<69>
“Attorney Han… Let’s talk.”
When Choi Eunseong approached him with a resolute expression, Han Jaekyung felt it was finally happening.
Instead of going down with Yeonhu for his rehabilitation therapy as usual, Eunseong had been watching for an opportunity, and finally opened Jaekyung’s door and uttered words that sounded like a declaration of war.
For several days now, Jaekyung had been unable to bear seeing Eunseong close to Yeonhu for even a few minutes, constantly calling him away for one thing or another. Just yesterday evening, despite knowing Eunseong was watching from outside, he had wrapped his legs around Yeonhu’s waist in the study. The blue-tinged glare in Eunseong’s eyes was incredibly fierce.
Though Jaekyung knew there was nothing to gain by provoking Eunseong, it was an absurdly thrilling experience to fall into bottomless greed while gritting his teeth to stifle his sounds. The fleeting paradise was worth burning his entire body for.
As he leaned against Yeonhu’s bare chest, catching his ragged breath, he had thought: one way or another, this will come to an end soon.
“I’m sure you have something to say to me. I have a lot to say to you, Attorney.”
Now it was truly time for him to reveal his sinister intentions as well. He couldn’t pretend and run away from this. To get what he wanted while accepting condemnation, he couldn’t be a good person to everyone.
From the beginning, Han Jaekyung wasn’t particularly a good person to anyone anyway.
“…Since our conversation might be lengthy, today won’t work.”
“Okay.”
“How about next Thursday? I’m planning to go to the office that day, so I think it would be better to meet and talk outside.”
“Fine. Let’s do that.”
This time, don’t make any date plans with Yeonhu hyung. The slight smile on Eunseong’s lips was drenched with unfitting sarcasm. It was a fragment of emotion Jaekyung had never expected to see from Eunseong.
Jaekyung unconsciously swallowed hard. When they first met at the restaurant, introduced by Yeonhu, Eunseong had seemed like the type who only saw the world as beautiful.
“I know well enough that you’re talented at coaxing people with sweet words to make them look foolish. I’d appreciate if you didn’t do that this time. Do you understand?”
It felt strange. This cynical sarcasm, which would better suit Han Jaekyung, was coming from none other than Choi Eunseong.
Eunseong probably hoped his sharp words would hurt Jaekyung, but unfortunately, Jaekyung wasn’t the type to be wounded by mere words. He only felt a bit of responsibility and a certain kind of guilt at the sight of Eunseong’s unrecognizable transformation.
“Now that you understand, please leave. Yeonhu has just started to let his guard down around you… If he sees you secretly coming to my room like this, he’ll throw another fit about sending you away.”
“…!!”
And speaking with a knife in one’s mouth, leaving bright red wounds in the other person’s heart, was entirely Jaekyung’s specialty.
Eunseong’s eyes shook violently, as if wondering how he could say such harsh things. He was clearly hurt. Jaekyung decided to completely turn away from the faint pangs of conscience he felt.
Hadn’t he already made his decision? Han Jaekyung would take away what was most precious to Choi Eunseong. He didn’t want to be hypocritical with inadequate sympathy. He knew better than anyone else that nothing could compensate for Yeonhu.
Instead of a polite attitude and sincere apology, Jaekyung decided to become a thorough villain. So that Eunseong could freely pour out his blind anger on him.
“…”
Eunseong gnawed on his lower lip, glaring at Jaekyung for a long time. Though Jaekyung pretended to be calm, he was actually just as on edge.
Jaekyung was afraid of Eunseong. More than anyone else in the world, he was most scared of the Eunseong right in front of him. Although he was participating in this absurd charade considering Yeonhu’s psychological shock, if Eunseong, pushed to his limits, were to reveal everything, it would be game over for Han Jaekyung immediately. The grace period until Yeonhu regained his memory would also fly away.
He couldn’t express how fearful and anxious he was that an enraged Eunseong might just blurt out the truth: you two broke up a long time ago, I’m your real lover. Of course, knowing that the probability was extremely low given Eunseong’s character, which was completely different from his own, Jaekyung had deliberately provoked him, but regardless, his anxiety was always hovering at dangerous levels.
The nightmare of Yeonhu learning the truth, looking at him with contempt, and turning to Eunseong visited Jaekyung’s bedside every night. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had slept comfortably without worry.
Though it was an impossible scenario, if their positions were reversed, Jaekyung would have first revealed the truth regardless of Yeonhu’s condition. Han Jaekyung couldn’t stand his selfish self who only cared about himself.
“What are you doing? I told you to leave before Yeonhu comes.”
It was just shallow bluster. His two hands hidden under the table had been trembling all along. He firmly interlocked his fingers and hardened his expression. Eunseong simply said he would come to the office on the workday next week and to wait for him, then quickly turned around.
Soon the door closed with a click.
“Haa, haa, haa…”
Only then could he breathe properly. The terrible tension rushed through his entire body along with fatigue.
But Jaekyung had no one else to blame. It was all too clear that this whole situation had occurred due to his misjudgment and arrogance.
* * *
Time flew like an arrow until the day of the appointment. Han Jaekyung, on high alert, kept watching Eunseong whenever he could, but Eunseong only appeared composed. He couldn’t know exactly whether Eunseong was struggling beneath the surface, but at least that’s how it seemed to Jaekyung’s eyes.
Of course, Han Jaekyung also appeared nonchalant from Eunseong’s perspective.
“Yeonhu, I’m going now.”
He had to leave particularly early today because he needed to finish reviewing all the pending documents and work progress before his appointment with Eunseong around lunchtime. He made the excuse to Yeonhu that it was unavoidable since he hadn’t gone to work last week.
Yeonhu, who had been sulking since Monday because he had to go to work an hour earlier today, just rested his elbow on the driver’s side window and sighed deeply.
“You really can’t not go?”
“I didn’t go to work last week either. I absolutely have to go this week.”
“Will you be angry if I say I want to come with you?”
“You know well.”
“Tch… Then can I at least pick you up? Call me when you know your finishing time.”
“Alright, just go inside now. The longer you linger, the later I’ll be able to come home.”
To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, Jaekyung had to repeatedly emphasize until the end that he hated being disturbed while working, so Yeonhu shouldn’t come to the company without contacting him.
When he arrived at the office, perhaps due to the early hour, no one had arrived yet. Jaekyung hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the team leader’s office door and immersed himself in work frantically. It was better to look at the headache-inducing documents than to deal with the burning anxiety inside him.
Seeing the team leader’s office light on for once, some employees peered around the doorway, but when they saw Jaekyung intensely focused, they turned back without daring to greet him. Jaekyung was just gnawing on his thumbnail while waiting for Eunseong’s contact. Though his eyes were buried in the document files and monitor, as time passed, his mind felt increasingly jumbled.
He ran through several simulations of how to start the conversation, but no pointed solution emerged. …Still, it would probably be best to start with an apology for taking Yeonhu away. As Han Jaekyung continued this line of thought, he suddenly found his way of thinking pitiful and ridiculous.
He had only resolved to get Yeonhu back, but in reality, he had no certainty that Yeonhu, once he regained his memory, would choose Han Jaekyung over Choi Eunseong. Yet his speech pattern suggested that a future with Yeonhu was a foregone conclusion.
Ding.
The vibration sound, which seemed to condemn his guilty conscience, came just as blood was beginning to show on his thoroughly gnawed left thumb.
An address of a cafe and a simple message saying, “I’ll be waiting here.” The message from Eunseong was surprisingly plain.
Han Jaekyung hurriedly left the company, perfunctorily responding to people greeting him saying it had been a while. The cafe where Eunseong was waiting wasn’t far from the Woojin Group headquarters.
Perhaps because it was weekday lunchtime, the traffic was particularly heavy. On any other day, he would have hated the congestion, but today it wasn’t so bad. Standing blankly in the middle of the 6-lane road, Jaekyung unconsciously thought that it would be better if there was some accident on the way, but then shook his head vigorously.
He parked the car in an appropriate spot and entered the cafe. It was a little past two o’clock. Eunseong was the only one sitting in the small cafe, which mainly catered to nearby office workers.
“I’m sorry. The traffic was heavy, so I’m a bit late.”
“…”
“Choi Eunseong?”
Looking up at Han Jaekyung, who was walking in with a somewhat dazed gaze, Eunseong just gave a fleeting smile without responding. When Jaekyung called out “Eunseong-ssi” again, this time consciousness filled his eyes.
“Ah… It feels a bit strange. Actually, this place… is where I first confessed to Yeonhu hyung.”
“…”
“And now I’m here with you, Attorney.”
If the intention was to shut Jaekyung up, it was quite a successful attempt.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
