AAGULT Ch 57

Chapter 57

 

“Well. Why are you asking me that?”

“I thought you might know.”

Still holding a large shard in his hand, Aiden lightly traced it through the air like a conductor, humming to himself, then placed it on the table and rose from his seat.

He began to walk slowly. Despite the shattered porcelain scattered across the floor, he didn’t care, and with every step came a crunch, crunch—an unpleasant, spine-scraping sound. A normal person would have avoided the shards for fear they might pierce their shoes, but Aiden’s complete disregard made him seem oddly eerie.

The Association President tried hard to suppress a sigh, especially when he sensed Aiden approaching and now standing directly in front of his desk, looking down at him.

“President.”

Eventually, he had no choice but to look up.

“…Yes.”

Aiden tilted his head slightly. When their eyes met, he gave a proper, radiant smile. The President was grateful he didn’t possess someone like Song Jaeha’s ability to read minds. He really didn’t want to know what lay behind that expression.

In a gentle, kind voice, Aiden asked a question filled with certainty.

“Baek Beomwoo and Song Jaeha—there’s something there, right? Something shady related to the Association. Something you haven’t told me.”

“……”

And to that, the President could not deny it.

“……”

Song Jaeha had to accept the reality presented to him. Judging by the circumstances, it seemed his organization had been raided by the Association, and he… had been taken to the Association.

If he’d been arrested, he’d expect to be cuffed to a hospital bed like in movies or dramas, but instead of cuffs, an IV drip was attached to his arm, and the only one beside the bed was a sleeping Aiden. What happened? Had the boss been arrested too? It didn’t seem likely, but…

“……”

Aiden was seated beside the bed like a caregiver, awkwardly curled over with his arm used as a pillow, sleeping with soft breaths. His peaceful expression and uncomfortable posture made Jaeha hesitate to wake him, but that hesitation quickly vanished.

Just leave him for a bit.

After a moment of hesitation, he reached out. Strands of hair had fallen over Aiden’s neatly aligned lashes, so Jaeha carefully brushed them back, afraid they might disturb his sleep. The sunlight was shining down as well, so he gently shaded his eyes with his hand.

…Let’s admit it. It was selfish. He’d wanted to touch Aiden’s face—an impure, wicked little desire.

Since it had come to this, maybe just a little more wouldn’t hurt. Aiden seemed to be in a deep sleep anyway. It wasn’t like he was going to sneak a kiss or anything… just this much…

Under the haze of painkillers and sleep aids, Jaeha’s judgment and self-restraint were weak. So he gave in to his desires and acted on instinct.

He softly traced Aiden’s smooth forehead with his fingertips. He gently touched his straight nose, and rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. He couldn’t bring himself to touch his lips or jaw—his heart was already pounding too hard. The patient monitor beeped, signaling a heart rate far beyond normal, and the embarrassment made him take a shallow breath to calm himself—

Bang! The door swung open.

“Oh my, you’re awake?”

“Ah…”

Startled like a thief caught mid-act, he hastily withdrew his hand.

“……”

“……!”

At the same time, the man who had been “asleep” opened his eyes wide. Those sharp, alert eyes held not even a trace of drowsiness, and the moment Jaeha met them, he instinctively realized he’d been tricked.

“If your heart rate hits 140 just from not touching my lips, what’ll you do when we actually do things?”

“……”

“I’ve got a lot more planned with you.”

He spoke in a low whisper, just quiet enough not to alert the nurse who had entered the room, pulled the curtains, and was checking the IV. His eyes curved into a smile, and Jaeha felt blood rush to his head in shame. He quickly averted his gaze, pretending not to hear, and a faint chuckle followed.

“I’ll go get the doctor. Please wait just a bit.”

“……”

Thankfully, the nurse seemed not to have heard anything, and she smiled kindly before stepping out. Judging by the missing oxygen mask that had been on his face the last time he’d awoken, and the significantly reduced number of IVs attached to his arms—not to mention that the nurse hadn’t rushed out alarmed—it seemed his condition had improved considerably. It didn’t feel like he was just numb to his own body; the situation really did seem better.

“You weren’t in great shape.”

“…What…?”

His first words since waking. His voice, unused for so long, was hoarse and broken, unpleasant even to his own ears. He tried to cough, but his throat was too dry.

“I want to give you water, but you need to be examined first to see if that’s okay. So hang in there.”

“Okay…”

“Your condition was pretty bad. A large amount of a newly manufactured suppressant from the Baeksan faction had been absorbed into your system.”

“……”

“Acute drug poisoning caused multiple organ damage. You experienced acute liver failure, kidney damage, and even your central nervous system and occipital lobe were affected—you almost lost your vision permanently.”

“Ah…”

It took quite some time for the calmly delivered explanation to fully sink in. He wasn’t particularly shocked. He remembered the boss’s firm hand forcing ampoules into him even while he vomited blood. It was likely the boss had known and still gone through with it. Even if it left him with permanent damage, he probably wouldn’t have cared.

…What was more shocking was that Jaeha himself accepted this fact so easily, without resistance or emotional reaction.

Suddenly recalling how endlessly sleepy he had been, his throat itched, and he raised his left hand—now free of IVs—to scratch it. Even that took great effort. The man reached out, caught his arm, and gently lowered it.

“There’s so much I want to ask you, Jaeha.”

“……”

He didn’t know how many days he had been asleep, but his muscles had atrophied, and he had no strength. Perhaps because of that, his skin felt hypersensitive as the man softly stroked and held his hand. When their fingers laced together, it felt almost shameless and deeply embarrassing.

Beep, beep, beep. The heart monitor, which had been calm a moment ago, suddenly spiked. If not for that machine, he wouldn’t have felt this embarrassed, but now it flashed a heart rate of 130. Mortified, he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Now’s really not the time to be swooning over me, Jaeha…”

Glancing at the monitor, the man burst out laughing. It had a tone of incredulous disbelief, and Jaeha felt like diving into a hole to hide.

“You’ve been arrested, you know. I’m stuck here looking after you.”

“I—I wasn’t swooning. And why are you… watching over me, Aiden?”

“Because once all this is over, I’m going to confess again, and you’re going to say yes.”

“……”

Not knowing how to respond, Jaeha simply fidgeted with the hand that was holding his and kept his lips shut. The man wrinkled his nose slightly and whispered:

“A doctor and someone from the Association will be coming soon.”

“The Association…”

“Coincidentally, there was already a team pursuing Baek Beomwoo. Looks like they have a few questions.”

“Ah…”

Jaeha realized that now truly wasn’t the time to be swooning over anyone.

He was indecisive, a hazy and ambiguous person. Even though he had effectively been captured by the Association, he still lacked the courage to betray the boss. He was living like seaweed, drifting wherever the tide took him.

‘Go to the Association.’

‘They’ll treat you kindly. It might suit you better.’

‘But in the end, they’ll abandon you.’

‘Wait until then. I’ll come get you.’

Whenever his thoughts strayed, whenever he found his gaze lingering on the man in front of him, the boss’s voice would echo in his mind, dragging him back to reality. Whether it helped him focus or clouded his thoughts—he wasn’t sure.

“Jaeha.”

“…Yes.”

It was the man, basking in sunlight, who pulled Jaeha from his spiral of thoughts. Winter sunlight wasn’t as cold as he expected—or perhaps this man had a way of turning cold light warm.

“I’m glad you got caught.”

“……”

“Don’t think about anything complicated. Just think about me.”

He whispered it as though he knew exactly what Jaeha was thinking. Jaeha suddenly grew curious about what lay behind Aiden’s gaze and looked into his eyes. Strangely, he couldn’t read them like he usually could. It wasn’t that Aiden wasn’t thinking anything—it was as if Jaeha’s own ability had dulled, like his vision had grown blurry…

“Okay?”

He didn’t want to lie in response to that question. So Jaeha gave the truest answer he could.

“…I’ll try.”

Even with that vague reply, the man looked satisfied. He smiled brightly and leaned forward to rest his head on the bed. The sunlight scattered gently, making his eyes sparkle. Thank you, he mouthed silently—just his lips moving—and Jaeha couldn’t help but stare.

Despite thinking about this constantly to the point of being sick of it… once again, he felt the same.

So beautiful…