Scent Of a Man | HyunSung

Chapter 17

Hyunjin’s POV
Seoul, Korea
15 October, 2028

I entered the cafe, Wonho following me. This morning Heo Jeong, Jisungs boss, called me saying that he needed me to help him with something. I looked around the cafe, trying to find a table around which there weren't a lot of people. After I sat on the table I checked my watch. 2 minutes earlier. Perfect. I thought and looked at the person who was standing next to the table only to find one of the girls that was working with Jisung. She asked me what I wanted and after I ordered I saw that Jeong was now sitting on the table in front of me.
“Hyunjin, thank you for coming here.” The man in front of me smiled and I had to return the smile. Who cared that it was fake.
“It's not a problem.” I said and he thanked me again. The truth was that if it wasn't for Jisung I wouldn't be here.
“What did you want to talk about?” I asked and he was about to answer me, but the girl from a while ago came, putting the americano that I ordered in front of me. I thanked her and looked around the cafe trying to see Jisung, but I didn't see him.
“I was wondering if you could help me.” I nodded and waited, thinking that he would say something but he remained silent, which irritated me. He was wasting my time and I didn’t  like that. My eyes spotted Jisung who was coming from the staff room and I smiled unconsciously.
“What do you need me for?” I asked without taking my eyes from the pretty boy who had taken over my thoughts.
“I made a profitable deal. But not with someone from Korea. I need you to transport the goods over the border.” After these words he fell silent again and I raised an eyebrow, starting to get really angry.
“Tell me something more. Which country the goods need to be transported from? What am I winning from helping you?”
“Uhh, what about 25%?” He asked and I laughed.
“That's not enough, Jeong. I will take a lot of risks. Transport is not easy at all.” He thought for a moment.
“Then 45%. Is that enough?” He asked again and I just raised my eyebrows.
“I want at least 65%.” He looked shocked after hearing my words. I took a sip from my cafe and spoke again. “You didn't tell me the country.”
“I made the deal with people from Thailand…”
“I don't work with them.” I cut him.
“Yeah, but…”
“Under these circumstances I want 85%.” I interrupted him again.
“Hyunjin!” He exclaimed. “That's way too much.”
“Then…” I said as I was standing up. “I guess you don't need my help.”
“No, Hyunjin, wait…” His words were interrupted by loud noise. I quickly turned to see what happened. In the middle of the cafe Jisung was standing, his clothes wet and dirty, because someone spilled their drink over him. My body filled with anger and I walked fast to them, grabbing the shirt of the boy, who made all of the mess.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" I screamed at his face and he looked at me scared.
"I… I said that I'm sorry." He mumbled trying to make me let him.
"That's not enough! Where the fuck were you looking. Are you blind?!" I was continuing to shout at him and probably the fact that I offended him made him angry, because he also raised his voice.
"And who do you think you are? You have no right to talk to me like that!" I squeezed his shirt harder. But instead of the piece of cloth I wanted my fingers wrapped around his neck. I didn't care that I was in the middle of the cafe, I wanted to show him that he has no right to harm Jisung in any way. I was about to yell again when I heard a worried voice asking Jisung if he was okay. My body quickly turned to see what was happening. He was standing in the same position, looking at one point, but he looked like he wasn't mentality here. His body was shaking and I could say he had trouble breathing. His friend was trying to make him react, but her attempts were unsuccessful. I completely forgot about the anger towards that guy and  focused all my attention on Jisung. I walked to him and wrapped my hands around his body, lifting him up, and started walking towards the staff room. I let him sit on the bench there and looked at the girl who was following us.
“Can you bring him some water?” She nodded and went out of the room to bring Jisung water. I kneeled down in front of him. One of my hands slid on his thigh and the other gently cupped his cheek. He was still having problems breathing, his body was shaking as if he had a fever and I started to wonder if this was a panic attack.
“Hey, love…” I whispered and rubbed my thumb to his cheekbone. “Look at me…” I tilted his head to make him look at me. Our eyes met and I smiled, trying to show him that everything was fine. “Relax, darling, everything is fine.” I whispered again and wrapped the hand that was on his thigh around his waist. “Try to breathe deep. You can do this for me, right?” He nodded slightly and my smile became even bigger, because he was responding to me, which meant that he was realizing that my hands were all over him but he didn't say anything about it. He just let me be close to him while he was inhaling and exhaling over and over again. “Do you want water, love?” I asked when he finally caught his breath.
“Yes…” He said quietly with a husky voice and I turned to see if the girl had brought the water. When I saw her standing next to the door frame with a glass of water I stretched my arm and she gave me the glass. The moment my fingers touched it I realized it was hot. I took a sip and the water wasn’t boiling hot, but still, it was warm.
“Why did you bring warm water? Cold water will make him feel better.” She looked at me wondering what to respond.
“Hyunjin…” I heard Jisung's voice and turned to him with a questioning look. “It's fine.” I nodded and helped him to take a few sips from the glass. When he was ready I passed the glass to the girl again.
“Do you have spare clothes?” He mumbled and I asked my next question. “Do you need help to change?”
“No, don't worry. I can do it myself.”
“Okay then, I will leave so you can change and i'm going to be back in a minute.” I smiled and he nodded. I got up and left the room with the girl following me. When I got back to the main part of the cafe I saw Wonho standing next to the bar. I went to him asking him where Heo was. He looked at the door of the cafe and I did the same. Heo was talking with the man that spilled his drink over Jisung. Seconds later he entered the cafe and I started walking towards him.
“Hyunjin! How is Jisung?” He asked when he saw that I was approaching him.
“He is better. However, I'm taking him home.”
“Oh, Hyunjin…” He smiled and I raised an eyebrow. “I care for my employees, but his shift just started. On top of that you said that he is better, so…” I laughed, my face becoming deadly serious a second after. I went closer to him, speaking quietly so only he would be able to hear me.
“Do I need to remind you that you want me to help you? Do I also need to remind you that if I want I can make your life hell. I can make it so awful that at the end you will come to me and will beg me to kill in order to deliver you from your torment.” He remained silent, but I didn't move even a bit. I didn't ask him if I could take Jisung home, I informed him and he needed to learn that things happen the way I say.
“There's no need. He can go home…” I didn't wait to hear what he had to say, I just turned and walked to the staff room again and knocked on the door.
“Jisung, are you ready?” I said a little louder so he could hear me through the closed door.
“Yes.” He answered and opened the door shortly afterwards. I grabbed his hand gently, not wanting to scare him, and led him to the exit of the cafe. His boss looked a little angry, but after my eyes met him he faked a smile and waved at us.
“Hyunjin…” Jisung tried to say something when we were out of the building.
“Don't worry. I’m taking you home.” I tried to guess what he was going to ask and it seemed like I was right, because he just nodded. When we got to the car, Wonho opened the back door and closed it after me and Jisung sat on the backseat. Wonho started the engine and asked for Jisung’s address. I told him and then I turned to see the boy sitting next to me. He was a little bit pale and seemed still in shock from what had happened. “Do you want to lay in my lap till we get to your house?”
“No, it's fine.” He tried to smile, but it looked fake. I didn't say anything else, he looked like he was thinking about something and I let him be in his thoughts. My eyes did not separate from him the whole time. I was worried, really, really worried. When we arrived he tried to make me stay in the car, saying he was okay, but I insisted on going with him, because I wanted to make sure that he was alright.