* * *
After hanging up, Jingyeom sat quietly, deep in thought, before an inexplicable surge of anger flared up within him.
He felt like he was constantly being manipulated by Wonbeom and Soohyuk.
His fists clenched tightly as his eyes burned with determination.
‘Why is it always me who has to deal with this?’
Suddenly feeling indignant, Jingyeom stormed out of his room, scanning the living room for Soohyuk.
Not finding him there, he headed toward the kitchen, where the staff were preparing dinner.
After greeting them, he turned to look at the stairs.
Most of the rooms on the first floor were set up for his convenience, meaning Soohyuk’s room was likely on the second floor.
“Ugh.”
Though his legs were sore from all the walking and traveling earlier in the day, it wasn’t enough to keep him from climbing the stairs.
Gripping the handrail, he made his way up to the second floor and looked around.
‘Which one is his room?’
Regretting his earlier decision to decline Madam Jeong’s offer to guide him, he decided to check each room one by one.
Just as he was about to start, he remembered the note he’d lost the day before and headed to the study instead.
‘I should’ve told him about it earlier…’
The note might have been important to Soohyuk, so he carefully searched the floor, wondering if he’d missed it in the chaos of yesterday.
But, as expected, it wasn’t there.
Clicking his tongue in frustration, he glanced around and noticed a white note stuck in the memo holder on the desk.
Walking over quickly, Jingyeom checked the note.
‘Baek Jingyeom.’
His own name was neatly written on it.
Whether Soohyuk or Madam Jeong had found it, it was back in its place, which lifted Jingyeom’s spirits slightly.
Smiling unconsciously as he read his name aloud, “Baek Jingyeom,” he caught himself and quickly erased the expression.
As he turned to leave the study, his eyes fell on the safe he’d noticed yesterday.
“…Bad idea.”
Opening someone else’s safe was clearly wrong, but curiosity nagged at him.
Could it hold Soohyuk’s secrets?
Sitting cross-legged in front of the safe, he stared intently at the touchpad.
“I’ve heard that fingerprints linger on these things.”
He recalled from YouTube that fingerprints could reveal the numbers.
Squinting, he tried to spot any marks, but it was no use.
Even if he could identify the prints, the countless possible combinations made guessing unlikely.
Besides, getting caught was inevitable if he tried them all.
After pondering for a moment, Jingyeom decided to test a familiar number.
“What’s Soohyuk hyung’s birthday?”
But then he realized he only knew Jinwoo’s birthday, not Soohyuk’s or Wonbeom’s.
‘Even my own birthday… We just let it pass, didn’t we?’
While it wasn’t his actual birthday, it was still Baek Jingyeom’s.
Granted, he’d been hospitalized at the time, but even after he was discharged, Jinwoo had been too preoccupied to celebrate properly.
Birthdays didn’t have to be a big deal, but he regretted not making more of an effort for Jinwoo’s.
“Ah… I’ve really been thoughtless.”
Feeling the weight of his negligence, he shook his head and refocused on the task at hand.
“…It wouldn’t be, right?”
On a whim, he typed in 1203, his own birthday.
The touchpad beeped, and the safe clicked open.
“…Seriously? Why use my birthday for this?”
Though he grumbled, he couldn’t stop his lips from curving into a smile.
Realizing how much he’d become a part of Soohyuk’s life lifted his spirits.
Inside, there was only a single document folder. Jingyeom blinked in surprise.
Given Soohyuk’s wealth, he’d half-expected gold bars or something equally extravagant.
Not to steal, of course—just to see.
The sight of one lonely folder in the large safe felt anticlimactic.
“Could it be the deed to the house? Or land titles?”
That might justify a safe this big.
As he reached for the folder, his other hand slapped his wrist.
“Hey!”
Opening the safe was already a breach of privacy.
Looking at its contents would cross a line.
He decided to leave it at that and began closing the safe.
Then a voice behind him froze him in place.
“You can look if you want.”
“AHH!”
Startled beyond measure, Jingyeom clutched his chest as his heart pounded wildly, feeling as if it were about to give out.
“Jingyeom!”
Startled, Soohyuk quickly checked Jingyeom’s watch.
The heart rate monitor had spiked to 120 in seconds, prompting him to scoop Jingyeom up without hesitation.
“It’s okay, it’s okay! Really! I was just startled, that’s all!”
“Is there ever a day you don’t say you’re fine?”
“Hey, my heart is literally tied to my life. If something’s wrong, I’d definitely say so!”
Still unconvinced, Soohyuk furrowed his brow deeply, letting out an exaggerated sigh as he carried Jingyeom—not to Jingyeom’s room, but his own.
He set Jingyeom down gently on the large bed and placed a hand on his chest.
“I made noise when I came in. I even knocked.”
“…I didn’t notice.”
“Guess all your attention was on the safe, huh?”
Jingyeom turned his head slightly, unable to meet Soohyuk’s gaze.
Caught red-handed, he couldn’t bear to look at him.
If only he could vanish on the spot, he would’ve.
Though his heart rate was supposed to return to normal, it stubbornly remained above 100, keeping Soohyuk’s expression firmly set in a frown.
“I’m going to have to research how to stop scaring you all the time. If this keeps up, my heart will burn out before yours does.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be resting in your room? Why were you in the study?”
“I went to look for you, but then I remembered I dropped a memo there yesterday. I wanted to check if I could find it again…”
“I already found it. Did you see what it said?”
Jingyeom nodded.
“I was surprised. I thought it was something important, but it just had my name on it. Why’d you write that?”
“Because it is important. You, Baek Jingyeom, are important to me.”
The once-silent watch let out another warning beep.
Jingyeom scrambled to cover it, but the faint sound escaping the device betrayed him.
“…”
Even without looking, he could feel Soohyuk’s unwavering gaze.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, Jingyeom shifted his body to the side.
Soohyuk followed, moving deeper into the bed.
“That watch is handy. Not that I’d need it to notice, though…”
As expected, Jingyeom’s ears and neck turned red.
His transparency was almost unfair.
Soohyuk rested two fingers on Jingyeom’s arm, letting them glide slowly toward his wrist as if he were taking a stroll.
The sensation tickled, and Jingyeom flailed his arm, but Soohyuk’s hand returned persistently, settling on his slender wrist.
His fingers grazed the skin lightly before curling around it.
“Jingyeom, let’s date.”
“…”
“Come on, go out with me. I’ll treat you well. I won’t hurt you or make you suffer.”
“…”
“Let’s be together.”
Soohyuk repeated his request—“date me,” “be with me,” “let’s be together”—over and over, as if determined not to stop until Jingyeom responded.
Though he’d prepared a whole speech in advance, his mind was so consumed with Jingyeom that only those words came out.
With his thumb, Soohyuk teased the inside of Jingyeom’s wrist, his lips leaning close to his ear to whisper.
He even ran his hand across the nape of Jingyeom’s neck, deliberately brushing the hidden skin beneath his hair.
Wherever Soohyuk touched, Jingyeom felt an itch and a burst of heat.
Overwhelmed by Soohyuk’s brazen actions, Jingyeom tensed up and yanked Soohyuk’s hands away.
He’d come here to express his grievances about always being at Soohyuk’s mercy, yet once again, he was the one being swept along.
Jingyeom glared at him, his eyes wide and determined.
“If you want to date me, you absolutely cannot do anything without my consent! You said you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t like, but you’ve never kept that promise even once!”
“I haven’t?”
Soohyuk’s response was so innocent that Jingyeom glared harder, his brows furrowing further.
“Yes, you! Sure, I couldn’t really help the hospital thing, but I still hated it!”
“Then you shouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place.”
“And sending Jinwoo to see me! That, too!”
“That’s old news. Plus, you agreed to deal with it since the interest piled up. That wasn’t my decision.”
Unable to argue against the truth, Jingyeom tried to push back again.
“It’s not just that! Yesterday, you took my phone without permission, sent weird messages to Wonbeom-hyung, and didn’t even return it properly! And kissing me without asking!”
“About the phone, I’m sorry. I got jealous when I heard he was coming, and I acted rashly.”
“…Well, if you’re apologizing that easily, then fine.”
Jingyeom nodded begrudgingly.
“But the kiss? I’m not sorry about that. I really wanted to do it. Just like now.”
Soohyuk leaned in and lightly pressed his lips against Jingyeom’s.
Earlier, he’d avoided kissing him due to the cut on his lips, but since it seemed fine during dinner, he figured a gentle kiss wouldn’t hurt.
“See?! You’re doing it again!”
“I can’t help it. Who told you to be this cute?”
Rendered speechless, Jingyeom’s mouth opened and closed like a fish.
“Okay, okay. I’ll behave.”
“Lies!”
“No, really. I’ll prove it. What else do I need to do to make you agree to date me?”
“Well… no secrets between us, no unreasonable demands—requests are fine. We should look out for each other’s families… stuff like that! That’s what dating is about!”
Trailing off at the end, Jingyeom suddenly raised his voice.
“If you ask, I’ll answer anything honestly. No secrets. And if you have requests, I’ll accept them. Even looking out for Secretary Baek—I’ll do that too.”
“Huh?”
Jingyeom blinked, startled at how quickly Soohyuk agreed.
He’d expected him to hesitate over the conditions, but instead, Soohyuk accepted them effortlessly.
“Simple.”
Standing up, Soohyuk opened the drawer by the bedside and pulled out a loan document.
“…Why is that there?”
“Because it’s important.”
“Yeah, but it’s—”
Before Jingyeom could finish, Soohyuk tore the paper in half.
“Why are you ripping that?!”
Jingyeom scrambled upright, stunned.
That document was worth so much money!
Unfazed, Soohyuk shredded it further until it was unrecognizable, then placed the fragments into Jingyeom’s open palm.
“From today, we’re officially a couple.”
As Soohyuk beamed at him, Jingyeom paled.
Alternating between the paper scraps and Soohyuk’s face, he let out a loud yell.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“You said no demands, only requests. This is me following that rule.”
“But you didn’t even think twice before tearing it up!”
“Why would I? If you’d asked for this house, I’d have given it to you.”
Jingyeom’s lips twitched.
‘This rich bastard!’
He’d momentarily forgotten.
Soohyuk wasn’t just wealthy—he was ridiculously wealthy, possibly richer than even Wonbeom.
All Jingyeom had done was add a few conditions before agreeing to date, and somehow, things had spiraled completely out of control.
As Jingyeom hesitated, Soohyuk raised a playful eyebrow.
‘I can’t just let this slide.’
It was clear from the start that he wasn’t serious about the idea of dating.
He was just upset, that was all.
‘That’s why I deliberately tore up the promissory note.
When he said I shouldn’t expect anything, that was the first thing that came to mind.
Tearing it up was easy because I never intended to take that money in the first place.
I could’ve acted like I was at least thinking about it, just to show what Jingyeom wanted to see, but I didn’t want to.
My actions now reflect how I really feel.
Instead of rushing into this half-heartedly, I’d rather wait until Jingyeom truly wants it—until he can accept my feelings properly.
As if that would ever happen.’
This was all just logical thinking.
No matter how much Jingyeom claimed he was just teasing, there was no way Soohyuk would let this golden opportunity slip by.
“Looking forward to it, darling.”
Soohyuk winked, and Jingyeom’s jaw dropped as he frantically waved his hands.
“No! This isn’t what I meant!”
But before long, Jingyeom found himself trapped in Soohyuk’s arms, struggling in vain against what had already been set in motion.
* * *
good
Congrats to him 😭