TWELVE 106

My aunt and uncle grabbed both of Jeon Juseok’s arms and pulled him forward as if pushing him.

Jeon Juseok, who was dragged out feebly, belatedly shook off his parents’ hands. I was standing in front of him, and my aunt and uncle were standing behind him. He muttered curses and stood there, unable to do one thing or the other.

“Ha, fuck…”

I dared to be certain that this was the most troubled moment of Jeon Juseok’s life.

Would he actually apologize? Has he even ever apologized once in his life?

I just stared at him. At this point, it didn’t matter if I didn’t receive an apology, but I was curious if he was a human being who could actually do such a thing.

After wavering for a long time, Jeon Juseok kicked the air and shouted.

“Fuck, seriously…!”

Then he looked at me. It wasn’t the arrogant eyes he usually had; he looked like he didn’t know where to put his gaze and kept glancing at me.

“…Woo Seungkyung.”

I continued to face him without a word.

“I’m going crazy. Woo Seungkyung, I mean…”

Jeon Juseok, who muttered and grabbed a handful of his own hair before letting go, said while looking at the ground.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“Ah, I said I’m sorry, you brat.”

As expected.

“I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so damn sorry, so let’s just stop. Huh?”

He didn’t know how to apologize. Furthermore, since he didn’t even seem to think he had done anything wrong in the first place, the apology was meaningless.

Even so, how could the words ‘I’m so damn sorry so let’s stop’ come out? It was so absurd that a hollow laugh just burst out.

“Hey, you fu… Are you smirking?”

The small laugh that broke out seemed to have severely struck a nerve with Jeon Juseok.

“I asked if you were smirking.”

He stepped right up in front of me. His eyes, which had been directed toward the ground the whole time, were suddenly aimed straight at me.

“Is it funny? Yeah, it must be funny. Since a brat who was always crawling is getting an apology, you must be happy enough to die, right? You feel like you’ve become something, like you’ve won, like that, right?”

“…”

“Say something, you babbling fool!”

Jeon Juseok’s hand flew toward my shoulder, and I brushed his hand away.

“That…”

What on earth has he really thought of me as?

“Is that an apology?”

Jeon Juseok looked as if he hadn’t expected me to show this kind of reaction. It was ridiculous. Who in the world would accept someone saying they are sorry as an apology, only to then curse and speak sarcastically?

“There he goes again. You’ve really got me, haven’t you? Then what is this if not an apology? I said I’m sorry.”

At the very least, he must not have thought that I was a person with feelings. That’s probably why he feels displeased instead when I express my mood.

“I said I was sorry, fuck, I did!”

“I’m asking if it’s an apology just because you said you’re sorry.”

“Then what do you want me to do? Should I at least get on my knees and beg? Is that an apology then?”

“Yes, you should at least do that much.”

I feel bad too. I’ve been displeased the entire time during the several years I’ve been tormented by Jeon Juseok. I am a person with feelings too.

“Even if you get on your knees and beg, it’s a matter of whether I’ll accept it or not. Do you still not understand the situation, hyung?”

“Agh! What’s really wrong with your head? You’re acting so damn cocky, aren’t you?”

Jeon Juseok reached out toward me once again, and this time my uncle restrained him. No, did he only restrain him?

“…Ah, why are you doing this! Agh, ah!”

He even went as far as pushing Jeon Juseok down and swinging his fists wildly. Jeon Juseok screamed while covering his face with his arms.

“Really, to me, why are you doing this…!”

“You made, the matter, reach, this point, and you still don’t know? How do you not know!”

“Ah, this fuuuuck!”

Jeon Juseok, who was being beaten, straightened his body and charged at my uncle like a bull.

“Ugh…!”

Because of that, my uncle lost his balance and fell.

“Honey!”

My aunt immediately tried to support my uncle, and Jeon Juseok took that opportunity to…

“That, that brat…!”

“Juseok! Jeon Juseok!”

He ran away.

My aunt and uncle, who were crying out their son’s name, sat down on the ground and let out hollow sighs.

I was also dumbfounded, though not as much as they were. No matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t know Jeon Juseok would run away in that manner.

I helped my aunt, who was groaning while trying to help my uncle up. My uncle couldn’t put any strength into his body, perhaps because he was injured somewhere when he fell.

Perhaps it’s not the body but the heart that was injured, which is why he couldn’t get up. My aunt and uncle sat on the bench as if reclining and burst into tears.

Jeon Juseok, who had always made me want to run away, had fled instead, and my aunt and uncle, who always treated me with a high-handed attitude, were crying helplessly in front of me.

It was a strange feeling. I didn’t feel any emotion like a sense of victory.

When my aunt and uncle’s crying subsided, I approached them and spoke.

“Uncle, I think you might be hurt, so please go to the hospital for now. I’ll be going in.”

I didn’t have anything I wanted to say originally, but now I really wondered what more I needed to say.

“Seungkyung, wait a moment.”

However, my aunt grabbed my hand.

I didn’t pull that hand away; I simply looked at my aunt. My aunt, who was sobbing while blinking her reddened eyes repeatedly, soon looked at me.

“It can’t end like this. We can’t live. Please… can’t you just let it slide once?”

I swallowed a sigh and belatedly pulled my hand away from my aunt.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of whether I let it slide or not.”

“No, it is. Juseok is, yeah, I raised the child wrong. But your uncle…”

My uncle still had his head lowered.

“Can’t you speak to Lawyer Gi so that your uncle can at least be reinstated? You and Lawyer Gi are close, aren’t you? Enough for Lawyer Gi to help you. So if you talk…”

“Uncle’s business is company business, so I don’t think it would be of any use even if I spoke.”

I took one step away from them.

“I’ll be going. Please get home safely.”

Before I could become the straw they had to grab onto once again, I quickly left the spot.

∞ ∞ ∞

“Do you have something on your mind?”

I was definitely watching Gi Seoin work, and it seemed like Gi Seoin was immersed in his work, but before I knew it, the opposite situation must have occurred.

I straightened my upper body, which had been buried in the sofa, and asked him.

“Huh? Why?”

“Because you have a worried face.”

“Me?”

After eating dinner and being full, I was just dozing off because I felt drowsy after washing up. Probably…

Actually, there was something that was bothering me.

“Is it because of Mr. Jeon Myeonghyeok?”

Gi Seoin asked first even before I opened my mouth.

For a moment, I wondered who Jeon Myeonghyeok was, before recalling that it was my uncle’s name.

“Are you worried about those people?”

“No, it’s not that…”

While I was hesitating, Gi Seoin approached, sat next to me, and faced me. Then he put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned my head against his forearm.

“It’s not that I’m worried, but a lingering uncomfortable feeling? I don’t really know either.”

Gi Seoin pressed my shoulder and pulled me into a deeper hug.

“There’s no reason for you to feel that way.”

“I know, I know, but I do. Am I really a pushover?”

“It’s because you’re kind.”

The guy kissed my forehead as if to comfort me and then stroked my hair.

“Because you’re soft-hearted.”

“They say that when it goes beyond a certain point, it’s called being a pushover.”

“If you had forgiven those people there and even dropped the lawsuit, then you’d be worthy of being called a pushover.”

“That’s not it.”

“Yeah, so you’re not a pushover.”

“I guess so…”

I turned my body toward Gi Seoin and hugged his waist with both arms.

“I don’t know. I feel a bit wronged. I don’t know why I have to feel this way. Jeon Juseok is receiving as much as he did wrong, and my uncle, well…”

Slightly, I raised my eyes and looked at him.

“He was fired due to company circumstances.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s really true, right?”

“It’s true.”

Gi Seoin answered and kissed my forehead again. The breath that touched me in that moment was ticklish, so a laugh leaked out. Then he also raised the corners of his mouth.

“Was it ticklish?”

“Yeah. Ah, but…”

The curiosity that had arisen while talking with my aunt and uncle suddenly came to mind.

“Do the people at the company not know that you’re the son of Cheongcheon?”

“They know.”

“Everyone?”

“Almost everyone knows.”

“Why didn’t my uncle know? When we went to my aunt’s house, my uncle didn’t recognize you. It seemed like he found out later.”

If my uncle had recognized Gi Seoin sooner, he wouldn’t have acted so arrogantly. My uncle might be regretting that day.

Gi Seoin said.

“People don’t recognize each other well when they meet outside. There aren’t many occasions for different teams to run into each other, too.”

“Really? Still, I think they’d know.”

I looked up at Gi Seoin’s face.

“Your face is one that’s impossible not to recognize.”

Then the guy snickered. Ah, he’s handsome. Really, how can they not recognize a face like that? Even if you see it once, it seems like it would be hard to forget even if you tried to do so on purpose.

Gi Seoin, with a smile hanging on his lips, spoke while fiddling with my hair.

“Because that type of person only remembers people who are important to them.”

“You’re the CEO’s son, aren’t you an important person?”

“That was when I had left Cheongcheon.”

“Then can they just forget immediately like that?”

“They probably didn’t imagine that the person you brought was the Gi Seoin who left Cheongcheon.”

Thinking that way, I understood immediately. The reason my uncle didn’t recognize Gi Seoin must be because Gi Seoin was with me. They would have ignored him just the same even if I had brought the President.

“No matter how it turned out, everything…”

Gi Seoin muttered as if talking to himself.

“Is self-inflicted.”

The body temperature that enveloped me was infinitely warm, but that voice was cold enough to make me flinch for a split second.