Flowers Are Bait

“Stop talking like that!”

Lee-yeon closed her eyes tightly and nervously scratched her ear. Then, Chae-woo, who had regained his composure, grabbed her thigh and leaned his forehead against it.

“Now, just looking at my face annoys you?”

Although it was merely the hem of her clothing that had been pressed, Lee-yeon was startled, and Chae-woo, sensing her response, once again removed himself from her.

“I haven’t touched you recklessly all this time, I haven’t followed you around, and I haven’t received any compliment.”

The persistent gaze that carefully observed Lee-yeon’s complexion was indeed her husband’s, the one she remembered.

In an instant, something inside Lee-yeon snapped. She didn’t want to know what it was, so she raised her voice.

“Someone is sitting in front of my door, and you expect me not to be annoyed?”

“Then, just think of it as not a person.”

Lee-yeon couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at his self-deprecating words.

“It is a total bastard anyway, so if you don’t like it, you should just see him as a plant.” Kwon Chae-woo said, referring to himself as “it.”

“…..”

“Lee-yeon, you cut branches well, right? Keep adding my restrictions, first, second, third, and each time, just cut off my limbs. And if I become completely useless, you can just water me a little each time.”

The man holding onto her thigh muttered with a sigh, and he suddenly looked so pitiful.

Without realizing it, Lee-yeon reached out and lightly touched his hair. Kwon Chae-woo immediately stopped breathing and looked up at Lee-yeon as if she were the sky. Even in the darkness, his eyes seemed to glisten.

It was a belated realization, and Lee-yeon quickly withdrew her hand, biting her lower lip.

It was a huge mistake, a disaster. Because…

“… Let me touch you too.”

His hand began to crawl up.

“Let me touch your belly, Lee-yeon.” He clarified.

“….!”

While Lee-yeon remained stiff, his husky voice traveled up her legs.

“Kwon Ki-seok touched it, didn’t he?”

With that one sentence, Lee-yeon was reminded of a fact she had forgotten. She had revealed her pregnancy to Kwon Ki-seok. She hid her fidgeting hand behind her back as if she were putting it aside.

“It’s not just anywhere; it’s your belly he touched. How can I see that and not turn away?” He protested.

“… Why the belly? What’s wrong with my stomach?”

“I filled that belly myself.” Kwon Chae-woo answered her plainly.

Time seemed to stand still for Lee-yeon. She forced a smile onto her lips and stammered, “W-What are you saying…”

nothing more than to hold the flustered Lee-yeon right then and shower her with kisses. But the harsh reality, which prevented him from doing so, caused cracks to appear on his impassive face.

Still, he couldn’t afford to intimidate her. Just like their first encounter, he had learned that he couldn’t predict what she might do when she was scared.

Making her feel safe was the right option for him, so Kwon Chae-woo decided to approach the matter of her pregnancy with utmost caution, at least until she ultimately returned to him.

“Did you forget that I used to cook for you?”

“Uh…”

Lee-yeon grabbed the doorknob briskly, weighed down by self-reproach for entertaining inappropriate thoughts. As she did so, her thigh muscles tightened.

“Please don’t go, just allow me.”

“I won’t allow it.”

She wouldn’t care if he froze or died in the corridor. Lee-yeon abruptly swung the door open in front of him, then slammed it shut again with a resounding thud.

Eventually, after a defiant shower, she lay in bed and pulled the covers over her head.

Don’t care. Won’t care.

Lee-yeon repeated this mantra incessantly but ended up losing sleep that night.

From that day, a strange rumor had started circulating about the youngest master’s new habit – sleeping in the corridor.

***

“I’ll leave work first, thank you for your hard work!” It was another evening of overtime, preparing for the charity auction, selecting flowers to decorate the garden. Lee-yeon habitually checked the time, calculating in her head whether Kwon Chae-woo had left yet.

Ever since that day, at midnight or dawn, there would always be a loud thud, as if something large forcefully hit the door. It was Kwon Chae-woo collapsing outside the door, his body losing all strength.

For several days now, Lee-yeon’s nerves had been worn thin because of a large dog guarding the door. It didn’t scratch or make any loud noises, but its silence seemed to suffocate her like a thin thread.

Especially when Kwon Chae-woo spoke in her husband’s familiar voice, somewhere in her lower back, warmth spread, and sweat formed.

“Miss So Lee-yeon.”

Then, someone neatly dressed in a suit blocked her path. Lee-yeon hesitated, looking around as if expecting someone else.

“We need to go together for a moment.”

“Who are you?” The person looked oddly familiar. Where had she seen them before? She scratched her head, unable to recall.

“Director Kwon has requested your presence.” Jang Beom-hee remained polite, but there was a lack of friendliness in his eyes.

What kind of power could one have as a mere Eul (a low-ranking person)?

With her vulnerabilities exposed through her pregnancy and Gyu-baek, Lee-yeon had no choice but to follow Jang Beom-hee silently into a separate building.

Unconsciously, she embraced her belly and chewed on her dry lips.

Wait, isn’t this where Kwon Chae-woo stays? When she began to doubt, Jang Beom-hee, who had been quietly leading the way, suddenly turned around.

“I apologize.”

“What?”