TIN 66

I didn’t even ask why. As soon as Joo Do-hwa gave the order, the car smoothly pulled over to the side of the road. With even the faint engine noise gone, a deathly silence enveloped the interior.

“…”

I swallowed the words that had risen to my throat and kept my mouth shut. We were in the middle of crossing a bridge, and the darkening sky created an exceptionally quiet atmosphere all around us. The area under the bridge, once said to be full of water, now didn’t have a single drop.

The scene was so desolate that for a moment, I felt as if only he and I were the only ones left in the world. Though the driver and Henry were surely in the front seats, I felt a sense of isolation, as if we were alone in this world.

“…Why did you stop the car?”

I asked Joo Do-hwa, unable to overcome the uneasiness that had suddenly crept in.

With one hand on the seat and the other on the front wall, he blinked slowly while staring at me intently. My face was clearly reflected in his revealed eyes.

“Right.”

“…”

“I told you to at least greet him.”

His gentle voice momentarily eased my sense of fear. Although it wasn’t an answer to why he stopped the car, it was at least a response to my words. But I knew this was no different from a ticking time bomb about to explode.

“But I didn’t say to offer your cheek.”

His eyes, which hadn’t wavered, slowly moved downward. He stared intently at my cheek where the wound likely remained, then curled his lips as if twisting them. With a face that anyone would perceive as displeased, he murmured in a cold tone.

“If you couldn’t handle it, you should have at least avoided it. What right do you have to blame me?”

I wanted to retort that he was the one blaming me. If Joo Do-hwa hadn’t suddenly grabbed my face, I would’ve snapped back just like before.

“If you’re tired of being pretty, tell me. It’s next to nothing for me to ruin it with my own bare hands.”

The area where his fingertips touched stung with pain. Even my tongue, which I had accidentally bitten earlier, throbbed with pain in response. Judging from the brief taste of blood earlier, it must have been properly torn.

“Your face isn’t one to be ruined by just one slap to the cheek. Isn’t that right?”

“…Ugh.”

Despite my suppressed groan, Joo Do-hwa didn’t loosen his grip. His deliberate pressing on the wounded area seemed like some kind of warning to me. And then came words that sounded like a threat.

“If you come back with even one more scratch from someone else’s hand, I won’t stay quiet next time.”

You’re not staying quiet even now.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I roughly pushed his hand away. Fortunately, or perhaps not, he let go of me easily with just a bit of resistance. My cheek that had been held throbbed, and I glared daggers at Joo Do-hwa while covering the wound with the back of my hand.

“…Didn’t I tell you not to take your anger out on me?”

“Taking out my anger?”

Joo Do-hwa raised one corner of his mouth at my words, which I had spat out bitterly. His reaction was infuriatingly nonchalant, and that aspect made me even angrier. Despite not having the ability to handle the consequences, the unjust feelings I had been suppressing were about to burst out into the open again.

“I’m the one who ended up getting slapped at a party I went to because of you. Do you think this situation sucks only for you?”

Even though what he claimed as ‘his’ was ultimately me, it didn’t make sense for him to be this angry about the fact that I had hurt myself. If anyone should be angry, it should be me, who was the one who had gotten slapped out of the blue.

Yes, not this bastard smiling with an unscathed face.

“That bastard grabbed my collar the moment he saw me. Like you said, what could I, who has nothing, possibly do in that sort of situation?”

Wang Wei had shown fierce eyes the moment he discovered me. It was a completely expected reaction, and if he had acted calmly, that would have been more strange. From the moment the meeting with him was arranged, there was only one predetermined future. Only Lee Yuna’s presence was the variable.

“If you couldn’t handle it, you shouldn’t have left your seat. Thanks to your fiancée, I got slapped once instead of twice, and what? You think you’re the one I should apologize to?”

Joo Do-hwa spoke as if I had intervened and gotten slapped, but that was an absurd claim too. Lee Yuna was the one who intervened first, and if she hadn’t been there, I would have suffered a worse fate before that. Maybe it wouldn’t have ended with just one slap to the cheek.

If that had happened, would he have reacted differently? No, I was certain he wouldn’t have. Regardless of how it happened, Joo Do-hwa would surely still be angry at me.

“Do you get angry at an object for getting damaged?”

“…”

“This little wound will heal in two days. Is that what’s pissing you off so much?”

If I were really just an object, a swollen wound like this would heal with time. Since there was no need to apply medicine, it wouldn’t even cost money for treatment. With good food and rest, even my tongue that ached from accidentally biting it would recover in a few days.

So the more I heard, the stranger it seemed. It looked as if the reason for his anger wasn’t just Wang Wei’s rudeness, but the fact that I got hurt in the first place. Not because an irreparable flaw was created, but simply because I was wounded.

“There’s no need for you to make such a fuss over just one slap to the cheek. I’m the one who got hit, who got hurt, and fuck, who ended up in this miserable state. Am I wrong?”

If I wasn’t the cause of what happened today, then Joo Do-hwa was even more of a complete stranger. If I didn’t have the right to block Lee Yuna’s path, then Joo Do-hwa had no obligation to deal with Wang Wei. It meant he had no reason to continue with that ‘bothersome act.’

Of course, I understood that touching me was an insult to him since I was his possession. I could somewhat comprehend that the reason he directly dealt with Wang Wei was an extension of this issue. But wasn’t that problem over after he had dealt with Wang Wei?

He could’ve made an example of him at the party for touching his ‘hyung,’ but there was no need to continue this in the car. Unless he intended to take out his anger on me as well, not satisfied with just Wang Wei. Unless he was venting his frustration on insignificant me as payback for the damage to his noble mood.

“It’s okay when you ruin things with your own hands, but not okay when others put a scratch on it? Then what about me? After all, you’re no different from that bastard…”

The words I was blurting out in anger suddenly cut off. Joo Do-hwa, who had been quietly listening, instantly erased any trace of a smile on his face. He spoke in a chillingly calm tone, just as he had done to Wang Wei earlier.

“Say that again.”

“…”

A sense of impending crisis gripped the nape of my neck. I knew I should shut up immediately, but contrary to my trembling body, my lips moved on their own accord. It was because all the resentment that had built up over time spilled out in a situation where even Wang Wei had kept his mouth shut.

“…You’re no different from that bastard.”

I didn’t mean to say it like that, but once I voiced it out loud, emotion filled the words. You’ve touched me too, after all. Both of you tried to buy me with money, subdued me to fuck me, it’s no different. If that guy slapped my cheek, you choked my neck.

“You’re exactly the same as that bastard.”

“…”

I wasn’t sure how Joo Do-hwa heard this one sentence I spat out in anger. One thing for certain was that his face, devoid of all expression, was as cold as if it would completely freeze over.

And the murmur that came from his mouth was heavily sunken.

“Ah, the same, you say.”

It wasn’t as if he had shouted, but as soon as I heard those words, my heart started pounding. It felt like my breath was gradually quickening as if I had been running from someone.

Just as I began to smell a sweet scent from somewhere, he tilted his head to one side slightly.

“You don’t know what it really means to do the same thing.”

His quietly whispered voice was unsettling beyond comparison. His lowered eyes were as exquisite as a painting, yet they only felt frightening. A small smile soon flowed from his lips, which were as red as if stained with blood.

“…A small bill?”

He muttered softly and took out a leather wallet from his jacket’s inner pocket. The banknotes neatly tucked inside were crisp new bills issued after the currency reform. It was the largest denomination of existing banknotes, an amount I had only possessed once in my life.

Why suddenly that? Such a thought lasted only for a moment. Joo Do-hwa took out one of them, folded it a couple of times, and abruptly stuffed it into the pocket of the jacket I was wearing. I tried to back away in surprise, but there was nowhere to retreat in the cramped space of the car.

“What is this…?”

“Keep the change.”

The single phrase he uttered softly was frigid. While I couldn’t manage to say a word, he loosened his tie and straightened his posture.

Then, with that arrogant face of his, he nodded toward the space between his legs.

“Come and kneel between my legs.”