CH 14

An upstanding deputy prosecutor with a lifelong blemish of being the son-in-law of a chaebol who owns a department store in Seoul, his father took action when he discovered his child’s violent tendencies. He never forgave him for playing fast and loose with his head and forced him to be honest.

Under relentless pressure, Se-kyung didn’t stray, but he didn’t submit either. Under the shadow of his parents, the nature that had been suppressed and held in check was in danger of bursting out at any moment.

The seemingly mature Se-kyung was immature.

-Smart.

The knock was soft. Se Kyung got up and walked to the door. The room was soundproofed, so what she said inside didn’t reach outside. As he turned the knob, his irritation faded into a polite smile.

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“What’s going on?”

The maid, who knew Se-kyung hated disturbance, fidgeted with her clasped hands. When she came out of the room, she was relieved to see that Se-kyung’s expression wasn’t terrible, and he smiled. However, she still couldn’t keep her hands still and rubbed her forearms. Upon closer inspection, the maid’s forearms were covered in goosebumps.

“Se Kyung’s friend is here.”

“At this hour?”

Se Kyung checked his room’s silent clock. It was too late for him to be here without calling ahead. Se Kyung’s parents hadn’t yet returned from a couple’s get-together, and the maid took out his anxiety.

“It’s weird. When I ask who it is, he just says it’s a friend of Se Kyung’s, but I think there’s something wrong. He’s soaking wet in this weather without an umbrella…. I think Se Kyung should look.”

In this cold and rainy weather, it was not unusual to call the police if the person was soaked and unable to communicate. Se Kyung thought about it, but none of his contacts came to him in the middle of the night in the rain.

“I’ll go out, you stay here.”

“Will you?”

The beaming maid handed Se-kyung her a long umbrella as she put on her coat and walked out. As she passed through the front door, he turned on the intercom to see who claimed to be his friend in the middle of the night. The furrows in his brow deepened. Se-kyung instantly recognized the person cowering outside the gate.

Song Yi-heon. Se-kyung remembered the boy who was outed at school for liking him. He wondered if this was the kind of thing that would make him run out in the rain without an umbrella.

He couldn’t believe he was staring at him so blatantly without even thinking about getting caught. It was unexpected that Hong Jae-min had spread the rumor without her knowledge, but he assumed he would be found out at some point. Sometimes Song Yi-heon’s gaze makes his pores tingle.

Se-kyung, who had been subjected to his unrelenting gaze for two years, disliked the visit.

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He descended the stairs at the end of the garden, stepping on the stepping stones to keep his shoes from getting wet from the rain. Through the gate gap below, he could see Song Yi-heon sheltering from the rain under the eaves. He didn’t recognize him from the intercom, but the housekeeper was right, he was wearing only a white nightgown. The pajamas were soaked and clinging to his skin, making his pale complexion nearly unrecognizable.

Song Yi-heon’s senses were frozen, and he shivered, not realizing Se-kyung had arrived.

As he folded his long umbrella and opened the gate, a sensor detected Choi Se-kyung and turned on the light. Only then did Song Yi-heon turn his head. Through his wet, split hair, he could see part of his face, which he usually covers with bangs. He wanted to look, but at that moment, the sensor light went off, plunging him into darkness.

“Ha.”

Se-kyung sighed. Song Yiheon’s shoulders slumped in fear. With his head down like a mouse in the rain, he had neither the heart nor the energy to ask questions. Choi Se-kyung took off his coat and put it around Song Yi-heon’s shoulders.

The warmth reduced Song’s shivering. When he calmed down, she asked.

“What happened?”

“…….”

Running through the rain in only his pajamas, Song Yi-heon was silent as he stood before Choi Se-kyung. Time had passed, and the wind was cold. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see his nap moving beneath his coat collar. The coat kept him warm, but it didn’t dry his clothes and warm up. If we talked in here, we’d be invoiced, so Se-kyung pushed open the gate.

“Let’s go inside. Wash up and call home.”

But Song Yi-heon didn’t budge. He couldn’t look Choi Se-kyung straight in the eye, his eyes scanning the floor darkness. Se-kyung waited patiently; his life had been a lifetime of repression, and he could wait for Song Yi-heon to make up his mind.

Finally, Song Yi-heon raised his head. Even in the darkness of the silhouetted figure, there was determination.

“…You know who I am?”

It was one of his most courageous days.

He had been sleepwalking and running out of his house for a while. He wasn’t surprised to wake up in his pajamas and barefoot on the street. It seemed like a natural part of my day. I felt like my stomach was about to explode. I was frustrated, frustrated, frustrated, frustrated. The days grew longer and longer.

That day was also a normal day. It was just one of those days when he barely held on to a piece of paper in apathy. However, he didn’t know where the urge came from. Maybe it was because he was near Choi Se-kyung’s house. A place he sneaked over to when he knew the address. Song stood in the rain for a long time, and then impulsively walked in the soaked ground. With unfocused, bleary eyes, he rang the doorbell.

He didn’t know what he wanted to do, and even as he rang the bell, he wondered why he had called Choi Se-kyung. As he watched Choi Se-kyung emerge from the house, he instinctively realized why he had rung the doorbell.

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“You’re playing with people. You’re not sincere. You’re playing with people’s feelings.”

When his fake smile faded, his emotionless eyes dried. After two years of unrequited love, Song Yi-heon saw Choi Se-kyung for who he really was. Standing in the center of the crowd when no one looked at him, his eyes became numb.

‘Once I became conscious of it, I could see Se Kyung’s nature everywhere. The fake kindness, the moderation and reluctance, the annoyance after rejecting someone genuine.’

Despite not knowing him true nature, he liked Choi Se-kyung and fell in love with him. Unlike Yi-heon, who was swayed by his surroundings, it seemed cool to handle things skillfully and control the situation. There was also a sense of superiority. Yi-heon felt like he was the only one who knew him.

But unrequited love is something you have to allow. After being bullied and outed by Hong Jae Min’s gang, Song Yi-Heon was backed into a corner. In a life where every day is hell, unrequited love has dried up. It was a survival instinct to wield love as a weapon.

Song Yi-heon wanted to use his beloved Choi Se-kyung to escape his living hell.

“If you don’t do what I say, I’ll expose you, I’ll tell. They’ll all be creeped out by you.”

Song Yi-heon trembled like an aspen tree at the gutsy threat. He glanced over to see Choi Se-kyung’s reaction. As the knit-covered chest pads pressed closer, Song stepped backwards and hit the wall.

Trapped between the cold wall and the intimidating chest patch, Song’s jaw and lips trembled.

“Yi Heon, if you need help, ask for it. Don’t make me feel guilty like this.”

The pithy remark brought on an adrenaline rush. As Yi-heon’s body heated up, a chill ran through me. His wet coat turned icy cold.

Yes, Se Kyung was right, he needed help, help to get out of this nightmarish reality. However, Song Yi Heon, who had never received help before, didn’t know what he needed. Only when he was corrected did he realize what a pathetic thing he had done, how insane it was.

‘I’m embarrassed.’

Song Yi Heon felt even more humiliated than when he almost was robbed by Hong Jae Min in front of Choi Se Kyung.

“…….”

A shiver ran down his spine that didn’t compare to shivering in the rain. He twisted his body to escape between the wall and his chest pocket. He was so embarrassed he couldn’t lift his head.

“Song Yi-heon.”

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Se-kyung grabbed Song’s shoulder, and he squirmed to break free. A scuffle broke out. Moonlight leaked through the rain clouds as Song Yi-heon grabbed his shoulders and pinned him down. Song Yiheon’s face was stained with tears as he trembled like a corpse.

His eyes were filled with despair, regret, and futility. In Se-kyung’s heart, a single tear of resentment left a deep mark.

Stunned by the man’s despair, Se Kyung was dazed. However, Song Yi-Heon shook off the arm that held his shoulder and ran off.

“Hey……!”

Se-kyung tried to catch him, but all that remained in his hand was his coat, which was soaked in rainwater.

Song Yi-heon hurried into the rain, and Se-kyung followed, barely opening his umbrella. But he couldn’t catch Song Yi-heon as he rushed through the neighborhood at night, running like a maniac. Se-kyung ran as hard as he could, but the silhouette in his white pajamas grew smaller.

Rainwater obscured his vision and wet lashes stung his eyes. After a few blinks, Song Yi-heon was taken away. Se Kyung’s loose knit absorbed rainwater, adding weight. When they stopped under a streetlight, Se-kyung shouted.

“I’ll help you, I’ll help you. Come out!”

But the torrential downpour covered Song’s tracks, but also drowned out Choi’s voice. Using the light from street lamps, Se-kyung looked everywhere. The end of the alleyway, which had been torn into several branches, was clumped together in darkness like a man-eating monster.

“Song Yi-heon!”

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Se Kyung became impatient. He breathed heavily and called out again, but neither Song Yi-heon nor anyone else in the residential neighborhood responded.

No one else existed in the rain that pelted her skin. That night, Choi Se-kyung never found Song Yi-heon on the overpass.