Swallow Hunting - Chapter 15.2
Cha Hae-jun dragged his feet as he crossed the hallway. In front of the massive door at the far end of the corridor, he took several deep breaths in a row and raised his hand. It was not as if Lee Kang-ju could hear him breathing, but out of courtesy, he steadied himself before knocking. If there was no answer, he planned to use that as an excuse to turn back. As if someone had seen straight through his shallow plan, the space fell silent and then a phone rang loudly. It was Lee Kang-ju’s phone.
-Come in.
He had not even had time to say hello. Hae-jun carefully opened the door. Beyond the dim reception room, Lee Kang-ju was sitting in a brightly lit office. His gaze was fixed on the monitor, and he did not look back at Hae-jun.
“There’s still some work left. Sit there.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hae-jun immediately planted himself on the sofa. With nowhere else to rest his eyes, he glanced around and then noticed an aquarium glowing softly with light. A strange sense of familiarity washed over him. He had only seen the fish once, but they had appeared so often in his dreams that they felt like fish he himself was raising.
Time passed slowly. He considered playing a game on his phone, but it felt rude, so he placed both fists on his knees and simply sat still.
The steady sound of keys being tapped, the warm indoor temperature, and the sofa as soft as a bed. His body gradually relaxed, his eyelids grew heavy, and before he realized it, he began to nod off. Then, at the sound of a chair scraping back, he snapped his head up. It seemed the work was finished. Lee Kang-ju had draped his suit jacket over his arm and was walking into the reception room.
Come to think of it, Hae-jun had never really seen Lee Kang-ju’s face up close. The first time, he had been too busy running away. The second time, his face had been buried between someone’s legs. The third time, he had been bowing his head and begging. The fourth time, it had been on a dark bridge, where he could only make out a vague outline. Facing him under bright light like this was practically a first.
He had worked until the dead of night, so fatigue should have shown everywhere, yet Lee Kang-ju looked impeccably clean, without the slightest trace of weariness. No matter how many times he looked, the man was strikingly handsome enough to make one’s head spin.
His eyes slanted cleanly upward, framed by dense lashes. When he lifted the corners of his lips, he looked gentle, but there was no opening in that smile. The lines running from his thick brows through the bridge of his nose were bold, and his jawline was sharply defined, drawing an unbidden admiration for his looks.
There was an old saying that you should look at a man’s nose and nostrils. Perhaps because he was so well endowed, Lee Kang-ju’s nose was straight and high as well. Even his full lower lip looked oddly enticing, enough to make even a stranger feel the urge to suck on it just once.
Working as a host, Hae-jun had met plenty of men who bragged about their good looks, but objectively, he had never once seen anyone better than Lee Kang-ju. If their connection had not been so twisted, he might have seriously suggested that Lee Kang-ju try working in this line of business. With that face and a simple smile, clients holding three keys would be lining up to wait their turn.
“I’m sorry.”
He had been staring rudely. Hae-jun quickly bowed his head and apologized. Only then did the reason he had come here surface belatedly in his mind.
“CEO, I’m sorry, but could you reconsider just one more time. I know I sell my body, I do, but that’s not the point…”
The tongue that worked so smoothly in front of clients always seemed to break down in front of Lee Kang-ju. Hae-jun clenched and unclenched his fists, desperately turning his thoughts as he tried to figure out what to say next.
Silence.
It was no use. Not a single thought came to him.
“You should finish what you’re saying.”
Cold sweat seeped into his palms. His mouth went bone dry, his toes turned icy, and even his stomach churned. The blood-soaked floor and the half-naked man lying there without a twitch flickered before his eyes. If he refused outright, he might end up becoming one with the floor under Lee Kang-ju’s fists as well.
“No matter what, I’ll pay the money back, so if you could just pretend this never happened…”
Even so, he had to say it. He was scared enough to make his balls shrink, but he squeezed his thighs together and clasped his hands tightly.
“Hah…”
Lee Kang-ju let out a low sigh. That mere breath felt like it pressed heavily against the back of Hae-jun’s head. Hae-jun bent forward until his forehead nearly touched his knees. Even when Lee Kang-ju called his name, Hae-jun could not lift his head.
“You said you’d do well. You got my hopes up, and now you change your tune. Of course people get disappointed.”
“That’s not it.”
Lee Kang-ju tapped his own chin with his index finger, tap, tap. Despite saying he was disappointed, his expression did not change. Instead, a loose smile lingered on his lips, like a child debating whether to tear the wings off a dragonfly.
“I approved it because I admired that nerve of yours, and now you stab me in the back.”
“CEO, please.”
“The thing I hate most in this world is being stabbed in the back.”
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