By Zephyria Thanks to Sung Se-han bracing himself on the floor and looking down, the lighting was completely blocked. My vision was filled only with Sung Se-han, backlit.
“What are you going to do if someone touches you?”
I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Like when he kissed my neck and lips, Sung Se-han’s brown eyes were gleaming with a strange light.
There was a limit to pretending to be okay in front of those eyes. My chest, rising and falling rapidly, and my rough breathing were telling the truth.
“Tae-kyung, I want to do whatever I want with you.”
Sung Se-han asked, cupping my left cheek with his large hand. The thumb rubbing against my lips was blatant.
“Then tell me what you’re going to do.”
Sung Se-han wore a confident smile. As if he knew everything, that he could manipulate me as much as he wanted, no matter what I said.
“Then, Sung Se-han, you’ll just remain an selfish bastard to me.”
Sung Se-han’s eyes made my breathing heavy and my body hot, but my mind cooled down.
If you don’t care if I get hurt, then do whatever you want.
I can’t put up with a guy who has several layers of hard shell around himself and is trying to check out my naked body without hesitation forever.
If I give him everything without anything left for myself, I won’t be able to stay by Sung Se-han’s side in the end.
If I want to stay by his side, even as a friend, I have to keep my balance from now on.
While I was looking for a way to make myself a little more comfortable, Sung Se-han was staring at my face with those seething eyes.
“Lee Tae-kyung.”
His subdued voice focused all my nerves. I held my breath and looked up at Sung Se-han. The only thing that shone in his shadowed face was his brown eyes.
“The only way I can’t hurt you is to stay away from you.”
What…? I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I felt it instinctively. The words Sung Se-han just said were not light.
“But I don’t want to. The last year and five months have been hard enough.”
“Huh… huh?”
My eyes grew wider and wider with surprise.
“Then there’s only one option left. To risk hurting you.”
My heart, which was already beating fast, began to beat even louder. Sung Se-han was talking about his hidden feelings. Just this fact made it hard to breathe.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but the conclusion was already set.”
Sung Se-han looked down at me with softer eyes.
“Tae-kyung, I’m going to keep you by my side. Even if you hate it….”
“I don’t hate it!”
I jumped up and grabbed Sung Se-han’s shirt. I fumbled several times in my haste.
“Sung Se-han, you really don’t know anything. I have nothing more to be hurt by.”
If you knew that I went to your funeral, you’d probably faint. I just felt frustrated that I couldn’t say this.
“Se-han, tell me anything. Don’t just say I’m precious to you….”
I was startled by the sudden words and covered my mouth. My face flushed with embarrassment and bewilderment because I had said something that I hadn’t even heard directly from Sung Se-han.
Sung Se-han’s mouth opened and a pleasant smile flowed out.
“So you knew I thought you were precious to me.”
I couldn’t look Sung Se-han in the eye and just crumpled the hem of his shirt.
“Get up.”
Sung Se-han grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Sung Se-han, who steadied me as I staggered from getting up so suddenly, picked up my T-shirt and put it on me.
“Let’s go. I’ll introduce you.”
“Huh?”
While I was still dazed, Sung Se-han took my hand and left the room.
“Who are you introducing me to?”
In the middle of the hallway, there was a folding door that divided the space. Sung Se-han opened the door and walked into the master zone, answering.
“Someone precious to me.”
Hesitation. I stopped walking, and Sung Se-han turned to look at me.
Kang Robin, who is precious to Sung Se-han. I couldn’t easily sort out my complicated thoughts. Sung Se-han smiled gently at my stiff face.
“My father.”
The shock wasn’t great, as if I had faced something I had expected. Rather, Sung Se-han’s bright, childlike smile came as a greater surprise.
“How old was Kang Robin when he had you….”
Sung Se-han took a step closer to me as I muttered with a blank face.
“I met him when I was sixteen and he had me.”
Sung Se-han called his mother “him.” My heart sank at his instantly cold gaze.
“Tae-kyung.”
I almost stepped back without realizing it, but Sung Se-han’s hand, which was holding mine so I couldn’t run away, tightened its grip.
“I’ll tell you everything you’ve been wondering about, one by one.”
The words I had wanted to hear so much came out of Sung Se-han’s mouth, but I couldn’t answer easily. It was because of the eyes that were gleaming and scanning me.
“Then it’s not selfish to do whatever you want with me?”
Sung Se-han grabbed me as I tried to step back in embarrassment.
“You can’t run away now.”
“Hey, wait! Sung Se-han…!”
Knock. Knock. Knock. There was no separate entrance to the master zone. Sung Se-han knocked in the space with paintings and cabinets on both sides, and a reply soon came.
“Come in.”
Before I had time to prepare myself, I was led into Kang Robin’s bedroom by Sung Se-han’s hand. I looked around the large bedroom filled with mahogany furniture, and Kang Robin walked out of the bathroom on the left.
“Se-han, I thought you were putting Lee Tae-kyung to bed, so I thought we could….”
Kang Robin, who was walking towards us wearing a gown and a towel on his head, stopped when he saw me, as if he had just finished showering.
“Have a drink together.”
Kang Robin looked back and forth between me and Sung Se-han and let out a hollow laugh.
“You guys are funny, anyway. What are you doing holding hands so tightly?”
I pulled my hand out of Sung Se-han’s grasp and bowed deeply.
“Hello.”
“How many times are you going to say hello in one day?”
Kang Robin took the towel off his head and threw it on the side table. Sung Se-han, who had been silent until then, looked at me.
“It’s the first time I’m greeting him as a friend’s father.”
“Are you going to be my spokesperson and Lee Tae-kyung’s spokesperson? Sung Se-han must be busy?”
Kang Robin didn’t hide the fact that he was in a bad mood and expressed it with a cold expression and tone.
“Hyung.”
Sung Se-han raised the corners of his lips and smiled.
“I wanted to show Hyung to Tae-kyung. Does Hyung not like it?”
“Wow. Look at what my son is saying.”
Kang Robin let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded. I couldn’t shake off the dazed feeling even with the two of them in front of me.
This person, Kang Robin, was Sung Se-han’s father.
It was somewhat amazing and unbelievable, but on the other hand, it felt very natural.
Now that I see it, Sung Se-han’s long eyes and light-colored eyes were just like Kang Robin’s. His voluminous hair, too…. No, more than anything, I wondered why I hadn’t noticed until now that their overall physique and atmosphere were so similar.
“Sung Se-han, what’s wrong with your lips?”
My heart skipped a beat, so I pursed my lips that had been open. Right. I can’t keep pretending I don’t know about punching Sung Se-han.
“It’s nothing. I just bumped into something.”
“You bumped into something and your lip burst?”
At the same time as Kang Robin raised his eyebrows, I stepped forward.
“I, I did it! I hit him….”
Kang Robin shook his head as if he was dumbfounded.
“Not anywhere else, but the face of all places.”
“I didn’t mean to hit his face… I just did it unconsciously… I’m really sorry…!”
I was so ashamed that my head went further and further down.
It was really reckless to throw a punch so carelessly. I should have been more careful even if I was angry…!
“Hyung.”
Sung Se-han put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in. I was so surprised to be suddenly hugged that I looked up at Sung Se-han in surprise.
“I was taking Tae-kyung’s clothes off and accidentally got hit.”
“Hey, Sung Se-han…!”
I let my guard down. I didn’t know Sung Se-han would say such embarrassing things.
“I’m going crazy…! You, are you bragging about that?”
I was so embarrassed and ashamed that I tried to shake off Sung Se-han’s arm, but I couldn’t do it.
“I’m telling the truth.”
He wouldn’t let go of my shoulder, so I couldn’t argue in front of Kang Robin. I was really at a loss.
“Lee Tae-kyung.”
My shoulders flinched at Kang Robin’s heavy voice.
Kang Robin, who was sitting on the side table, was watching us. With his light-colored eyes gleaming coldly.
“I don’t think I can talk to Se-han, so I’ll talk to you.”
“Hyung.”
Sung Se-han’s head tilted slightly. There was still a smile on the corner of his lips, but he didn’t look like he was smiling at all.
“If you have something to say, say it to me.”
Kang Robin’s gaze turned to Sung Se-han, and a sense of tension flowed for a moment. I was dizzy with worry that an argument might break out.
“Then listen to both of you.”
Kang Robin continued, with his arms crossed.
“I know you two care about each other, but it’s not good to get too close. Be satisfied with being a supportive friend from a distance. I’m telling you this for your own good.”
Be satisfied with being supportive friends from a distance. Kang Robin must have noticed the feelings I had for Sung Se-han and said this.