45 – TDG 45

Han ​Ji-hyuk ​being ​angry ​at me was ​a ​situation ​I ​was ​completely unused to, but ​I ​bit my lip ​and calmed my ​heart. ​There ​must ​be ​a ​reason. If I ​kept ​poking ​and asking why ​when someone was in ​the middle ​of a ​fit of ​rage, it ​might ​backfire, ​so I decided ​to leave ​him alone for a ​day.

On my way back, ​I returned the rental ​car and ​picked ​up my own car after the ​repairs at the service ​center ​were ​finished. ​I ​stole another glance ​at my ​phone, ​but Ji-hyuk still ​hadn’t ​contacted me. Carrying a heavy ​heart, I ​headed ​home.

Returning to my ​room ​after ​a ​long ​time, it ​felt ​as unfamiliar ​as when I first possessed this body.

Until ​now, I had ​been confident that ​a double-sized bed was ​plenty, but ​now it felt ​dreadfully ​narrow. I turned ​the ringer up ​to the ​maximum ​so I ​wouldn’t ​miss a ​call ​from Ji-hyuk ​and ​went ​into the bathroom, ​but ​the phone ​didn’t ​ring ​once ​until I finished washing up and came out.

I took pajamas out of the closet, dried my hair, and climbed into bed. I tossed and turned, eventually pulling the duvet over my head, but sleep wouldn’t come. I felt empty, as if there were a hole in my heart.

“Good morning!”

“Good… morning….”

Senior Seon Jae-young stopped waving his hand and frowned.

“What’s with that look? You look like you’re half-dead.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night….”

In the end, I hadn’t slept a wink all night. My phone had been as silent as if it were turned off.

“A young punk with no spirit. Withering away just because he missed one night of sleep.”

Senior Soo-jeong, who had approached stealthily, pinched the back of Senior Jae-young’s head as if she were plucking it, clicking her tongue.

“Ow! What are you doing?!”

“That’s the price for talking like a kkondae when you’re thirty-three yourself.”

“Kkondae?! How is that being a kkondae!”

“The fact that you even think that makes you a perfectly fine kkondae.”

As the two bickered, they received a call at the same time. Senior Soo-jeong spoke to me while changing into her heels.

“Ho-jin is on a business trip, so he’ll be back tomorrow. We’re heading out too. Bye-bye, Ah-yoon!”

Once the seniors left, only Jung Ah-yoon and I remained in the office. I naturally turned toward her and spoke.

“You must have been very surprised yesterday. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. I was fine. It seems like you’re the one who couldn’t sleep, Seonbae.”

“…Haha. It just happened that way. Do you want some coffee?”

“I’d love some. I’ll make it.”

Now, what are you talking about? As a man, I should be the one making the coffee. Hurriedly overtaking her to run to the pantry, I handed her a carefully brewed cup of coffee first. Jung Ah-yoon took the coffee with a shy smile. After watching that smile for a moment, I spoke first.

“You know, Ah-yoon-ssi. About yesterday.”

“Yes…?”

Jung Ah-yoon’s almond-shaped eyes sparkled with an innocent light as she looked at me.

I frantically fidgeted with the coffee cup in my hand.

‘How was Han Ji-hyuk yesterday? He’s a really cool and strong man, right? Did your heart flutter even a little? I’m asking from a romantic perspective, obviously.’

It was a question where personal desire was far too blatant. While I held onto stolen contentthe last thread of my reason and refined the words in my mouth so as not to sound rude, an [Read on Read BL Novels]unfamiliar melody drifted in from stolen contentsomewhere. It was the ringtone from Jung Ah-yoon’s phone.

“One moment. I have a call.”

She asked for my understanding and reached for her phone.

“Yeah. I’m at the office. Why? Oh my, darling, you really….”

The coffee I was drinking surged back up my throat.

“Cough!”

…What did she just say?

‘Darling…?’

Whether from what she heard over the receiver, she smiled happily with a flushed face.

“Yeah, me too. See you after work.”

After hanging up, Jung Ah-yoon sat facing me again.

“Seonbae?”

My mind, which had drifted far away, snapped back. Startled, I jumped and ended up spilling my coffee.

“Ah, hot!”

“Oh my! Are you okay?!”

As I accidentally dropped the cup and clutched my burned wrist, a startled Jung Ah-yoon opened her tumbler and poured the water inside on it.

“I-I’m okay. It had cooled down a bit….”

“No, you can’t. It’s a burn.”

Jung Ah-yoon shook her head firmly and took a handkerchief out of her bag. She soaked it with the remaining water and carefully wrapped it around the affected area. Once the coldness touched my skin, the heat definitely subsided.

Tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, she murmured in a regretful tone.

“I hope your pretty hands don’t get scarred.”

“A man’s hands aren’t pretty….”

Jung Ah-yoon’s eyes widened.

“Oh? No, they are. If I hadn’t met you here, I would have thought you were a pianist. Your skin is fair, and your fingers are so straight and long; they look so elegant whenever you bend or move them.”

I rubbed my hand awkwardly at the sudden [Read on Read BL Novels]shower of praise. No matter how pretty a man’s stolen contenthands are, could they compare to a woman’s?

While some people make even the same words sound unpleasant, there are people like Jung Ah-yoon who speak in a way that makes the listener feel good without sounding subservient. Truly lovely. I felt I understood why the original Han Ji-hyuk had fallen for her without realizing it, even knowing it was forbidden.

“Just now… Ah-yoon-ssi, the person you’re dating?”

Jung Ah-yoon’s face turned red as a carrot. That alone told me everything. It was a confirmed sentence.

She looked around to make sure no one was listening and spoke cautiously.

“Yes. That’s right. We’ve been together for 13 years.”

13 years. I felt breathless at the sheer length of time.

A partner who had spent nearly half their life together. At that point, wasn’t it practically a common-law marriage?

“Is he an Esper?”

“No. Just an ordinary office worker. We’re the same age, and he’s a very sweet, kind person.”

She listed her boyfriend’s traits in a tone overflowing with affection and happiness. The fresh, youthful love of their adolescence must have ripened and matured over the years. And eventually, he became the person to whom she gave her entire heart.

So, the Jung Ah-yoon in Lost Paradise lost such a person.

“Oh, right. Do you want to see a photo?”

Before I could say that it was okay not to show me a photo, a sweet couple shot was thrust in front of me. I didn’t know Jung Ah-yoon was such a doting partner.

The man hugging her affectionately in the photo was tall with a masculine build and a friendly appearance. As she said, he had gentle eyes that looked kind… they were a perfectly matching pair.

The person I saved.

A strange emotion surged in my chest, [visit our site]and I couldn’t [stolen content]take my [stolen content]eyes off the photo for a long time.

“Your partner’s name is…?”

“Cha Sang-hoon.”

I see, Mr. Cha Sang-hoon.

This time, please live healthily and stay by your lover’s side for a long time.

When Jung Ah-yoon suggested going to lunch, I made an excuse that my stomach felt upset. After pushing her toward the restaurant, telling her not to worry even though she hesitated to leave, I staggered back to my seat and collapsed into the chair. Then, like a madman, I spun the chair around and around, banging my head against the desk every time it came into view.

I wanted to pierce through the ground and sink into the Earth’s mantle.

‘What on earth was I trying to do….’

Jung Ah-yoon originally had a lover. When Han Ji-hyuk visit our sitewent into a massive stolen contentrampage, her family and her ‘lover’ died together. I read it carefully, so why did I forget? How could I remember everything else and forget only that?

I repeatedly wiped my face with my hands and tried to calm my heart with deep breaths.

I stood up, sat down, beat my chest with my fist, and banged my head against the wall…. I paced around the office for a long time like a lunatic. When I remembered all the screw-up attempts, the delusions, and the assumptions I’d made—acting like a loose screw to try and connect Han Ji-hyuk and Jung Ah-yoon, never imagining her lover was alive—I shuddered so much I wanted to kick a blanket that wasn’t even there.

It seemed the impact of the mid-to-late part of the story was too great, so my brain had arbitrarily distorted Jung Ah-yoon’s lover into ‘someone who was dead from the start.’ After that, I had believed with absolute certainty, without a shred of doubt, that Han Ji-hyuk’s destined lover was Jung Ah-yoon.

I felt dizzy. I had almost made a huge mistake. Trying to push another man onto someone who clearly had a boyfriend. How awkward must that have been for Jung Ah-yoon? I’d rather be a nuisance like Jeom-soon than a total nightmare of a senior colleague suggesting a ‘transfer romance’ with a man he introduced. Just thinking about it was horrific. I was too embarrassed to lift my head.

It was a miracle I realized it before saying it. Mr. Cha Sang-hoon, who called at that exact timing…. You truly saved me…. You’re repaying the favor of saving your life so quickly.

However, it wasn’t a time to just relax and feel relieved. It’s great that Jung Ah-yoon’s lover is alive, but then Han Ji-hyuk’s lover’s spot is vacant again. What happens then?

“…Sigh.”

I felt as if I were facing thousands of domino blocks that had collapsed due to a single mistake. I was so stolen contentoverwhelmed I was speechless. Perhaps because [stolen content]I’d been too stressed lately, I even developed stomach pains I’d never had before. Read on Read BL NovelsIn my depression and self-loathing, the speed at which I banged my head against the wall increased.

“What are you doing.”

Caught by a force that suddenly grabbed the scruff of my neck from behind, I was dragged along with my chair and came face-to-face with an unexpected person.

Han Ji-hyuk was glaring down at me with a look of utter disapproval.

“Ji, Ji-hyuk…?”

How did you get here? I hurriedly adjusted my glasses and turned to stand up.

Ji-hyuk crossed his arms and interrogated me.

“Why aren’t you checking your phone.”

Phone?

“Did you… contact me?”

When I checked the phone I had tossed on the desk, a new incoming message notification was in the alert window. It was from an hour ago. That was right when I was in the middle of talking to Jung Ah-yoon. It didn’t come when I was checking desperately, but it always comes at times like this….

Anyway, since he came to visit in person, has his anger subsided a bit?

“I-I’m sorry. I was a bit busy. I was checking it until just now….”

“And what is this?”

Ji-hyuk cut my excuse short and pointed to the handkerchief wrapped around the back of my hand.

“This? Ah-yoon-ssi tied it for me…”

At my thoughtless response, his eyes changed.

“Throw it away. Now.”

Grabbing my hand, he forcibly ripped off the handkerchief and flung it on the floor as if it were a piece of filth.

“? What are you doing?”

Surprised by the excessively rough and rude behavior, I tried to pick it up, but Ji-hyuk kicked the handkerchief away as if he wouldn’t let me. Then, he grabbed my waist, threw me back into the chair, and immediately pinned me into the corner. The sound of the wheels rolling echoed like thunder.

“Stay still.”