His Profit
His Profit
She looked so tiny in her sleep that it felt as if he could carry her with one hand. Groaning in her sleep, she tried to move but her movements were restricted by his strong arms so she merely nudged. He could not help but gaze at her and cursed himself for the thousandth time for being irrationally angry at her for the past month.
He gently let go of her and placed her properly on the pillow. She stirred but still did not wake up. Minho picked up his phone and quietly went out of the tent. Kanji had texted him sometime during the night to call him back. Minho dialed his number.
"Hi hi!" Kanji's cheery voice came out from the phone. "Did you get some action done last night?"
"You're unusually cheerful so early in the morning," Minho yawned.
"Haven't slept all night!" Kanji replied. Despite his cheeriness, Minho could read the slight sting in his voice and sighed.
"Did you fight with Mina again?" he asked.
"On the contrary, we had a lovely evening where I lost five of my credit cards to her in a game of cards!"
Why does he even bother to play cards? Minho wondered.
"Why did you ask me to call you?" he asked. Kanji suddenly turned serious.
"I dug up a lot more on this Park Seungjo," he said. "After you've told me what Gayoon said to you, I made a few inquiries."
"My men went to talk to his mother," he went on. "According to her, Seungjo was killed by a few bullies who were probably smoking weed on the roof. Some guy named Yoo was the one who pushed him down the roof after Seungjo caught them."
"And?" Minho asked.
"But here's the thing," Kanji said. "In the CCTV camera, it was shown that Seungjo did climb up the stairs but he was not heading for the roof. Instead, the CCTV footage stopped when he was on the fifth floor. Someone tampered with it. So, there is no guarantee that he fell from the roof. Moreover, when he died, the police found a button in his hands. The button was a patterned one which means that it did not belong to a boy but to a girl."
Girl?
Minho stared at Gayoon's sleepy figure. Was it…
He shook the thought off his mind. No, it was not her. Could it be Minjung? What was the truth?
"What else did you find out?" he pressed.
"Soon after Seungjo's death, a rumor spread," Kanji stated. "The people who used to bully him, began to get into serious accidents one by one. Their gang leader, Jung Yoo, was arrested for a hit and run. After he was caught, he claimed that he had no recollection of the event but his fingerprints were all over the wheel. The funny thing is that Jung Yoo didn't know how to drive. They didn't find any traces of alcohol in him either but they found marijuana which was enough for the prosecutors to prove that he was guilty."
"His other friends, Park Seohyun and Shin Woohyun, ended up falling from the roof and both of them were paralyzed," he went on. "Seohyun partly recovered but is bound to the wheelchair while Woohyun is in a lifetime coma."
"What happened to Minjung?" Minho asked. After hearing about that girl's tale, he could not help but wonder if she had something to do with Seungjo's death.
"Shim Minjung just disappeared," Kanji said. "Her parents had tried to look for her but she was never found. It was shortly after Gayoon's eighteenth birthday. She was last seen heading for school but she never returned home. The police looked for her but never found Minjung."
Disappeared? How? Did Seungjo harm her as well? Minho was trying to piece what could have happened but asking Gayoon could take a toll on her. After all, the last time she tried to tell her story, she was shaking so badly that he had to stop her from revealing more. He did not want to snoop in her matter behind her back anymore.
"I think Gayoon should be the one to tell us what happens next," he decided. "Stop the investigation from your end."
"Are you sure?" Kanji frowned. "We're really close to the truth!"
"No," Minho said firmly. "Stop the investigation. Let Gayoon take her time and tell us the truth herself. I owe her this much."
He could hear Kanji sighing on the other end. Kanji knew very well that once Minho made up his mind, it would be impossible to change it.
"Alright," he said. "I'll hand over the files to you by today."
Minho hung up the phone and turned around. Gayoon was still asleep, lost in her own dreams. She was frowning in her sleep before turning around to lay on her stomach. Minho was trying not to laugh at her antics and instead, quietly backed away to freshen up at a restroom which was nearby.
After a while, Gayoon fluttered her eyes open. She sleepily looked around. Minho was nowhere in sight and she sat up, yawning.
"Where is he?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and getting out of the tent. The air was still warm thanks to the steam and she looked around, seeing the place properly in the daylight. The forest was foggy by the steam and she marveled at the tranquility. It was so quiet and calm that it soothed her. She felt a lot more relaxed and sat down on the ground, crossing her legs to enjoy the lazy morning. There was a shuffling of footsteps and she turned around to see Minho heading her way.
"Where were you?" she asked.
"At the washroom," he shrugged.
"Washroom? There's a washroom here?" she frowned.
"Of course there is!" he said. "It's a manmade campsite. We have washrooms and even a small cafe in the middle of the forest."
So he wasn't changing his clothes out in open, Gayoon realized and again blushed at the thought of him being naked.
"What are you thinking?" Minho asked shrewdly.
"Nothing!" she said at once, still red in the face. "I'll go and freshen up!"
She scurried on her feet, grabbed her toothbrush from her bag and charged off, leaving a very confused Minho behind. The latter shrugged and proceeded to make some tea.
By the time Gayoon was back, there were two cups of freshly brewed tea and a couple of rice cakes ready for her. Minho had laid out a blanket for them, sitting on it as he put the cakes on the plates.
"Did you make those?" she asked, eyeing them apprehensively.
"As if!" Minho scoffed. "I got our caterer to make these for us. She packed them in aluminium foil to keep the food fresh overnight."
"Good," Gayoon said in relief. Minho slightly scowled but she did not care and dug into the food. They did not speak for a while but simply enjoyed each other's presence. Gayoon could not help but peek at him occasionally, wondering how to thank him for last night. Minho caught her glancing his way a few times but she quickly looked away, blushing hard.
There was a small spot of sauce on one corner of his lips which he had not noticed. Gayoon struggled with herself before taking a deep breath.
"Hwang Minho!" she spoke up. Minho gave her a quizzical look as she slowly inched closer.
"What are you doing?" he asked in surprise.
"Just stay like that for a minute!" she ordered, feeling flabbergasted. Her face was completely red and she looked as if she was debating with something in her mind. She held his shoulders with her hands and before Minho could say anything more, she sat on his lap, facing him.
Minho was completely still but his head was running a thousand thoughts. She was sitting on his sensitive area which was beginning to get worked up. Gayoon threw her hands around his neck, leaning closer to him.
"What are you doing?" he whispered. Her face was too close and he knew that she was about to kiss him.
She did not reply but instead, leaned closer and to his surprise, licked the corner of his lips.
"Just a little thank you for last night," she whispered back. "It was an amazing date."
"Was?" Minho echoed. "So it's over?"
Gayoon shyly nodded. Suddenly, Minho held her waist tightly and pulled her even closer.
"Good," he said before crashing his lips onto hers. Gayoon did not protest and was immersed into the kiss. His tongue pried into her mouth, meshing with hers. Their hearts were pounding erratically and they deepened their liplock. Her fingers clutched his hair, his scent intoxicating her. Their month long separation made their longing for each other stronger as they tried to take their fill of the passion they felt.
In her fervor, Gayoon's finger moved to his shirt but that brought Minho to his senses and he broke the kiss. She was confused for a moment by his action but he looked at her intensely.
"Not here," he said in a hoarse tone. "Not now. And not like this."
Gayoon blinked at him in confusion. Did he not want her?
As if reading her mind, he replied, "I still have three more days of punishment left."
"Eh?" Gayoon completely forgot about their deal!
"Oh yeah!" she groaned. "The punishments!"
Was it even necessary anymore? She wondered. It seemed like that deal was punishing her more than him!
Minho chuckled and gave her a short peck on the lips. It was taking him all his willpower to not break their deal right then and take her back into the tent. But a deal was a deal.
"Three days, three punishment," he promised her. "After that, I'll make sure to get my reward."
"If you can complete them that is," Gayoon challenged him.
"If you're the profit," he said, holding her close to him. "I'm ready to spend every penny on your punishments."