TWELVE 54

“That, I… .”

I had to refuse, but I didn’t have a clue what to say. I was afraid he would think the reason for my refusal was because he was a man. It wasn’t that, but because there was someone waiting for me.

“I… .”

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Oh boy.

While hesitating, I missed the timing to speak. Kim Hyunwoo showed a smile, but I couldn’t believe it was sincere. I hurriedly waved my palms and said.

“No, I wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Just, I… .”

Would it be okay to say, ‘It’s because there’s someone I’m seeing’?

Worrying while leaving a person standing there was a luxury. I first blurted out the words that came to mind.

“It’s because there’s someone I’m seeing.”

“Ah… I thought so.”

Kim Hyunwoo’s smile turned bitter.

“You said it was okay, but I’m sorry. I liked you from the beginning, so I burdened you.”

“Aiyee, it’s not a burden at all. Please don’t mind it.”

“Still, between men… .”

“Ah, that… .”

As expected, that was what was on his mind.

In a conservative Korean society, it is not easy to express liking between the same gender. I couldn’t even dare to imagine how much courage Kim Hyunwoo must have had to summon.

Moreover, in a situation where I refused, he would have to worry about the worst-case scenario. The Benwood employees were all good people, but whether they could completely accept an individual’s orientation was another matter.

“Don’t worry about that.”

Since my position on whether I could work at Benwood again was uncertain anyway, I judged that it was irrelevant to reveal it.

“The person I’m seeing is also a man.”

At my confession, Kim Hyunwoo smiled calmly and nodded his head.

“It’s not surprising.”

“You knew? Where did it show?”

“No. It wasn’t that I knew, but you seemed like a person without prejudice, Mr. Seungkyung.”

Thinking it was a compliment, I returned a smile as well.

Kim Hyunwoo gestured toward the path.

“Then shall we head into the izakaya?”

“Shall we?”

It was the moment we just started walking again. The mobile phone rang.

[Seoin]

It was already 10:20. He must have called wondering when I was coming. I connected the call.

“Yeah, Seoin.”

—Woo Seungkyung.

Gi Seoin’s voice was still sulky. I wondered how I should cheer him up when we met later… .

—Look behind you.

“Huh?”

At his words, I reflexively turned my body, and my mouth fell open.

“Hey… why are you here?”

“… .”

Gi Seoin lowered the hand holding the mobile phone and strode toward me. I was just staring at him blankly.

In an instant, he arrived right in front of me and grabbed my wrist.

“Let’s go, home.”

“Uh? Ah, wait a minute.”

I pointed behind me where Kim Hyunwoo was.

“This person is someone who works at Benwood. Greet… .”

“I said let’s go.”

Gi Seoin pulled my wrist without even glancing at Kim Hyunwoo. He was in a bad mood, and it wasn’t polite.

“Wait a second. Then I’ll just say goodbye and come back.”

However, far from letting me go, Gi Seoin pulled me even harder so that I couldn’t even take a single step. I was also starting to get annoyed.

“What’s wrong with you?”

It wasn’t that I came out secretly, and there was still time left until the promised hour. Yet he suddenly appeared and told me to go home abruptly without giving me a chance to even say goodbye to the person I was with. It wasn’t an action that could be brushed off as being spoiled.

Still, I squeezed out my last bit of patience and endured for the sake of the third party who would be watching us without knowing the reason.

“Let go. I have to at least say goodbye.”

“What for.”

“What?”

The outlet of emotions I had been trying to block up started to seethe.

“Wait… !”

“Don’t make me angry.”

It’s exploding.

“I said let go of this!”

Don’t make you angry? Who made the situation worth getting angry about in the first place?

“Let go… !”

I swung my arm to try and shake Gi Seoin off, but it seemed he had also reached his limit. Holding me with enough force to crush my arm without exaggeration, Gi Seoin took me away, practically dragging me. Only now did I see his sedan parked on the shoulder of the road.

“Gi Seoin, seriously!”

The back of my head stung. My neck felt hot at the thought that Kim Hyunwoo was watching all of this. Since I had revealed that there was someone I was seeing and that it was a man, it would be easy to deduce who Gi Seoin was. That this bastard trying to handle me recklessly was the partner I mentioned.

However, being conscious of Kim Hyunwoo ended there.

“Ah… !”

Gi Seoin, who threw open the passenger door, roughly pushed me into the car.

While he was getting into the driver’s seat, I thought about running out and escaping, but the result was obvious. Since my ankle wasn’t perfectly healed, I would be caught before I could go far.

I bit my lower lip and slammed the back of my head into the seat. I’m furious. I don’t know why a fun time spent with good people had to be ruined in this way. It was unfair.

In the end, I had to be dragged away without being able to properly say goodbye to the Benwood people. I didn’t open my mouth in the car or even after arriving home.

Gi Seoin was the same. I was going crazy with frustration because he had brought me back that way and didn’t offer a single word of explanation.

The vibration went off whenever I was about to forget. It was calls coming from the Benwood owner and employees.

I was sorry, but I didn’t answer and only sent messages. I didn’t have the confidence to speak on the phone while pretending nothing was wrong. I didn’t want to exert a negative influence on those who had only given me positive energy. Right now, I was in a state where I was charred black from the top of my head to the tips of my toes with anger, ready to pass a spark to anyone at any time.

The problem was that I felt like I would only survive if this spark was moved somewhere.

If so, it would be right to move it to Gi Seoin, who lit the fire in me in the first place.

I wanted to ask why on earth he did that and what I did so wrong.

Gi Seoin was in the study, not even making a sound. I threw open the study door without even knocking. The guy, who was sitting at the desk clutching his forehead, looked straight at me with only his eyes raised.

I approached him. My heart was thumping and I felt nauseous. Facing him up close, it felt as if the world before my eyes was turning bright red.

“I don’t even want to see your face right now, Gi Seoin.”

“… .”

“But I feel like I’ll be less wronged if I at least know the reason.”

Gi Seoin, who lowered the hand that was on his forehead, corrected his posture and looked straight at me. He had a confident expression as if he hadn’t done a single thing wrong. Fine. It was a hundred times, a thousand times better than avoiding me.

“Why did you do that?”

“… .”

“Answer me.”

“… .”

“Speak!”

My loud voice hit the walls.

“I… .”

On the contrary, Gi Seoin’s voice was low and gloomy as if it were crawling on the floor.

“Consider it a relief that I didn’t ram that bastard with the car.”

“What… ?”

A chill ran down my spine.

“Are you talking about Mr. Hyunwoo?”

“I don’t want to hear it, so don’t even say his name.”

A hollow laugh burst out in disbelief.

“What did that person do so wrong?”

“Seungkyung.”

Gi Seoin stood up. He came toward me. His shadow covered me.

“You always ask when you already know.”

I felt like my throat was being constricted by the cold energy Gi Seoin was emitting.

“… What do I know?”

“Look at this.”

“I said speak properly!”

“Do you only feel satisfied when you make me look so pathetic?”

“I make you look pathetic? Ha, I really can’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“Seungkyung, please… .”

Even though he was the one being frustrating, Gi Seoin sighed as if I were the one tormenting him and wiped his face with his dry hands. Then he withdrew his hands and revealed a gaze that threatened me.

“When bastards don’t know their place and pounce, you should know how to push them away.”

He spoke quietly, in a tone that sounded somewhat sweet at first, which made it more chilling.

“If you can’t do that, then listen to me when I tell you not to meet them.”

I didn’t know for sure, but Gi Seoin seemed to have heard the conversation that passed between Kim Hyunwoo and me. Otherwise, there was no reason to be this angry.

He said he would come to pick me up, and as always, he must have set out earlier than the promised time. Since I hadn’t informed him that I was moving to a second location, he would have been going to Benwood.

Somehow the paths overlapped, he happened to find me standing on the street with Kim Hyunwoo and stopped the car, and overheard the conversation… it must be something like that.

If so, Gi Seoin had enough motive to be angry. Even for me, if I were to witness him having a request for a date or a similar conversation, I wouldn’t be able to pass it over calmly.

Even so, the part I couldn’t accept was why the arrow of anger was aimed even at me. I refused the drinking session Kim Hyunwoo suggested and also revealed that I had someone I was seeing. If he had heard that much, he couldn’t be like this to me, could he?

What? When bastards don’t know their place and pounce, I should know how to push them away? If I can’t do that, I should listen to him? Even though his emotions were heightened, it was a way of speaking that was hard to tolerate.

“Gi Seoin. In your eyes, everyone else is a bastard, right? Me too.”

Gi Seoin’s eyebrows twisted for a split second.

“That’s why you’re saying I should just listen to you if I can’t do it. If you’re displeased, you drag me around however you want, regardless of whether other people are there or not, or whether my reputation is ruined. That’s exactly the attitude of dealing with a dog, isn’t it?”

Even if I were to concede a hundred times and say he had a valid reason to be upset with me, venting his temper in this way was simply unacceptable.

“It’s not once or twice that you’ve thrown a tantrum about me meeting people, so I’d rather just ignore it, but seeing the way you’re speaking today, I simply can’t do that. Gi Seoin… I’m truly disappointed.”

I left the study just like that, leaving Gi Seoin behind.