CHAPTER 80: WHO CAN MAKE ME LEAVE?

"You did that because you thought I hit Cheon Areum. If you have any doubts in the future, you can hit me with anything you want. I won’t stop you."

Yoon Seoyul hesitated a bit before patting Rian’s hair, as Rian tilted his head, stretching his neck to look up at Yoon Seoyul.

"In the future?"

And then nodded at his own conclusion.

"You can sleep on the bed. Which side of the bed do you want?"

Rian climbed atop Cheon Areum’s legs on the bed as he waited for Yoon Seoyul’s answer. Eventually, after a quiet moment of silent decision-making, both of them picked their sides—Rian taking the left and Yoon Seoyul the right. Cheon Areum ended up stuck in the middle, his arms captured on either side, held gently but firmly in Yoon Seoyul’s and Rian’s embrace, but he slept comfortably well that night.

*

When he woke up, only Rian was still hanging onto his arm, half asleep, his eyes opening and closing indecisively. Since they had slept late, it was difficult for Rian to wake up early.

"Rian, you don’t want to go to the daycare?"

At the mention of the daycare, Rian’s eyes flew open and he instantly sat up on the bed. Cheon Areum chuckled at that cute, wide expression of his as Rian dropped back on the bed.

"No, I won’t go."

He announced, sternly holding onto his arm.

"You can go. I cried enough for the next two decades. I won’t cry again."

"....You can cry. If you feel like crying, you can cry as much as you want, just don’t do it alone."

Rian spoke with an unusual seriousness as the bedroom clicked open. Yoon Seoyul peeked through the door. Seeing that both of them were awake, he entered the room, fully dressed and his hair swept back.

"Come, Rian. I have to go to the office today, so eat and get ready. I’ll drop you at the daycare."

Rian quickly shot up and stood on the edge of the bed, lifting his arms in the air towards Yoon Seoyul. Smiling with a slight curve on his eyes, Yoon Seoyul came close and picked him up from the bed.

"Hyung will be home alone today?"

"I’ll try to come home early."

Yoon Seoyul replied, as Rian poked at Yoon Seoyul’s eyebrow, raising it in an arch.

"I’m not a baby. I can stay home alone."

Cheon Areum threw the sheets aside, picking up the hair tie from the bedside table and tying his hair as he spoke.

"Do you feel better now?"

"It’s because I haven’t had any ice cream recently. I just need to eat ice cream. I’ll be fine."

"I want ice cream for breakfast too!"

Rian yelled out next to Yoon Seoyul’s ear, who distanced his head a little due to the high volume.

*

Ice cream really is the cure to everything.

Cheon Areum ripped out another vanilla bar from the packet, popping it in his mouth as he glanced at the seven empty chairs of the dining table. They’d need to get another dining table after moving to another house. A house away from Lee Nari’s house.

"Cheon Areum, you need to realize you’re not some side chick of the book. You’re the villain that stands next to the main character despite the female lead being there already."

And the book ends when the villain loses. But he still hadn’t had a one-on-one with Lee Nari. How could he raise the white flag before starting the battle?

"You think you’re ambitious? Try me. I’m even more ambitious than you are."

"Just you wait and see. I will propose and marry the guy right in front of your very eyes."

Cheon Areum teared open another vanilla ice cream bar from the pile on the dining table. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to eat another flavor. The only available flavor in the freezer was vanilla, and Yoon Seoyul had already left for work.

But before the marriage and all that, he should sit down with Lee Nari like a good civilian and ask her to fuck off. There was no need to kidnap her—actually, he could just publicly show her the middle finger. Suddenly feeling really inspired to try that out, Cheon Areum got up on his feet with the ice cream stick hanging from his lips, when he was interrupted by large hands bringing his mouth to another mouth.

The ice cream stick was unwillingly asked to walk the plank and jump off the edge by the tongue ravishing the insides of his mouth. Even the ice cream in the mouth was stolen from him by Yoon Seoyul. Cheon Areum’s hands found the table to rest on as Yoon Seoyul cornered him into the dining table, coming onto him with all his might. Cheon Areum stared at him, while Yoon Seoyul had his eyes closed, fully focused on the kiss.

Cheon Areum, unable to move back any farther, lifted his body onto the dining table. Not wanting to break the kiss, he brought their bodies even closer by encircling his legs around Yoon Seoyul’s knees.

After a passionate make-out, his face was freed. Yoon Seoyul stared down at him and rubbed the back of his neck while pressing their foreheads together.

"Weren’t you supposed to be at the office right now?"

"I missed you. I couldn’t think of anything else but you, so I came back after dropping Rian."

Cheon Areum’s hand moved to remove Yoon Seoyul’s blazer, when he abruptly straightened up.

"I have a really important meeting. I can’t be too late."

"...."

Saying his piece after doing whatever he wanted, Yoon Seoyul left as quickly as he came. Cheon Areum’s thoughts were lost for a while because of the sudden cameo, and when they returned, he clicked his tongue and jumped down from the dining table, realizing he didn’t even have Lee Nari’s number. There was no way to reach her, and he didn’t want to blindly visit her house either.

"I should’ve asked Yoon Seoyul for the number...."