Love Born of Pity Chapter 77

Kwon Jiho, who had grabbed Do Yeonjae’s arm, felt the moisture on his fingertips. It didn’t seem like it was raining, so why was it wet? It smelled of the deodorizer he often smelled when taking clothes out of the styler.

On top of that, there was a strangely sweet scent. Kang Gyumin used to have a similar scent. A fresh and sweet citrusy scent. Kwon Jiho lowered his head and, without realizing it, inhaled.

At that action, Do Yeonjae moved swiftly. He spun the slender body around and pushed it into the shower stall. He untied the knot to remove Kwon Jiho’s clothes and quickly undressed himself as well. Before Kwon Jiho had a chance to wonder why Do Yeonjae’s clothes were wet, a stream of water fell directly onto his face, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

It was a big problem that even a potentially comical expression was just beautiful. Then again, his looks themselves were beautiful, so anything he did was bound to look beautiful. Do Yeonjae, smiling faintly, washed every corner of Kwon Jiho’s body with a meticulous touch.

“Lift your arm.”

At the motion of supporting and lifting his elbow, Kwon Jiho raised his left hand high. While receiving his tender yet hot touch, Kwon Jiho found it strange that pheromones weren’t pouring out as usual. By now, Do Yeonjae would have more than layered his pheromones over and over. It was also strange that he was only washing him while his arousal was so clearly evident.

As Kwon Jiho closed his eyes against the water streaming from the showerhead, Do Yeonjae suddenly kissed him. It wasn’t a surprising act of affection, so he responded as if he had been waiting for it. However, he was a little surprised that it didn’t proceed to the next step. Do Yeonjae didn’t pull his hand to touch his erect penis, nor did he command him to suck it with his mouth.

Is he in a bad mood? But he seems fine.

“Why.”

“……Ah. Just, why……”

Aren’t you doing anything. Do Yeonjae laughed at the quietly muttered voice. He lightly tapped the water-drenched cheek, but Kwon Jiho, who was overly startled, gasped— heup— and froze in fear. It wasn’t long ago that a large, hard hand had roughly grabbed his face. Learning violence was close to an instinct.

“Anyone would think I beat the kid day in and day out. It’s not even satisfying to hit you.”

“……Director Do.”

The sound of water falling from the showerhead echoed in the small space. His eyes, quickly contorting with sorrow, and his trembling voice spread lowly.

“You only…… do this to me, right? Because I’m……”

“……”

“Because I’m something you can…… throw away anytime if I displease you. Because it doesn’t matter if you treat me rough……”

At the low mumble, Do Yeonjae’s expression hardened. He’d been wondering what nonsense he was suddenly spouting, but his expression was serious. The words “that’s not true” didn’t come out immediately.

Do Yeonjae, who had spent the whole day, whenever he had a spare moment, imagining where he would marry Kwon Jiho, whether to book a hall or have an outdoor ceremony, felt his mind clear as if doused with cold water. The heat that had been burning up cooled in an instant. It wasn’t anger, but bewilderment.

His teary eyes looked up at Do Yeonjae. Biting his lip tightly as if something was so sorrowful, he finally let the welling tears fall, drop by drop.

Do Yeonjae reached a hand behind Kwon Jiho’s back and turned off the water. He didn’t want to have a serious conversation to clear up a misunderstanding while naked. He dried Kwon Jiho’s body with a large towel from the cabinet and took out another smaller one to towel-dry his wet hair.

After dressing him in a fresh patient gown and meticulously tying the knot, he sent him out. Hwang Gicheol, who had been waiting with an anxious expression, took care of Kwon Jiho as he came out.

“Have him sit down.”

“Yes, Mr. Do.”

Do Yeonjae, who had carelessly thrown a robe over his wet body, thought as he examined his face in the mirror. It seemed that his words about behaving well if he didn’t want to be abandoned were etched into that small head of his.

“Ah.”

Having gone through too much in a short period of time must have complicated his already fragile mind. If not that, then Kang Gyumin must have said some nonsense, but the guard had clearly reported that he had just muttered a few words by himself and left. Do Yeonjae, chewing back a curse, slicked all his wet hair back and left the bathroom.

At the sign of his presence, Hwang Gicheol’s gaze turned to Do Yeonjae. He gave a slight nod and moved away from Kwon Jiho. Kwon Jiho, who had been sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, confirmed the tips of the shoes in his field of vision and slowly raised his head.

Do Yeonjae strode closer. He looked at Hwang Gicheol, who was acting as if he were Kwon Jiho’s guardian, with a displeased gaze before opening his mouth.

“You can go home.”

“What? Ah, already…… Yes. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He backed away hesitantly, gathered his belongings, and said his goodbyes. Tearing his worried gaze away, he moved his reluctant feet.

As the door slowly closed, Do Yeonjae approached Kwon Jiho. He picked up the towel he had placed on the bed and dried the still-damp hair. He held the soft hair in his hands and calmly composed his emotions.

He intended to have a conversation. He planned to clear up the misunderstanding and tell him everything—what plans he had, who wanted to meet him, and what was growing inside his belly.

After thoroughly drying his hair and feeding him a hearty dinner. That was the plan. But it wasn’t easy to suppress the temper he’d inherited through generations.

“Director Do. Can’t you…… just, throw me away?”

This, fucker.

He was seized by the impulse to grab the face that was crumpling as if about to cry and threaten him. He also wanted to clutch the fine hair and shout, who’s abandoning whom. Ferocious pheromones overflowed. He’d been told no pheromones, yet they poured out in an instant, as if in a downpour.

Not even an hour had passed since he was told to expose him very little by little, slowly, to let him adapt first. At Kwon Jiho’s action of curling his small body even smaller, Do Yeonjae shook his head slightly as if to snap out of it and let out a long sigh. He reined in his pheromones and gripped the thin shoulders.

“Who’s abandoning whom. Now that you’re comfortable, you’re spouting nonsense again. You don’t have a care in the world right now, do you? Mr. Kwon Jiho.”

He grabbed the pitifully trembling chin and pulled it closer. He stared intently at Kwon Jiho, whose head tilted to the right even unconsciously, his gaze fixed on Do Yeonjae’s mouth. The light brown eyes were so transparent and clear that one couldn’t possibly think he couldn’t see.

If he had told him something was wrong from the beginning, he wouldn’t have used his pheromones until it got to this point. Who on earth did he take after to be so foolish?

“……Director Do, I……”

“……”

“I… I can’t hear. My eye too…… I can’t see anything here anymore. Because of the pheromones…… hic, I don’t know why this happened. I just…… I think it was wrong from the start. I shouldn’t have asked for help. I shouldn’t have…… held onto you back then, Director.”

The tearful voice, for the first time, spat out resentment and regret. Kwon Jiho confessed the feelings he had been enduring and hiding without speaking. He blinked to let the overflowing tears stream down and begged to be pitied.

Why is Kwon Jiho being like this? Why is he saying such things? Do Yeonjae found it truly difficult to understand.

What on earth is the problem? Society wasn’t an easy place for the possessionless and naive Kwon Jiho to endure alone. He couldn’t do anything, nor could he accomplish a single thing competently, so wouldn’t it be better to live his whole life receiving my help and just spending my money?

“You just, don’t think.”

“……”

“Are you bored because I made you do nothing? Is that why?”

Do Yeonjae cupped the pale cheek with his palm and continued speaking.

“Can you hear me? Can you hear me if I talk like this?”

As he asked, tapping Kwon Jiho’s left ear, the crumpled face bobbed slightly up and down. Following the shaky nod, tears like glass beads rolled down his cheeks.

“Your younger sister. Kwon Heeyeon. You didn’t know she was discharged, did you? I even got her an officetel. She pretended to believe me when I said her older brother couldn’t come because he was unwell. Cunning girl. Is she really your sister?”

Do Yeonjae covered and blocked Kwon Jiho’s right ear completely. He would speak for a long stretch and then pause intermittently to check if he was hearing properly. A nurse who came in just then, sensing the bad atmosphere, quietly left the medicine and went out. It was a pheromone supplement.

Do Yeonjae knew Kwon Jiho had an empty stomach from not eating properly today, but he opened the medicine packet anyway. He personally pried open the small mouth and dropped in two large pills. Tilting a plastic water cup, he watched the Adam’s apple bob shallowly and even opened his lips to look inside his mouth.

“The supplement. You know why you’re taking it, right?”

“……”

“Your sister said she was grateful to me. The same girl who used to talk back asking if I was a pimp, even asked me to take good care of her brother. Maybe it’s because I gave her a credit card to use freely.”

Kwon Jiho quietly listened to Do Yeonjae’s voice pooling in his ear and blinked.

“She’s so young but has such a damn obsession with luxury goods that it’s noisy with the texts going off all the time. She has no idea that’s all becoming her brother’s debt.”

“……”

“My Mr. Kwon Jiho used to tremble just buying a single drink with my card.”

At the voice he could hear, Do Yeonjae’s lips, and the slowly creeping threat, Kwon Jiho smiled feebly. Do Yeonjae gently placed a kiss on the lips that had slightly curved and then returned to their place. It was a kiss that didn’t deepen. It didn’t hurt.

Kwon Jiho impassively received the touch of Do Yeonjae’s hand wiping his cheek.

“……I want to get some fresh air. I feel suffocated, Director Do.”