Kin lay there looking at the ceiling with an empty mind. How stupid was he for not remembering anything about the novel's plot? He knew the character was cruel, but what exactly did "cruel" mean?
What he knew for sure was that Kin had forced Phupha to marry him. He might have also bullied Pinyin for being too close to Phupha. Was it jealousy?
When he thought about that, one memory came to mind. In one scene of the novel, the narrative flashed back to high school. It described Kin suddenly appearing in the middle of a conversation between Phupha and Pinyin, who were laughing happily. Everything stopped because of a voice that sounded very angry. Phupha was called away until Pinyin couldn't hear their conversation. Soon after, Kin walked directly to Pinyin, who was sitting there confused, and began to yell at him without reason.
'Stop getting involved with Phupha!'
The insult came from his beautiful, well-formed lips, along with a furious expression and tightly clenched fists, as if he were holding back from hitting him. The slender boy trembled and kept lowering his head, apologizing over and over, even though it wasn't his fault. He remembered that scene so well that it made him put down the book immediately because he felt a huge headache from how easily the male lead apologized and how he seemed to have no will of his own.
While closing his eyes and letting his mind wander, the image in his head slowly began to darken until Kin fell asleep without even realizing it. Neither the food he had painstakingly made nor the documents he had been reading were touched.
He woke up the next day to see sunlight shining through the curtains. The fried rice was cold and unappetizing, and the documents were sitting quietly in the same spot. Kin stretched to shake off his laziness before picking up the plate of fried rice to warm it up in the kitchen, feeling regretful.
He had fallen asleep and still couldn't remember what else Kin had done. The worst and most obvious thing was at the end of the novel when Kin planned to kill Pinyin, who was a thorn in his side. But that part hadn't even happened yet. So maybe just a general apology would be enough? It shouldn't be a problem if he didn't say anything specific.
In his mind, Pinyin was a kind and soft-hearted man. The only thing he was thinking of now was that the sooner he was done with these people, the more comfortable he would be. Kin held no grudge against Pinyin. When he first met him, he even thought the other man was a cute kid. The rest was just a prayer that everything would end easily. He didn't like anything that was complicated and annoying.
He heard footsteps from behind, and when he turned, he saw Phupha in a full suit as usual. It was as if his closet had no comfortable clothes and he had to wear a suit every day, while he was here with messy hair, wearing only long pajama pants and a thin, plain t-shirt.
"Clear your schedule tonight."
Kin raised his eyebrows at the person who was giving him an order for no reason.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to have dinner with Pinyin."
"Oh," Kin replied, not really paying attention. He was just thinking about how to go about apologizing since he definitely didn't have Pinyin's contact information. Who would have the number of someone they hated?
"Be serious." The scolding made him frown in displeasure, and he mumbled quietly, "What do you want from me..."
"I don't know. Just behave and sincerely apologize. I don't want Pinyin to feel any worse than he already does." The only thought that popped into his head was, 'You care about him so much, huh?' But he decided not to say anything because he didn't want the other man to think he was being sarcastic or mocking him. Kin had to be careful not to make him think that he still had feelings for him or that he was just doing this to seek attention.
"I'll sincerely apologize. I really feel bad," Kin said in a monotone voice, with nothing at all in the sentence. So the other man stared at him with a furious look mixed with disbelief that what he was saying was true, and Phupha was right. Why would he feel guilty for a mistake he hadn't made?
"Microwaved food?" Instead of leaving, Phupha started talking about something else out of the blue. He looked past him at the plate inside the microwave, which made a 'ding' sound, indicating that it was done.
"Leftovers from last night," Kin answered casually, not thinking it was strange behavior. Because everyone microwaves leftovers, right?
"I thought you were going to eat it in your room." This young man seemed to remember the details of his life quite well, to the point of remembering that he had intended to take the food upstairs to eat out of hunger, but his good fortune didn't last.
"I didn't even get to eat it. I fell asleep." Kin swore that he felt really bad for not eating last night, even though he had walked all the way down to the kitchen, only to fall asleep before he could eat. He wanted to blame everything on Phupha for giving him so many things to think about. He had to think until he fell asleep!
The other man looked at him suspiciously before catching a certain scent from Kin. Phupha frowned and tried to smell it again, stepping forward without even realizing it. The tall, slender man moved closer to the smaller person and leaned his face down to smell the scent to make sure what it was, before Kin came to his senses and quickly moved away, turning to face the other man.
"What?" Kin asked in a hard voice, displeased with the behavior of being approached without warning. The other man looked confused but also moved away. Phupha stood still as if thinking about something before turning his back on him.
"...Nothing." Phupha decided not to say anything about the scent he had just smelled and walked away as he was done with his business. Kin saw that the other man had made a strange sniffing motion with his nose, as if he had smelled something unpleasant, so he raised his arm above his head and sniffed his own body, but found no scent at all.
Was his nose broken?
After finishing the leftovers without having to wait for the servants to be surprised that he was getting food for himself, Kin went to take a shower and get dressed. He didn't want to wear a suit, but it would look polite for an executive, so he wore it casually, planning to take it off once he got to the office.
He then spent the rest of the day with a headache from all the work he had to do, constantly asking his beautiful secretary for help every half an hour. He thought that she must be annoyed, but he couldn't help it because he didn't know anything. Natcha was no different from being his babysitter, which made him think back to his internship days in college.
"Mr. Kin, aren't you going home?" The secretary knocked on the door and asked for permission to enter before asking him, who was still sitting there and refusing to leave, even though it was time to go home.
"I'll stay a little longer," he replied briefly before going back to his computer and letting his secretary leave on time. Kin sighed, not knowing which life he would get a chance to work on these things fluently.
His phone vibrated while his brain was swelling from everything. When he turned the screen over to look, he saw that it was Phupha's number. It was strange because he didn't think they had anything to talk about. Even though he didn't want to answer, he forced himself to answer in case it was something important.
"Yes."
[Don't forget our dinner. I already made a reservation.]
As soon as he spoke into the phone, the familiar voice from the other end came on immediately. There was no greeting from Phupha, just the sentence that went straight to the point, as if he didn't want to waste time.
"Dinner...? I didn't forget," Kin said, lying with a straight face. He was so busy with work that he had completely forgotten that Phupha had told him this morning to be free in the evening. Khin adjusted his posture and felt nervous, thinking about having to face Pinyin.
[I'll send you the location. See you there at 8 PM, okay?]
"Yes, yes Master." The emphasis in the voice on the other end sounded no different from a parent who was afraid their child wouldn't show up. He couldn't help but mock the person who was so bossy.
[...Whatever.]
When Phupha hung up, he immediately sighed. He looked at the time and saw that he had less than three hours to get ready. He picked up his phone and opened the front camera again to check his condition.
'What kind of person is this? He's still beautiful even when he's tired. Is this really me? He's so beautiful, too beautiful.' Kin couldn't help but think after seeing his own beautiful face. Even though his eyes looked tired and ready to close and sleep at any moment, like a lazy person like him, this face looked even more beautiful the more tired it got. It was strangely charming and enchanting. Damn, he was willing to be a Narcissus.
When he realized how beautiful he was, Kin took a picture of himself to save. Even if he wouldn't show it to anyone. It wasn't easy to find a beautiful person like this in life, so he would take advantage of his perfect face. He then fixed his hair to look neat before looking down at his clothes.
He knew that this was a meeting like meeting a friend, but it was a little different because he was the bully, and the other person was the one who had been bullied until a few days ago. So, making himself look good and polite was the right thing to do.
His heart was beating faster and faster with every moment he was on his way to the place Phupha had sent him in the chat. Of course, sending the location was the first thing that broke the old Kin's bad habit of being late after months of being so.
The luxurious restaurant had a man in a suit and clean white gloves standing at the front to greet guests. There was an iPad on a stand to check for those who had made reservations.
"I have a reservation under the name Phupha," he said with confidence and calmness so he wouldn't accidentally show that he didn't do these things often. Deep down, Kin thought he was quite cool.
"This way, sir," the other man took only a moment to check the name before looking up and smiling at him, gesturing to the door behind him. Another employee came out to welcome him.
Kin was led to a dining table where two men were sitting next to each other. They were teasing and laughing before everything went silent when he reached the table. Strange looks were sent his way, especially from Phupha, who had a scary face, as if he would be eaten alive if he tried to be sarcastic. Pinyin, who didn't even dare to make eye contact, lowered his gaze to the table, making him feel sorry for him. Kin knew that everything that had happened was not the other man's fault, so he could only hope that he could make him feel better.
"I apologize for everything that has ever happened," after Kin sat down across from him, he looked directly at the cute male lead, who was trembling with fear. He spoke bluntly without waiting for anyone to prepare themselves. Of course, it was met with a silence so stunned that it was as if everything was silent, with no response.
"...What?"
"I've done so many bad things to you. I'm really sorry. I don't expect you to forgive me, but just accept my apology," Kin didn't wait for the other person to understand and spoke immediately. Maybe it was because of his deep-seated nervousness and fear that if he didn't speak quickly, he would be in trouble. Even so, Kin tried to be as careful as possible with his words, while also glancing at Phupha's face, which was expressionless, making him feel inexplicably annoyed.
"Phupha..." The other man turned to look at the young man next to him, confused about what was happening. Phupha gave him a gentle smile that he had never received before.
"It's okay. Don't worry," the deep, soft voice was pleasant to listen to. If he were a teacher, his students would surely fall asleep in class. Kin was even more annoyed by the sight. Both of their hands were holding on to each other, as if they were comforting each other, and they were looking at each other with sweet eyes, as if afraid someone wouldn't know they were the protagonists.
"Mr. Kin... are you really apologizing to me?" Pinyin turned to ask him, not confident.
"Yes. Like I said, I don't expect you to forgive me... What I did was a bad thing in your life," Kin used a serious and firm voice but not too harsh, and also showed a little remorse. He furrowed his neat eyebrows and looked away, pretending he didn't dare to look him in the face before pausing and then continuing in a sad voice. "I should have apologized to you a long time ago."
"Even now, I'm glad you've apologized. As for forgiveness..." Pinyin smiled faintly, and the aura of goodness shone so brightly that he knew what the other person was about to say.
"I've never been angry with you, Mr. Kin."
"You are unbelievable," he guessed right. Kin smiled back, thinking that the other person was truly the embodiment of the male lead in a novel, who never gets angry with anyone and smiles through every situation. He didn't know if this was just a positive outlook or if he was just too naive for this cruel world.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. I still have some work to do," Kin stood up immediately, glancing at Phupha to see his reaction. When he saw that he didn't say anything to stop him, he left the table without looking back.
"Mr. Khin!" As he was walking down the hallway, a voice from behind made him stop and turn to see the small young man walking after him. He didn't see Phupha following them, which meant that the other man wanted to talk to him alone. Before he could say anything, the other person spoke directly, "You're really going to divorce him, aren't you?"
It was so blunt that it surprised him. Pinyin asked with a serious expression that he never thought he would see from the man in front of him. The weak and sweet male lead seemed to have more than one side to him.
"...Yes. I have no reason to be with him."
"It's not that you just want to get his attention, is it?" Even though he had already confirmed it, it still wasn't enough to ease the other person's worries.
"Why do you people only think like that? ...Well, Okay I deeply understand you, it's not strange to think that way," Kin replied almost instantly because he didn't know how many people had already acted as if his decision wasn't real. If he didn't think too much, he secretly wondered if the other person was... mocking him a little? Kin shook the bad thoughts out of his head. Because there was no way the author would write a male lead who was secretly bad or had negative energy. He was probably just overthinking it.
"If... if that's the case, and I love Phupha, you won't get involved... right?" The other person said with a stuttering voice. The deep-seated fear in his heart made it very difficult to say. Pinyin didn't even dare to look the man in front of him in the eye.
"Yes."
Just his short answer made the other person's face show a clear sense of relief. He didn't need time to get to know them or even read their story to know that Pinyin and Phupha loved each other very much.
And he thought the real 'Kin' knew that as well. The villainous part of this story was the villain who tried to do everything to be with the person he loved, but didn't consider the feelings of the person he loved at all. It was an extreme form of selfishness and willfulness that made him wonder why the author had to create a character like that. Could there really be a person that terrible in real life?
"Thank you, Mr. Kin," Pinyin said with a smile and walked back to the restaurant. He could only pray that this night would be a good one for the two of them. As for him, who hadn't even touched the food, he could only think about where he could get something to eat.
Just then, his phone in his pocket vibrated, grabbing his attention. When he picked it up and looked at the screen, he saw a man's name pop up with a short message.
[Kiryu: Want to get some dinner together?]