Shattered Glass and Shattered Trust
She couldn’t avoid the face drawing closer. Their foreheads collided as if in a sudden accident.
Her nose, frozen stiff, was brushed by his breath.
“You want me to believe you came here at this hour just to look for broken glass?”
It was dark. Even though the surroundings were bright, her vision remained shadowed by the darkness he cast.
“If not for that, why would I have come here?”
“I don’t know either. But… I can’t believe you came here to do this.”
“I’m a bit nicer than I look.”
“I was happy, thinking you came to play with me.”
“…What?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
At the same time, hot lips collided. Without a chance to cry out, a tongue with a metallic taste invaded, tangling messily.
The more she tried to push back, the rougher and fiercer his kiss became. Gripping the back of her head tightly, he left her no room to breathe, her breath growing short.
She strained her eyes, trying to close them.
What came into her distorted vision was Sa Hee-eon’s face. More precisely, his eyes like black jewels, cold, fixed on her. Eyes filled with something akin to contempt.
The moment stretched unbearably long for her.
“Hey!”
Finally, Yeon-jae pushed him away with trembling hands. One shoulder shoved back, his lips came away red. He let her go without resistance, silently wiping and licking the blood from his mouth.
“You…!”
She buttoned her jacket, stepping back unsteadily. He, who had been staring at her, rose. With a strangely refreshed expression, he picked up the shards on the floor and turned around.
“What do you want to do? Come up with me?”
To the bedroom.
Hee-eon dropped the glass shard stained with her blood into the trash can. A sizable drop of blood had formed on his fingertip.
Porcelain was harder than regular glass, and the more it was fired, the sharper its surface became. That’s why it cuts more easily and digs deeper.
He didn’t want to be aware, but every situation kept making him think of Jeong Yeon-jae. It could be because of Sa Jae-eon, his grandfather’s words, or maybe she really did resemble Yoon Jun-hee.
After all, he had been weak to Yoon Jun-hee until the end.
He wiped off the blood, then took off his mud-stained clothes and threw them into the basket.
Behind his naked back, the sound of a console being tapped. Jang Han was standing there.
“What? When did you get here?”
To his question, Han made an awkward smile and signed.
I’ve been here for a while.
Hee-eon picked up a robe and replied.
“I didn’t know.”
You’ve been thinking about someone else for a while. I’ll prepare tea. The woman has left.
“I remembered. Where I’ve heard Jeong Yeon-jae’s voice before.”
You were a step behind me.
“…You said there was no information.”
That is the information. A woman with nothing.
At Han’s cheeky joke, Hee-eon scoffed and entered the bathroom.
Did he get played again this time?
He remembered Yeon-jae’s voice after the impulsive kiss. He had suspected it to some extent, but Jang Han had just confirmed it.
Why didn’t he tell me when he knew?
Anyway, I can’t figure him out.
His bathroom had a long stone sink, a dry sauna, and a bathtub before reaching the shower booth.
He opened the shower booth with his blood-smeared hand. Cold water poured from the ceiling showerhead. The icy stream ran from his head down his entire body, making the hairs on his skin stand on end.
The metallic taste of blood seeping into his lips with the water brought back the impulsive kiss. Dropping his head blankly, he finally noticed the dried mud stains on his arms.
His face and hair were covered in hardened mud, as if he’d been doused in a mud rain.
He stood in front of Yeon-jae looking like this?
With a faint smile, he bit his injured finger. Of all places, the cut was in the same spot as the woman’s.
And the same taste of blood. Metallic and soft.
When she struggled to get away from me, I should have sucked harder.
Those lips that turned redder than blood under my touch.
Lips…
A sudden impulse, an act without reason. It wasn’t a decision.
It was an impulsive wave like a bolt from the blue.
“Hah.”
He moved his neck muscles side to side, stretching them long.
He never kept flawed things close. His rule had no exceptions, not even for reason.
Why did the woman who approached him as a delivery person sneak all the way to the villa and put on a clumsy play?
He was curious about the reason, yet hoped the swelling interest toward the woman would vanish without a trace.
Water streaming down his scalp soaked his thick shoulders, firm abs, and long thighs.
He realized his sexual desire had been sudden and long unrelieved.
Like lukewarm water, a heat similar to body temperature—or slightly higher—gathered in his lower body.
Small nape, hair, wet tongue and eyes.
Everything that came to mind now was related to the woman. He bent his elbow, leaned against the wall, and gnawed on his own arm.
A chill ran down his spine.
Not bad. He usually didn’t feel the need for desire, but today was different.
After clenching and releasing his jaw a few times, he laughed weakly, letting the water hit him with his hands hanging limp.
Desire and want are different. If the base of this strange interest was sexual desire, judgment would be easier and faster. Or, if it was the longing his grandfather had spoken of, even more so.
He had wanted to find Yeon-jae’s flaws.
Only then could he find the pleasure of destroying her with his own hands.
Like a porcelain piece he liked, he could watch until he was bored, then break it without it being too late…
So paradoxically, she had to be intact now. Maybe, like the porcelain Oh Seung-mi had examined, the flaws were invisible only to him.
After finishing his shower, he opened the door with his heated hands.
A refreshing, cool air greeted him. Standing in front of the sink with a towel wrapped around him, Hee-eon noticed his vibrating phone.
The caller’s name was Sa Kyo-eon.
As he pressed the call button, annoyance crept onto his face.
“Yeah.”
They said something interesting came in.
Kyo-eon’s voice came through, along with loud music and the noise of people laughing and chatting from the other end.
Hee-eon turned down the volume and deliberately turned on the hairdryer.
“There’s nothing like that.”
There’s nothing like that, little brother. If you have time now, come out. Let’s have a drink.
“I don’t drink. I’m working.”
Then should I come? I’m almost done here.
A clear sigh mixed with Kyo-eon’s words. Soon, a woman’s moan started from the other end, followed by vulgar sounds.
Fucking hell.
Hee-eon cursed and tried to hang up.
Youngest, if you don’t want to come, wait. I’ll come.
Hee-eon pushed back his still-damp hair and set down the hairdryer. Leaning on the sink’s edge with both hands, his head bowed, his eyes were sharp.
“Where are you?”
Oh, my little brother is coming to see me at this hour? Heh… Bad kid, you never came once when I was in California.
“Why would I go see you? You should come.”
I’m at Stone. Come quickly, darling. If you don’t come within an hour, I’ll come?
At Kyo-eon’s coquettish tone, someone laughed and asked who he was talking to. Hee-eon hung up without hearing Kyo-eon’s reply.
The refreshment right after showering vanished in an instant, replaced by an unpleasant fatigue. He dropped the towel irritably and entered the dressing room.