Page 158 of Scarbound

Duri leaned a little closer, his hand resting near Noeul’s on the couch. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.”

“It is.”

Noeul looked at him again, a knot forming in his stomach. He held his breath, waiting, wondering if Duri felt it too. His hand slid slightly closer to his.

Duri’s fingers brushed his, tentative, testing.

Neither pulled away.

Instead, Duri’s gaze drifted from Noeul’s eyes to his lips, lingering there with an intensity that sent Noeul’s heart racing. For a suspended moment, neither of them moved.

Then Duri slowly lifted his hand to Noeul’s face, his thumb stroking his cheek. Noeul’s breath caught. He closed his eyes for a second and leaned instinctively into the touch.

“You’re playing with fire, hyung,” Duri said, his voice low and rough.

Noeul reached up and touched the hand still caressing his face. A mischievous smile curved his lips.

“Really?”

For Duri, it was everything he had wanted. Noeul wasn’t pulling away. He wasn’t looking at him like Ji-Woo’s younger friend, or someone he needed to protect. There was desire in his eyes. Duri could see it. And that terrified him almost as much as it thrilled him.

He’s drunk.

The thought cut through everything else.

“Fuck, hyung,” Duri muttered. He lowered his hand, but Noeul caught it before he could pull away completely. “Do you have any idea how badly I want you? But you’re drunk,” Duri continued, pain threading through his voice. “I’m not going to touch you like this.”

Noeul lowered his gaze, his fingers still wrapped around Duri’s.

“Can’t you see how I feel about you?” Duri whispered. “You’re afraid to let me into your soul, yet you won’t let me go.”

Noeul’s smile slowly disappeared.

Duri swallowed. “You follow him… and then you keep coming back to me. I don’t know how to stand here and want you when he’s still the one who has you.”

At the mention of Chung-Hee, whatever warmth had settled over Noeul fractured.

“He doesn’t have me.”

Duri stared at him.

Noeul’s fingers tightened around his hand. “He hurts me, and I still keep going back. Part of me keeps waiting for him to become the person I thought he was. I don’t even know why anymore.”

Duri’s jaw tightened. “And what happens when he hurts you again?”

Noeul said nothing.

“When he humiliates you again? When he decides you’ve done something else that deserves punishment?”

“Duri…”

“No.” Duri shook his head. “I don’t understand it, hyung. I’m trying, but I don’t.”

His anger wasn’t really directed at Noeul.

“If I hurt you too, would you keep coming back to me?”

Noeul stared at him. Whatever desire had been in his expression vanished, replaced by something Duri recognized too late.