CH 10.4

Drip… The sound of his dripping IV echoed through the room. Yaba lowered his raised chin and moved his gaze. His brain was hazy as he could now feel the effect of the medicine. The tongue also settled and remained motionless. The faces of Cha Yiseok and Cha Myunghwan came into view, which gradually became clearer. They neither booed nor applauded. They didn’t even blink like a subject holding a fleeting expression. Maybe it was the eyes of someone who had seen a horror movie. Yaba took a breath and glanced away.

“Okay? I’m going.”

And he walked straight and left the room. There was still no sound of applause, footsteps, or anything else in the room until he went down the stairs through the hallway.

When he went out, it was dark everywhere. He kept coughing mixed with the smell of iron. The Queen of the Night Aria was a high and difficult coloratura that even the world’s best sopranos could ruin their vocal cords, so Cocaine doesn’t even sing it often. It was also impossible to sing the infamous Aria in the original tone. As he did this, his legs trembled, wanting to sit down. He wanted to wash away their strange gazes and the Queen’s vision in the white foam. He also wanted to drink a glass of hot water. He wanted to lie down on a soft spot. All the way down the stairs, Cha Yiseok’s expression from a little while ago shook his brain.

The Doberman barked violently at the sound of footsteps coming out of the door open. Yaba was startled and took a step back. Even if the bodyguard pulled the string, he raised his front paw with the momentum to bite Yaba. He hated dogs that were only stupid and noisy, and dogs that were dirty and smelly. At that moment, his back ran into a wall. It was elastic and warm for a wall.

“Stop.”

A low, firm voice fell over his shoulder. His large hand came out and grabbed Yaba’s arm and turned it around. He creaked like an old iron door as he turned him around. Cha Yiseok filled his field of vision.

He had really strange eyes. He acted as if he were observing a creature that had fallen from another world. Strange places, unfamiliar eyes. Cha Yiseok was unfamiliar today. Maybe since yesterday. His heart could hardly calm down and his whole body was trembling. Then he relaxed his expression and opened his mouth.

“Anyway, I don’t know…”

He closed his mouth again. Yaba’s facial muscles were twitching under the other’s heavy stare. He said briefly.

“Going to the store?”

Cha Yiseok immediately dragged Yaba to the garage and climbed into the driver’s seat. Yaba answered while walking in the opposite direction.

“No. I will go home.”

How was my song? Wasn’t it awkward? If not… He didn’t want to hear anything grandiose, he just wanted to know what it was like. All of a sudden, Yaba was sat in the passenger seat after contemplating whether to get on the passenger seat or the back seat. As he closed the door, three blue sheets of paper were placed on Yaba’s thigh. When he turned his gaze, Cha Yiseok was folding his wallet.

“I’ll pay for the labor in the future. If the boss takes it, tell me.”

Yaba’s eyes darkened. It was the same place as yesterday, the same color check. Last night’s kiss was like a check. Then the check was a kiss. So Cha Yiseok was kissing him now. Yaba folded the blue paper in half and put it in his pants pocket. And he threw his gaze outward. Beads of sweat dripped from his hair, stinging his eyes. Cha Yiseok said suddenly.

“Mask… If it’s stuffy, take it off.”

Yaba was fiddling with his mask with a terrifying heart. What did he think when he saw this face?

“It’s not stuffy.”

“I am stuffy.”

Cha Yiseok said without skipping a beat. Yaba didn’t give up either.

“What are you feeling stuffy about? If anything it should be me.”

“Okay. You’re feeling stuffy, so take it off.”

“I didn’t say it was stuffy.”

“Didn’t you just say it was stuffy?”

“When did I?”

The corners of his lips drew a smooth curve. It was then that Yaba realized that he had been caught in his teasing. He kept his mouth shut and glared at the man’s sharp profile. Yeah, his soul almost melted on those lips last night. When he became conscious of it, a fever rose on his skin.

At that moment, Cha Yiseok suddenly stretched out his arm to Yaba. Yaba was startled and leaned his back against the corner of the chair. His hand slipped behind Yaba’s head, and then reappeared, holding a seat belt. Cha Yiseok fastened his belt and raised his eyebrows.

“Did you think I was going to take it off?”

Yaba didn’t answer and just blinked in surprise.

“Even if I put up with your claws, I can’t move if your hand is near the mask.”

Cha Yiseok smiled as he watched the wild cat with his mouth tightly shut. He stared into the opaque eyes that lined up under the mask hole, then placed one hand on his steering wheel and started the engine. He glanced away. Confirming the safety of his mask, Yaba rubbed his sweat-soaked face with a baggy shirt. His cheeks and the nape of his neck were all covered in sweat, but he never took off the mask.

The beautiful side line and red lips hidden by the mask bound Cha Yiseok’s gaze. Even though he obviously wanted to avert his eyes. Cha Yiseok suppressed the urge to tear off the ivory-colored mask. With his veins bulging out, he twisted the gear and pulled it. Compared to his rough hand movements, the car body glided gently through the garage.

Cha Yiseok rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he drove. His spine throbbed from how tense he was the whole time he listened to the song. Yaba was always behind Cocaine, so he assumed that he had a futile skill. This was another shock. The splitting headache that he had suffered a while ago disappeared.

While Cocaine had a voice that healed and caressed like a soft bubble, Yaba had a gloomy and muddy voice like a deep sea heart. If Cocaine had a pure tone like a flute, he was a gray cello. Maybe like an ice pick… It was chilling as the guy sang.

He wiped the flesh inside his mouth with his tongue. When the song stopped, a vague thirst flooded in. Thirst to hear it again, even if he forcefully opened his mouth if he refused to sing. However, there was no doubt that this thirst was an extension of last night. The fire that had stood in Cha Yiseok’s eyes blew out the last light and disappeared.