I’m Not That Obsessive

Chapter 36

“His feelings seem clear… but he won’t admit it.”

Mitchell muttered to himself. He had parked the car in front of the entrance, waiting for Geon-woo. Geon-woo had gone back to the bedroom to retrieve his forgotten phone.

Geon-woo’s feelings were embarrassingly transparent. Although he denied it, Geon-woo’s actions towards Mitchell were clearly affectionate.

A twisted heart based on obsession and a burning possessiveness that might make him sick. It couldn’t be anything but love.

Yet Geon-woo wouldn’t admit it. He muddied the real issue with word games about interest, teasing, and imprinting.

If he wasn’t brazenly denying it, it would be more accurate to say that Geon-woo didn’t understand love well.

Usually, people naturally learn about love as they grow older without being taught, but somehow Geon-woo seemed to have lost that entire process.

Not knowing how to love, not recognizing the emotion of love, and not knowing how to treat the person you love – isn’t that how he ended up in this state?

“This is…”

Mitchell leaned his arm out the window and chuckled. It was as if he was waiting for Geon-woo to realize his own feelings and confess. Mitchell clicked his tongue, feeling like a child throwing a tantrum asking why there was no confession.

Although Geon-woo, who liked women, wouldn’t confess, imagination was free. Mitchell tried to imagine Geon-woo confessing to him.

Flustered yet wearing a mischievous smile, brazenly leaning in close and saying:

‘I’m going to love you now. You know that, right?’

How very Geon-woo-like.

The excited face that had said he would devote his life was still vivid in his mind. Mitchell laughed because the Geon-woo in his imagination was so much like the real Geon-woo. He felt a tickle in his chest and a stiffening below.

“Did he go to make a phone?”

Mitchell got out of the car, peeling off the T-shirt clinging to his neck. The guy who went to find his phone showed no signs of coming back. Left alone in this place with no signs of life, the T-shirt that had been fine until just now kept feeling like it was choking his neck. It wasn’t the T-shirt’s fault.

“Mitchell.”

Just as he was about to close the car door and go inside, someone called out to Mitchell. Instead of Geon-woo, whom he was waiting for, his brother suddenly appeared. Mitchell fulfilled his courtesy with a short “Hello.”

Junman, who was panting as if he had run, thrust his phone at Mitchell instead of greeting him. On the screen was a sentence translated into English.

[I’ll tell you what kind of person Geon-woo is. Come to the house tonight. It’s an important matter. And it’s a secret from Geon-woo! Bad things will happen if Geon-woo finds out. Absolute secret! Really big problem!]

After reading the sentence, Mitchell silently stared at Junman. Junman nodded with wide eyes, and at that moment, Geon-woo appeared.

“What are you doing!”

It was a voice filled with anger. Geon-woo pushed Junman aside and stood in front of Mitchell as if to protect him. His shoulders trembled with rage.

“Ah, Geon-woo. I was just greeting Mitchell. I happened to meet him by chance while going out to buy something. It’s okay outside of Mitchell’s house, right? You’re not saying I can’t even use the road, are you?”

Junman, not wanting to make a big deal out of it, slowly backed away. Geon-woo was throwing such a fit just because he had briefly talked to Mitchell. It was another moment of realizing what Mitchell meant to Geon-woo.

At the same time, he felt a sense of regret. Not so much because his blood brother was treating him harshly, but because the intensity of Geon-woo’s past obsession with him was different from his obsession with Mitchell.

His brother didn’t care much about who Junman associated with. Even if Geon-woo followed him to appointments with acquaintances or interfered when he did something with them, that was the extent of it.

Even now, it seemed he was angry not because he hated his brother, but because someone had talked to Mitchell without his permission. Just because he had a conversation with Mitchell.

“Go!”

Junman clicked his tongue, looking at his growling brother. What could he say? There was no reasoning with Geon-woo when he was this worked up. It would take a tranquilizer dart to calm him down.

Junman turned around immediately and went back the way he came. How could he tell such a person that his friends were planning to visit? He wouldn’t allow it.

Junman was satisfied with having relayed his message to Mitchell. He couldn’t be sure if Mitchell would come or not, but he secretly hoped that if Mitchell had any thoughts, he might show up.

It was okay if he didn’t come. He had an acquaintance in LA. If not Mitchell, that person could be useful too.

The desire to torment his brother was boiling up, but he had to be careful. If he fell out of favor, he might not receive the 300 million he was promised.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, a brilliant idea crossed Junman’s mind. It was a crucial fact he hadn’t thought of until now. How could he have missed this!

The old man who owned the second floor.

All the money he stole after that still unsolved incident was blown on entertainment. The sense of superiority and achievement he felt then was indescribable. Look at how well he’s been living despite doing such a thing. The faces of the pathetic police who couldn’t get a lead still lingered in his mind. If he succeeded once, couldn’t he do it twice?

“If you die, I get all your assets. That’s right, my dear brother?”

Junman smiled sinisterly as he watched Mitchell’s car drive away. It felt like the stuffy feeling he had since arriving in America was finally clearing up.

***

It was Mitchell’s will to take Geon-woo to the film set. The film company could sufficiently fend off the reporters who would swarm to cover Geon-woo.

If it had been Mitchell, not Geon-woo, who brought the reporters, he wouldn’t have heard such stories in the first place.

After catching the murderer, more reporters were likely to follow Geon-woo, who had become the center of attention, but Mitchell planned to cover it all.

“Can I really go to the film set?”

“Yeah. Stay close to me. Just say that you’re driving today because we have a lot of moving around to do. Say you agreed to help me.”

“Got it.”

Mitchell couldn’t help but smile at Geon-woo’s excited voice. While spending the whole day together would be good for Geon-woo, Mitchell himself needed Geon-woo even more.

Even if there were many people on set, he would inevitably be alone when moving between locations or going to and from home. The round trip took over an hour – short if you think it’s short, long if you think it’s long. He didn’t want to endure it alone.

Before meeting Geon-woo, he used to overcome this by talking to someone on the phone. But after having Geon-woo by his side, his patience had significantly decreased. He didn’t want to feel this stuffy and vague discomfort even for a moment.

Just having Geon-woo with him solved all of this. To Mitchell, Geon-woo was like air conditioning in summer and a heater in winter. If you know how to cool down and warm up, you’d be a fool not to use these good things. It was beneficial for both of them since Geon-woo wanted it too.

Mitchell reached out and touched the nape of Geon-woo’s neck. He watched Geon-woo’s shoulders shrink, then turned his head back to the front. As he just squeezed with his hand, Geon-woo let out a soft moan. But he didn’t push Mitchell’s hand away.

Growing bolder, Mitchell stroked Geon-woo’s neck and jaw, then lightly touched his lips. Geon-woo’s upper body leaned halfway towards Mitchell.

“What are you doing?”

Geon-woo said, pushing away Mitchell’s arm. But Mitchell wasn’t one to back down.

“You’re wearing my clothes again today?”

Mitchell changed the subject, putting his arm back on Geon-woo’s shoulder.

“The pants are mine.”

“But the watch is mine, right?”

“The socks are mine.”

“The underwear must be mine?”

“……”

Geon-woo closed his protruding lips and turned his head towards the car window.

Mitchell used to be satisfied just having someone beside him, but lately, he’d taken it a step further, focusing on touching.

He never particularly wanted to touch Jeff, but Geon-woo was different. There was fun in touching and teasing him. Since Geon-woo reacted immediately to everything, Mitchell deliberately played pranks to see more of those reactions.

“Ah!”

There was an immediate reaction when Mitchell lightly pulled the back of Geon-woo’s head. Geon-woo grumbled, hitting Mitchell’s thigh twice.

“Why do you keep doing this?”

This must be the fun of teasing. Geon-woo generally had good reactions.

“Just because.”

Mitchell, quietly laughing, stepped on the accelerator. Today, for some reason, it felt like the car was running better.

“By the way, Mitchell, I’m curious about something.”

Geon-woo suddenly asked as they were about to arrive at the film set. As if he had never been sulking, he quickly turned his body towards Mitchell.

“What is it?”

“Why did you tell Jeff earlier that I was your lover?”