Lee Young-jin lifted his half-closed eyelids slightly.
With a sweet expression as if honey were about to drip from his eyes, Seo Seung-hyun buried his lips in Lee Young-jin’s shoulder, quietly observing him. A languid light flickered across the surface of his colorless irises.
After a moment of gazing back into those eyes, Lee Young-jin slowly nodded.
As soon as he had permission, Seo Seung-hyun carefully lifted Lee Young-jin in his arms. The touch of his hands was gentle, a stark contrast to their previous roughness, like caressing a feather.
Lee Young-jin wrapped his arms around Seo Seung-hyun’s bare shoulders and let out a relieved sigh.
Soft lighting filled the marble bathroom.
Beyond the large window facing the southeast, the black Han River and the sparkling lights of the city’s skyscrapers undulated in the night.
After washing Lee Young-jin’s hair and cleansing his body, Seo Seung-hyun carried him and sat down in the bathtub.
The bathtub, filled with a tangy and savory scented bath bomb, overflowed with bubbles. Under the water, their limbs intertwined slickly with foam.
Lee Young-jin wasn’t asleep but lazily played with the bubbles, pushing them around with the tips of his fingers, his eyes half-closed.
Seo Seung-hyun, with his arms wrapped around Lee Young-jin’s waist and his chin resting on his head, had his eyes closed as well. The post-coital and post-bath languor that hovered over his sharp features gave the scene an almost lascivious quality, like a frame out of an erotic film.
Suddenly, Lee Young-jin turned to look back. Sensing the movement, Seo Seung-hyun lifted his head and stretched his torso along the edge of the bathtub. Lee Young-jin then fully turned around to face him, sitting on his thighs.
Seo Seung-hyun quietly observed Lee Young-jin, who looked up at him. At that questioning gaze, Lee Young-jin moved his lips slightly.
“Just now…”
“Hmm.”
Seo Seung-hyun’s voice was languid and it reminded him of a predator after a predation. Lee Young-jin’s face flushed slightly as he remembered that the type of predation was sex.
“It hurt…don’t be that hard.”
“Did it hurt? When?”
“When CEO hit my butt.”
Lee Young-jin nibbled at his pouty lower lip. Seo Seung-hyun slid a finger between those lips to stop him from biting his own.
“Hm.”
He stared down at Lee Young-jin with a weary expression that still showed the afterglow of sex, and then nodded.
“All right.”
Comforted by his affectionate response, Lee Young-jin was about to lean back against Seo Seung-hyun’s chest when Seo Seung-hyun deepened his finger inside his lips, caressing his warm tongue, and added,
“Perhaps it’s best to keep calling each other as we always have.”
As a question mark appeared on Lee Young-jin’s face, Seo Seung-hyun laughed softly and further probed his cheek inside with the tip of his index finger.
“At least until some time has passed after the child is born.”
“Tha-, tha-, it’s ha-, alr-, okay……”
With Seo Seung-hyun’s finger still in his mouth, Lee Young-jin struggled to articulate. Instead of replying, Seo Seung-hyun withdrew his finger from his mouth and pulled him in by the waist with both arms. Their slippery, bath-soaked limbs clung tightly together, chest to chest.
“Tomorrow is the day we go to the hospital, right? I’ll pick you up in time for your appointment, so just be ready at home.”
Lee Young-jin gazed up at his face for a moment before nodding and then nestled comfortably into Seo Seung-hyun’s warm embrace.
***
“So, keep following up on that matter, Young-hee, and start with the Seoran Kwanghwamun headquarters. Have you contacted Executive Director Kwon?”
“I’ve done so. They said to notify them as soon as you arrive.”
“Alright. I’m heading out now. Could you call Driver Kang?”
“I’ve already contacted him. He should be waiting downstairs by now.”
Seo Seung-hyun patted the meticulously prepared chief secretary’s shoulder with a palm, a gesture of praise and gratitude. Then, he briskly turned and passed by Jang Young-hee.
As Jang Young-hee aligned the two reports, which were casually stacked on Seo Seung-hyun’s tidy office desk, he followed him.
“CEO, are you really going yourself?”
“Yes.”
“There are still many eyes on Seoran and us. Remember what happened with Director Moon.”
“Well, I have a favor to ask. It’s awkward to cling to the phone and ask for this and that when I’m asking for a favor.”
Jang Young-hee’s stubborn frown twitched, but his expression quickly returned to its usual stoicism.
“Then I’ll reserve a place for lunch. Somewhere quiet…”
“Why bother when we have the executive director’s office at Seoran? Besides, why should I have a quiet and intimate lunch with Executive Director Kwon alone?”
“Understood.”
Eventually, Jang Young-hee silently bowed his head.
Due to the perpetually congested traffic conditions in Seoul, it took Seo Seung-hyun about thirty minutes to reach the Seoran Kwanghwamun headquarters, just narrowly avoiding peak hour thanks to Olympic Blvd.
When the limousine, heavy with purpose both front and back, stopped in front of the headquarters, it drew attention.
Seo Seung-hyun’s emergence from the limousine attracted even more attention.
Even if he had simply walked up, the outcome would have been the same.
A man dressed in a conservatively tailored three-piece suit, with a jacket and pants sharply creased and a vest tightly cinching his chest and abdomen, stood out wherever he was.
A tall alpha woman, waiting in the lobby, strode forward and slightly bowed in front of him.
“CEO Seo. Executive Director Kwon is waiting for you.”
“Am I late?”
“No, sir. Please go up.”
Her stature was not much different from Seo Seung-hyun’s as she replied respectfully.
Overall similar to Jang Young-hee, but unlike the heavy-set Jang Young-hee, the sharp and refined executive assistant of Seoran’s executive director led the way with stiff steps.
The Seoran headquarters was somewhat bustling, but the executive director’s office was steeped in its usual heavy silence.
The Seoran attendant politely opened the door to the executive director’s office for Seo Seung-hyun, who stepped in without hesitation.
“Executive Director. Long time no see. How have you been?”
A bright voice, free of any shadow, greeted.
Kwon Shin-woo, seated in front of his desk inside the executive director’s office, received the greeting with a neutral face.
Seo Seung-hyun looked around with a slight smile on his face.
“Oh? You’ve slightly changed the interior of the executive director’s office.”
And he confidently walked further in, sitting down on a brightly colored pastel-toned fabric sofa.
“This is better than the previous one. The last one was, well, a bit too old-fashioned. Seoran’s interiors tend to be a bit heavy, you know.”
Kwon Shin-woo stood up and approached him with a pace neither fast nor slow. The young executive director’s face bore an expression that was exactly halfway between a smile and no expression.
“Well, I don’t have much taste in interior design. We just replaced it because the previous sofa had some marks.”
“Ah.”
Seo Seung-hyun, precisely sitting in the same spot on the fabric sofa where the previous sofa had been, tilted his head and grinned.
“That must have been from a guest spilling coffee or something.”
Kwon Shin-woo did not respond, simply sitting opposite him.
Knock, knock. With a small knock, the executive assistant entered and laid out a simple snack in front of them.
“I won’t take up much of your time.”
Seo Seung-hyun got straight to the point as soon as the secretary left the executive director’s office.
“I’ve come to ask for a favor.”
“Ah. That’s rare. For the CEO to ask me for a favor. Is that why you came? You’re busy; a phone call would have sufficed.”
There was no change in Kwon Shin-woo’s expression, but his voice carried a subtle sneer. Seo Seung-hyun, of course, paid no mind. He reached for a cookie on the table. He indifferently threw a handmade cookie from a department store brand, with a local and domestic price difference of twice, into his mouth and responded curtly.
“We’re not in a position where we can’t ask each other for favors, but still, there should be some courtesy between people.”
“Ha ha.”
Kwon Shin-woo let out a dry, unemotional laugh.
“Courtesy… Well, alright. What is it?”
“It’s nothing much, just thinking of placing an order for a jet with Seoran.”
“Hmm.”
One of Kwon Shin-woo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“It seems like an issue you don’t need to ask me for. I’ll connect you with the sales director of the aviation business department.”
“Ah. I already have the director’s contact. I sought out Executive Director Kwon because the order schedule is a bit tight.”
A flicker of intrigue passed through Kwon Shin-woo’s impassive eyes at Seo Seung-hyun’s calm reply.
“Well, you’ll have to start with a consultation on the model and specs, so it seems more appropriate to speak with the sales director than me.”
“That’s a separate matter.”
Seo Seung-hyun crossed his legs in the opposite direction and flicked the tip of his left foot hanging in the air.
His shiny shoe tip flickered in the air a couple of times.
“I was hoping to receive the finished product within this year. Something like the B737 or A320 class. What was the Seoran label? The S511 line, was it?”
“CEO.”
Kwon Shin-woo smiled softly.
“The S511 line has a backlog of more than three years. I don’t think I need to tell you how long it takes to build a single aircraft.”
“That’s why I came to see Executive Director Kwon.”
Seo Seung-hyun spread his arms and shrugged.
“I’ll match whatever price the sales team quotes. The specs will follow their quotation as well. Just match the exterior paint.”
“Exterior paint, you say?”
Kwon Shin-woo’s eyebrows twitched.
Seo Seung-hyun smiled pleasantly and flicked his fingers in the air.
“Yes. Since a child will be using it, I’d prefer a brighter color. Not something tacky like blue, red, or monochrome, but something lively like yellow mixed in. I’m thinking of hiring a couple of designers for the interior as well. Oh. I want to add the phrase ‘baby on board’ instead of a logo or name on the exterior body; would there be any issue with aviation law?”
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