Business Partners | A Novel ❖

☯︎︎

It didn't matter how many times Hongjoong walked the streets of his hometown. Every little thing his eyes fell upon, reminded him of his childhood, and how much he regretted wishing it away.

Every single path, every shop... even his own house... It all reminded him of times he had spent here in this village, growing up with Yeosang.

Right from when they had grown old enough to have their first crushes, Hongjoong had known that Yeosang's heart belonged to him.

But for whatever reason, he had never felt the same. Whether it had been out of a severe desire not to ruin their friendship, or just that he saw him more of a brother, than as a boy, his heart could never return his feelings...

His heart had not belonged, to him.

In fact, years later, his heart had not belonged to anyone.

At least, until the night he had sat at that bar, and met the man that would change the way he looked at everything... At the world...

At himself...

The night, he met Park Seonghwa.

Right from the very beginning, there had been something about that man that had caught his attention. The tall, dark brunette had made him laugh, and had made him blush, and had made his heart flutter like he'd never felt before.

Hongjoong had spent every minute of his adult years, and even years before, chasing the thrill of sex and drugs and risks, that had made him feel...

Feel things, that he thought it might have felt like, for Yeosang, to feel for him...

He had spent his years thinking that inside Yeosang's heart, love, felt like tingling skin and a dazed mind...

But the moment he had met Seonghwa, he had realised just how wrong he'd been.

Seonghwa made him feel things he hadn't felt before, but with the thrill, came pain, because the look that he had once seen in Yeosang's eyes when he looked at him, was now surfacing, when he looked at Seonghwa.

And the mystified, enchanted look that came across Seonghwa when his eyes were upon that blonde head of hair...

Hongjoong knew from the start, that Seonghwa only had eyes for his best friend.

And for the first time in his life, Hongjoong hurt.

But it wasn't just heartache that he was faced with. With the hurt, came an endless array of realisations, and before he knew it, he was questioning his life... Every single choice he had ever made...

And every choice, started here, in this village...

The village he had grown up in.

Growing up, he'd tried so hard to get as far away from this town as he possibly could. He wanted nothing to do with it. He had aspired for a life that could award him money to give his family an easier going, and a social stream that could fill his desire for spontaneity.

But after meeting Seonghwa... He wasn't so sure that was what he wanted in life anymore.

He'd made his fortune, and his family had refused to move from their hometown.

And he'd had his fun, taking risks and doing stupid things for the thrill of the moment.

But where had it gotten him?