RB 58

Yeorok returned to the mansion and he started preparing for his business trip.

His briefcase held a laptop and a few important documents. The sounds of Secretary Hong packing clothes echoed from the dressing room connected to his private study.

It was while he pulled out the documents he had just put in and skimmed them again. Knock knock, the door opened and Seo Taehwa carefully showed his face.

“Are you busy? I have something to talk about.”

“Say it.”

Yeorok answered with his eyes fixed on the documents.

Seo Taehwa closed the door and approached quietly. Unlike usual, he was watching Yeorok’s reaction very carefully.

It had been two whole weeks since they last saw each other face to face. Since Yeorok had taken Eunho away, he had not set foot in the annex even once. From the beginning, he had no reason to go there unless it involved Sim Eunho.

Because of that, the remaining helpers had no choice but to wait, not knowing how things were going. Finally, unable to endure the frustration, Seo Taehwa came to the mansion himself.

“It’s about Eunho. I was wondering how he is doing.”

Seo Taehwa brought it up with difficulty. His eyes wandered across Yeorok’s face. The expressionless face gave away nothing. Even for close friends, it was especially hard to approach Choi Yeorok once he locked himself up.

“He’s doing fine.”

Yeorok dismissed it with only that. Seo Taehwa furrowed his brows as if his insides were burning at the indifferent answer.

“Are you going to keep leaving him in the officetel?”

“Yeah.”

“Is he doing anything?”

As the questions kept coming, Yeorok finally lifted his eyes from the documents. The gaze he met held not a trace of warmth.

“Am I in a position where I need to report to you?”

“I’m asking you to share it. We need to know what’s going on too, don’t we? I think we have the right to ask for at least that much.”

Yeorok tossed the documents in his hand onto the briefcase. He rubbed the back of his neck with his empty hand, his annoyance obvious.

He sat down on his desk and tilted his head for a moment. His tired eyes stared into the air as he recalled the past days.

All that time he had visited the officetel every day to see Sim Eunho. He thought the results of the time he spent were not bad.

“We haven’t made much progress yet, but he’s good at kissing.”

“…Really?”

Seo Taehwa asked again, he looked like he had lost a screw. It was honestly hard to believe. That day, Sim Eunho had looked like someone whose mind had completely collapsed.

After Eunho was all but dragged away by Yeorok, there was no way to contact him. They had only heard that he was staying in Yeorok’s officetel, but they could not help worrying. It was not as if he was there for recuperation either. They did not even want to imagine what might be happening there.

Choi Yeorok was not the kind of man to accept anyone’s complaints, and everyone knew Sim Eunho could not say a word of protest in front of him. With these conditions combined, Seo Taehwa’s sighs inevitably deepened.

“Who is his partner?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

“Is it someone trustworthy? At least someone who looks decent?”

Yeorok just let out a short laugh. The question was not worth answering.

Seo Taehwa did not pry further and instead helped with Yeorok’s trip preparations. It was only a two nights three days overseas trip, so there was not much to pack, but this way he could stay by his side and keep the conversation going.

“Jaehwan is also really worried. He’s about to get sick from holding back from asking you directly.”

Ahn Jaehwan and Choi Yeorok had been in a cold war since a big clash of opinions. It could hardly be called a quarrel. Even though they were friends, Yeorok was clearly the superior, and Ahn Jaehwan had no choice but to follow his decisions. As Eunho’s doctor, he was simply concerned about Sim Eunho’s mental state.

Yeorok gave no particular response. He stood from the desk and focused only on packing his bag.

“You all seem to care especially about Sim Eunho. Do you really cherish him that much?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“You’re going to separate in a few months anyway. What will you do then? Are you planning to visit him at a mental hospital?”

Yeorok mentioned Sim Eunho’s ending in a flat voice. Those words made Seo Taehwa’s hand tremble.

“……That…”

“Do you know what people usually call that kind of thing?”

Yeorok opened a drawer casually. He took out the fountain pen and business card case he often used. He placed the necessary items into his bag with a calm look.

“They call it hypocrisy.”

“So what if it’s hypocrisy? So what if it’s pretension?”

“I was born rotten so it doesn’t matter for me, but you aren’t.”

“……”

“The more you give your heart, the harder it will be to part. You keep forgetting, so keep it in mind.”

His tone as he warned Taehwa was rather gentle.

“…I know.”

Seo Taehwa murmured weakly. Then, with his shoulders drooping, he stepped closer to Yeorok.

“Are you really not changing your mind?”

“Yeah.”

“…Don’t you think Eunho is pitiful?”

“He is pitiful. But not enough to change my plan.”

Yeorok replied as if it were obvious.

“……”

Seo Taehwa stared at his face that showed not even the slightest change in expression. He thought he had grown used to Choi Yeorok’s lack of humanity, but there were times it still felt too much. Just like now.

“Isn’t there a chance you might change later? I mean, not sending Eunho away, making him your nephew instead. It’s not something impossible, right?”

He asked, knowing Yeorok almost never changed his plans, but still holding a faint hope. Then those pitch-black eyes looked straight at him.

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“No one knows what will happen with people.”

“Isn’t it already enough to be busy thinking only about things that are actually possible?”

Yeorok drew a clear line. He himself knew better than anyone that it was too late to turn back. If he had truly intended to make Sim Eunho his nephew, he should never have touched his body in the first place.

Suddenly, a small lip balm landed inside the neatly packed bag. Yeorok had just thrown it in after pulling it out from the drawer.

Seo Taehwa stared at the lip balm that appeared out of nowhere. Why, when he hardly ever used one? Only then did he notice that Yeorok’s lips were more chapped than before. He only gelt even more confused.

“Hey… you should take care of yourself. Your face looks terrible.”

Yeorok sneered at that. Even quick-witted Seo Taehwa could not imagine the reason for his condition. That was how unthinkable it was that Yeorok and Sim Eunho were entangled with each other.

***

“……”

Eunho had been struggling with the dildo since early morning.

Taking it out and sitting down at the table had been fine. He had gotten used to its grotesque shape after seeing it again and again. But he had no idea how he was supposed to use it.

“Haa.” Eunho exhaled and grabbed the dildo with both hands. Its overly realistic look made his eyebrows furrow. Could it even fit in his mouth? Its size already made his vision darken.

He stuck out his tongue with courage. As soon as he took the tip into his mouth, he smelled the rubbery scent unique to silicone. Even though he had scrubbed it with detergent until it squeaked, the smell would not go away.

At least it felt reassuring that it was not real. With his brow furrowed, Eunho sucked harder on the dildo. The tough elasticity of the rubber and its bitter taste spread unpleasantly through his mouth.

Even though saliva dripped as he worked hard, he could tell his skill was nowhere near enough. He looked at the laptop on the table. On the screen was Choi Yoonho’s sex video, paused. He had deliberately left it on the scene where Choi Yoonho was sucking a cock.

In the video, Choi Yoonho’s face was almost pressed against the groin of the other man. He was not just taking the tip but swallowing all the way to the root.

Could that be possible? Eunho could not believe it even while seeing it. The scene was so bizarre that instead of disgust, curiosity took over. The length he had managed to put in was barely five centimeters. Even that made saliva spill uncontrollably, but how on earth had Choi Yoonho taken that entire thing into his mouth?

Eunho shoved the dildo in a little deeper. The rubber touched his throat and he immediately coughed out and his gag reflex kicked in. Of course, it was not possible.

“…Hoo.”

After barely catching his breath, he rubbed his saliva-smeared mouth with the back of his hand. Just from his throat being poked a little, the corners of his eyes felt hot. He could not cry over something like this. He put the dildo back into his mouth again and sucked. But the more he tried, the more his self-loathing grew.

“What do I do….”

Eunho gave up and dropped the dildo.

While he lay slumped over the table, wasting time, the doorbell rang with a ding-dong.

Eunho slowly lifted his head from where it rested on his arm. It was the first time he heard the bell in this house. That only made him more puzzled, since Yeorok and Secretary Hong always came and went like ghosts.

He stood up and walked to the wall pad attached to the living room wall. As soon as he saw the face on the screen, his eyes went wide as bowls.