Double Junk - 35

Chapter 35

The Flower Lady ate the bread slowly. When Ajin coughed, he got up and fetched a carton of milk. Ajin downed it in one go. The combination of the chewy bread and the refreshing milk was amazing.

Ajin eagerly devoured the cake. The Flower Lady, though slower, moved her chopsticks diligently. Bread wasn’t something she made or had often, so it was fascinating and delicious to her.

As they were happily eating the cake, the Flower Lady, who was pouring milk into Ajin’s glass, asked belatedly, “But what’s up with your hair?”

“Ah…”

Ajin touched his forehead. His forehead was clearly visible. When he raised his hand a little higher, he touched the hair tie that was holding his bangs. It was a pink ribbon hair tie.

Ajin quickly removed it, laughing awkwardly. Two days ago, Seokju had handed him the hair tie along with some candy. He said he’d give Ajin candy if he tied his hair with it. Ajin didn’t think too much about it. After all, he never went outside at night, and it was more comfortable with his hair tied up. The pink ribbon wasn’t his favorite, but it wasn’t something anyone else could see, so it didn’t matter.

Ajin pressed down on his puffy forehead. The Flower Lady, who had been staring at him all the while, finally asked, “Is the boss treating you well?”

“Huh?”

“Is he treating you kindly?”

“Um…”

Ajin hesitated as he toyed with the bread. Then he nodded.

I’ve never been treated well by anyone, so I can’t be sure, but Seokju was definitely treating me well. He didn’t hit me, didn’t pressure me, and didn’t even make me go hungry.

He gave me things to eat, held me tightly when we slept, and often affectionately stroked my hair, saying I was pretty.

Of course, it was a little awkward that he kept pushing his **** in my face all the time, but it didn’t have a big impact to the point where I could call Seokju a bad person.

“Yeah, he treats me well.”

Ajin finally replied. The Flower Lady stared at Ajin as if trying to see through him. Due to years of hard work, the early wrinkles around her eyes seemed to appear and disappear as she blinked, and her rounded lips inhaled and exhaled as if she were saying ‘hoo, haa.’

It was a somewhat eerie and coarse gesture, but Ajin was accustomed to it, so he simply stuffed the bread into his mouth.

“Why?”

“…”

“Is there something else going on?”

With his mouth full of bread, Ajin asked in muffled words. The Flower Lady closed and then opened her eyes. Then, she let out a long sigh and stabbed the bread with her chopsticks.

“I don’t know. It’s not just the two of you.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, someone else will intervene?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Um…”

Ajin shrugged, clearly deep in thought. Whoever might intervene, they couldn’t be more of a threat than Seokju. Anyone would be bigger and stronger than Seokju.

Ajin returned his attention to the bread. The Flower Lady, with a distracted expression, gently smoothed Ajin’s disheveled hair.

“Still, hide your face when you’re outside.”

“Even in front of the boss?”

“That guy is already infatuated with your ugly face.”

“Yeah.”

Ajin nodded. It’s fortunate that our boss is so nearsighted. That’s what he thought. But then, out of nowhere, the Flower Lady slapped Ajin’s back.

“Stop eating and go wash your hair before the others wake up.”

“Ow… Don’t hit me…”

“Quickly!”

“Alright, alright.”

Ajin reluctantly got up from his seat. He went outside where there was a water source, then returned and stuffed the last bit of bread into his mouth. His cheeks puffed up. The Flower Lady shook her ladle vigorously.

“Why is he wandering around the kitchen like this? Get out!”

Amused by her playful dismissal, Ajin laughed as he left the kitchen. Through the swaying blue leaves, the bright light pierced his eyes.

Morning was approaching.

It had been a series of peaceful days. Thanks to Seokju’s generous treatment, Ajin had put on some weight, and the house was peaceful. The activities of the Taehoe faction were thriving, and those who had been hospitalized due to injuries were returning home one by one.

The best part, however, was that summer was coming to an end. Late at night, when the faint scent of autumn wafted in here and there, Seokju felt content. Ajin, who was by his side, also felt happy.

Late at night, Ajin sat at Seokju’s desk in his study, pencil in hand, writing something. In front of him lay a large notebook and a single book with the title “Playing Go with Cheolsu (Korean 1-1).” Ajin glanced at the book suspiciously. Then he painstakingly copied the words into the notebook.

“Go, Go… come here, come here, come here…”

With a strong grip on the pencil, the notebook was deeply creased. His hand tingled, but Ajin concentrated, his lips tightly pursed as he wrote.

It had been a week since Ajin started learning to read and write.

Originally, Ajin didn’t know how to read or write. He couldn’t even read Seokju’s business card, and sometimes, he mistakenly applied shampoo to his face instead of washing it.

Then, one day, after finishing work early, Seokju held Ajin in his arms and read a book. Ajin watched him closely, and Seokju handed him the book, assuming Ajin wanted to read it. Ajin hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

“I can’t read.”

“These aren’t Chinese characters; they’re Korean.”

“I don’t know Korean either.”

Ajin had never been to school in his life. From a young age, he had worked, and he had no time to learn. He didn’t need to know how to read and write to sharpen knives and clean the floor at the gambling den. He learned about cigarettes and alcohol by their colors and shapes.

But Seokju found it shocking.

“Why don’t you know this? Korean is the easiest among all the East Asian languages.”

“I can live well even if I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“… .”

Seokju didn’t say anything. The next day, he bought a notebook. It was a practice notebook for learning Korean, with the letters giyeok, nieun, digeut, and so on written on it. Ajin didn’t want to learn, but Seokju insisted. Even if life was busy and hectic, you had to know your name, he said. Even if life was busy and hectic, you had to know your name.

That made sense to Ajin. He told Seokju his name.

[Ajin]

Giyeok and nieun looked strange, and so did digeut, but Ajin liked it. Then Seokju’s name was also written down.

[Kang Seokju]

Seokju now had the ‘Kang’ family name. With that settled, they laughed it off, and Ajin diligently practiced giyeok, nieun, digeut, rieul, and his name, Ajin, Ajin, Ajin, as well as Kang Seokju, Kang Seokju, Kang Seokju. Soon, one notebook was filled.

Seokju, quite pleased with this, provided two more notebooks and a student’s Korean language textbook. Since then, Ajin had been diligently sitting at his desk every day, studying how to read and write.

Seokju, on the other hand, was not pleased at all.

He didn’t expect Ajin to study so hard, and this led to him feeling a rising sense of anger, as if the notebooks themselves had stolen Ajin away from him.

Seokju, sitting next to Ajin, lit his cigarette like it was a tough opponent. He exhaled the cigarette smoke towards Ajin. The hazy smoke covered the notebook densely, but Ajin paid it no mind. Seokju clenched his fists. Veins popped out on the back of his thick hand.

In the end, Seokju couldn’t stand it any longer. He reached out to Ajin. He pulled the armrest of Ajin’s chair toward himself, dragging Ajin closer. Ajin was dragged with a yelp. Even so, he didn’t raise his head. It was extremely frustrating that he didn’t show his face properly, with the pink ribbon tying up his bangs.

Seokju’s hand caressed Ajin’s nape. His thumb pressed firmly on the soft flesh and moved downwards. He then stroked the round shoulders before slipping his hand under the tightly buttoned shirt. He touched Ajin’s cool skin.

“Oh my…”

Ajin twisted his shoulders as if to shake him off. Still, he didn’t raise his head. Seokju, who was smoking, looked at Ajin with narrowed eyes. Then he touched Ajin’s chest. Ajin’s chest was small, as was typical for men, but it felt soft when squeezed between his fingers.

“Ugh…”

Ajin’s throat contracted. However, he still held the pencil tightly. Seokju, closely watching his small reactions, continued to move his hand.

His fingertips came into contact with a small bump. Thanks to Seokju’s secret touches and kisses, that nipple had grown slightly larger over time.

Seokju pinched it between his thumb and index finger. He kneaded it and pressed down as if massaging it.

“Ah!”

At the sharp sensation, Ajin suddenly raised his head. He glared at Seokju. Regardless of his glare, Seokju continued to toy with Ajin’s chest. He gently pressed the nipple with his thumb, gathered the whole breast in his hand, occasionally ran his fingers over the sensitive collarbone when his fingers were free.

Ajin bit down on his lower lip and buried his face in the notebook again. One of Seokju’s eyebrows raised playfully.

Tsk.

Seokju pulled Ajin’s chair closer to himself. Then, he pulled open Ajin’s rough shirt. The rough wool unraveled easily, revealing Ajin’s chest. How much had he touched those red nipples? Seokju couldn’t get enough.