When a Babysitter Falls in Love - Chapter 10
Yoon-Taek, worried about Man-Jun’s fiery temper and typical brawler tendencies, carefully added his own thoughts to Tae-Geon’s words.
“There are three hunting dogs in that house.”
Tae-Geon closed and opened his eyes slowly, then spoke in a firm voice.
“Hmm.”
Yoon-Taek swallowed hard and quickly shut his mouth. Tae-Geon sighed inwardly as he looked at him. Yoon-Taek was intelligent and technically skilled in fights, but his biggest, most ridiculous weakness was that he was terrified of dogs. Not because he feared being bitten, but because he was scared of being slobbered all over with sticky drool. It was hopeless.
Watching him wipe his face just from hearing the word dog, Kang Wook frowned.
“Go get psychiatric treatment or something.”
“They said there’s no identifiable cause. I’m sorry…”
With a tearful expression, Yoon-Taek lowered his head. Kang Wook turned away from him, emptied his glass, and checked the time. The hands pointed exactly to nine o’clock. He set his glass down and looked toward the study door.
At that moment, a knock sounded, and Guk-Hee entered.
“Six months is more than enough waiting.”
Kang Wook watched with delight as the prey, who should have been devoured several times by now, finally entered the room. Hyun-Woo was still hidden behind Guk-Hee’s body, out of his line of sight. Kang Wook tapped his glass with his finger. As if waiting for that signal, Yoon-Taek poured whiskey into the empty glass. Kang Wook lifted the Scotch to his lips and tilted his head slightly.
At that moment, Guk-Hee stepped aside, and finally, Hyun-Woo came into view, standing with his hands neatly clasped and his head bowed.
The Scotch glass froze just above Kang Wook’s lips, making a light clink against them. He unconsciously licked his lips. In the pitch-black eyes, a blue gleam flashed. The three men watching him cast strange looks at Hyun-Woo.
Setting down the untouched glass, Kang Wook approached him.
Hyun-Woo had planned to lift his head and introduce himself confidently. But the moment he stepped into the room, a suffocating pressure weighed down on him, making it impossible to lift his face.
He had never felt anything like it in his life. The air pressed against his entire body, even making breathing difficult. And when he saw the indoor slippers approaching him, his body instinctively wanted to step back.
It wasn’t fear, something else entirely, an unknown sensation that made his heart pound wildly.
Into his lowered field of vision appeared a clean, well-groomed hand wearing an expensive wristwatch, and it gently lifted his chin.
“Haht.”
A short sound escaped Hyun-Woo, and something fell onto the top of his foot. He quickly realized it was the notebook he’d been holding, but he couldn’t move.
No camera or photo could capture Kang Wook properly, Hyun-Woo realized that instantly. The image of him in the company magazine that So-Jin once showed off was nothing but a shadow.
As their eyes met, Hyun-Woo even thought absurdly, If my heart stops here, someone will do CPR, right? That was how shockingly overwhelming and intense Kang Wook’s appearance was.
Kang Wook’s gaze lingered on Hyun-Woo’s frightened brown eyes, then slowly lowered to the notebook on the floor.
“What’s this?”
His deep, low voice felt like a blow to the head. Startled, Hyun-Woo quickly stepped back, grabbed the notebook, and opened it.
“Hello, I’m Seo Hyun-Woo. This is… Jun-Woo’s play program. I wrote down activities that a four-year-old child would like.”
“Jun-Woo?”
Normally, hearing someone address his son so casually, Kang Wook should have grabbed the brat by the collar and thrown him out of the house. But strangely, it didn’t bother him. Even Alex, the one he dated the longest, had to call the boy ‘your son.’
With an indifferent expression, he simply raised an eyebrow and let it pass.
It was the other men in the room whose eyes widened in shock.
Kang Wook took the notebook from Hyun-Woo and skimmed the neatly written contents.
“A lap around the neighborhood, role-play games, clay play… Setting the others aside, what’s ‘a lap around the neighborhood’?”
Caught by Kang Wook’s gaze, Hyun-Woo quickly bowed his head. Kang Wook lightly tapped his chest with the notebook.
“Look people in the eyes when you talk.”
“…Yes.”
Hyun-Woo forced his head up, as if the screws holding it had suddenly loosened. Mustering strength so he wouldn’t crumble under Kang Wook’s aura, he explained:
“A neighborhood lap is when you walk around the area with a child so they can see and experience what’s around them…”
“…And?”
When the eyes of everyone in the room turned cold, Hyun-Woo glanced around and then looked back up at Kang Wook. After thinking about it, he realized he had done nothing wrong and didn’t need to shrink back.
So he spoke with more confidence than before.
“But on the way here, I noticed it’s all residential. So I thought we could change it to a garden walk instead.”
“A garden walk is… a play activity?”
Seeing his skeptical expression, Hyun-Woo explained again.
“He can touch the trees, walk barefoot on the grass… Ah, I’ll keep a close watch during barefoot play so he won’t get hurt. And…”
“There’s more?”
“He can shout, throw paper airplanes, and when it’s windy, spinning pinwheels, kids love that.”
As he kept talking, Hyun-Woo didn’t notice his face had warmed and turned pink. Kang Wook watched the returning color in his once-pale face with interest. His lips moved this way and that, so provocatively that Kang Wook pressed his thumb against them.
Startled, Hyun-Woo froze, and Kang Wook felt that reaction vividly through his fingertip.
“Talk without moving your lips. You move them too much, it’s distracting.”
“…lease…”
“What?”
Hyun-Woo could only curl his tongue inside his mouth, barely brushing the roof of his mouth as he spoke. To Kang Wook, the sight was so sensual it melted away built-up stress.
There was nothing more exciting than shaping an innocent boy exactly to his taste.
“…Please… take your hand off.”
His lips felt swollen, as if someone had put a straw in his mouth and blown. When Kang Wook had lifted his chin earlier, he had almost collapsed in shock, but he accepted it assuming it was dominance or examination. But a man pressing another man’s lips with his thumb, that was not something he could interpret casually.
His smile vanished as he avoided Kang Wook’s gaze.
“I suppose you were startled.”
Normally, at this point, most people fell into a trance and leaned forward. But Hyun-Woo instantly constructed a mental barrier and hid behind it. His trembling eyes froze over as he avoided Kang Wook’s stare.
Six months had already been an enormous feat of patience for Kang Wook. If Hyun-Woo weren’t his exact type, if he were merely tolerable, he would have devoured him long ago. Annoyance flashed briefly, but Kang Wook finally removed his hand.
“Your explanation was fine. Just make sure he doesn’t get hurt. If Jun-Woo gets hurt…”
He paused, then lifted his glass again.
“…If Jun-Woo gets hurt, you get hurt too. Do you understand what I mean?”
Unable to even ask why he touched his lips, Hyun-Woo could only nod. It wasn’t even his own will, he was compelled by the overwhelming force of Kang Wook’s presence.
For a moment, his whole body felt paralyzed. This man was on a completely different level from any kindergarten dad he had ever met.
A sense of foreboding made him lower his voice.
“As long as it’s not during lesson time, do whatever you want. Just… read the atmosphere.”
“Thank you.”
Even while irritated, seeing Hyun-Woo bristle back made heat coil in Kang Wook’s lower abdomen. His resolve to “wait a bit longer” wavered. Perhaps he shouldn’t wait, maybe pinning him down right here and crushing him entirely would be more satisfying…
“Guk-Hee.”
“Yes, Vice Chairman.”
“Take him away.”
“Understood.”
Before leaving, Hyun-Woo glanced back at Kang Wook without thinking. But Kang Wook had already turned away, drinking.
Bowing slightly toward his back, Hyun-Woo stepped out of the room.
“An apron, of all things…”
Before the door closed, Kang Wook muttered in disbelief, but Hyun-Woo didn’t hear it.