Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 156

 “I’m home!”

Yiyeon, having completed a week-long hospitalization, threw open the main gate and exclaimed brightly.

A vegetable garden usually gets messy if neglected for even a short time, but Choo Ja must have tended to it often, as it was clean and neat, without a speck of dust.

The reason her home, which she returned to after forty days, didn’t feel lonely or cold was because of Kwon Chaewoo’s strong interlocked fingers in hers. Yet, he still furrowed his brow, seemingly dissatisfied.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Me? I’ve been thinking the same thing for a week.”

“……Still?”

When Yiyeon weakly loosened her grip, Kwon Chaewoo quickly caught her hand, as if chasing after her.

The marriage registration form was ultimately checked only for the agreement to follow the mother’s surname and then framed.

Every time Kwon Chaewoo saw that frame on the side table, he would grimace as if his neck was stiff, then become dejected, and one day, he even took out a knife and peeled apples until he was sick of them.

Watching the man experience more severe mood swings than a pregnant woman, Yiyeon suddenly realized the power she held.

Kwon Chaewoo would continue to suppress this unquenchable thirst, throwing tantrums, coaxing gently, and then lowering his voice to threaten.

But even while throwing such a fit, he would endure it one more time at the crucial moment. The image of him whining was so vivid that a sweet breath escaped her like a laugh.

“Chaewoo, I think you keep forgetting something…”

“What?”

“Whose baby do you think I’m carrying right now?”

Kwon Chaewoo understood her gentle intention but hardened his face even more.

“You’re not carrying me, are you?”

“……Huh?”

“So, hearing that doesn’t reassure me.”

“……”

“Our child is precious beyond words, but if you’re not here, I’ll die too. The child, coldly speaking, can grow up in someone else’s hands, but if it’s not you, I…”

Yiyeon stared at him in surprise, and the man sighed.

“I’m just saying, please love me more.”

It was just Kwon Chaewoo’s usual silly whining, but today, her ears felt particularly hot. The words “please love me” sounded exactly like “I love you.” Yiyeon flinched and turned her head away from the man’s endlessly yearning gaze.

Then, two large hands cupped Yiyeon’s face and met her eyes. Her head, which had turned away inadvertently, was firmly held in place.

“I haven’t accepted it, nor have I backed down.”

“……Then what?”

“I just thought, maybe the proposal was the problem.”

“……Huh?”

Kwon Chaewoo hid his uneasy thoughts and lowered his lips. He bit her upper lip, then slipped his tongue into the slightly parted gap, tracing her teeth. The tip of his tongue, which sensually grazed her delicate inner flesh, was incredibly slow. As if for the first time, their lips parted eagerly, and their bodies pressed together.

Kwon Chaewoo watched Yiyeon’s eyelids flutter shut and sucked harder on her flesh. Everywhere he licked was soft, hot, and the narrow confines of her mouth suddenly incited a desire for insertion. Kwon Chaewoo let out a low groan as the sensation surged to his head, then roughly thrust his tongue in.

Unconsciously, she was hesitant about marriage.

This simple conclusion alone drove Kwon Chaewoo mad. She herself didn’t seem to realize it yet, but she was clearly hesitating at the last moment.

His desire to wait for her, and his desire to just seize her, changed dozens of times a day. Then as now, Kwon Chaewoo repeatedly shifted between being a hunting dog and an idiot on a precarious boundary.

Endless waiting, a restlessness that felt like he was floating alone. Suddenly, Kwon Chaewoo sharply turned his head and bit her plump cheek. Saliva and teeth marks were clearly left on her fair, clear skin.

Yiyeon let out a short gasp, “Ah,” and looked at him in disbelief.

“What are you—”

But before she could finish her sentence, his rough lips met hers again. Faced with his fiercely blazing eyes, Yiyeon couldn’t even lift a finger.

Her lips were swallowed as if bitten, and her tongue was sucked. As she stepped back, Kwon Chaewoo followed her every step. He arbitrarily thrust into her throat and pulled at the root of her tongue as if trying to pluck it out. He savored each layer of her heat-swollen lips, rubbing and stroking the rough papillae of his tongue.

He clung to her with such desperation.

“Huu, uh.”

Kwon Chaewoo heard the groans clinging to his ears and caressed Yiyeon’s shoulder blades and lower back. But as she began to pant heavily, he laboriously pulled away from her body, which seemed as if it would never detach.

Yiyeon looked utterly bewildered, and Kwon Chaewoo frowned at his front, which was swollen and throbbing. No matter how much of a bastard he was, he should at least know the difficulties of his own child. He needlessly ran a hand over his face to hide his bleak feelings.

Ignoring the hot, throbbing area, he deliberately changed the subject.

“……Yiyeon, I haven’t seen this before, what is it?”

He pointed to a small mound that had risen in front of the tree. But his voice, steeped in heat, was itself precarious. Yiyeon scratched her head and rolled her eyes.

“……Oh, it’s Chaewoo’s grave.”

“……”

The man’s changing expression was truly a sight to behold.

The two lay intertwined on the sofa and slept soundly. Honestly, it felt like three, no, four people were tangled up and sleeping, so Yiyeon chuckled.

The baby in her belly, and the… big one Kwon Chaewoo was carrying.

Yiyeon shifted her body as the penis poked her belly due to their embraced position.

“Chaewoo, that’s too… uncomfortable.”

“Why?”

“Why? It keeps touching my belly…”

“Don’t avoid it.”

As Yiyeon tried to pull away, Kwon Chaewoo tightly pulled her waist closer. His voice was filled with disappointment, contrasting with his sharply raised eyes.

“My dick is our child’s hometown.”

“……”

“Wouldn’t the baby be happy to see it?”

Just then, her belly rumbled with a deep sound. Startled, Yiyeon’s eyes widened, and she hurriedly pulled Kwon Chaewoo’s hand. Another faint vibration reached them through their clasped palms. It was quickening, quite early for 17 weeks.

“Chaewoo, just now…!”

Kwon Chaewoo was frozen stiff, unable to even breathe. The man, paralyzed by shock and bewilderment, didn’t even blink as if his thoughts had stopped, and only exhaled the breath he had been holding after another quickening sensation.

He looked at Yiyeon’s brightly smiling face in disbelief. His heart pounded just like the baby’s clumsy kicks. Goosebumps rose on the back of his neck, and his blood surged wildly. It was almost too embarrassing to call it ticklish, but it was undoubtedly the movement that gave Kwon Chaewoo the biggest shock.

He pressed his lips to various parts of her belly, apologizing inwardly. Never again, even just in words, will I say it can grow up in someone else’s hands. Why would I entrust something so adorable to anyone else?

Kwon Chaewoo floundered in the overwhelming rush of ordinary emotions and sought Yiyeon’s lips again, biting them.

And so, the two ate, slept, and played to their hearts’ content, spending a carefree day. When Yiyeon’s head began to nod, Kwon Chaewoo would lift her up and carry her to the bedroom.

How much time had passed? Yiyeon, who had slept until her eyes ached, suddenly woke up, startled by the empty space beside her. She rubbed her heavy eyelids and quickly sat up.

“……Chaewoo?”

Her voice scattered into the quiet air. Yiyeon looked around the room, searching for his presence, but the house was eerily silent. She checked the clock; it was already close to midnight.

Where on earth did he go?

Having spent the past few days inseparable, Kwon Chaewoo’s sudden absence filled her with dread. Unable to overcome her anxiety, she got out of bed.

“Chaewoo, Kwon Chaewoo…!”

She called out his name louder, but her voice only echoed back from the empty living room.

She scurried through the house, checking the rooms, the living room, and the kitchen, where all the lights were off. But he was nowhere to be found, not even on the empty second floor. Only the wind clinging to the windows made an eerie sound.

“Where on earth did he go…!”

Just then, behind her, the grandfather clock chimed, announcing midnight. Yiyeon flinched, shivering, and rubbed her arm, a familiar sense of déjà vu washing over her.

After watching the pendulum swing for a moment, Yiyeon finally grabbed a flashlight and went outside.

There, a man in a gleaming black raincoat was dragging a shovel across the yard.

“……!”

She bit her lip, almost screaming, and slowly scanned his familiar physique.

“Chae-Chaewoo? Is that you, Chaewoo?”

At her trembling call, Kwon Chaewoo only slightly turned his head. The moment she confirmed his indifferently high nose bridge and chilling gaze, she flung the door open.

“What are you doing with a shovel in the middle of the night, trying to pull another stunt?!”

But the man, whose fingertips were already covered in dirt, walked past her listlessly and headed towards the tree.

Kwon Chaewoo irritably plunged the shovel into his grave, expertly scooped out the dirt, and gritted his teeth.

“Just how deep did I bury it, that nothing is coming out.”

“……”

“How can I live here feeling so uneasy?”

“Why are you digging that up?!”

A sprout must have grown there…! As Yiyeon jumped up, Kwon Chaewoo straightened his back and cast a glance at her.

“So you were just going to leave it like that?”

“Uh…”

When she couldn’t answer immediately, Kwon Chaewoo’s lips curled into a cold smirk on one side.

“I knew it.”

Yiyeon bristled at his subtly mocking expression.

“Even if you dig there, you’ll only find one piece, you know? He completely scraped away any trace of what he used, so why now…! No matter how much you dig, you won’t find anything useful. And please take off that outfit…! From now on, Kwon Chaewoo, you’re forbidden from using black raincoats at night, as well as shovels, knives, axes, everything like that!”

At her words, Kwon Chaewoo flung back his raincoat hood and gave her a meaningful look.

“Would you have preferred if there was more to bury?”

“Huh?”

Just then, the man, who had finally pulled his “alter ego” from the ground, held up the wooden carving in the moonlight.

“Ah—. As expected, it didn’t rot.”

The man walked over and placed the cold, damp object back into Yiyeon’s palm.

“Still, it’s better to dig something up than to bury someone in the middle of the night, isn’t it?”

“Are you really saying that with your mouth…!”

“By the way, Yiyeon. If I can’t use tools at night, does that mean I should just use my body?”

“……”

“Should I make you cry again instead of cumming?”

Yiyeon, annoyed by the man’s absurd remarks, stomped on his foot and ran away. Kwon Chaewoo, his eyes curving as if he was dying of happiness, pulled out his phone from his pocket.

And the next morning.

“W-What is this…!”

On the tree in the front yard, rings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, brooches—all sorts of glittering wedding gifts were hung like straw ropes.

“—I will become Hwaido’s spruce tree. I will stand in the place where the sacred tree once stood and play ancient music. Until I die, until I become the island’s legacy.”

At sunset, Kwon Chaewoo played every day in the spot where the sacred tree had disappeared, just as he had promised.

His extraordinary musical talent spread by word of mouth in just a few days, and two months later, audiences even traveled from the mainland to Hwaido just to see Kwon Chaewoo.

He began to plan to use the Kwon family’s funds to transform Hwaido into the Lucerne of Asia (a Swiss city famous for its prestigious music festivals).

It was a business to brand this place as a “music city” by establishing professional concert halls, hosting regular festivals, international competitions, music academies, and even children’s song festivals.

It was then that Yiyeon saw Kwon Chaewoo speak German for the first time. When he did, she would feel unfamiliar and curious, lingering around the man and eavesdropping.

Then Kwon Chaewoo would pretend not to care and continue his call, only to abruptly hang up and rush over. The rough sounds he uttered, scratching his throat, suited him perfectly.

“I’ve had a name in mind for the baby for a long time.”

Yiyeon, holding her noticeably round belly, was walking through a reed field with Kwon Chaewoo.

“What is it?”

“Namwoo.”

“Nam-oo?”

“No, Namwoo!”

“Wait, isn’t that Yiyeon’s first love’s name?”

Kwon Chaewoo frowned and glared at Yiyeon.

“You still had that misunderstanding?”

“Misunderstanding or not, all I remember is the jealousy I felt then. It just makes me feel bad.”

“But people say Namwoo is good.”

“What people, exactly?”

“The people who knew I was pregnant early on.”

Kwon Chaewoo let out a bewildered sigh. But seeing her cover her mouth and giggle, he felt helplessly drawn in.

“I carried a tree, Chaewoo.”

“Yes, and I carry you.”

He kissed her plump, fleshy cheek, then spread open his coat and tucked Yiyeon inside.

Soon, the two looked out at the endlessly stretching reed field. Yiyeon still looked incredulous and turned her body. When Kwon Chaewoo lowered his head again for a quick kiss, she quickly shook her head.

“Is this really your land, Chaewoo?”

“Yes.”

“Not just one of these, but several?”

“Yes.”

As she blinked, lost in thought, a heavy chin suddenly rested on the top of her head.

His low voice, the calm movement of his Adam’s apple, and the cool breeze carried directly to her wind-swept hair.

“Beautiful Hwaido.”

It was a slogan that had collapsed when the true nature of Hwaidom was revealed, but Yiyeon actually liked those words.

“I’ll give it all to you.”

“……!”

“From now on, the entire island will sing for you. Wherever you are, wherever you go, until you see me in the wind.”

“—I’ll make it so.” Kwon Chaewoo promised, embracing her deeply.

It was the moment when the clumsy comfort of a boy and a girl created a grand paradise.