#95

“…CEO?”

He asked cautiously, but there was no answer. It seemed that, unconsciously, the man had been searching for something cold.

Shin Ho-jae quietly placed his hand against the man’s face, just as he seemed to want. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the labored sound of the man’s breathing seemed to gradually stabilize.

He could see the clumped eyelashes, the sharp bridge of the nose, and the parted lips exhaling softly.

Suddenly, he couldn’t suppress a surging impulse. Ho-jae pulled him into a sudden, tight embrace.

Perhaps he had lost more muscle since the last time they met; the body in his arms felt incredibly small and fragile. Ho-jae tightened his grip, holding him even closer.

A surge of tears welled up. He didn’t know why they kept falling.

Despite having trembled with a sense of betrayal, despite having stormed out of the room consumed by anger, jealousy, and resentment.

Seeing the man who had abandoned him suffering alone should have brought a sense of relief, shouldn’t it?

So why did his heart feel so pitiful and aching?

“……Mr. Shin Ho-jae?”

Then, a small, completely hoarse voice reached him. Shin Ho-jae pulled away from the embrace and looked at Jung-hyun. He saw the whites of the man’s eyes, bloodshot and strained.

“Why are you here, Ho-jae?”

His face hardened frighteningly, as if Ho-jae’s presence here was a grave mistake.

“Were you in the banquet hall? How did you get in?”

“……Is that all you have to say?”

A grumpy tone escaped him involuntarily.

“Was your fiancé Kyung Seung-hee…? You told me before that there was nothing between you.”

His voice was laced with resentment. Jung-hyun merely stared at him with a pallid complexion.

“Say something. ……No, just lie to me instead.”

“…….”

“Just tell me that you weren’t seeing Kyung Seung-hee and me at the same time. Just that one sentence. You can at least do that for me, can’t you?”

Ho-jae pleaded, almost clinging to him. Regardless of the actual truth, it didn’t matter. He just wanted Jung-hyun to lie for his sake. If he did, he felt he could somehow stitch his wounds back together.

However, despite his desperate pleading, Jung-hyun simply turned his head away with a cold expression.

“……Leave before someone sees you.”

“CEO…!”

Ho-jae grabbed his arm and pressed him. Jung-hyun blinked slowly and looked at him.

Ah, for some reason, Ho-jae felt he knew what the man was about to say, and he didn’t want to hear it. But the man spoke quickly.

“Even if I was seeing you both at the same time, so what?”

“…….”

“We weren’t even dating, so don’t you think it’s ridiculous that you’re acting like someone who’s been betrayed?”

“…….”

“…Leave. Right now.”

Ho-jae clenched his fists. Jung-hyun’s attitude was nothing more and nothing less than how one would treat an unwelcome intruder. His chest throbbed. It was almost miraculous that there was still more room in his heart to feel pain.

But one thing became clear. He was nothing to the man anymore.

“Jung-hyun? Are you okay? I’ve called my primary physician.”

Along with the sound of footsteps, a familiar voice arrived. Ms. Seung-hee. Jung-hyun called her name in a voice that was far more composed, calm, and affectionate.

“What is this? Athlete Shin Ho-jae? Don’t tell me Jung-hyun called you? He didn’t, right?”

Kyung Seung-hee recognized Shin Ho-jae’s face and immediately wore a look of displeasure.

“What are you doing? Move out of the way.”

Kyung Seung-hee immediately leaned down and sat beside Jung-hyun. Shin Ho-jae slowly took a step back.

“Jung-hyun, can you stand up? I told them to bring a mobile bed, so don’t overdo it….”

It was as Kyung Seung-hee said this and placed her hand on Jung-hyun’s shoulder. An unpleasant floral scent brushed against his nose. It was the smell of Kyung Seung-hee’s pheromones, which he had encountered once before.

Shin Ho-jae frowned and turned his head. It was painful to watch Kyung Seung-hee boldly coating him in her pheromones, and it was painful to look at Jung-hyun.

Then, suddenly, Jung-hyun brushed off Seung-hee’s touch and leaned his head over the toilet. Soon, the sound of agonizing dry heaves followed.

Kyung Seung-hee stepped back, not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, Jung-hyun continued to struggle in distress.

Unable to endure it any longer, Ho-jae pushed aside the awkwardly standing Kyung Seung-hee and wrapped his arms around Jung-hyun’s back.

“Hey! Mr. Shin Ho-jae!”

Kyung Seung-hee called him in an angry voice, but he ignored her and used two fingers to pry open Jung-hyun’s teeth. Then, he pressed firmly at the back of the tongue.

Jung-hyun, who had frowned in confusion at the action, suddenly gagged and hurriedly turned his head toward the toilet.

Ho-jae repeated the motion without hesitation until the man had vomited everything inside. The vomit stained his hands and sleeves a mess, but he didn’t care at all.

“I mean… what in the….”

Kyung Seung-hee paced behind them for a while before stepping back, frowning as if she had a weak stomach.

The sound of people rushing in was heard just as Jung-hyun, whose nausea had subsided, slowly exhaled. Immediately, Kyung Seung-hee’s irritable voice rang out.

“Why are you so late?”

“I apologize, Young Master. Where is Mr. Jung-hyun?”

They seemed to be the people Kyung Seung-hee had called. Only then did Shin Ho-jae completely remove his hands from Jung-hyun and step back.

The spacious restroom was quickly filled with people, and it became noisy as everyone spoke at once.

Standing in the middle of it all, Shin Ho-jae looked down at Jung-hyun as if he couldn’t hear anything. Jung-hyun also met his eyes with a quiet gaze.

Ho-jae slowly clenched his fist. He felt as if there was a faint pain in the fingers that had touched the man’s mucous membranes.

“What is all this commotion about?”

Only when another familiar voice was heard did Ho-jae’s gaze shift. He saw Kwon Ki-hyuk entering the doorway.

“Brother Ki-hyuk. Jung-hyun isn’t feeling well. I’m planning to take him to a hospital I know.”

“Oh dear. Is he very sick? Ah, Ho-jae is here too.”

As Kwon Ki-hyuk acknowledged Ho-jae, Kyung Seung-hee’s gaze turned toward the two of them.

“Athlete Shin Ho-jae, did Brother invite you today?”

“Ah, did I not mention it? I have a very deep connection with Athlete Shin. Of course I had to invite him on a day like today.”

“A connection?”

“It’s been a long time, since Athlete Shin first started ice hockey. I was the one who recommended him so the Chairman could sponsor him, and I helped with the hospital bills when Athlete Shin’s father was ill.”

“Ah.”

Behind Kyung Seung-hee, who responded half-heartedly as if uninterested, Jung-hyun’s eyes turned this way. His gaze stared silently at the faces of Ho-jae and Kwon Ki-hyuk.

Kwon Ki-hyuk smiled, his eyes curving, and placed a hand on Ho-jae’s shoulder.

“In fact, you could say the acquisition of the team was done because of Athlete Shin.”

“Wasn’t the team acquisition done by our Jung-hyun?”

“Well, that’s a matter only we know about, so it’s a bit awkward to discuss in front of Ms. Seung-hee. Right, Ho-jae?”

“Ah…. Yes.”

Shin Ho-jae answered briefly and glanced at Jung-hyun again. The man’s eyes had already shifted from him to Kyung Seung-hee. Just that shift in gaze made his heart throb.

“Brother, sorry to interrupt, but I think Jung-hyun and I should leave first.”

“Alright. Go on then.”

With those words, Kyung Seung-hee and Jung-hyun left in a crowd with the other people.

At the same time, his scent faded away. Very slowly, Shin Ho-jae remembered what this scent was.

It was the scent of the pheromone perfume he had worn on the night they spent together for the first and last time. He had found out later while tidying the bedroom alone, seeing the perfume bottle placed in front of the bathroom.

“Ho-jae, shall we head out too? …Oh.”

Thinking that he had sprayed this perfume right before they slept together had made him seem very cute.

He had worn that perfume today. On the very day he was announcing his engagement. Of all things, that perfume.

A neatly folded handkerchief entered his field of vision. As he blankly looked up, Kwon Ki-hyuk was looking at him with a strange smile.

“Why are you crying? It breaks my heart to see you like this.”

Instead of using Ki-hyuk’s handkerchief, Shin Ho-jae roughly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Moisture, which he didn’t know had been flowing since when, soaked his hand.

He felt as if he finally understood a bit of why the tears were flowing on their own.

He knew the man was no longer the good person he had thought he was.

He knew he was a cruel man who lied countless times, yet wouldn’t tell a single lie for his sake.

He knew he wasn’t the benefactor who saved his father, but a terrible person who bought off reporters and swung a golf club at them simply because he didn’t like them.

Despite knowing all of that, his heart remained surprisingly unchanged.

The man’s smile still felt dazzling, seeing him in pain made him feel so pitiful that he wanted to do anything for him, and touching him was still overwhelmingly wonderful.

The moment he saw his face again, he realized it poignantly.

That he should hate him, but he simply couldn’t. That he still wanted and loved him—perhaps even more than before.

Yet, he couldn’t be by his side. While he thought of the man this much, the man did not want him.

Those were tears of frustration and sorrow.

* * *

Jung-hyun arrived at the hospital where Kyung Seung-hee’s primary physician worked and underwent various tests. After the tests, which lasted about two hours, an exhausted Jung-hyun decided to wait for the results while receiving an IV drip.

As his eyes were fluttering shut, he faintly heard a knock. Kyung Seung-hee stood up and opened the door. Outside stood the primary physician with a serious expression.

“Young Master, you need to come this way for a moment.”

“…What is it?”

Kyung Seung-hee glanced at the lying Jung-hyun and quietly closed the door. Along with the sound of whispering, the footsteps gradually faded away.

What is it? Was a serious illness discovered…?

Contrary to his anxious and nervous heart, his eyelids felt as heavy as lead. Soon, Jung-hyun fell into a deep sleep.

96 – Puck Drop