By Zephyria 
Since he’d been caught anyway, there was no need to be cautious. Throughout the auction, Gyu-oh kept his eyes not on the items, but on a familiar back of the head. All he did was add to the headcount to drive up the auction prices. Most of the items were knocked down to Mu-gyeong, and the three-hour event finally ended.
Amidst the crowd leaving the auction house, Gyu-oh couldn’t take his eyes off that neat back of the head. Since he had to pretend not to be in the party with anyone other than Hong-ju, he had no choice but to watch from a distance.
Actually, he could have endured this much, but a man who was subtly talking to Min-ho was grating on his nerves. The guy in the sharp suit had been grinning and talking to Min-ho ever since they bumped shoulders. What really bothered him was that Cha Min-ho was smiling back.
He was probably just engaging in brief small talk while apologizing, and since he couldn’t respond coldly to someone speaking with a smile, he was just playing along… but in Gyu-oh’s eyes, it looked like nothing more than a handsome bum making a move. By this point, the suspicion that the bump wasn’t an accident but intentional was boiling over.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“……Oh, I am.”
He moved his feet slowly, keeping his gaze fixed ahead. It was then that he reached the entrance of the hall.
“Oh? Aren’t you Gyu-jong-ssi?”
“……Ah?”
A woman approached, patting his arm warmly with a bright smile. Gyu-jong? It was a name he had been called once, but perhaps because he had infiltrated so many places, he was now at the point of confusion.
If Min-ho had been by his side, he would have told him the timing. Since Hong-ju was the only person he could trust, he lightly grabbed the edge of his clothes, signaling for help, but Hong-ju only gave him a cold, indifferent glance before disappearing toward where Mu-gyeong was.
Wow, that chestnut has grown a lot. He even knows how to blow someone off.
Meanwhile, the familiar heads were now mixed in the crowd and were no longer clearly visible.
“It’s been a while. I don’t think you’ve been coming to the golf course lately.”
I’m screwed. I really don’t know who this is.
“Pardon? Golf? Ahaha, it’s a bit crowded in here, so I can’t hear you well.”
“Exactly. Let’s talk outside. What items did you come to see today?”
Perhaps the relationship hadn’t been that bad, as the woman continued to talk as if she were truly glad to see him. Who is it, who is it, who is it? No matter how much he racked his brain, nothing came to mind. He continued the conversation while awkwardly slowing his pace at the end of the moving crowd.
“I came to see the chandeliers, but the bidding is really heating up.”
Inside, he was extremely flustered and embarrassed, but he tried desperately not to show it. Because the day might come when he has to use the name Gyu-jong again.
“Oh, I just followed along on a whim, so I have no idea how it’s all going. I even dozed off for a bit earlier.”
The woman laughed heartily. Smiling back so as not to make it awkward, Gyu-oh rubbed the nape of his neck and glanced toward the entrance. Most of the people had already left. He licked his lips, thinking about how he wanted to get to the parking lot and see Min-ho’s face.
“By the way, where are your companions?”
“There was something that got knocked down earlier, so they told me to go ahead since it would take a while. Ah, I heard the restaurant on the floor below is famous.”
“Ahhh.”
It meant he had to wait a bit. Gyu-oh dragged out the end of his sentence and quickened his pace. It would have been great to use his companions as an excuse to leave, but the partner who had stayed by his side throughout the auction had already left him heartlessly.
Because the elevators were crowded, his feet naturally led him toward the stairs. In his heart, he wanted to push through the crowd and run down to the car right now. But he couldn’t easily shake off someone who seemed to know him.
Even in a situation where he hadn’t accurately identified the other person’s identity, the conversation flowed naturally.
“I don’t know how to appreciate paintings either, so I just looked around.”
“I wouldn’t even know if a fake was being sold as real. People like me just shouldn’t buy those things at all.”
Just as he was curling his lips in time with the hearty laughter, he felt a piercing gaze from a corner of the first-floor lobby he had just entered. As he shifted his eyes, he saw a familiar face. Standing diagonally with arms crossed at the end of the hallway was Cha Min-ho.
“…….”
He flinched at the gaze that, while devoid of emotion, was persistently fixed on him. It’s not like he was cheating or doing anything that could be misunderstood.
“I, I have companions. I should go.”
“Oh, really?”
After acting so calm the whole time, he ended up flustered by a single glance from Min-ho. Gyu-oh took a few hurried steps.
“I’ll visit you soon. Enjoy your meal.”
“Mm-hmm, go on!”
The woman waved her hand without lingering. As he crossed the hallway with fast steps, Min-ho coldly turned his back.
Fuck, what the hell. I didn’t do anything, so why do I feel like I’m screwed! Biting his lower lip, he increased his speed. He almost ran and barely managed to catch up to Min-ho. As soon as he stood beside him, a calm voice pierced his ear.
“You could have talked more.”
“……I don’t know who it was. I don’t remember. I only talked because she knew me. But even after talking, I really don’t know. I feel like it’s the first time I’ve seen her in my life, but she knows me as Gyu-jong. Who is she? Hyung knows, right?”
He poured out words incoherently while clutching Min-ho’s clothes, so that he couldn’t just turn his back and leave again. Unlike the frantic Gyu-oh, Min-ho was calm and even recognized the mysterious woman who had flustered him in one go.
“She’s the younger sister of the Jeju golf course President.”
“Ah?”
He finally remembered. Since the eldest daughter was the President, most communication went through her, so it was inevitable that the sister’s image was blurry.
“Back then, I told you she seemed interested in you. How could you forget someone like that?”
“…….”
“Aren’t you a complete piece of trash?”
Was that so? Had that happened? When infiltrating, it was important to act in a way that gained the target’s favor, so many people approached him romantically. At the time, it was nothing, but… things are different now. Especially now that Cha Min-ho, who had been simply a close Hyung and colleague, had become his lover.
“Ah, that? Of course that was a lie. Just to pretend I’m popular.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm, actually I lied a lot, didn’t you know? No one showed interest in me while I was working. I almost thought I was a transparent human. Because they ignored me so much.”
Naturally, there was no answer. Passing the elevator and heading down the emergency exit stairs where there were few people, Gyu-oh’s desperate damage control continued.
“She said she was going to the restaurant with her party, so we had a conversation like, what’s famous there… did we?”
“Really? You were smiling so wide I thought you were having a more interesting conversation.”
Min-ho, responding disinterestedly, stepped down the stairs. With every step, his hair fluttered slightly, and his open suit jacket swayed.
“Did I smile? Me? I do have a smiling face, right? But listen, Min-ho-ya—”
Gyu-oh, who had rushed down, blocked the wide-open glass door. Min-ho, who had been staring straight ahead with a deliberately cold expression, left only one word and brushed past him. A very cold wind blew.
“Don’t even speak to me.”
He quickly crossed the door and caught up to Min-ho. He grew anxious at the long strides and the gaze that rarely turned toward him.
It wasn’t simply that he was worried about a misunderstanding, but that he didn’t know what Min-ho was thinking after seeing him with another person of the opposite sex. If he thought, ‘Just meet women like you used to, you looked well-suited,’ it would be a disaster. All the effort he’d put in would crumble.
“I get it, Hyung. Let’s talk the rest in the car.”
As soon as they entered the underground parking lot, musty air poured out, and his throat quickly became scratchy. Gyu-oh quickly pulled down his sleeve and covered Min-ho’s mouth. He didn’t back down, holding onto the back of the head of Min-ho, who was glaring at him as if asking what he was doing.
“There’s too much dust here.”
“…….”
“You’ll sneeze, so just bear with it for a moment, just a moment. Let’s finish talking in the car.”
The gaze of Min-ho, who had stopped walking and was looking up at him, softened slightly. To be precise, it was just that a bit of warmth returned to the eyes that had been cold enough to freeze.
“Now, now, it seems our Hyung has a lot to say, so let’s move quickly, shall we?”
Gyu-oh hurried his pace while keeping Min-ho’s nose and mouth covered. After arriving at the car and putting Min-ho in the driver’s seat, he immediately climbed into the passenger seat. He moved nimbly, fearing Min-ho might leave him behind and drive off.
Thud. As soon as the passenger door closed, his body tilted from the force pulling his shoulder.
“Uh, uh.”
At the same time he felt his body turn toward the driver’s seat, a hot breath approached. Then, a soft tongue pushed through the gap of his stupidly parted lips.
Though he was flustered by the sudden kiss, he naturally turned his body and reached out. He slid his fingers through Min-ho’s hair, caressed his cheek, and entwined their wet tongues. Min-ho had started it, but the initiative had already passed to Gyu-oh.