| Poison | 🔞 |

Chapter 20

From that point on, Seonghwa had officially been appointed as head of the organization, everything was beneath his fingertips. Despite what he had done to Samuel, surprisingly, the whole organization welcomed him with open arms, even Samuel's daughter, Hana. It was almost as if they had all been impatiently waiting for him to finally step up. After all, he was his father's son, he had the perfect skill set and intuition to run something as large as this.

A few weeks after Seonghwa had begun orchestrating the puppet strings, he wasn't living up to what he had originally promised, he didn't begin to turn the company around. In fact, it had only gotten worse from there. 

The virtually endless power at his whim, the sea of green paper. The more he tasted, the more he wanted. While the organization was thriving more than it was before, the way it was changing Seonghwa was becoming dangerous. He had softened a lot since Hongjoong entered his life, but with a new taste of power on his tongue, the person he used to be was seeping through the cracks once again. Hongjoong tried to keep faith in his lover, but that was hanging by a hair-thin thread that was going to snap at any moment.

One afternoon, after receiving a request from Seonghwa to find some information on a rival organization, Hongjoong had walked into Seonghwa's bedroom with an orange envelope in his hands, but Seonghwa wasn't there when he'd gotten there.

Where the hell did he go? A frown formed on his brow as he thought to himself.

Walking out of the bedroom, Hongjoong made his way down the hall to the living area. He caught a glimpse of Seonghwa in the corner of his eye, lounging outside beside the pool in a pair of black swim shorts, a single bucket hat covering his face. Hongjoong huffed out slightly, then walked over to the sliding glass door, grabbing the handle and sliding it open. He stepped out onto the concrete of the patio and made his way to Seonghwa.

"Seonghwa..." Hongjoong began as he stopped beside the black-haired male, looking down at him on the lounger. "I have that information you wanted on Jeong Enterprise. The records are surprisingly clean, somehow everything that they've been working on has no digital footprints."

A subtle grunt came from Seonghwa's throat and he waved his hand dismissively. "Not now... I'm busy here." Seonghwa huffed out, not even bothering to remove the bucket hat from his face.

Hongjoong bit the inside of his cheek at the response of his lover, he was growing increasingly tired of the snobby attitude of the other male. He took the envelope and smacked it onto the bare skin of Seonghwa's chest.

Yanking the hat from his face and sitting up, he flashed a glare at Hongjoong. "Yah! What's your deal?"

"Some of us are actually busy doing work. Your definition of busy is incompetent, lounging by the pool isn't "busy." I spent all morning gathering that information for you. Review it." Hongjoong spoke as he tilted with his head, putting on a fake smile.

As Hongjoong started to walk away, he could hear that Seonghwa muttered something under his breath. The white-haired male stopped on a dime, turning around and looking at Seonghwa.

"What did you say?" Hongjoong questioned with squinted eyes.

Seonghwa let out a cheeky scoff and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. If you didn't hear me the first time, then I guess I won't waste my time repeating myself."

Hongjoong rubbed his forehead as he let out an annoyed laugh. "You're a fucking prick..." He spat out heading back inside.

The corner of Seonghwa's mouth curled into a smirk, standing up from the lounger to follow Hongjoong inside with the envelope in his hand.

"What's your problem today? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, baby boy?" Seonghwa called after Hongjoong with a condescending tone, following the smaller male into the parlor.