Flowers Are Bait Novel - Chapter 23

“If you don’t want your teeth knocked out, shut up.”

“Ugh… Ugh…”

He nodded, terrified.

“Good boy.”

Kwon Chaewoo dragged him out of the house again. Of all things, there was no one passing by in the neighborhood alley. Hwang Jo-yoon’s eyes welled up with tears.

What was even more surprising was that Kwon Chaewoo was walking directly towards the house he had secretly bought. There was no hesitation in his steps.

“Ugh…!”

Hwang Jo-yoon thrashed, blood streaming from his torn mouth. It was instinct. He absolutely could not go into that house alone with this man.

“How do you think I found out about Mr. Hwang Jo-yoon’s hideout?”

“Ugh…!”

“When I first came out, I looked at the house across the street and thought, ‘If I have sex with Ms. Lee Yeon, everyone over there will see it.'”

The voice, which had never been agitated by the unusual violence, suddenly twisted.

“If it were me, I’d buy that house.”

“…!”

“Why didn’t you hide it until the end? So Ms. Lee Yeon would never notice. If your method is clumsy, only the other person suffers. If you’re going to do it, you should have done it properly.”

“Ugh…”

“It’s better to be a son of a bitch than to act like a brat and get screwed.”

Kwon Chaewoo easily dragged the robust adult man. He kicked the front gate as if to break it, forced it open, and entered.

Before they completely disappeared into the old house, Hwang Jo-yoon’s eyes met those of a resident leisurely walking by with a plastic bag on his wrist.

“Ugh… Ughhh!”

He cried out desperately. It was his last chance.

“Ughhh!”

The man in the baseball cap stopped dead in his tracks. He seemed to quickly confirm the sight of Hwang Jo-yoon, whose hands and feet were bound.

It’s done, it’s done! Joy filled Hwang Jo-yoon’s eyes.

But…

“…! Ugh…! Ughhhhh!”

The man indifferently turned his head and hurried his steps. The place he entered without looking back was, frustratingly, the house right next door. That fact made Hwang Jo-yoon even more despondent.

Where on earth had all the humanity in this country gone!

There was no salvation for Hwang Jo-yoon.

Creak, bang. The gate closed.

Inside the house, a large, high-magnification lens, easily mistaken for an astronomical telescope, was installed near the window.

On the floor, loosely covered with newspapers, bundles of already withered, dark red roses were piled up.

The man, who had placed the plastic bag on the table and taken off his baseball cap, sat by the window and habitually checked on So Yiyeon’s house first.

After all that fuss yesterday, it seems he finally got caught.

“Ha… How did he end up getting caught by the young master…”

It was the first time in several years he had encountered Kwon Chaewoo this close.

However, the joy of reunion was short-lived. The moment he saw his unchanging physique and grip strength, he shuddered.

If only his body had been hurt instead of his head.

“Still, you should have spared your hands a bit. How much are those fingers worth?”

The man wiped his teary eyes with his forearm and pulled out his phone.

Kwon Chaewoo’s eyes, glimpsed briefly, were strangely calm. Although he sometimes languished with a fiery, unpredictable temper, it was the first time he had ever been so docile, so submissive, like a tamed dog. It seemed true that he had lost his memory.

“Director, it’s Bum-hee.”

If it were their young master, even if he became an idiot, he would catch people without any trouble, but he had to make it look as clean as possible.

Yiyeon slept in for a long time.

Rustling, she raised her upper body and blankly savored the languor. She felt no particular aversion to the unfamiliar scent on her pillow. Naturally, a man’s face came to mind.

“…Ah!”

Her hazy eyes instantly regained their sparkle.

“Mr. Kwon Chaewoo…!”

Yiyeon rushed out to the living room.

The man stood at a work table, trimming bright red flowers. He was quite skilled at removing thorns and decisively snipping off withered leaves.

Yiyeon’s eyes widened, and she stopped in her tracks. Kwon Chaewoo noticed Yiyeon standing idly and greeted her first.

“Ms. Yiyeon, did you sleep well?”

He smiled coolly and put down the flowers. Looking at his smile, the past week, when her blood had run dry, felt unreal. As he turned his body completely towards Yiyeon, she was drawn closer.

“…What were you doing?”

“I was practicing flower arranging.”

“Why?”

“I want to work again. I need to get back to my daily life soon.”

“…”

Her chest tightened. She had no regrets about the lie. Yiyeon had no lingering attachment to the first button she had wrongly fastened. But at this moment, it was difficult to face him. She deliberately averted her gaze.

“Where did you get the flowers?”

“I picked them.”

“Picked them?”

“Yes. They were blooming right out front.”

He gestured towards the window with his eyes.

In that brief moment, Yiyeon scanned the man’s profile. From his jawline to his earlobe, his skin was flawlessly smooth and even. When he turned his head back, their gazes met.

“Shall I tie your hair for you?”

“…Ah, I, I look a bit messy right now, don’t I?”

Yiyeon, flustered, ran her hand through her disheveled hair.

“That’s not what I meant.”

He calmly took hold of Yiyeon and spun her around.

“I want to touch it.”

He pulled out the rubber band that had been tying the flowers and held it between his teeth. As he gathered Yiyeon’s hair with both hands, her nape, revealed like a secret, was delicate and clean.

“Hwang Jo-yoon won’t be able to do such things anymore.”

He felt her body stiffen. Kwon Chaewoo gently tied her hair into a single ponytail.

“So don’t worry and relax.”

Yiyeon awkwardly touched the top of her head. Her impression looked quite different with her hair suddenly tied up high, whereas she usually just loosely tied it at the back with a scrunchie.

“Beautiful.”

“Oh… Me?”

She reacted slowly. The man let out a small laugh and leaned against the table.

“Ms. Yiyeon didn’t seem to know at all. That when you go out, you hide behind your work clothes, but at night, you come into my bed after washing up.”

“…!”

“Do you know how maddening that bare face is?”

Yiyeon stood blankly as if struck by an explosion, then suddenly covered her face with both hands.

The crimson sunset illuminated her small back.

Yiyeon was engrossed in tidying the flowerbed, wearing surgical latex gloves. Her skilled hands, watering, adding new soil, and pruning overgrown branches, showed affection.

She was so serious and fervent when dealing with the ungrown leaves that Kwon Chaewoo wanted to steal her concentration.

‘Did she care for me like that when I was in a vegetative state?’

Kwon Chaewoo couldn’t take his eyes off her busy movements for a moment.

When she was working, she was like a young woodcutter from a fairy tale. When she bustled about, looking as if she had popped out of an illustration, he wanted to put her in a basket entirely.

He was drawn to her and coveted her, regardless of need.

If she were a stranger, he would cut out and paste their fate; if they were already close, he would mate with her like an animal. For a while, his head was filled with such thoughts.

When So Yiyeon went out, she tried to cover herself up with various things, as if to package herself, but once her shell was shed, she was surprisingly fair and innocent.

Her neat eyebrows, kind eyes, small and round nose, plump and red lips. So Yiyeon clearly did not know the impact they had.

It was a good thing.

Kwon Chaewoo, who had been expressionless all along, tried to imitate her smile but only felt a futile thirst.

Yiyeon was cherishing that tiny leaf, so why was his body twitching?

Everything flowed slowly like that.

Yiyeon wiped the sweat from her forehead and caressed the blooming tree with her bare hands as if praising it. She picked up a fallen flower and received the sunset on her adorable nose bridge.

Then, suddenly, she turned to him and smiled.

“…!”

It was a clear smile he had never seen before. His fists clenched unconsciously. Her beautifully parted lips contained all the spring and summer he had never experienced.

‘You… Are you really So Yiyeon’s husband? …Bring proof. Get some documents and show me!’

Kwon Chaewoo looked at her meaningfully. His hard shell rarely revealed his true feelings, but his gaze was undeniably hot.

“Ms. Yiyeon, have you ever sucked on a flower?”

“Ah… I ate them a few times when I was little.”

“Then teach me.”

“What…?”

Yiyeon, whose hands were full of petals, asked back. Her face was clearly bewildered.

Kwon Chaewoo leisurely walked towards the fence and plucked a white acacia flower. Yiyeon flinched and tried to stop him, but the flower was plucked off in the blink of an eye. His rough touch was quite threatening, and Yiyeon held her breath.

“I’d like Ms. Yiyeon to teach me how to suck it all the way to the bottom, without leaving anything behind.”

“…”

“Because I don’t want to leave even a little bit.”