Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 40

‘Why all of a sudden…’

He had seemed to be in a perfectly fine mood just a moment ago at the appointment ceremony, so he had no idea why he had gotten so twisted up in such a short time.

‘Was the meeting with the person Brigadier General Kang Joongmo introduced an uncomfortable one?’

Heeheon, who had been speculating on various reasons, let out a deep sigh inwardly. More than anything, he didn’t understand why he had to show up at that exact timing and overhear that particular conversation.

‘Hah… just how much did he hear.’

Could it be, no way, did he even hear me say I like men…?

Fuck…

I really want to die.

Heeheon hung his head low and gnawed on his lips. The elevator quickly arrived at the first floor. Lost in thought, he didn’t even realize the doors had opened and stood there dumbfounded.

“What are you doing. Get out.”

“Ah.”

Heeheon scrambled to follow Cha Moogyul. The driver he had summoned was waiting outside the Center’s main gate. He sat in the back seat, in such a state of confusion that he didn’t even know how he had walked to the car, and then buckled his seatbelt. Embarrassingly, he even fumbled with it twice.

‘Get a grip. Get a grip!’

So what if I like men.

So what, it’s possible.

And so what, Cha Moogyul might have heard…

Of course, it would be best if Cha Moogyul hadn’t heard anything…

After pondering for a good while longer, Heeheon stealthily raised his head. He glanced over to check Cha Moogyul’s mood again. He was staring out the window with a stiffly hardened expression. His jet-black eyes glinted dangerously. His sunken eyes looked so ruthless and dry that it seemed he wouldn’t feel a thing even if he were to stab someone with a knife right now.

‘Scary.’

Why is he so menacing…

Heeheon’s lips trembled slightly as he spoke.

“…Are you okay?”

“…”

Cha Moogyul ignored even that question.

“I didn’t know you had a lily allergy. Is it severe…?”

“…”

“I might have pollen on me… Should I open the window a bit?”

No matter what he said, Cha Moogyul did not respond to the conversation. Since he continued to ignore him, Heeheon also just shut his mouth and looked straight ahead. Still, after a little while, he cracked the window open slightly. The air conditioning would escape, but it couldn’t be helped. The wind rushed in through the open window, whipping his bangs about fiercely.

‘But… still. He doesn’t have to ignore me completely like this.’

He was talking just fine at the appointment ceremony. Heeheon placed his tightly clenched fists on his knees and stiffened his posture. It was pathetic how Baek Heeheon’s mood changed according to Cha Moogyul’s mood swings. Even so, he didn’t have the courage to snap at him right now.

‘There’s no need to stir up trouble for no reason. I don’t even know how much he heard.’

So Heeheon also chose to just keep his mouth firmly shut.

He clenched his jaw and turned his head. He stared intently at the gradually decreasing estimated time of arrival on the navigation screen. The atmosphere inside the vehicle was so unusual that even the driver in the driver’s seat was glancing at them through the rearview mirror. He figured he must feel like he was suffocating to death just the same.

“…We have arrived at your residence, Brigadier General.”

The military vehicle, which had arrived much faster than usual, stopped in front of the house, and the driver opened the car door. Heeheon unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

“Then I will return to the Center. Please call again when you need me.”

The sight of the driver saluting, returning to the car, and then driving off as if fleeing felt truly pathetic. But at the same time, he was envious.

‘I want to run away too, dammit…’

He had to be alone with Cha Moogyul from now on, to the point where he didn’t even want to go inside the house. He didn’t care if it was the yard under the scorching sun; he just wanted to stay here. Heeheon couldn’t easily bring himself to walk to the front door of the house and stood frozen in the yard. Cha Moogyul moved first.

The house system activated, and the front door opened automatically. The dark hallway stretching deep inside looked like a tiger’s den.

‘Right, even if you’re dragged into a tiger’s den, you’ll survive if you just keep your wits about you.’

His resolve hardened, Heeheon took off his formal cap and strode into the entrance. The door closed behind him, and the dazzling sunlight disappeared.

Just as he was about to take off his shoes under the dim entryway light, a black shadow loomed over Heeheon.

Cha Moogyul, whom he thought had gone in first, was standing right in front of him.

Startled, Heeheon instinctively took a step back. His back hit the cold front door, and he could feel the stiffly starched collar of his uniform press against the back of his neck. Cha Moogyul placed both arms on the front door, trapping Heeheon.

“…”

His eyes wavered.

He had run through all sorts of scenarios in his head, but now that he was actually this close, he couldn’t do anything. A chill ran down his spine. Heeheon’s face froze, white as a sheet.

Cha Moogyul just looked down at him with a completely humorless expression. The formal cap he was wearing cast a shadow over his eyes. His pupils, submerged in the pitch-black shadow, gleamed with an eerie light. It felt like he could be cut by that sharp gaze.

“…”

“…”

It was quiet. They just stared at each other without a word. After a while, the entryway sensor light clicked off. Even in complete darkness, neither of them made a rash move or spoke.

A touch-and-go situation. The phrase flashed through Heeheon’s mind.

It felt like a twisted thicket was slowly extending its branches toward him. Cha Moogyul’s words and actions, which he had covered up with a stopgap measure and tried to ignore, came back to him one by one. The countless questions he couldn’t get answers to followed, raising their heads.

A dedicated guide and a dedicated esper. After defining their positions as such, it seemed he had been getting along with Cha Moogyul without any particular problems. But that was not the case in reality.

Because the fated conundrum that Heeheon had sunk to the bottom of his heart remained blatantly there.

He couldn’t ask anyone, nor could he get an answer. He couldn’t dig deep to find the answer, so he just let it pass like that. At the time, that was all he could do.

Because he had now resolved to treat Cha Moogyul as a guide.

Baek Heeheon is Cha Moogyul’s guide, and Cha Moogyul is Baek Heeheon’s esper. Ending it like that would be clean. But, he still didn’t know.

Why Cha Moogyul. Why Baek Heeheon.

Why he wanted to kill him.

Why he wouldn’t let him go.

Why he did those things using guiding as an excuse…

Facing Cha Moogyul’s frosty gaze, such thoughts came to him. That the unresolved disaster had come crashing down on him like a giant wave.

“Hyung.”

Cha Moogyul called Baek Heeheon’s name as if he was fed up. Heeheon, burning with impatience, barely managed to reply.

“…What.”

“Is that bastard your type?”

He spat out the words dryly, but it sounded like a voice boiling with anger from deep within. For some reason, he felt like he was being reprimanded by him.

“Did I interrupt you? By butting in at a good time.”

“…That’s not it.”

“I heard you say ‘that’s not it’ last time too. And it turned out to be true.”

“I said it’s not. And what does that have to do with you?”

Cornered, Heeheon’s eyes hardened. He didn’t know why he was being interrogated like this. Cha Moogyul, that bastard himself, never revealed anything important, so Heeheon couldn’t be the only one being picked apart. Besides, doing this was rude to Captain Sung Ahwon, so he felt it even more.

Heeheon thought Captain Sung was amazing. Being able to face such sincere and unpretentious emotions was a special experience. The interest and affection directed solely at one person was a color of utmost freshness and a form of infinite purity.

“It was just a conversation between me and Captain Sung, it has nothing to do with you. I don’t want to talk about it carelessly either.”

“…Carelessly?”

“It was a private conversation. Don’t ask any more.”

Heeheon drew the line firmly. His heart was heavy and anxious, but he couldn’t back down when he thought of Captain Sung Ahwon. He wanted to treat the matter of his confession and his rejection of that confession with care. He didn’t want to blab about it easily just because he was being interrogated a little.

Heeheon bit his lip resolutely. At that, Cha Moogyul’s eyebrows slowly contorted.

An displeased look gradually crept into his eyes, and then he let out a menacing sneer, as if he found it absurd.

“Ha, the conversation about you liking men has nothing to do with me?”

Ah, damn it.

He heard that part.

His hair stood on end. He was breaking out in a cold sweat. Heeheon squeezed the formal cap in his hand as if to crush it and tried his best to maintain a nonchalant, calm expression. He felt like his heart would crumble the moment he let his guard down.

“What does it have to do with you, Cha Moogyul. What are you going to do with that information anyway.”

“Right. What am I going to do with it.”

“…Stop being sarcastic.”

“No, really. What do you think I’m going to do?”

Heeheon hesitantly shook his head. He was too close. They were at a distance where they could feel each other’s breath completely. The thoughts he shouldn’t be having at a time like this came to mind. The feel of his lips, his panting breaths, his eyes looking at Heeheon, wet with excitement…

“I even gave you a warning. Kindly. I told you to act with some sense when I’m putting it on hold…”

“…”

“Don’t you remember? Or do you not have a sense of crisis, hyung? What are you going to do if I act like an asshole again, getting all chummy with Sung Ahwon.”