Flowers Are Bait

“That was entirely my fault,” Lee-yeon said.

As Kwon Chae-woo blinked awake, his gaze fell upon Lee-yeon’s blushing ears peeking out from under the blanket.

Kwon Chae-woo glanced around, taking in his surroundings.

This place…

The morning sun filtered through the delicate chiffon curtains. Lee-yeon had thoughtfully arranged a tray with coffee and a sandwich on the bedside table, her fingers gently combing through her tousled hair.

The pajamas she’d personally dressed him in, the unspoken intensity, her flushed cheeks. Kwon Chae-woo remained motionless, not even blinking, as Lee-yeon broke the silence.

“I really wasn’t planning on it. I wasn’t seeing other men in the way you think. I was just… curious. I wanted to see how other men were different from you. Whether my heart pounded for them like the way it does for you. I just wanted to check.”

In his tense conversation, Kwon Chae-woo realized that this was after their first night when he was still with her as her ‘husband’.

He got angry because she had secretly met other men, one after the other, and lied about not filing a marriage report. Eventually, he couldn’t hold back his pent-up desires.

“Because, Mr. Kwon Chae-woo, I really…”

“…”

Lee-yeon couldn’t utter the words. Kwon Chae-woo stared at her. She didn’t remove her hands from her face.

“I just… you are so scary. I am afraid of you when I think about the kind of person you used to be. When you said you would be my dog, it was a little better to be with you. I always looked at you while you slept…”

Kwon Chae-woo exhaled quickly in response to the overwhelming affection building up. Even after tormenting him all night, she did her best to open her heart, making her even more beautiful.

He was realizing again what he had lost.

“It’s the first time I feel so annoyed with someone,” she continued in a soft voice. “Everyday feels annoying because of you.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

At that time, he didn’t deeply consider how much courage her unadorned confession required.

He didn’t understand how much determination it took to bring a man she considered scary into her world. So, it was easy for him to dismiss Lee-yeon’s love as a pretense and to criticize her vehemently for her dishonesty, leaving her sincerity completely untouched.

He had never considered the fear that she had to overcome at every moment to accept him.

Kwon Chae-woo embraced Lee-yeon and sat her on his thigh. His lips began to move on their own like a replayed recording.

“So, what was it like comparing me to other men? I want to hear the result.”

As he held her close, a soft sigh, as delicate as a small bird, permeated his chest.

Lee-yeon squirmed against his chest. He waited patiently. “I didn’t think of anything. I saw you through that window in the café.”

She remembered vividly the way he had stood outside that window in the pouring rain.

“I just wanted to go home,” she mumbled. “With you.”

Her simple words struck a chord in the man’s heart once again. What he had sought to regain, abandoning the vengeful thoughts that had consumed him, boiled down to moments like these.

A small, humble home, an even smaller bedroom, and a bed even smaller. The tender words exchanged between just the two of them in that place.

For the sake of hearing this absurd confession, for the sake of just this, Kwon Chae-woo was willing to give up everything he had.

If only I could go back to that day again…

He wished to linger forever in this period where no one had been hurt yet, where nothing had been shattered.

He hoped that if this were a dream, he wouldn’t wake up.

However, as if it had been waiting, dizziness began to creep in, and his vision started to flip.

The square walls crumbled, and the morning sunlight shattered. Like being sucked into a whirlwind, all the scenes were distorting.

“…!”

Before the slender thread of understanding he had held onto vanished like a sandcastle, Kwon Chae-woo wanted to say something, anything.

“…I won’t make the same mistake again! If Lee-yeon is there, please wait just a little.”

In that desperate moment of speaking, Kwon Chae-woo realized what he needed to do next.

He would find his way through this disorienting tunnel to reach where she was.

***

The cello string held between his fingers sharply dug into the flesh. His hand was so pale because the blood wasn’t flowing through it.

“We really, it’s been a long time.”

Words escaped from his mouth before he could think. Kwon Chae-woo found himself again in another memory.

The taut string, pressing against the skin, seemed to be there not for his fingers but to hold back the impending feeling of betrayal and anger that was on the verge of bursting.

A chill ran down his spine.

Kwon Chae-woo, observing Lee-yeon’s shocked expression, clenched his teeth in anticipation of a looming disaster. His lips moved without fail according to the pre-determined course.

“From now on, we must choose our words very carefully.”

“…Chae-woo?”

“Lee-yeon, have you given a blowjob?”

“What?”