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“Did you know about this?” Kihyun asks, his pointed gaze gouging holes into the side of Hyungwon’s face. He knows Hyungwon all too well, but the taller feigns nonchalance as he pours himself and Kihyun some wine he’d been gifted at his last runway gig.
“Know about what?” Hyungwon wonders in response, continuing his efforts in not making eye contact by carefully re-corking the bottle and placing it down on the island counter, before slowly turning around and meandering towards the sink to wash his hands for absolutely no reason at all. He even hums as he does it, to really sell his devil-may-care attitude, but he can tell that Kihyun isn’t buying any of it by the way he’s glaring daggers into Hyungwon’s back from the opposite side of the counter.
“That the Im Group’s son was at the Louis Vuitton winter show. You know, the show you walked in last week,” Kihyun elaborates, and Hyungwon doesn’t have to look at him to know that Kihyun’s expression is extremely patronizing just by the tone of his voice. “The one where you were the only Korean model invited to walk,” he continues pointedly, and Hyungwon tenses at the next part when Kihyun perfectly hits the bullseye. “The one where you were all over the news for—the one he was all over the news, for showing up.”
“I… might have heard about it, yes,” Hyungwon replies guiltily, glancing over his shoulder back at Kihyun knowing exactly the kind of talking-to he was subjecting himself to. “He’s actually been coming to all my shows the past two months….”
As expected, Kihyun immediately gets up from the barstool he’d been seated at, the chair nearly toppling over from the sudden movement as he reaches over to grab one of the wine glasses and downs it in one fell swoop. “Ah, for fuck’s sake,” the smaller man curses when he finishes, the wrinkle between his brow growing deep as he pinches the bridge of his nose and curses some more. “Of all the chaebols you’ve attracted the attention of, why does the heir to the literal Korean mafia have to be the most openly interested one. It’s like he doesn’t care that the media is having a field day over his interest in a male model.” Kihyun pauses for a second to think, eyes opening as he comes to yet another conclusion— “Or I guess it doesn’t matter to him. His reputation can’t possibly get any worse, either way.”
Hyungwon observes the older man with barely contained amusement, still doing his best to appear as uncaring as he usually is in front of Kihyun when he catches the eye of someone rich and famous. Except that Hyungwon does care this time, quite a lot in fact, and for a reason he just knows that Kihyun will kick his ass over. So instead he decides not to show any outward interest on his face, wanting to keep up this facade for as long as Kihyun will buy it, instead allowing the shorter man to make his own assumptions while Hyungwon casually reaches for the other wine glass. He doesn’t even jump when Kihyun suddenly turns to glare at him, eyes narrowed as he sizes up Hyungwon one more time.
“And you . You stay far away from him, you hear me? As your only friend and honorary manager, you absolutely cannot get tangled up with someone like him. Don’t think I didn’t notice that he’s exactly your type, you dumbass,” Kihyun jabs, and Hyungwon barely contains the flinch he hides behind the glass he’s drinking from. He hopes the older man doesn't notice. “I hear he sends purple roses to the people he’s interested in, so if you have any brains at all you better not accept any. In fact, abstain from anything purple. Don’t even wear purple. At least until he gets the hint that you’re not interested and lays off.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hyungwon placates while rolling his eyes, shaking his head incredulously as he places his glass down amidst Kihyun’s continuous rambling. Hyungwon is trying really hard to remain as relaxed and unbothered as possible, pouring more wine for both himself and Kihyun to keep them both preoccupied. Mostly to make Kihyun drunk because a drunk Kihyun is a lot less attentive than sober Kihyun.
Hyungwon counts his lucky stars that the shorter man hasn’t noticed anything particularly suspicious yet, but the taller man knows it’s only because Kihyun is tired after working all day at the studio taking photos for the fashion publication he works for. Plus they’ve been drinking wine since Kihyun stepped foot into Hyungwon’s penthouse fifteen minutes earlier. The older man had only bothered to make a couple minutes of small talk before cutting right to the chase for the actual reason he showed up after work on a Friday night, instead of coming over to hang out on Saturday like he usually does.
Later that night, when Kihyun is finally passed out on the couch with Hyungwon’s nicest spare blanket snugly pulled up to his chin and lying still as a log, the model tiptoes to his bedroom so as not to make even the tiniest sound. He gently closes the door behind him, biting his lip in fear of waking the older man up when it clicks shut. He doesn’t, and Hyungwon breathes out a sigh of relief he feels down to his toes. He had only just barely kept Kihyun out of his bedroom, somehow managing to keep suspicion low enough to not make it an immediate concern.
When Hyungwon finally turns away from the door to face his room, he bites his lip nervously and observes all the various purple bouquets and plushies that he has piled up—each and every single one of them a gift from the same culprit over the past few weeks. Worse of all, Hyungwon had willfully and wholeheartedly accepted them all knowing exactly the kind of meaning that they held.
Hyungwon thinks of dangerous dark eyes peering up at him and an even darker smile, of expensive cologne and cigarettes and brand-name suits that were never properly buttoned; he thinks of inky black tattoos snaking intricately over miles of bare skin and hot lips that burned with every press against Hyungwon’s oh-so-willing mouth; the feeling of a strong, solid thigh pressing instantly between his legs where he needed it most and a delightfully painful grip tangled in Hyungwon’s black hair—unapologetic and rough and exactly what he needed.
In truth, he didn’t need any warnings at all. No, because right from the very beginning Hyungwon was very well aware that he’s completely and utterly fucked .