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I’m not that Cruel Part 20 *Showki
They were inches in proximity. The wheels of their chairs could not help but move them together so that if they dropped their hands to their sides, their hands would be touching.
This did not bother Hyungwon one bit. The AC directly above them masked the bit of sweat he was having, and it wasn’t because Wonho, the hottest man he had ever seen, was next to him. Matter of fact, despite the AC, Minhyuk’s room was always hotter than the cubicles. Times like this made him glad that he didn’t have a small room even if Minhyuk did get paid a little bit more. Just slightly.
Moving on the rambling of the room, Hyungwoon focused on Wonho. The man was right in front of him smirking and positioning his arm on top of the chair so that his body was turned to Hyungwoon instead of facing the desk. Wonho had the nerve to wear his dress shirt with the two top buttons unbutton and untuck from his pants.
Hyungwoon lowered his eyes at him, pretending as if he wasn’t totally checking him out and imagining what he would look like without the shirt on.
“I’m waiting for my kiss.” Wonho slowly leaned into Hyunwoon, only stopping before his lips, close enough that Hyungwoon could feel Wonho’s breath over his neck.
Hyungwoon squinted his eyes and pursed his lips, shaking his head to indicate he was not going to kiss him. “over your dead body.”
“C’mon, babe, I want to be shut up with your lips.”
For one second he wanted to slap the man in front of him with a hard swap of his hand that would leave a red spot on Wonho’s cheek. He had forgotten that he was angry at him.
That cockiness. But his lips. And that smile he was boring right now.
“And if I do, will you leave this room, and pretend we never talked?” He came closer to Wonho, their eye levels about the same, so close that they only could do was stare at their eyes.
Hyungwoon moved his tie. It was so tight on him. The suffocating feeling was ruining his moment of staring at a pair of brown eyes that bore confidence and was lusting over him. There was something about the man in front of him. He didn’t look like a bad person; he didn’t look like the guy who came with a mission of spying on Kihyun and Shownu and reporting back to Shownu’s father.
Hyungwoon wanted to see beyond the stare. He wanted to know why the man was in front of him lusting and pretending to distract him from the real question that has been formulating in his mind: Is he what Shownu claims him to be? A spy?
Wonho smirked. “There’s no promises. The heart desires what the heart desires.”
What? He can’t be serious. This was the problem. His body was not getting the alarming response. Before he could mentally react, he physically smiled and barely touched Wonho’s lips,” What does your heart desire?”
“This heart desires to know what is happening right this minute.”
Hyungwoon pulled apart. He had this voice before. It did not belong to Wonho.
Minhyuk. Shit.
He was so screwed. With the worry of being yelled at, Hyungwoon slowly turned his neck to look at Minhyuk.
He was so right. Minhyuk was seething. He was holding a notebook by his side and glasses. He wasn’t even looking at Wonho, only to him.
“It’s not like what it looks like.” Hyungwoon jumped out of his seat. He chuckled, ” he had an eyelash stuck on his eye and he wanted me to take it out.”
“He’s good at taking eyelashes out,” Wonho kept going with the lie.
Hyungwon wanted to scold Wonho for making it worse. Minhyuk wasn’t buying this lie and they both knew it.
“Once you completely take the eyelash out, I need to talk to you in private.” Minhyuk looked directly at Hyungwon and ignored Wonho.
Well that makes two.
“Whatever you tell Hyungwon, you can tell me too,” Wonho said continuing to play the act- he didn’t even know what he role he was trying to play.
“Can you stop?”
Wonho was about to reply when Minhyuk shut the door with force and dropped the notebook into his desk. “This is serious.”
“I am serious. This is why I came over here. But I can’t take you seriously when we have this man over here.” Hyungwon said the last part in a whisper, almost as if he was mining with his mouth.
“We Can trust him. He confessed to me that Shownu’s father hired him to spy on him and Kihyun,” Minhyuk said. He was serious which meant Hyungwon could let his guard down a little bit.
“What are you going to gain from this?” Hyungwon turn to Wonho who had shifted his playful persona into someone who was serious.
He had no longer a smirk on his face and he buttoned his shirt to look more as if he was in a meeting.
“Money, mostly. In all honestly, though, when Mr. Son sent me from his company to investigate Shownu and his secret lover who were ruining the company’s image, I was on board. Shownu was an asshole, every time he would come to our office we would warn each other and not come in contact with him. He would ruin our day and get us fired if he felt like it.
I immediately said yes when he asked me to do it. Shownu didn’t really know me so it was the perfect opportunity to do it, not that he didn’t suspect I came to work for his office because of his father. He wouldn’t have proof thus he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
“What made you change your mind?”
He laughed. “His personality. He greeted me with a smile and took me to eat lunch with him and Mr. Lee. He wasn’t faking it, that I knew. I heard their conversation by accident and he was head over heels over his lover, and I thought, who that person might be, made Shownu a changed man. Mr. Son was wrong about everything he said of his son. Whatever you are all doing, I am in.”
“So he sent a gay man to spy on another gay man. What a twist,” Hyungwon said, liking this revenge the more better. And how so oblivious the old man was.
“This is not the time to make jokes, Hyungwon. Kihyun needs our help,” Minhyuk said, with irritation.
Geesh, he was in a sour mood today.
Hyungwon rolled his eyes. If he wasn’t so concerned for their friend, he would’ve socked Minhyuk on the face for being rude. Sometimes he went too far, and complaining about lightning up the mood was one for sure.
Minhyuk’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. Kihyun being in distress has me worry. He refuses to tell me over the phone why he’s crying and he’s asking me to pick him up. Should I call Shownu?”
“The best thing to do is to pick him up. You will be able to calm him down and then you can decide if you want to call Shownu to see the reason behind Kihyun’s distress,” Wonho said calmly.
“I think I know why he’s in distress. This is why I came looking for you all frantic. I know the name of the girl we saw in Shownu’s car.” She was the answer to this problem and it was bigger than what he had assumed.
“What’s her name?”
~~~
“Leticia. That’s her name. Shownu said earlier today with so much anger,” Hyungwoon said. He was standing, more like leaning, on the kitchen as he drank out of a can.
Kihyun sat on the chair beside the window that gave the view of the street. Despite all the cars that passed by in a flash he could not distract himself from the pain that he was currently having. He only shook his head at the name. Kihyun recalls reading that name somewhere in the room but he had not giving it that much of an importance.
Leticia. Kihyun rolled his head back, his chest moving rapidly. That name was present, vividly displayed in his brain. If he closed his eyes he could see it as big as anything he ever saw in the real world, the letters bright as the word neon and the sound of a burlesque show in a movie about to begin. Her name brought him back to that room.
Everything in that room was surreal. The crib, the unopened gifts, the hidden pictures of Shownu’s youth. Shownu had looked so innocent, so full of life that his eyes were filled with joy. Those brown eyes Kihyun saw every morning did not amount to the smiled Shownu had in his eyes in that photo. His life had left somewhere along the way.
That got Kihyun thinking: he wasn’t enough to bring that joy into Shownu’s eyes again. Only that woman Leticia. And sitting here away from Shownu he wanted to rip that name into pieces. Fuck her for ever being in his life. Fuck her for still having a piece of Shownu still when Shownu was once again giving away more of his pieces to a man that only a year ago despised him with all his heart.
“How are you feeling, babe?” It was Minhyuk’s time to talk. His hands were gripping Kihyun hard and his look was that of an angry mother who kept that anger inside and instead masqueraded it with worry.
“If you could see that room for yourself you would understand how debilitating was to find out finally what was in that room. I mean, I knew in my heart that he was hiding a child from me but I didn’t know that he kept a room for that child still. I don’t know if that child is still in his life or if something happened to it.” There was no more tears to cry. He couldn’t show his weakness in front of them when there was a chance they were really pitying him.
“Do you think she’s the mother of his child?” Hyungwon directed that question to particularly no one despite everyone knowing who that question was intended for. His eyes kept looking at the man next to Kihyun; the new employee of Shownu. He had been quiet ever since they all arrived to Minhyuk’s apartment.
“He wouldn’t have hidden her from me if he didn’t have anything to hide. Shownu could have introduced her as a friend to me but instead he’s sneaking out to meet her behind my back. The name of that sonogram was scratched out with a black marker. I am certain that she’s the mother.”
“I can find her information for you if you want,” Wonho finally said at last. Kihyun was starting to think Shownu was spying on them and he was fooling his friends.
“Aren’t you spying on Shownu? Isn’t Mr. Son going to fire you if you befriend us?”
Kihyun was skeptical. He had just been lied to by Shownu and he couldn’t take another lie from a man who was in some ways involved with Shownu. Kihyun was getting tired of these business men who liked to play with people’s hearts.
“I’m with you. Mr. Son lied to me too. He told me Shownu was this horrible person that was ruining the company and would soon lead us to destruction; the reputation of his hard work.” Wonho, who was slouching, brought himself up to sit straight and look directly at Kihyun with certainty. “But then I found out that it wasn’t about his behavior that was normal for Shownu years ago, rather it was his actions of staying with a man who was about to bore his grandchildren.”
“So you decided that the idea was ill and you wouldn’t want to be a part of it?” Hyungwon asked, more tenderness in his voice this time rather than his playful persona. “Got it.”
“I never liked Shownu because he was an asshole but I would never want to ruin his life; he didn’t hurt anyone, and he shouldn’t suffer from his past, especially his family that Shownu truly deserves to have,” Wonho continued, looking at everyone before landing his eyes on Kihyun.
Wonho was a stranger. He had never interacted with Wonho but he was talking about Shownu in a positive light that Kihyun didn’t know what to think about. In the months leading to this moment, Shownu had been so different. He could feel as if they were both creating a space where they were both comfortable with each other, and could understand each other much better than before. But the looming feeling that Shownu was hiding something from him never went away and that made it harder for him to feel comfortable with the idea that Kihyun should completely trust the man who he decided to have kids with.
Sighing, Kihyun leaned back on the chair. He had a lot to think about. His children and how close he was to the due date, what they were going to do about this whole situation, and the talk he knew they both had to talk about.
In the mean time, Kihyun didn’t want to talk about the future, he wanted to mourn the idea of those nights when he wished that what his brain was wrong and that he was overreacting. He took those days for granted. Maybe those days of oblivion were not so bad.
No. Never that. He didn’t deserve oblivion. He deserve the truth for once and for all.
“Do you know about his past?” Kihyun’s eyes were getting tired. He fluttered his eyes and focused his gaze on the stranger next to him.
“Bits and pieces. But his life should be told to you by the only man who lived it. He knows the whole version, his version, not mine,” Wonho said with a lightness that Kihyun swore he could only hear. “I advice you to talk to him. He is not what you think he is right now. Give hime a chance. “
“Will you bring him to me then.” Those words were the last thing he said before he succumbed to lethargy and his body leaned on the table in front of him.
~~~~
A/N: This chapter is not as interesting as others but it is necessary for the story arch and is bringing us closer to the end. So bear with me my loves. Thank you to all fo you that stuck with me all the way. I appreciate you guys.
-Laterz Kelsi.
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