His Beautiful Obsession

chapter-3

The gunshot shattered the night.

Juhan flinched.

For one terrifying second, everything seemed to stop.

The rain.

The traffic.

His breathing.

Even Taejin didn't move.

Then the stranger disappeared into the darkness.

"Taejin!"

Juhan's voice broke.

Taejin grabbed his wrist.

"Get down."

Juhan barely had time to react before Taejin pulled him behind the Mercedes.

Another shot echoed.

The sound was followed by the sharp crack of something striking the car.

Juhan covered his ears.

"What the hell is happening?"

"Stay down."

"Who is that man?"

"Juhan."

Taejin's voice was unusually harsh.

"Look at me."

Juhan did.

Taejin's face was only inches away.

For the first time since they had met, Juhan could see something beneath that controlled expression.

Fear.

Real fear.

Not for himself.

For Juhan.

"Are you hurt?"

Juhan shook his head.

"No."

"Good."

Taejin glanced toward the apartment entrance.

The stranger was gone.

"Get inside the car."

Juhan hesitated.

"I don't trust you."

"I know."

"Then why should I get in?"

"Because if you stay here, you might not make it home alive."

Juhan stared at him.

Those words should have frightened him.

Instead, they made something inside him ache.

Because somewhere in the deepest part of his memory, Taejin had said something similar before.

Stay behind me.

A flash.

A lake.

Rain.

A younger Taejin standing in front of him.

Blood running down his forehead.

Juhan blinked.

The memory disappeared.

"Juhan?"

He looked up.

Taejin was watching him.

"You remembered something."

It wasn't a question.

Juhan swallowed.

"I saw the lake."

Taejin's expression changed.

"What exactly?"

"You."

Taejin went still.

"You were bleeding."

His jaw tightened.

"What else?"

Juhan closed his eyes.

"I don't know."

"Try."

"I can't."

"Juhan—"

"I said I can't!"

His voice echoed through the empty street.

Taejin fell silent.

Juhan immediately regretted shouting.

He looked away.

"I'm sorry."

Taejin didn't respond.

Instead, he opened the passenger door.

"Get in."

This time, Juhan did.

The moment he sat down, Taejin entered the driver's seat and locked all the doors.

The engine roared.

They pulled away from the building.

Juhan watched his apartment disappear behind them.

His hands were still trembling.

"Where are we going?"

"My house."

"No."

Taejin glanced at him.

"You're safer there."

"I don't want to go to your house."

"Then tell me where else you want to go."

Juhan opened his mouth.

Nothing came out.

His apartment wasn't safe anymore.

His mother was hundreds of kilometers away.

And he had no friends in Seoul he trusted enough to call at two in the morning.

Taejin noticed his silence.

"You have nowhere to go."

Juhan hated that he was right.

"Don't make decisions for me."

"I'm not."

"You just did."

Taejin's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Then consider this a request."

Juhan looked out the window.

"Why do you care?"

The question hung between them.

Taejin didn't answer.

Juhan turned toward him.

"Why me?"

Still nothing.

"You knew my name."

Silence.

"You knew where I lived."

Silence.

"You had my number."

Silence.

"You had photographs of me."

Taejin's expression remained unreadable.

"And you knew about the lake."

Finally, Taejin spoke.

"I know more than you think."

Juhan's chest tightened.

"Then tell me."

"I will."

"When?"

"When you're ready to hear it."

"I am ready now."

"No."

Taejin's answer was immediate.

"You aren't."

Juhan laughed bitterly.

"You don't get to decide that."

"I know."

"Then stop acting like you own me."

Taejin looked at him.

The car slowed.

For several seconds, his eyes remained on the road.

Then he said quietly,

"I've spent years trying not to."

Juhan's anger disappeared.

"What?"

Taejin didn't repeat himself.

The rest of the journey passed in silence.

Twenty minutes later, the car entered a private underground parking area beneath a tall building.

Juhan stared at the surroundings.

"This is your house?"

"One of them."

"One of them?"

Taejin parked.

Juhan looked at him.

"Who are you?"

Taejin turned off the engine.

"Someone who should have found you sooner."

Juhan's heart skipped.

"What does that mean?"

Taejin opened his door.

"Come upstairs."

The building was enormous.

Marble floors.

Private elevators.

Security cameras everywhere.

Juhan felt as though he had entered another world.

Taejin pressed his fingerprint against the elevator panel.

The doors opened.

They stepped inside.

The elevator began moving.

Juhan watched the numbers climb.

"Which floor?"

"Thirty-eight."

Juhan frowned.

"You live on the thirty-eighth floor?"

"Yes."

The elevator stopped.

Taejin walked out first.

Juhan followed.

The apartment was enormous.

Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked Seoul.

The city glittered below them.

Everything looked expensive.

Perfect.

Cold.

Juhan slowly walked inside.

Then he stopped.

There was a piano in the corner.

Beside it stood a large bookshelf.

And on one of the shelves was something that made his heart stop.

A red bicycle bell.

Old.

Scratched.

Juhan walked toward it.

His fingers hovered over the object.

"Where did you get this?"

Taejin didn't answer.

Juhan turned.

"Taejin."

"Don't touch it."

Juhan stared at him.

"Why?"

"Because you aren't ready."

Juhan ignored him.

He picked up the bell.

The instant his fingers touched it, another memory crashed through his mind.

A summer afternoon.

He was sixteen.

Taejin was seventeen.

They were riding bicycles beside a lake.

Juhan was laughing.

"You can't catch me!"

Taejin shouted after him.

"Just wait!"

Juhan turned around while riding.

"You're too slow!"

Then—

The bicycle slipped.

Juhan fell.

Taejin ran toward him.

A car horn.

Screeching tires.

A scream.

Juhan's scream.

Taejin pushing him.

The lake.

Cold water.

Darkness.

Then a hand.

A hand reaching toward him beneath the surface.

Juhan gasped and dropped the bell.

He stumbled backward.

Taejin caught him before he fell.

"Juhan."

Juhan stared at him.

"You saved me."

Taejin said nothing.

"You pushed me away from the car."

Still silence.

"And then you fell into the lake."

Taejin's expression hardened.

"Stop."

"But I remember."

"Stop remembering."

Juhan stared at him.

"Why?"

Taejin released him.

Because for the first time, his composure completely broke.

"Because I watched you forget me."

Juhan's breath caught.

"What?"

"After the accident, you couldn't remember me."

Taejin looked away.

"You remembered your mother. Your home. Your school. Everything."

His voice became quieter.

"Except me."

Juhan's eyes filled with confusion.

"Why?"

"Your mother told the doctors that I was a stranger."

Juhan froze.

"What?"

"She told everyone I had never known you."

"That's impossible."

"I wish it were."