RB 92

After washing Eunho’s skin until it turned red, Yeorok turned him around. He started to check his condition. He looked to see if any shirt buttons had come undone, and if his eyes looked normal. He even held Eunho’s chin and lifted his lips. The wet lips smelled strongly of alcohol.

“What… are you doing?”

The more Yeorok acted like this, the more confusion filled Eunho’s eyes. Yeorok, who was acting like a madman, was starting to scare him.

“Did those bastards touch you anywhere?”

Yeorok asked briefly. Rage boiled inside his black eyes. If anyone had touched Eunho, he looked ready to strip him naked and wash him here.

“I asked where they touched you.”

“No one touched me.”

“Is that true?”

“You came in before anything happened. No, more than that.”

As he spoke, he pushed away the hand that was holding him. Yeorok let go more easily than he expected. Eunho frowned as he rubbed his wrist. The rough grip still lingered as an ache.

“Do you even know what you just did?”

He had to make the facts clear. The one who ruined this job wasn’t him. It was Choi Yeorok.

Eunho had done his best. If Yeorok hadn’t dragged him out, he would have kept acting.

“I did what you told me to. What’s wrong this time?”

Eunho lowered his voice as much as he could so no one could hear, but his tone was fierce. His chest felt tight with frustration. More than anything, he hated himself for feeling happy just because he could still look at Yeorok even in a moment like this.

“……”

Yeorok didn’t answer and only continued staring at him. Tired of talking to himself, Eunho looked at his face.

“Are you drunk?”

“It would be better if I were.”

Yeorok sighed with his head lowered. When he lifted it again, his expression looked complicated. He even seemed angry.

“Don’t mix with them.”

“…Didn’t you teach me sex so I could do exactly that? You said to act depraved like Choi Yoonho when I meet those people.”

“……”

“Why are you doing this to me!? You should at least tell me why!”

“Just do what I tell you.”

He said each word slowly, almost biting them out. Yeorok’s orders always had a reason. But now there was none. It was nothing but stubbornness.

“I don’t want to.”

“Sim Eunho-ssi.”

“I went through all that for this!”

Eunho shouted. Memories of his past effort came rushing back. He could no longer contain the resentment he had buried deep inside. His wide eyes turned red as if tears would spill at any moment.

“When I begged you that I was scared and that I didn’t want it, you ignored me. In the end, I gave you my body and even my heart, and you threw me away because you didn’t need me anymore… And now you tell me to stop? Why, do you suddenly pity me?”

“……”

“How am I supposed to know when you’ll change your mind again. Today you tell me not to, and next time you’ll push me into it again? That’s what hurts me more. I’d rather end it right now.”

He no longer expected anything from Choi Yeorok. Every time he put even a small hope in his sympathy, he ended up disappointed and hurt again.

Eunho pushed Yeorok. He used the little space that opened and turned toward the door. But before he could take a step, Yeorok caught his shoulder and pulled him back.

Eunho was about to shout again but stopped. Yeorok had an expression he had never seen before. His pale skin had lost all composure and was filled only with anxiety. Without warning, Yeorok pulled Eunho into his arms.

“Calm down… Just stay with me for a while.”

He said that, but it was Yeorok who needed calming down. His breathing was uneven, and Eunho could feel his heart pounding against his own chest. Even the arms wrapped around his back were trembling slightly.

Eunho’s mind suddenly went blank. He couldn’t even try to understand Yeorok. His strength drained away, and his body went limp.

“I… really don’t know. What is it that you want from me?”

After a long silence, Yeorok answered.

“I don’t know either.”

He dropped his face onto Eunho’s shoulder and tightened his arms around him. It felt like he would never let go.

Yeorok’s body smelled subtly of sweat, unlike usual. The back of his neck, stiff from holding in emotion, radiated heat. His wrinkled shirt and crooked tie were nothing like the composed Choi Yeorok Eunho knew.

They stayed that way for a while. Eunho remained still in his arms and thought. Maybe he was the strange one. He kept imagining things that didn’t make sense, even though Yeorok had cast him off only a few days ago.

“Chairman. Do you like me?”

“……”

Yeorok remained silent. Eunho already knew he wouldn’t answer, but he tried again.

“You came because you couldn’t stop thinking about me, right?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t like that I was going to sleep with someone else?”

“……”

Yeorok answered by tightening his arms around him. It was a clear yes. Eunho laughed. He couldn’t believe it. He was surprised, and it also felt empty.

“That means you like me.”

Yeorok slowly lifted his head. His pale face looking confused.

“I like you?”

Eunho slowly reached out and brushed back his messy bangs. How could he not know, when he didn’t even pull away from his touch.

Eunho didn’t think that every moment he had spent with Choi Yeorok had been a lie. There had been the pretext of education, but whenever their bare skin touched, he had felt that he became a little special. When they spent time together, even when they talked about meaningless things, he felt the same. That was why he had helplessly been drawn toward Yeorok.

It had not been a one-sided exchange. The person involved still could not accept that fact.

“That day… why did you say that? Were you being sincere?”

“……”

“Do you still want to stay away from me?”

Yeorok sighed, he furrowed his brows and spoke.

“You avoided me on purpose.”

“……”

“I did everything I could to make you lose all feeling for me.”

Yeorok wiped the sweat from his forehead. He finally confessed the truth he had been hiding.

“But I ended up like this. I keep thinking about you, and when I imagine you sleeping with other men, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind. It’s the first time I can’t control my own thoughts, and it confuses me.”

It showed. The Choi Yeorok now looked lost in turmoil. The man who had always been like a statue, never showing emotion, finally looked human.

“I don’t know how to like someone, so I can’t be sure what this feeling is.”

“…Why don’t you know?”

“That’s just how I am.”

Yeorok gave a weak smile. He looked a little relieved. After saying everything he had held in, the pressure in his chest had lessened.

Yeorok cupped Eunho’s cheek. No matter how much Sim Eunho dressed like Choi Yoonho and copied him, to Yeorok’s eyes now, he was only Sim Eunho.

It seemed that had been the case for quite a while already.

“I’ll admit it. I hate seeing you with anyone else.”

Eunho’s long eyelashes trembled. Hearing those words directly from him made his chest tighten, even though it didn’t sound like a confession.

“I can’t believe you.”

“Try to.”

Yeorok tilted his head and gently pressed his lips against Eunho’s. It was the most careful kiss they had ever shared. Even the bite on the wet lips was filled with care. Yeorok seemed to be expressing his feelings through the kiss.

The sincerity melted away Eunho’s sadness. He wrapped his arms around Yeorok’s shoulders tightly so he wouldn’t slip away. Their bodies roughly entangled. A moment later, Eunho found himself pressed against the wall under Yeorok’s weight.

As if to make up for all the times he hadn’t touched him, Yeorok caressed Eunho’s cheek and the back of his neck again and again while kissing him. He wedged his knee between Eunho’s legs so he wouldn’t collapse.

Their tongues tangled vigorously between their crushed lips. The kiss was as messy as ever, but it was imbued with a deep longing for each other.

After a long moment, their lips parted. Eunho’s hair and clothes were all disheveled from the sudden kiss. If not for the hazy look in his eyes, he looked like he’d just been scolded by Yeorok.

Yeorok wiped the saliva from Eunho’s mouth with his thumb. He acted calm, but his face was also slightly flushed.

He took a slow breath to calm himself. He tapped Eunho’s cheek lightly and forced his tone into something gentle.

“I’ll go out first, so cool your face and come out after.”

Even as he left the bathroom, Yeorok remembered to lock the door behind him. After he was gone, Eunho slowly moved toward the sink.

He turned on the cold water and began to wash his face. He dried it carefully, each step calm and composed. But soon he grabbed the edge of the sink and sank down to the floor.

“That’s impossible…”

He couldn’t believe that Choi Yeorok had come to him driven by jealousy. His heart felt like it was going to explode.