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Baek Eunhu is a man who cares more about others than himself, a fact only reserved for those who are close to him. That is why he is in this situation right now, unable to drink down the bitterness on his tongue as he can only watch his lover wearing a suit tailored for him, smiling at the woman sitting beside him.
He sips his drink―a non-alcoholic one, thank god―and leans more into his seat, and for a moment it passes by his mind to interrupt the two. Eunhu shakes his head then, shoving away his thoughts and averts his eyes somewhere else for a moment. His eyes met with Rosa, who gave him a guilty look. Eunhu shows a small smile at her, reassuring his subordinate that it isn’t her fault for dragging them to this place.
Yu Sinu is a good man, Eunhu quietly thinks, far too good for him to believe the younger man would stay for him. But, ah, maybe he’s just too clouded in his doubts to trust the other tonight. And just at the right timing, he sees Sinu leaning down to hear whatever the woman needed to say, their cheeks touching. Eunhu, for all of his tiredness, could see the way the two were blushing at the touch.
The attorney sighs, closing his eyes for a moment before getting up. He doesn’t spare a glance back to where the young heir is sitting, and he hopes his little escape doesn’t make itself known to Sinu. He doesn’t pay much attention to his surroundings, his eyes glued into the floor so no one could see his teary eyes. It wasn’t long until he bumped into someone. The apology is already on the tip of his tongue, before the person he accidentally bumped into called his name.
“Eunhu-ssi?” Eunhu tenses at the call of his name, before realizing it was his fellow NXX member who he had met. “Hyeok-ah.” He offers a small smile at the light brown-haired man, who looks at him in what is described best as worry. Funny how their newest member is more concerned with him than his own lover. Hah. “I apologize for bumping into you.” Eunhu nods his head. The younger man quickly shakes his head. “Oh, no need Eunhu-ssi! I didn’t watch out either.”
Gang Hyeok glances to where Sinu sits, the woman still clinging to his arm. Hyeok frowns in displeasure, before glancing back to Eunhu. The older man looks like all he wants is to get out of here, and he finds himself almost apologizing for stopping the attorney on his way out. Hyeok grits his teeth.
“May I drive you home?” An offer, one that Eunhu would usually refuse. But the attorney nods before he could realize it, and notices how Hyeok had lightened up at the agreement. Oh well. It’s not like he regrets it anyway. “Let’s go, then.” Hyeok smiles at him, and Eunhu really wants to cry from the warmth the detective gives him.
The ride to his apartment is more comforting than any of his nights in the past two weeks, and Eunhu doesn’t know what to make of that. In the middle of the road, Eunhu thinks he can feel Hyeok’s hand hovering over his, wanting to hold his cold hand. The blue-eyed man chose not to ponder anymore, crushing all of his ‘what-ifs’ as they passed a building Pax owned.
He got back to his apartment safely that night, drinking in all of Hyeok’s shyness in front of him, the lingering touches making him yearn for something he is not supposed to. “Have a good night,” Eunhu whispers, a small smile on his face. “You too, Eunhu-ssi.” And Hyeok replies, his cheeks warm. Eunhu doesn’t know how it ever crossed his mind, but the older man is quick to wrap the detective in his scarf, chuckling when Hyeok turns redder.
“Be careful on your way back.”
(He woke up to five unread messages, in which one of them read, ‘Where are you? Why did I see you leaving with Hyeok?’. The man closes his phone, not reading the rest of the messages Sinu had sent him. After all, it’s six in the morning, and Baek Eunhu has somewhere better to go.)