Come Back

“What I’m saying is that any love you give me can’t be bad or selfish….”

His left hand, which was not holding mine, came up and cupped my cheek widely. I could feel the warmth of his lips on my hair.

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to wait anymore, but I did. But Hongseo.”

“yes.”

“Look at me.”

His hand gently lifted my face. I lifted my head as he led me.

“I did calculate that if I interfered rashly, the video could be shared immediately. However, just because I didn’t knock Jo Sung-hyun out right then and there, doesn’t mean I’m going to let the things he said to you that day go unnoticed.”

His speech was gentle, and the touch on his cheek was warm. He was even soft-spoken, as if he was explaining things to a child one by one. However, something was raging behind his eyes.

“Just like Hongseo doesn’t want to repeat the same choice, I don’t either. I really regret it so much.”

His thumb brushed the ball and then gently pulled the corner of Choi Hong-seo’s lips.

“If only we had done some background checks, or if only we had assigned someone at that time, Lee Seo-kyung would have died before you were standing on the 32nd floor.”

Ah… Choi Hong-seo’s lips parted. He took a deep breath through his parted lips. The eyes looking up at him trembled.

Now, he was practically admitting that he had killed Lee Seo-kyung.

Lee Seo-kyung was shot and killed in Bangkok, Thailand. Of course, Lee Hae-seong did not pull the trigger himself, but it was tantamount to saying that Lee Hae-seong was involved in the murder.

Sweat soaked through the palms of his hands as he held them.

“But, sir… I refused you.”

“Rejection?”

Lee Hae-seong’s gaze, which had been looking down at Choi Hong-seo’s lips, which he was touching with his thumb, met his eyes again.

“My friend’s older brother. My uncle’s cousin. When he said he wanted revenge, my uncle said, “Personal revenge… is just venting anger. That’s definitely not what I dreamed of.”

Hae-seong narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows. The hand that had been holding the ball in its place suddenly gained strength.

“How does Hongseo know that?”

“……”

Choi Hong-seo, who had been biting his lips for a moment and thinking, finally opened his mouth. I don’t know about other people, but I think Lee Hae-seong would believe him.

“Before I woke up as Yun Hye-an… I remember a little bit. After I died. I had no body and no voice, but I was wandering around. That’s when I saw you.”

Goosebumps appeared on his neck and the hair on his face stood up. His hands kept tightening as if they were going to distort Choi Hong-seo’s face.

“…It’s true.”

Choi Hong-seo, muttering quietly, continued to explain with great effort.

“It was a room I had never seen before… It was like the living room of an old man’s house. There were four men sitting there. I saw Jiin hyung first, and then the old man across from me… was there. The other two were people I didn’t know, but I found out who the other one was after I woke up as Yun Hye-an. The person sitting next to Jiin hyung was the old man’s cousin.”

“How could… something like that happen…”

“That’s why I thought that the old man didn’t kill Lee Seo-kyung.”

“Hongseo…”

His face was bloodless. He let go of the hand he had been holding and now covered Choi Hong-seo’s face with both hands.

“Hongseo.”

As if to confirm that the person in front of him was really Choi Hong-seo, he felt around his face with both hands. Compared to his large hands, his face was small and slender, so there was no place to feel around, but he was desperate, like a blind person who could only confirm his lover’s face with his two hands.

“Sir, it’s me. It’s Hongseo.”

Choi Hong-seo placed his hand over his, covering his face. He tried to focus his eyes on his own, wandering eyes.

“How could this happen, Hongseo?”

It’s not that I didn’t believe that this person was actually Choi Hong-seo, not Yoon Hye-an. Rather, once I made up my mind, I believed it without even the slightest doubt. However, whenever I encountered evidence that made that fact clearer, I felt a new thrill.

“Which god felt pity for our Hongseo because she was so pitiful?”

His eyes, which had been blazing with flames, calmed down, and the palms that filled Choi Hong-seo’s two cheeks were hot.

“Who is that god, Hongseo?”

The face that came closer rubbed its nose against Choi Hong-seo’s.

“I don’t know if it’s God, Buddha, or a fairy… but if it’s such a good god, I would have a religion too.”

As soon as he let out his last words as if he was sighing, their lips were covered. He omitted the kiss that only pressed and rubbed on the surface, and from the beginning, he opened Choi Hong-seo’s lips deeply and entered. The thumb that wrapped his face slightly pulled his lower lip, and his tongue dug into the gap that was opened. The wet flesh that slid over his tongue was wide and strong in proportion to his height. However, it was not just rough.

He would scrape his lips over his lips and lick them, and he would fill his mouth with his tongue as if he was going to suffocate, but soon he would stick his tongue out and tickle the roof of his mouth, the inside of his cheek, his gums, and his teeth. When he would curl his tongue and push it into his mouth, Choi Hong-seo’s tongue would shrink back toward his throat, and he would feel his lips pull to both sides and smile in satisfaction.

“Uh, um… hmm… yeah.”

The hand that had been holding his face moved away and touched Choi Hong-seo’s back. His body gradually tilted forward due to the force of the push. When he was lying down on the sofa cushions, his hand slipped between his fingers and interlocked them. The two of them’s damp palms were stickily interlocked.

“Uh… uh, um. um.”

He pressed his clasped hands down on the sofa and continued to explore Choi Hong-seo. He pushed Choi Hong-seo’s tongue into a corner and rubbed and rubbed his tongue over it.

When my body and mind were melting into a warm and hazy state, and I could only think of his kiss, the door opened with a quiet knock.

“The tea is ready.”

It was Director Kang.

Unlike Choi Hong-seo, who instantly froze and jumped up, Lee Hae-seong, who was practically lying down on top of him, did not move at all. While glancing at Director Kang, Choi Hong-seo kept trying to purse his lips, and Lee Hae-seong grabbed Choi Hong-seo’s lower jaw and moved his tongue more vigorously as if to show off.

“Ah… um… hmm…”

I tried to control it by pushing my shoulder with my free hand, but it was no use.

I would like the tea to be brought later. Director Kang entered the study and put the tray down on the sofa table. It must be acting according to some rule that applies in this house, and in fact, Lee Hae-seong and Director Kang acted as if the other did not exist. However, Choi Hong-seo was not used to the concept of an employee. It did not seem like he would ever get used to it. The tongue that had melted hardened, and the space between his legs that hugged his torso kept shrinking.

Not only before I died, but also after I entered this house in the guise of Yoon Hye-an, I had never had such an intimate skinship in front of anyone.

For the first time, I was scared of Hae-Seong. It wasn’t that I was afraid that he would harm me. I knew he wasn’t the kind of person who would do that, and even if he did, it didn’t matter if it was Hae-Seong. It wasn’t that kind of fear, but the fact that he was not normal and had lost his composure that scared me.

Only after Director Kang left the study did Lee Hae-seong’s tongue slip out from Choi Hong-seo’s mouth. Even after that, he licked his lips here and there, swallowed them, and chewed them lightly, not letting go for a while.

“I did. I clearly said so. Personal revenge is just my way of venting my anger.”

At a distance where their lips met, he whispered with his eyelids down. His excited voice was husky and languid.

“The emails that Lee Seo-kyung sent you. That was before I saw them.”

The palms of my right hands, still clasped together, were rubbing together secretly. It was just rubbing my palms, but it felt like a lewd hand movement, as if it was suggesting sexual intercourse. As I squirmed at the sensation of my lower abdomen becoming tense as if I was about to have an erection, he let out a low, short laugh and only then did he slowly raise his body and move away.

“……”

Lee Hae-seong, who was looking down at Choi Hong-seo, who was lying down and breathing heavily, reached out his hand. When he grabbed the hand, he bent down, put his arm under Choi Hong-seo’s back, and lifted him up.

Swallowing the saliva still in his mouth, Choi Hong-seo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. While he straightened his disheveled pajamas and straightened his posture, he poured tea from a teapot into his cup. The sweet and refreshing scent of ginger rose warmly.

“Ginger tea. They say it warms you up.”

Choi Hong-seo nodded as he accepted the teacup he was handed. He looked calm, as if he had been completely out of his usual line just a moment ago, as if the reins had been loosened.

But that wasn’t it. The space between his legs as he got up from the sofa was heavy. He was already erect, but he was just holding it back. Choi Hong-seo quickly looked away as if he had witnessed a scene he shouldn’t have seen. He held the teacup with both hands and blew on the transparent golden tea to cool it down.

Knock, knock. I turned my head toward the sound and saw Hae-seong leaning against the edge of the desk, holding a cigarette in his mouth and turning the wheel of his lighter to light it.

Choi Hong-seo forgot to drink his tea and just stared at the sight. He thought that maybe he didn’t want to show himself smoking in front of me.

He took his first sip very deeply and exhaled deeply. His broad shoulders and chest were clearly visible beneath the thin knit.

“Without any scars or wrinkles, I was just smooth.”

That’s how his story began.

“I also thought that there was nothing that could scar me. I accepted it as a kind of compensation for a life where I had to walk only the path of duty and responsibility.”

After another drag of his cigarette, he lowered his head as if collapsing, running his fingers through his flowing hair.

“Everyone expected something from me. Money, status, connections, even sympathy… To them, I was just a means to realize their desires. I couldn’t expect unconditional love from the people I met or my ex-wife.”

He smiled bitterly as he looked up and flicked his cigarette out on the ashtray on the desk.

“Well, that was the case for me too.”

“……”

“I never thought that anyone would protect me… I was an arrogant, pitiful person.”

His gaze, which had been looking down at his feet, turned to Choi Hong-seo.

“But then a kid twelve years younger than me took care of me. He didn’t ask anything of me.”

“……”

“How can I forget the person who gave me the kind of love I never received?”

The strained smile that had been on his face slowly disappeared, and his fiery eyes took its place once again.

“And how can I forgive each and every one of those bastards who took that person away?”