NFS 1.22

“Yesterday, someone named Kang Young-gi came to the investors’ meeting. He was looking for you. Said he needed to deliver a lawsuit in person. But he seemed like a really decent person. So when I held him back and asked what happened, he said with a smile: that you misunderstood the situation and kicked him because you’re obsessed with Joo Seung-ha, who’s nothing to you. Said his ribs were even bruised. Can bones even get bruised?”

Though Hyo-joon asked this with a laugh, Seo Ahn-jae turned back to his monitor and moved his mouse as if finished with this business. Hyo-joon was actually the one taken aback when there was no reaction, though he’d expected anger from the other man.

“What? You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be? It’s true.”

“What do you mean it’s true? Then that person’s words are real? You’re obsessed with Joo Seung-ha, who’s nothing to you?”

“Yeah,” Seo Ahn-jae answered halfheartedly while looking at the monitor. Hyo-joon blinked in surprise while looking at him.

“Just who…is Joo Seung-ha?”

Seo Ahn-jae casually ignored questions he’d already answered. Hyo-joon collected himself and changed his question.

“What is Joo Seung-ha to you? Is it your unrequited love or something?”

He laughed at the absurdity of his own question. Seo Ahn-jae looked at him with apparent irritation in his eyes.

“No.”

Of course not. Hyo-joon was agreeing with the other man’s words when something suddenly occurred to him.

“Wait, is this the person you said you wanted to fuck? Hey, you still haven’t managed to?”

“Yeah.” This answer too came half-heartedly. But to Hyo-joon’s ears, it didn’t sound as casual as before. It felt strange. Admitting to obsession while denying love. Hmm…look at this guy? Perhaps annoyed by Hyo-joon’s gaze, Seo Ahn-jae’s eyes silently turned to him. When their eyes met, a small shiver ran through Hyo-joon’s chest.

For a moment, Hyo-joon unconsciously tensed up, feeling like what he’d realized was Seo Ahn-jae’s secret that he should never have known. But that made him want to confirm it more. He wanted to dig deeper into this savage person who seemed like he might devour anyone who crossed him. Hyo-joon forced out a smile and provoked him.

“After you’re done playing with Joo Seung-ha, pass him to me. Let me have a taste too. He’s just a cum dump anyway, right? Since you said you wanted to taste him, I’m curious how good he must be.”

The answer didn’t come immediately. Hyo-joon held his breath feeling an inexplicable tension. Though air had only been kept from his lungs for a few seconds, it felt like being trapped underwater for minutes. It felt suffocating. Then Seo Ahn-jae’s gaze turned back to the monitor.

“Alright.”

Following this halfhearted mumbled response, slow words were added.

“After I’m done playing with him.”

Only then could Hyo-joon breathe again and his smile returned. However, he skillfully hid his feelings as he got up to his feet again. Saying he’d be in touch, he was opening the door when Seo Ahn-jae called him. 

“Hyung.” 

Hyo-joon turned reflexively but tensed again upon meeting Seo Ahn-jae’s gaze. For some unknown reason, there was suddenly a coldness in Seo Ahn-jae’s gaze as if looking at an enemy.

“Make that bastard come to the next meeting too.”

That bastard? Ah, Kang Young-gi. Hyo-joon acknowledged and left thinking Seo Ahn-jae’s gaze was because of Kang Young-gi. But after the door closed, Seo Ahn-jae’s gaze continued staring at the door as if still directed at Hyo-joon for a moment. Then he checked the contents of a report that had just come in.

―Mr. Joo Seung-ha will be taking a week off from work starting today. His mother who went to the company visited Joo Seung-ha’s residence, and her disruptive behavior continued for about 30 minutes, to the point where residents complained. After his mother left, Mr. Joo Seung-ha has not come out of his house. As requested, we warned the organization that ransacked Joo Seung-ha’s house a few days ago not to return. However, since the organization wants Joo Seung-ha’s mother, it would be better to let them catch her for Mr. Joo Seung-ha’s definite safety. Awaiting further instructions.

Seo Ahn-jae closed the window without sending a reply. The answer could wait until after checking Joo Seung-ha’s condition. If Joo Seung-ha, who had broken down over the past few days, needed to break down more, that mother would need to be used continuously. This wasn’t a plan Seo Ahn-jae liked. But it was necessary to keep on attacking his defenses while Joo Seung-ha was still weak.

However, he had failed once, and there was no guarantee of success this time. But damn it, no other plans came to mind right then. So this time it had to work, no matter what he did. Maybe luck would be on his side. Seo Ahn-jae took a deep breath trying to suppress his anxiety. He took out his smartphone and called for his third designated driver.

***

Today, Joo Seung-ha really didn’t want to go out into the world. Even though his house still was a wreck inside, he just wanted to curl up in here and lie down all day. But a designated driver request came calling for him.

―Now, office.

Joo Seung-ha stared at the message for a long time wanting to reply “I can’t come today,” but soon got up from his seat. Perhaps because he hadn’t eaten anything all day, dizziness briefly washed over him when he stood up. While closing his eyes to let the dizziness subside, Joo Seung-ha vaguely wished: If only I could disappear like this. But when he opened his eyes again, it was still his room.

Joo Seung-ha took the subway to Seo Ahn-jae’s office, trying hard to stay coldly rational to return to reality. When they met, the other man was the same as usual. No, he seemed to stare at Joo Seung-ha a bit longer, but Joo Seung-ha was too overwhelmed to even to pay attention to him today and deliberately avoided looking at him. So he didn’t immediately understand when Seo Ahn-jae asked a question after getting in the car.

“How is it?”

Perhaps because he’d driven several times, he unconsciously glanced back while pulling Seo Ahn-jae’s SUV seat forward.

“What?”

The seat adjustment didn’t work in one go when he moved it. Suddenly Seo Ahn-jae’s long arm crossed Joo Seung-ha’s body to find and press the button.

“Relax.”

The whisper touched his skin. While Joo Seung-ha froze, as the seat moved forward, Seo Ahn-jae’s arm pressed against Joo Seung-ha’s chest. Click. With the small sound, as the driver’s seat adjusted, Seo Ahn-jae’s arm disappeared. Joo Seung-ha shifted gears while trying hard to erase the feeling of his arm and whisper on his body. Then Seo Ahn-jae’s belated answer came.

“Cookie.”

Cookie? While the car slowly left the parking lot, Seo Ahn-jae’s slow explanation continued.

“I’m asking how Cookie is.”

Though he should answer, truthfully Joo Seung-ha didn’t know today’s situation well. After his mother left, he had turned off his smartphone and kept sleeping. He’d only turned his smartphone on recently. Come to think of it, what if there had been tips in regard to Cookie’s whereabouts?

Joo Seung-ha suddenly wanted to check his SNS messages which showed unread numbers. So after leaving the parking lot and stopping at a red light, he took out his smartphone. After quickly checking who had sent messages, he answered.

“Nothing much has improved.”

There were no tips. Given that only posts cursing Cookie’s former owner were visible in the shelter management group chat, it seemed there were no tips for other managers either.

“Will you send him to the former owner if you find Cookie?”

“Absolutely not.”

“But the former owner has ownership rights.”

Though he didn’t like to talk about Cookie having an owner, which made him sound like an object to be possessed, since that word was actually used legally, he couldn’t say anything. That was when he heard Seo Ahn-jae mutter.

“There are ways though.”

Ways? Joo Seung-ha was about to ask, but it seemed that topic was already over for the other man as he stared at Joo Seung-ha and asked, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Has nothing improved for you either?”

His question was dry and indifferent, but it made Joo Seung-ha recall the day he came to his house with dinner. That strange atmosphere that wasn’t kind but was kind. Joo Seung-ha was on guard, wondering if this was his own delusion of wanting the other man to be kind.

“Stop paying attention to me, senior.”

“We already fought about that topic before. Repeating the same words?”

Was he going to bring up wanting to sleep together again? Joo Seung-ha also disliked repeating the same words, so he put forward a more definite reason.

“Then be quiet since you’re distracting my driving.”

Seo Ahn-jae could be seen silently laughing. For some reason, he seemed to like it more when Joo Seung-ha acted prickly.

“How distracting am I?”

“Very much.”

“Should I sing for you?”

Joo Seung-ha was dumbfounded and glanced at him, but quickly looked away after meeting his smiling eyes. Though it was clearly unwanted flirtations, maybe because it was such a handsome face smiling, he couldn’t really get angry. Finding himself ridiculous, Joo Seung-ha asked Seo Ahn-jae honestly.

“Did you change tactics? Decided to approach with kindness and friendliness?”

Seo Ahn-jae turned his head from side to side as if the conversation exhausted him and asked back, “This counts as kind and friendly?”

For the you I remember, it’s overflowing with it. Joo Seung-ha answered internally and muttered with a sigh, “Yes, it’s a lot of kindness and friendliness.”

“I can do more if you want.”

“No thanks.”

Perhaps because the answer came too quickly, Seo Ahn-jae’s lips twisted again. Joo Seung-ha inwardly regretted answering. It would be difficult to deal with it if he actually became more kind and friendly out of defiance. The nasty-tempered Seo Ahn-jae was easiest for Joo Seung-ha to handle right now. Despite his tension, fortunately, Seo Ahn-jae didn’t try to lay him with any more friendly and kind flirtations.

So Joo Seung-ha momentarily forgot this conversation while driving. His only goal was to finish this drive and go home to hide again, but as if there was some rule about important calls coming whenever he was in Seo Ahn-jae’s car, Joo Seung-ha’s phone rang again before reaching their destination. This too wasn’t a call he could ignore. It was the convenience store part-timer who had reported Cookie last week. Since they’d already missed Cookie once in that neighborhood, Joo Seung-ha looked at Seo Ahn-jae, who quickly caught on and gave permission.

“Answer it.”

As soon as Joo Seung-ha touched the call button, a slightly flustered voice could be heard on the other end.

[Hello. Uh, I’m the one who reported Cookie last week.]

“Yes, hello. Did you see Cookie?”

[Can you come right now? Cookie is in the parking lot behind our convenience store right now!]

“Just floor it.”

Thanks to Seo Ahn-jae’s permission to drive at the maximum legally allowed speed, they could arrive at the convenience store 28 minutes later. Fortunately, it wasn’t far, so they arrived relatively quickly, but honestly, Joo Seung-ha had resigned himself to Cookie being gone already. Still, he practically ran to the convenience store after getting out of the car. Ding, as the convenience store door opened and Joo Seung-ha and Seo Ahn-jae entered, a woman in her mid-20s wearing a convenience store vest greeted them while looking at her smartphone.

“Welco…me.”

She looked up and seemed startled by their appearance, glancing at them before quickly lowering her head. Then when Joo Seung-ha approached her directly, she blinked, frozen in place.

“How…can I help you?”

“Hello. I’m Joo Seung-ha. I just received a call about Cookie.”

Hup, she seemed to draw in a breath before letting out a long exclamation.

“Aah–You’re from the shelter. B-Both of you?”

“No. Just me. Did you see where Cookie went?”

She blinked as if she hadn’t heard the question, busy looking back and forth between Seo Ahn-jae and Joo Seung-ha. Then as if coming to her senses, she quickly straightened up.

“Cookie, yes.”

Then she lifted the counter gate to come out while smiling shyly.

“Cookie is in the storage room right now.

“…There was really only a little pet food in the parking lot. So I thought he was hungry. So I opened the storage room door wide and dropped spoonfuls of cat food treats along the path. And he really went in! As soon as I saw him go in, I pulled hard on the string I’d connected to the door handle. I’ve seen it often on TV. That’s how I caught him.”

The part-timer’s bright tale still felt surreal and unbelievable, but either way, Cookie was in his arms right then. Joo Seung-ha sat in Seo Ahn-jae’s backseat holding Cookie, who smelled and was trembling in fear. When Joo Seung-ha asked several times if he could really ride in the car, Seo Ahn-jae eventually got annoyed.

“Then you can both sit on the hood.”

After getting in Seo Ahn-jae’s car like that and driving for a while, he realized something.

“Huh? Where are we going?”

That’s right. Joo Seung-ha hadn’t mentioned a destination, but Seo Ahn-jae was arbitrarily going somewhere.

“Dangsan-dong.”

That place had nothing to do with either the shelter or Joo Seung-ha. It wasn’t where Seo Ahn-jae’s house was either.

“Why there?”

“If they find out Cookie’s been caught, the former owner will take him.”

“So?”

“I’ll take him somewhere he won’t be taken from.”

Before he could ask where that was, Seo Ahn-jae opened the contacts list on his smartphone mounted on the holder and pressed the call button. After several rings, a young woman’s calm voice was heard.

[What?]

What surprised Joo Seung-ha was the hostility underlying her voice. Seo Ahn-jae seemed unconcerned as he replied casually.

“Want to raise a dog?”

After a moment of silence, she asked:

[The dog is you, isn’t it? You want me to raise you? What nonsense.]

Her elegant voice was filled with irritation. Joo Seung-ha tensed up like the trembling Cookie, totally startled. Again, Seo Ahn-jae replied as if everything was normal.

“It’s a real dog. Found one that the owner adopted, showed off on SNS, then abandoned.”

[…]

“I’ll be there in 30 minutes. Wait outside.”

[What?]

“Go to the mart now and buy dog food and pee pads.”

There was no answer for a while. Joo Seung-ha thought the call had ended, but after a long time, irritated words were heard again.

[Hey, stop talking nonsense and get lost.]

Click. This time the call really ended. After she hung up first and Seo Ahn-jae pressed the end call, Joo Seung-ha couldn’t help but ask.

“Who was…that…?”

“My sister.”

“…Ah.”

Joo Seung-ha managed one word and rode quietly before asking again.

“Why are we going to your sister’s?”

A clear answer came from Seo Ahn-jae.

“She likes dogs.”

And so? Joo Seung-ha wanted to ask, but Cookie kept struggling to escape from his arms, and while trying to soothe him, he missed the timing to ask again.

Why hadn’t he known about Seo Ahn-jae having siblings seven years ago? Despite wanting to know everything about him, he hadn’t even known this basic family relationship. Joo Seung-ha’s surprise at this fact was brief. The discovery of someone who treated Seo Ahn-jae casually was more significant. The woman in her mid-30s, who looked about 170 cm tall, was beautiful, proving she was Seo Ahn-jae’s blood relative. Her practical fashion sense of wearing sweats and a short-sleeve shirt also confirmed they were family.

“Hello.”

Though Joo Seung-ha greeted her awkwardly, she only stared intently at Cookie, whom Joo Seung-ha held protectively despite having both a leash and harness on. She didn’t even bother to greet Seo Ahn-jae.

Seo Ahn-jae also gave her a command with just a chin gesture, without greeting.

“Take him.”

“…No. I’m busy.”

For a refusal, it lacked hesitation and firmness. Joo Seung-ha, knowing how much consideration was needed when adopting a pet, didn’t want to send Cookie away like this. But Seo Ahn-jae had different thoughts on the matter.

“Just send him off to doggy daycare when you’re busy.”

Just as Joo Seung-ha was about to object that it wasn’t such a simple matter, he heard the sister mumbling.

“Should I?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll start with temporary fostering.”

Though he couldn’t object since temporary fostering was needed anyway, the suddenness left him speechless. Seeing his hesitation, the sister misunderstood and looked straight at Joo Seung-ha.

“I’m not a bad person.”

Her gaze was sharp and strong, impossible to refuse. And so the temporary fostering was decided.

Though a major concern had been resolved, Joo Seung-ha still couldn’t believe it. So when a hand pulled his arm to get in the car, he turned blankly and asked.

“It might cause trouble for you, noona. The previous owner…”

“It’s fine. I’m a lawyer.”

“…Ah.”

“Famous for tearing apart the opposition like a dog.”

“…Ah.”

“Joo Seung-ha.”

“…Yes?”

Joo Seung-ha answered absent-mindedly again but came back to reality when he met the softened gaze. However, when he tried to step back, Seo Ahn-jae caught him first. His other hand rose to cup Joo Seung-ha’s face, thumb gently stroking his cheek. He murmured softly.

“You keep being cute.”

With slight caress, Joo Seung-ha found it hard to open his lips. His response came out like a whisper.

“I don’t, I never do that.”

Was it because there was no strong refusal? Seo Ahn-jae’s hand didn’t fall away. Seo Ahn-jae’s dark eyes also caught Seung-ha’s gaze and didn’t let go. Both seemed to stop breathing, frozen. The first to move was Ahn-jae’s finger. The thumb that had come down near his lips lightly, really lightly, touched his red lips and then fell away. Joo Seung-ha inhaled without making a sound. He tried to step back, but this time the gaze that held him wouldn’t let go. Seo Ahn-jae asked, so softly it was like a breath.

“Let me kiss you.”

Seung-ha’s eyes wavered, but soon calmed down.

“I can’t.”

“I know, you’re not selling yourself.”

Seo Ahn-jae’s hand slid from Seung-ha’s face to the back of his neck. The large hand cupped Seung-ha’s neck as if supporting it, and his fingers seeped into his hair. A small shiver spread through Joo Seung-ha’s body.

“Ahn-jae sunbae.”

“So let me, please.”

His eyes went down to Seung-ha’s lips. Desire was revealed in his lowered eyes. Joo Seung-ha forcibly resisted the urge to swallow.

“Sounds like you’re begging.”

“That’s right, I’m begging.”

Unlike the soft words, the hand holding the back of his neck tightened. And his face came closer. ‘Seung-ha,’ he murmured his name hotly as his lips touched.

(To be continued in Volume 2)