LUST - 9

09. Intersection Point

“It might be uncomfortable for a young lady to stay alone.”

“It’s okay. I’m only staying for a few days.”

“Then please enjoy your stay.”

Na-yeon put her luggage down in the inn room and went outside. She looked at the calm sea and popped a hard candy into her mouth.

Anyway, all she had for luggage was herself. This was a fishing village where she used to come often with her father in a truck loaded with fruit to sell before they started the motel business. It was also where her deceased grandmother had lived.

Maybe she should start working here. Just a little outside the village, there were quite a few pharmacies in the town. It had been a long time since she left this village, but it was still familiar, so it wouldn’t be bad to live here. If she went deeper into the village, there would probably be many people who knew her deceased grandmother.

The sky was cloudy, as if it would rain. That tiresome rain. Na-yeon moved the candy in her mouth to the other cheek and watched the lapping waves.

It had been a long time. Being alone like this, without crowded people and without touching anyone. People were so fickle. When she was tormented by Tae-sung, she wanted to blend in with people without a care, but now that the problem with Tae-sung was resolved, she wanted to be alone. Would she think of that man again if she was alone for a long time?

Plop, plop, raindrops began to fall on the breakwater.

She thought about going to the supermarket at the entrance of the village to buy an umbrella, but it looked like heavier rain would pour down soon, so Na-yeon went straight back to the inn.

Creak, she opened the door and looked at the floor. The floor was warm, as if the landlady had turned up the boiler.

Na-yeon laid out a blanket and lay down on it. She could hear the sound of rain falling outside the window. It had been a long time. Lying alone and listening to the rain. Well, even though it felt like a long time, it had only been a few months. Living with Yeon-seok had made being alone feel strange so quickly.

She lay quietly, listening to the rain, when she got up at the sound of someone knocking on the door.

“Who is it?”

“I brought you something to eat.”

It was the landlady’s voice. Na-yeon got out of bed, opened the door, and saw a basket in the landlady’s hands filled with steaming sweet potatoes and potatoes.

“Looks delicious. Thank you.”

“If you haven’t had dinner, join me. I was just about to start.”

“No, I’m okay.”

“If you need anything else, let me know. I boiled a lot.”

“Yes. Thank you, halmeoni.”

Na-yeon took the basket and bowed her head. It really reminded her of the sweet potatoes her grandmother used to boil for her. Such a delicious smell. Na-yeon immediately sat down and began to eat the hot sweet potato, blowing on it.

As she hurriedly ate the sweet potato with its strong sweet smell, she remembered Yeon-seok buying her a sweet potato cake on his way home from work a few days ago. The cake box had the name of a famous bakery in M Hotel printed on it. He must have bought it while visiting M Hotel for business.

“......”

Na-yeon put down the sweet potato she was eating and touched her forehead. She thought she had a touch of the flu, but she thought it was nothing and just took a few pills... Feeling the heat in her body, she knew it wasn’t a fever that would go away easily. It wasn’t a cold, but a body ache. Was it because of the overexertion two days ago?

She had come down to rest a little, but it looked like she would really just lie down and rest the whole time.

Na-yeon put down what she was eating and got under the blanket. It was warm. So warm it brought tears to her eyes.

She pulled the comforter up to her neck.

How much time had passed? It felt like a whole day, but she couldn’t get up and just kept her eyes closed, knowing that time was passing uselessly. Her body felt endlessly heavy. It was a typical case of the flu. Her energy weakened, and her body felt limp. But anyway, she would get better if she just rested for a day or two.

A faint voice echoed from somewhere in her memory.

“Have you seen me before?”

“When you came here a few days ago...”

“Besides that.”

“I don’t think so.”

It was the day she met Yeon-seok for the second time.

“If not, then it’s fine.”

“...Maybe one of your girlfriends in the past looked like me.”

“Well, maybe.”

That smiling face. Na-yeon traced back the way his lips curved so smoothly and his cool gaze. Where had they met before?

Suddenly, a fleeting day came to her mind.

That day, she had been receiving unanswered calls from Ha Tae-min. Na-yeon, who had been by her father’s bedside in the hospital for days as he was on the verge of death, had come out to the lobby outside the ward to take the call.

That day too, Ha Tae-min hadn’t said a word until he hung up.

Na-yeon put the disconnected phone into her pocket and went up the escalator. Several men in dark suits brushed past Na-yeon. Their attire was somewhat out of place for a hospital, and she turned her head. The men who got off the escalator and turned left walked towards one place. Men wearing the same suits were guarding a hospital room.

Thinking about it now, one of them was Seong-shik. The man who had aggressively thrust a photo at her with a tattooed hand was definitely Seong-shik.

Judging by the fact that the organization’s men were standing guard in front of the door, he was presumed to be a fairly high-ranking member. And the man who came out of that hospital room was Cha Yeon-seok. The men who had been loitering in front of the door bowed respectfully towards him.

The men in suits seemed to be reporting something to the man named Cha Yeon-seok.

The man with dark brown hair listened quietly to the report, occasionally touching his forehead, but didn’t move much. Then, as if frustrated, he ran a hand over his neck and tilted his head, and his eyes met hers.

Na-yeon was startled and turned her head, returning to the hospital room. And then she suddenly discovered the doctor trying to revive her father, who had suffered cardiac arrest and was on the brink of death. She cried uncontrollably in the hospital room. Her one and only father in the world. In the end, that day, her father passed away. Na-yeon closed her eyes and wiped away the flowing tears.

The night of the second day since she had come down to the rural village as if fleeing was passing.

She could still hear the sound of rain. Na-yeon opened her eyes for the first time in almost two days. She was sweating, and the area below her back felt damp. She had been lying down for two days and nights, and even just moving her body made her groan. She barely supported her throbbing head and turned it to the side, and she smelled a heavy masculine scent.

Cha Yeon-seok. His fragrance.

But there was no way he would be here. Na-yeon reached out with her hand to feel the empty space next to her. The empty space felt lonely. It was natural. But had she laid out two sets of bedding? There was a blanket and a pillow on the empty spot.

She rubbed her eyes and completely sat up. She felt dizzy and briefly grabbed the blanket. Maybe it was because she had only eaten a sweet potato, but her head felt like it was ringing.

She still hated the rain. It made her feel lonely to the bone. She didn’t know why the only person she could think of right now was that man, Cha Yeon-seok. A scary person, a person who had done such things to Ha Tae-min so casually. That was why she had fled as if running away in fear, but now that she was lonely, he was the only one she thought of.

She should rest a little more and then leave again. Yeon-seok had taken care of the pharmacy, but she couldn’t leave it empty forever. If she settled down here like this, could she live well here?

“Shall I guess what you’re thinking?”

Startled by the voice that had suddenly invaded, she whipped her head around. Yeon-seok, sitting at her bedside, was openly watching her.

“...Director?”

The buttons of his shirt were undone enough to reveal glimpses of his collarbone, and his usually neatly styled hair was also naturally disheveled. His atmosphere was calmer than usual.

“Lies. How did you...”

“Should I just hide away like this? Or should I go back since I’ll get caught anyway?”

He must have slept on the bedding laid out next to her. She didn’t know why that fact made her feel relieved.

“How did you know to come here?”

“Isn’t it naive of you to think I wouldn’t know?”

From the beginning, this wasn’t an escape or anything else. She had just been in the palm of his hand.

His voice was a little hoarse, as if he had been sleeping next to her the whole time. After their intense sex, he used to have this kind of voice when he woke up. Na-yeon crawled towards him on her knees. He firmly held her swaying, collapsing arm.

“I remembered where I saw Director. A while ago, a few months ago, when I was at my dad’s hospital, I saw you at the hospital once.”

“I know.”

“You remembered?”

“Yeah. I remembered on the day we had our second sex.”

His tone was half-joking, half-serious, but Na-yeon couldn’t laugh.

It was the first time they hadn’t even brushed past each other, but it was a gaze strong enough to remain somewhere in her memory.

“But why were you at the hospital back then, Director? Were you sick?”

“Not me.”

“...Yes.”

Na-yeon, who had been sitting awkwardly, slightly raised her head and met his eyes.

“I have something to say.”

“Yeah. You should.”

Na-yeon felt relieved at the slight, very fleeting smile that appeared on his face, like any other time.

“It wasn’t a lie. At first, it’s true I met Director to forget my ex-boyfriend. Maybe I was so desperate to forget my own pain that I chose Director’s side as a refuge. I thought that if I was by Director’s side, something would be resolved. But it wasn’t that I was by Director’s side without any feelings. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have slept with you from the beginning.”

Saying that, Na-yeon clutched the blanket tightly. When Tae-min returned and appeared before her eyes, it wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of leaving Yeon-seok at all, but she hadn’t treated him without any feelings either. She knew she had been bad. Of course, he probably sensed those feelings, and that’s why that mess happened that day. But now. Now...

“But, Director. While I was seeing you, I didn’t think about him much, and he didn’t even come to mind. That’s really the truth.”

“Continue.”

“So... what I mean is...”

Watching him brush back the hair that was sticking to her forehead with sweat, she swallowed hard.

She had mustered the courage to leave him and come all the way here, but a sense of emptiness and desolation washed over her. She had run away because she was scared of him, but in the end, he was the only one she thought of. She remembered his hand that used to hug and comfort her, as she was the type to toss and turn for a long time before falling asleep. Even that had decreased a lot because she had been sleeping like she was fainting due to the almost abusive sex.

When that terrifyingly intense sex ended, he would meticulously wipe between her legs as if nothing had happened. Of course, he mostly used his tongue.

The only times that terrifying person would react gently were when she had no appetite and left food or when the sex ended and her whole body was limp. It was hard to believe he was a person who was as cold as a blade to others. She realized that this emptiness and desolation was his absence.

“What I like now is Cha Yeon-seok.”

“What, my body?”

“That’s good too...”

How she had missed his chuckling laughter.

“Anyway, I like that you’re honest.”

“That’s good too, but I just like you. I like Cha Yeon-seok now. So...”

She barely held back the tears that welled up, but he reached out his hand. She shook off his arm as he reached out to hug her.

“I’m dirty from sweating a lot. I’ll go wash up.”

“Let’s wash together.”

“The bathroom here is really small...”

“The smaller, the better.”

Watching him smile as he took off her top, Na-yeon ended up smiling too. Honestly.

It felt like it had been a long time since they showered together too. Na-yeon, standing under the water pouring from the showerhead, looked up at him. Na-yeon liked showering with him. Whenever she looked up at him like this under the pouring water, he would invariably press his body against hers. She liked the feeling of their wet skin touching. There was no way he wouldn’t know that about Na-yeon.

She looked down at him as he massaged her breasts and bent down to suckle her nipple into his mouth.

“Eung...”

She cupped his cheek as he diligently soothed her, sucking on her other nipple without leaving any part untouched. Even the sight of his saliva dripping down from her nipple as it detached from his tongue was erotic, and her face flushed for no reason. She snuggled into his arms as he looked at her with a wet face.

“You’re especially affectionate today. I might need to be strict with you sometimes.”

Honestly, he had a knack for making jokes sound serious. Or maybe they weren’t jokes at all.

“Are you staying here tonight?”

“Yeah. It’s raining, so let’s stay another day.”

She nodded. She wanted to too, and hugged him tightly.

They lay facing each other. She had said she wanted kimbap, so he went out and bought some, and she ate it all. He had even left behind Seong-shik and his other men, who always followed him like shadows, and had personally come for her.

Na-yeon felt strangely unfamiliar lying next to him in the small inn room. No, it felt awkward that he was lying in such an inn room. When she was alone, the rain was so lonely and hateful, but being with him made the sound of rain feel strangely atmospheric. It was a strange thing. It was just that he was next to her. It felt as safe and secure as lying inside a sturdy fortress, without any fear.

“The sickness...”

“It’s much better now.”

“You’re a pharmacist.”

“Pharmacists and doctors can’t do anything about body aches.”

It would have been strange if she hadn’t gotten sick after pushing her body so hard. He didn’t say anything more.

“Did you take your vitamins?”

“You’re worried about my vitamins when you’re like this?”

They smelled of the same shampoo, the same shower gel. At some point, she had become accustomed to sharing the same scent with him. Right now, it was the cheap scent of the products at the inn, though. Unlike her, who didn’t mind this kind of scent, cheap shampoo didn’t suit him. Still, she liked him trying to hug her and go to sleep, thinking nothing of it. He was a man who couldn’t even sit on the bare floor, but now he even smelled of cheap shampoo. It was all because of Song Na-yeon.

Na-yeon mustered the courage to touch his eyes. Eyes that overwhelmed others with just a glance. The successor of Jaemun. It was said that no one in that world dared to cross him. And she was in the arms of such a man.

“Let’s sleep quietly. If you don’t want to get even sicker here.”

Na-yeon felt his throbbing chest and closed her eyes.

She had a premonition that only when she fell into a dead sleep would his now erect cock subside. He had already pleasured him with his mouth once in the bathroom, caught up in the atmosphere, but he was a man who wouldn’t be satisfied with just once. His firm core felt like it would enter between her legs any moment. Na-yeon closed her eyes tightly.

Her physical condition was one thing, but she had skipped her birth control pills for a few days, and they didn’t have condoms, so she had to sleep quietly tonight.

Because tomorrow she had to go to work with a refreshed body.

Na-yeon buried her face in his chest and urged herself to sleep.

The pharmacy she returned to was peaceful.

Regardless of what had happened in the meantime, the pharmacists, without even frowning at her absence, kindly spoke to her and offered her energy drinks.

“You could have just rested if you were sick, but we were surprised when your fiancé came to the pharmacy himself.”

“Fiancé?”

“Isn’t he your fiancé? He was really handsome. He explained your situation well, so we weren’t too worried. But seeing your complexion, you do look much better now.”

Na-yeon immediately knew that the handsome man the pharmacists were talking about was Yeon-seok.

“To celebrate your recovery, we’re having a company dinner tonight, with beef. How about it, Song-sensei?”

“If you’re doing this because of me...”

“Oh dear. When the pharmacy manager offers to treat, you just snatch it up!”

Pharmacist Jin patted Na-yeon’s shoulder and smiled broadly. She looked like she had hit the jackpot.

“Looking at you, our Ms. Song really needs some nourishing. Your wrists are so thin.”

“Then I’ll buy dessert today.”

Strictly speaking, it was Yeon-seok’s money, but Na-yeon smiled awkwardly, thinking of her wallet full of checks.

Only after eating delicious beef and strawberry cake did she remember the phone she had tucked deep in her pocket. She smiled a little, seeing Pharmacist Jin looking wistfully at the strawberry pulp on her fork. When she suggested ordering another one, Pharmacist Jin shook her head, startled. It was alright.

Laughing with the other pharmacists, she suddenly thought of Yeon-seok.

She had contacted Yeon-seok earlier while coming to the dinner, but just in case, she took out her phone.

There was one missed call from an unknown number. She was staring at the indication that the call had come in a minute ago when the phone rang again.

“Yes, hello?”

Only a wheezing sound came from the other end.

Song Na-yeon. “...Oppa Tae-sung?”

It was Tae-sung, whom she had completely forgotten. Her half-brother who had taken all her money. She had considered it the price paid for cutting ties. She thought she would never see him again...

Where are you right now? “Why are you curious about that?”

Are you with that Jaemun executive director?

Na-yeon excused herself from the pharmacists, who were looking at her as she drank her coffee, and went outside the cafe.

“I’m asking why you’re curious.”

If you happen to be together, get away. The Seokdo gang is going to kill that bastard soon. “...What?”

Na-yeon almost dropped her phone. She barely managed to ask again, “What did you just say?”

If you’re with him, you’ll die too. So get away.

The words Seong-shik had said the day Yeon-seok and Seong-shik had broken into her motel room suddenly came to mind.

“Those Seokdo bastards. They must have deliberately waited for the Great Boss’s birthday. They knew the Great Boss would be attending the birthday gathering at K Hotel, so they waited until today to secretly send their men.”

Back then, they had said the Seokdo gang was also trying to harm him.

Na-yeon called Yeon-seok on her phone and immediately got into an approaching taxi.

“Please go to the Jaemun Construction headquarters. Quickly, quickly!”

Click, the back door of the taxi locked. Na-yeon, who had been clutching her pounding heart, saw the man sitting in the driver’s seat.

“...Oppa.”

“Long time no see, Na-yeon-ah.”

Tae-sung was smiling through the rearview mirror. One of his wrists, the one that was smiling, was missing.