The Runaway Home

Harin slumped back into her seat and swayed where she sat.

"What are you doing here?"

He pressed the question down onto the crown of her head, as if she were pathetic.

"Team dinner."

Harin answered flatly.

A brief silence stretched between them, the noisy chatter of the room rushing in to fill that awkward gap.

While she sat there in a daze, a heavy, warm presence pushed in beside her. At the edge of her vision, she saw Lee-gang settle into the seat next to hers.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. Losing my temper."

The voice falling softly at her ear sounded, paradoxically, far too violent.

He seemed to be apologizing for trying to throw her into the Arena, but inwardly, Harin wished he wouldn't have.

She wanted him to stay a bastard through and through—to give her a reason to keep her distance.

As he leaned back, his forearm brushed against hers.

Harin kept her head lowered and looked away, but his body heat seeped through her track jacket all the same.

Every nerve in her body gravitated toward that strip of touching skin. Her face, already flushed from the alcohol, seemed to burn hotter still.

She swallowed dryly and stole a glance at him. Whether it was the liquor or not, her gaze refused to leave his face for a long moment.

His lips drifted naturally into her field of view. Was it the drink? Beneath the dim lighting, the memory of those rough lips dragging across her own came surging back like a life flashing before her eyes.

Why now, of all times.

Flustered that her thoughts were slipping in that direction, Harin blinked and slowly turned her face forward.

Yesterday's terror, tonight's drunken haze, and the scorching warmth radiating from right beside her—all of it tangled together until her head was a complete mess.

"Hey."

He had no way of knowing what was going through her mind. A hand settled on her shoulder as he ducked his head down to her level.

"How much did you drink?"

His face was far too close.

"Why are you so pale?"

Watching him knit his brow in concern, Harin lowered her eyelids to escape his gaze.

That was when it happened.

"Harin, there you are!"

The Gym Director came spilling out of the restaurant, his face flushed red, with Kang Cheong at his side.

"Oh my, Mr. Yoon! Running into you here too! Didn't you say you were busy today?"

"Ah, Director."

Lee-gang's hand dropped away from her shoulder, and only then did Harin feel like she could breathe again.

"Harin! You have to come to the second round. Mr. Yoon, will you be joining us? If the landlord comes along, do we get some free food out of it? Ahaha!"

The Gym Director's raspy laughter rang in her ears.

She had no room left to be surprised that Lee-gang owned the building and the Director was his tenant. There was only one thought rattling around in Harin's head: she wanted to get away from him.

She couldn't stomach the idea of a second round, but if it came down to staying trapped beside Lee-gang or following the Director, she'd rather go with the Director. Scowling mightily, she pushed herself up from her seat.

"We're just going to, by ourselves……."

Harin had barely taken a step toward the Director, her voice hoarse, when her vision whipped violently sideways.

Her feet tangled together and her body lurched. For one heartbeat, she was certain she was going to crash straight into the cement floor—

Lee-gang's hand shot out, seizing her forearm roughly and yanking her back, sparing her knees from shattering against the concrete.

"Whoa there. Whoa."

The Gym Director and Kang Cheong stared with wide eyes.

Lee-gang looked down at the back of Harin's head for a moment, then flashed the Director an easy smile.

"I don't think she's up for a second round."

The Director nodded, exchanged a few words with Lee-gang, and left with Kang Cheong in tow.

No, wait. Take me to the second round too…….

Harin watched their retreating backs with eyes full of regret.

Lee-gang looked down at her, frowned with distaste, and let out a short sigh.

"Get up. Stop doing this here."

He pulled the arm he was holding, and Harin staggered to her feet.

Leaning against Lee-gang's arm, she just barely managed to steady herself. She tried to stand straight, sweeping her tangled hair out of her face, but she kept losing her balance and pitching into his chest.

Her body wobbled, but her pride refused to bend so easily.

Gritting her teeth, Harin glared up at him.

"You. I told you to stay out of my sight."

Lee-gang regarded her with an expression bordering on disbelief as she drove her forehead into his chest, unable to hold herself upright.

He bent down, looped her left arm over his shoulder, wrapped his other hand firmly around her right waist, and propped her up.

The ticklish, nerve-wracking sensation spreading along her side made Harin flinch and twist away.

He felt it through his palm but paid it no mind, only tightening his grip.

"Walk straight. Otherwise I carry you."

He glared back at her—exactly the way she had glared at him moments ago.

The thought that he might actually hoist her over his shoulder in a crowded place like this forced Harin to drag her feet along after him.

"Whew……"

Harin pressed her hot forehead against the cold car window and let out a stifled breath.

The inside of her nose had gone bone-dry, and with every inhale the smell of alcohol crawled up into it, turning her stomach.

As the drunkenness receded, the night air crept cold against the nape of her neck and through the gaps in her clothes. When the chill seeped through her thin track jacket, her whole body shivered. Goosebumps rose along her arms and legs.

Harin clutched the phone she'd been holding since her call with Hayul ended, squeezing it harder with both hands for no particular reason. Feeling her own body heat conducted back through the device, she stared blankly at the dark screen.

What if I called him right now and said I quit?

The thought flickered past. What if she'd told the Director she was quitting the moment he'd mentioned the "team dinner" earlier that day? Then there would have been no dinner, and above all—

At least I wouldn't have run into that man.

His silhouette emerged from the direction of the convenience store and drew closer to the driver's side.

The truth was, Harin had made her wishes known even before he'd offered to take her home. "I'm going to take the bus," she'd said.

"The buses have stopped."

"It's downtown. I can hail a cab."

"Wouldn't that be a hassle for the driver?"

But with him countering her every point, the drunk reeking of liquor had been left helpless and had no choice but to climb into his car.

Great. No getting out of this now.

Whether it was the alcohol still lingering in her system or not, Harin surrendered her whole body to the exhaustion and settled into a whatever-happens-happens attitude.

When the car door shut, the noise of the street cut off clean.

Lee-gang, seated in the driver's seat beside her, pulled a bottle of water from a rustling bag.

Harin watched him in silence.

With a light twist, the cap popped off. Staring at the corded veins on the back of his hand, Harin swallowed dryly.

She only came back to herself when he pushed a hangover remedy and the water bottle right up in front of her face.

"Take it."

The tone was dry, but the gesture was kind to the point of being unsettling.

Harin scrunched up her face but took it anyway. Her mouth was too foul to bear.

As the cold water slid down her throat, she finally began to feel halfway human again.

Setting the phone on her lap, she accepted the hangover tablets as well.

While both her hands were occupied with the bottle and the pills, Lee-gang calmly picked up the phone resting on her knee.

Harin's head snapped around on reflex.

"Hey, that's my—"

Before she could get another word out, his fingers were already tapping swiftly across the unlocked screen.

"No passcode in this dangerous world we live in. Honestly……"

He clicked his tongue, opened the call app, and punched in a number. Eleven digits appeared in an instant.

The screen of his phone, placed on the console next to the convenience store receipt he'd just finished tallying, lit up white—and her number appeared on it.

Harin stared at the scene with dull eyes. The headache rising with the fading alcohol left her without the strength to even be properly angry.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The words came out as if she were forcing them through a cracked pipe.

"Because right now, your face is the exact picture of someone who wants to quit."

Lee-gang glanced once at his own phone screen, then dropped her phone casually back onto her lap.

Then he nodded at the hangover remedy, as if to say hurry up and take it.

Half-incredulous, Harin dumped the tablets into her mouth and gulped down the water.

"If you run, I'll just come get you."

For a brief moment, his eyes met hers dead-on. It was a gaze so relentless it stole the air from her lungs.

Harin looked away and swallowed the pills.

Gulp. Going down with the water, the tablets felt heavier than they should have.