Flower Fiancé Chapter 83

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been pacing the living room, looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

5:45 AM.

It had been exactly 6 hours and 20 minutes since Choi Moohyuk had left after taking that phone call.

“Why isn’t he coming back.”

The living room, tinged with bluish light seeping in, was desolate and frightening.

Maybe because of that, even though he had even taken out and put on his cardigan, his body felt a chill shivering through him.

Sleep had long since fled, and all that remained in its place was an unidentifiable worry and anxiety.

He couldn’t know whose call he had taken before leaving, but he guessed there was only one matter urgent enough to make him rush out in the middle of the night.

Lee Hyunjoon, perhaps he had found him.

Of course, he wasn’t thinking that Lee Hyunjoon could leave so much as a scratch on Choi Moohyuk’s person. The reason sleep wouldn’t come wasn’t that, but because the spot beside him felt so particularly empty, as if hollowed out.

It had been many years since he’d lived alone, and he’d thought he was used to falling asleep by himself. He hadn’t expected that, just a few days after entering his home, he would be longing for the warmth of him holding him as he slept.

It felt as if he had become a puppy with separation anxiety. In the deep hours of dawn, unable to sleep and searching for his warmth, he felt utterly unfamiliar to himself.

“Should I go down and wait.”

Anyway, even if he lay down in bed as things were, he didn’t think sleep would come. In the end, what Ji Yeonwoo chose was to wait entirely for Choi Moohyuk. So, to meet him even a little sooner, maybe it would be better to wait in the underground parking lobby.

Pacing the living room that felt especially wide and empty today, Ji Yeonwoo went down to the second basement level parking lot. He remembered that the area in front of Gate 2, in particular, was one of the spots where he often parked his car.

Stepping out of the elevator, he looked outside from within the glass door connected to the underground parking lot. The underground parking lot, where dim darkness had settled, felt even more desolate than the living room.

The chill grew worse and worse. Was it because it was dawn? Today, his body shivered unusually. He wrapped himself in his cardigan, which was still roomy even covering his whole body, but it couldn’t block the seeping cold.

“Maybe I should have worn more clothes.”

Shivering, he buried his body deeper into the cardigan when he heard the friction sound of a car from somewhere. He turned toward the direction of the yellow headlight beams.

The approaching engine sound was familiar. Someone got out of the car that had reverse-parked into an empty spot in one smooth motion. As soon as he heard the car door close and the beep of the electronic locking sound, Ji Yeonwoo opened the glass door and stepped out into the underground parking lot.

From a distance, a man with a familiar silhouette was walking toward the lobby.

“…Mr. Yeonwoo.”

Choi Moohyuk, who had been walking in a black leather jacket, stopped when he saw Ji Yeonwoo standing in front of the glass door. As if he hadn’t expected to meet him at this hour, in this place, a surprised expression spread across Choi Moohyuk’s face.

“Why are you out here instead of sleeping.”

Choi Moohyuk quickly approached and stood in front of Ji Yeonwoo. Ji Yeonwoo stared blankly at Choi Moohyuk, dressed in the unfamiliar attire of a black leather jacket, unlike his usual appearance. He had thought suits suited him, and that casual knits looked good on him too, but that thought changed once more.

Perhaps because of his build, seeing Choi Moohyuk in a leather jacket made his profession, which he had learned about only later, feel real. Dressed in a black leather jacket and perfectly fitted black pants, Choi Moohyuk felt different from his neat and gentlemanly look in a suit.

“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

When there was no answer and he only stared blankly, a large hand came up before his eyes. He flinched and pulled his body back, but his hand touched his forehead.

“Doesn’t seem like you have a fever.”

Rather, Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes widened as he looked up at him. Was it just his imagination? His hand covering his forehead felt searingly hot.

“I’m not sick. I just couldn’t sleep.”

He lowered the hand that had been touching his forehead and placed the back of it against his cheek.

“You didn’t get a wink of sleep, did you.”

“It’s not that. It’s just….”

“Just?”

“…With you, Mr. Moohyuk, not beside me, it felt empty and I couldn’t sleep.”

He quietly let out the words that had been only circling inside his mouth. A look of surprise spread across his face, but only for a moment. With a small laugh, his expression softly relaxed.

“You should have called.”

Lifting his head, drawn by the low, resonant laugh rumbling in his throat.

“I didn’t because I thought you’d be busy. If I had called, would something have been different?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Whose call is it, would I dawdle.”

Choi Moohyuk pulled up one corner of his lips and smiled handsomely. His heart raced and his head spun. What is this, Ji Yeonwoo stared quietly at Choi Moohyuk’s face with a flustered gaze. Heat rushed to his face and his body trembled. Was it because he hadn’t slept? With the shivering cold from earlier too, his body felt a bit strange today.

“Let’s go in. You’ll catch a cold.”

As if noticing he was trembling, he took off the leather jacket he was wearing and draped it over his shoulders. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders and guiding him inside, he was so very affectionate today as well.

In the silver elevator door, he could see them standing side by side, the height difference stark. Choi Moohyuk, who had been smoothing down the rounded shoulder part over the leather jacket draped on him, turned to look.

“You’re wearing my cardigan? Is it comfortable?”

“Ah, this.”

Only then realizing he was wearing Choi Moohyuk’s cardigan, Ji Yeonwoo awkwardly fussed with the cardigan wrapped around him.

“Is it comfortable? I’m not sure either. I just feel good when I wear it, so I seem to reach for it often.”

“Do you want to wear it, Mr. Yeonwoo?”

“I’ll only wear it at home. I can’t wear it outside anyway.”

As he said this, he raised an arm to show the loose, draping sleeve.

“As you can see, it’s too big.”

Facing him, Choi Moohyuk laughed softly and rubbed one side of his face. His face felt slightly redder than usual. Just as his hand had felt hot when it touched his forehead, he wondered if he might be feeling unwell.

The two boarded the elevator that had arrived in the meantime. Pressing the top floor button, the silver elevator doors slowly closed. Reflected in the door, Choi Moohyuk’s face looked full of fatigue.

“I think you should wash up quickly and get some sleep.”

Standing side by side, Choi Moohyuk turned only his head to look at him and widened his eyes slightly.

“You look very tired.”

Only after hearing the added explanation did he give a small nod of agreement.

“You’re right. I used my pheromones quite a bit for the first time in a while, so I feel languid. There’s a bit of a feverish feeling too.”

Choi Moohyuk, placing his hand on his own forehead, chuckled lightly as if it was nothing.

“It’s nothing, so you don’t have to worry. Ah, and.”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he said “Ah,” and continued.

“About Lee Hyunjoon.”

Hearing those words, Ji Yeonwoo turned sharply.

“You won’t have to concern yourself with that bastard anymore. He won’t ever appear before you, Mr. Ji Yeonwoo, again.”

Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes glistened and wavered minutely as he looked at Choi Moohyuk.

“Really…?”

Choi Moohyuk gave a single nod as if to say yes.

So that was it. He really had gone out looking for Lee Hyunjoon. He had more or less sensed it from the time it had been over 6 hours since he’d left. Even if he couldn’t know exactly what he had done to Lee Hyunjoon, he had sensed by instinct that he intended to finish it decisively, whether by letting him live or killing him, before returning. And seeing Choi Moohyuk, who had stubbornly finished it with his own hands and come back to tell him he needn’t worry anymore, made his heart swell with emotion.

Perhaps, if it weren’t for him, he might have had to live trapped in Lee Hyunjoon’s shadow for countless more days. Ji Yeonwoo knew better than anyone that he could not clear away that shadow with his own hands. So he had lived like a mouse hiding, buried in that shadow instead, but the one who had pulled him out of the shadow was none other than Choi Moohyuk.

Could he live a life without Choi Moohyuk?

The fact that such a light existed in his life was so unbearably blissful.

“I feel like I’m always just receiving from you, Mr. Moohyuk.”

“So, does that make you uncomfortable?”

“Rather than uncomfortable, it’s more that I want to do something for you too.”

“That’s welcome news to my ears.”

“In return, since I don’t have as much as you, Mr. Moohyuk, I can’t do anything grand.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”