DTL Ch 4

PR by PurpleLetter

His grand engagement party with Kim Chaerin came to pass 2 weeks later. SeonJae purposefully dove into his work during that time. He began attending the construction meetings that he usually never attended. He even began having business lunches with smaller businesses in order to fill up his schedule. Thanks to this, he didn’t have to put one ounce of effort into the engagement planning.

He only met the incredibly busy Lee YeonJung three times during this period. Their third meeting occurred two days before the engagement party, and once it was finished, SeonJae held up the keycard to his office apartment as they sat inside the car. Her eyes went from the keycard to his face repeatedly in confusion.

“Take it. Next time I call you out, we’ll be meeting here.”

“…Why?”

“Then do you want to do it inside the car every time we meet?”

He blurted it out to shock her, but the woman remained silent as she was lost in thought.

“The c-ahr… isn’t… s-oh… bad…”

A surge of desire ran through him once again as he gazed at her grinning face, so he took her one more time inside the underground parking garage. Only after threatening that he’d just go up to her apartment if she didn’t take the office apartment keycard did the woman place it in her purse.

Despite her age, Lee YeonJung continued to live with her parents in their apartment. Judging from the apartment building, he guessed as much. It looked like she was a daughter of a well-to-do family. 

After doing a bit of digging, he found out that her father had a pretty senior position at a bank, and her mother was a homemaker. She didn’t have any siblings, and SeonJae even went as far as to check her family registry, but it came out clean. It looked like her remark about having been divorced was a lie. Of course. How could she have been a virgin if she went through a marriage and a divorce?

“Tell me what you want.”

After straightening out her clothes, she was reaching for the door handle when SeonJae grabbed her hand. Judging from her attire, her family was either incredibly frugal or her father was a penny pincher. Before she could ask why, he quickly continued.

“It feels like I’m being indebted to you, and it’s uncomfortable for me. Say whatever it is that you want. If you don’t, I’ll just buy something on my own.”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t already made an attempt to buy her something. However, when he went to pick something out, he couldn’t figure out where her preferences lay, so he ultimately gave up. Even from their few meetings, he could tell that she wouldn’t jump up in glee if he handed her expensive brand-name items or jewelry. By the time he realized he was mulling over something like this, SeonJae would get annoyed and decide to stop thinking about it.

“When…ever SeonJae-shi… sleeps with… ah woh-man, do… you give…them ah gift?”

The woman blinked up at him innocently. SeonJae’s cruel lips moved in response.

“Yeah. I always have.”

It was the easiest way to avoid any further troubles down the road.

“Ah… I don’t need… any… thing like… th-aht.”

“Why not? Are you hoping to get something even bigger out of me? I’m getting engaged the day after tomorrow. I’m only going to tell you this in case you’ve misunderstood something, but that’s also the reason why I gave you the office apartment keycard. I can’t bring you to the hotel when people know that I have a fiancée.”

The woman began to chuckle again. It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected this kind of response from her, but it didn’t exactly make him feel good about it. SeonJae tightened his grasp on her wrist and continued to press her.

“So tell me what it is that you want.”

“I’ve… ah-lready… received it.”

“What?”

He asked back. She met his eyes and answered him.

“Ah… gift. I… ah-lready got it. From yoo… SeonJae-shi.”

“I don’t remember giving you anything. What are you saying that I gave you?”

Her lips stretched into a grin. Then she answered his question with an alarmingly clear voice.

“Free… dom.”

* * *

All throughout the engagement party, SeonJae couldn’t stop thinking about that conversation in the car. It had been so odd.

Even as he was cutting the cake with Kim Chaerin. Even as he accidentally put too much pressure on the knife and the entire tiered cake had come tumbling down. All he could think about was the freedom she spoke of. His head was filled with doubt over its meaning.

Kim Chaerin’s mood had been completely ruined due to the cake cutting incident, so SeonJae accompanied her to her driver and helped her to her car. Then he hurriedly sent the woman a message.

[Let’s meet for a bit right now.]

[I’m busy today. I promised to meet with some friends.]

Damn it. She never agreed to something from the start.

[Cancel it.]

[It’s my friend’s birthday party, so I can’t back out. Well, then, good night.”

SeonJae sent her a message telling her to come after she was finished, but, as expected, he didn’t get a reply. Knowing her, when she said ‘good night’, she believed their conversation was over. What kind of freelancer was she that she had time for all these evening meetings and appointments?

Muttering a curse, SeonJae began to head back to the hotel. He planned on sweating it out.

Beep—.

He was in the middle of running when his cell phone flashed and chimed with a notification. In order to avoid looking at his phone, he had taken off most of his clothes and focused his eyes on the music video of a girl group as they danced flashily on the treadmill screen. However, when he saw that he had gotten a message, he ended up pressing on the stop button.

“Haa… Haa…”

He was out of breath as the sweat began to drip down his throat. SeonJae took out his towel and began wiping down his body as he opened his message app. However, the author of the message wasn’t the person he had been waiting for. Instead, it was Kim Chaerin.

[SeonJae-ssi, how was I today?]

If he were to be honest, he couldn’t remember what kind of clothes she had been wearing today. He couldn’t even remember if she’d worn a white dress or a pink one. As soon as SeonJae replied by saying that she had been incredibly beautiful, he received a reply.

[All of my friends are going crazy about how handsome you looked today. My father is saying that we should move the wedding date forward. He even said that we don’t have to wait until next year to start the construction of the Shanghai hotel.]

He had always been anxious to have this wedding over and done with. While this was definitely good news, why didn’t he feel happy? SeonJae frowned and hurriedly sent back his reply.

[Then I will discuss this with the elders and have them decide on an appropriate date. You must be tired after today, so please rest well.]

After he returned to his penthouse, SeonJae tossed his phone onto the bed and walked towards the bathroom to take a shower. After getting out of the shower, he found that his phone was filled with thumbnails of wedding dress designs that Kim Chaerin had sent him.

He didn’t care what kind of wedding dress she chose. They just finished having their engagement party today, so having to talk about the wedding right away annoyed him. She should have given up when he didn’t send anything in reply, but Km Chaerin continued to send him message after message filled with wedding planning pictures. It looked like she was on a mission to send him links to all the bridal shops in Cheongdam-dong. 

[Where are you?]

SeonJae closed the chat he shared with Kim Chaerin and opened the one he had with the woman. As expected, there was no response. When he saw that she had read his message, he began moving his fingers once again.

[Why is it so damn hard to see your face?]

He had run nearly ten kilometers on the treadmill, but sleep continued to evade him. However, the fatigue that had begun to pile up once Kim Chaerin had started sending him wedding-related photos continued to grow. SeonJae wanted to embrace the woman right this instant. After having an intense round of sex with her, he knew he’d be able to forget this nasty feeling. Honestly, whenever he was having sex with that deaf woman, he couldn’t think about anything at all.

[What’s so expensive about you for you to go around acting like this?]

SeonJae sent one final message in a fit of rage. He focused his piercing gaze on the screen. Again, there was no reply. Just as he was about to throw his phone in total anger, his phone began to vibrate. The woman sent him a picture. The blurry photo began to grow clearer as it was being downloaded, and it soon took up the entire screen. SeonJae’s eyes widened.

‘You’re crazy, Lee YeonJung.’

The photo she had sent was him a selfie she had taken in what looked to be an elevator. She was wearing a dress that showed some cleavage. Just seeing this photo of her made the blood rush to his lower half.

[Because it sounded like you wanted to see my face…]

[Where are you going dressed like that?]

He had sent her a quick reply, but she didn’t read it. Damn it. Forgetting to dry his hair, SeonJae pressed the call button out of habit. Only when he heard the ringing on the receiver did he realize how ridiculous this was.

He called a deaf person. What the hell?

He could have ended the call now, but he felt that he’d lose more face if he did. He held onto the phone and refused to yield. How long did he have to listen to those damn chirping birds¹? He waited to hear the tone that indicated the recipient was unavailable, but, unlike his expectations, his call connected.

His finger that had been tapping against his chin froze. The deaf woman had answered the phone.

-……

“Hello?”

Even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to hear him, he called out in a low voice. For some reason, his pulse quickened. As expected, he didn’t hear anything coming from the other end of the call. Everything remained silent for a moment. He heard the distant sound of a car horn and the wail of an ambulance siren grow louder before fading away. It sounded like she was currently inside a car.

“…Lee YeonJung.”

What am I doing right now? Even though he knew it was useless, he called out her name in a soft voice. The woman remained silent. No, she couldn’t help but be silent.

He didn’t know how to end the call, so he perched himself on his bed and focused his gaze out the window. The line of orange lights coming from the cars below were sparkling in the darkness of the night. It was a Saturday night. The traffic in Seoul was very bad at this time.

Suddenly, the melody of a guitar flowed out of the receiver. Just hearing this melody made him think of cigarette smoke. It was the beginning of an Eagles song. The woman had just turned on music. His brows furrowed into an odd frown.

He didn’t have a chance to figure out if he was shocked because a deaf woman had turned on music or if he was shocked because she had answered his call. It sounded like she had increased the volume. The song grew louder.

Welcome to Hotel California-

He couldn’t end the call. Instead, he drew in a deep breath and kept his mouth shut. When the singer wondered aloud whether he was in heaven or in hell, SeonJae kept the phone pressed to his ear and plopped back onto his bed. His mattress softened the fall. He closed his eyes. Although he had heard this song numerous times in the past, this was the first time he had paid close attention to the lyrics.

You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave-

As the song reached its climax, a second guitar began to accompany the first. His heart skipped a beat and began to thump inside his chest.

“……”

This was the first time he felt that this six-minute song was too short. The song ended. He opened his eyes.

“Hello?”

“……”

“Hello? Lee YeonJung!”

SeonJae called out frantically, but as soon as the song ended, the call ended heartlessly as well.

What was this? His cell phone slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor. SeonJae laid in bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

He wasn’t in his right mind. That woman was definitely completely insane. He thought about sending her a message demanding to know what she was doing, but he decided to leave it alone. Even if he sent it, he wouldn’t get a reply anyway.

He burst out of bed and began to rummage through the armoire. He found a record from 1976 that he had paid a fortune to obtain back when he was studying abroad in the States.

A sad melody of a guitar began to flow out of the speakers in the bathroom. As the song reached its climax, the strums of the guitar quickened. It was as if the dreamy notes of the electric guitar were soothing him. The image of the woman in a black dress gently smiling at him in the photo never left his mind.

In his imagination, the woman’s pert lips parted and caressed his cock. He felt as if he were surrounded by a thick fog. Before the song ended, his desire exploded in sticky spurts.

SeonJae panted for breath as he grabbed his cell phone that had been placed on top of the sink. He glared down at the smiling woman in the photo. The woman’s lips were stretched in a bright grin. Blood rushed to his face. It seemed that he had also completely lost his mind.