Frightened by those words, Hyeonjo tried to become close to the dog as Kwon Hyeonjo, but that effort never bore any fruit.The dog died as if it had fallen asleep under peaceful sunlight. It did not thrash in pain or howl. It only panted a little more than usual, then stared blankly at Hyeonjo as he stroked its body before moving its head to rub its cold nose against the back of Hyeonjo’s hand. Hyeonjo blinked in surprise at that cold touch, and that was all. The dog’s death ended that quietly.

They had said it was old to begin with. They had also said that for a dog, it had lived a long life. Since Grandfather had said those things, looking back now, it seemed Grandfather must have known Hyeonjo had been secretly raising the dog.No one said it outright, but everyone in the house was saddened. The driver, the servants. It had been such a cute creature, one that loved people and would wag its tail and show its belly to anyone. That dog had only ever failed to approach Hyeonjo.Even so, Hyeonjo loved that dog. That old, weak dog that had disliked him the entire time.So much so that, even though he hated how it longed for Kwon Hakjo, he regretted more that he should never have brought it home. And that regret was still far smaller than the ache of missing it.

He had told Kwon Hakjo that he had killed it the day he stole the dog. He had done it to hurt him. Because he was jealous of a child who grew up not as an abandoned son but as a treasured one. Because he had said he wanted to raise a puppy and got beaten with a switch for it, while that brat looked so happy stroking a dog he had raised since it was tiny.

The day he said he had killed the dog, Kwon Hakjo had rushed at him with a face Hyeonjo had never seen before. Those small fists were so fierce that Hyeonjo spent the entire night sniffling. It was not because his wounds hurt. He was afraid Hakjo might take revenge.It felt like Hakjo might suddenly appear one day and steal away everything Hyeonjo loved. Just as Hyeonjo had stolen that dog, and just as he still could not forget the cold tip of its nose at the very end, he was afraid that in the end, the thing he stole would end up receiving love from him.

He was afraid of being abandoned again.Hakjo stared at Chaegong silently. He was thinking because he did not know what to call this emotion filling his chest.The face looking at him from the bed, eyes trembling, did not resemble that dog in the slightest. But Hyeonjo felt something in his chest churn.

Maybe Kwon Hakjo had finally come to take revenge. By stealing away the one complete thing that Kwon Hyeonjo had for the first time.The moment Hyeonjo crushed the business card in his hand, their gazes met. Chaegong tried to say something, but no sound came out. It was because the palm that struck his cheek was merciless.

Chaegong slowly turned his head, covering the burning heat in his cheek with a hand. Hyeonjo had a strange look on his face. It was not simply anger, because a faint sorrow lingered in a corner of his eyes. As if he, not the one who had been hit, was the one suffering.

Hyeonjo, with that unreadable expression, hesitated and raised his hand once more.

At that sight, Chaegong squeezed his eyes shut, but Hyeonjo’s hand did not come down painfully on his body.Chaegong opened his eyes at the soft warmth covering his cheek. Hyeonjo’s face filled his vision, now familiar in the dark. He wanted to know what expression Hyeonjo was making, but before he could confirm it, Hyeonjo’s hand covered Chaegong’s eyes.

“…You’re mine. Right?”

“I’m the one who picked you up, so I’m the one who gets to throw you away.”

I won’t give you to anyone until I throw you away.Was that voice trembling? He couldn’t remember.

Because Chaegong was too busy trying to steady his pounding heart at the breath he could feel right in front of him. Was this fear, excitement, or both? Chaegong could not tell.But there was no need to distinguish them. The warmth touching his lips swept every thought away, and only that sensation ruled over his entire body. The kiss, one that Hyeonjo only gave him these days when they were entwined on the bed, was incredibly gentle.

It was not rough as if he meant to devour him, nor did it bite his lips until blood spilled. The kiss was almost like the ones they had shared when they had first met.But Chaegong knew he could not be happy about it alone. Beyond the fairly plain end of the kiss, Hyeonjo’s face was not smiling.

Wiping the saliva from his lips with his sleeve, Hyeonjo got up neither slowly nor quickly, and walked out of the room. Aside from the slap, he had not been hit or cursed at, and yet that made Chaegong feel even more uneasy. In the box left all alone on the desk, there was surely a cake of some kind with an unfamiliar name.

At last, Chaegong’s heart melted at that. He picked up the business card that had fallen to the floor and tore it to shreds with his bare hands. The pieces of paper, torn so small the letters were no longer legible, went straight into the trash.

He carried the cake out to the living room, but Hyeonjo had already gone back to his room, and only the deep darkness greeted Chaegong. After stuffing the box into the refrigerator, Chaegong hesitated for a long time outside Hyeonjo’s room. Whether he should ask to eat cake together, whether he should at least say thank you. Whether he might be interrupting him while he rested.

As was usually the case, the end of his hesitation was surrender.

Back in his own room, Chaegong pulled the blanket over himself and tried to fall asleep, though sleep would not come. His cheek stung a little, but he did not cry. Thinking of the box in the refrigerator, and of Hyeonjo carrying it home for no one but Chaegong, made his chest flutter in a strange way.

It wasn’t a bad feeling, but he couldn’t laugh, and it wasn’t sad enough for there to be any reason to be. It was a little like anxiety too, but there was no reason for that either. Hyeonjo was the sort who didn’t hold grudges.

No matter how hard he thought about it, no answer came easily, and in the end Chaegong hugged his unrestful heart for reasons he couldn’t understand and forced his eyes closed.

Maybe because he had fallen asleep so late? The next day, Chaegong only barely woke up long after the time he was supposed to get out of bed. Naturally, Hyeonjo would already have left the house by then. Just as Chaegong hurriedly got up, finished a quick shower, and put on his apron to start the housework,

the rarely used doorbell rang, and Chaegong’s shoulders stiffened. The person who delivered groceries and other supplies had already come by not long ago, so there was no one who would be ringing the bell at this hour.

Hyeonjo didn’t ring the bell, but came in by opening the door himself. That meant there was only one person left. Remembering the scraps of paper that had gone into the trash, Chaegong made his way cautiously to the front door.

Contrary to Chaegong’s expectations, the person standing beyond the door was neither Hakjo nor Hyeonjo. A very beautiful woman was staring at Chaegong blankly.

It was a face Chaegong was seeing for the first time in his life. A face so beautiful he would never have forgotten it if he had seen it even once. As Chaegong froze stiffly, the woman who had been narrowing her eyes seemed to remember something and spoke.

“Oh, you are? The housekeeper.”

The word was not familiar, but it wasn’t unfamiliar either, and Chaegong’s face flushed red. He couldn’t have been more ashamed of the apron he had worn so long it had started to look a little threadbare.

“May I come in?”

Her tone wasn’t sharp, but Chaegong could feel the confidence in it. This was something said only as a formality. She naturally saw Chaegong as beneath her, someone born with effortless arrogance.

Accustomed to being treated that way, Chaegong rubbed his sweat-damp hands against his apron and asked,

“But who are you?”

“Me? I’m Kwon Hyeonjo’s fiancée.”

✿ • ✿ • ✿

Standing alone in the kitchen, Chaegong felt his heart pounding uneasily and let out a short breath. Hyeonjo’s fiancée? He had a fiancée? Why hadn’t he told him? No, he had no reason to tell him in the first place. Who was Lee Chaegong to make him say something like that?