ABNA Chapter 6

“I went to see, Dongsu.” 

“…At this hour?” 

Do-jae looked down at Heegyo, holding him in his arms as if displeased. However, Heegyo didn’t know what kind of face to make at Do-jae, so he couldn’t bring himself to meet his gaze and just stared at Do-jae’s broad chest. 

It was impossible not to find Heegyo’s behavior strange, so it was only natural for Do-jae to ask. 

“Hyung.” 

“Y-yes?” 

Do-jae asked in a low voice, immediately reminding him of the way he had cornered Mr. Kim at the construction site. Heegyo, who became infinitely small in front of the strong, involuntarily raised his honorifics out of a survival instinct. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Ah, no, nothing. Nothing’s wrong?” 

“Then why are you using honorifics with me when I’m younger than you?” 

Heegyo, who would usually act like an old geezer, saying things like, “If you don’t like it, even though you’re younger,” was now using honorifics, which was so unfamiliar that Do-jae pressed him, causing Heegyo to straighten his back. 

“Ah, no!” 

Heegyo answered very awkwardly. Afraid that he would reveal the truth if he stayed any longer, he said in a stilted manner, 

“Ah. It was really terribly cold today,” and hurriedly went up the stairs. Do-jae narrowed his eyes but silently followed him up without saying anything. 

Leaving Do-jae behind and entering the house first, the table setting he had prepared immediately caught his eye. Not only that, but the house, which had been messy before he left, was now clean, as if he had cleaned it. 

‘How could such a kind and caring guy… beat someone up…?’ 

The unbelievable gap made Heegyo wonder if he was dreaming, but the steaming short rib stew was shouting at him to please face reality. 

“That picture I sent you. You didn’t eat it, did you?” 

Do-jae, who had followed with his long legs, stood behind Heegyo and asked. 

Then, as he naturally took off Heegyo’s scarf and coat, he paused for a moment. 

‘What on earth did he do with that Dongsu bastard to make his clothes look like this? All of his clothes were covered in dirt and dust.’ 

It looked like he had rolled around somewhere, so he couldn’t just let it go. 

“Hyung. Did you go mountain climbing or something?” 

“Mountain… I didn’t climb a mountain… I just did… something.” 

“Did what?” 

“Just… something.” 

“Just something.” 

He couldn’t say that he watched someone get beat up, and he couldn’t think of a good excuse, so he tried to gloss over it, but Do-jae persistently pressed him. 

Do-jae was usually curious about what happened between Dongsu and him, and there was no reason to hide it, so he would tell him the truth. But this time, he hadn’t even met Dongsu, so the words didn’t come out right away. So, when he tried to shut his mouth, he felt a gaze looking down at him, and he involuntarily blurted out a lie. 

“…Dongsu was drunk, so I was helping him and we fell… together.” 

“What? Where did you fall? Are you okay?” 

Do-jae turned Heegyo around. He was about to take off all his clothes and check every inch of him to see if he was hurt, so Heegyo hurriedly nodded. In fact, Do-jae’s hand was already halfway inside Heegyo’s top. 

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I just, just rolled around.” 

“That’s why I need to see if you’re hurt.” 

Do-jae’s hand quickly scanned Heegyo’s back. After confirming that there were no scratches, his hand slyly moved forward. Heegyo was startled by Do-jae, who was only touching him while saying he needed to see, and grabbed his arm, but the other person didn’t budge. 

Despite Heegyo’s protests, Do-jae thoroughly examined him and nodded in satisfaction. 

“You’re not hurt.” 

“I told you I wasn’t…” 

“Then, Hyung. Take off your pants now.” 

“W-what?” 

“You might have hurt your legs.” 

“I-I didn’t hurt my legs… I really didn’t…” 

Heegyo was aware that he was using honorifics, but he couldn’t bring himself to drop them. It was a little better when he didn’t look at his face, but when he did, he kept thinking of Young Master, and his heart shrank to the size of a pea. 

Heegyo, who had been trying to remove the hand that had been on his chest until just now, now grabbed it tightly so it wouldn’t fall, afraid that it would move downwards. Thanks to this, Do-jae slyly moved his fingertips towards the pea-sized things he liked. 

“Really?” 

“Eeeeek!” 

Heegyo jumped as if he was having a seizure at the touch of his fingernails tickling the traces on his chest. Do-jae’s eyebrows rose as he felt that the reaction was more sensitive than usual. 

“Hyung. Tell me the truth.” 

“About what…?” 

“What did you do wrong?” 

‘No, I didn’t do anything wrong, but I saw what Mr. Kim did wrong.’ 

Licking his dry lips, Heegyo realized that he needed to react more calmly and replied indifferently, pretending to be nonchalant. 

“I, I don’t do anything wrong like that. And I’m hungry, so don’t touch me…” 

“…” 

At those words, Do-jae finally removed his lingering hand. He was hungry, so it wasn’t too late to press him after he had filled his stomach. 

Heegyo, who was able to escape from Do-jae’s clinging hands by saying he was hungry, went and sat in front of the low table that Do-jae had set. Even though he tried to act nonchalant, he couldn’t help but tense up because of the large presence he felt behind him. 

…Come to think of it, it wasn’t me who was pretending not to know, but Do-jae, and while I was off guard like this, Do-jae would be like, “Hyung, how much did you see?” and hit me in the back of the head… 

“Hyung.” 

“Ugh! Ugh! Uh! Uh, uh…” 

Heegyo, who was startled in advance, answered with a mixture of screams and replies. Do-jae slowly approached Heegyo from behind and placed his hand on his shoulder. As the large hand wrapped around his shoulder, Heegyo’s heart fluttered like a salmon jumping out of the water. 

〈The bear does not bother to catch the salmon that struggles to swim upstream. It just waits, because the exhausted salmon will come to the bear on its own.〉 

The narration from a salmon documentary he had seen sometime ago automatically played in his head. Do-jae, as big as a bear, bent down and whispered in Heegyo’s ear. 

“You really didn’t do anything wrong?” 

“Uh-huh.” 

Do-jae looked at the fine hairs that stood up on Heegyo’s ear as he answered vaguely. Do-jae slightly tugged on Heegyo’s earlobe at the obvious lie. 

“Don’t lie.” 

“I’m not lying.” 

‘This… Does he really know something and that’s why he is acting like this?’ 

Do-jae was now not only tugging on his earlobe but also gently biting it with his teeth. Heegyo hunched his neck even more at Do-jae’s breathing and the ticklish, wet feeling, when he asked Heegyo. 

“Hyung. Do you know Van Gogh?” 

“What’s Gogh? What’s  half Gogh?” 

“Ouch!” 

“Uh-huh. That his ear is only half there. Hyung. Can I have this ear? I want to have it.” 

‘Is he crazy?’ 

Heegyo momentarily forgot his fear and pushed Do-jae’s face away with his hands as usual. 

“No way, you jerk. Go away. Go away! Go!” 

Heegyo pushed him, but Do-jae pretended to be pushed away, even though he wasn’t really being pushed,  and then he finally sat down opposite him. 

Heegyo shook his head. ‘Ugh, you pervert. But why is he really asking?’ 

The gentle and coaxing voice was the Do-jae he knew, so he kept comparing him to the Young Master from the construction site earlier. 

Tap, tap. 

Do-jae’s neat fingernails tapped the table regularly. The regular sound gradually pressured Heegyo. As if feeling pressured by the sound, his head gradually drooped. 

Do-jae reached out his hand, worried that his head, which was about to fall forward, would hit the table. 

And when Heegyo saw his hand coming towards his face, he involuntarily gasped in surprise and stepped back. 

“…” 

“…” 

Tap, tap… . 

Do-jae clenched his fist, which had been tapping the table, at the action of avoiding his touch. Then his fingernails scraped the table, making a chilling sound. 

“Hyung.” 

“Yeah…” 

He didn’t raise his voice and just calmly called Heegyo. Earlier, he had been playful, but now there was no sign of that at all. 

“I’ll say it one last time. What’s wrong? Tell me.” 

He wasn’t calmly asking, he was calmly getting angry. 

Heegyo bit his lip. 

I’m so scared. I’m so scared that my heart is pounding and my hands and feet are trembling. My mind is blank, so I don’t know what to say. Should I just say that I found out you’re a gangster with a side job? Or should I say, “I will devote my whole body to your service.” and express my sincerity that I won’t report you to the police? 

Ah. I don’t know. 

Drip, drip, tears just streamed down from fear. 

“Sniffle.” 

“What are you crying for when you didn’t do anything right?” 

I’m crying because I didn’t do anything right, you bastard. If I did something right, would I be crying? 

Even in the midst of all this, he felt wronged. Who am I crying because of? 

But then, his voice softened when he saw me crying, and that alone gave me a strange sense of comfort — though I couldn’t help feeling stunned and bitter at how everything had gone so wrong over a single damn earphone. More tears slipped out before I could stop them.