Chapter 32 Part 2

He had been touching me constantly since earlier, so I reacted immediately. I couldn’t continue to be around him. If I did, he would discover my secret. So, it was right to stop him from approaching, as I wasn’t going to ask Chaeheon for help or be with him.

“It’s not a misunderstanding, then.”

At Lee Jun’s rejection, Chaeheon looked at his throbbing fingers and muttered to himself. He had thought Lee Jun was reacting unusually coldly towards him since yesterday, and it wasn’t just his imagination.

“Why are you doing this?”

“There’s no reason.”

Lee Jun did not look back at Chaeheon.

“No, there must be a reason.”

It was his will not to see him, but Chaeheon grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and broke that will.

“Don’t touch…”

“But the owner touched you just fine.”

He warned him as he pulled his arm away, but as Chaeheon grabbed his shoulder again, just as Lee Jun was about to get angry, Chaeheon cut him off sharply.

“He kindly put his arm around your shoulder and even tried to personally give you medicine… The owner can, but I can’t?”

“You…”

At the sarcasm in his words, Lee Jun glared at Chaeheon.

“You even wore the owner’s clothes. You’re endlessly generous towards him.”

As he listed them one by one, Chaeheon’s expression grew increasingly fierce, as if each was an irritating factor. What’s more, at the end, his lips parted as if he was about to speak, then stopped, then tried again and stopped, making it frustrating to watch.

“If you’re just going to keep spouting nonsense…”

Just as Lee Jun, unable to bear it anymore, was about to tell him to stop, Chaeheon spoke with an expression of intense dislike.

“Do you like the owner?”

“…What?”

“I didn’t want to say something like this, damn it.”

Chaeheon spoke resentfully, as if it were all Lee Jun’s fault, and ended with an expletive.

“I thought you wouldn’t have anyone after breaking up with me, but are you saying you like the owner?”

But having already said it, instead of retracting it, he acted as if he would pour out even more. He was forcing Lee Jun to answer.

“Hey.”

Lee Jun was completely dumbfounded at the moment. He didn’t know why he had to listen to such a question, why he had to feel threatened, or why Chaeheon looked like he wanted to cry.

“Get out.”

“You haven’t answered what I asked.”

Chaeheon’s voice grew louder. It was an anxiety, wondering if he was avoiding the question now because he truly liked the owner.

“I’ll call you after work… just wait.”

“…”

Lee Jun met Chaeheon’s eyes. If he let him misunderstand, it would be easy to shake him off. The way he was acting now, as if betrayed, would pass if he endured it a little.

But that would be unfair to Park Geon-u. Since it would cause trouble for someone other than Chaeheon, Lee Jun abandoned that easy path.

“I don’t have those kinds of feelings for the owner, so go and wait. Then I’ll explain what you’re curious about.”

Having heard the answer he wanted in Lee Jun’s words, Chaeheon’s mood instantly settled, as if deflating. Lee Jun, seeing his expression soften, though he hadn’t noticed when the thorns had appeared, opened the door and dismissed Chaeheon with his gaze.

Chaeheon scanned Lee Jun’s face a few times, then left the room.

“I’ll wait.”

Instead, he conveyed that he would wait forever until Lee Jun contacted him. By the time Chaeheon had moved away and was out of sight, a burst of noise came from the group seating area. Lee Jun, hearing questions about Chaeheon’s well-being, was about to close the door with a sigh.

“Lee Jun.”

The door to the ingredient storage room, right next to the room in the hallway, opened. And at the same time, the voice calling Lee Jun was…

Park Geon-u.