I had showered. I had brushed my teeth. I made sure to bring some extra clothing. I even had a good night's sleep. So why did it still feel like I was having a walk of shame moment? Even more so when I almost ran into Felix in the hallway who decided to get some baked goods outside of the hotel to give to his favorite hyung. I had to make a very fast U-turn and thanked myself afterward for wearing a hoodie and pulling it over my head to cover my hair.
That would have been a total disaster.
My heartbeat went up a notch as I stepped into the elevator with a lunatic grin across my lips. At the beginning of the descend, my stomach started to flutter, but it never left when it reached its constant speed. It felt weightless and heavy at the same time and it triggered a wide-open smile. I couldn't remember the last time I had such fun. Normally my types of fun existed of; partying, being drunk, misbehaving, having one-night stands, and pushing Lee's buttons—obviously. But genuinely laughing didn't exist in my box of memories.
Or getting my dick sucked by my sworn enemy.
♛
But the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was anything but fun. After my father found out I used the company jet for a city hop, he was all up my ass. He gave me the most useless shit to do that even stapler boy would say no to. He loved to be passive-aggressive with me than talk it out with me about what bothered him. But it was fine, I could handle his denigrating ways. And to be honest, it was worth it. No one could turn my mood sour. They could try.
"Why'd you go to Tokyo?" At the end of the office day, Yang came by my office with take-out. He was preparing the food on the coffee table with his back turned to me. I was going through the last papers, my eyes burning from too much screen time and reading numbers all day. You would think the heir would have his ass in the white sands of the Maldives the whole year round. Think again.
"Shopping." I pushed the backrest of my desk chair back as I leaned in, holding the last document of the day above my head, and tilted my chin up to read it.
Yang sat down and faced me. "Shopping?" He stuffed his mouth with a dumpling. "Why didn't you ask me with? More fun you know." The second one filled his other cheek and continued chewing.
"Because I had other things to do. Next time we'll go together." The paper got discarded back on my desk and ran a hand through my hair for the millionth time. "We'll even bring Seo with us if you want." I watched how Yang's face fell, not loving the idea. I wasn't stupid, I knew Yang had a clear motive when it came to me. Still, I kept myself stupid. Besides our mutual agreement of him sucking me off, there wasn't going to bloom a relationship out of it. This wasn't some shitty drama where the impossible was made possible.
"Okay, we can do that." His face changed and I knew that look all too well. "What are you doing tonight?" It has been a while since Yang and I hooked up, and I understood where he was coming from, but it wasn't the same for me. Lee was skillfully filling in Yang's place that I didn't need him to suck me off in my car beneath a bridge.
Shit, Sunday felt like forever ago.
I wanted to temper the eagerness to get more out of the contract we made—or I made and Lee signed. After he flat-out rejected me to let me return the favor I knew I had to tone it down a bit. I remembered Lee saying at the parking garage of my apartment that I have a brain that will easily get addicted, and after Tokyo, I understood what he meant by that. I tend to go all in when I enjoy something. Like an adrenaline junky searching for his next fix while he was still enjoying his current rush.
And without my father's intention, he helped me sober up by giving me a butt load of work.
But tonight I was planning to visit Lee.
"I'm not hungry."
♛
"I'm figuring that next time you'll be waiting for me inside of my apartment." I waited for Lee to come home next to his door. He came out of the elevator, the least surprised I was there. "I don't even need to know how you managed to come up here." The door beeped open and I pushed off the wall to follow him inside.
"That will spoil the magic," I smirked and made myself at home on his comfy couch. Lee disappeared into his bedroom and came back as quickly without his suit jacket and tie. He then crossed to the other side of the floor and opened the fridge to grab three containers and put them on the side to get to room temperature.
When Lee came back, he took the other end of the couch and slumped into the cushions. There was a short silence that Lee used to study me. It amazed me how easily that dark gaze of his ignited something in me. It felt like those three days never passed and we were back in the hotel, ready for another hot round. I might have romanticized the scenes in my head a bit.
"I'll make you a bet.. you seem to like those." My curiousness rose. I shifted straighter onto the couch and watched how Lee's lips formed into a small smile. "I bet I can make you sleep without the use of sexual stimulation. Because I believe you made yourself believe that shoving your cock in someone's throat is the only cure for insomnia."
I scoffed, less intrigued now, and deflated. After so long I think I knew what worked best for me. And it was not like I never sleep; sometimes I get bits of it through the night. That was always a win in my book."
"—But if I fail.. you can fuck me."
That went straight to my cock. My eyes flew open, I straightened my spine and snapped my head toward Lee who sat comfortably on the other end of the couch with his arms splayed around the corners. His smug face made me think he wasn't aware of what he just proposed to me.
"You do know I can keep myself awake to win the bet?"
"That would be cheating, but I wouldn't expect any less from you." The surprise washed off my face and revealed a deep annoyance. "It's up to you. But I think you prefer to find a solution to your sleeping problem."
Lee got up and went to the kitchen. He raised the lid to stir the food that had been simmering for a while in the slow cooker. The scent that wafted through the space made my mouth water and inflicted a reaction in my stomach.
The aggressive rumbling reached Lee's ears and made him look up with a knowing grin. "Let's eat first, it gives you time to decide if you are going to play fair or not. I do understand the pickle you're in; I am irresistible."
"Cockiness doesn't suit you, that's my thing." I sat on the stool and dipped my nose into the steam coming from the bowl he placed in front of me. Lee sat beside me with a glass of water and sipped on it, looking at me.
"If you prefer it more spicy I have some sauce and peppers prepared on the side." Two fingers pushed the sauce more in my direction. I tasted the dish first; it was a bit bland, then I looked at Lee who focused on his meal. Bits of plain, white rice disappeared into his mouth. It made my mind work.
"Is it because of your stomach?" I asked, genuinely curious. It wasn't my main question.. but this was the closest I could get. Is it because of the scar? That question burned deeper onto my tongue than the damn hot sauce did.
"What is?" Lee kept his eyes down, picking a piece of pork with his chopsticks.
"Can you not eat spiced food because of the heartburn you get?"
"Correct."
I frowned, my eyes back onto my plate. There was a huge wall resurrected between our seats, pushing me away. He didn't like to talk about it. And he most definitely didn't like to show it. I was being a self-centered prick wanting him to share this with me. Why the fuck would he? And why the actual fuck did I want to know?
Did Chan know?
My knuckles turned white from the tightened grip on my chopsticks, by the thought that his boxer bestie probably did know.
"Isn't the food to your liking?" Lee noticed that my form froze from anger. There was a slight possibility that I started to hate Chan more over the years than Lee. I didn't know a body could carry so much hate, but here I was. The feeling all started when he broke my fucking nose when I was six. That dude came out of nowhere and punched me. The motherfucker punched me. I yelled at him 'Don't you know who I am?' And he had the nerve to answer me with 'No I don't.' At first, I thought he was joking, but then I found out he came from Australia and didn't grow up here and did tell me the truth.
Twenty years later, the married couple were still together.
"No, it's fine."
"That's what every cook likes to hear."
"I think you excel in almost everything, I don't think you need my approval."
"Almost?"
"I need to fuck you for that to find out if it's everything." Lee rolled his eyes at me, but he failed to contain the tiny smile that blossomed on his lips.
"You want to know if I'm a power bottom?" My heart pounded a little faster. "Maybe tonight is your lucky night to find out." His carefree attitude will be the death of me.
We finished our dinner. I for once helped him clean the kitchen and fill the dishwasher. It was the least I could do after what he was going to give me; his virgin hole.
Lee instructed me to go wash up upstairs and head to bed and he'd follow soon and then he disappeared into his bedroom. I had no clue how he thought he could make me fall asleep at ten in the evening when my body was only getting more restless knowing I could possibly have Lee beneath me in a span of nothing.
When I got from underneath the shower Lee was already at the penthouse. He wore a plain black tee with pale-grey sweats. His hair was towel-dried, covering his forehead and bits of his eyes, and it made him turn into a whole different Lee than the styled-in-suit-all-day Lee I was used to seeing.
I went through my hair with a smaller towel as I walked toward him. Lee was going through the bookshelves, his fingers ghosting over the many vinyl records, not paying any attention to me. I didn't know what the fuck was wrong with me, but the way Lee carried himself was such a turn-on; calm, mysterious. At this point, he only needed to blink to get my dick to react.
Even if I was curious how he would get me to sleep without touching me, I doubt my body was going to let him.
"So you've made your decision?" Lee broke his gaze from the shelving to flick his eyes to the side and down to look at my swollen bulge that was visible behind my red briefs. "You're not at least going to try?"
"It has its mind of its own, I can't help it." I shrugged and leaned against the bookcase with my shoulder and folded my arms. "But for what it's worth, I'll try. You seem determined, which makes me want to follow through. So what do you want me to do?"
Lee chose the music he wanted and brushed past me to put it on the record player. The instant the needle hit the record, a soft voice from a woman flooded the space. It was this soothing blend of calming female vocals, native Amazonian sounds, and tranquil flute melodies with in the background the sound of the rainforest. All of it was nothing I would expect Lee would choose or even have in his home.
"What's this?" My frown increased when he pushed the button of the remote to shut the curtains and dim the lights. It bathed us in an orange glow just enough to see the glint in his eyes and the sharp bone structure of his face.
"For someone like me who uses his brain a lot, I have to say; you think too much. Or more like overthinking too much. Just let it wash over you. I don't know your situation but it seems you're stressed out and want too much of yourself than you can give. Forcing yourself to sleep will only make you not sleep."
I blinked at him, taken aback by the word flood coming out of his mouth. Lee walked away. "Where are you going?"
"Shut the fuck up and go to bed!" He yelled back, clearly annoyed with me. A huff escaped my lips and bit back a curse but did what was told. I slid beneath the sheets made out of Egyptian cotton which felt incredibly soft against my skin. The pillow melted around my head as I fully lay down, turning on my side to watch Lee come back from the bathroom. He had something in his hand but it was too dark to see what.
Okay, maybe I did need to think a bit less. So I focused on the music playing softly in the background. I was not at all redirecting my attention to Lee who was fumbling with something on the shelving. And also did not at all look at the strip of skin that showed when he reached for something above his head that made his shirt rise. The orange ambient lighting wasn't helping either, it made everything more sexually charged than sleepy.
For some fucked up reason I wanted Lee to succeed. Getting to fuck him because he lost a bet wasn't exactly something I was aiming for. It did get us where we are now—whatever this is—but I wasn't planning to corner him forever with things I could use against him. As promised I would delete the footage of our last fight and leave Felix alone after the charity event had ended. And something deep inside me hoped the fun wouldn't end there as well.
Could you still be enemies, hate each other, and keep having fun?
My mind instantly blanked when a scent hit my nostrils. Lee had turned on an air humidifier with drops of essential oils. A subtle fragrance of cedarwood, cypress, and pine mingled with the existing scent of books and fresh linen. But when I recognized the scent of vanilla, my stomach flipped.
Then my stomach churned. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to sleep." Lee got into bed, this time beneath the covers, and faced me. This was going in the opposite direction. My desire to have him was lurking beneath the surface. Heat flushed my skin as I studied Lee's face in the warm light. Half of it was dipped into the shadows, the other half creating a perfect line of orange running over his straight nose, then sloped into his cupid's bow, following his pouty upper lip to end at his strong chin.
"I can't sleep like this," I whispered huskily, feeling my eyes getting heavy from wanting more. Everything was buzzing right now.
"C'mere, and turn around." The sheets got lifted while Lee leaned on his left forearm, suggesting to scootch more to his side.
"Are you telling me to be the little spoon? I am taller than you." My brows furrowed.
"Is everything a competition to you? Don't worry, some parts you can't win."
The heat was almost unbearable, flaming from my neck up to my ears when I thought of my clumsy stumble onto his lap. It helped to turn my back to him but that was about it.
"You're a piece of work, you know that?" Lee grumbled in my ear, seeming to have shifted on the bed like a stalking cat. His warm breath hit the shell of my ear when a hand clamped around my waist to tug me backward. Completely flustered, I felt his warmth radiate against my bare back. We weren't touching, but knowing Lee was so close to me was enough to make me burst into flames.
"I've no clue what you're trying to achieve with this but I'm very sure it's not what you want it to be."
"It's exactly where I want it to be." His voice was low, a little sleepy. "You probably have fucked me in your mind in ten different ways by now." A shudder ran from my nape, where his breath caressed me, down to my tailbone. His words aroused me and made me squeeze my eyes shut a bit deeper and bite my lip. "And I want you to let go of all of that and focus on the music, the scent in the air, how these sheets feel on your skin, and my steady breathing. Nothing more."
This therapeutic session made me even more confused. How could—
"Stop it." Lee pinched my cheek from behind. What the fuck? "I can hear you overthink everything I just said."
"I wasn't—"
"Don't lie to me." The fingers that pinched me wandered over the muscles of my upper arm, flexing beneath his touch, then went down over my side and stopped on my hipbone. "This is weird for me too, but I'm trying to help you."
"Don't treat me like some good cause project."
"I'm not, but getting rid of your insomnia is," Lee countered back, his hand firmer on my hip now. My dick was still not agreeing with me, but this time I ignored it, or at least I was trying to, and let the music back into my ears and inhaled a chunk of lush forest into my lungs.
Lee must have noticed that I was willing to try because his hand slid off my hip and he didn't say another word. He stayed behind me, an arm's width apart, facing my backside. He made himself more comfortable, dragging his pillow closer to him and letting out a tired sigh.
After five dreadful minutes, I was already about to give up. I wanted to curse at the fucking birds coming out of the speaker and smelled enough wood to never set foot into the forest ever again, but when the vanilla embraced me my heart stammered and the anger that bubbled within me popped.
Half-asleep-Lee hooked his arm around my waist, his palm beneath my pounding chest, and pulled me flush against him. His scent evaded every bit of me, shutting my system down. While his heat felt like a comforting hug, lulling me to sleep.
My head was losing the battle, too numb to overthink what was happening right now, and let my body do what felt right for me.
And it wanted to be the little spoon, curving into the right shape to fit into Lee. He answered my body with a tighter embrace and nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck.
This chapter was a bigger menace than Hwang..
☞ ☆