Chapter 87
Mitchell sent all the company staff in another car and left alone. The reason he drove his own car to the shooting location was that he had somewhere to go right after filming.
He started the car while checking the text message Geon-woo had just sent. It was the same place he always went.
Mitchell knew Geon-woo wasn’t in a good mood. How could he be happy when Mitchell kept going out without him?
[ok]
Even from just the last text sent, he could tell. Geon-woo, who usually sent at least two or three lines when texting, ending with a single short word was 100% proof that he was angry. Geon-woo never sent one-word replies.
However, Mitchell had no intention of revealing who he was meeting now.
Mitchell parked in front of the familiar house and rang the bell. Geon-woo was probably watching this scene too.
He lightly hugged the man who greeted him with a bright face behind the opening door.
“Did you come straight from filming today too?”
“Yes, I came right away.”
“How are you managing with the fatigue? You’re working so hard.”
“It’s okay. I have to work hard.”
They exchanged brief greetings and closed the door. While the man prepared drinks, Mitchell left a text for Geon-woo.
[Home?]
The reply came soon after.
[No]
It seemed like a small act of rebellion. Mitchell couldn’t reply as the man approached with drinks and snacks. For some reason, Mitchell could vividly imagine Geon-woo’s appearance in real-time.
“What are you thinking about so hard? Come, sit down.”
“Yes.”
“You came early today, and I have time too. Around 6 PM? Shall we work until then, have dinner, and then you can go?”
“I have someone waiting for dinner, so thank you, but let’s do it next time. If you let me know in advance, we can set a date and have a meal then. I’ll take you to a nice place.”
“Ah. Now I feel sorry.”
Just then, the man who was smiling awkwardly received a phone call. As the man excused himself and disappeared towards the kitchen, Mitchell picked up his phone as if he had been waiting for this moment.
He called Geon-woo, who was probably agonizing while waiting for contact. Geon-woo’s voice came through before the first ring even finished.
– Mitchell.
“Are you outside?”
– Yes.
“Where outside? Why did you go out?”
– I just went out for a walk… I’m wandering around here and there. I don’t even know where I am right now. Since I’m just walking around aimlessly. I can’t really explain.
Mitchell almost burst out laughing at Geon-woo’s disorganized excuses.
“Really?”
– Yes.
“Why does your voice sound so down? Are you upset because I keep going out without you?”
– Yes.
Mitchell couldn’t hold back and finally laughed at Geon-woo’s brutally honest answer. Truly, Geon-woo had no intention of hiding his feelings. Unless he was desperate to show them even more.
He seemed like a naive child who only expressed his own thoughts without reading others’ intentions, or like a pure child untainted by the world.
It might sound strange to say this about a handsome, mature adult man, but
‘How cute.’
That was the impression Mitchell got from the sulking Geon-woo.
Mitchell was about to comfort him. He had intended to keep the reason for coming here a secret until the end, but now he couldn’t hold back anymore and was about to speak.
“Mitchell! Do you know things like ‘I love you,’ ‘I like you’?”
The man who had finished his call shouted as he walked out of the kitchen. Perhaps due to the distance, his voice was extremely loud and clear.
It was loud enough for Geon-woo to hear clearly. More importantly, the man had spoken in Korean.
***
Geon-woo froze at the Korean words coming through the phone. His hand lost strength, and the phone he was holding at an angle fell to the floor.
Unable to pick up the phone now rolling somewhere under the driver’s seat, he recalled the voice he had just heard.
– Mitchell, do you know things like “I love you,” “I like you”?
“…He’s Korean?”
Although he knew the person was Asian, he hadn’t thought they would be Korean. In fact, whether they were Korean, Japanese, or Chinese didn’t matter. He had naturally assumed they would speak in English, but they used Korean. Of all languages, Korean.
It wasn’t a soliloquy, but a question clearly directed at Mitchell.
“What is this…”
His determination to tear apart Mitchell’s lover crumbled in an instant. Muttering like a soulless machine, Geon-woo heard the voice coming from the phone. Only then did he realize the call hadn’t been disconnected yet.
He stared at the fallen phone on the floor for a long time. The voice he had heard over the phone remained vivid in his mind.
Rather than a foreigner who spoke Korean well, it was completely a Korean accent. To think that Mitchell was meeting a Korean.
Geon-woo was quite surprised by the sudden appearance of a Korean. Among all the people he knew around Mitchell, he was the only Asian, let alone Korean.
He didn’t know anything about this mysterious man who suddenly appeared, and Mitchell hadn’t explained anything first.
Even if he was a hidden lover, if Geon-woo said he didn’t like it, Mitchell’s lover wouldn’t be accepted. They had agreed that if Geon-woo told him to break up, they would break up.
Yet, Geon-woo was angry. He felt sick that Mitchell hadn’t told him in advance.
When he irritably nudged the phone at his feet, the screen lit up again. The call time was accumulating. Mitchell still hadn’t hung up.
And “I love you,” “I like you,” he says?
Geon-woo bit his lip and picked up the phone. The emotion burning inside him was clearly jealousy.
He had never felt this kind of jealousy towards the man in Mitchell’s phone, or even towards Jeff.
He glared at the phone he had found by lowering his head, then sighed and brought it to his ear. Since Mitchell hadn’t hung up even after quite some time, he thought he’d listen for a while.
“Mitchell…”
Mitchell, who seemed like he would explain what was going on right away, remained silent when called. Geon-woo dropped the phone from his ear and checked the screen again. It still hadn’t been disconnected.
That’s when it happened.
Tap tap.
“Oh!”
Mitchell had appeared out of nowhere and was knocking on the passenger side window. Joy came before surprise.
“Open the door.”
Geon-woo opened the door without hesitation. Watching Mitchell climb into the passenger seat, all the unpleasant feelings from earlier completely evaporated.
He even checked if it was really Mitchell by feeling his legs and arms. While feeling the firm muscles and soft skin, he carefully examined Mitchell’s face as well.
“Did you track my phone location?”
“Yeah.”
Mitchell smiled and raised his eyebrows.
“You’re using it well, huh?”
Geon-woo continued his verification process that the man before him was Mitchell while massaging his arm.
“But it seems you had no intention of hiding at all?”
The place where Geon-woo had parked was right across from the man’s house. He was tailing so honestly and kindly that he could have received a model citizen award from the government and still have some left over.
“I… never intended to hide.”
“So you were openly following me?”
Earlier, Mitchell had burst out laughing as soon as he checked Geon-woo’s location on the app. Unless he was a fool who didn’t know the basics of tailing, wasn’t this an open declaration of “I’m following you right now, so don’t do anything strange”?
In Geon-woo’s case, it wasn’t a declaration of war but more like a timid protest.
“Well… it just turned out that way.”
Geon-woo muttered with an embarrassed face. Although he had expected it, being caught so easily was mortifying beyond belief.
Still, he was confident in front of Mitchell. Since Geon-woo was someone who could control all aspects of Mitchell’s life, he thought there was nothing particularly wrong besides being a bit embarrassed.
In fact, Mitchell didn’t look upset at all. He seemed to regard it as an amusing event.
“Next time, tell me you’re tailing me. I’ll try to hide properly. Oh, and leave your phone behind. Otherwise, you’ll be caught right away. I’m telling you this in case you don’t know. See how kind I am.”
“……”
“If you want to disguise yourself properly… Ah, should I buy you a pair of sunglasses? If you wear a cap and a hoodie too, I might not even recognize you. No, I’d probably still know it’s you, but I might pretend not to notice because your effort is admirable.”
“…Are you making fun of me right now?”
“Oh, you’re smart, aren’t you?”
“Grrrr.”
Geon-woo opened his eyes fiercely and growled like a wolf. Mitchell, who was skilled in taming wild wolf cubs, grabbed Geon-woo’s chin and devoured his lips.
He opened his mouth wide and sucked on the whole thing, then went inside and pulled out Geon-woo’s tongue. The reckless wolf cub disappeared, and melted ice cream sweetly wet Mitchell.
Mitchell stroked Geon-woo’s shoulders, and Geon-woo put his hands on Mitchell’s waist.
When the brief kiss ended, their hands that had been on other parts were now all on each other’s chests.
Mitchell often tormented Geon-woo’s chest, but it was quite unfamiliar for Geon-woo to touch Mitchell’s chest.
Mitchell lowered his head, curious about Geon-woo touching his chest. His hand was still inside the t-shirt.
“Are you trying to touch me?”
“I touch you all the time, don’t I?”
Geon-woo tilted his head and wiped his glistening lips.
“This makes me feel sorry unnecessarily.”
Then Mitchell said something incomprehensible.
“For what?”
“I’m sorry for neglecting you after promising to teach you. I didn’t know you had such a strong desire to learn. This is self-taught, right?”
Geon-woo frowned and scolded Mitchell.
“What do you mean self-taught? You’re saying strange things. It’s just because you keep touching mine so much. I’m just copying you.”
“You’re not doing this with other guys, right?”
“Wow, do you have a steel plate in your ears? How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not interested in men…”
“I know you’re not interested, but it makes me angry.”
The wrinkles between Geon-woo’s brows smoothed out. Geon-woo chewed on his lips and made a somewhat coy expression.
“Do you get angry every time I do something? Are you that worried about me?”
“No, I’m not worried, I’m just angry.”
“…Do you think I’m not angry? Who was that bastard just now!”
He finally asked the question he was most curious about.
