Handsome Trash - 20

Eunhyuk stood with his back to Hyewon.

Even on the day of his departure in Bonjuri, he turned around and waved, trying not to show his back to her.

Even if it was just momentary kindness, Hyewon was genuinely grateful for Eunhyuk’s attitude.

It gave her hope that this wasn’t going to be just a short-lived relationship.

“… Well, it’s okay.”

“That’s a pretty shitty thing to say.”

“How about you?”

Hyewon plucked up the courage to ask him.

“How are you?”

Eunhyuk sarcastically answered the question.

“It’s been shitty because someone left without telling me.”

Staring at his back, Hyewon couldn’t help but notice how lonely Eunhyuk looked.

“If you don’t want me to play around, or if you don’t want me to be so reckless, then show up when I tell you to come.”

“…”

“If you do that, I won’t f*ck you like I did yesterday.”

Is it her imagination, or was he telling her to do what he says and he’ll be good to her?

Cha Eunhyuk was a man she knew but didn’t understand.

*.*.*.*

In the car, while traveling to the meeting, Secretary Cho glanced at Eunhyuk in the rearview mirror, who was either sleeping with his eyes open or was in very deep thought.

“Mr. Cha, you look very tired. I wonder if you didn’t sleep well.”

Although the secretary was above middle-aged, they looked immaculate, not even a single gray hair found due to their meticulous nature.

“I didn’t.”

It was a short answer, but his voice sounded troubled, deepening his secretary’s concern. The secretary has also been running around like a possessed man for the last two years due to Chairman Cha’s absences.

Even though it was a matter of pruning unnecessary branches, Secretary Cho knew that this trip to Daejeon would not be pleasant for Eunhyuk.

Therefore, they hoped that Eunhyuk would not feel uncomfortable.

“Were you uncomfortable with your bed? We can find another nearby hotel.”

Eunhyuk had suffered from his lilies allergy since check-in, so there was a chance he might not like their current hotel. The secretary didn’t want to make their boss uncomfortable, so they tried to fix the problem as best as they could.

“No, I like the hotel.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Eunhyuk took in the view out of the car window of the unfamiliar city.

“Anyway, the manager came to see me yesterday to go over the problem, but it turns out he is the brother of a friend from back home.”

“Did you say the manager was a good friend?”

Eunhyuk’s mood grew worse when he heard that the other assh*le knew someone who worked for him.

The anger he barely managed to contain when he walked away from Hyewon bubbled up all over again.

“Yeah, we used to hang out a lot when we were in school. He was the guy next door.”

“That’s an interesting connection.”

He didn’t care if that manager was the secretary’s friend’s brother or her friend’s friend.

What bothered him was the manager’s relationship with Hyewon.

Whether they knew Eunhyuk’s feelings or not, Secretary Cho let out a characteristic laugh and reminisced about the past.

“Don’t even mention it. How much trouble that guy used to get into when he was in school.”

“He seems to have strong interests.”

“He was a bit more specialized in the other direction.”

“Other direction?”

“Whenever he fell in love with something in school, he would relentlessly pursue it. Now that he is a hotel manager, he seems to be making a good living, so I’m rooting for him.”

Eunhyuk didn’t like the fact that the secretary could be alluding to Hyewon. He didn’t know if his secretary was being insulting or respectful, but he did know they didn’t like Hyewon in the past.

It was understandable.

“People don’t easily change.”

It was enough for Eunhyuk to be done with the conversation.

“Go in.”

The meeting started early in the morning and didn’t end until late at night.

While most of them appreciated Samwoo Group’s entrepreneurial value, the conversation didn’t go well.

There are limits to what one can do with their own capabilities, so it was frustrating in many ways.

Back at the hotel, Eunhyuk was hesitating before the door to his room.

After being reunited with Hyewon, he shouldn’t have been so angry with her and prevented her from fleeing.

He’d tried to bind her to him with unspoken threats, and yet, somehow, the most f*cked up part of his mind held out the faintest hope for Hyewon. He hoped she was waiting for him in his room.

The sound of the door opening echoed down the quiet hallway.

Eunhyuk stared into the darkness.

She wasn’t there.

She wasn’t shaken by even the harshest threats.

She was the one who hated him.

It was a shitty reunion.

He replayed it countless times in his head, and it had been a terrible, terrible reunion. For him, and he was sure for Hyewon, too.

He loosened the knot of his tie that was uncomfortably tight around his neck and unbuttoned his shirt one by one.

When he reached the bedroom, he found Hyewon curled up in the dim light, fast asleep.

He’d rather Kang Hyewon not show up.

She knew what bad things he was going to do to her, yet she was peacefully sleeping right there.

Eunhyuk slowly walked over to her. He started to sit on the bed, but then changed his mind and sat on the floor, staring at her face. The face of his first love. The face of his worst nightmare.

The face of his first love; the one he’d missed so much, yet hated just as much.

The kiss marks on her pure, white neck remained like a stigma.

“Get out of your head, you lunatic. You’re delusional. These days, it’s a bit ridiculous to try to take responsibility after having s*x only a couple of times.”

Dokyung wasn’t wrong. He pathetically watched Eunhyuk every night since he couldn’t fall asleep without a drink.

Maybe he just didn’t want to admit it.

He only mixed his body with her one time, but he might have fallen in love.

To hell with it though, because it felt so good.

It would be weird if his eyes didn’t roll back into his head when his first love, which he had been fighting like a fever, showed up right in front of him.

He thought he might have just been nostalgic for the brief taste of heaven he had gotten in Bonjuri, and tried to convince him that was what it was.

But when he saw Kang Hyewon again, trembling and shaking, he felt dazed and as if he was hit on the head.

It sent a shiver down his spine, making him realize that he would not have tasted that kind of heaven if it was anyone else.

Heaven was not s*x in Bonjuri, but Kang Hyewon.

YALL SEE WHY I LOVE EUNHYUK??? SO POETIC

Kofi