PA 56

Without a word, Junhyuk stood in front of the sink and began to wash the mountain of dishes piled up there. Yejun came over and tried to stop Junhyuk, but he was unmovable.

“Get out of the cafe right now.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Cha Junhyuk.”

Before he could break Junhyuk’s stubbornness, a large number of customers suddenly poured into the cafe all at once. Yejun had to quickly move to the counter to take their orders.

☂︎

Yeongsik, who was always snooping around to find out news about Junhyuk, heard about his marriage from a mole he had planted.

“Ah… damn it.”

Yeongsik, whose ankle was throbbing again, spat out a curse and clicked on a file hidden in a secret folder. He was convinced that this file would somehow bring Junhyuk down.

[It hurts, it hurts! Please.]

[Fuck, are you determined to bite it off? Relax!]

It was the first and last video, recorded at the risk of his life. In the video, Yejun was struggling and crying out, while Sanghyeon wore a very satisfied smile. Yeongsik had the video of Sanghyeon and Yejun’s first sexual encounter.

“I’m thirsty.”

He limped into the kitchen, took a bottle of soju out of the refrigerator, and chugged it straight from the bottle.

“Cha Junhyuk….”

Yeongsik, who now limped because of Junhyuk, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and played the video again. He pressed pause, captured the screen, and saved it as an image file. It didn’t take long to print several of these image files as photos.

Yeongsik got up and limped over to the whiteboard propped up right next to his desk. In the center of the whiteboard was a photo of Junhyuk, riddled with knife cuts. Centered around Junhyuk, there were a slew of photos of people related to him. Yeongsik chuckled and placed the photo he had just printed on top of Jiyun’s photo.

“I can’t stand to see that bastard Cha Junhyuk flying high in the sky.”

Yeongsik, who was drinking soju from the bottle, choked on it and let out a series of coughs that felt like he was about to vomit up his insides. He practically crawled across the floor and collapsed onto the bed. Yeongsik, who had been lying still with his eyes closed for a moment, picked up the cell phone on his bedside table and looked for the address of the Hangang Gallery.

“Yes… I can just send it here.”

A notification popped up on Yeongsik’s cell phone, indicating a new text message. When he touched the notification, the text message opened, and only a phone number was written there.

[010—XXXX—XXXX]

Yeongsik sent the photo he had just saved as an image file to that phone number.

“I’ll bet my wrist that a call comes in within ten minutes.”

Yeongsik, sitting on the edge of the bed, placed his cell phone on the bed. He stared intently at the phone. How long had it been since he sent the photo? The phone number he had just sent the photo to appeared on the glowing cell phone screen. With a trembling hand, Yeongsik picked up the phone and pressed the call button.

— H-Hello?

“……”

Yeongsik didn’t answer at first.

— Who are you? What is this photo?

“What do you think that photo is?”

Yeongsik answered the other person’s urgent question with a question of his own. At the same time, Yeongsik’s bizarre laughter began to echo through the dark and gloomy house.

☂︎

Another loud crash came from the kitchen. Yejun sighed and ran into the kitchen.

“Cha Junhyuk.”

“Ah… sorry. Am I a bit clumsy with the dishes?”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine.”

Yejun pushed Junhyuk aside and began to clean up the broken plate. Junhyuk, fidgeting, spoke urgently to Yejun.

“N-No. I’ll clean it up.”

“This won’t do. You go out to the hall and serve tables.”

Yejun, deciding it was no good, pointed to the hall with his hand, intending to give Junhyuk another job.

“No, I can do it well.”

“How many times has this been in the last week?”

“Well….”

For the past week, Junhyuk had followed Yejun to the cafe every single day without fail. He couldn’t even guess how many cups or plates he had broken during that time. With no other choice, he trudged out into the hall with a tray and a cloth in his hands, muttering.

“I can’t just tell Han Gyeongchan to come back quickly….”

Junhyuk took an order from a customer who had just come in. Yejun, who was staring blankly at Junhyuk, narrowed his eyes. Yejun went around the counter and stopped Junhyuk, who was about to go out into the hall.

“Junhyuk, how do you know Han Gyeongchan?”

“Ah… what did I just say a moment ago?”

Junhyuk was greatly flustered by the words he had uttered without realizing it. It was then. Gyeongchan, who entered the cafe with a jingle, called out to Yejun in a cheerful voice.

“Lee Yejun, this hyung is here!”

“……”

Gyeongchan’s eyes fell on Junhyuk and Yejun together, and he instinctively knew that now was not the time for him to appear. He quickly turned to leave the cafe.

“Han Gyeongchan.”

Yejun called Gyeongchan in a low voice. In that moment, Gyeongchan felt as if his feet were glued to the floor.

“Yes, Yejun… is something wrong?”

Gyeongchan consciously avoided Junhyuk as he approached Yejun. Convinced by this, Yejun strode into the kitchen with an irritated gait. Seeing this, Gyeongchan quickly followed Yejun, but Junhyuk couldn’t say a word and just paced around them.

“Yejun….”

“……”

Gyeongchan couldn’t even get the words “I’m sorry” out. Junhyuk, who had followed him in, stood still and watched the two of them.

“I’m really… really sorry.”

“…For what?”

“For not telling you.”

Junhyuk also knew that the two of them were not in love with each other. The two had built a deep friendship over the past seven years. Even knowing that, Junhyuk’s stomach twisted for no reason.

“I’m leaving first. I’ve tidied up for the most part, so Gyeongchan, you can do the closing.”

“Ah, alright.”

Junhyuk, watching the two of them with a twisted gaze, missed Yejun leaving with his bag. It was a disaster. Just as he was about to follow him, Gyeongchan held him back from behind.

“Leave him be. Talking to him now will be counterproductive.”

“Haah….”

After Yejun left, Gyeongchan skillfully informed the customers of the closing time. Then he began to clean every nook and cranny of the cafe. As soon as Yejun left, Junhyuk took over the sofa seat in the corner and let out a series of sighs.

“Aren’t you going to help clean?”

“Why should I?”

“If you don’t clean today, Yejun will have a hard time tomorrow.”

It seemed he didn’t want to see Yejun cleaning. Grumbling, he got up and picked up a mop. Junhyuk followed behind Gyeongchan, who was pushing the vacuum cleaner with a very unenthusiastic attitude.

“Is everything okay with the company?”

“I’m going to Paris tomorrow.”

“Why Paris?”

“I’ve decided to do the new product announcement myself.”

“……”

Gyeongchan felt a huge disconnect between the image of Junhyuk diligently mopping the cafe floor and his image as the leader of a global company.

“But why are your clothes at Yejun’s house?”

At Junhyuk’s childish question, which was out of context, Gyeongchan looked at him for a moment. In Junhyuk’s expressionless face, Gyeongchan felt a flush of jealousy welling up. Gyeongchan, who let out a laugh as if in disbelief, didn’t answer even after he finished putting away the vacuum cleaner.

“…Was there something like that?”

“That’s why I wore them.”

“I’m not sure why that’s there.”

Gyeongchan seemed to be teasing Junhyuk, who seemed to be getting impatient.

☂︎

Junhyuk stayed in Barcelona for nearly a month under the pretext of checking the European market. He mostly stayed at the cafe where Yejun worked, but there were times when he would be gone for a day or two for work.

[Today was really great. When Executive Director Cha stood on stage, the camera screen lit right up.]

[You’re too kind.]

[Would an additional interview be possible, by any chance?]

[I have something urgent to attend to, so I don’t think so.]

Junhyuk quickly left the scene, afraid they would try to hold him for another reason. Junhyuk, who had stood on stage for the new product showcase, shook off the sudden wave of fatigue and boarded the plane back to Barcelona.

No matter how hard he tried to get closer to Yejun, he was unmovable. While he understood Yejun, who couldn’t seem to open his heart, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. Feeling frustrated, Junhyuk loosened his tie and tapped his index finger on the armrest of his chair.

Arriving in Barcelona, he went to a bakery on a now somewhat familiar street that Yejun frequented, bought a baguette, and came out. Then, Yejun came into Junhyuk’s sight.

“Why are you here?”

“Ah… to buy a baguette.”

In a rather awkward atmosphere, Junhyuk slowly walked with Yejun down a quiet shortcut to the cafe.

“You’re wearing a suit.”

“Because of work today….”

Yejun’s heart felt like it had dropped when he saw Junhyuk coming out of the shop just a moment ago. It was because he felt like he was looking at a young Sanghyeon. Yejun hastily shook his head to erase the memory that came to mind so vividly.

“Yejun.”

“Cha Junhyuk.”

“……”

At the sight of Yejun calling him in a cold voice, Junhyuk became momentarily tense and stopped in his tracks. Yejun followed Junhyuk and stopped in place, then glared at him.

“You, stop coming to our cafe.”

“……”

“You are very annoying to me, and I dislike you. Go back to where you belong.”

“…I can’t do that.”