“What, Seo Wooyeon didn’t know either? Executive Director Kwon’s partner is a man.”
His breath was cut off again. Wooyeon’s long eyelashes trembled finely and slowly lowered, casting long shadows. It seemed Wooyeon had naturally assumed without realizing it that if it was Jeonghan’s partner, it would be a woman. He had just thought that, naturally, a woman would suit Jeonghan better as a match.
The faces of numerous women who had been the subjects of romantic rumors with Jeonghan passed by, and several women he had encountered in the executive director’s office flashed through his mind. So perhaps that’s why he naturally thought it would be a woman. The fact that Wooyeon was a man was also one of the countless reasons why he himself could never dare covet Jeonghan.
‘Shall we get married?’
Perhaps that kind of thing wasn’t important to Jeonghan. His dry voice casually talking about marriage flashed through his mind. As he pressed down on his palm with his fingertips like a habit, Assistant Manager Kim’s voice was heard.
“Why, that formerly famous pianist. Lee Seoha, was it? That person.”
A dark curtain descended before his eyes.
* * *
「TH Group’s Executive Director Kwon Jeonghan’s engagement rumors with pianist Lee Seoha are causing a stir. According to one media outlet, the two first met seven years ago while studying abroad in America and continued their relationship as close friends before recently promising marriage. A close associate who knows the two said it’s not yet at the final announcement stage. Pianist Lee Seoha rose to become a world-class pianist by winning second place without a first place at the Palmier d’Or Competition…….」
At just that moment, Jeonghan and Seoha’s faces were showing on the small television at the pojangmacha where the news was playing.
“Ah. Hyung, stop drinking now. You’ve already drunk enough.”
Sunwoo, who had taken the soju bottle from Wooyeon’s hand, filled his glass with water instead of alcohol. Already completely drunk, the area under Wooyeon’s eyes, who was only blinking, was red. Not knowing whether what was in the glass was water or alcohol, Wooyeon drank the water in the soju glass in one gulp without care. Inside the noisy pojangmacha, the snacks on the plastic table were cooling down miserably.
“Won’t you tell me what happened?”
Without answering, tears flowed down sorrowfully over the cheeks of Wooyeon, who only nodded. The eyes of Sunwoo, who reflexively reached out to wipe the tears from his cheeks, met with Wooyeon’s. The long eyelashes wet with tears looked as if they couldn’t bear the weight.
With careful touch, Sunwoo withdrew his hand from Wooyeon’s cheek. When Wooyeon turned his gaze to the table, tears flowed down again, making Sunwoo’s effort to wipe them futile.
He had been in this state continuously since meeting right after work. Without having a proper dinner, Sunwoo filled his stomach with snacks and Wooyeon filled his stomach with alcohol. Sunwoo looked at Wooyeon with a worried face.
“Hyung, were you seeing someone?”
While holding an empty soju glass, Wooyeon was silent. He wasn’t normally talkative, but today he particularly wasn’t opening his mouth.
Wooyeon chewed his reddened lips with his teeth. Someone he was seeing. Could he define Jeonghan that way? No, he couldn’t dare think of Jeonghan that way. Wooyeon ultimately shook his head.
“Then what? What happened to make you like this?”
Because Wooyeon wasn’t normally the type to enjoy drinking, Sunwoo became even more anxious. His hands naturally went to Wooyeon, who was lowering his head and shedding tears, and his heart ached.
When Sunwoo wiped the tears staining Wooyeon’s cheeks again, Wooyeon’s tired gaze turned toward Sunwoo again. Then Sunwoo withdrew his hand from Wooyeon’s face with a flushed face.
“Did you get dumped?”
Wooyeon, who had been thinking deeply while drunk, nodded. Every time he raised his head, his slender body swayed. Right, I got dumped. Wooyeon, who hadn’t known what to call this stifling emotion, felt like he had found an answer in those bland words. Even though he had rejected Jeonghan’s proposal, he couldn’t understand himself for feeling this heartbroken.
Still, this was too much from Jeonghan. If Jeonghan had thought of him even a little, at the very least, it shouldn’t have been Seoha. Moisture dripped again onto the blue plastic table.
“Ah, ah, hyung.”
Sunwoo fidgeted in his seat, not knowing what to do.
“……Sunwoo-ya.”
Wooyeon’s eyes, with his head lowered, were closed. His eyelashes hung long over the area under his eyes that had turned pink. From Wooyeon with his eyes closed, a small voice soaked in intoxication flowed out.
“What should I do? I keep regretting it……”
I shouldn’t have thought about what Jeonghan’s sincerity was like, whether I was a person who suited Jeonghan, all those things. It was because he had too many thoughts, just as Jeonghan had said. I shouldn’t have rejected that proposal that seemed like a joke. Then I wouldn’t have to hurt like this right now…….
It was useless no matter how many times he repeated to himself that regretting was useless, that the position wasn’t his in the first place. In the end, it had turned out just as Seoha had said.
To say confidently that Kwon Jeonghan is mine, Wooyeon had neither the conditions nor the courage. Only cheap pride remained, fluttering like a worn-out rag. Seoha is a famous pianist, and publicly a dominant omega…… Even though he’s the same man, he’s different from me, Wooyeon resigned himself that way.
“Hyung, hyung.”
Sunwoo lightly touched the shoulders of Wooyeon, who had frozen with his head lowered. Wooyeon’s phone placed on the table kept vibrating.
“Hyung, you have a call……”
Wooyeon, who had been blinking his tear-soaked eyelashes, turned his head slightly to look at his phone. The name on the screen was ‘Jeonghan’. It was a voice he wanted to hear, and also a voice he didn’t want to hear.
“Should I answer it?”
“I don’t want to answer……”
Wooyeon shook his head slightly. The call was briefly disconnected, then a missed call appeared on the screen. Not long after, the phone vibrated again. It was the same name as expected. Wooyeon had his eyes closed with his head lowered, whether it was familiar or he was deliberately ignoring it.
Was he the type to fall asleep when drunk? With a pitiful face, Sunwoo alternately looked at the face of the sleeping Wooyeon and his phone where the number of missed calls increased as the call was disconnected again. On his profile as exquisite as if drawn, the area around his eyes was still damply wet.
Sunwoo stared blankly at such a face of Wooyeon as if appreciating a work of art. Wooyeon’s phone placed on the table continued to vibrate several more times after that.
“Hey, either answer the phone or not. It’s driving me crazy too.”
“Ah…… I’m sorry.”
The pojangmacha owner lady said something while clearing the next table. Whether it was because he was with Wooyeon who had been drinking without rest, or because Sunwoo was also quite drunk, he too had lost his senses. The missed calls on Wooyeon’s phone were exceeding 27. And when the phone started vibrating again, Sunwoo finally answered that call.
“Hello?”
「……Put Seo Wooyeon on.」
A low voice of a man who seemed angry and overbearing flowed out.
“Ah, Wooyeon hyung is asleep right now.”
For a moment, there was no word from the other side. Sunwoo felt anxious for no reason even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Um, if there’s anything……”
「Where is that place.」
“Pardon?”
At the abrupt question about the location, flustered Sunwoo looked at the sleeping Wooyeon. Wooyeon had his eyes closed, not knowing anything.
“May I ask what relationship you have with Wooyeon hyung?”
「Fuck, what are you going to do knowing that.」
At the chewed-out curse, good-natured Sunwoo’s brow furrowed.
“What did you just say……”
「That’s enough, so just stay put there. You’d better be prepared if you even touch a fingertip to Seo Wooyeon.」
“Ha.”
At the phone that only said what it wanted and hung up abruptly, Sunwoo looked at the phone he had removed from his face with an absurd expression.
* * *
It was when Sunwoo was picking out the fish cakes from the completely reduced fish cake soup and eating them. When he raised his head at the sound of someone’s footsteps approaching, a man wearing a dark-colored trench coat was looking down on him oppressively with his tall height. Even though he hadn’t told him the location, he had found it right away somehow. How did he even know he was here?
Sunwoo put down the utensils he was holding, straightened his back, and looked at him. It was a face that was familiar somewhere.
“Ah…… Could it be.”
Come to think of it, the name Wooyeon had saved was also ‘Jeonghan’. Only then could Sunwoo recall the famous figure from the university he had graduated from a few years ago. Even though they weren’t in the same department, he was a person Sunwoo knew just because they were in the same business college. Someone who had rumors rampant about being a dominant alpha and a chaebol heir, but more than that, stood out with his tall height and terrifyingly handsome face.
“Kwon Jeonghan?”
Jeonghan’s unreal face contorted as if displeased. Although he could have been angry at him for receiving curses over the phone and not responding, Sunwoo felt more curious as if seeing a celebrity on TV than that. That was because he was someone who often appeared in the news these days.
“Do you not remember me? I think I saw your face a few times at school. I’m also from S University Business College……”
“How much did this person drink?”
Jeonghan’s cold voice cut off Sunwoo’s words. He couldn’t gauge exactly how much he drank because Wooyeon had poured it down frantically, but there were four empty soju bottles just rolling on the table.
Jeonghan’s eyes scanned the table coldly, then he took out his wallet, roughly grabbed a few checks and put them down on the table as if throwing them, and took Wooyeon’s phone placed next to it and put it in his pocket.
“Pay with that, and don’t call this person out again next time.”
“What? Hey.”
“I hope we don’t see each other’s faces again next time.”
Even just roughly estimating, it wasn’t in the tens of units. Sunwoo jumped up from his seat, but Jeonghan turned his gaze from him as if ignoring him. Bewildered, Sunwoo alternately looked at the few checks placed on the table and his face. The completely reduced snacks placed on the plastic table couldn’t look more miserable.
