#86
“I apologize. I will correct my behavior.”
As Nam Seunghee admitted his fault without protest, bowing deeply, Eunhong waved his hand dismissively.
“No, wait! I was the one who asked Seunghee to stay still. I drew him first without permission. I asked for his ID and wrote it down, and I wanted to give it to him, so don’t scold him.”
“Seunghee?”
“Don’t be upset with him. I initiated everything.”
Jaeha twitched his eyebrow and, with a clearly displeased expression, thrust the drawing he was holding into Nam Seunghee’s chest. His glare suggested he might snatch it back, so Nam Seunghee hastily tucked the drawing into his coat. As a result, the pencil lines smudged slightly and the corner became creased.
Nam Seunghee bowed his head deeply, his face pale as if he had committed a grave offense. Eunhong, caught between the two, fidgeted uncomfortably until he met eyes with Secretary Kim who had followed them. Having grasped the entire situation, Secretary Kim quietly shook his head at Eunhong as he was about to say something.
This side of Jaeha was unfamiliar to Eunhong. Where had his gentle and relaxed demeanor gone? His narrowed eyes were even menacing. Either knowing or not caring about Eunhong’s bewilderment, Jaeha pulled up the corner of his mouth and patted Nam Seunghee’s chest.
“Since you’ve received something special, keep it well. I trust you’ll be discreet about where and how you received it.”
Jaeha pulled Eunhong close, putting an arm around his shoulder, and moved toward where the car was waiting. Among the secretaries following behind, there seemed to be a small commotion that sounded like they were scolding Seunghee, so Eunhong twisted his head to look back. But before he could check Seunghee’s expression, Jaeha grabbed his cheek and turned his head forward. He shoved Eunhong into the car like crumpling paper and quickly got in himself, slamming the door shut.
“Why are you acting like that? Why won’t you let me even talk to him?”
Eunhong blew air through his nose and narrowed his eyes sharply.
“What’s the point of talking to him?”
“You told me it was fine to play around together. I said I was okay with it…”
“If you say it’s okay, what does that make me for being angry?”
Seeing his rare serious face, Eunhong bit his lips.
“He never said anything like that during the preliminary selection interview. If he had said he knew where you worked… that he knew you in detail, that he was interested in you, I wouldn’t have hired him. He’s someone I wouldn’t have brought along in the first place.”
“What’s the big deal if he knows me?”
“I’m not okay with it.”
“…Hah.”
Jaeha stared intently at Eunhong with a darkened expression. Having harshly driven away someone who had childishly admired Eunhong’s drawing, he showed no signs of feeling sorry or awkward. He was insensitive to others outside his boundary, almost to the point of shamelessness. Perhaps because of this, Eunhong’s anger deflated, and he could only pout.
***
“I’m not going out.”
After dawdling until Jaeha finished showering, Eunhong finally expressed his discontent. Jaeha’s wet eyebrows twitched.
Since the incident yesterday, he had removed Nam Seunghee from the entourage, and Eunhong had remained in this skewed state ever since. Jaeha had noticed something was off when Eunhong, who usually finished showering first and waited fully dressed, was dawdling, but he hadn’t expected him to outright refuse to go out. Jaeha paused drying himself and approached Eunhong.
“Are you that upset that I removed that person?”
“…Yeah. Why are you so sensitive? Can’t I even do that much while waiting for you? What am I supposed to do all day? We had just started to become friends.”
“Right. I wonder how you became friends so quickly when you usually find it difficult to get close to strangers.”
“…”
At the pointed response, Eunhong raised his eyes full of discontent, then sharply turned his head away. It was difficult to maintain an angry expression because of the water dripping from Jaeha’s partially dried hair. His head and lower body seemed completely disconnected. The feeling of having his insides heat up just from being gazed at by someone looking down at him with a wet body was overwhelming. From the start, approaching him completely naked was already an unfair tactic.
As Eunhong puffed his cheeks and shut his mouth, Jaeha softened. Relaxing his previously squared shoulders, he spoke quietly.
“Secretary Nam wasn’t faithful to his assigned duties. If he approaches you personally like that, you could be in danger.”
“What danger? Am I some kind of paper? Until just recently, I was…”
What use was it to say he had been a sturdy beta male? Eunhong briefly closed his mouth, then muttered again.
“Secretary Nam isn’t even an alpha.”
“If he were an alpha, he wouldn’t have been included in the entourage in the first place.”
It seemed Jaeha had no intention of backing down. Eunhong pulled a blanket over himself and lay sideways on the bed. “Anyway, I don’t like new people. I’m not going out,” he said as the blanket mound wriggled.
Jaeha gazed at Eunhong for a while, then clenched his fist and firmly suppressed the urge to devour him. He exhaled a long breath through his nose to compose himself. It might be good to let him rest at the hotel.
He slowly put on the clothes he had prepared and said,
“I’ll have someone wait outside the door. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I don’t need an attendant—”
Eunhong lifted the blanket that had covered his head and shouted loudly, but the room was already empty. He’s so fast. With an incredulous feeling, he lay back down and just rolled his eyes, then considered going to the living room, but he heard the front door closing and automatically locking. Jaeha had already left.
Left alone in the suite, after a brief feeling of emptiness, Eunhong decided to take it easy since things had turned out this way. He had been quite tired from spending the past few days in a schedule that was neither enjoying travel nor working. So Eunhong turned on his laptop for the first time in a while, fiddled with his work projects, and passed the time by ordering room service. He also remembered to call Sunhong.
– So, is Ham enjoying his honeymoon with Jaeha Ham?
Sunhong asked mischievously over the phone. It was the middle of the night where Sunhong and their mother were. They had just finished their trip and were heading to the airport.
“Stop talking nonsense. Call me when you arrive in Korea, and call again when you get home.”
After hanging up with an indifferent voice, Eunhong looked through the family photos uploaded to their family chat room once more. Seeing his mother swimming and laughing like a child under the dazzling sky made his heart tingle. My mother can enjoy herself like this too… The resentment he had felt toward Jaeha gradually subsided.
He exhaled a long breath as if shaking off his complicated feelings. Deliberately ignoring the looming deadline, he closed his laptop. Eunhong tapped the desk, pretending it was uncomfortable, and sank deep into the chair. He had long lost interest in the carpaccio and spaghetti he had ordered through room service.
“…Too greasy.”
Eunhong got up entirely and flopped onto the bed. He lay there helplessly, feeling hungry and lonely, but the situation was too ambiguous to be angry about. The company group chat was unusually quiet today. Even the regular members who usually chat and play until dawn seemed to be living properly during the holiday when all families gather. Eunhong decided to lie on his side and kill time playing mobile games.
Knock, knock, knock.
Despite his composed state of mind, Eunhong jumped up like a dog greeting its returning owner at the sound of a polite knock. As soon as he saw that the person entering was Secretary Kim, he realized “Jaeha doesn’t knock,” but by then disappointment had already swelled up to his throat.
Secretary Kim, who gave Eunhong a brief bow, was gathering a few documents that Jaeha had forgotten when he noticed the strange atmosphere and turned his head.
“Secretary Kim, where is the gallery Jaeha is at now? Should I go surprise him?”
Faced with Eunhong, who was smiling brightly as he asked, Secretary Kim rolled his eyes for quite some time, carefully choosing his response. He was certainly a tight-lipped person. Eunhong didn’t wait for his answer and hastily added, with a desperate plea as if begging him not to refuse.
“Then could I just go in briefly to look around? I’m so curious…”
“…All they’re doing in that gallery is reviewing contract terms. It would be boring for you.”
“I’ll just take a quick peek at what they’re doing without being noticed by Jaeha, and then immediately turn around and leave.”
“If you’re curious about museums, why not visit the Vatican instead?”
“…”
“Or how about touring a nearby small town? There are many nice places within a couple of hours’ distance. I’ll prepare an attendant and a car for you. I happen to know a good restaurant too, and I’ll make a reservation for you.”
“…”
“If a car is inconvenient, how about taking a train to visit a nearby place? There are many beautiful places…”
When Eunhong continued not to respond, Secretary Kim abruptly stopped his rambling. He also knew that what Eunhong wanted wasn’t this. Eunhong exhaled a short breath filled with resignation and waved his hand, telling him to just go. He knew there was no point in troubling the innocent Secretary Kim.
After Secretary Kim left, the hotel room, which had briefly been in turmoil, became quiet again. Eunhong loosely untied his robe, propped his chin up, fell into thought for a moment, then jumped up.
“Ramen!”
He needed to buy ramen.
Before coming here, he had been so full of excitement that he couldn’t imagine meals would be this boring, so he hadn’t packed even a single packet of ramen. But now, feeling stuffy and bored and irritated, he craved home-cooked meals, red pepper powder, and ramen. A spicy, hot soup would surely improve his mood.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
