MW 47

“Right. What is it that has you making a face so unlike yourself, Jaeha?”

He had spoken to his parents in advance, but this was the first time he was bringing it up with his grandfather. Jaeha knew well how much his grandfather wanted to keep his promise to his friend, so it was difficult for him to broach the subject. But for Yijae’s sake, he had to say it, even if it was difficult.

Tightening his hands on his knees, he lifted his head and looked his grandfather straight in the eye, starting the conversation he wanted to have with him.

“I have no intention of getting engaged to the second son of the Sejin Group.”

“…I see. So that’s what you came to talk about.”

As if the topic was not entirely unexpected, Chairman Kang nodded his head calmly. After a moment, he slowly broke the silence and looked at Jaeha.

“You’re both still young, and kids these days are skeptical about arranged marriages, so I understand. But as you know, the engagement between you two was the last promise I made with Hyungchul before he died.”

Hyungchul. He was the first chairman of the Sejin Group and his grandfather’s old hometown friend. To commemorate their past days of relying on each other and living as friendly rivals, the two men had promised a marriage to signify the union of their families on the day Jaeha was born.

“But Grandfather. What if Gu Dohae is not of the Gu family bloodline?”

“Not of the Gu family bloodline? What do you mean by that?”

“Gu Dohae is not Chairman Gu Byungho’s biological son. He’s a child secretly adopted by Lee Sunmin, who was diagnosed with infertility after giving birth to their first child, and Chairman Gu.”

“Hah…”

The chairman’s expression darkened, as if this was something he hadn’t anticipated, and as if he was furious that they had sullied his and his friend’s precious promise with a lie.

“Furthermore, Gu Dohae, and that family, have committed acts that should never be done to a person.”

With an expression of anguish just from recalling it, he took a manila envelope out of his bag and handed it to his grandfather.

“These are the things they have done until now. Please see how one person’s life has been ruined because of their greed.”

Taking what Jaeha handed him, the chairman slowly read through the documents inside. One page, two pages, after reviewing all the materials Jaeha had prepared, he placed the documents down on the table. Just then, Jaeha’s face came into the chairman’s line of sight. It was an expression he had never once seen on his grandson before. After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth and spoke to Jaeha.

“Jaeha, you… have feelings for this child, don’t you.”

At his grandfather’s question, Jaeha took a small breath and opened his mouth.

“Yes, I like him very much. If I get married, I want to do it with Yijae. Please give me your permission, Grandfather.”

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Sitting in the library, Jaeha’s face fell heavily as he recalled the conversation he had with his grandfather a little while ago.

With a meaningless touch, he scribbled random letters in his notebook, then looked at the handwriting on one side of the page and let out a small chuckle, his stiff lips relaxing into a smile.

The conversations he had with Yijae back when he wasn’t speaking were written here and there in the notebook.

Glancing through them, Jaeha realized it was almost time for Yijae’s last class to end and tapped on his phone screen. Thankfully, there was still a little time left before Yijae’s class was over.

Today was one of the three days a week he had his part-time job. His schedule was a bit tight if he wanted to feed him dinner and drop him off at Hidden before he had to be there.

As Jaeha headed towards the business administration building where Yijae was, he began to seriously ponder what kind of food he should feed him today.

“Sunbae-nim!”

Yijae, having spotted him, beamed like a child leaving school for the day and came running towards him with big strides.

“What’s got you smiling so prettily?”

“Just because. Just because everything is good.”

Yijae leaped into Jaeha’s arms and let out a laugh. Jaeha, gently stroking his hair, took the bag weighing down on Yijae’s shoulder from him.

“I can carry it myself!”

“It’s heavy. What did you pack so much for?”

“I’m going to study when I get home. Hey, don’t change the subject. I can carry it. Give it to me.”

Yijae, who almost fell for Jaeha’s frequent trick again, snapped to his senses and held out his hand. However, instead of the heavy bookbag, Jaeha’s hand touched Yijae’s palm.

“If your shoulders are pressed down, you won’t grow taller later.”

“But I’m already all grown up…”

“You’re still far from being all grown up. I’ll consider it when you grow up to here.”

He said, pointing to just below his chin. That’s because sunbae-nim is tall, not because he’s short.

Puffing out his cheeks in frustration, Yijae suddenly wondered if he just seemed like a child to Jaeha.

Is it because I still seem too much like a kid that he doesn’t do anything?

Although it was something he did under the influence of alcohol that day, he had kissed Jaeha. But since then, Jaeha had never once touched him in that way.

Am I not attractive? I want to… with sunbae-nim…

For a fleeting moment, an image of him kissing Jaeha flashed through his mind. Instantly coming to his senses, Yijae reflexively grimaced at himself for having such a shameless fantasy in front of the kind-hearted Jaeha. He tried his best to ignore the heat rising at the back of his neck and clasped the hand that was intertwined with his.

“You said you finish at 1, right?”

In exchange for cutting his six-day-a-week work schedule in half, he had decided to work until closing time on Fridays and weekends.

Jaeha looked down at the watch on his wrist, gauged the remaining time, and then drove to a restaurant near Hidden. If he had it his way, he would have wanted to feed him something better, but he had no choice because of Yijae’s opinion that he didn’t want to spend more than an hour on a meal during the exam period.

And so, the two of them came out after eating their fill of seafood stew packed with abalone. With 10 minutes to spare until 7 o’clock, Jaeha dropped Yijae off in front of Hidden.

“Call me when you’re done. I’ll come pick you up at 1.”

“I can just… no, it’s fine. Okay! I’ll call you.”

Yijae, who was about to refuse, worried that Jaeha would be tired, remembered what he had said before and nodded his head vigorously. Then, before turning to go inside, he leaned his head through the window and kissed Jaeha on the cheek.

“I’ll, I’ll be back!”

The face of Yijae, who quickly fled into Hidden, was like a well-dyed garden balsam petal.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Crash!

“Fuck… Fuck!”

Dohae, who threw the glass he was drinking from with a ragged breath, heaved his chest with rage that had reached the top of his head. A line of red blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth where he had bitten his lip.

“I’m going to kill Seo Yijae.”

That bastard had finally started to grab his ankle and drag him down. Dohae, who had been chased out of his house and was living in a hotel, had headed to Sejin Hospital that morning upon hearing the news that Dohyeon had woken up.

<You may not enter.>

<What? Don’t you know who I am? I’m Gu Dohae!>

<We have been instructed by the Madam to restrict access to the VIP ward. Please leave now.>

He ground his teeth, recalling Mrs. Lee who had embarrassed him in front of so many people, no matter how angry he was. Besides, when he thought about it, wasn’t it that stupid bastard Gu Dohyeon who couldn’t control his libido and caused all that trouble? Why are you blaming me for that