PO 26

Before Woojeong went into the house, he covered his mouth with his palm and blew out. Because he drank more than he expected, he reeked of alcohol.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late. He thought that even if someone was at home, he could somehow make an excuse.

“…….”

Woojeong tried to open the door, but he stopped and sat down in front of it. Whether it was because of the alcohol or because he felt anxious, his stomach churned. Woojeong, who sat and calmed his breath for a while, put his hand on his knee and stood up from his spot.

He carefully opened the front door and stepped inside while he silenced his footsteps. The house was quiet without a single sound. Madam Kwak must have already gone into her room, the kitchen was dark, and the dim light that always stayed on in the living room illuminated the empty interior.

Woojeong passed through the living room and quickly went up the stairs. Lee Doyoung’s door was tightly shut. He couldn’t know whether he was inside or not, but if he went to his room without being caught, he thought he could get through today safely.

“You act just like a stray cat. Why are you sneaking around like that?”

But as he heard that voice as it grabbed the back of his neck, Woojeong stopped. Lee Doyoung opened the door and looked at Woojeong, maybe because he heard the footsteps.

“……Hyung, you were home?”

The sounded awkward even to his own ears. Lee Doyoung laughed, he slowly approached and brought his face near Woojeong. He sniffed, and twisted up the corner of his mouth, he was dumbfounded.

“Well well. You drank alcohol? Where did you drink it?”

“…….”

“Aren’t you going to speak?”

“……In front of the house, I happened to meet Junho, and it was really after a long time, so… for a bit, I didn’t drink a lot, just….”

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull here?”

In an instant, Lee Doyoung smirk disappeared from his face and he grabbed Woojeong by the collar. He shoved him roughly toward the wall, and strangled his throat.

“Hy, hyung…..!”

“This isn’t the smell of drinking just a little, right? Because you wandered around however you wanted these days, you already started to want to mess around again, and you don’t want to come home, is that it?”

“Hhh….”

“Is it true you met a friend? I feel like I smell an alpha strangely….” Lee Doyoung stared at Woojeong with suspicious eyes, he was trying to dig something out.

Woojeong lowered his head because he couldn’t even speak properly from being strangled. He didn’t dare to look into Lee Doyoung’s eyes because he was afraid his lie would be caught.

“Are you maybe hanging out with some weird guy?”

Woojeong groaned while he couldn’t pull away Lee Doyoung’s hand, and he only laid his hand on top of it. The pressure on his throat made even breathing hard.

“No….”

“People said your behavior looked suspicious these days, right?”

As if he was interrogating him, Lee Doyoung asked insistently, then he roughly took off the hand that was holding Woojeong’s throat. While Woojeong coughed in gasping breaths with his hand around his neck, Lee Doyoung continued speaking without change in his attitude.

“……Well. Who would someone like you even meet?” He crossed his arms with a face that looked like his anger had eased, and he smiled.

“As your older brother, I am specially telling you this. When someone pretends to be interested in you and treats you kindly, don’t get happy for nothing. That’s not because they truly like you.”

“……”

“It’s just because you look ignorant and easy to handle, so they are scheming to take you and sleep with you once. Even if they act refined, when you look at what alphas do, they are all the same. Do you understand?” Lee Doyoung tapped Woojeong’s cheek like he was playing with a toy, and he spat out his venom. After tormenting him for a while, Lee Doyoung left Woojeong behind when the phone rang in his room, and he went back into his room.

Left alone in the hallway, Woojeong also moved toward his room. His throat hurt like it was swollen because Lee Doyoung strangled him, so he kept coughing.

Woojeong leaned his back against the tightly shut door. The light that came in through the window faintly brightened the dark room.

This much was like he got through without being scolded badly, but his chest kept pounding anxiously. Woojeong slowly sat down on the floor as the strength drained from his body.

“Ha….”

Now he lied in front of Lee Doyoung. Even so, he thought it was lucky that he wasn’t suspected about his relationship with Han Jaegang, and he felt disgust at himself for that.

“‘It’s just because you look ignorant and easy to handle, so they are scheming to take you and sleep with you once.’”

It wouldn’t have been that Lee Doyoung said it because he worried about Woojeong, but it sounded as if he knew something and was giving advice. Woojeong, who bit down on his lips so hard that it hurt, wiped his sweat-soaked forehead roughly with his hand.

•••

“Why do you look so drained?”

“……I…”

“You always looked excited, but why are you like that today?”

Woojeong sat by himself at the gallery meeting table. Yoon Ijun sat next to him and if something was wrong, but Woojeong put his arms on the table without a word and rested his head down.

The last class started a little earlier than usual. According to the design, they cut the silver plate and hammered it to make a round shape, and then they added their own details to complete a ring.

Normally, Woojeong would have worked with immersion without realizing how time passed, but today he stopped his hands midway and fell into thought. He had too many distracting thoughts, so he couldn’t focus at all.

By the time the class was almost finished, Woojeong barely completed his ring and ended the class, and he went up to the third floor together with Yoon Ijun. They dropped by to say hello because someone told them to come before leaving, but Yoon Hyunjun wasn’t there.

“He left his spot again and went where? I have an appointment, so I need to go quickly.”

“You are really busy every single day.”

“Especially these days. There are a lot of people who want to see me.”

Woojeong smiled when he saw Yoon Ijun grumbling like it was bothersome.

He knew that such a busy Yoon Ijun still attended the workshop class that he had no interest in at all, only for his sake. Even though he acted impatient on the surface, he had a kind and thoughtful nature like an older brother.

“Ijun-ah. Give me your phone number. I’ll treat you to a meal next time.”

“Oh, really?”

Because the class was over, Woojeong thought it would be hard to see him from now on. He wanted to repay the favor, so he asked for contact information with the thought of buying a meal.

Yoon Ijun wrote his number on a memo and handed it over, then he fiddled with his phone next to Woojeong for a moment, and he suddenly stood up. His hand that shouldered his bag and pulled his cap down was hurried.

“Hey. I can’t help it. I’m going first.”

“You are going?”

“Yeah. Let’s meet again next time.”

Without even giving proper goodbyes, Yoon Ijun ran down the stairs. For someone like him, such daily life was natural, so he would have had no reason to give Woojeong a long farewell. He must have thought he could see him anytime if he wanted.

When Woojeong quietly looked down at the memo with Yoon Ijun’s phone number written on it, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He thought it was Yoon Hyunjun, but it was a stranger.

“Are you Mr. Lee Woojeong?”

“Yes.”

“The director asked you to come down.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, you can go down right away.”

Woojeong thanked the person who delivered the message and stood up from his seat. When he came outside the building, he saw Yoon Hyunjun standing near the entrance of the parking lot. Woojeong’s steps slowed for a moment as he walked toward him.

Yoon Hyunjun, who was standing with his back to Woojeong, turned to the side and smiled. Han Jaegang was next to him.

Maybe because he felt the gaze, Han Jaegang turned his eyes to Woojeong first, and then Yoon Hyunjun also turned to look.

“Woojeong-ssi, you came?”

“Yes. Hello.”

“Where is Ijun?”

“He said he had an appointment, so he went first.”

“That guy ran off again. It can’t be helped. Let’s go eat dinner, just us. Since the class ended well, we should have a meal to mark it.”

Woojeong immediately shook his head. He felt burdened to eat with the two of them, but more than that, because Han Jaegang was with him, he didn’t want to go.

“I’m fine. I’ll head back first.”

“Why? Do you have something at home?”

“…No. I just want to go rest early today.”

“Come on. You finished the class, and I have to treat you to at least one meal, Woojeong-ssi. Just eat and then go.”

“I’m really fine, so you two go. I just….”

While Woojeong was making excuses as he looked for a chance to leave first, he flinched and turned his head.

“Wait a moment.”

Han Jaegang was holding Woojeong’s arm. While he kept Woojeong next to him, he took out his phone and called somewhere.

Woojeong tried to pull out his arm, but when he heard the voice from the phone on speaker mode, he stopped moving.

–Oh, Jaegang-ssi? What’s going on at this hour?

“Hyunjun and I planned to eat dinner today, and if Doyoung-ssi is free, I thought we could eat together.”

“Really? That’s fine with me.”

“Good. Then since Woojeong-ssi is also at the gallery, I’ll tell him to join us.”

“…Woojeong too? Well, fine. But what should I do? I have some work now, so I don’t think I can come right away.”

“I’ll send the restaurant address first. Come there as soon as you finish.”

Only after ending the call did Han Jaegang release Woojeong’s arm. Woojeong stepped back and hid his hand behind his back.

“Since Doyoung-ssi is coming too, let’s go together.”

“That’s good. Let’s go together, Woojeong-ssi.”

Han Jaegang mentioned Doyoung’s name and urged Woojeong again. He seemed to know that if he did this, Woojeong couldn’t easily refuse.

It looked like he was kindly asking for Woojeong’s opinion, but Han Jaegang always set everything according to his own will and moved things that way. He kept pushing Woojeong into uncomfortable situations, and he crossed lines casually and came closer, making it hard for him.

“Then let’s go for now. That place is really good. The food is delicious.”

Yoon Hyunjun smiled and tried to ease the awkward atmosphere. He tapped on the parked car body and spoke to Woojeong.

“Woojeong-ssi, ride with Jaegang. My car is inside there.”

Without giving Woojeong any chance to speak, he walked toward the inside of the parking lot. Han Jaegang opened the driver’s side door, got in, and signaled with his eyes to Woojeong.

“Get in.”

If he knew it would turn out like this, he should have said he would ride with Yoon Hyunjun. Woojeong had no choice but to get into the passenger seat of Han Jaegang’s car.

“Buckle up.”

When Woojeong fastened the belt, the car left the parking lot. Han Jaegang focused only on driving without saying anything. Because the radio was on, the silence didn’t feel too burdening.