Chapter 128
I was speechless, unable to utter a word as I blinked slowly.
What did I just hear?
In the dimly lit room, only the figure of the man standing in front of me was sharp—every strand of his hair, every detail of his face.
A shadowed face drew near. His most distinct feature—those eyes, sharp and almost fragile, curved lips that held a dangerous tilt.
It’s not like my heart is in my fingertips, yet an irregular pulse throbbed through my intertwined hands.
“…What, what?”
I burst out the question, expelling the breath I had been holding. I tried to relax my stiff expression, but it didn’t come easily.
Yugyeom silently laughed with his eyes, his body still leaning toward me.
The sudden awareness of how close he was made my breath hitch for a moment.
A soft touch—lips lightly brushing against mine before pulling away. I slowly blinked my eyes shut and opened them again.
“It’s a joke.”
Yugyeom’s face, relaxed and smiling, said those words nonchalantly. I wanted to laugh along, but it didn’t feel right.
“…A joke?”
I murmured unconsciously, then realized too late to close my mouth tightly.
“Why.”
Yugyeom’s voice was a whisper, and his fingertips gently swept across my cheek. It was something I often did to him—a habit returning unconsciously.
The cold touch on my heated skin made my senses sharpen instantly.
“Do you feel disappointed?”
Yugyeom tilted his head, grinning brightly. His smile, though charming, now felt frustratingly smug.
Unable to speak, I remained silent as Yugyeom finally straightened his body.
As the distance between us grew, my heartbeat returned to a steady pace. Only then did my mind begin to process.
“…Yeah.”
The thought of losing to him, however childish, flickered in my now-clear mind.
I reached out with my free hand to grab Yugyeom’s shirt, pulling it downward.
Yugyeom’s face came closer again, pulled by my force.
“Don’t go.”
I mirrored his playful tone, smiling softly, my eyes wide and round.
Yugyeom’s face, now mere inches away, froze as if time had stopped.
“Don’t go, Gyeom-ah.”
I whispered once more, sweetly.
Yugyeom’s eyes, once lowered toward me, settled colder than before. For a brief moment, I thought his lips might have brushed mine again.
A tense silence lingered. I slowly pulled back my smile, releasing his shirt. Extending my hand to his face, I asked quietly.
“Why are you making that face?”
His cool cheek met my fingertips. I gently traced his eyelids with my thumb.
“It was just a joke.”
I pushed him away lightly, speaking curtly.
“Now you know how it feels.”
The faint smile hung precariously on Yugyeom’s lips as he pulled back, leaving only the memory of the moment lingering.
Yugyeom grasped the backrest of my chair and leaned forward deeply, swallowing the unspoken words.
There was no time to dodge, no space to close my eyes.
His cold hand rested atop mine, but his lips were startlingly hot.
Yugyeom lifted his hand from the backrest and placed it under my head, driving deeper into the moment.
Like someone desperate, pouring his entire breath into me.
It was overwhelming, suffocating, and yet I couldn’t push him away. Our gazes locked, two pairs of eyes meeting despite the fleeting closeness.
His shadowed eyes glimmered, half-hidden beneath his lashes.
The beat of my heart thundered in my chest, a pounding echo that threatened to burst.
Yugyeom gripped my clenched fist tightly. His lips, agonizingly slow, pulled away.
I inhaled a shallow breath, the dim light of early dawn spilling over Yugyeom’s face.
The pale blue light painted his face, leaving behind a visible warmth.
Yugyeom twisted his reddened lips, tilting his head as if studying me. The angle of his face moved just past my vision and came to rest beside my ear.
“…See you tomorrow, Yeonbyeol.”
His whispered voice sounded oddly threatening.
***
“I’ve gone crazy.”
I kept brushing my heated face, unable to cool down.
Even with the window open and the cool night breeze hitting my skin, the heat refused to dissipate.
Unable to stay still, I paced the room endlessly before finally collapsing onto the bed.
“I’m insane….”
Repeating the same words over and over, I wasn’t even aware of how many times I said it.
I clutched a pillow, rolled onto my side, tucked it between my legs, flipped over, and lay flat, only to return to a proper position.
After tossing and turning for what felt like forever, I finally gave up and got out of bed again.
“I need cold water.”
I needed something to cool my burning thoughts.
It was as if my mind had been reset, and the only thing left was Yugyeom’s presence.
If this continued, I’d become nothing more than a fool obsessed with Yugyeom.
Leaving my room, I made my way to the kitchen. The sky outside was beginning to show a faint light—morning was approaching.
I had stayed up the whole night, and I wondered if I’d even manage to enjoy the amusement park visit with Angel and Ivy tomorrow.
Filling a glass with cold water and adding ice, I drained it in one go.
Even then, it didn’t feel enough. I drank another glass, then another, until I had consumed three in total before leaving the kitchen.
The coolness finally made my body feel a bit more manageable.
Returning to my room, I caught a glimpse of Ivy’s room on the second floor.
“…Tomorrow, it’ll be fine.”
I tried convincing myself that everything would be fine with the bodyguards Boss had stationed.
Still, a tiny pang of unease lingered in my chest.
Had I experienced too much that was unreal?
I shook my head to push the thoughts away. Tomorrow, all I needed to do was have a fun day with Angel and Ivy.
As I tried to clear my mind, stepping back into the hallway leading to my room, I noticed something unusual.
“…Why is the door….”
At the end of the hallway, I saw the door to my room slightly open. I was sure I had left it closed, even if I hadn’t locked it.
I paused for a moment, hesitating, before continuing forward.
This was Angel’s house, after all. There was no way the security system Angel had installed would have any flaws.
It wasn’t a place or structure easy to break into, and with the organization’s members guarding it so tightly, it couldn’t have been someone suspicious.
Yugyeom? Angel? Or maybe Ichahn?
They might have come to see me and decided to wait inside when they found I wasn’t there.
*…But at this hour?*
I stopped walking again. What could be so urgent that someone would come to see me at four or five in the morning? No matter how much I thought about it, it felt strange.
Thinking that it couldn’t hurt to be cautious, I turned around. I decided to head to Yugyeom’s room instead.
But just as I left the hallway and was about to ascend the stairs—
“Yeonbyeol.”
A familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.
I whirled around, startled. Leaning casually against the wall was a figure I knew all too well.
“I’m hurt,” the voice said dramatically, as if performing a play.
Chills ran up my arm resting on the stair railing. Even in the dim light, his bright red hair stood out vividly.
“How could you not visit me, even once?”
Doshiyu smiled as he looked at me.
I was so taken aback that I almost gasped aloud.
I knew he was staying in the same house, but I never expected to run into him like this.
Even if he was in good shape, he’d been shot. I didn’t think he’d be up and about so soon.
Struggling to calm my racing heart, I forced a playful squint and a smile.
“Why would I visit you in the first place?”
It had never been so hard to smile. Luckily, the living room was dimly lit. Once again, I realized I was terrible at lying.
“Has anyone visited you at all?”
I asked as I descended the stairs.
Just act normal. Just act like always, I repeated to myself over and over.
“The boss stopped by?”
Hearing my question, Doshiyu straightened from where he’d been leaning against the wall.
Between the open edges of his shirt, I could see the bandages wrapping the wound from where the bullet had gone through.
“Do you think the boss would bother visiting someone in the hospital?”
He laughed, running a hand through his bright red hair, and then began walking toward me.
With every step he took, the urge to run away grew harder to suppress.
I’d thought about meeting Doshiyu face-to-face more times than I could count.
I needed to ask. Even if the truth was something I’d be better off not knowing, I couldn’t just sit in the dark any longer.
“You must be feeling better if you’re walking around like this.”
Doshiyu smiled in a way that was impossible to read. If this had been before, I might have thought he was simply smiling absentmindedly.
But instead of coming toward me as I had expected, Doshiyu changed direction and sat down on the sofa in the center of the living room.
Taking advantage of the moment when his gaze wasn’t on me, I exhaled deeply and sat across from him.
Suddenly, Doshiyu let out a groan and bent forward in pain.
“What’s wrong with you?”
I approached Doshiyu in shock, my eyes drawn to the crimson-stained bandage peeking through the tattered shirt.
Realizing where my gaze had fallen, Doshiyu adjusted his shirt slightly, his jaw tightening as he tried to suppress a groan. He lifted his head, meeting my gaze with a crooked smile.
“It looks like moving around is still a bit too much,” he said lightly, his voice teasing but strained.
An image of Ivy flashed in my mind, and I took an involuntary step back. The memory unsettled me more than I expected.
“Why did you even come out if you’re supposed to be resting?” I asked, my voice firm, though my hands trembled slightly at my sides.
Doshiyu leaned back against the couch, looking up at me with a half-smile. I refused to look away, clenching my fists tightly to suppress the unease bubbling inside me.
My breath hitched, the rapid pounding of my heart betraying my composure. I silently wished that he hadn’t caught onto my reaction.
“Hmm…” Doshiyu broke the silence, his gaze shifting away. He stood up from the couch and slowly moved closer again.
“You came to see me?” he questioned, closing the distance between us once more.
I instinctively took a step back, but it wasn’t enough to escape him.
Doshiyu gently touched the bloodied bandage on his wrist, fingers brushing against the red stain. He studied it for a moment before turning his gaze back to me.
The intensity of his crimson eyes pierced through the distance, cold and sharp as he asked once more.
“You’ve got something to ask, don’t you?”
