Chapter 9

Cha Gyuhan balanced a pen on his desk, trying to soothe the agitation churning in his gut. His father would have chewed him out for acting like a shameless salary thief, but Gyuhan hardly gave a damn. Gong Jio had shown up for work today as if nothing had happened, and all Gyuhan had to do was follow whatever instructions Jio gave him. He saw nothing wrong with that mindset.

The real issue was Gong Jio. He was Cha Gyuhan’s problem.

He slept with a man?

The moment that inescapable reality crossed his mind, the pen toppled over again. at precisely that moment, word arrived that Gong Jio was waiting outside.

“Send him in,” Gyuhan muttered gloomily.

The door swung open, revealing Gong Jio.

The sight choked the words right in Gyuhan’s throat. Unconsciously, his gaze dropped to Jio’s groin before flicking up to his arm. The image of that arm draped over another man’s shoulder was still vivid in his mind. He knew that men could bond naked in a public bathhouse, scrubbing each other’s backs to forge brotherhood, but if the final destination was a bed rather than a sauna, that was a bit problematic. When his eyes finally settled on Jio’s face, it was as unreadable and expressionless as ever.

“Brought some items for you to check.”

Jio kicked the door shut with his heel and strolled over. Gyuhan let the explanation drift in one ear and out the other, scrawling his signature wherever he was told to sign. All the while, Jio’s phone buzzed incessantly.

“That wraps it up.”

Watching Jio’s fingertip tap the page and lift away like a tutor finishing a homework review, Gyuhan slowly raised his head, slumped forward against the desk like a reluctant student dreading his worksheets.

“Your phone won’t stop ringing.”

“I’ll check it outside.”

“What if it’s my father?”

“If it’s your father, the Chairman, I’ll take it right now.”

“Just check it…”

Jio pulled out his phone. Casting a fleeting glance at the screen, he slipped it back into his pocket and answered with total indifference. “It’s not.”

Not him? Then who is it? Spill it. Have you been dating someone?

A sudden jolt hit Gyuhan as he realized he had never paid the slightest attention to Jio’s romantic life. More precisely, he had no idea whether Jio had ever dated anyone at all.

“Something on your mind, Director Cha?” Jio asked, noticing Gyuhan’s unwavering stare.

Gyuhan hesitated, clicking the cap back onto his pen. “About what I said over the weekend…”

“What? Telling me not to worry my nonexistent parents?”

Ugh.

Gyuhan squeezed his eyes shut with a groan. Hearing it repeated from Jio’s own mouth made him feel even more vividly like a piece of trash. Thankfully, that had the side effect of temporarily pushing thoughts of Jio’s dick out of his mind. Gyuhan was the kind of man who could only process one thought at a time.

“Nothing new. I’ve even been asked if I bought my family etiquette at a discount on a secondhand marketplace.”

“What bastard said that to you?!”

“They’re not in any position to say it ever again, so it doesn’t matter.”

Jio took the document folder back from the desk, tucked it under his arm, and stood at an angle. His weight shifted onto one leg. As luck would have it, he shifted toward the side where his package was stowed. Seeing that thigh curve with distinctly more three-dimensional volume than the other, Gyuhan’s jaw dropped slightly.

That contour is—!

“Done with what you wanted to say?”

Snapping back to his senses, Gyuhan idly spun the pen across his knuckles. After dithering for a second, he blurted out just as Jio turned to leave. “The guy you were with…”

“Ah.”

“Did you have fun that night?”

“Didn’t know friends traded bedroom stories.”

“I-I got caught by you, so it’s only fair you tell me too!”

“Really?”

Jio braced his hand against the desk. Leaning forward at the waist, he closed the distance abruptly. The rich scent radiating from Jio threw Gyuhan off.

Did he change his cologne?

“You really want me to tell you? I hate half-assing things, so I’ll give you every graphic detail.”

“A summary is plenty! I don’t care about what you did to him, I just want to know since when you started sleeping with guys!”

Despite his fluster, Gyuhan refused to be cowed and pushed right back. Yet no matter how he phrased it, the question fell squarely within Jio’s expectations.

“I can’t recall when it all began. You insist you’re not interested in how I managed it. However, choosing to stay silent seems a bit trivial between us,” Jio said calmly. Since Gyuhan’s questions were predictable, he already had a response ready. He then noticed the pen that had slipped from Gyuhan’s hand and landed on the desk. Jio’s hand twitched. An invisible pen spun effortlessly across his fingers—a pen named Cha Gyuhan. “I slept with a man because of you.”

“Huh…?”

Even a tightly shut door had a crevice to slip through. If the owner didn’t know where the key was—or if a key even existed—smashing the door down was always an option. Jio had simply exercised restraint until now.

“You slept with a man because of me? Why?”

Jio hadn’t expected Gyuhan to understand. Straightening his posture with a dry smirk, Jio looked down at him. “You said you wanted to get married.”

“What?”

“It felt like you’d ruin your own life, ruin that person’s life, and end up fucking up my life in the process.”

“What…? Why the hell would me getting married wreck all three of our lives?”

“Good question. Why indeed?” Jio stared at him steadily, then tapped his index finger against his temple. “Try using your head for once, Cha Gyuhan. Even though I know thinking isn’t something you do often.”

It was vaguer than a riddle, offering virtually no clues. What on earth did his marriage or his future wife have to do with Gong Jio? Why would three lives—including an imaginary spouse’s—be ruined together, as if bound by a shared fate? It sounded disturbingly like… like… that filthy word he couldn’t even bring himself to utter… ne… neto…

“It’s not that, is it?” Gyuhan blurted out out of nowhere.

“What do you mean by ‘that’?” Jio replied.

“…I don’t even want to say it out loud.”

“Right. That’s just who you are. But Cha Gyuhan, whatever you’re too disgusted to say out loud, what I’ve imagined might be ten times worse. Whatever you’re thinking.”

“…”

“I’m leaving.”

Leaving only an enigma behind, Jio walked away. Gyuhan could only stare blankly at the space his friend had just vacated.