Bring It On! - Chapter 87

Chapter 87.

He can’t stand bothersome things. If something gets on his nerves, he gets rid of it right away. That’s always been his way. Whether it was an object or a person, he never held onto anything.

Cha Yoon quietly observed the small woman chattering in front of him.

“You stabbed your spear all over the sea trying to catch fish, but you didn’t get a single one. It was hilarious.”

Her cheeks lifted whenever she laughed, her voice slightly flushed, hands in constant motion like she was acting out a fairy tale. Everything about Sun Woori grated on him. Most of all, it was the sparkle in her eyes, as if she were truly delighted.

Her large eyes seemed to be filled only with him, yet he knew the one she was really seeing was someone else. 

That truth kept poking at the dark pit inside him. An unfamiliar discomfort pressed so tightly against his chest he couldn’t shake it off.

He could just get rid of her, and that would settle this chaos. He knew it would be the most effective, reliable way. But the more he tried to deny Sun Woori, the more tightly she bound him.

He couldn’t even understand why he kept giving in to her absurd demands. He didn’t even think of refusing. 

It was as if they were commands he had to execute, like input fed into a program. Was it all because of that bastard, Jay?

Maybe because Jay’s emotions still lingered inside him, he couldn’t cut this woman away. If he could just erase Jay completely from himself, he was certain he could finally be free.

It was the same for Sun Woori. If she would stop waiting so foolishly for someone who would never come, if she would only turn her eyes elsewhere, she would be so much more at ease.

But the two of them were bound by a tie so stubbornly strong that Cha Yoon dared not even imagine breaking it.

So what?

Ignoring the sharp sting of anxiety and jealousy, Cha Yoon sneered inwardly. A destructive urge of unknown origin boiled near his heart. 

No matter what he did, that bastard could only stand there, dumbstruck, watching. Right now, it was Cha Yoon who stood by Sun Woori’s side.

“Don’t go.”

“……”

“Stay with me.”

When Sun Woori finally let herself lean toward him, Cha Yoon felt a tingling thrill spread from deep in his chest, so overwhelming his mind nearly went numb. The dizzying surge of triumph, like his brain was melting, left him not knowing what to say or do for the first time.

He didn’t need a reason. He moved on instinct. 

Whatever he did, Sun Woori struggled against it, yet somehow accepted him all the same. 

Her small squirming, her shallow gasps, he savored it all. Could a human body really be this sweet? Only Sun Woori could make him feel such ecstasy.

And she wanted him too. That raw, electrifying intoxication pulled Cha Yoon in completely.

“J… Jay…”

Until she spoke that bastard’s name again.

The soaring high he’d been riding crashed instantly to the ground. Even to the end, she refused to see him as Cha Yoon. 

None of the affection pouring out of her belonged to him. That truth drove him mad. The arrogance of thinking those tempting gestures were his to claim flipped in an instant into searing inferiority.

“Say my name again.”

“Cha… Cha Yoon.”

Confusion welled in Sun Woo-ri’s eyes. Forcing her to speak his name, he etched himself into her body and mind. But the more he moved with her, the more foreign visions flitted through his head.

Her flushed face gasping beneath another man.

Even though it was his first time, Cha Yoon knew her body inside out. Where to touch to make her cry in that sultry voice, how to move so she lost all control. He knew it all.

Filthy. Disgusting.

It felt like he was rolling in muck. Yet the sensation of her bare skin against his was pure bliss. This duality tormented him. The more his heart shook with unease and confusion, the harder he drove her.

When morning came and Cha Yoon woke alone, he sat staring blankly at the empty space, a wordless mix of resentment and unease weighing down his chest.

Tracking her down, he wasn’t surprised. Of course she was at that brat Suho’s hospital. To be pushed aside, first by Jay and now by Suho. Pathetic.

He had long felt his eyes drawn to her, his attention pulled toward her, but now it had crossed a line, mutating into an obsession, a compulsion. 

And it wasn’t Jay’s emotions, it was his own. It had to be. That bastard was gone now.

Cha Yoon was restless, like a patient with a nervous disorder. He even dreamt nightmares he hadn’t had in ages. A dream of himself on some unknown island, locked in a sticky kiss with Sun Woori. Deep down, he knew it was Jay’s memory bleeding through.

Cha Yoon couldn’t shake the dread that Jay would resurface, overpower him, and appear before Sun Woori once again. 

His heart froze over. She must never, ever discover the Jay inside him.

The burning anxiety frayed every nerve. Black, viscous obsession churned inside him. His heart and head were so full of Sun Woori he couldn’t even think of Cha Seong-hwan. 

And in the end, when he once again heard that name fall from her lips, the fire roared up inside him.

“How the hell am I supposed to keep my sanity when you treat me like some lunatic who’s lost his memory, while all you ever do is look for another man?”

“…What do you mean—”

“Would it make things any better if I just went around pretending to be that other bastard you want?”

His vision wavered, stained crimson with jealousy and inferiority. The fiery emotions burned away his reason, leaving only one thought. 

He had to keep Sun Woori by his side.

But the uncontrollable blaze of emotion ended up scorching even the bond between them.

“…Fine. Let’s end it all here.”

“……”

“Don’t ever contact me again.”

With a voice that sounded exhausted, resigned, Sun Woori said her farewell and left the room. 

Click. The door shut. Only then did Cha Yoon feel the countless black ashes piled beneath his feet. The veins on the back of his clenched hand bulged. 

Once the storm of heightened emotions had poured out, nothing was left inside him. It was as though he had become hollow.

***

“…So, the summons for questioning will be coming soon.”

“……”

Park Jong-hoo pushed up his glasses. Cha Yoon, slouched back against the sofa, gave no response.

“Cha Yoon. You okay?”

When Cha Yoon rubbed the corner of his mouth with his large hand, the rough stubble of several days scraped against his skin. He looked worse than during the month he suffered from insomnia. 

His bloodshot eyes were sunken, his unkempt hair hanging in loose strands. Park Jong-hoo let out a heavy, frustrated sigh.

“I heard you’ve even been ignoring calls from Chairman Cha lately?”

“Mind your own business.”

“You’re not seriously planning to cut ties, are you? Sure, Chairman Cha went too far with that whole Cha Seong-hwan business, but still, he’s family. And if you get on the chairman’s bad side, isn’t that exactly what Cha Seong-hwan wants? I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but for God’s sake, pull yourself together.”

“……”

Just then, the phone on the table buzzed. For the first time in days, Cha Yoon’s sunken eyes lit up. The moment he answered, he cut straight to the point.

“Where’s Sun Woori?”

—She just went into the hospital.

That was all he needed to hear. Cha Yoon hung up immediately and, as if he had been waiting for the call, rose from his seat. Park Jong-hoo stared at him in disbelief, then raked his hands roughly through his hair.

“So Sun Woori is the problem right now?”

“What else would it be.”

“You should be dealing with the Cha Seong-hwan situation first! Do you think that bastard’s just going to sit quietly after you hit him where it hurts? Before he pulls something, you need to either defend yourself or strike first to pin him down for good!”

Park Jong-hoo’s voice rose, desperate and pleading. But Cha Yoon didn’t budge. His vacant eyes looked down on Park Jong-hoo without a hint of reaction. Park Jong-hoo gave a hollow laugh.

“Who even are you?”

For the first time, Cha Yoon’s brow twitched. But without giving it any thought, he simply turned and walked away.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand Park Jong-hoo’s frustration. He knew all too well. 

If they sat idle now, Cha Seong-hwan would surely wriggle free by borrowing the chairman’s influence. And that wouldn’t be the end of it. Retaliation was inevitable. 

To reclaim his flawless public image, Cha Seong-hwan would move to eliminate Cha Yoon.

But still, Cha Yoon couldn’t set aside thoughts of Sun Woori. It was as if he’d lost all sense of reality. Nothing else entered his vision but her.

When he reached the hospital, he went straight to her location. In the VIP ward’s intensive care unit, Lee Su-ho lay unconscious, small body entangled in a forest of medical machines. A thick tube was inserted down his throat, IV bags dangling all around.

Next to him, Sun Woori lay slumped over, crying.