BIA Ch. 51

“Isaiah! Isaiah Cole!”

Even amidst the yelling, the thump, thump! sounds kept ringing out non-stop. At this rate, either the neighbor, the building manager, or the cops were bound to come running.

“If we leave him, he’ll keep that up all night.”

Bran finally spat the pills in his mouth into his palm and got up. Isaiah vowed that he would curse Chester for the rest of his life, just like he had until now.

Come to think of it, Chester would foam at the mouth if he saw this mess. He looked around for any clothes to throw on when he heard the front door open from outside.

“So noisy.”

“Hey, you…!”

Chester stopped yelling and swallowed his breath. And the next moment, a torrent of curses spewed from his mouth.

“What the fuck, why is this crazy bastard here?”

“That’s none of your business.”

With Bran’s words, the door slammed shut! From the sound alone, it was impossible to tell which of the two had closed it.

“Stop calling so much, will you?”

“What…? You crazy fuck, did you turn off your phone? No, more importantly, were you two together all night?”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Chester came charging into the bedroom like an angry bull. Isaiah gave up on getting dressed and quickly pulled the blanket over himself, lying down.

“Hey, what happened?”

Chester yelled as soon as he saw Isaiah lying in bed.

“What….”

Isaiah said in a dying voice. He actually was dying, though he was exaggerating a little.

“Why is Bran here… oh, wait.”

Chester finally approached with a serious expression. Right, you’re human too. Of course, the first thing to do in this situation is to check my temperature. Just as Isaiah thought that, Chester yanked the blanket away.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

“You fuckers. Did you do it? Huh? Did you?”

Flames were shooting out of Chester’s eyes. His eyes were half-crazed, like he was about to run to the kitchen and grab a knife. Of course, Bran would pull out a gun before that.

“Chester, please. Don’t say ridiculous things.”

Isaiah snatched the blanket back from Chester’s hand, genuinely angry. If he’d actually done it, he wouldn’t feel so wronged hearing this.

“I took some drugs at Mountain Dog. So Bran found me passed out in the rain in front of the club and brought me here. He even bought me fever reducers.”

See, he said, as Isaiah held up the Tylenol box by his head.

“Drugs? What kind of drugs?”

“They said it was Rohypnol… I don’t know, I don’t even remember.”

“Why would you take that, for god’s sake.”

Chester said, dumbfounded.

Did I take it knowing it, you jerk?

Isaiah wanted to get angry, but he didn’t have the energy to say anything more. He put down the Tylenol box and pulled the blanket back up to his neck when Chester finally asked in a subdued voice.

“Hey, are you okay?”

No, I’m not okay. Isaiah answered inwardly. Chester hesitantly sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at the suffering Isaiah, asking.

“…But you two really didn’t do it, right?”

“……”

Isaiah glanced at Chester with a look of disgust before closing his eyes. As if he realized he’d gone too far, Chester started rambling excuses, which was unusual for him.

“No, it’s not that I don’t trust you… it’s just! The situation is so unbelievable. It’s not like you’ve never been to Mountain Dog before, but suddenly you took drugs, it’s weird. Ah, of course, your condition isn’t normal right now. Still,”

“If you don’t believe it, come to Mountain Dog.”

A low voice suddenly cut in. Isaiah involuntarily raised his head and looked in the direction of the voice.

“I’ll show you the CCTV from yesterday.”

Bran said, smoothing down the sleeves of his shirt. It was like a scene from a men’s perfume ad, or a watch photoshoot… just as he thought that, Chester pressed Isaiah’s forehead down to make him lie back down, and said.

“There’s CCTV?”

“There is.”

Bran, having buttoned all the buttons on his sleeves, picked up his tie hanging on the bed frame and smiled.

“Of course, there’s a possibility that the data has been damaged for some reason. Like your casino bar from before.”

“Tsk….”

Chester bit his lip. Bran chuckled at Chester and began to tie his tie with a leisurely hand.

“It’s true I’m looking for that guy. I’ll send you a picture later. Let me know if you know anything.”

“Why should I?”

Chester snapped back sharply.

“Because it happened at my place.”

“It’s my partner’s business, you should be telling me.”

“Partner?”

Bran looked like he’d heard something funny. He tightened the knot of his already-tied tie, and said,

“Yeah, well, a business partner is still a partner.”

“What is this crazy bastard talking about?”

Chester jumped up, enraged. But his voice had no fight in it.

“So, you’re saying I’m walking around with some nobody, pretending he’s my lover? Huh? Could you do that? Even if you’re not gay, could you still hang out with a guy just for a job, kissing, sucking, and fondling him?”

In front of Bran, Chester was like a broken vending machine. Just a tap, and he’d start spewing out everything without even putting in money.

“You wanna see? Huh? Should I prove to you how hot we are right now?”

Isaiah was startled by Chester’s shout. This crazy bastard, what was he going to do in front of Bran? He watched, holding his breath, but thankfully Bran cut him off.

“No, that’s been more than proven by the calls you made all night. So, please, I’ll politely decline.”

Bran refused with a truly polite tone. Then he picked up his suit jacket from the bedpost and said, as if he’d just remembered,

“Oh, I took out the trash by the door.”

“What…!?”

Isaiah and Chester shouted at the same time. Of course, Isaiah’s “What?” meant, ‘What? You took it out?’ and Chester’s “What!” meant, ‘What! You bastard, why did you take it out?’ but to anyone listening, there wouldn’t have been much difference.

“It smelled bad.”

With that one sentence, Bran resolved both of their questions.

“You don’t need to pay me for my trouble.”

“Crazy bastard, what’s with the ‘trouble’ talk? Hey, that corpse was originally your…!”

Chester, who had been shouting in excitement, immediately shut his mouth.

“Mine?”

Bran asked, putting on his suit jacket.

“What about mine?”

Huh? Chester? Bran smiled as he buttoned his jacket. But that smile was different from usual. The Bran that Isaiah knew had a generally gentle impression. Whether it was natural or put on, Isaiah believed that Bran’s brown hair and golden eyes had a significant influence on his soft vibe. They both gave off a warm feeling. He thought that Bran was blessed with good looks in many ways.

But the smile Bran was showing Chester now had no warmth or kindness. Even Bran’s eyes, which Isaiah thought were as pretty as honey, looked sharp like a bird of prey, with the cold black pupils standing out against the golden irises.

“Tell me, Chester. What did I do?”

“……”

Chester, who had been spouting words like a broken vending machine, couldn’t say a word now, as if he had become a broken radio. Seeing Chester, who couldn’t even make eye contact and was vaguely scattering his gaze, Bran chuckled.

“You should be careful in front of your partner.”

Bran’s smile finally softened. But from Chester’s point of view, that was also a blow to his pride. It was the look of someone looking down at someone beneath them, as if they were cute.

What was most humiliating was that, despite all that, Chester couldn’t say a word and was just moving his lips. He’d try to say something loud, then swallow it back, and then get angry again and try to say something, but then hesitate, looking around. It almost looked like he was begging for a kiss.

“Then, I’ll see you at the funeral later.”

Bran said, patting Chester’s shoulder.

“You should let your partner rest if you can. He could get it from someone else.”

“What…”

Chester belatedly flared up at Bran’s words.

“Hey, that’s my business. Who are you to tell me what to do? Is this bastard crazy?”

Chester yelled, yipping like a Pomeranian with its tail stepped on. Bran just laughed, “Okay, okay,” and left the bedroom. A moment later, they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.

Chester craned his neck to look towards the front door. And once he confirmed that Bran had completely left the apartment, he started cursing like crazy.