Ch 29

<29>

 

1 month before that day (1)

 

“What? Get out?”

 

Eunho’s face was filled with fear at the fiercely sharp glint in Hyunjun’s eyes. Hyunjun, who was straddling him, pressed down with his weight and looked down at Eunho with a commanding gaze. He was scared. He wanted to get out of this situation somehow, but he couldn’t see a way. Eunho, unable to find a way to escape, swung his fist. The first one missed, and the second punch hit Hyunjun’s jaw, but this time both of his hands were grabbed. The grip was unbelievably strong, as if trying to crush his wrist bones, and a groan of pain burst out.

 

“Say it again. Get out?”

 

His whole body trembled at Hyunjun’s eyes, which seemed ready to kill him at any moment. Save me. Please. Eunho was unconsciously looking for Yoonjae. His cell phone had turned off when it fell to the floor, and his fear reached its peak. Just as he was calling his name over and over in his mind, the elevator doors opened, and a light as bright as the sun shone in behind Hyunjun.

 

The situation reversed in an instant. Eunho could only watch as Hyunjun, who had been pressing down on him with his heavy weight, suddenly disappeared from his sight and fell away. Hyunjun’s body crashed to the floor with a thud. Thrown down almost like a slam, he couldn’t even scream and instinctively curled up. The heavy, thick pheromones that filled the entire hallway pressed down on Hyunjun, and fear condensed in his eyes as he looked up at the person in front of him.

 

Yoonjae, standing in front of Hyunjun, turned his head to check the CCTV camera on the ceiling and then looked down at Hyunjun. Hyunjun’s pupils trembled as he followed Yoonjae’s gaze and checked the CCTV camera. The fact that there was a record that would be detrimental to him, and that there was an unidentified dominant alpha in front of him who was more than capable of overwhelming his surroundings, were all threatening to Hyunjun.

 

“Should we go to the police station?”

 

Hyunjun lowered his head and stammered at the low, cold voice that filled the floor. He had no idea who the other person was, but his body, which had instinctively learned that he was not the one who should be here, reacted quickly.

 

“I… I’m sorry. I… I won’t do it again.”

 

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

 

The violently pouring pheromones choked Hyunjun. Yoonjae tried to roll up his sleeves, and Hyunjun, frightened, turned to Eunho and pleaded.

 

“I’m sorry, I… I won’t come here again.”

 

Eunho couldn’t help but sigh in dismay as he looked at his crumpled ex-boyfriend. He was a typical piece of human garbage, strong against the weak and weak against the strong.

 

Yoonjae approached Hyunjun again, put his hands in his pockets, lowered his head, and spat out in a vicious voice.

 

“Get lost.”

 

Hyunjun couldn’t say another word and crawled to the elevator behind Yoonjae and pressed the down button. Only after watching the doors close and the elevator descend to the first floor did Yoonjae pick up Eunho and check his body for injuries. His wrists were red, and it looked like he would have blue bruises by morning.

 

“Ha… I should have come sooner.”

 

Eunho shook his head at the guilt-ridden tone. Like a wasteland left after a major typhoon, his mind was a mess.

 

“What brings you here at this hour?”

 

“I stopped by after visiting the hospital.”

 

Yoonjae carefully touched his red wrists, and Eunho’s brow twitched slightly. Yoonjae felt even more sorry for Eunho’s expression, which seemed to be deliberately trying not to show that he was in pain. Yoonjae licked his dry lips with a troubled expression, then clenched his jaw and said.

 

“I’m sorry, but let’s go to my house.”

 

“……”

 

“I’m too worried to leave you here.”

 

After finishing his visit with Chairman Choi, Yoonjae got behind the wheel and noticed that his cell phone was dead. After connecting the charging cable, he headed to Eunho’s apartment. He had been so busy lately that he had let his guard down a little, and it was a problem. Yoonjae, who had forgotten to turn on the power as soon as it was charged, turned it on only after arriving at Eunho’s apartment, and his heart sank at the flood of missed calls and text messages.

 

[Lee Hyunjun is at Park Tower Apartment. 8:03 PM]

 

[Is this Yoo Eunho-ssi’s house? I just saw Yoo Eunho-ssi going up from the lobby. 8:34 PM]

 

The moment he saw the message, he lost his mind and sprinted to the elevator entrance and contacted Eunho. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in the brief moment that Eunho didn’t answer the phone. Yoonjae, who was anxiously staring at the electronic display because the signal was cut off in the elevator, was furious at the sight of Eunho as soon as the door opened.

 

“Are you angry?”

 

Eunho, who had been staring blankly out the window, turned his head at Yoonjae’s voice and met his eyes. In his vacant eyes was a poignant look that seemed to have given up on everything in the world. Eunho let out a shallow breath and trailed off.

 

“No.”

 

“……”

 

“I just keep showing you bad sides of myself… I’m a little embarrassed.”

 

He should be showing him only the good sides of himself, but every time, a miserable situation was played out in front of him. How tired and annoyed must he be? Eunho lowered his eyes halfway and looked down at his slightly swollen wrists. It felt like he was facing something tangled and messed up about himself, and his heart sank heavily. Yoonjae, who had been looking ahead, broke the silence and touched Eunho.

 

“Do you want to move apartments?”

 

Just what kind of person is this…?

 

He thought he would be tired of him, but instead, he asked for his opinion with a worried look. Eunho let out a short exclamation and burst out the breath that had been stuck in his throat.

 

“Are you worried?”

 

“You’re asking the obvious too shamelessly, as if it’s someone else’s business.”

 

He smiled calmly and stroked the back of his hand, telling him to cheer up. The warmth that was conveyed felt like it was soothing his injured heart, and Eunho nodded and smiled slightly.

 

“See, it’s good when you smile.”

 

The conversation stopped and silence returned, but Eunho didn’t feel awkward. The pheromones that he carefully released beat against his lungs, taking away his stuffy breath and injecting new air again.

 

***

 

As soon as Eunho arrived at Yoonjae’s house, he went into the shower room. As he washed away the traces of Hyunjun from his body, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Is it so easy for a relationship to turn from a good one to a bad one, like flipping a coin? Looking at Hyunjun, who was decorating the end like a gutter, he wondered what he had been so obsessed with all this time. To think that he had taken care of such a terrible guy because he liked him.

 

Eunho washed and washed until his skin turned red. At the sound of a knock on the door, he pulled back the shower curtain and peeked out, and Yoonjae placed clothes made of light, soft material on the shelf and closed the door. Eunho stood there blankly, staring at the neatly folded clothes on the shelf.

 

“Come here.”

 

He realized that he had chosen short sleeves and shorts to check the injured areas the moment he opened the shower room door. He was leaning against the door frame, carefully examining the hidden bruises.

 

At the time, he didn’t know it hurt even when he was slammed to the floor because of the fear, but he had more injuries than he thought. From the marks on his neck scratched by fingernails to the bruises on his knees, thighs, and wrists. He knew that Hyunjun was strong, but he didn’t know that he would leave such crude marks.

 

Yoonjae brought a medicine box, sat down, checked Eunho’s condition, and then asked carefully.

 

“Should I take pictures just in case? I’ll secure the CCTV footage right away in the morning.”

 

Yoonjae’s expression was dark as he squeezed out a little ointment and carefully spread it on. He wanted to step on him right there and then, but he didn’t know how Eunho would feel, so he took a step back. He was his first love, after all, and he was worried that he would become depressed if he was trampled on so badly in front of him. Anyway, it wasn’t difficult to step on him if he wanted to, so Yoonjae just didn’t want to show Eunho an uncomfortable side of himself.

 

“I have to go to the hospital to get a diagnosis, and I have to go to the police station and face him. I don’t want to see him again.”

 

Eunho tried to hide behind him. There was no other way to describe it other than that it was typical of his personality. Yoonjae accepted Eunho’s opinion. Of course, he was only pretending to agree in front of him, but behind his back, he was only thinking about stepping on Hyunjun.

 

Eunho lowered his head and sighed softly. His wrists, which came into view, throbbed and ached. There were clear brown bruises in the shape of handprints, but Eunho was hiding his expression as if nothing was wrong.

 

“It’s going to hurt a lot when you touch the keyboard tomorrow.”

 

“Are you underestimating me too much?”

 

Eunho looked at Yoonjae, who was hesitating whether to wrap his wrists in compression bandages, and rotated his wrists to the left and right as if to show off. It was already stiff and throbbing, but it wasn’t unusable.

 

“I’m a big-boned guy, you know. This is nothing.”

 

“Big-boned? You’re not heavy at all. I’m serious. The reason I pick you up so easily is because you’re light, I can’t even lift you if you’re heavy. You’re not big-boned.”

 

Yoonjae wrinkled his nose and tried to lighten the mood, and Eunho, who had been drooping, gave a weak smile.

 

“Executive Director.”

 

Yoonjae raised his eyebrows and silently asked if he had anything to say as he called out to him in a tone that was gradually sinking. Eunho muttered softly in a barely audible voice.

 

“I’m sorry for making you worry.”

 

“Please.”

 

Yoonjae, who had put down the ointment he was holding, cupped Eunho’s face with both hands. Yoonjae, who had deliberately pushed his face into his line of sight so that he would only look at his eyes, whispered softly.

 

“I told you not to say that.”

 

“No… but still.”

 

“I’m going to have to punish you so you don’t say that again.”

 

How should I punish you? Huh? Yoonjae was about to tickle Eunho, but he stopped punishing him because he was worried that he might hurt the bruised areas.

 

He gave a light smile and moved so close that the focus of his eyes went out of focus, and traced Eunho’s lips with his thumb. His dark brown eyes slowly scanned Eunho’s face.

 

Thump, thump, Eunho took a breath to calm the sound of his heart ringing in his ears. He grabbed Eunho’s cheeks and kissed him. He swallowed softly, and sometimes he groped and sucked on his lips as if clinging to them. When he ran out of breath and opened his mouth wide, he filled Eunho’s lips so that the kiss deepened.

 

Eunho, who had been watching TV and chatting about trivial things, became quiet. Yoonjae thought he was engrossed in watching, but he was already nodding off, so Yoonjae got up from his seat and carefully picked him up. Eunho’s arms naturally wrapped around Yoonjae’s back. He leaned his face against his neck and mumbled something meaningless, but even if he listened carefully, he couldn’t hear Eunho’s words well.

 

Is he dreaming? As Yoonjae laid Eunho on the bed and tried to raise his upper body, the arms that had been wrapped around his back didn’t come loose. He was clutching his clothes as if he didn’t want to fall off, so Yoonjae carefully pried off Eunho’s fingers one by one.

 

“Hoo.”

 

Even if other places were okay, he couldn’t tolerate the bruises on his wrists. Yoonjae rummaged through the drawer and found wristbands, and wrapped the bands around both of Eunho’s wrists and secured them with straps.

 

Yoonjae’s eyes were full of affection as he watched Eunho sleeping. When he received a call from the person he had assigned to Hyunjun, he went blank for a moment, but it was only for a short time. He was anxious that Eunho might get hurt because of his minor mistakes. Yoonjae knew the situation whenever Eunho was involved with his ex-boyfriend and shrank back, so he had never thought of it in a bad way. Rather, he wanted to embrace Eunho, who became so small every time something like that happened.

 

How did he change like this?

 

Yoonjae brushed his thumb over Eunho’s soft hand, brushing away the heart that had been pounding from what had happened a few hours ago.

 

He took a small breath and quietly left the room. When he opened the terrace door in the living room and went out to the garden, the sound of insects chirping was heard intermittently from all over the place. Yoonjae slowly rubbed his lower lip with his tongue and took out his cell phone from his pocket and pressed the call to the last message recipient.

 

“It’s me.”

 

-I’m glad you came quickly. I was wondering if I should run out and stop him, and I was hesitating on the emergency stairs.

 

His bangs fell down as he lowered his head. Yoonjae, who had swept his hair back with his fingers, gnashed his teeth.

 

“That guy… give him a good beating, but not to the point where he can report it.”

 

-I understand.

 

He had deliberately stepped back because he was worried about stirring up trouble, but it seemed like he needed to step on him once since this is what’s happening. After the announcement of the successful candidates, Eunho died a week later. That day was June 20th. And today is May 23rd. About a month from now. He didn’t know what else would happen in the meantime. Yoonjae slowly walked through the garden, scattering his troubled breath into the air.

 

Whenever Eunho groaned in his sleep because of the pain in his wrists, Yoonjae, who was sleeping next to him, woke up and loosened and tightened the wristbands to check his condition.

 

As that situation was repeated several times, Eunho wanted to hide in a mouse hole, feeling embarrassed and sorry for not getting enough sleep. He was able to catch even the small noises he made unconsciously. Eunho shook his head at his clear hearing and told him several times that he was okay, but Yoonjae didn’t back down.

 

Driving to work naturally became Yoonjae’s job. He pushed him, saying what would he do if there was an accident, and he had nothing to say. No, then what will my role be? He had a lot of things he wanted to say, but he had no choice but to pout and protest.

 

As Eunho was lost in thought looking at the cars and traffic lights moving back and forth, he snapped his fingers in front of Eunho’s eyes using his middle and thumb to focus his attention.

 

“I sent you an email, do you want to take a look?”

 

Eunho, who was staring blankly, immediately checked his email at Yoonjae’s words. The email contained an apartment address and several attached interior photos. Is this an extension of the story of moving apartments? Eunho carefully examined the photos, zooming in with his fingers.

 

“It’s an apartment?”

 

“Secretary Han had it as a company house when he was my aide, and I was wondering if it would be okay to move there if you like it.”

 

Come to think of it, he remembered hearing about the company house from Secretary Han in passing. Secretary Han said that he was comfortable because Yoonjae had prepared an apartment for him when he was worried about whether to live on his own because his home was quite far from Yoonjae’s house. Eunho was also casually advised to request a company house if he needed a place to stay when he first joined the company.

 

“It’s on the main street near Executive Director’s house, right?”

 

“Yeah, about 4~5 minutes walk?”

 

It was quite close, so he liked it. The square footage was a little smaller than his existing house, but since it was almost only a place to sleep, there was no reason to place great importance on space. It wasn’t a bad idea to throw away all the unnecessary luggage and aim for a minimalist lifestyle once again.

 

“If you’re interested, I’ll show you when I get off work later.”

 

His desire to be within his sphere of interest was conveyed as it was. Eunho wanted to listen to his words without having to reconsider.

 

“I’ll move right away.”

 

When the car stopped for a moment because of a traffic light, Yoonjae turned his head and looked down at Eunho diagonally.

 

“You’re always worried.”

 

Eunho smiled gently, but his face seemed to be burning up, so he lowered his head. He was digging in the ground by himself because he was embarrassed, but he heard a deflated laugh next to him. Yoonjae reached out and turned up the air conditioner button one more level, then leaned back in his seat again.