Beyond the End (My Landlady Noona)

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Might edit this in the future. 

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On with the chapter!

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When Leandro woke up the next morning, it was to a sight that couldn't have been more familiar. "Seriously, Noona? Again?"

Yuhee was straddling him—her bathrobe was loose, and her perky tits spilled out like dewy, swollen pieces of peaches. Except that her expression was uncharacteristically serious. 

Her eyes were fixed on him, cold and emotionless. 

He held her stare, neither of them budging. 

Leandro tilted his head, an amused smile on his face—she had the courage to glare coldly at him like that and even wore an innocent little frown on her face. "Still mad?"

Yuhee placed two fingers under his chin, either to establish contact, or some sort of dominance over him. "Of course. I feel like I deserve some compensation, don't you think~?"

"A compensation, huh?"

"Did you sleep well~?" She tilted his chin up, gently yet menacingly so.

"Like a rock. What about you? Does your butt still hurt?"

Yuhee glowered at him for even mentioning what he had done to her in the shower—how his dick, thing, whatnot, opened her ass like it was unraveling a bento lunch package.

"It does." She leaned back, her ass squishing over his lap. "That's why I have this with me~"

Leandro looked at her other hand, which was partly hidden behind the loose flap of her robe.

A stun gun was in her hand.

He tilted his head, disappointed. "Really, Noona? Is this how far you're willing to go? You wish harm upon me?"

She curled her nose, waving the taser dismissively, but threateningly. "That's where you're wrong, Leandro. I'm not going to use this on you if you behave properly~ I have to use the carrot and stick on you, otherwise you'll keep doing stuff like that." 

"What if I don't?"

Electricity arced between the gun's electrodes. 

He saw Yuhee's thighs flex, as if tensing up. 

She was, at heart, the kind who hated to lose and didn't really forgive whoever slighted her. She might seem cold to many—even the people around her—but she had the heart of a sweet little fox, as innocent as she was vicious.

And the problem had always been that 'vicious' side of her. 

"You can easily lose those who wish to be close to you, Noona." He said, not the slightest fazed by the gun in her hand; it wouldn't even work on him. "You've got to be careful at whom you point your weapon."

"Oh, now you wish to be close to me?"

She leaned so close their noses were almost touching. 

Outside, the sun started peeking over the skyline, swathing Yuhee's face in a warm curtain of light. She'd be so otherworldly angelic if only she wasn't so damn poisonous. 

"I've always been close to you, Noona. Even when I knew that you'd be so hard to deal with."

Yuhee glared coldly at him. The stun gun started to sizzle in her hand. She clenched her hand tightly. "Hard to deal with, huh? You sure know how to flatter a girl." 

Leandro sighed. "Aren't I still here, doesn't that count?" 

He lifted his palm up, gently resting it on the junction where her wrist met the stun gun.

Yuhee growled, electricity arcing from the stun gun, crackling in little blinks of blue light. Leandro only moved closer. The stun gun made a futile effort trying to fry him to a crispy barbeque.

"..."

Yuhee swallowed deeply. 

"Noona, what is it that you want?"

"..."

She clicked her tongue, looking away. A blush dusted her cheeks.

"A date." She stated, resolutely. "That's my compensation." 

Leandro pretended to frown. Yuhee, thinking that he still wasn't getting it, snapped her fingers towards a table with a list of reservations already printed on it. Did she work on it while he was asleep? 

"Dinner. Movie. Shopping. I don't have work for the day, or tomorrow." She listed off, proud of her planning. 

"A date, huh." Leandro laughed incredulously, which Yuhee interpreted as mocking her.

"What are you laughing about? Dammit... Leandro!" She stomped down on his chest with a tiny, weak fist. "Damn!"

"Did you seriously threaten me with a stun gun just for a date?"

She frowned. His eyes had a cold glint in them that she didn't like. 

"It was also for yesterday, you bastard."

She finally admitted, clicking her tongue once again, her eyes narrowed into slits. 

"..."

"Look. Do you want this?" Yuhee shook the gun right in front of Leandro.

"..."

She growled at his silence.

"So...?"

And so she pressed, impatiently.

Leandro made sure to look deep into her eyes.

"No."

"W-What?"

She couldn't believe her ears.

He stole the stun gun from her hands, and, under her widening eyes, crushed it, letting the fragments fall off his grip like small pieces of sand. Yuhee stared—dumbfoundedly so. "Leandro—!"

Then, she felt a hand sliding down her waist. He easily pushed her off of him.

"You've got to learn how to ask things nicely, Noona. You never do things the proper way. Maybe that's why I find you interesting. But is this how you're going to behave whenever things don't go your way?"

"...!" She glared at him. "You bastard—you played with my asshole to your heart's content yesterday and now you're all getting pissy on me?"

Yuhee crawled back over Leandro's lap, completely unperturbed as she began to work his bathrobe off his shoulders. Leandro stilled under Yuhee's warm, slightly clammy palm.

He remained emotionless the entire time, which slightly frustrated Yuhee. "Tch. Why won't you react?" She frowned as her palm glided up and down the breadth of Leandro's chest, tracing its shape.

Leandro was impassive, merely staring at her.

Her hands made a sharp descent for his crotch. 

"Come on~ what does it matter? I'll forget about it if you just—"

Leandro seized her hands and threw her off of him, standing up as he did so. 

"That's the thing. Forget about it? This isn't something that should be forgotten, Noona. Stop sweeping matters under the rug and acting as if you're the victim. You want a date? Ask me again when you become a proper adult."

Yuhee ended up sprawled on the bed. Her bathrobe opened up completely, exposing her creamy white skin and her wet loins. She looked at him, disbelievingly so. "Leandro—?!"

"Wash up, Noona." Leandro calmly said. "And get changed. We're going back."

"..."

Yuhee opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again

"B-But... our date?"

Leandro adjusted the sleeves of his bathrobe as he walked out of the room, giving her an indifferent glance. "I'll be waiting for you in the lobby."

He didn't even have the decency to turn towards her and reply properly. Yuhee frowned as Leandro shut the door. She climbed out of the bed and winced at the soreness in her derriere, growling a few more words of swear before dragging herself to her large en-suite bathroom.

...

"Leandro...?"

Yuhee was a bit anxious; it was a rare thing for her.

The aircraft had taken off a few minutes earlier, and the atmosphere between the two of them was tense, to say the least.

"Leandroooo~"

She tried to latch onto him, to initiate some skinship, or sneak a session right there in the jet, but he remained unresponsive to her needy clinginess. He didn't even touch the phone on the pocket of his coat, preferring to look outside the jet's window, acting like an airhead, ignoring her like she was a pesky cockroach.

"Noona, stop acting out and stay seated."

Leandro threw her a look. It was not cold—merely indifferent, and that was worse. It felt like all their progress had vanished, and now they were back at the starting line, no, maybe even further behind.

"You're ignoring me...?" She pursed her lips, annoyed and frustrated. "I demand you look at me in the face when I speak. Hey! Leandro—!"

Leandro's eyes suddenly narrowed, his stare turning frigid and colder.

A cold aura seemed to emanate from his being.

Yuhee found herself sinking back to the leather seats.

Damn it—he was scary when mad!

... and also hot.

Yuhee bit her thumb, not knowing what to do. She was the type to bat her eyelashes at her problems. Act cute. Seduce her way around the issue. Then take action. And it wasn't that she liked to seduce her problems or anything, it was more like her feelings for Leandro weren't able to articulate themselves if it didn't involve skinship and actions—physical demonstration.

And now she was forced to acknowledge that there were actually feelings there, and it made things slightly weird and complicated.

A whole lot more complicated.

The cold aura enveloping Leandro felt like a cold snap on her naked skin.

She leaned forward in her seat to avoid his stare.

"Leandro~"

Leandro clicked his tongue, then faced Yuhee. "What is it this time, Noona?"

"...!" Yuhee inhaled sharply, visibly flinching, having gotten his attention.

Leandro furrowed his brows—one of them arching like a knife. 

"Are you seriously... are you serious? Ignoring me the whole day?"

He tilted his head. "But I'm not ignoring you, now am I, Noona?"

"That's not what I meant—"

"You should know, Noona." Leandro interrupted her, turning to look outside the window. Jeju Island was slowly turning into a small dot in the horizon. "Maybe it was my misconception to assume you could be better, and I'd never ask you to change; that'd be hypocritical of me. But even now you're trying to turn me into one of your toys, something you can control and command. And when it doesn't go well, you wave a stupid gun at it." 

"I wouldn't have had to do it if you—"

"If I what…?" Leandro leaned slightly forward, resting his head on one hand. "If I didn't obey you? After all this time, you still seek to establish a hierarchy between us? Noona, you threaten and manipulate the few good people around you. This isn't healthy nor wise. You're driving a wedge between us. I'm not expecting clean behavior from you; you've always been like that, but I'm expecting that, after all this time, you'd drop the gaslighting and aggressive stances. A stun gun wouldn't even do anything if you ever do use one on me. And it kind of pisses me off that, the first damn thing I see when I wake up, is that thing ready to be used on me. And it's you who's holding it."

"..."

Arms crossed, he raised one eyebrow at her. "What, you think I'm going to fall for you if you act like this?"

She gritted her teeth, hands balling into fists. 

…

Time passed. 

A cup of wine sat untouched in front of them. Yuhee had grabbed one, hoping that it would alleviate some of the tension, but Leandro looked indifferent to everything, staring at it but not touching it, or so much looking at her—which made Yuhee feel more anxious than annoyed.

"..." Yuhee clicked her tongue, her eyebrow twitching. 

 She was getting mad; Leandro could see it. 

Curled nose. Impatient tapping on the table. The slightly derisive look in her eyes. He expected, hoped, for an apology at least, but Yuhee was far too proud to apologize and admit she was in the wrong. 

'There's no surprise here.'

She kept quiet. And so did he. 

Yuhee would glance at him, to see if he'd break first, or if he'd glance back at her, but there was no response. He might as well have been a mannequin with how still he was. 

She huffed. The wine cup was chilly when she grabbed it. She wasn't even thirsty to begin with—just wanted something to grab onto that wasn't Leandro.

Eventually, the aircraft landed at Incheon International Airport.

Leandro, despite the cold shoulder, still helped her down the stairs. He still stuck close in that protective way of his. Yuhee found that odd, and not odd at the same time. She found herself smiling slightly all the way out of the tarmac.

Inside the limousine, they sat across from each other. She could have slithered on his lap like a snake, but figured it'd only antagonize him further.

And it wasn't like she really didn't care for Leandro's words.

Indeed, she'd thought him the pushiest, stubborn little bastard—how dare he chide her like he's the older one and she's the brat? How dare he point out something she should change in herself?

She bit her lip, now back to being annoyed all over again.

If he was angry, she could have fixed that, but his plain indifference reminded her of the first few times they met, the way he judged her.

"You broke my taser, idiot." She mumbled. "We should be even."

It was only fair, dammit!

Leandro closed his eyes as he sighed, and the two sat quietly the entire drive, a wall of cold tension in between. That was until Leandro leaned forward, but not for physical intimacy. For a moment, she had her hopes up, until her name came out of his lips. "Yuhee Noona."

She stared at him. Well, she had always been staring at him.

"It's going to be dangerous the next few days." He said, slowly. 

Yuhee didn't bother asking him what he was talking about. "And?" She snapped coldly—at the same time trying not to melt all over that earnest stare and manly aura he was giving out. "I figured something was bound to happen~"

She knew, but how dangerous could it be?

That's what ran through her mind, because she hadn't seen what prowled inside the Monolith. Didn't see goblins ripping humans apart. Didn't see a horde of undead tirelessly advancing, or the Yetis, with their terrifying howls and gigantic size. 

All she knew were secondhand accounts. 

A few hired thugs and bodyguards wouldn't do anything.

"Why?" She leaned in, close enough that her noses almost brushed. A smirk played on her lips. He pulled away. "Are you worried about me~?"

"..."

"Ohhh? Am I right? You're worried about me!"

The thought that he cared made her feel all fluttery inside. She felt the prickle of anxiety from earlier slowly fade. Of course, she'd never let it show. 

Yuhee tried to link her arm around his, but he smoothly moved away once again. 

It left her glaring with annoyance, lips pursed into a thin, cute pout.

"Noona, there is nothing like worry."

"Then what?"

"Concern."

He stated as a matter of fact—making Yuhee pause slightly.

"Is what I feel towards you."

Concern, huh?

Yuhee lifted her hand, to hide her smile; a blush even formed in her pale cheeks. The word rang quite different and special than if he'd said he was simply 'worried' about her.

"But this feeling is shitty... because honestly, do you think you deserve having someone concerned over you?" Leandro gave her a side eye.

Yuhee's face morphed into something incredulous. The warmth earlier began to be replaced by annoyance once more, with a tiny, tiny pang of guilt and sadness, if she was being honest.

'But here I am, not being able to take my eyes away from you—knowing you may end up getting hurt because of the Monolith. I fucking hate this.'