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“You, you… You’re now…”
“…”
It was a suffocating silence. Both Han Jaekyung, who had immediately raised his voice asking what they were doing, and Jang Yeonhu, who had painfully uttered Jaekyung’s name once into the air, were equally speechless. It wasn’t that they had nothing to say. Rather, both of them had so many things they wanted to say simultaneously rushing up that they couldn’t bring themselves to start.
That’s when it happened. The man who was breathing heavily—that is, the person who had been passionately kissing Yeonhu until just moments ago—buried his head slightly against Yeonhu’s chest as if he was terrified, while eyeing Jaekyung cautiously. The weak voice saying “Yeonhu hyung…” was an added touch. Yeonhu, who couldn’t take his eyes off Jaekyung’s visibly shocked, trembling gaze, immediately lowered his eyes to the man in his arms.
“Sorry, that must have been quite a shock.”
“…A little. Is he your friend?”
“Yes. Did I mention him before? He’s my closest friend. Don’t worry, he’s not the type to spread rumors.”
“Ah, that lawyer childhood friend you mentioned?”
The two slipped into their own world as if Jaekyung was merely a bystander. They were even smiling sweetly, perhaps having already regained their composure. Watching this, Jaekyung’s head was already spinning. That Jang Yeonhu, of all people, could do this in front of him—this really couldn’t be happening.
The face of the man who was still half-leaning against Yeonhu’s chest, though not as much as Jaekyung, was quite pretty. He seemed more pretty than handsome, perhaps similar to Jaekyung’s type. However, perhaps due to his youthful impression, he gave off a much more delicate feeling than Jaekyung. Jaekyung sharpened his voice with thorns.
“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on here?”
“Ah, Jaekyung.”
“Ah, Jaekyung,” he says. As if to say, are you still standing there? Surely not, it shouldn’t be, but maybe…
“Don’t tell me that he’s, what, your boyfriend or something?”
His pulsing heartbeat resembled anger. He asked calmly, swallowing his heart which he couldn’t distinguish between anger and anxiety, while briefly gesturing toward that man with his chin.
‘Say no, say it’s just a joke. Call it a mistake or a momentary impulse if you want… just something I can accept. Quickly.’
Whether aware of Jaekyung’s anxious inner thoughts or not, Yeonhu, who had regained his composure after momentary surprise, lowered his gaze heavily. His smiling lips also hardened.
“Han Jaekyung. What kind of rudeness is that?”
“What?”
“Referring to someone as ‘that.’ And what’s with that chin gesture? Apologize right now.”
“Hey, Jang Yeonhu!!”
“And yes, this person is my boyfriend. Is there a problem with that?”
“H-hyung… I’m fine. Please don’t fight with your friend because of me.”
They say the person trying to stop a fight is more annoying than the ones fighting, and that was exactly the case. The three characters “Han Jaekyung” coming from Yeonhu’s mouth, which used to sweetly call “Jaekyung” and “our Jaekyung” until his name wore out, was quite shocking, but even more astonishing to Jaekyung was the sight of this unfamiliar person lightly shaking Yeonhu’s arm and whining. Yeonhu grinned and stroked the head of the man in his arms.
“I’m sorry for startling you… thank you for understanding. I was planning to introduce you properly next time, but somehow we ended up meeting like this first.”
The affectionate gaze and incomparably gentle voice had always been territory exclusively dominated by Jaekyung…
Am I going crazy, or is Jang Yeonhu the crazy one? Regardless of how shocked Jaekyung was, the relationship between the two seemed to have already entered a stage where their affection had solidified.
“N-no. I’m really fine, I tell you.”
“…Still so kind.”
“Hehe.”
Even though he saw it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, it was utterly unbelievable. Without realizing, Jaekyung began to take hesitant steps backward before suddenly turning around and starting to sprint away at a fast pace.
His panicked, frightened appearance didn’t match well with the expensive custom-made suit he was elegantly dressed in. It was truly like a dog that had lost a fight, tucking its tail and running away. Someone’s lips curl upwards with genuine satisfaction as they watch the retreating figure of such a loser.
* * *
> [Jaekyung.]
> [I’m sorry about yesterday. I was working overtime and got a bit irritable from fatigue.]
> [Please answer your phone.]
The buzzing vibration of his mobile phone wasn’t welcome at all. Checking the messages as soon as they arrived, Jaekyung stubbornly refused to reply no matter what. Of course, he didn’t answer calls either. The more he thought about it, the more he chewed on it, the angrier and more resentful he became, unable to endure. A bitter flame-like feeling flared up in his chest.
Jaekyung tossed his mobile phone onto the bed and crumpled the empty beer can he was holding. Just when he had finally decided to be nice for once… this clueless, unlucky sucker dared to what? Boyfriend? Boy-friend?
“This person is my boyfriend. Is there a problem with that?”
“…Damn it.”
Whether his eyes were closed or open, that voice kept circling around his ears, making it impossible to maintain his sanity. If the company hadn’t told him to take a few days off before his external assignment, he would have had difficulty working normally. From time to time, his mind felt like it was drying up.
That sensation was significantly closer to anxiety and hurt rather than anger, but Han Jaekyung, whose pride wasn’t completely broken yet, failed to notice this.
Jaekyung had dared to confidently believe that there was nothing about Yeonhu that he didn’t know. That blind faith had also been pathetically shattered just yesterday evening.
In any case, as far as Jaekyung knew until yesterday, adult Yeonhu had never had a boyfriend. There had been several instances where engagement talks had occurred at the family level, but they invariably fell through due to his firm opposition. Although no one dared to mention it due to the old chairman’s watchful eye, the reason for his stubborn opposition being Han Jaekyung was something everyone who knew Yeonhu reasonably well was fully aware of. That’s how sincerely Yeonhu devoted himself to Jaekyung, and he never hid that fact from anyone. He simply waited for Jaekyung as modestly as court ladies eagerly awaiting royal favor, and should have continued to do so forever…
While the deranged Jaekyung’s mind was busy spinning, the mobile phone tossed onto the bed continued to buzz repeatedly on its own. If he wasn’t going to respond, he should have ignored it completely. In the brief moment when the continuous vibration stopped, Jaekyung quickly crawled back onto the bed and turned on the screen. There were already three missed calls and two unread new messages.
> [Han Jaekyung.]
> [Are you really not going to see me like this?]
“Fuck, am I crazy? Who would this benefit?”
You’re not going to see me because of some temporary boyfriend? You, Jang Yeonhu? What made his vision spin was half anger, half alcohol. Jaekyung immediately pressed the call button.
-Hello, Han Jaekyung?
Before the dial tone had even finished once, an obviously anxious voice answered the phone. Hoo… hoooo… Suppressing the urge to shout loudly right away, Jaekyung calmly opened his mouth. Yesterday, he had been too shocked by the sudden situation to respond properly. If he showed signs of being disturbed by such a trivial matter, the attorney license he had worked so hard to earn would feel wasted.
“Sorry, I just checked my phone because I was looking up some case precedents. I didn’t know you had contacted me.”
-Oh, was that it? That’s a relief. I thought… you were angry about yesterday.
So he’s aware that he did something worth getting angry about. The nerve of Jang Yeonhu.
It felt like sarcastic remarks would come pouring out the moment he opened his mouth. Jaekyung pretended to be calm with all his might. Yeonhu, if no one else, should know how desperately he was trying and feel sorry when he said he was giving it his all, like an orphan who never knew his mother’s face.
“…Why would I be angry?”
-Ah. You’re not angry?
“Of course not.”
The voice on the other end of the line subtly lowered, but Jaekyung, who was already pouring all his energy into holding onto his sanity, failed to notice it.
“A perfectly healthy friend is dating… of course I’m very happy for you. But I was a bit surprised to see you kissing first thing. And it was also the first time I heard about you dating. By the way, surely that wasn’t your first kiss, was it?”
Of course it wouldn’t be. Yeonhu’s first kiss partner had been eighteen-year-old Jaekyung. Jaekyung knew this well, but he deliberately exaggerated, saying, “Come on, that really wasn’t your first kiss, right? How old are we now?” He was trying to brag that he didn’t even remember having his first kiss with Yeonhu, that Yeonhu was an insignificant existence to him. Just as he currently felt like going crazy and jumping around, he wanted to hurt Yeonhu somehow.
-…Yeah. Of course not. Like you said, how old are we, Jaekyung.
The hit was effective. Yeonhu’s voice immediately darkened. This time, even Jaekyung could clearly notice it.
“That’s good. I was feeling sorry thinking I was the only one dating…”
Dating? Not in the slightest. But if Yeonhu was dating too, he couldn’t just sit still. There was no need to worry about the consequences. After all, he could create ten fake partners a day if he wanted to, just by poking any of the numerous contacts stored in his phone and asking them to date starting today.
-Dating? What do you mean by that…
“Oh, look at the time! Yeonhu, I need to start getting ready to go out. Let’s talk later! We’ll set a date, and you can formally introduce your boyfriend too. Got it?”
-Han Jae…!!
Yikes, that’s startling. He thought his eardrum would fall off. Before Yeonhu’s thundering shout could finish, Jaekyung arbitrarily hung up. The message saying he would introduce him properly as requested and asking to meet tomorrow arrived less than a minute after ending the call.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
