Flowers Are Bait

Lee-yeon went to Kwon Ki-seok.

“This wasn’t on the contract.”

She panted angrily.

“I came to care for the garden, not to be a play doll in such a sexual party.”

Kwon Ki-seok looked like he was trying to guess what happened. He still pointed the gun at the broken in-ear while searching through So Lee-yeon.

Lee-yeon looked straight up as she was trying not to look at the man who was dragged. She gulped as she was scared of the gun.

“Do you intend to protect your employee, Kwon Ki-seok?”

“….”

“I still don’t know. Why I had to fear being involved with these people, why you are my employer, and if you’re the party’s host, stop shooting and help me first.”

Kwon Ki-seok slowly examined Lee-yeon, who wasn’t even wearing shoes. His slow eyes seemed to be trying to find the error. Lee-yeon hid her fist behind her and rushed him.

“Right now.”

She stepped forward and cunningly hid the broken in-ear.

“I want to leave right away.”

Lee-yeon’s pleading eyes shook Kwon Ki-seok for a moment. Yoon Joo-ha angered him by saying this thousands of times. Kwon Ki-seok suddenly felt distant and lowered his gun.

“I’ll lead you.”

The garden started to light up again. As the big lamp lit up, the generator started to run.

“Lee-yeon.”

Kwon Ki-seok stopped Lee-yeon.

Her mood was shoved back into the pit with that one word.

‘You are horrible, and this place is horrible.’

Lee-yeon didn’t react and hung tightly onto her clean white shirt. Her back was flaring up from the stares, but Lee-yeon never looked back like Kwon Chae-woo.

It was a miserable night where a layer of him was gone.

***

The wild party left only trash when the sun was up, and the day was calm again.

When she felt disturbed, she would focus more on trees.

But when it became night, she couldn’t help but remember the Kwon Chae-woo of that day. His cold demeanor bothered her before, but now Kwon Chae-woo was covered in all the dirty things.

Whenever there was a slight space in her mind, Kwon Chae-woo would step in.

She witnessed the backside of all the enjoyment, and it was wild and primitive and made her heart bounce from all terrible side effects.

It was since that day she started prenatally. She was worried that all the negative memories and thoughts would impact the fetus, so she listened to the calm voice of Gyu-baek and read the encyclopedia. Then Gyu-baek quietly would stare at her stomach like he knew.

“Oh my, director. Why aren’t you eating much?”

“…”

“Director?’

She spent all her free time with Gyu-baek, and she didn’t get to see Kwon Chae-woo even by chance.

Even so, she would look around more often as her finger healed.

“—Director So Lee-yeon!”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

She dropped her chopstick. Then looked up.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes, it’s delicious…!”

“You’re barely eating.”

Her employee looked worried.

Lee-yeon was having lunch with the administration team, and she shook her head.

“I was eating inside!”

As she saw the flustered face of the man, Lee-yeon realized her mistake.

“Uh… I meant I was eating slowly.”contemporary romance

“You’ve been weird lately. Do you have some concerns?”

Lee-yeon smiled awkwardly while putting the remaining chopstick in her mouth.

Out of all her concerns, the one that was bothering her the most wasn’t Kwon Chae-woo’s disappearance, nor the uneasiness at night. The problem was… That she was frustrated.

The thing she couldn’t eat even when she wanted to.

Something she couldn’t make on her own.

Lee-yeon was slowly withering from this fact. She ate every meal for the fetus in her stomach but her mouth wasn’t satisfied.

“Director, what do you think about bringing a tangerine tree?”

“Tangerine?”

“Yes, I think we might be able to get one by putting a tangerine tree with a setoka tree.”

“Wow…”

She was salivating just thinking about it. She felt absurd that she was thinking about the taste of tangerine more so than the tree.

Putting trees together means cutting the root, branches, and bud and putting it on a different tree. Then the two will merge and become an independent tree.

It was like having two different tastes in one entity.

Lee-yeon flinched while she was picking up the chopstick. She was wondering about that one person again.

‘Then Kwon Chae-woo…’

The man who abandoned her without hesitation and the man who was ridiculed for her–.

Who exactly was he or what was he?

What was he trying to become?

***

Lee-yeon was whimpering while burying her face in a pillow.

Even though she tried to make it herself by following the recipe, she couldn’t replicate the taste. She even went to someone who was an excellent cook, and she couldn’t even do it.

She became depressed as she kept on failing. She didn’t skip a meal so she wasn’t hungry, but her heart became more void.

It was when Lee-yeon turned to the other side of the bed.

A huge shadow was standing in front of the window.

“Ha…. What…”

Lee-yeon was holding onto her dear heart and glared at him.

“How did you get in?”

Kwon Chae-woo was standing in the shade in front of the curtains. It was already dark with no light, but it looked like he was darkness itself.

If it weren’t for his eyes, she would’ve thought he was a pillar.

The man pulled down the mask that was covering half of his face. She smelled blood.

“… Are you hurt?”

“It’s not my blood.”

It was the first time she saw Kwon Chae-woo since she left him. His cheek was bruised, and there was scab on his lips.

Lee-yeon asked despite herself.

“You want to sleep together? So you want to kidnap me again?”

“No.”

But Kwon Chae-woo denied it.

Lee-yeon grabbed her stomach simultaneously as she felt the hunger only she could feel.

Kwon Chae-woo’s head tilted suddenly.

“Just what is in your stomach?”

done.co