place. And now that I thought about it — for someone who’d supposedly been attacked by thugs, he looked far too unscathed, and his demeanor was far too calm. That was strange too.
In an instant, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a red warning light flared in my head. Wee-woo— A siren was screaming and spinning inside my skull, and my heart slammed hard against my ribs. Hard enough that even my hiccups stopped.
Ha, no way……
Given how many years I’d spent rolling around in this world, I had an impeccable eye for telling civilians from thugs. Those guys still crammed into the corner of the hospital room — their faces alone were enough to know they were rotten. Setting aside their looks, there were the thick calluses packed into their knuckles…… the cheap suits they’d dressed themselves up in despite everything. The one in the middle even had a knife scar across his face, just like Mangchi.
So they couldn’t be my boyfriend’s work colleagues. And the fact that they hadn’t even tried to jump me when they saw me meant they weren’t foot soldiers from a rival organization either. If they were, my boyfriend wouldn’t be alive and perfectly fine like this in the first place.
What bothered me most of all were those glistening eyes. As if they’d been worried about this man — just like me — their eyes were red-rimmed, quietly wiping away tears or trembling in ways their massive frames made look ridiculous.
In that case, those guys were clearly……
“Those people over there…… who are they?”
“Mm—”
The man I’d expected to be frightened by those hulking figures only furrowed his brow and let out a low, contemplative hum. Right, so this isn’t their first meeting. He wasn’t quick to open his mouth — and without any idea what was going on inside me, he just kept touching the bitten-up state of my lips. I knew it was one of my habits that he didn’t like, but I kept gnawing at them anyway and pulled my head back as if I hadn’t noticed.
“I’m asking — who are they?”
“Now how did our Gang end up here, I wonder?”
What? Seriously? He can’t even come up with a decent lie, so now he’s trying to change the subject!
The defiance kicked in, and I pulled away completely from where I’d been pressed against him like we were one body. He reached for my waist as if reluctant to let go, but I put force into it and peeled his hand off. Then I pulled out my phone and held down the number 1. Whether it’s true or not — I’ll find out by checking myself.
I prayed over and over that what he’d said about the battery being dead was true, but—
Trrrring— I love you, mwah~! Trrrring— I love you, mwah~!
Regrettably, a familiar ringtone rang out loudly through the hospital room.
A cute child’s voice endlessly declaring I love you — the ringtone. Damn. It was the exclusive heart-mwah ringtone I had personally set for myself.
I gripped my phone like I was about to crush it and walked toward the source of the sound.
The raucous ringtone was going off without pause from the pocket of the man in the far corner of the room, who had his head ducked down.
“Well. I call my phone, and your pocket rings. Coincidence, is it? Hm?”
I stepped in front of him and blocked his path, and the guys around him scattered like cockroaches. Left alone, the man fumbled in a panic, unable to say a word back to me, and shoved his hand into the pocket where the phone was. I watched him from above and pressed the end call button — and the room went dead silent. The man’s frantic attempt to pull out the phone froze mid-motion.
A silence so complete that even the sound of someone swallowing felt grating settled over the hospital room. I pressed the call button one more time.
Trrrring— I love you, mwah~! Trrrring— I love you, mwah~!
There was no way any of this was a coincidence.
“Hey, you going to take it out or not?!”
“Eek— Y-yes, sir!”
I extended my left leg to the side of the man pressed flat against the wall, cutting off his escape. Then I grabbed his arm and forced the phone out of his hand.
“What’s this? Why do you have this?”
The call ended and the lock screen lit up — filled to the brim with photos of me — and a hollow laugh escaped me. No doubt about it, this was my boyfriend’s.
My own face grinning from ear to ear in photo after photo, blissfully unaware of everything — I look like such an idiot.
“Ha. Unbelievable.”
The sardonic scoff dropped the temperature in the room.
What kind of relationship do you have to be in to hold onto someone’s phone for them?
“I’m asking. Why do you have this.”
