I Can't Breathe Because of You
"So you know. Keep it in check, then."
"No."
With that, Lee Do-hee burst out laughing. Then, with a naturalness that bordered on shameless, she rose up on the tips of her heeled shoes and traced Woo Tae-kyung's face with her fingers. Her nails were clean and trim — oddly at odds with her image, and it grated on him. And the scar, as if it recognized the hand that had carved it, flared hot and itchy all over again.
Only then did Woo Tae-kyung realize she was scraping at his scar with her nails. Ah, this lunatic of a girl, he muttered, and peeled her hand away.
"Tae-kyung, let's go."
Today was the first time she'd ever exchanged a single word with him, and yet she called his name like it was the most natural thing in the world.
She smiled at him with the ease of someone he'd known for years. To Woo Tae-kyung, who had no friends, a relationship where someone dropped his surname and called him by his given name felt awkward and strange.
He rubbed at his tired eyes.
He was young enough to pull all-nighters without breaking a sweat, but today was, for some reason, an exhausting one. The lights spun and glittered so lavishly that just watching them made his head throb. The teeming crowd hopped and ground against each other, bodies pressed close. A club ordinary people went to, a club beneath the Ant Cave — there was hardly any difference between them, so Woo Tae-kyung watched it all from the third floor, looking down.
— Waaaahhhh—
Music unlike the club's usual throb kicked in, and the lighting brightened a shade. When the spotlight swept toward the far end of the space, a roar went up — loud enough to be mistaken for screaming.
— WOO WOO WOO WOO!!!!
"Tonight, a VVIP who graces this club for the first time in ages has bought our most expensive Golden Dionysus Set — a whopping 250 million won! And she's sharing it with everyone here, so let me hear you scream!"
Then, in an instant, the spotlight swung onto Woo Tae-kyung. He frowned and shielded his eyes with one hand, while beside him Lee Do-hee — plastered against the railing — raised her other hand high with a grin.
— WAAAAH!!!!!
Shweeee—
Bottles lined up endlessly inside golden buckets. Nearly naked men carried them on trays, decked out in glittering regalia, forming a long procession that walked all the way up to the third floor. Lee Do-hee, who had ordered it all, bathed in the spotlight, waved to the crowd cheering her name, and beamed radiantly.
"Wait, isn't that her?"
"Figured she'd stopped coming. Kicked her dog habit."
"Didn't she kill someone?"
"Like 250 million means anything to her? She burns through that much every time she shows up here. It's obvious."
The music cut out for a moment, and while the crowd cheered, those blunt voices carried from behind. Lee Do-hee must have heard them too, but she paid them no mind — half draped over the railing, leaning so far out she looked ready to drop, waving and laughing down at the floor below.
A few men came up carrying the golden buckets of the most expensive champagne set on their heads, while the rest began serving the bottles out to anyone on the first floor who wanted one.
"Impressive. Really impressive."
Wondering just how long they intended to keep it up, Woo Tae-kyung turned around.
Two women, two men. They'd been talking a short distance away, and when their eyes met his, they looked away at once — because even under the spotlight still pouring over him and Lee Do-hee alike, the scar cutting across his face was the first thing anyone saw.
Woo Tae-kyung tilted his head sideways and stared at them, unblinking.
Pop!
Right beside him, the men who'd carried the champagne up sent a cork flying with a flourish, and Lee Do-hee laughed in delight at the commotion.
"Woo Tae-kyung! Look at this! You know how much this costs?"
"You said 250 million."
"No, no — the champagne itself, how much do you think it is? Look, more than half of it's foam, spilling out like this. More of it goes to waste than gets drunk, and it's still worth 100 million."
Lee Do-hee giggled, shaking the foam that ran down her hand and wrist as she told him this.
Then she pressed her hand — soaked through with champagne and foam — against his lips and rubbed.
"It's a waste, so eat it, Tae-kyung."
The spotlight still rained down on Lee Do-hee's pale face. Woo Tae-kyung had his back to her, still watching the two men and two women. Leaning against the railing, sneaking glances over, they kept staring in this direction — so he held their gaze, dead still. Whether Lee Do-hee smeared liquor across her own face or not, he stuck out his tongue and openly licked between her fingers.
His red tongue burrowed deep between her little fingers, then slid out again.
She'd been laughing down at the floor, enjoying herself — until she saw Woo Tae-kyung begin to savor her hand like it was a treat, and the laughter drained out of her. His eyes were still fixed on the group still talking about her. And then, gripping her wrist, he started at her palm and dragged his tongue down along the sunken groove of bone at her wrist.
And there, exactly where the champagne had trickled, Woo Tae-kyung pressed his lips greedily and licked his way all the way up to her elbow.
"Wow— our VVIP's partner is treating us to something very precious tonight! Everybody scream! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
Chweeeep.
As if she'd been called to attention, Lee Do-hee's arm rose high in Woo Tae-kyung's grip. He'd lapped his way down to her face, sucking even the droplets of liquor clinging below her elbow with audible smacks, before finally pulling his mouth away. When he looked back at the spot he'd been watching, the group had vanished — fled who knows where.
"Are you going to kiss me?"
Lee Do-hee spoke to him, one hand still caught and held high in his grip.
Her eyes were hazy, as if she were already thoroughly drunk. With her free hand she pressed lightly against his chest and leaned her face in.
When her upper body pressed against him, the first thing he felt was her chest bearing down beneath his.
Woo Tae-kyung turned toward the spotlight booth and made a cutting gesture, and the sharp-eared DJ switched topics mid-sentence and killed the lights.
"You hit me with your lips, remember. Not happening."
At that, Lee Do-hee giggled against his chest. She lowered her lashes and laughed, rubbing her face against him.
"Woo Tae-kyung…."
"Yeah."
"Hoo… hoo…."
Lee Do-hee — who'd been half-hung over the railing waving in excitement, popping champagne in her stilettos, bouncing on her toes, telling him to lick the liquor off her own hand — was now panting hard. The smell of alcohol radiated off her entire body in waves.
And the ridiculous thing, as far as Woo Tae-kyung knew, was that Lee Do-hee hadn't touched a single drop. For someone stone-cold sober, it was almost uncanny how much better she played drunk than anyone actually drinking.
The third floor was VIP territory, and a room had already been reserved. Woo Tae-kyung let go of her hand and instead scooped her up by the waist, hoisting her into his arms to carry her there.
"Kya!"
Delighted, she threw her arms tight around his neck. Which meant the jacket draped over his shoulders slipped clean off, and lifting her by the waist drove her chest hard against his face.
What a piece of work.
Vaguely recalling a thought he'd once had watching Jang Hee-jo carry on, Woo Tae-kyung carried her to the room. And the moment the soundproofed door shut behind them, the raucous music outside seemed to fall away into the distance, and the room went too quiet.
He set her down on the sofa. Standing on it in her heels, Lee Do-hee wobbled — then, like a kid, flung her stilettos off one by one toward the opposite wall. Her light body bounced giddily on the sofa cushions, who knew what she was so worked up about.
Then, in a sudden instant, she froze in place. Looking at Woo Tae-kyung, standing quietly, she said:
"Woo Tae-kyung."
She'd been bouncing so hard that ragged breaths caught in her throat.
"Yeah."
"I… you, you make it so I can't breathe…."
"What do you want me to do about it."
Woo Tae-kyung asked flatly whether even her breathing was now his responsibility. Lee Do-hee kept panting. Having tossed out a confession that didn't deserve the name and then worked herself into a lather all on her own, breathing rough and ragged — he looked away from her.
He stared at the wallpaper with its garish pattern.
Doesn't drink a drop and still plays the part perfectly. If anything, of every drunk in this building, Lee Do-hee was probably the best drunk act of them all.
"Because of you… I can't breathe, I said!"
The last of it came out barely more than a gasp.
Lee Do-hee was fast. Practically flooring the accelerator from a dead stop — that was her, through and through.
"You confess out of nowhere, like this?"
The corner of Woo Tae-kyung's mouth pulled up crooked as he looked at her. But her face was deathly pale, and her lips had gone bloodless at some point. She was breathing in real, heaving gasps — and the moment their eyes met, she pitched forward. Woo Tae-kyung thrust out a hand and caught her as she crumpled into his arms.
"Hey, Lee Do-hee. Did you take something?"
When would this lunatic of a girl have taken anything? Not while he was watching, that much was certain.
Had one of the bastards who carried the champagne up slipped something to her? Woo Tae-kyung tapped her cheek lightly with his fingertips, shaking her. Limp in his arms, Lee Do-hee gave a little hiccup of a laugh.