Haeil’s party in his line of sight, Kanghyeon rose from his seat.
“While you review the contract, I’ll step out for a moment.”
Kanghyeon wanted to get out of this suffocating space even for a short while. And there was something he needed to confirm with a separate call.
As Wonwoo started to rise to follow, Kanghyeon gave his shoulder a light tap and left the meeting room. Unable to follow, Wonwoo stared worriedly at the door Kanghyeon had gone through.
Haeil was looking at the door as well. An unreadable smile still hovered on his face.
Out in the corridor, Kanghyeon walked quickly toward the lounge. He acknowledged the staff’s greetings perfunctorily and, the moment he stepped onto the terrace, pulled out his phone.
—What’s up at this hour?
A warm voice came through the phone.
But Kanghyeon couldn’t speak as gently as that voice.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
—Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?
Leaning against the cold, solid railing, Kanghyeon spoke in a sharpened voice.
“Who lives next door to me—you knew, didn’t you.”
Kanghyeon didn’t believe for a second that the “coincidence” of the man next door being club WAVE’s representative was truly a coincidence.
The move arranged to coincide with his appointment as the new Division Head of the Finance Management Division at BC Holdings.
A hyper-expensive officetel in the heart of Gangnam, a palatial layout the rich live and die for, yet the top floor had sat vacant for three years.
And just then, next door to him—the representative of club WAVE, the main axis of the W Project he would take on immediately upon assuming the post.
And…
—If you can, try to get along with the person next door.
—If he lives in a place like that, like you do, then whether it’s background or ability, he’s bound to be exceptional in at least one way. There’s no need to end up on bad terms for nothing.
—At the very least, if he talks to you, answer him, okay?
A request-like piece of advice from Baek Heeu who had never once told him to “try to get along” with someone.
From where Baek Kanghyeon stood, none of this could possibly be a coincidence.
“Say it straight.”
He ground the words out.
“Did you know everything?”
—……
Heeu didn’t answer. Nor did he feign ignorance and ask what Kanghyeon meant.
That alone was answer enough.
Like Heeu, Kanghyeon also fell silent. There was nothing else he could do but be silent.
He had been made to dance on his father’s palm from the start.
They had deliberately created points of contact that would force frequent encounters with the representative of club WAVE, and then put Baek Heeu out front to gently shepherd the relationship along.
From the look of it, Father had decided that someone like Kwon Haeil wouldn’t dismiss Baek Kanghyeon—who had the wealth to live in such an expensive home—as if he were a random pebble on the road.
Kwon Haeil was the representative of a club with a generous roster of VVIP clients who poured in money by the tens of millions. Maybe Father had thought the man next door, Baek Kanghyeon—who could become another chaebol client—wouldn’t be treated like a passing stone.
A large-scale project prepared in advance; a proposal made perfect by layering on Baek Kanghyeon’s proven work ability; a deliberately engineered connectivity that would inevitably create touchpoints even in his private hours.
As the picture Father had drawn came into focus, a throb began pounding behind his eyes.
Whether his ability overflowed the brim or was laughably lacking. No matter what.
Kanghyeon couldn’t shake the feeling that his pride was being ground underfoot. He often felt that way about the things Father set up for him, but this time it was especially severe.
On the day the transfer to BC Holdings was decided,
Father sent him a short text message.
[I believe you’ll do well.]
Father was always like that.
He would say he believed Kanghyeon would do well, and then he would always lay out in advance a road on which success was unavoidable.
Every time Kanghyeon thought he had squeezed out results by fully exercising his own ability, there was Father’s arrangement underneath it all. Things were designed so that, whatever might happen, he wouldn’t fail—no, couldn’t fail.
This project would be no different.
Even if he flipped the table right here, tore the project proposal to shreds, another chance at a contract would come along as if nothing had happened. Father would make it so, by any and every means.
And each time, Kanghyeon would shudder at his own powerlessness and the crumbling of his pride. The days would pile up in which he realized, over and over, that he could achieve nothing on his own.
“…Anyone else, fine—but not you.”
—Kanghyeon, I…
Heeu began in a flustered voice but couldn’t manage to say anything; all that came out was a deep sigh.
He knew it wasn’t Baek Heeu’s fault. He knew that Heeu was in a position where he couldn’t go against Father’s words.
But knowing that didn’t make the bitterness fade easily.
The request he had believed—because of that gentle face—was spoken out of concern had, in truth, been Father’s advice.
Because of that, he didn’t think he could easily believe anything Heeu said now. Whatever he said, it would feel as if he were reading, without emotion, from a script Father had written in advance.
Even if Father had gagged him, if Heeu had given him the slightest hint, Kanghyeon wouldn’t have felt this betrayed.
Pulling himself together in the silence, Kanghyeon turned his head at the faint sense of being watched.
Beyond the closed terrace door stood Kwon Haeil—he had no idea how long he’d been there. As if not wanting to interrupt the call, Haeil simply stood there, not opening the door, giving a small wave and looking at him.
Only then did Kanghyeon realize he was wearing a discomposed expression.
Smoothing his face to cold neutrality in an instant, Kanghyeon looked at Haeil and spoke to Heeu.
“Don’t contact me for a while. And don’t come by.”
—What?
“If I see your face right now, I’ll probably say something harsh without meaning to. …I’ll call you later.”
—Wait, Kanghyeon! I was wrong…!
Despite Heeu’s panicked voice, Kanghyeon mercilessly hung up.
Only then did Kwon Haeil open the terrace door and take a step toward him.
“You didn’t hang up because of me, right?”
As usual when addressing Kanghyeon, Haeil used casual speech.
“No. I was going to hang up anyway.”
“Yeah?”
Another step, and then one last step.
Feeling the cold of the railing at his back, Kanghyeon faced the man standing before him.
Haeil’s arms slid past either side of him and gripped the solid railing. Only then did Kanghyeon realize he was now completely caged within the circle of Haeil’s arms.
At the needlessly close distance, he could feel Haeil’s breath.
“You know, there’s something I want to ask not Division Head Baek, but Mr. Baek Kanghyeon.”
On any other day, he would have ignored it. Or, whatever it was, he might have snapped at him not to ask.
But he couldn’t treat the person holding the initiative in this contract the way he had up until now.
Feeling his pride get sanded down one more time, Kanghyeon asked,
“What do you want to ask?”
When he asked without strength in his voice, Haeil smiled with that radiant face, as guileless as a child.
“Go on a date with me today.”
Kanghyeon wondered if he’d misheard and just stared silently.
Haeil went so far as to repeat himself.
“Let’s go on a date.”
What kind of bullshit is that.
Because of what had happened today and the call with Baek Heeu, Kanghyeon was in no mood. He didn’t have the headspace to humor this kind of nonsense line by line.
He showed his discomfort the way he usually did with Haeil.
“I’m not in the mood for jokes. If it’s nonsense, save it for another day…”
“Why do you think it’s a joke?”
The smile dropped from Haeil’s face; he turned serious.
“That’s strange… I haven’t joked with you even once today, Mr. Baek Kanghyeon.”
From his expression, he looked as if he were mentally retracing everything he’d said to Kanghyeon today.
“So you’re saying it’s not a joke?”
“Yeah. It’s not.”
Answering without a hitch, Haeil asked again,
“Do you dislike the idea of a date?”
If it was a question of personal like or dislike, of course it was the latter.
A date between Alphas who were on awkward terms—what even.
He was already in a particularly foul mood; there was no way he’d be able to spend the time at ease.
Just as he was about to say he disliked it—
Kanghyeon pressed his lips together and swallowed the words.
Kwon Haeil would know exactly where he stood in this contract.
On top of that, he’d even said he wanted to insert language in the contract regarding visits by Division Head Baek. Seeing how readily even that arbitrary clause had been accepted, he would have fully confirmed the initiative he held.
So he wants to start pulling my strings already.
Kanghyeon thought he must look like a paper doll on a string.