Chapter 133
The fireworks disappeared, and the Ferris wheel cabin was once again filled with darkness. The pitch-black void felt as though it would swallow me whole at any moment.
A sensation like my heart plummeting to my toes made my fingertips tremble.
The expression I had seen in that brief moment when the cabin lit up, and the things Baek Hawon had said to me, were utterly incomprehensible.
“What… what does that mean?”
I swallowed hard and clenched my fist.
Baek Hawon’s face was once again obscured by the darkness.
As though everything I had seen was a lie, his emotionless voice emerged from the deep shadow.
“Did I say something you can’t understand?”
I flinched, as though I had been pricked by a thorn.
With nothing visible in the dark, I felt as though I was facing the barrel of a gun.
“Leave when I tell you to.”
“…”
“Don’t do something stupid like before.”
Baek Hawon spoke with a sarcastic tone. His attitude, and this sudden situation, made me laugh bitterly.
“Do you think it makes any sense to suddenly tell me to leave and never come back?”
The pressure in my hand made my nails dig into my skin. But I gripped my fist even tighter, my lips trembling as I spoke.
“…What happened?”
Anxiety gripped me, like a tidal wave coming out of nowhere, suffocating me. The spot where I had once been shot ached.
“If something happened, do you think I’d be here with you, watching fireworks?”
“Is it something I shouldn’t know?”
Fear kept growing, making my body and mind shrink back, but I tried not to show it.
“That’s why you want to send me away.”
Baek Hawon chuckled.
“Don’t be mistaken, Cha Yeonbyeol.”
I flinched as if I had woken up from a dream at the sound of his laugh, and I clenched my fist tighter.
“I just want to get rid of you. I’ve been looking at you long enough, haven’t I?”
Baek Hawon’s voice, filled with amusement, continued as he twisted his neck, almost as if stretching, his hand gripping the back of his neck.
Boom! Boom—!
The fireworks exploded high into the night sky. The colorful lights filtered over Baek Hawon’s face.
His eyes, lowered and focused on me, felt as cold as the first time I saw him.
“Liar.”
I spat out in a dry voice.
“You still won’t tell me anything, will you?”
The end of my sentence cracked with bitterness. Even though I was sitting still, my breath came in short, labored gasps.
Baek Hawon let out another laugh, this time like air escaping from a balloon, and reached his hand toward me. His body leaned slightly toward me.
“Yeah.”
The shadowed face quickly moved closer. I didn’t step back, blinking slowly.
“Then think what you want. I don’t care what you think.”
His hot hand settled over the fist I was holding tightly.
Baek Hawon easily pried open my clenched fist and placed a piece of paper in my hand.
While I froze in place, he stood up, opened the Ferris wheel door, and walked out.
It wasn’t until he was gone that I finally looked down at the plane ticket in my hand.
The ticket crumpled in my grasp, as I stood up, grinding my teeth.
When I got off the Ferris wheel, I could see Baek Hawon’s figure already walking far ahead. I quickly chased after him.
“Boss!”
But the distance didn’t close easily. The few people who had been there earlier were now filling the space between Baek Hawon and me.
Above, the fireworks continued to explode without stopping. The fireworks show was already nearing its end.
“Oppa!”
I squeezed every last ounce of energy and yelled. That was when Baek Hawon suddenly stopped.
“You can’t do this!”
When I shouted again, Baek Hawon turned around. I bit my lip tightly and ran toward him.
When I reached him, Baek Hawon remained still, and I grabbed his wrist with all my strength, panting as I spoke.
“Did you forget? Boss, you can’t let me go. My birthday isn’t over yet.”
My heart raced so violently it felt like it might explode, but no matter how much I tried to breathe, it wouldn’t settle.
I bowed my head, clutching my chest as it rose and fell rapidly.
“No matter how much of a boss you are, you can’t break that…”
That’s when my hand, gripping Baek Hawon’s arm tightly, slipped.
At the same time, both of my shoulders were firmly grabbed. I was startled and looked up.
“Leave.”
His dark eyes pierced straight through me. The intense gaze felt like molten metal, sending shivers down my spine.
As I instinctively tried to pull back, Baek Hawon pressed his grip on my shoulders, pulling me even closer.
“Go to a place where no one knows, and never come back.”
He spoke each word slowly, almost as if chewing on it, with a grim expression on his face.
“Before I can’t let you go.”
Something held back in his voice finally broke through, harsh and raw. The blood coursing through my body quickly turned cold.
“Before I ruin you.”
It felt as though blood were rushing to my eyes and ears. I was frozen, unable to move.
‘I… I…’
The words he had murmured when we first entered the amusement park, unable to push me away, echoed in my mind.
‘…I’m afraid I’ll ruin you.’
At that moment, the words I couldn’t hear due to the surrounding noise now overlapped with his voice.
The expression from when he had been standing next to the carousel also surfaced in my mind.
And then, clear self-mockery spread across his pale face.
I couldn’t say a word and was frozen. It felt as though I were on the carousel, dizzying.
Baek Hawon pushed me away and let go. He turned and walked away.
This time, I couldn’t chase after him.
Left alone, my strength drained, and I almost collapsed. As I steadied my wobbling legs and wiped my face, it happened.
Among the many people surrounding me, our gazes collided. His eyes, pulling me toward him like a magnet.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t open my mouth, just staring at him.
Yugyeom quickly closed the distance and stood directly in front of me. His cold fingers brushed away the hair sticking to my cheek.
“I got tired of waiting, so I came to pick you up.”
Yugyeom smiled, his eyes narrowing. I felt my mind clouding, unable to distinguish between dream and reality.
“I thought I was going crazy from missing you.”
The warmth of his embrace, holding me completely, hadn’t changed. But my heart was beating differently.
“Did you have fun without me, little lady?”
His soft voice, whispering in my ear, felt like a weight pressing down on me.
I twisted my body and pulled away from his embrace.
“Tell me why.”
My throat burned. I spoke with a voice that cracked, putting as much strength into it as I could.
“What’s going on?”
“…”
“You never tell me anything…”
The anxiety was driving me mad. I couldn’t focus, like I was standing on the edge of a cliff.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yugyeom smiled with his perfect face and gently took my hand, which I had pushed away.
“We just need to go far away, live a simple, happy life.”
Yugyeom whispered sweetly, his smile bright.
“You’ve always wanted that, haven’t you? A life where death is just an unrealistic dream, and there’s no need to worry about someone dying because of me.”
For a moment, my vision blurred. Even if this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up—it was everything I had desperately wished for.
“We can leave right now. Or is it that you don’t like the idea of going with me?”
Yugyeom took off his black jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I was too weak to look up, my eyes lowered.
I saw the large bag in Yugyeom’s hand and noticed the plane ticket still clutched in my own.
At that moment, the fog in my mind cleared, and I became aware.
“Yugyeom, please…”
I spoke desperately, burying my face in his chest.
“Don’t make me anxious.”
I hated this situation more than anything.
“Do you really think I can just accept this? Do you think I won’t notice that you’re rushing to take me away from here?”
This familiar anxiety…
“Do you think I’m that kind of person?”
I lifted my head and looked up at Yugyeom.
His gaze, fixed on me as I clung to him, showed a faint trace of pain.
“…No.”
Yugyeom said, naturally curling his lips into a slight smile.
“I’m doing this because you’re not that kind of person.”
The hand I had been gripping the edge of his clothing with was now tightly held by his cold fingers, enclosing it completely.
“You can always shake me off and throw yourself into any situation, little lady.”
Yugyeom pulled my hand closer to him. As I was pulled along, I stepped closer to him.
“I wish you knew nothing. I wish you didn’t have to do anything.”
His face, bowed down, was so close that our breaths almost mingled. Yugyeom made an empty smile, his eyes half-closing lazily.
“Only where I stand will be your world.”
At the moment our lips were nearly about to touch, I suddenly realized something.
I held my breath and spoke.
“…I figured it out.”
My voice, hoarse and mixed with the wind, came out almost as a whisper.
A crack appeared in Yugyeom’s transparent eyes, which had been focused on me. Our gazes locked tightly.
I finally spoke the answer I had figured out.
“The person who tried to kill me.”
