Cold City Romance Chapter 14.4

“I’m sorry, but I have a prior engagement in an hour for handover procedures, so I think I need to head straight back to Seoul right now. If I don’t leave now, the traffic will be jammed.”

At his indirect refusal, the room became as quiet as a mouse.

He politely asked for Kang Seoyeon’s understanding. Kang Seoyeon gestured that it was fine, but she moved away from him with an embarrassed expression, distancing herself from the intimacy she had shown earlier.

Hyun Serin spoke as if to alleviate Kang Seoyeon’s embarrassment.

“Seoyeon, let’s go. I will show you around.”

Kang Seoyeon gave a bright smile without a single wrinkle, as if nothing had happened.

“Yes, please show me around. I will go with you, unnie.”

Cha Dokyung did not know what kind of expression he was making. However, he could not perform any acting at all. He could not smile leisurely with a fake smile as usual, nor could he pretend to be haughty with a bored attitude as if uninterested. He did not even realize the fact that he was holding his breath. Hyun Kangwoo, sitting next to him, was staring at Cha Dokyung’s unnatural behavior as if observing it.

Hyun Jaehwi suddenly stood up from his seat first.

“Then, I will take my leave now. Happy birthday, and please enjoy your meal.”

As the current Chairman nodded, the tall man with broad shoulders greeted politely and strode out the door. No one had a chance to stop him; it was too decisive and quick.

“That kid is inflexible and just too straightforward, so he only has a strong sense of responsibility and no tact. His flaw is thinking that work is the most important thing in the world. He is scheduled to return to America soon, and he said he came all the way here today despite being very busy with project handover.”

Minister Kang Kio of Foreign Affairs nodded in agreement.

“What can you do with capable and busy people. Most kids his age are busy playing, but he is diligent in his duties and has a strong sense of responsibility, so that alone is a pass.”

As if he could not bear that atmosphere any longer, Cha Dokyung also stood up belatedly from his seat.

“I’m sorry. I will get up too.”

The gazes at the table concentrated sharply once again.

“I have to leave for Taebaek Mountain at dawn tomorrow for the first shooting, and I still have not packed all my luggage. Since I am leaving Seoul for a long time, there are many things to organize…. I think I need to head back now.”

“…….”

“Uncle, happy birthday once again. Because of the shooting, I think I will not be able to see your face again until a year passes.”

Cha Dokyung hurriedly exited the guest room and went down the stairs, and as expected, Hyun Kangwoo followed him out right behind. Hyun Kangwoo caught Cha Dokyung’s wrist hard from behind as if intercepting it with his fast steps.

“You are not going to Jaehwi, are you?”

“Ha, let go of this….”

“Answer me.”

The urgent Cha Dokyung roughly shook off Hyun Kangwoo’s hand. However, Hyun Kangwoo did not give in and forcibly grabbed his arm again.

Cha Dokyung appealed to Hyun Kangwoo.

“I heard that once you go to America, you will never come back. We might never see each other again, so I have to give a final greeting. That is why I came to this place today.”

“…….”

“Kangwoo, in the end, I chose our friendship that has lasted over thirty years. I told you that you are more important to me.”

Cha Dokyung spat it out with a calm face and patted Hyun Kangwoo’s back in a manly way.

“I have to leave at dawn tomorrow right away. Since I feel like I will never see Jaehwi’s face again, as an older brother, I will give a final greeting to my younger brother and go back.”

That composed and rational appearance ironically seemed like a desperate struggle disguised to reassure Hyun Kangwoo.

“You are the eldest son, so it would be better if you go back in and take care of the guests and hold the seat. If you leave too, the Chairman will be very troubled.”

“Dokyung….”

However, far from letting go of his arm, Hyun Kangwoo held it even tighter. As if struggling to guard the last meeting between those two.

“Fuck, let me go! If you hold me like this, I will miss Jaehwi.”

He might have left by car. Then, the chance to give the final farewell greeting would be completely over now.

“You bastard! In the end, I abandoned that boy and chose you! You greedy and selfish bastard….! Fuck, just let me do the final farewell greeting as I please….!”

As he poured out curses loudly enough to reach the guest room, making his ears ring, only then did Hyun Kangwoo reluctantly let go of Cha Dokyung’s arm little by little.

His steps were so fast that not even his heels were visible. As he tried to call on his cell phone, he realized the fact that he had deliberately deleted his number, records, and all traces from his cell phone completely so as not to call him ever again.

Since he said he was returning to Seoul, Hyun Jaehwi probably went in his own car. Cha Dokyung, familiar with the structure of this villa, quickly headed to the parking lot.

He ran to the outdoor parking lot and began searching indiscriminately for Hyun Jaehwi’s car.

Fortunately. His large sedan had not left yet and was still parked intact. Since he would drive back, if he waited here, he would eventually come this way. He could buy enough time to give a final greeting and go.

Because he had run here in one breath fearing he would miss the boy or that he had already left, he was panting roughly and stroking his chest, when a familiar low voice came from behind.

“Who are you looking for?”

However, Cha Dokyung, who was heaving and catching his breath, could not turn around. He froze just like that. If he turned around right now, he was afraid that this desperate lingering attachment and urgency would be discovered.

“Surely, you were not looking for me?”

As Cha Dokyung froze and panted without answering a word, Hyun Jaehwi, who had approached with long strides from behind, forcibly turned his elegantly extended neck and shoulders.

It was a force that was unbelievably rough and brute. In the wide-open outdoor parking lot, fearing someone might see, the intimidating man’s body held him by force and nimbly dragged him into the temporary building warehouse in the corner of the parking lot where no one entered or exited.

The boy roughly shoved him into that place and locked the locking device.

“Answer me! Were you looking for me with such a desperate face right now!”

His red lips pursed tightly. The tip of his slender jaw trembled finely. Cha Dokyung was looking pale as if his blood had dried up, with a troubled expression.

“Yes, to give you a final greeting….”

The man’s long and cool eyes curved as if incredulous and sneered coldly.

“Ah, is that so? When were you showing off by flirting with Hyun Kangwoo right in front of me. Now you suddenly remembered something urgent to say to me?”

Cha Dokyung replied indifferently.

“You were the one flirting with that pretty friend the whole time.”

“…….”

“To the point where I could not even intervene between the two of you, getting along so well and enjoyably.”

“…….”

“The two matched so well that I did not want to interfere. Ms. Seoyeon seemed kind and a good friend….”

Cha Dokyung looked up at that handsome face that had come one step closer with his eyes lingering. Unknowingly, he scanned from the sharply standing high nose bridge down to the broad and thick chest as if teasing.

He had thought that over the past month, his sexual desire had long since disappeared, but it was absurd that even in this situation, he was responding to him. However, Cha Dokyung quickly hid his shameful desire.

“I wanted you to really meet a good person….”

In the time of the final farewell, with a face that had resigned to everything in front of the parting, Cha Dokyung pretended to be composed with effort. He must never reveal the jealousy boiling like wildfire or the desire to cling to him. For that reason, he was exerting himself to the point of death.

“Same age, grew up in similar environments, so they get along well in conversation, and the two looked good together.”

Because of that, in Hyun Jaehwi’s eyes, that cold beauty’s indifferent face appeared just perfectly composed and detached, as if simply accepting the end indifferently, to the point of exasperation. It was an indifferent face that made his anger rise sharply.

“You can continue to meet even in America, right. That is good. It will be hard to meet such a perfect partner in the future.”

Hyun Jaehwi approached as if cornering him against the wall, thrust his nose tip close, and mocked coldly.

“Ha, fuck…, you are so cool it is freezing to death.”

“…….”

“Seeing you spout bullshit like you do not want to hinder me from meeting a good woman, the guy I used to have sex with and cling to. This confirms it was really my one-sided crush…. Fuck, it makes me feel dirty.”

Cha Dokyung scanned down the straight face that had come close with quiet eyes and whispered.

“I am leaving tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“I heard that once you leave for the institution this time, you will never return to Korea. No promise.”

“…….”

“Forget about someone like me, and meet someone kind and warm like Ms. Seoyeon. A good kid like you should meet someone much better, not a bad guy like me.”

“…….”

“Jaehwi, meet someone bright like that, who can love you a lot, not a dark person like me.”

His pitch-black pupils looked hollow as if they would shatter any moment. His hand suddenly caressed his cheek. At that sudden touch, all the nerves and fine hairs on his body stood on end.

“Cha Dokyung…. To the very end of the ending, you really have not a fingernail’s worth of sincerity toward me.”

Cha Dokyung shook off the large hand touching his cheek, pushed him away, lowered his head, and blurted out an apology without any preamble. As if reciting lines from a script, he poured out the words he had prepared.

“I am sorry, for only hurting you all this time…. Even there, I hope you meet a good person and wish you happiness.”

“I saw it from the beginning. You came running like a madman with a face that looked like you were about to cry from over there.”

“…….”

“You were panting desperately with a face like you were dying, looking for where my car was first…. But the words you say after finding me are just to meet that good person you can continue seeing even in America?”

“…….”

“Do I not look pitiful, the one who could not take his eyes off you at the banquet hall, always staring only at you and hovering around you?”

Cha Dokyung silently bit his red lips hard.

“The human named Cha Dokyung really does not betray my expectations until the very end…. Suddenly leaning on Hyun Kangwoo and hugging in front of me, making a disgusting sight, and now telling me to get along well with Kang Seoyeon?”

Cha Dokyung raised his voice, veins bulging.

“Jaehwi, it is not like that. I want you to be truly happy…. Anyway, no matter what we do, we cannot work out! You know that too. Anyway, both of us have to leave, so what is the use of that now.”

“Yeah, now it is of no use. Even if you hold me here right now, I have also boarded a train that I absolutely cannot stop.”

“…….”

“So thank you. For thoroughly crushing the last remaining expectations and illusions I had toward you.”

Cha Dokyung’s eyes reddened. Hyun Jaehwi looked at the delicate eye corners trembling faintly, then heaved his broad chest and exhaled roughly. As the boy calmed his excitement, he said with a chillingly aloof gaze.

“I will give you a final farewell gift.”

“…….”

“You are now freed from the disturbance.”

The transparent pupils filled with moisture could not even blink and just stared at him still.

“What, what does that mean?”

He lifted his head stiffly and straightened his back.

“The thing living inside you, I secretly removed it while you were asleep. So now, you will no longer have to suffer from the disturbance.”

“…….”

“It was something I could remove so easily just with my ability without even exerting any effort…. I just forcibly crammed it into that body of yours because I needed an excuse to keep Cha Dokyung by my side somehow.”

He smiled hollowly with a face as cold as frost.

“Ah, now that I think about it, the one in front of me is the real Cha Dokyung with only reason left…. That is why, until the very end of the ending, you were so composed as to even chatter advice about meeting another woman with such an indifferent and calm face.”

“…….”

“Even when I was flirting with another woman right in front of your eyes, and even when my father was trying to pair me up with Kang Seoyeon for marriage…. With that gone, you really do not bat an eye toward me until the end.”

“That thing…. What on earth….”

Hyun Jaehwi pointed crookedly at Cha Dokyung’s chest with his finger.

“I know very well now how shallow the real Cha Dokyung existing here felt toward me. And that everything was just my one-sided crush.”

Cha Dokyung, who could not understand, did not even refute and just stared at him blankly with unfocused pupils.

“Now, I have removed all the points of connection between you and me. There is not even a shred of lingering attachment.”

A cold wind blew in his eyes. It was the most heartless, ruthless, and cruel gaze like a honed blade among all he had seen so far.

“Cha Dokyung, you and I are completely over.”

The moist eye corners convulsed. His face and lips stiffened and did not move. He could not express any emotion. Rather, it seemed easier to just undress here and suggest having one last sex.

“As you so desired, I will disappear from in front of you forever without leaving any trace.”

“…….”

“Goodbye.”

Thud—!

Hyun Jaehwi left the small warehouse attached to the parking lot.

Cha Dokyung, drained of strength, stood there blankly with his mind lost in a daze. His shoulders trembled. Only then did he gasp for the breath he had been holding. The red lips he had been biting trembled faintly.

A while later, the sound of an engine starting and the car sliding away quickly could be heard. Hyun Jaehwi drove off from this place without even looking back.

He had to think for a long while about what on earth that meant.

It meant that the disturbance had now disappeared from him. Hyun Jaehwi had secretly completely removed that tyrant from him. And that seemed to mean that, in order not to leave any lingering attachment or leeway, he had perfectly sorted him out without leaving even a trace.

A clean and perfect blank state end with nothing left at all.

He had wanted to give a mature farewell greeting. He had wanted to ask for forgiveness, wish for your happiness there, and say goodbye…. He realized the fact that until the very end, he had said nonsense that made the boy lose affection for him. But there was no helping it. The boy was already in his car heading back to Seoul.

Cha Dokyung staggered like a person who had lost his mind and crawled into his own car, gripping the steering wheel.

The car quickly exited the lakeside villa.

However, the direction of the car was not toward the house on the Han River but back toward the horseback riding ground in Hwachon. The luggage was already all packed and sent to the accommodation, and as soon as dawn broke, he just needed to enter the filming site at Taebaek Mountain with his body.

Cha Dokyung called his manager with a dazed face that had lost focus, indifferently.

“I will depart from the horseback riding ground tomorrow. Come straight to the training ground at dawn.”

It was the first shooting tomorrow, but the practice was still woefully insufficient. No matter how he looked at it, it was not perfect. It seemed better to practice all night until the very last day he left. If he rode a horse and ran, everything would be forgotten. No thoughts would come to mind. Pain disappears if one endures it long enough. After finishing the one-year shooting, before he knew it, this sadness and pain would all disappear like a lie.

Outside the car window where he gripped the steering wheel, the sun was setting. Tears dropped endlessly down both cheeks while receiving the intensely shining red sunset light.

The boy had said he had one-sidedly loved him for over ten years, but to him, it was merely a short time of less than a year. Nothing could change within that short and meaningless time. And in the end, Cha Dokyung chose that ‘fake glass castle’.

For a while, it would hurt, perhaps he would be angry and sad, or hate himself and feel like hell.

But after a very long time passes and you turn over thirty and become the same age as me, if we happen to meet again. All these things will remain as nothing but reckless memories of the past that we can laugh off. Perhaps, the truly grown-up you will even come to thank me for this parting today where I forcibly cut you off.

I first learned after turning thirty, because of you, that my heart could race this painfully. As time passes, I will cherish this first thrill as a good memory.

“Jaehwi, goodbye….”

Goodbye. My first love, short but precious.