TIN 44

The party continued until late into the evening.

As the host, Kei continued to go around greeting people, while Joo Do-hwa watched everything from a distance away. On the surface, he seemed no different than usual, but his subtly reduced speech indicated his mood was not normal.

Even as I kept an eye on things, the attention focused on Joo Do-hwa showed no signs of diminishing. Occasionally, some would muster the courage to speak to him, but they all gave up before saying more than three sentences. This was because Joo Do-hwa, who was never very friendly to begin with, now sent expressionless gazes without even the polite smile he usually wore.

Yoon Ji-soo never appeared at the party. I had been desperately waiting for the day to see her again, but as we left the party venue, I felt an inexplicable sense of relief. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with her having avoided an encounter with Joo Do-hwa, or if I wasn’t ready to see her again.

Joo Do-hwa left the party just as it was reaching its peak. It was around the time when everyone was getting tipsy and the atmosphere was becoming more intimate. Uttering just one word, “Let’s go,” Joo Do-hwa didn’t say anything else in the car ride home.

“…”

“…”

Because of this, a suffocating silence filled the car where we sat side by side. The limousine, with its modified interior, had a partition separating the driver’s seat, so naturally, the back seat was a space for just the two of us. While there was no need for affectionate conversation, the current situation was uncomfortable enough.

Even when we arrived home and got out of the car, Joo Do-hwa remained silent with his mouth closed. With his eyes lowered to the ground, he appeared to be deep in thought, or perhaps lost in a daze. When he occasionally turned to look at my face, I felt his intense gaze prickling my skin.

What on earth is wrong with him?

No matter how much I pondered this, nothing specific came to mind. He already knew I was a “rag,” so it wasn’t like he caught me doing something wrong, and Kei’s provocation didn’t seem like something that would particularly upset Joo Do-hwa. If anything, I would have understood if he had been smiling and teasing me.

While I was simply observing, I reached my room on the third floor.

The problem was that Joo Do-hwa, who had been following right behind me, entered the room after me. And even closed the door himself.

“…”

As the door clicked shut, I felt completely cut off from the outside air. Feeling the pressure closing in as if trapped in a sealed room, I was forced to glance at Joo Do-hwa and ask.

“…Why?”

He didn’t answer my casually posed question. He just stood there with his arms crossed, staring down at me. Leaning against the door, he looked as if he was trapping me in the room.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

I asked nonchalantly, but in reality, I was very tense. This kind of situation wasn’t new, but perhaps because of the different attire, it felt more threatening. His neatly combed hair and a well-fitted suit made him look like a stranger.

“Hyung.”

“Huh?”

As he answered, he strode toward me. Perhaps due to his long legs, he was able to reach me in just two steps. I could almost smell his pheromones, similar to the perfume I had applied earlier.

And what Joo Do-hwa did next was reach into my jacket pocket. His fingers naturally dug into the right pocket and pulled out the business card inside.

“I thought so.”

He held the card between his index and middle fingers and lightly fluttered it as if to show me. Kim Jaewon. The name wavered before my eyes. Although I had received the card secretly, I hadn’t intended to hide it anyway, so I didn’t particularly feel caught.

“He said you were the prettiest one there.”

Yet Joo Do-hwa spoke like a husband interrogating an unfaithful partner. Just hearing his words, one might think Kei had hit on me. While I couldn’t completely deny it, that wasn’t the reason Kei had given me his card.

“He just gave it to me to contact him.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

Joo Do-hwa shrugged and put the card in his own pocket. He acted as if it had been his from the start, appearing like it was the most natural thing in the world. He even spoke with a confident face.

“I’ll keep this.”

“…Do as you like.”

I had already memorized the number, and I didn’t intend to keep the card out of nostalgia. I just didn’t expect Joo Do-hwa to take it away. Why would he want that piece of paper when he left the money I brought from Oceans alone?

“Did you follow me to talk about that?”

“Do I need a reason to enter my own room?”

How is this your room? Swallowing those words, I frowned awkwardly. Fortunately, he didn’t seem angry, but I still felt uneasy. Especially under that golden gaze intently examining the business card.

“You must have been close with Kei.”

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, forming a gentle arc. Unlike the perfect smile, his eyes looking at me felt cold.

“A nickname, holding hands…and even drinking alcohol when I told you not to.”

“…Hmm.”

While I could explain away the first two, I couldn’t deny the last point. He had told me not to drink if possible, but I ended up finishing a glass of champagne.

But it was untainted alcohol, and nothing happened as a result. If Kei hadn’t been the host, I wouldn’t have drunk it so readily.

Before I could explain, he tapped my loosened tie with the hand holding the business card, as if knocking on it.

“You even loosened your tie.”

“…Ah.”

I reflexively touched around my neck. I had forgotten I’d loosened it earlier. It wasn’t unsightly, but Joo Do-hwa asked with a smile still on his face,”Did you ask to be taken there because you wanted to suck cock?”

“…”

I was at a loss for words. Crazy bastard, I thought, but I couldn’t say it out loud.

“This is why I didn’t want to bring you.”

Joo Do-hwa spoke with a rather regretful expression as if he should have left me at home. His long fingers gently stroked the silk tie.

“But I didn’t expect this to happen so soon.”

“I didn’t suck any cock. I loosened the tie because it was uncomfortable.”

I answered, trying to hide my irritation. There wasn’t that kind of atmosphere to begin with, and such things didn’t happen often. Besides, unless Kei was a premature ejaculator, how could anything happen in such a short period of time?

“How can you say that with alpha pheromones all over you?”

However, Joo Do-hwa didn’t believe me. Mentioning alpha pheromones that weren’t even there, he rubbed my cheek with the hand that had been touching my tie.

“‘Suck me off again next time we meet.'”

“…”

Damn Kei. Why did he have to say such a thing?

“I guess the tie was uncomfortable when you tried to take it all the way in. And the champagne, was that to rinse your mouth?”

His languid voice spoke nonsense. The hand that had been on my cheek slowly moved down my neck like a crawling snake.

“Kei’s… does it come about here?”

His fingertips touched my protruding Adam’s apple. Just that was enough to make my neck stiffen. I felt like he might grab my throat at any moment.

“Are you that good?”

“…”

“Good enough for others to ask you to do it again?”

Whether he knew my situation or not, Joo Do-hwa caressed my neck with slow movements. From the Adam’s apple to the collarbone and the area beside it. He gently stroked down, almost ticklish, then cupped the back of my neck and lowered his eyes.

“How many have you sucked to be that good?”

I didn’t mind being treated like a rag. It wasn’t like I had no experience doing it, so I couldn’t even say it was a misunderstanding. It was just uncomfortable discussing this topic with Joo Do-hwa.

“This kind of conversation with you…”

So I opened my mouth to interrupt him. I was going to say I didn’t want to have this conversation and  to change the subject like last time. But before I could finish, Joo Do-hwa tilted his head slightly.

“Want to suck mine too?”

“…What?”

Did I hear that wrong? For a moment, I couldn’t understand what he just said. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard such a proposal, but because it was Joo Do-hwa saying it this time made me think I had misheard him.

“I’ve been thinking about it…”

His trailing words dropped to a low murmur. Was that really why he had been silent all this time, thinking about this?

The truth I belatedly realized was not at all pleasant.

“I’m curious. How good you are.”

He smiled with an innocent face that didn’t match the content of his words. His gentle voice sounded almost harmless in a way.

Joo Do-hwa moved his hand stealthily and lightly gripped my hunched shoulders.

“Do it for me too.”