«There was a desire. And there is. But I can’t do it. My mother told me as a child that this topic is forbidden. There are no photographs or records about him. I don’t even know his name. Only my Russian name is Alina,» I shared my thoughts with him, and when I came to my senses, I noticed that Sung Joon was looking at me sympathetically. «I’ll call Jin-young. I’ll ask him to come back,» I said to hide my awkwardness, and then got to my feet and went to the table that was located next to Sung Joon to take my work phone from it. But Sung Joon gently grabbed my hand halfway to the smartphone.
«Don’t call him. I’m not going home today.» Sung Joon smiled weakly.
«Do you want to stay in the hospital?» I asked in surprise, stepping back a step, carefully disengaging myself from his soft grip.
«No. I just want to be somewhere, but not at home, at work or here.»
«I can’t leave you. You understand?» I asked, continuing to stare at him.
«So you’ll have to spend the night with me,» he replied in a tone that brought a blush to my cheeks.
«These are the inconveniences caused by fair skin,» Sung Joon laughed, «your embarrassment showed on your face right away. I’ll help you with the move. Let’s not disrupt plans because of a small misunderstanding,» he explained his words about this we will spend the night together.
«Because of a little misunderstanding?» I asked indignantly, «You passed out from exhaustion!»
«Just forget it. The drip is over. We can go,» he stated as he removed the needle from his vein, then got to his feet, bending his arm at the elbow.
I got my things and followed him to the reception desk.
«Do you have your bank card with you?» Sung Joon turned to me, and I blinked in confusion, after which I began to look for a wallet in my bag. And after finding a map in it, I handed it to Sung Joon. A moment later, I received a notification about the withdrawal of funds.
«What? Two and a half million won?» I asked shocked.
«I’ll get everything back. I don’t want the company card to glow here. Because Min Hyuk will get a notification right away.»
«We must inform him of what happened…»
«We don’t owe anything to anyone,» Sung Joon interrupted me irritably in the middle of a sentence, adjusting the medical mask on his face. «Let’s go. We need to get to your new house,» he announced and handed me the map, put on the hood of his sweatshirt and led us towards the service exit, where, surprisingly, Jin-young was waiting for us.
«Song Joon!» He yelled out happily as he left the driver’s seat to open the door for us. «I didn’t leave because I found out they were going to let you go home.»
«Good. You did well,» Sung Joon praised him and, on the way to his seat, patted his assistant on the shoulder, «Let’s go home,» Sung Joon announced to Jin-young, but at the same time he was staring at me point-blank.
This never-ending day will not soon come to an end, but concern for Sung Joon overcame my fatigue and anger.
CHAPTER 6
«Thought you’d have more stuff,» Sung Joon chuckled as he placed one of the two boxes of my stuff on the small coffee table in the living room of my bright and airy two-room studio.
«Didn’t think you were thinking stereotyped,» I replied as I walked out of the bedroom, where I had finished hanging my things in the dressing room a minute earlier.
«None of these templates work exactly for you,» he grinned, leaning his shoulder against the wall and looking at me point-blank with an exhausted look.
«You should go home. And please eat something,» I pleaded with Sung Joon.
«Only if you keep me company,» he replied in a playful tone, and pushing off the wall took a few steps in my direction. Now we were separated by only a few steps.
He was taller than me and that gave him an advantage. I looked at him from the bottom up and for the umpteenth time this evening felt awkward. Sung Joon took a cautious step towards me and reached out to touch my eyelashes with his fingers. From such an unexpected gesture, I froze in place and could not take my eyes off his exhausted, but still beautiful face, which radiated sincere interest.
He ran his fingers down my cheeks and took another cautious step towards me, closing the distance between us to a minimum. I knew that our closeness was dangerous, but I wished that he would not stop, but instead gave me a forbidden kiss.
«Song Joon, you have to stop,» I barely audibly called to him in a broken voice and took a step back, hiding my eyes from him.
«I don’t want to stop. For the first time in my life, I don’t want to do this,» he said in a languid voice, stepping on me until I was back against the wall. He continued to hover over me, «but… I’ll only do this because I can’t take responsibility right now,» he stated regretfully, and after a heavy pause, he turned around to head to the living room.
«Nothing like this should ever happen again!» I screamed after him, feeling the tension caused by Sung Joon’s closeness slowly leave my body, leaving weakness and disappointment in its wake.
«I will be back in ten minutes!» He shouted to me from the hallway, after which the door closed behind him.
I was so angry at myself for not being able to resist his pressure. And with horror I realized that my sympathy for Sung Joon was growing into something more.
Realizing that my strength was not enough to sort out the remains of things, I lay down on a small double sofa, looking ahead of me with an unseeing look. In just a couple of hours, all my thoughts got confused, the landmarks went astray, and my peace of mind collapsed.
The door squeaked to announce that Sung Joon had returned, and I got up to find two paper bags in his hands.
«I’ve brought groceries. Now let’s cook dinner together,» he announced as he made his way to the kitchen.
«Why don’t you go home? Cho Hee is waiting for you.»
«He has a meeting with friends,» Sung Joon replied as he explored one kitchen cabinet after another, «hmm, your father even prepared dishes for you. But that’s not enough,» remarked my guest who didn’t seem to be leaving.
«Min Hee, would you like to help me? This will go faster,» Sung Joon called from the kitchen, after which I leisurely walked over to the countertop, where one of the two bar stools was located to sit on it. Sung Joon washed the vegetables and then handed them to me along with a cutting board and a knife, «Let’s make fried rice with vegetables, do you mind?» He turned to me, looking at me over his shoulder.
«I’ll eat whatever you cook,» I shrugged nonchalantly and started slicing carrots, «should have just ordered delivery.»
«I don’t eat food that I don’t know the origin of,» he repeated what he had once told me.
«Why?» I asked, but he left my question unanswered, and I decided not to focus on this, surrendering to the simple process of cutting vegetables.
«My obsession… because of my mother,» he replied after a long silence, «I don’t trust food that I don’t know anything about, for fear that it might be poisoned,» he said without looking at me, while continuing to fill rice cooker with raw rice, and then filled it with water.
«Are you saying that…?» With horror, I began to put forward my assumption.
«Yes, my mother fed me poisoned food,» he said quickly, hiding his grim expression from me.
«Song Joon, this