Chapter 74
Yeonho walked toward their assigned table alongside Yejun, laughing and chatting like a doting partner.
Yejun, thoroughly enjoying the illusion, played along without hesitation. He called Yeonho affectionate names and dropped sweet words loudly enough for nearby patrons to turn their heads.
As they closed the distance to the VIP area, Yeonho leaned in close, his voice dropping to a low whisper against Yejun's ear.
"Get closer. Do whatever you want and don't hold back. Do it now."
A dark smirk spread across Yejun's face.
He freed his arm, wrapped it around Yeonho's waist, and pulled him tight against his side.
They kept walking, and Yejun began pressing soft kisses against Yeonho's cheek and the side of his neck, speaking in a voice loud enough to carry across the floor.
"You smell so good," he said, loud enough for the nearby tables to hear.
"I can't get enough of you."
Yeonho giggled softly, playfully pressing a hand against Yejun's chest to shove him away, only for Yejun to lean back in.
'Bastard, he's actually enjoying this. Tsk.'
As they neared Hana's table, Yeonho turned and kissed Yejun's cheek.
"I gave you a kiss, so stop that for now," Yeonho hummed softly. "People are going to stare, Hyung."
"Let them." Yejun kissed his jaw, then his throat, taking his time. "I want everyone to know you're mine."
They walked right past her table. Yeonho could feel Hana's stare on his back, and even the five men, who were supposed to be looking only at her, had turned around.
The affectionate act was working perfectly.
'Perfect.'
A few steps later, he let his handkerchief slip from his fingers.
"Wait, hyung. I dropped something."
He walked back toward the aisle, dropping to his knees to pick up the cloth.
His fingers had barely touched the cloth when a much bigger hand closed over it first.
Yeonho looked up and met Min-Hyuk's intense burning gaze.
They stared at each other for a long second. He blinked a few times, putting on his best shocked face, and the two of them leaned close to whisper.
"Min-Hyuk? What are you doing here?"
"Who's that?"
"What?"
"That guy. Who is he?" Min-Hyuk pulled the handkerchief out of reach. "Answer me."
"Well... he's..."
The hesitation was all it took. His expression went completely deadpan as his gaze swept over Yeonho's exposed collarbone, locking onto the raw, red bite marks decorating his skin—marks that were supposed to belong to him, now left by a complete stranger.
Min-Hyuk reached out and grabbed Yeonho's wrist, but Yejun stepped up from behind, snatching the handkerchief directly out of Min-Hyuk's grasp.
"Thank you for picking up my Yeonho's handkerchief," Yejun said, offering Min-Hyuk a smug, confident grin.
Sitting upright in his chair, Min-Hyuk forced a strained smile back at Yejun.
Then Yejun pulled Yeonho up by the waist, hard enough that a small sound escaped him. The heavy gesture drew the eyes of every man at the table straight to Yejun's hand.
"Come on, baby.Let's not waste our time standing here."
"Okay..."
'Ah, I'm cringing so fucking hard.'
Yeonho thought, forcing himself not to gag.
He had barely turned around, when Min-Hyuk's voice interrupted their departure.
"Yeonho-ssi? Isn't that Yeonho-ssi? Hana, look—it's your stylist."
Hana, who had been quietly fuming at Yejun's unexpected presence, instantly smoothed her expression the moment Min-Hyuk called out.
"I thought I was mistaking him for someone else," Hana said softly, looking over with a sweet smile. "Yeonho? Is that you?"
Yeonho widened his eyes in apparent surprise. He turned around and bowed respectfully, taking a polite step forward.
"Good evening, Ms. Choi," Yeonho greeted her smoothly. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you sitting here. How is your evening?"
"Perfect. The dress you made is so beautiful. I can't wait to wear it."
"I'm glad you like it. You'll look beautiful on your birthday."
Hana's gaze shifted to Yejun standing behind him, and Yeonho caught the tiny twitch near her eye.
Bringing Yejun along had been the right move—Hana's sweet act was already showing cracks. He just needed to press harder.
Turning to the five men seated around her, Hana smiled sweetly.
"He's my personal stylist. He's the one who made my birthday dress. And he happens to have the same name as my brother, but he's much nicer."
"It's nice to meet you all. I hope you have a good evening."
He glanced around the table. Every man was looking at him.
Seungjo's eyes were cold. His phone lay face-up beside his plate with a message glowing on the screen, and Yeonho could guess what it said.
The club had lost track of him after he went upstairs with a VIP. Now here he was, perfectly fine, with a stranger's arm around his waist.
Gyeongjae, who had been worried sick about Yeonho, remained silent, his jaw set tight.
Min-Hyuk played the part of the polite host, engaging in smooth conversation, though his eyes remained dark.
Yeonho felt Dongjun's heavy, unreadable stare lingering on him. A brief surge of unease settled in his stomach, but he quickly shoved it down.
"May I ask who your companion is?" Hana said sweetly.
Yeonho scratched his cheek, playing shy.
"Well, he's—"
"Boyfriend. I'm his boyfriend," Yejun announced.
The table went silent. Yeonho punched Yejun's shoulder like a flustered lover.
"Hyung! You shouldn't have said that. It's embarrassing."
"It isn't. It's better if every guy here knows you're mine."
"Can't you be quiet?" Yeonho grumbled, his cheeks flushing pink as he grabbed Yejun's arm and dragged him away from the table. "You're embarrassing me!"
'I'm going to throw up... No. Focus. I need this bastard.'
"Um, we'll leave you to your dinner, Ms. Choi," Yeonho called back politely over his shoulder. "My boyfri—I mean, Hyung is talking nonsense. Have a nice evening."
"Yes, go ahead," Hana nodded, though the irritation beneath her calm face was obvious to Yeonho.
The men at the table watched silently as Yeonho and Yejun retreated toward their seats.
Gyeongjae's expression darkened, his hands clenching into tight fists on his lap.
Min-Hyuk's playful demeanor vanished, his jaw clenched tight with suppressed frustration.
Seungjo watched them with cold disapproval, thoroughly displeased by Yeonho's strabge behavior and the sudden appearance of a lover.
Only Jaehwan seemed relaxed, head tilted, as if he was enjoying a show.
And Dongjun... Dongjun's unblinking stare followed Yeonho's every move, instilling a strange, lingering dread in Yeonho's chest.
'Why am I nervous? Ah, forget it. I'm not done yet.'
They sat at a table meant for couples.
Yejun laced his fingers through Yeonho's that was resting on the table.
"So, what do you want to eat?"
Gritting his teeth behind a forced smile, Yeonho dug his fingernails hard into the back of Yejun's hand.
"Ow! Ow! Baby, you're hurting me!"
Yejun tried to pull away, but the nails only sank deeper and left a thin red scratch.
"This is just an act, Yejun-Hyung. Don't get it twisted."
"Right, right. Let go, fuck! I'm going to bleed."
Yeonho relaxed his grip, though their hands stayed tangled together.
They signaled the server and placed their order at the exact same time as Hana's table.
Ten minutes later, the food arrived at both tables.
Hana ate her meal with refined grace, while the five men barely touched their plates, exchanging sharp, competitive glances across the table. Control and possessiveness hung heavily around them.
In contrast, Yeonho's table radiated lively energy.
Yeonho ate hungrily, while Yejun barely touched his food, preferring to watch Yeonho eat.
Yeonho giggled occasionally, playing the part of a pampered partner.
When a bit of sauce caught the corner of Yeonho's lips, Yejun wiped it away with his thumb, then licked it off without looking away.
On the outside, Yeonho froze and blushed right on cue.
On the inside, he wanted to throw water in that smug face.
'Calm down... After this, I'm beating this bastard half to death.'
Twenty minutes passed, and Hana finally ordered a special dessert wine as a gesture of thanks to her suitors.
It was a dark chocolate cake and. rare traditional rice wine produced by one of the oldest breweries in Korea.
vTwo staff members pushed a wooden cart holding the bottle toward Hana's table.
Yeonho's eyes locked onto the bottle. That wine was the primary reason he was here tonight.
'I have to make sure I don't fail this.'
As the staff began explaining the history of the rice wine to Hana's table, Yeonho deliberately elbowed a water glass off the edge of his table.
CRASH!
The sharp sound of shattering glass echoed across the second floor, instantly killing the conversation at Hana's table.
Everyone turned to look.
Yeonho immediately stood up, bowing his head in apology to everyone before dropping to his knees to pick up the broken shards.
"Ouch! Ah, that hurt." Yeonho winced, holding his finger.
"Why are you picking it up? You, clean this."
Yejun snapped at a passing waiter and grabbed Yeonho's hand, inspecting his skin like a man obsessed with keeping his doll spotless.
Yeonho felt Gyeongjae's eyes on him and looked away.
Gyeongjae frowned at the scene, but he turned back to his own table.
"Let's try this after dessert. I hope you'll like it. I prepared something special for the five of you."
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, playing the picture-perfect heroine.
The men around her offered fond, quiet reactions—a natural, conditioned response to the female lead's charm.
She basked in the undivided attention, satisfied that the night was going exactly as planned.
'Not this time.'
Yeonho wasn't about to let her enjoy it.
Yeonho leaned toward Yejun. "I'm going to the restroom. Send the message now."
He stood and walked past Hana's table, but she called out to him. "Yeonho? Are you alright? I saw what happened."
"I'm fine," he said, even though his palm stung. "It was just a small cut."
Hana maintained her gentle, worried expression, but her composure faltered for a fraction of a second when her phone buzzed in her hand with a text from Yejun.
Yeonho glanced back and saw Yejun already slipping away from their table.
Satisfied that Yejun had followed his instructions, Yeonho continued toward the restroom, leaving Hana to make her excuse.
"It's my father calling. I need to take this for a moment. Excuse me."
She walked toward the secluded hallway near the back exit where no patrons were around.
"If it isn't Choi Hana," Yejun greeted her with a smirk as she approached.
PAK!
Hana delivered a sharp slap straight across Yejun's face.
Yejun scoffed, rubbing his jaw as he stepped closer to her, his smirk widening.
"You slap me the second you see me? Shouldn't you be scared?"
"Scared? Why would I be? I already destroyed your life. You're the one who should be scared."
Yejun shook his head. "You know... you can't keep acting like an innocent saint forever."
"I don't care. What matters is that everything stays under my control."
Yejun let out a mocking laugh, clapping his hands together before his expression turned serious. "Wow. You really don't care about the past huh. How you gatherd men to rape your own brother?"
"You low-life bastard! What do you want? Did you forget I can make your life a living hell? I told you to disappear."
"What do I want? Hmm. Maybe I wanted Yeonho so badly that I found another one with the same name, just like your stylist. Why, are you scared of what I'll do? Scared that I might ruin your little party?"
Hana raised her hand to slap him again, but stopped herself mid-air. She couldn't afford to make a scene that might backfire, so she made a quick calculation.
Yeonho, who was standing quietly around the corner near the restroom entrance, spied on them for ten seconds before stepping back into the shadow, waiting for Yejun to return.
Moments later, footsteps echoed down the hallway.
"Did I keep you waiting, baby?" Yejun reached for his hand, and Yeonho slapped it away.
"How did it go?"
"She was furious." Yejun shrugged. "That's about it."
Yeonho didn't press him further. He didn't need to—the clothes Yejun was wearing had a hidden microphone stitched into the fabric, recording every single word.
The deal Hana offered was entirely predictable: Yejun would stay away permanently, and in exchange, Hana would provide him with a continuous supply of untraceable cash.
Yejun had agreed to her terms on the surface, planning to use the money to take Yeonho out of the country, lock him away, and live under false identities.
"What's wrong? Baby, why are you getting mad? Did something happen? Hmm?"
"Get inside. We need to talk."
They stepped into the restroom, and Yeonho immediately turned on him, confronting Yejun for disobeying his explicit instructions.
Yejun had crossed the line—and ruining tonight's primary objective was definitely not part of Yeonho's plan.
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