Divorce in Bed Chapter 19

“Do, Mister Dowon?”

Yeohwi called out to him in a raspy voice. Dowon did not answer. He merely approached the side of the bed, slowly.

His face came into view as Yeohwi’s eyes grew accustomed to the darkness. The lines around his eyes where fatigue had settled, his firmly set lips. And that cold gaze scrutinizing every inch of Yeohwi’s face…

“You must have been dreaming.”

Dowon’s voice was low and heavy.

“It must have been an incredibly good dream. Seeing as you were grinning foolishly even in your sleep.”

His tone was sarcastic, but the terrible exhaustion mixed within it was palpable.

“…Yes,” Yeohwi answered honestly. His throat tightened because of the gap between the dream and reality.

“I was dreaming. A dream where Mister Dowon treated me… very kindly.”

Dowon’s hand paused in mid-air. His pupils wavered minutely in the darkness.

“You’re delusional.”

He retorted coldly as he pulled a manila envelope from his breast pocket and placed it on the bedside table.

Yeohwi’s gaze fixed on the documents. His heart began to thud again.

“This is…”

“I reviewed it,” Dowon said briefly.

“I’ve finished cross-verifying it through the legal and asset management teams. The capital investment route you suggested, and the backdoor listing method.”

Dowon leaned forward, meeting Yeohwi’s eyes.

“It’s valid. No, with that much financial power, it’s lethal.”

Yeohwi held his breath quietly.

“Then… are you accepting my proposal?”

Dowon did not answer. He merely looked down at Yeohwi with his arms crossed.

His calm gaze roamed over Yeohwi’s pale face, his IV-pierced forearm, and somewhere among the bundles of documents scattered by the bedside.

Everywhere that gaze touched, Yeohwi’s skin felt tingly. His eyes were clearly directed at him, yet on the other hand, it felt as if he wasn’t looking at him at all.

Dowon in a cold, sharp suit, not the knitwear from the dream. Dry lips calling it a delusion instead of whispering “honey.”

Silence flowed. Yeohwi couldn’t even breathe loudly.

“Mister Dowon.”

“…”

Dowon slowly leaned back and exhaled a long, long breath through his teeth.

“You.”

“Yes…?”

“You could have spat all this out long ago.”

He pierced through Yeohwi with eyes of unknowable depth.

“Was that really the only reason?”

“…”

“That you wanted me to look at you for who you are, not your background. Without any profit?”

“…Yes.”

The short answer weighed heavily on the air in the room.

Dowon looked into Yeohwi’s eyes for a long time. As if trying to find a lie, or perhaps to confirm the depths of his reckless sincerity.

Soon, his lips twisted. It was a sneer.

“Your premise is flawed from the start.”

Dowon’s voice was dry.

“Do you know what the most expensive thing in this world is?”

He tapped Yeohwi’s forehead with his finger.

“Free. A favor with no price, a heart with no conditions. Nothing sends a heavier bill later on than those things.”

Certainly, he had lived his whole life that way. He had struck down countless traps and landmines that approached him disguised as favors. To Dowon, the word “just” was the most deceptive form of optimism.

“That heart with no price you’re trying to hand over will later become a debt that strangles my neck. I hate being in debt very much.”

Yeohwi’s lips fluttered.

“Then, Mister Dowon, pay it back.”

“What?”

“You said there’s no such thing as free in this world. You said you hate being in debt.”

Yeohwi looked straight at Dowon while rubbing his wrist where the IV mark remained.

“Just as much as the heart I gave to Mister Dowon, you can pay me back with your heart.”

“Ha.”

Dowon wore a dumbfounded expression.

“With money?”

“No. You know now that I have a hell of a lot of money. It’s overflowing and rotting away.”

Yeohwi shook his head. Then he tapped his own chest.

“Not money, but with your heart. If you don’t want to be in my debt, pay me back with your heart.”

Dowon stared blankly at Yeohwi before bursting into a short laugh.

“The transaction terms are quite picky.”

Dowon turned and walked away. As he passed by, nearly brushing against Yeohwi, Yeohwi stiffened with tension.

Dowon opened the drawer of the bedside table. A clattering sound of medicine bottles bumping together followed.

Dowon took out a few pills from the medicine envelope the doctor had left behind. He held them out to Yeohwi along with a glass of water.

“Swallow them.”

“…”

“Don’t ever lose your mind and starve yourself again. If you break down, it only creates unnecessary variables.”

Yeohwi took the medicine and the water he held out. Naturally, their fingertips brushed. He felt a coolness that was chilly but not unpleasant.

“Does that mean… you’re worried?” Yeohwi asked as he swallowed the pills.

“I’m managing you,” Dowon retorted nonchalantly as he took back the empty glass. Yeohwi smiled faintly while swallowing the bitter-tasting pills.

“Ah, managing your husband’s health?”

Dowon’s eyebrows twitched.

But surprisingly, he did not ignore Yeohwi’s playful provocation as he usually would.

“Is playing house really that desperate for you?”

“Yes, it is for me.”

“Go to a hospital. Resolve the trauma caused by your family environment at a psychiatric clinic.”

“But what if the trauma has turned into a fetish?”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Are you going to keep climbing me?”

“What’s wrong with being a little cheeky? You said we’re going to divorce anyway.”

“Be quiet. Just lie back and get some more sleep.”

Yeohwi asked back as he pulled up the duvet.

“What about you, Mister Dowon?”

The bedroom was submerged in darkness. The city lights seeping through the window faintly illuminated the bed. Yeohwi inwardly hoped Dowon would lie down there, so they could fall asleep breathing in the same space.

“Aren’t you going to sleep? You look more tired than me…”

“I have work left.”

“Is that so…?”

Yeohwi, burying his face in the pillow, murmured softly. His voice was calm and drowsy.

“Mister Dowon.”

“…Why.”

“I was wrong. I’m sorry for making you worry needlessly.”

“…”

“I’ll recover quickly, eat well like before, and exercise hard. I… I want to become a person who isn’t embarrassing to have by Mister Dowon’s side.”

“…”

“And that part about going to see CEO Do Jingyu was just something that popped out in the heat of the moment. No matter how much Mister Dowon says you hate me, I wouldn’t do something like that. So, just… yes…”

Dowon slowly turned his head.

Because of the backlight, Dowon’s expression was hidden in deep shadow. Therefore, it was impossible to read what he was thinking or how he was taking Yeohwi’s apology.

However, an invisible gaze could be felt within it.

Yeohwi swallowed hard from the tension. Yeohwi’s shoulder blades, which had come out from under the duvet, heaved minutely.

It felt as if Dowon’s gaze was slowly scanning down his slightly trembling neckline and the fingertips gripping the edge of the duvet.

An eternity-like amount of time passed, and only much later was Dowon’s low voice heard in the darkness.

“…As you wish, I can’t act the part of a proper husband.”

Yeohwi’s shoulders flinched.

“Even the words ‘playing house’ are distasteful. I have no intention of even attempting such an approach with you.”

It was neither a rejection nor an acceptance, but a brutally dry fact.

Even setting aside the political marriage, the scheduled divorce, the KD succession issue, or the wickedness of the Do family.

“Twelve years.”

Dowon spat it out.

“Touching you would be unconscionable. It would be no different from being trash.”

Yeohwi tightened his grip on the duvet. His large, thick knuckles turned white.

“But, even if I say I like it?”

He hurriedly pushed aside the duvet, sat up, and argued back.

“Even if I… even if I want it so much, even then, is it not allowed?”

Dowon let out a faint sigh. His furrowed brow could be faintly seen through his disheveled bangs.

“Whew… Seong Yeohwi. I know you’re at an age where your blood is boiling and you’re full of desire, but it’s impossible. I can’t look at you with those eyes. I’m not a pedophile.”

“Pe, pedophile! I’m strictly an adult, though.”

“If I say no, it’s no. You’ll understand when you get to my age.”

“I don’t want to know things like that. Age is just something that passes. Eventually, all humans die. There’s no set order for leaving, so what does age matter…”

He tried to hide it, but he couldn’t remain composed.

Shock and disappointment were laid bare on Yeohwi’s face. Even looking past all the various messy headaches, the fact that he was merely an object with no sexual appeal to Dowon felt painfully real.

Yeohwi hung his head low.

His drooping hair covered his eyes. His red, bloodshot eyes blurred.

But, it was then.

“However.”

Dowon’s voice was heard again. It was a voice that was just a little, subtly softer than before.