Chapter Text
A week has passed since their argument.
He has been patient and given Seongje time. He himself admits that he did not choose his words well; instead of explaining himself better, he let fear get the better of him. Mr. Choi had been pressuring him lately. Baekjin felt that his life was in more danger than ever; not being able to control all the schools as he should made him seem weak and expendable. Choi sees him only as an investment, something that generates easy money and leaves him time to plan other businesses. One false move and Baekjin will end up dead, he knows. The gangster has been asking about the other leaders, and Baekjin was not so naive as to think that their loyalties could not be changed with a little extra money and the promise of more power.
All his plans depended on Seongje. He simply needed him; he couldn't imagine himself without him in The Unión. By his side. Seongje was right, they were in this together. Baekjin wasn't one to apologize, as gestures came more easily to him, but if an apology was what was needed, he was willing to do it.
When he first met him, he thought that such a handsome guy had no right to be so crazy.
He would show up in the most unexpected places, asking him to fight, trying to piss him off in every way he could think of. In the end, he succeeded. Baekjin was so fed up that he beat him up in the middle of a supermarket.
They called the police; and he doesn't know what went through his head, but he decided to carry him and run with Seongje on his back. He dropped him off at a bus stop. He normally wouldn't have bothered. Perhaps that gesture won him over. Or maybe he just really enjoyed the beating. The next day, he showed up at the bowling alley with a huge smile. What a weird guy.
He would even like to put the apology on video, he thought, as a smile tried to escape from the corner of his mouth, what a weird guy.
A few months ago, Seongje broke his phone in a fight. He complained so much to Baekjin that Baekjin simply went out and bought him a new one. What he didn't know was that the new phone had a well-hidden tracking app.
Finding him having dinner with Park Humin's new boy was the last thing he expected.
When Baekjin was a child, there was a girl at the orphanage who taught him to read lips. She dragged him around town chasing her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend in exchange for a few won. At the time, he thought it was a good deal. The girl ended up crying inconsolably one night, but the next day she got up, found the new girlfriend, and a week later she was sleeping with her at her ex's house. Today they are two best friends who run the orphanage. Baekjin has learned a lot from them.
Sometimes it was better not to make a scene. He could approach them and ask them, putting them in an uncomfortable situation, but that would only push Seongje further away. Knowing him, it would only encourage him to fight back. No, that wouldn't work. Baekjin intended to make him cry and confess that he had almost betrayed him. He would regret it. Baekjin would tie him up by his side so tightly that he would only breathe because Baekjin allowed him to. He would make sure of that.
He slashed the tire of Seongje's motorcycle. That would delay him long enough to give Baekjin time to get to his home before him.
He sat with his back against Seongje's door. He had bought his favorite ramen, tossed the receipt aside in case he checked the time, and wrinkled his shirt a little.
He only had to wait twenty minutes to hear his footsteps. Pretending to be asleep, he almost missed the sound of surprise that escaped Seongje.
The footsteps had stopped in front of him. The silence lingered, and he wondered what Seongje was doing. Was he recording him? Was he staring at him like some kind of freak? He had noticed how much Seongje liked to watch him when he thought Baekjin wasn't looking. Or maybe he was just planning where to kick first.
He almost jumped when he felt a hand caress his jaw. Fingers slid down his neck to his shoulder.He was getting goosebumps. An electric tension filled the air. "Baekjin, you bastard, wake up." He opened his eyes, trying to look sleepy without being too obvious.
He stared at him. Seemed nervous, a little flushed.
Good, let him feel guilty. He was playing with fire, meeting with the wrong people. He was lucky that Baekjin was so understanding.
By the end of the night, any thoughts of revenge or betrayal will have been forgotten.
"Can you invite me in? I bought us food. I was waiting for you."