Divorce in Bed Chapter 35

Yeohwi held his head high, stiffening his neck.

“I suppose so. It’s exactly as you say. If it’s a transaction, we should act like it’s a transaction. You said it yourself, Mister Dowon—the most expensive thing in this world is something that’s free. You said feelings without a price tag are the scariest kind of debt.”

“And?”

“You’ve taken so much of my heart for free. I was the only one being sincere, the only one pouring everything in. Then I should get a little something back! Isn’t that the logic you always talk about?”

Dowon let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded.

To think he would twist Dowon’s own logic into such sophistry and throw it back at him.

“Seong Yeohwi, choose your opponent more carefully next time before you act up. You crossed the line. A long time ago.”

Dowon took a step closer. An overbearing shadow loomed over the bed.

“So what? What does it matter if I cross the line? We’re a married couple.”

“No, has such a thing ever actually existed between us? That’s just your wishful thinking.”

“So, what, did I say I was going to pounce on you, Mister Dowon? Did I say I was going to devour you?!”

Yeohwi screamed. It was like a shriek from the edge of a cliff.

“Other people go on honeymoons and create affection where there was none. Is it really such a terrible sin to just want to share the same bed for once—to just sleep next to you?”

“Seong Yeohwi.”

Dowon leaned his upper body forward, bracing his hands on the edge of the bed. Yeohwi could feel the cool scent, the smell of damp skin, and a heat mixed with chilling rage radiating from him.

“I told you clearly—I don’t see someone like you as a sexual object.”

His eyes, rarely so heated, raked roughly down Yeohwi’s body.

“And yet, what do you expect to gain by crawling into this bed? Isn’t the goal obvious? Do you want to build some kind of physical attachment and ruin this relationship by making it messy?”

Those words became a sharp dagger that gouged out Yeohwi’s heart. Not even an object.The goal is obvious. In Dowon’s eyes, it seemed he was nothing more than a dog in heat, or a throwing a tantrum like a brat.

“Just…”

Hot tears welled up in Yeohwi’s eyes. His vision distorted and blurred.

“I just want to be by your side. Because I like it.”

“…”

“I can be anxious, can’t I? I might… want this a little. Mister Dowon, you’re going to leave someday anyway. You’re going to disappear. I’m scared of being left all alone.”

The hollow terror of being left alone at a young age after losing his parents and having his grandfather fall gravely ill. The greedy glares of relatives who swarmed in at the scent of money, and the painful betrayal by Manager Gye, whom he had trusted like a father. He wanted to escape the loneliness of being the only one left in the world, but there wasn’t even a glimmer of hope for that.

The only man by his side was currently looking at Yeohwi with contempt.

“I just want you to be there when I open my eyes, Mister Dowon… Is wanting that one thing so wrong?”

Hearing that, Dowon furrowed his brow.

Between the emotional pressure and the current state of things, words were no longer getting through. Dowon reached out and snatched the forearm of Yeohwi, who was sitting stubbornly on the bed.

“Get down.”

“N-no! I don’t want to!”

Yeohwi held on, gripping the leather headboard with both hands as if his nails might break. Their strength was roughly equal. Physically, the rapidly growing Yeohwi had a slight advantage, but Dowon was a long-time martial arts practitioner. The difference in skill was hopelessly obvious.

Dowon twisted Yeohwi’s arm to subdue the joint and used his firm thigh against the bed to break Yeohwi’s center of gravity.

“Ugh…!”

Subdued perfectly, Yeohwi’s upper body twisted helplessly. Without missing the opening, the muscles on Dowon’s forearm flared vividly. Without a moment’s hesitation, he shoved Yeohwi’s body off the bed.

With a dull thud, Yeohwi tumbled onto the floor carpet. His spine vibrated from the impact of landing on his backside.

“Ah!”

Yeohwi groaned, bracing himself against the floor. But there was no time to feel the pain. Rising like a roly-poly toy that refuses to stay down, he scrambled back onto the mattress, bracing himself before Dowon could act. Through his disheveled brown hair, a gaze filled with spite flickered.

“I’m absolutely not leaving! I’m sleeping here!”

Yeohwi screamed, hugging the duvet and throwing himself toward the inner part of the bed. He was desperate, as if charging with his life on the line.

Dowon let out a flabbergasted, hollow laugh. It seemed he would have to respond more seriously. Roughly brushing aside the skirts of his bathrobe, he placed one knee on the bed. The mattress sank deep, and Dowon’s massive weight pressed down on Yeohwi.

“Fine. I’ll make sure you get down.”

Dowon snatched Yeohwi’s ankle. His large hand constricted around the ankle bone as if to crush it.

“I said I don’t want to! Let go!”

Yeohwi held onto the bedsheets until his fingernails turned white. He struggled, flailing his legs and trying with all his might to push Dowon’s chest away. As they scrambled and tumbled to flip his pinned body, Dowon skillfully refused to budge.

He pulled Yeohwi’s ankle with all his strength, dragging him down the bed. Yeohwi’s large body, which had been resisting until the end, gradually slid down. His nails made a sharp scratching sound as they raked across the sheets.

Before long, he was thrown to the floor again with another thud. The impact was even greater this time.

“Uugh…”

Lying face down on the floor, Yeohwi panted heavily. Dowon sat on the edge of the bed, straightening the collar of his disheveled robe and looking down at him coldly. His damp chest rose and fell sharply from the intense exertion.

“Give up now.”

Dowon barked coldly. But Yeohwi bit his lip hard and pushed himself up again. Charging toward the bed, he squeezed between Dowon’s legs and finally shoved his upper body back onto the mattress. He looked ready to climb up even if he had to crawl on all fours.

“You really…!”

Blood vessels stood out in Dowon’s eyes as well. The guy was relentless.

He reached out again to grab the nape of Yeohwi’s neck.

But, at that moment…

“Huu, h-heek.”

Yeohwi’s head dropped suddenly, and his shoulders began to heave violently.

Like a dam that had held as long as it could finally collapsing, the tears he had been holding back finally burst out.

Dowon’s hand stopped in mid-air. His fingers, which had been about to grab Yeohwi’s neck, froze, lost.

“Are you crying right now?”

Dowon asked sharply, his voice sarcastic and incredulous.

“N-no! Hic, I’m not crying…!”

Yeohwi shook his head violently, rubbing the tears away with the back of his hand. But his voice was already a mess, soaked and crumbled with moisture.

It was unfair, sorrowful, and miserable. He couldn’t stand how pathetic he was—clinging without any pride, being kicked out, and being thrown onto the floor like a piece of luggage, yet still wanting to be by Dowon’s side.

Yeohwi quickly wiped away his tears and lifted his face, pretending to be fine. Even so, his face reflected in the light of the lamp was already a disaster.

Eyelashes wet with tears. Eyes swollen red. And his left cheek.

A dark bruise was surfacing on the spot where he had been hit hard earlier in the opera house box seats when he had pounced on Dowon to try and kiss him. Because his skin was so fair, it looked even more vivid and wretched.

“…”

Dowon’s gaze fixed on that bruise. His pupils shook minutely.

What on earth was he doing right now?

What was this unsightly, pathetic mess?

He saw Seong Yeohwi sobbing while trying to fix his messy hair. It was a desperate struggle to cling to the bed even while being thrown to the floor. Suddenly, he remembered the foolish sight of Yeohwi being holed up in a corner of a room until he collapsed, all because of one word Dowon had said.

Dowon ran a hand roughly through his damp hair.

Something hot surged up inside him as if to overflow, then died down helplessly.

‘…Sigh.’

A deep, heavy sigh escaped from him.

It was a battle he couldn’t win. No, what was the point of winning?

Against a guy crying so sorrowfully with a face full of bruises, he felt even more pathetic and childish for using his strength just to guard a single bed.

The bed sank with a whump.

Yeohwi looked up, startled, with tear-soaked eyes. He looked at Dowon, who had laid his long body down on one half of the bed, right at the very edge.

Dowon, who had placed one arm over his forehead to press against his heated head, spoke dryly while looking at the ceiling.

“Get up here.”

“…What?”

Yeohwi’s eyes grew wide and round. A transparent teardrop rolled down his cheek.

“R-really?”

Yeohwi asked with a nasally voice.

“You aren’t going to kick me out anymore? I can really sleep here?”

Dowon turned his head to look at Yeohwi. His gaze said he was exhausted and found this deathly pathetic, but there was no longer any sign of pushing him away.

“If you want to get lost, you can leave on your own two feet.”