Flowers Are Bait

Lee-yeon clenched her teeth.

Her breathing grew more labored, and she couldn’t understand why it hurt so much and made her feel so unwell. It was just a minor injury… But her emotions had taken control, and she couldn’t help it.

“Haah… Really…”

“Are you okay, Director?”

“No.”

“What?”

She wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay.

It was all because of Kwon Chae-woo’s sudden and belated appearance that disturbed everything.

Lee-yeon dropped the safety helmet, gloves, and weed whacker one by one to the ground. She took deep breaths, trying to calm the repeated rising of her chest.

“Huh? Director, where are you going? Director…!”

There was no place left for Lee-yeon to retreat to.

Between Kwon Ki-seok’s proposal to help her escape from Kwon Chae-woo and the stifling and warm bioinvasive species coiled around her wrist.

Now, it was time to make a deal.

She would not go back to Hwaido without creating one.

***

As she strode down the corridor, Lee-yeon’s bundled hair bumped against the nape of her neck. With each step, numerous crossroads lay under her feet, but Lee-yeon crushed them beneath her as she walked on.

She remained completely engrossed in her emotions until she unceremoniously opened and entered Kwon Chae-woo’s room without knocking.

The room was dimly lit, with black curtains blocking out the light.

In the dry silence, the air purifier mechanically hummed.

Strangely, the mechanical sound had sucked all the life from the room.

Lee-yeon wandered about the lifeless room.

At that moment, Kwon Chae-woo, who had been leaning against the bed, suddenly raised his head. With a slight furrow on his forehead, he had been staring at the laptop screen, and his reaction to Lee-yeon’s unexpected arrival was quite startled.

On the small screen that had just been revealed, a CCTV video was playing, and Kwon Chae-woo hastily closed the laptop.

He looked embarrassed by the sudden appearance of Lee-yeon.

“Lee-yeon.”

“Why…?”

Lee-yeon took a deep breath, gripping the end of the bed as if for support.

Then, the thornbush wrapped around her wrist seemed to dig even deeper into her flesh.

“Why now…? This situation is already chaotic enough, and you’re adding to the mess.”

The sudden outburst of tears and turmoil reminded her of a defeated soldier after a battle, fueling her anger even more.

“It’s like I’m playing tug-of-war every moment.”

Her agitated face turned a deep shade of red.

“Whether I wanted it or not, I keep playing tug-of-war with Kwon Chae-woo. I never asked for any of this. I don’t want to feel any of this… the guilt, the gratitude, the confusion. I really didn’t want to feel any of it!”

That day, in the hotel room, his arms had reached out to her in desperation, and the vivid memory of his strong grip that night resurfaced, even disturbing Lee-yeon more when she was alone in the middle of the night.

“Did you want to rewrite the past? I’m sorry, but I want to stop covering it up now. Let’s talk about it”

“Lee-yeon.”

Kwon Chae-woo furrowed his brow and, despite the pain with each step, got up from the bed. The pain pierced through him with each movement, but it was not enough to prevent him from approaching her.

“But you kept interfering until the very end!”

Kwon Chae-woo stopped dead in his tracks, frozen in place.

From the moment she arrived at Kwon Mansion, she had been entangled in various incidents due to his association with him.

Meanwhile, his presence, like this thornbush, kept wrapping around Lee-yeon’s ankles.

She shuddered at the grip strength that she felt even though she couldn’t see it. Kwon Chae-woo never left alone, and kept stirring the peace she tried to build.

“Still, I’m going to leave.”

Lee-yeon spoke with her reddened eyes, her voice cold and resolute.

“I’m going to get out of here.”

“Yes, I understand.”

He nodded as if he knew. However, the prominent adam’s apple in his throat moved once significantly.

Lee-yeon felt even more uncomfortable as she noticed a hint of obedience in his attitude.

“Regardless of what Kwon Chae-woo does or how hard you try, I want to stay as far away as possible. But I don’t understand why I keep getting bothered…!”

Lee-yeon clenched her own hair and bit her lower lip. It was a reflexive act of pushing the other away and resisting, a stubborn defense mechanism.

“I won’t do it.”

Kwon Chae-woo interjected softly.

“I won’t ask you to go back to that time, Lee-yeon.”

He whispered in the darkness, his voice steady.

“I know that the summer we spent together is already over.”

“…”

“I also know that you will never come back, Lee-yeon.”

Kwon Chae-woo, tormented by summer’s symptoms, had come to the painful realization that everything was just self-satisfaction and illusion.

He clenched his fist.

“…So, I’m not asking you to come back or accept me again.”

Instead of taking a step forward, Kwon Chae-woo instead took a step back.

“I want to start anew.”

Lee-yeon’s heart fluttered as if stung by those words.

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